This is the second part in a series called 31 Days of Soul Medicine. To sign up for the daily emails, click here. To get the Introduction, click here for yesterday's post.
Foundation: What is Soul Medicine?
“Life lived soulfully is not without its moments of darkness and periods of foolishness. Dropping the salvational fantasy frees us up to the possibility of self-knowledge and self-acceptance, which are the very foundation of soul.”
~Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul
Much like the word “work” in soul work can hint at our very Western take on the word -- bringing to mind the image of a nose to the grindstone -- so, too, can “medicine” bring up problematic connotations about it being a cure, a “quick fix”. Let me make very clear that soul medicine does not seek to fix all your problems, does not promise an end to earthly suffering, and is not even inclined to save you from the further pain that is part of your life’s experience. It is not an escape from your humanity -- indeed, soul requires that you embrace it.
Foundation: What is Soul Medicine?
“Life lived soulfully is not without its moments of darkness and periods of foolishness. Dropping the salvational fantasy frees us up to the possibility of self-knowledge and self-acceptance, which are the very foundation of soul.”
~Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul
Much like the word “work” in soul work can hint at our very Western take on the word -- bringing to mind the image of a nose to the grindstone -- so, too, can “medicine” bring up problematic connotations about it being a cure, a “quick fix”. Let me make very clear that soul medicine does not seek to fix all your problems, does not promise an end to earthly suffering, and is not even inclined to save you from the further pain that is part of your life’s experience. It is not an escape from your humanity -- indeed, soul requires that you embrace it.
If we try to sterilize our lives, attempt to remove the pain, the fears and the illnesses that bring us to our knees, we may actually be attempting to suck the souls of our lives right out along with them. Our soul’s wisdom has placed at your feet all the experiences you need for your particular dharma. To decide something is “bad” and needs to be removed is to deny your soul.
So your shopping addiction, your Mommy issues and your fear of abandonment makes you less a fragmented person than someone deepening her connection to soul. Having a life full of doorways does not mean that it’s full of holes -- it means it’s full of opportunities to make soul.
What soul brings to life -- and what we hope to experience on our healing journey -- is presence. Being present to our lives, to our loved ones, to our work, to our pains and to our joys. Mindfully observing the moments of your life is to create sacred space, and sacred space is a healing balm for the soul.
So your shopping addiction, your Mommy issues and your fear of abandonment makes you less a fragmented person than someone deepening her connection to soul. Having a life full of doorways does not mean that it’s full of holes -- it means it’s full of opportunities to make soul.
What soul brings to life -- and what we hope to experience on our healing journey -- is presence. Being present to our lives, to our loved ones, to our work, to our pains and to our joys. Mindfully observing the moments of your life is to create sacred space, and sacred space is a healing balm for the soul.
Rx “Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
One of my favorite moments in the film version of Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring is when our band of travellers has to figure out how to open the Doors of Durin so they can pass through the mines of Moria. This gorgeous door in the side of the mountain lights up with Elvish writing that says “Speak friend, and enter.” Gandalf, quite sure of himself, thinks he simply needs to crack the code and discover the password, so he proceeds to rattle off likely phrases in all the languages of Middle Earth that he knows. After quite some time, Gandalf grows frustrated and gives up. Frodo quietly observes that it is a riddle and asks Gandalf what the Elvish word for “friend” is. As Gandalf speaks the word, the doors rumble open. Aha!
As children we are taught to say “please” when we would like something. We are told this is one of the “magic words”. Watching Sesame Street, I learned that “A la peanut butter sandwiches” could open doors. Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz had to close her eyes, tap her shoes together and repeat “There’s no place like home”, only to find she was always home. Stories and myths are full of these magical incantations, and in each case it is a matter of knowing the right string of words to get past the threshold.
To open the door, whether to a physical place or to a new consciousness, a new state of being, one must have the key. And in these stories, the words are the key. The right question, asked at the right moment, causes the doors to swing open in our minds. And they swing open not because we already know the answers, but because we know, without question, that this question is the one worth following down the rabbit hole for the rest of our days.
In Women Who Run With the Wolves, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes concurs:
“Asking the proper question is the central action of transformation - in fairy tales, in analysis, and in individuation. The key question causes germination of consciousness. The properly shaped question always emanates from an essential curiosity about what stands behind. Questions are the keys that cause the secret doors of the psyche to swing open.”
Somewhere on the skin of my body I imagine there are two phrases written in invisible ink, and they are:
Goddess Knows My Name
and
God is a Holy Machine
And these phrases are two of my personal keys, carrying as they do both my sankalpa and my life’s questions in counterpoint.
Prompt What curiosity cannot be sated? What question wakes you from your sleep? What question could you devote a whole life to seeking an answer for, knowing as you do that there is no true end to the search? What magical incantation or question causes your inner door to swing open?
This is the key to the door. This is the invitation over the threshold and the formation of your intention for your soul medicine work.
Soul Craft
Consider making a talisman that symbolizes your intention, your sankalpa, or your “key” to the door of this work. A talisman can be created in any way that calls to you. A simple method is to take a small piece of parchment paper, trace a jar lid onto it, and cut it into a circle. You’ll want to use symbols on it that represent your intention, perhaps even a skeleton key on one side and other, more abstract symbols on the other. If there are no abstract symbols that work for you, try finding appropriate runes to symbolize or spell out the essence of your intent. When finished, sign, initial or otherwise make the talisman yours by marking it.
You’ll charge this talisman by having a ritual, again of your own design and in your own way. You might light a circle of candles and simply speak your intent out loud. Meditate on the symbols you’ve used and how they relate to your intention, until you feel you have infused your talisman with the energy of this task.
Carry it with you or keep it where you do your soul work and soul crafting.
Recommended Resources
~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
One of my favorite moments in the film version of Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring is when our band of travellers has to figure out how to open the Doors of Durin so they can pass through the mines of Moria. This gorgeous door in the side of the mountain lights up with Elvish writing that says “Speak friend, and enter.” Gandalf, quite sure of himself, thinks he simply needs to crack the code and discover the password, so he proceeds to rattle off likely phrases in all the languages of Middle Earth that he knows. After quite some time, Gandalf grows frustrated and gives up. Frodo quietly observes that it is a riddle and asks Gandalf what the Elvish word for “friend” is. As Gandalf speaks the word, the doors rumble open. Aha!
As children we are taught to say “please” when we would like something. We are told this is one of the “magic words”. Watching Sesame Street, I learned that “A la peanut butter sandwiches” could open doors. Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz had to close her eyes, tap her shoes together and repeat “There’s no place like home”, only to find she was always home. Stories and myths are full of these magical incantations, and in each case it is a matter of knowing the right string of words to get past the threshold.
To open the door, whether to a physical place or to a new consciousness, a new state of being, one must have the key. And in these stories, the words are the key. The right question, asked at the right moment, causes the doors to swing open in our minds. And they swing open not because we already know the answers, but because we know, without question, that this question is the one worth following down the rabbit hole for the rest of our days.
In Women Who Run With the Wolves, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes concurs:
“Asking the proper question is the central action of transformation - in fairy tales, in analysis, and in individuation. The key question causes germination of consciousness. The properly shaped question always emanates from an essential curiosity about what stands behind. Questions are the keys that cause the secret doors of the psyche to swing open.”
Somewhere on the skin of my body I imagine there are two phrases written in invisible ink, and they are:
Goddess Knows My Name
and
God is a Holy Machine
And these phrases are two of my personal keys, carrying as they do both my sankalpa and my life’s questions in counterpoint.
Prompt What curiosity cannot be sated? What question wakes you from your sleep? What question could you devote a whole life to seeking an answer for, knowing as you do that there is no true end to the search? What magical incantation or question causes your inner door to swing open?
This is the key to the door. This is the invitation over the threshold and the formation of your intention for your soul medicine work.
Soul Craft
Consider making a talisman that symbolizes your intention, your sankalpa, or your “key” to the door of this work. A talisman can be created in any way that calls to you. A simple method is to take a small piece of parchment paper, trace a jar lid onto it, and cut it into a circle. You’ll want to use symbols on it that represent your intention, perhaps even a skeleton key on one side and other, more abstract symbols on the other. If there are no abstract symbols that work for you, try finding appropriate runes to symbolize or spell out the essence of your intent. When finished, sign, initial or otherwise make the talisman yours by marking it.
You’ll charge this talisman by having a ritual, again of your own design and in your own way. You might light a circle of candles and simply speak your intent out loud. Meditate on the symbols you’ve used and how they relate to your intention, until you feel you have infused your talisman with the energy of this task.
Carry it with you or keep it where you do your soul work and soul crafting.
Recommended Resources
