Deaf Pagan Crossroads

As I was reading from one of my old journals, I found an entry that was dated from the summer of 1999 – ten years ago. This was a time when I was searching for myself, and trying to figure out who I was, and where I was going.

Ten years later, I feel like I am still searching. Perhaps we never stop. For indeed, we are all on a journey to discover that most important thing – ourselves.

I am not sure exactly where this entry comes from… I don’t think it is my own original writing; I suspect that it comes from one of the many books in my library, one that I happened to be reading at that time.

Nevertheless, the words have a deep meaning, and mean as much to me now as they must have back then, when I first wrote them into my journal. They bring me a sense of peace and insight…a deeper understanding to make sense of the craziness of this period in my life.

Enjoy.

Ocean

Voyages.

Voyages of the soul, voyages of the heart, voyages of the mind. Voyages through the world and beyond the world. Voyages into light, drawn from the lives of the Celts, who sought to better understand the world in which they lived, first by turning inward and considering the soul’s journey, and then by turning outward to study the movement of the tides and the circling of the stars, finding there the natural rhythms of life and death reflected.

We are all engaged in such a journey, however we chose to interpret it. It may be the journey from birth to death, from morning to evening, from war to peace, or it may be the journey that is our search for meaning, truth, or validity. It is the journey that permeates our whole life, and that often promotes within us a sense of longing, whether for the place we came from or the place to which we are headed.

Along the way we will meet some who possess the certainty of their goal and destination, and others who express their passage through life in a wandering fashion, seemingly as directionless as others are purposeful. We ourselves may fall into either category, or sometimes into both. There will be periods during which we feel confident, directly in our journey. At other times we may feel a boundless sense of loss and bewilderment, when the journey seems pointless and directionless, and often static.

It is at times such as these that we turn to others for direction, and if we are fortunate, find it in the person and presence of a friend whose own journey is at a different stage, who has passed through the point where we find ourselves, who knows the treacherous shoals or the violent undercurrents of the sea on which we are both embarked.

It is in the company of such individuals that we can seek and discover the divinity in everything, and undertake our journey with a sense of purpose. We can draw deeply from the cauldron of natural wisdom, and share such wisdom with others. Together we can seek to express the purpose and purity of all life in our journeys, and together we can tell the stories…stories about our own world, and about the spiritual voyage of which we travel.

And it is through these stories that we can journey beyond into a place where all spiritual paths meet and reflect one another. At a time when we are all in search of new truths, new ways of looking at old truths, the stories have much to teach us. They can become our soul-friends on our own journey, and read with an open heart, they offer a series of beacons to be followed and experienced for ourselves, whatever course our own journey may have taken.

It is through the voyaging, it is through the journey, and it is through the stories that such journeys produce that we can come to the realization of our love for one another, for the Spirit, and for the world in which we live and move and have our being.

And as we acknowledge the power of the voyage, and of our own place within it, we awaken as if from a long sleep. The blood courses in our veins with renewed vigor and we turn again to the tasks of daily living with new strength and purpose.