Dark deeds

Greetings all,

I hope you've had an enjoyable week so far.  Mine has been eventful.  Most notable has been the trouble I had sleeping the first half of it.  A quick check on Facebook showed that many other people were experiencing interruptions in their sleep patterns as well.

I love to sleep.  I love the peace that accompanies settling down and waking up before I need to, drifting in out of a dream until it is time to rise.  A night's sleep with good dreams (good being a relative term as some of my most useful dreams are nightmares) can completely change my outlook on a situation.  When sleep refuses to come despite exhaustion it can be very frustrating.  Insomnia is a major  problem in modern society.  Many of us simply can't shut our brain off.

Now I have a few tricks up my sleeve for sleep.  I have brainwave entrainment, chi kung, or yoga to help mellow me out.  This time though none of that was working.  Of course the more you try to force yourself to sleep the less likely it is to happen.  One night I laid in bed until nearly 6 in the morning getting nowhere close to sleep.  This was night 3 or 4 of minimal to no sleep.  Finally I got up and lit the candles on my altar.  I figured if I wasn't going to get to sleep I'd at least get some spirit work done.  So I redid the protective wards I had on my home and did a deep cleansing of the space.  After that I sent out a few prayers.  My business managed, I finally fell asleep for a very few precious hours.

The next day came and after a slow start I began knocking off tasks on my todo list that had been on it for months.  I was amazed at all I had gotten done.  That afternoon I was pulled to walk out in the gloom.  It was a persistent call even though it was very cold and there was some snow and ice out on the ground.  I couldn't explain it.  I knew I needed to be outside in the elements.  So I bundled up to trek into the gray fading light of the afternoon.  I sang power songs to the weather spirits thanking them, and then I sang my soul song.  I walked for almost an hour, and then came in and had a nice hot supper.  That night I slept a full sleep cycle.  The dreaded restlessness had been broken.  I continued to accomplish more goals the following day and walked outside again (on an even colder day).  I have continued to sleep more normally since that day.

I have spoken with many who've had sleep disturbances in the past few weeks.  Many are convinced that there is some energetic shift going on in the world which is keeping us wired.  This may be true, however when I began moving deeper into some of my spirit work, not allowing the darkness and gloom to stop me, I found sweet restfulness.  Perhaps when we can't sleep it is sometimes a call from spirit.  Right now the dark is calling me to work with and through it.  Now in our highly dualistic culture darkness is often seen as evil, but darkness is necessary.  The womb is dark. Many of us make love in the dark hours.  I wouldn't call that evil, maybe a bit kinky but hardly evil.  Sometimes we have to work in the dark. Sometimes we need the time away from the waking minds of others to feel into the mysteries that lie unseen beneath the surface of the world.  Sometimes we just need some damn peace and quiet to get things done.

So how about you?  Is your sleep untroubled?  Do you lie awake in the depths of night?  What would happen if you asked what spirit was calling you to do in that restless moment?  What needful deeds could you deliver to your life and the world under the cover of night's shade?  The next time you lie awake unable to fall asleep try getting up and seeing what you can do that has needed doing for a while.  See if that doesn't then send you off into blissful slumber.

Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle