As the Wheel Turns

Greetings all,

Hope you've enjoyed  the first few days of Autumn (if you're in the Northern Hemisphere).  I started my season with drumming and despacho ceremony.  The wheel turns and our lives move in a new pattern.

Autumn for me is a mixed bag.  Some of my favorite things happen in this season, at the same time the fading light holds the promise of the dark winter to come.  Fall is a time where I remember many  friends that aren't with me anymore.  It's a time of magic and of thinning veils.  It is also the season in which I emerged from a shamanic death fifteen years ago.  As the trees lost their leaves, and the animals laid down for the long winter sleep, I had new life racing through my body and spirit.  I reclaimed myself from despair.  As I've said previously, this summer was very challenging.  In fact many of the conditions were a match for that summer that almost claimed my life.  This time though I didn't have to fall so far.  The wheel turned and hit me in the face, but I wasn't knocked down for the count.  I think that means I've grown as a person.

The wheels of our lives turn, and we revisit similar situations throughout our lives.  If we've done our work we interact with them from a different perspective.  This is true on the personal as well as the collective level.  Here in the U.S.A.  we've been revisiting a lot of old patterns.  In the past two years we've seen racism, sexism, and fascism make an unfortunate return to the mainstream culture.  Although to be accurate they were always there, they were simply glossed over with platitudes and code words to sanitize them for the masses.  There is a lot of people reacting with the "We've seen this before."  They're right we have.  I hope that this time we respond from a more mature and inclusive perspective.  If we don', have no fear, the wheel will turn again and we'll be right back here.

Why am I telling you this?  Well if you're like me, a lot of your old tendencies have been making an encore performance in your life lately.  Although it is uncomfortable,  it is also an opportunity.  We have the option to respond differently.  We can maybe even change directions so that this the last time the wheel brings this situation to us.

So how about you?  Has the wheel of life brought back challenges you thought you had already tackled?  Does the world seem to be stuck on the same song on the playlist?  What if you brought to bear all the wisdom you've learned since the first time you heard that tune?  What if you worked towards a different future?  What if collectively we did the same?  It's worth pondering as we wait for the wheel to turn.

Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle