what’s next

Valuable Nuance – Day 1090

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Tonight: Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus (l-r) – Photo: L. Weikel

Valuable Nuance

I mentioned in my post last night that the card underneath my Ace of Air did seem to hold some relevance to the question I’d posed. Indeed, it probably provides some valuable nuance to my query, “What’s next?” My initial focus, of course, was on paying attention to the details of the Ace of Air, the ‘main’ card I selected. I didn’t even allow myself to look at the bottom card until later. So when I did finally glimpse the 10 of Water (from the Witches’ Wisdom Tarot*), I was surprised to see a few personally relevant details popping out right away.

I immediately noticed the Black Panther peeking out at me from the jungle foliage. The energy of Black Panther first showed up in my life (on a noticeably consistent basis) shortly after I published my book, Owl Medicine*. I kept seeing images of them in the weirdest places, including my dreams. To make a long story short (something I actually loathe – give me a good story!), it turned out that Black Panther was a harbinger of my initiation into the Q’ero tradition. Black Panther was my companion as I honored my immersion into shamanism as a calling and way of life.

10 of Water – The Witches’ Wisdom Tarot by Phyllis Curott

A New Path

Black Panther is an ally of mine, particularly with respect to certain shamanic tasks I undertake. Interestingly, Sheila (our first Boston Terrier) ‘told’ me shortly after we adopted her that she was the physical embodiment of my Black Panther. I know that probably sounds weird, but it was a palpable experience – and lasted throughout her life.

Finally, Black Panther showed up in a shamanic journey I took earlier in the day on November 12th, 2011, the day we found out Karl had died the night before. Indeed, Black Panther showed me what had happened before I even had the slightest inkling anything was wrong. (Yet another story.)

Other Details

Another detail that jumped out at me when I looked at this card, beyond the verdant abundance, was the Toucan. It just so happens that the Toucan is intimately related to a Being with whom I interact in the Lower World (Uhupacha), especially when journeying on behalf of clients (as opposed to journeying for myself).

Of course, the myriad (ten, to be exact) Frogs depicted in the card immediately brought to mind my harping on the need to clean out and make space for the next phase in my life. This theme has persistently demanded my attention.

Without even opening the book, my overall sense of the foundation of the message being brought to me was that whatever that Ace of Air is suggesting is my ‘next’ devotion or Act of Power, it may also bring an abundance of flourishing energy and magic.

And then I looked it up in the book that accompanies the deck. The keyword was not what I expected – but it couldn’t have been more perfect.

Patience Personified (or Catified)-Brutus loving Tigger – Photo: L. Weikel

*affiliate link

(T-21)

Word Saturation – Day 956

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Wide Angle of Tohickon – Photo: L. Weikel

Word Saturation

I’ve been noticing something odd about myself lately. I tend to be pretty self-reflective by nature. And by that I mean I revel in contemplating the bigger questions in life. And I treasure those occasions when I have the time and space to explore in my journal the musings that bubble up from deep within. Lately, though? I believe I’ve developed an acute case of word saturation.

That’s the best way I can think to describe it. I’ve noticed that when provided with opportunities to sit beside a roaring fire (or sometimes better yet, a fire that’s settled into itself, its embers practically begging contemplation), or plunked in the midst of a forest cacophony of cicadas, my mind almost involuntarily slips into neutral.

It’s as if the words are just too much anymore.

What words?

All of them.

This is a little disconcerting for someone who thinks of herself at least tangentially as a writer. But this word saturation is real. And I’ll be honest: it’s a little scary. Am I just tired? Is this a result of having to come up with words every single night for the past 956 days?

Contemplation Station – Photo: L. Weikel

Looking Ahead

Maybe I’m noticing this a bit more lately because I’ve felt circumstances prodding me to give serious thought to ‘What’s next?’ You know; I ask myself the same questions I pose here in these posts, such as ‘What do I want my life to look like or to include 19 years from now?’

Or a more short-term version: ‘What do I need to release and what do I want to cultivate in my life in the next six months?’

When I contemplate these questions, some of the usual suspects pop up in what I might consider to be a reflexive response. Good grief, some of those things I’d like to manifest I’ve been talking about for twenty years. Maybe I need to let them go for good?

Maybe I do.

So if I let them go, what’s left? Well. That demands some contemplation. And – aha. That’s when the word saturation sets in.

There’s a vast Universe out there. A lot of what I’ve been thinking seems…small. Perhaps silence is better.

Looking Up From the Fire – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-155)

What’s Next – Day 372

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Light on the Path – Photo: L. Weikel

What’s Next

It’s pretty common, I think, for most of us to want to know ‘what’s next.’ And that applies to little things in life as well as some of the bigger ones; from our next meal to our next career move.

My feeling, though, is that far too many people spend so much time planning for the future that they miss out on much of the magic of the present. For instance, it’s not uncommon for many people to start planning their ‘next’ vacation before they’ve even concluded their current one.

It’s almost as if we prefer to imagine how our lives could be than actually live them.

We are a planning society. From Day-Timers to Google Calendars we’re surrounded by tools that can help us plan what’s next – and when we’ll do it.

Planning, Planning, Planning

I’m not a big fan of planning; at least, not planning down to the littlest detail. While I recognize this can be a source of some irritation for those around me, I’ve found that, for the most part, I’ve developed a fairly sophisticated sense of what truly needs to be planned and what can be improvised or decided on the fly.

Of course, I understand its purpose. Society runs a lot smoother when we have schedules and plans.

And I’m not categorically averse to all planning. I just balk when it feels as though there’s an effort being made to marshal life into predictable outcomes when we actually have no freaking clue as to how things are really going to unfold.

It’s when we try to exercise control over what we simply cannot know (not yet, at least) that I choose not to participate.

I’m Being Vague

I feel like I’m being far more vague than I mean to be in writing this post. It’s as if the idea for it is at the tip of my brain and yet it’s just out of reach.

The germ for this post started the other night when I was out walking after writing my post about the Leonid meteor shower, which was – in my estimation – a dud this year. I was walking to a clearing where I hoped to experience an abundance of shooting stars. In order to get to this clearing, I had to walk through the woods.

Crossing a spring – Photo: L. Weikel

Only a Few Feet Ahead of Me

As I made my way along the leaf strewn dirt path through the woods, I held a small light in my hand that I shone downward as surreptitiously as possible. I didn’t want to disturb the other creatures in the forest as I ventured toward my destination. Given that I was keeping the light very low and tight, I was only illuminating about a yard ahead of myself at any given time.

Naturally, this reminded me of the saying that we really only need to have the path illuminated for us one stepping stone at a time. Indeed, as I ruminated on this thought, I came to a point in the path when I was literally hopping from stone to stone.

Trust

The whole point of that saying (or whatever it’s called) is to instill in us the understanding that long-range planning is good as far as setting a course or pointing ourselves in the right direction. But long range planning, ultimately, does little to get us from point A to point B.

In actuality, we need only see ahead of ourselves just enough to take the next step and, in so doing, trust that the next one will appear.

It’s in trusting that our path is unfolding in the present moment that we pull our future toward us and answer the question, ‘What’s next?’ step by step.

And isn’t that the fun of it all?

What’s next? – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-739)