{"id":1104,"date":"2020-08-29T15:02:48","date_gmt":"2020-08-29T15:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiraldanceshamanics.com\/beta2020\/?p=1104"},"modified":"2020-08-29T15:03:28","modified_gmt":"2020-08-29T15:03:28","slug":"pandemic-a-ceremony-from-the-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiraldanceshamanics.com\/beta2020\/pandemic-a-ceremony-from-the-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"Pandemic: A Ceremony from the Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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What if the universe is trying to get us to slow down? To stop producing. To stay home and let the earth breathe a little without all the extra pollution we cause daily. To take a step back and realize how we really impact earth and one another. That we aren\u2019t as significant or in control as we think we are. A virus can come through and wipe us all out but earth will still be here. We are all connected. Just like we can spread a disease, we can also spread love, kindness and positivity. Use this time for reflection of your contribution and the life you\u2019re living. Slow down and finally hear yourself again. The universe is always speaking to us if we are willing to listen.<\/em>
\u00a0<\/em>
Author Unknown<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>

This quote comes from a meme that started circulating on Facebook just after the global pandemic was declared on March 11, 2020. It really resonated with me so I put it on my\u00a0Spiral Dance Shamanics Facebook<\/a>\u00a0page. Quickly, this post reached almost five thousand views! Nothing I\u2019ve ever put on there has garnered that much of a response and I started to wonder what about it struck such a nerve with folks. I am aware that there is way more traffic on the Internet as people shelter at home, however, that didn\u2019t seem to account for why folks I never knew were all of the sudden \u201cliking\u201d my page. Obviously, I can\u2019t take credit for the quote (though if you know who wrote it, I\u2019d sure like that information so I can cite them properly). However, I did start to see that folks seemed hungry for something they perhaps couldn\u2019t put their finger on that they hoped to connect with via earth-based spirituality.<\/p>

As I read more articles, listened to spiritual teachers and mentors speak online, connected with the earth, and talked to friends, I started to get a clearer picture of what might be going on for folks. The thing is, our mortality is being placed squarely in front of us and many people don\u2019t know what to do with that. Though most people are not consciously talking about death in existential or spiritual terms at this time, unconsciously our collective unearthed fear of death is coming to the surface demanding to be looked at. This is shadow work that is being asked of us by our psyches at this time. The universe is giving us an opportunity to stop long enough to hear our inner wise one speaking to us. We are being given a chance to do ceremony. I understand how shocking and uncomfortable this realization is. When I first started studying shamanism, one of the ceremonies we did as a part of our foundational healing work was designed to help us experience death as an ally.<\/p>

Over a decade ago, a group of shamanic students spent a night in the forest\u2013each of us laying in a hole in the ground representing our grave. As if that wasn\u2019t enough of a challenge, our task was essentially to recapitulate our lives and to look at all our fears around death and dying. As memories, emotions, and thoughts came up, I allowed nature to speak to me. I was able to let go of things that had plagued me my whole life and give them to the earth for composting. \u00a0I won\u2019t lie: This was a terrifying exercise. Even though there were folks checking in on us from afar, being alone in the dark woods with a lifetime\u2019s worth of unresolved inner issues and no distractions was not my idea of a good time! However, as the night wore on, I started to notice that I wasn\u2019t really afraid of dying at all. I was afraid of living; specifically, I was terrified that my life and my legacy would not be what I\u2019d hoped. I noticed the places where I really wasn\u2019t living up to my potential. I was living small and scared because it was safe; the mainstream world expected this of me. I came out of that ceremony determined to really live\u2013no matter the challenges that life threw my way. Knowing that society wouldn\u2019t encourage this quality in me, I grew a supportive group of like-minded people around me bit by bit. This community of friends has helped me weather all sorts of challenges and I have been able to return the favour when needed.<\/p>

According to the teachings of Hyemeyohsts Storm, death is one of the 20 Great Teachers of life. The other Great Teachers include the following: rage, care, pain, physical reality, feelings, sex, honesty, testing, victory, confrontation, raw power, Great Spirit, fear, defeat, loneliness, need, seeking, love, and patience. Storm says that as long as we are living, we are never without a teacher. One or more of these is always working with us to help us grow if we are willing to engage with them. In his book, \u201cLightningbolt,\u201d Storm reminds readers that we will all experience the crumbling of the illusion that we are immortal at some point and that we must make peace with this in order to live well:<\/p>

\u201cDeath is a life teacher because it is unavoidable. It makes life that much more precious to know that your death is around the corner. It can teach you about what is important and what is not. It can jolt you into an understanding of how each moment is fleeting. It destroys the illusion that things remain the same forever. Death is also present in every experience of change that you have because there are always losses associated with it. Whether the change is good or bad, self-initiated or a surprise, it creates a hole in the reality you have constructed.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

Some questions to consider in your own life reflections might include:<\/p>