Witchvox Article

Author: Rustic Hawk
Posted: June 3rd. 2012
Times Viewed: 2,160

I don�t want to start with the normal opening, with the history. The winners write history. I am not a scholar of history. I love to read it as more becomes uncovered that the winners forgot to destroy. You can get history from the history books and form your own opinion. So I am not going to begin with something you can find somewhere else. I am going to start with something that is so very personal that it spans all religions: your path, your journey, and your connection with the Divine.

Do you know whom you connect with when you call upon the Divine? Do you know the path you�re traveling? Are you even paying attention? How do I even write about something so personal? Let�s go against the saying �Let the best or easiest for last� and tackle the last question first. In every book I read, the author skimmed over what a spiritual path or journey is or the author talked about his/her path or journey.

I am one of those people who need a definition, even to something that has no definition. As a child I searched everywhere for the definition of that feeling. (My mom had it right all along, but we will go into that later.) Each definition I found touched on only a part of that feeling of connection with the Divine and what a spiritual path or journey was. So really, this essay is for those people who need help understanding this complex and very personal feeling.

Tell me a secret. Show me your hidden place. Whisper to me your secret desires that you never told anyone. Can you? Do you know what they are? It isn�t much different in trying to tell others how you connect with the Divine. Many things you do every day connect you to the Divine. Can you name them all? Do you know what they are? Let me tell you want connects you to the Divine that you do every day.

The feeling when you see the plants come up in the spring.
Loving your pets. Hurting more than they do if they are hurt.
Smiling at the kids playing in the park.
Watching the birds from your window and researching what they are called
Lying in the Sun and just soaking it up.
Watching the snow fall.
Standing still when you see a wild animal near you because you don�t want to scare it away.
Walking outside, when you are about to go to work, and pausing as you enjoy the music of the birds and the feeling of the Earth waking up.
Going to your place of worship.
The feeling you get when you just stand, loving every breath you take.

This list is short, I know. It does not even cover a faction of the things you do that connects you to the Divine. But I want to let you in on a couple of secrets. You do not have to be a part of a group to connect with the Divine and people from all religions feel the connection in this way. This makes it hard to understand why we can�t get along. But that is not a discussion for now. The discussion now turns back to my mother and the realization that we should never stop listening to our elders.

My mother is not a Pagan, Druid, or Wiccan. My mother is a Christian. For her own reasons, she doesn�t go to church. The reasons are complicated and not a part of this discussion. So aside from that, she wanted to instill us with a love of Divinity, Earth, and Animals. I cannot count the number of times mom went running through the house hunting for binoculars to watch a kingfisher catch a fish from our stream, look at the hawks watching our valley for food, or get a better look at an animal so we could find out what it was. Then, there were times we stopped on the road to watch deer eating in the fields, her pointing out a beautiful butterfly, her going �Shhh!� as we hear a humming bird come to feed.

Another thing with her is plants. I don�t know how she gets plants to come back from near death. I think they know she loves them so much they just grow for her. One year, the electric company came around and told her that they would need to cut down some of her trees to keep them from touching the power lines. The trees had been there since I was a child. I watched as she cried when she learned our beautiful Willow tree had to go. The electric company gave her money to buy new plants, but they couldn�t grow above a certain height. It was fun to watch her pick and choose the new love she was going to bring home.

It was hilarious when she read the height the plant would grow to and decided that she would just keep it trimmed. She even took cuttings from the Willow tree to re-grow it. She put aside a piece of the felled willow trunk for me. I was going to make it into something, but I forgot to take it home after a visit. My mom called me and told me it is growing leaves. What do I want her to do? I told her to put it in water. Well, it ended up by our pond with her cuttings, growing again. How amazing it that? This is my mom�s spiritual path. She is a Christian who hurts for the Earth and tries to help it grow again. She feels divinity in these things

Can you now tell me what a spiritual path is? Some of you can and some of you can�t. If you are hunting for your path, no definition will help you. There is no real definition. That is the mystery. Each person will define it differently as each person will describe the Divine connection differently. I can�t tell you what a spiritual path is. I can�t help you find it.

We all have crawled before we walked. We have all fallen, hurt, and made mistakes. But we have gotten up, dusted off the dirt, straightened our shoulders, and put one foot in front of the other. Your parents did it. Your role models did it. Your religious leaders did it.

I know you want to know right now what it is and what it means. But that is for you to find. I know you are thinking, �Why did you write this if you aren�t going to answer my question?� The answer is, I am checking to see if you are paying attention. The path is right there at your feet. The answer is in front of your face. If it were a snake it would have bitten you, trust me I know. I was there. I crawled searching for information and understanding, getting frustrated that I couldn�t find it, and started to believe that no one is listening to me. It was like I walked into a wall.

Just relax. Slow down� or you will walk into a wall when Divinity gets tired of you looking for something� that is right in front of you.

ABOUT...

Rustic Hawk

Location: Camp Hill, Pennsylvania

Bio: I am a women who is walking a path and learning as she walks. I live with my cat, Sir Knight and enjoy cross-stitching and reading. Everyday I go to work and school hoping to create a better life.

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