Coming back from another life changing trip to New Mexico, I have found myself very interested in finding my ancestors’ spiritual practices. It’s important to note that I am not talking of the Christian practices that so many people find when starting this trip. I am talking of digging deeper beneath the religious movement of Christianity to find the pagan and druidic practices (i.e., traditional, nature-based spirituality) that became the basis of so many key concepts and rituals in Christian practice. Early Christians were very effective movement builders that spread christianity by absorbing the local religious practices (e.g., druidism, paganism, vodou into Christianity) of the communities that sought to move into (See Krista Tippett’s excellent interview with Patrick Bellegarde-Smith to hear about an excellent example of this phenomenon). Consequently, I am very interested in conducting an archeological dig into the Celtic and druidic practices to find the traditional nature-based spirituality of my ancestors in Ireland, Scotland, and England.
Much of the initial seeds of my search has been prompted by the symbology that my mom left behind. Spirals, Triskelles, towers, and path symbols dominate her fiber and illustrative art. Do you see the rock with illustrations on them in the picture above? My mom drew a triskele symbol, three interconnected spirals, which is an ancient pre-celtic symbol found in various sites in Ireland. The symbol represented the interconnection of many sacred groupings of three (e.g., past, present future; earth, sea, sky; physical, spiritual, celestial) and would be used as the impetus for christianity to adopt the trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As I held that rock, I felt the need to track down the symbols to find out what they meant. Again, my mom showed the way to a deepening of my journey on this planet. Again, I was walking with my mom on a path of discovery.
Beginning to walk that path, I have been immersing myself in the druidic practice of Dana O’Driscoll as expressed in her blog The Druid’s Garden. I have been struck at the overflowing sense of home I feel within these idea systems and ritual practices. There is something that just fits. Of particular relevance for me has been the great web card from O’Driscoll’s upcoming Planet Sprit Oracle book and card set.
Having just listened to Paul Stamet’s incredible Immersive lecture about the healing and connective power of mushrooms and the vast fungal networks that are below our feet, I was primed to sense the deep wisdom in this imagery. Every step we take, we are walking on acres or miles of fungal network threads that connect all plants and trees together and give them the opportunity to share nutrients and talk to one another. To make matters even more mind blowing, these fungal networks share the same network pattern as the cosmos, the internet, and the human brain. The microcosm truly can be the macrocosm. Through this imagery and Stamet’s podcast, I came to understood the sacred meaning behind my mom’s use of the spiral imagery. Plant, fungi, human, bacteria, and animal brothers and sisters are really all co-evolving in real time; we are all going through a metamorphosis together that is informed by our common connection to the great web. We are interconnected as one.
In my meditation practice, I have been actively grounding myself through my taproot in the great web each day to experience that interconnection. I wanted to share a taproot meditation that has emerged from my practice that may be nourishing to you. After you have calmed your mind and body, breathe in and rise toward the sky. As you breathe out, feel vines extend from your foundation on the earth, spiraling into a dense taproot. Breathe in and rise toward the sky again. Breathe out and let your taproot descend in a spiraling manner through the stories of the building you are in, through the building’s foundation, and into the great web below you. Take your time with this taproot travel. Let the taproot move mindfully through space. There is no urgency. Breathe in and rise. Breathe out and feel your taproot connect to the great web. Now, as you breathe in and out, begin to recite this poem or whatever version of it feels appropriate to you:
My taproot
Extends deep into the
Swirling mystery of the soil.
I am the earth.
I am the sky.
I am the river.
I am the beginning.
I am the present.
I am the future.
I am my plant brothers and sisters.
I am my fungal brothers and sisters.
I am my animal brothers and sisters.
So the many become one.
So the circle becomes whole.
Interconnection.
Please let me know if this meditation was useful to you, and I will share more from my practice! As always, thank you for reading and I hope you walk in peace and connection.