by Alberto Villoldo: After we complete our return to the Divine Mother, we need to develop a new life devoted to her care…
Many of us bought into an old map presented by culture and family that turned us into a parasite, one who collects as much as possible for ourselves and family at the expense of others. We need to develop a sacred map that defines a sacred journey. This is the map of the hero’s journey not the victim’s journey. This is how we break free of the wheel of time that sends us back to complete the lessons we didn’t learn during our lifetime.
We create a sacred map at the 4 levels that Great Spirit created the cosmos. Each has a unique language and a unique relation to time.
Serpent
level of physical reality
Language: chemical and molecules
The relationship to time is biological-we become older
Everything is as it appears to be
Healing – practice of physical health
Jaguar
level of the mind
Language: emotions and stories
Time speeds up or slows down depending on what happens
Nothing is only what it appears to be
Healing – psychomatic health, healing the trauma that lives within us
Hummingbird
level of the soul
Language: images, poetry, ceremony
The relationship to time is stillness
Healing, visualization/intentionality/ceremony
Everything is exactly what it is (absolute truth
Eagle
level of pure energy
Language – pure energy
Time does not exist, infinity
The self is transcended, and healing occurs
The ego/ I don’t exist anymore
The hero’s journey is one of initiation. Initiation is nothing less than an invitation to an unimaginable destiny. It is fraught with danger and opportunity. The outcome is not guaranteed. It requires a courageous response and invites us to become the hero of our own journey.
Sometimes, the journey spirals in upon itself and we are presented with a new opportunity to be reinitiated by serious life circumstances that once again shake our reality and require another courageous response to deepen our spiritual calling. World events are challenging us and calling us to continually go deeper.
Sometimes we wonder what Initiation really means and if we are responding to an inner calling or just making it through each day. In these uncertain times, as we face new challenges and pandemic restrictions, become lost in routine, worry, and self-doubt, it’s hard to feel like a hero/ine. How can we get back on track, rediscover the excitement of the hero/ine’s journey, and experience rebirth into a new way of being?
This is quite a journey. Maybe it seems to be a familiar one that you have taken over and over again. Looking back, you remember other Great Departures, other Initiations, and other Returns, and wonder when the journeys will end. Like the medicine wheel, the hero/ine’s journey is a spiral, each journey spiraling you higher. With each rebirth you reach another level of transcendence.
So, ask yourself – are you just making it through each day or are you being Initiated by a series of tests and trials? Are you lost in routine or are you courageously taking another step forward on your Hero/ine’s journey?
