by Caroline Williams, reposted from her Blog: Druid Therapy ~ A Modern Journey Into Healing, Weaving Modern Psychology With Ancient Wisdom.
The past is a great place and I don’t want to erase it or to regret it, but I don’t want to be its prisoner either.
~ Mick Jagger
How often in life have you gone “I think I’m in a good place” and definitely sorted out all my old skeletons, only to discover a secret panel and yet more lurking bones and rattling teeth taunting you?
It has me thinking about the idea of letting things go, putting the past in the past and why sometimes these attitudes just don’t seem to work and I can still hear the skeletons rattling away in the cupboard. Or in this case, someone else has given then a really good rattle!
So I have decided to take a different approach which doesn’t focus on the new age mantra’s of the “secret” and magical manifestation, but instead honours my Druid roots and traditions.
So I looked to the old legends and tales and found something rather curious about those old skeletons/ past regrets or hurts, and discovered something even stranger about putting to rest our weary skeleton bones. The task is not to forget or subdue this aspect of our lives and soul but instead to be curious about the meaning and hidden clues for our transformation and healing; when we become curious and explore these wounds and open a door of conversation, then something truly magical does occur.
In Clarissa Pinkola Este’s book The Women Who Run With the Wolves this exploration into our shadow or our past is explained in the following….
Asking the proper question is the central action of transformation – in fairy tales, in analysis, and in individuation. The key question causes germination of consciousness. The properly shaped question always emanates from an essential curiosity about what stands behind. Questions are the keys that cause the secret doors of the psyche to swing open.
What are the new questions I can ask and what doors will they open which have remained locked and rusty from misuse?
Do I have the courage to enter the room of skeletons and dance with the bones of my past?
If I made a flute from the thigh bones what songs would it sing to me and what secrets would I learn?
Are all my skeletons really as scary as I think?
Now I am off on another adventure back into the closet and to rattle around in bones, teeth and shadows from the past. Maybe I will discover the answers amongst the marrow and joints which only exists in the darkened places of my psyche.
Walk in wisdom and peace
