Easter. For me a day filled with tender family memories. Searching eggs in the garden with my brother. Lunch with family, with my elders and everyone. A time of communion, celebration, and rituals. The much-needed rituals which bring grounding and remembering into our lives. It is a bittersweet Easter this year. Far from the family and my partner. Far from my elders. My last grandmother, who is 99 years old, who just had a cerebral accident a few days ago, and not allowed seeing anyone due to the pandemic. Feeling deeply the missing of the moments of connection I so deeply cherish with them. And yet the scriptures, sacred text, and ancient mystical memories resonate in me today. I always loved Easter magic & symbolism. Or Pesach as it was called for the first 300 years of the Church. I always felt close and connected to Christ, the Shepherd, and his message.
Easter, the time when three women went to anoint the corpse of their friend, lover, in his tomb and discovered an empty cave. I love that God (a feminine plural name in the Hebrew bible) choose women (indeed!) to witness this mystery and to spread the news to the world. The Divine feminine witness of this moment of re-creation. In a tomb, a cave, a metaphysical womb. The three mystical midwives. It was not the disciples, it was those three women (Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Salome) who saw (completed…) and believed first in the miracle of rebirth. On this day I feel deeply the mystery of creation. Death and rebirth. What we are invited to embrace every day, not just on Easter. The possibility of renewal. Knowing that this is the Way of Nature, of the Creator and as children of this creation we indeed hold the same power in our lives. Do we believe in it? Or do we often get distracted or stuck? As humanity is going through a metaphysical death, physical losses, economical collapse, environmental destruction, uncertainty, and chaos, often loss & rise of faith, we are entering this ritual altogether. This moment in time when we are all in the same ceremony. We always were but had forgotten. We were too distracted to attend to our fire and our prayers. Strong medicine is rising. Purging is happening. Releasing the unnecessary weight of the superficial needs that separate us. If there is one thing I learned in the sacred old ways and ceremonies, it is to trust the medicine and the creator. To allow the release. To bless every part of the process. And to keep pointing my prayers more and more diligently. This is what is happening here. In the depth of uncertainty and chaos. Many thinking it was the end when it was only a new beginning. This is what happened on Easter day. A divine coming together of death & rebirth. The sadness of the losses. The blessing of the individual and collective transformation. The gift of the sacrifice (making sacred). The transmutation of our pains. The falling and rising. The terror of the unknown (as the word used in the bible) only made bearable by the faith into something greater. This is what some Native Elders have called the Great Turning. When the turn is so strong that many feel at loss and in resistance. That pain is greater. But it is also when great changes are happening. They are inviting us to connect back to the Mother, the womb we are living in. They are inviting us to not be a witness or wishful thinker but to be in deeply committed action to create this future together. So, transformation, transmutation, and rebirth can happen. So, we can witness the miracle. So, we can be a miracle. What needs to die? Ignorance. Greed. Separation. The death of the attachment to the physical & ego identity so the Spirit can rise, be seen, felt and honored. One thing is sure: as long as we take any decisions that are not including all our relations, we will suffer. If we open to the interconnectedness of all life as a principle to drive our social, environmental, economic and political changes, we will be able to fully tap into the mystery of the resurrection. On this day I pray for my grandmother and all the elders that are alone today, separated from their family and loved ones. I pray for those who dedicate their lives to care for the sick, needy, hungry, and disenfranchised. That is where the symbol of Christ alive is for me. In the love of the mother for the child. In the caring “how are you doing” call to check on our loved ones. In the work & service of all of those who spread love through their action and words, building more inclusiveness and connectedness. Easter is not just a symbol or an old story, it is a gateway into a mystery that is alive in us. And even if for some it is just a day to look for chocolate eggs in the garden, what is an egg but a cradle, a cave, a womb, for the mystery of life, the mystery of creation. It is for sure a powerful mystical portal for our prayers. A time of sacred communion.
It is an old ritual that carries a possibility of transformation, of connection, and of infinite Love. Happy Easter, Happy Pesach, to each and every one of you. With Love, Angell
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