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Here’s a new thing: Jon Snow’s discovered my altar and ritual objects, and finds them so much fun to chew on! I don’t even want to tell you what I found in his mouth this morning. Here’s the latest: a gorgeous owl feather I’ve had for quite some time. Jon Snow is already teaching me not to be so attached to symbols. Symbols are a shadow cast by love. Don’t live in the shadow.
#puppyproofthehouse
#puppymedicine
One of my most cherished ritual objects is shown in the feature photo. It’s called The Blessing Stick. It was a plain stick given to me by a shaman about 12 years ago. I was doing racial healing work in Charleston at the time, so I gave it to an artist (Cookie Washington) and asked her, “can you put some Africa in this?”, This is the brilliance she created. I started carrying the stick around campus (College of Charleston) with me, and the students were drawn to it like children dazzled by magic. They’d ask: what is that, Mr. Greg? I’d tell them, ‘oh, this is magic. It’s a Blessing Stick.’ I’d wave it over the student and tell them something beautiful I saw in them. Then I’d say, you have to now bless someone else with it in order for it to be complete. Students on the campus started running up to me and asking for a blessing with this stick, and then they were turning to bless each other. College students turned into little children when given an opportunity to stand in the magic of their own brilliance.
I love this stick. Yesterday, somehow Jon Snow managed to stick his little nose through the one-inch bars of his crate, grab it off a shelf, and pull it into the crate to chew on. Theresa Byrne made a comment about ritual objects being more like “toys”. The power in them is the power we give them. But Love Dogs like Jon Snow seem to understand what they really are. Rumi describes it best here:
IT’S RIGGED
It’s rigged – everything – in your favor.
So there’s nothing to worry about.
Is there some position you want,
some office, some acclaim, some award, some con, some lover,
maybe two, maybe three, maybe four – all at once? 😉
Maybe a relationship with God?
I know there is a gold mine in you, and when you find it
the wonderment of the earth’s gifts you will lay aside
as naturally as does
a child with a doll.
But dear, how sweet you look kissing the unreal.
Comfort, fulfill yourself in any way possible – do that until you ache, until you ache,
then come to me again.
– Rumi, translation by Coleman Barks
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Photo courtesy of the author