Yesterday's walk was different. I think this is what it means when you have to stick with a practice and at a certain point, rewards will hit you. Regardless of schools being closed and people being there, it was strangely silent. Almost, spectral. Definitely, otherworldly.
It was slow, very quiet, full of... opportunities. I felt I was walking in the field of pure potentiality. I hugged trees and touched and smelled pitchpine resin. I listened to some music and I ate my usual apple as an offering at the Main Crossing. I walked to EliðiRr, my dragon, and there something happened. First off I felt the urge to take off my watch and place both wrists and my forehead on the trunk of a tree. There, I closed my eyes and focused on my breath. I could see a taupe / greyish background and then a word appeared, moving forward towards me. I could not make up the word but I had a sense of... its size and of its meaning. It reminded me of a combi-harvester gathering grain in a large field. So, maybe the word that resonated the most is yielding. Yielding... sounds right, as in gathering, collecting, amassing, bringing together the fruit of your labour.
Before, when conversing with EliðiRr, I noticed how his trunk was so exposed but also leathery. The outer layer, the bark, was gone and the phloem was soaked in water and partly covered in moss. That is the part of the trunk that carries all nutrients and hormones from the leaves to the rest of the tree, while the upward movement of nutrients from the roots happens inside, within the sapwood. The phloem, so uncovered, spongy and leathery... when I touch it, it almost feels like I could sense the tree breathing, heavily. This physical and phenomenological reminded me of Hermes Trismegistus's Tabula Smaragdina [or: The Emerald Table].
True it is, without falsehood, certain and most true.
That which is above is like to that which is below,
and that which is below is like to that which is above,
to accomplish the miracles of one thing.
And as all things were by contemplation of one,
so all things arose from this one thing by a single act of adaptation.
The father thereof is the Sun, the mother the Moon.
The wind carried it in its womb, the earth is the nurse thereof.
It is the father of all works of wonder throughout the whole world.
The power thereof is perfect. If it be cast on the earth,
it will be separate the element of earth from that of fire, the subtle from the gross. [etc].
This is one of the main [and earliest] documents about Alchemy which was part of my MA by Research [HERE]. When I read or listen about manifestation and the Law of Attraction, we notice the "As Within, So Without" assuming that whatever we feel inside should match whatever happens outside, in our tangible world. We are then requested to work on what we feel, sense and think in order to actively change what we experience within so that we can then attract, or pull in, the vibrational match of what lies outside. Having grown up in a family, culture, and era where there was a lot of conditioning - as everybody else - this to me feels like a lot of work by also adding extra pressure on the working that we need to do. What if we don't feel like it? What if we haven't learned the ins and the outs of therapeutic work - because, in the end, this is what it is - what if we have a bad day, what if we start feeling guilty for not being good enough at this manifesting thing?
"As Within, So Without" is undeniably true but it is also mental and very theoretical. It is processual. It belongs to the thinking part of the approach. Instead, "As Above, So Below" belongs to the feeling, the experiencing, the instant realisation, the awakening. The deeper knowing. When I touch a tree, when I connect to the physical part of the world, I recognise my body as a living entity. This is made of the same building blocks as anything else that is out there and above. And here comes the Above: it is All One Single Thing, of which we are part and the illusion of separation is given simply by our conceptualizing this separation. Because we think. Energetically, we are like trees, animals, stars. This whole endless transcendental exchange of information is what makes us supranatural beings. The moment we realise what we really are and we experience the union with everything, we understand the "As Above, So Below" and that below is the within. Hence, "As Within, So Without" happens naturally and with no effort.
Of course, there is a catch. The moment you realise the deeper connection, once you awaken to the concept of Oneness, you will not be bothered about the Without. The money, the flashy car, the house in the Hamptons, the perfect rich and beautiful partner, and even a healthy body will not be important anymore. You will realise that those are simply part of packaged needs that you think make up who you really are [which is instead supranatural in nature]. All of those things listed above are just that: things. Labels, external marks we cover ourselves with because we are frail and vulnerable and close-minded within. Because we don't really know who we are and we are closed off to the Above. We are so separated from everything else around and from our deepest soul, we don't want to listen to that tiny little voice within that says: let go. You are working so hard trying to manifest, meditating, writing endless lists of things you are grateful for [really?], trying to push away your Shadow, pushing away negative thoughts, changing your routine, creating so much energy around you that all this work manifests itself more like a wall. A wall that the more you work on manifesting, the harder and thicker and taller it gets. We are so scared that we try to control everything while all around us everything falls apart and still shouts of beautiful organised chaos. Nature, the Natural World speaks to us of creativity, generativity, flow, adaptability, coexistence of spontaneity, and continuous recycling. And trust. Nature is ok with the Unexpected.
So, maybe, for once. Just go out, and sit somewhere in Nature. Close your eyes. And do NOTHING. Simply STAY. My hope is that you will find yourself at that magical crossroads, the land of Hekátē, Where Transcendence, Inner Exploration and the Physical World meet.
onwards + upwards > out + about
mx
________________________
Date : 23 OCT 2023
Duration : 1:21:17 4.19km
Steps: 5,540
Location : Turton and Entwistle Reservoir
Weather : damp
T : 13°
pls see:
The Alchemy Reader. From Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton by SJ Linden HERE and Book of Shadows by PW Curott HERE If interested, pls feel free to ask for more reading references.