This past Sunday, the Religious Exploration program presented for adults was a guided meditation designed to elicit the appearance of an animal companion (Spirit or Power Animal), and envision an atmosphere conducive to receiving any message they may have to convey. The following is my experience, as I was guided to it:
It is late afternoon and I am standing on a city street. In front of me there is a cellar door in the pavement, through which I will access the inner world below. I descend the steps into the darkened cellar and proceed forward through a gently sloping tunnel. The walls are made of dirt, but smooth; the consistency of hardened clay, devoid of markings. I can hear nothing but the echo of my own footsteps, and silence. I run my left hand along the wall as I walk down the long, straight tunnel. As I approach the light at the far end, I begin to hear the sounds of nature – the chirping of birds, the rustling of leaves in the breeze, the rush of a distant river.
I emerge from the tunnel into a sunlit meadow, bright and inviting. Although the morning sun is shining brightly, I am not squinting, and I continue to walk forward at a leisurely pace. As I am waiting for my animal to approach, I hear scurrying from my right side. I look down to see a raccoon, which surprises me because this was not the animal I was expecting. I start to think of the many things that a raccoon symbolizes to me, when I stop and remind myself that I am supposed to let go and just allow it to say what it is here to say. I wait, but it remains silent. I ask, but still nothing. Except perhaps bemusement. Is the raccoon mocking me?
Just as I am thinking that I must be “doing it wrong”, I see a hummingbird flit across my field of vision, over to the left. I turn my head toward it and it hovers there in the air for a moment, its eyes meeting mine. Silently, I ask it whether it has any message for me. A pause, and then, clear as the day but almost a whisper, “In order to stay aloft, you must remain in motion”.
original image ©Dirk van der Made
In order to stay aloft, you must remain in motion.
~ Christiana
