Unfolding to The MysteryThe Spring Equinox has arrived. Here in the Northern hemisphere, our famished souls are greedily devouring each new sight of spring as it appears in the field or the hedgerow, after a long winter. Daffodils are powering through, the silver birch trees on the hillside are purple with bursting buds and the first lambs are skipping in the field, clad in their protective plastic macs. The land is full of promise.
But as I write this today, her tender treasures are covered in a white fleece borrowed from a winter’s day. A snowy silence is on the Dene, broken only by the bubbling call of the curlew as she rises from the hill. Even the clamorous voice of the beck seems muffled by winter’s white noise. But the green and gold is still there, beneath the white. As spring arrives, the Equinox offers us a moment of perfect balance between the hours of daylight and darkness. It is the gift of a moment that we can choose to enter if we will, to find the lesson of the season in that carefully defined space, sculpted by nature in time. In my meditations, I feel like a traveller, passing from the cave of winter into the long passageway of the path to spring. A glimmer of light beckons. There is a crack in the rock ahead of me, a narrow fissure through which I will just be able to squeeze to make my entrance into the light. But it is a tight fit. For a moment I am held firm in the grip of the rock. In that tight space, I can neither move back into the darkness or forward into the light. One foot in shadow, the other in sunlight. Like Janus, I am, for a brief moment, an inhabitant of that place between the worlds – a creature of neither darkness nor light. Lodged in that fertile gap, I experience feeling both the cold breath of winter on one cheek, while the other is warmed by the sun, before I burst through into the green and the gold. The lesson for me in that profound, fleeting moment? To be. To be held. To inhabit the paradoxical state where I am held, so that I can fall free. So that I can allow myself to let go, to fall forward, be propelled by the full force of ‘Viriditas’ - the greening power of the Divine within me that can only lead to growth. Hildegard of Bingen , the twelfth century mystic, coined this phrase to name the ineffable - the fertile power of the Divine that springs forth like a living well to bring vibrant life to the land, and to us - to all areas of our being. And what is it that I wish to be held by, I ask myself. Several answers come to mind. The purely human response is to seek the comfort and reassurance that comes from the loving support of those near and dear to me. The poetic answer that my spiritual language provides is - to be held by the all-embracing arms of the Beloved, the Great Mystery, the Source. The most practical answer is to allow myself to surrender more and more to the practices that nourish my soul, in the different forms that takes for me. I have come to understand a little, that it is this which becomes the tender crowbar to widen the gap between a life lived in shadow or in light. Today I know - and I also know that tomorrow may be different - that whatever winter hurls at me from behind as she departs, flinging fistfuls of ice, my living being is caught in the spiral of spring – moving, living, breathing, loving, unfolding inexorably into The Mystery. ‘Immanaire’ Julie (May it be for good) Put your headphones on to hear the Harp Essence Music, with the best sound quality. Click on the audio player and allow a few moments for the music to load.
This month's music and wordsWords : You can read the words of 'A Celtic Blessing', which is spoken with the harp on 'Viriditas' - here.
Music: On the audio player below is a track from the new CD 'Viriditas' - a piece of 'Harp Essence Music' from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. Track Title : Holy Island - Peace after the storm. The wind plays gently through the harp, small birds sing in the golden gorse bushes at the water's edge on a calm summer morning after a night of storm. This Harp Essence is the Spring Gift - a free bottle of the essence that was made with this music is yours when you buy the CD ' Viriditas'. Click here to find out more.
You can read 'A Celtic Blessing' here
You can also hear it spoken with the harp, on the CD. All the music, words and images on this website are the original work of Julie Darling and are subject to copyright. Written permission is required for use of any material on this website. Thank you for respecting this. ©Julie Darling 2013 About this page:Each month, this will be a place to read the words, hear the nature sounds of my valley, and listen to the Celtic harp music that comes as I create a new Celtic Harp Essence. My hope is that this page will be a source of peace and inspiration for those who visit - like a 'Living Well' to refresh and restore the mind and spirit.
This green place - and all its creatures of the land and of the air - has been my close companion for more than twenty years. I have watched the seasons come and go, seen my sweet children grow and blossom here, and seen my own private journey unfold within this landscape. I hope you will feel nurtured and inspired by the words and images from my small part of the green world. Each new Celtic Harp Essence will be available for you too - if you find that you feel a strong resonance with the energy and spirit of the time, and the music that expresses it. The vibrational Celtic harp Essence will enable you to work more closely with the energy of the music. (Find out more about the Celtic Harp Essences here.) If you would like to be notified about each new edition, please click here. |
Spiritual Harp
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Copyright on all words, music and images © Julie Darling 2013
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