The power of our Word in our lives is immense. And so too is the way we express our words in written form. I have long been a fan of hand-written letters. I love looking at the hand-writing of others and I enjoy the physical movement of writing by hand. Almost every morning after waking from dreaming I write for at least an hour - just for myself. I have a little ritual of making a cup of tea, choosing a favourite pen, gathering my journal and my Tarot cards and then settling Rory and I comfortably on the bed. This ritual and the time taken for myself afterwards is precious to me because it is so slow, quiet and almost in a dreaming state - a beautiful reverie. It is in these writing hours that I have learnt the most about myself, decoded my dreams, healed the past and heard the whisperings of my spirit. Writing, myth & storytelling are my medicine.
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| Rory my writing companion |
At the end of The Swan Blessing I leave the room so that the client can have a quiet moment with their spirit to write by hand a new truth that they wish to live by. This truth is a replacement of the binding energy of oaths or vows that we have lived by in the past. Sometimes this truth, reached after journeying with the Swan is a direct flip or opposite of the sacred oath made in the past life. For instance, someone who had vowed to protect the tribe at all costs, would hear their heart create a new truth such as: I honour my spirit first and care for those I love in the best way I can. This is a removal of a once heavy vow to always put others before ourselves and to often carry great shame and guilt after lifetimes of not being able to protect everyone we love. Someone who had vowed to never share their gifts of healing again in a past life, may hear the new truth and write: I am free to express all of my gifts and talents.
Last week Tony and I journeyed with a beautiful woman in her Swan Blessing and when we returned to the room she told me that something remarkable had happened. When she went to write her new truth, she began to write it in a very delicate and old-fashioned script. She remembered that this was the way she used to write as a child and that when she started a new school she had been scolded and demanded to write in a more childish way - to print her words like the other children. She had to lose her beautiful writing voice and learn to write in another. I was so happy to see this personal and beautiful mode of self-expression returned to her after more than 30 years.
Swan was sacred to the Bard: the one who healed with words. The Bard honoured this totem by wearing a cloak made of Swan feathers. In these changing we times we are finding our truth, our voice again, some of us a rewriting history and totally reinventing ourselves. I encourage you to write your words down in your own hand and if you can develop a writing practice that becomes a meditation, even for just 10 minutes a day. In that short space of time you will come to know the art of your unique handwriting again. Perhaps you come may come to love this practice of being the scribe for your own spirit so much that the union of pen and hand creates a key to open the door to your own mythic story.
