"Autumn Equinox Ritual: Thriving with Less; A Free Public Ritual to Honor the Changing Season" with Dr. Daniel Foor of Ancestral Medicine

Guiding Question for this Autumn Equinox Ritual: What can I release in my life to support greater embodiment of clarity and purpose?

Before the "ritual", the reminder email they sent out suggested lighting a candle if we wanted to. So I lit my 'Warm Tobacco Pipe' candle from DW Home. I put on a pair of deep red stretch pants, a grey tank top, and my red rose Kimono cardigan. Then I did my Blessing of the Head ritual and veiled with the hunter green wrap I have in the simple Ashkenazi triangle style- then dabbed some of the Solar Oil I made at the Summer Solstice on my forehead, and some of my BPAL 'Sunyashniki' perfume on each wrist. I also wore my Moss Agate jewelry set, and broke out my old gold-dipped Deer Antler and Volcanic Rock necklace that used to be for Cailleach to wear.

It just felt right to get dressed and put in some effort for my space for the "ritual", even if I wasn't going to be speaking or even on camera or anything; go big, dedicate to the action, or go home, I guess. And I'm glad I did, actually.

In the Guided Meditation portion Dr. Foor asked us to "call down" whatever spirits or guides we wanted to aid us and I chose HaShem. It felt like an obvious choice to me- especially with it being the Autumn Equinox today.

He then asked us to go through considering where we feel most in tune and aligned with our individual self- and where we feel the most friction against it. As well as where we feel more "disappeared" (which is when I finally realized he'd been talking about full integration with the source, and the connectivity of the tree and web of life, this whole time when talking about "disappearing" and what not). There was also leading around what we could let go of if we wanted to move towards feeling that peace and joy of self more often- as well as what we could let go of to better integrate.

This was the first time I've gone through a Guided Meditation and actually felt something tangible, though, and it was so exciting; not just that it was revelatory in some wonderful ways for me. But that I genuinely felt presence and it actually worked as I suspect Guided Meditations have always been intended to work but never directly experienced before now.

I've never been able to have a positive experience with one before, where they weren't full of fluff or nonsense or annoying visualization exercises, and actually worked for me as an Aphantasiac. But this one? It was so simple, and so straightforward. Zero fluff. No unnecessary commentary. No jarring vocal narration imagery to focus on ... It was just simple, to the point, and very straight for the purpose. I actually loved it, and I'm very excited to explore, and to see if there are other Guided Meditations out there in the style like Dr. Foor leads. If I can find these styles of them, I can finally integrate them into my practice properly.

There is a layer of all of what we are that, we know directly in our very being, that's already deeply, profoundly, "deeply ancient, older than the sun" Good. And it's that's really good if you can tap into that. And it's a relief to tap into that. And it means you don't have to try so hard, because it's already ok.

All of the cultivation that we do of the self matters; it matters to be ethical, and to be compassionate. But a lot of it is ultimately so that we're not standing in the way of that amazing, inherent goodness which already exists.

We work through our "stuff", really, in order to disappear. To return what never was. To set down, to stop remaking the illusion of self-separateness from moment to moment. Because your greater self, this illusion of separateness, kicks up a lot of turbulence. And through healing properly this illusion of the refined self disappears.

It's ok to feel separate, because we are. The self is inherently separate. We're not going to suddenly cease existing as different individuals with boundaries ... But there's additionally- not in place of, but alongside- there's another reality that runs through us, that connects us all. And we can appeal to the bigger reality that we're all made of in order to appease the individual self that has come to feel separate, in order to alleviate the loneliness of that separation.

So healing is important but it's not the end goal. And the path of being an "awake" culture, a "channel for goodness", or "enlightened people", or whatever your best language is for that, is fundamentally different than "working really hard at it" through self cultivation.

Frankly we actually recreate the self more than we need to; people get into cycles- into relentless, and even unkind, projects of trying to constantly make themselves better. And it can result in us actually feeling less in touch with the already full and whole feeling of ok-ness that's already available to us. And there's an inherent invitation to make it a habit to dwell within that world of constant reinvention of self.

But you don't increase the frequency of the moments of spiritual contact by constant self improvement. You just exhaust yourself- leading to that disconnect and loneliness. And the individual self is never truly going to be "enlightened" or "awake". It's just going to keep being "the self". And that's good enough. That's ok ... And that's what I want to invite you to look at.

What are you adding that you don't actually need to add to your life moment to moment? What can you set down in order to thrive and be at ease; something that's not in service to your life anymore today, that's just kind of "blah", that you could do away with or which could be repurposed in service to the universe by not being carried around with you anymore?

For example, if we held the view that the objects and things that we invite into our lives come with a sort of relationship of obligation, then we would be more mindful of the things we chose to invite into our lives in the first place.

It can be scary, though, to let go of the forms we're used to because we use a lot of these forms to regulate the intensity of our experiences with the spiritual; dwelling in the big integrated reality can be overwhelming and incredibly intimate. It's one of the reasons I check the news- to bring me back to human reality.

It's important to stay connected (too) to the suffering of the world because it is also our own suffering. But again, there is that invitation to dwell. And if you are the kind to dwell in the suffering, it is important to understand that you are not obligated to fix the world.

We're ultimately never ever going to do enough, either; people are suffering in all kinds of intense ways in the world and you can do so many things- all the accomplished and important and healing things. And then you're going to die. And it still won't be enough, whatever you do ... It's a trap.

And yet simultaneously, we are already enough and complete. Both are true, and we must live with the perpetual dance of both truths. So what can we do? What if we just set it all down for a moment ... Can you take a break from it, for just a moment?

It's ok to set down or take breaks from the project of trying to improve the self. There are so many people with a whole lot of kindness and goodwill really showing up and bringing a lot of authentic, grounded, safe love into the world. Whether or not you feel in touch with that or see it, it's not a bad thing to slow down and notice that; to rest in that knowing, and let your next move come from that place.

There were some other great comments and bits of wisdom that I enjoyed as well. The first being that certain spirits (I didn't catch which ones as a cat distracted me) are "children born of human and other-than-human elemental powers"; I thought it was so interesting to hear my own theology echoed in some part.

I also liked his spiel about the self (his own self in particular) in relation to reinvention, and letting go of your constant need to self examine, reinvent, and cultivate:

There was a question from someone in the end, too, about ancestor work, and if he had any advice on better integrating that into one's practice. And here he made it clear that if your intent is to connect with the ancestors, then you need make the ancestors a high priority; create tangible structures within your life that remind you of your intent to connect with them. Make it a regular habitual thing. Bring in other people to hold you accountable to help if you need to. But don't get hung up on the details, obviously. I need to remember that last bit, ha.