Tuesday, June 5th, 2007
The ancient Sibyls, prophetesses of the Mediterranean lands, wrote their prophecies on leaves and laid them at the mouths of caves. If no one came to retrieve them they would be scattered by the winds and the questioner would have to do great work to recollect and understand them. The Sibyls were also known to write in codes, or to sing their prophecies as song, and the quality of their answer corresponded to the quality of the question, and the intention in the heart of the questioner. They did not prophesy to please the ones who came to them…they spoke what they received. They trusted their own power, and the power of the universe’s response.
For most of us, being too translucent would be a terrible thing. What can remain invisible within us is protected. But along the path of life we stop saying what we mean, and learn to dress it up in the fashion required of the moment or the company or our own expectations. It can be exhausting. Our life force and the sparks that light the flames within us, diminish.
Perhaps we are afraid of offending someone, being judged, being seen for who we are…or not seen. We go to great delicacies to create complex ornamentation in our speech and way of being, but sometimes not in the spirit of the art of the soul, but in the fear of our raw, unedited essence escaping. And though we do not want it to always express this way, if we have forgotten our wild essence our life will soon show it.
Every time we swallow part of the truth of who we are to please someone else or present a certain image, it is stored somewhere and waits for moments of release. The moment we can vent, or cry, or write, or finally tell someone the truth we have not spoken. It waits for the moment we decide to hold a boundary we have been letting the water rush over for a long time. It waits for us to trust ourselves, and what is wild and true and real within us.
When we begin to trust our own power, a friendship most avoid or abuse, there are certain people who will leave our lives, and situations which will provoke us to return to a more false way of relating to the essence within…but once we have truly crossed the line within us, we already know better. We may be tempted or feel defeated at times, but the greatness of our truer path holds strong and guides us, ultimately. And for this reason new people and new situations and opportunities will enter.
The truth is that there isn’t just one line we cross one time…there are countless lines we have the choice to cross or hold back from every day. There are countless moments to let our wings be bound or freed. Every time you take a true risk of the heart, a part of you is liberated that will never have to hide again. These times require us to be both strong and free, and to protect that freedom with a grace that it takes our entire being to open to. May this grace fall into your path and guide you across every threshold of the constraint of your true being, and open you to a blazing new sun, and brilliant new moon, within.
Love, Jennifer
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This month Jennifer also released a new name for her monthly e-newsletter, Sibylline Leaves, in honor of the ancient messages sent on the winds by these sacred Oracles.
