Why crossing the threshold between worlds matters
2023 the year we learn to listen to life
Week 31--in which we ponder why the ability to cross the threshold between worlds matters
Friends, soul writers, mystics, witches, and lovers of prayer,
This Notes from the Field will be short because I’ve been totally immersed in preparing the Opening Ceremony for the 2nd labyrinth walk in The Witch Sequence. The curtains will open in the Theatre of the Miraculous today at 2pm Eastern and we will begin our 77-day walk on the ancient feminine labyrinth to awaken, remember, and trust that we really do have innate ability to cross the threshold between worlds.
It's a radical intensive weaving together the science of the mystical theta brain wave state, with the magic and mystery of prayer, morphic resonance, dragons, tarot, chakras, sacred sounds, deep soul writing, the Imaginal Realm, mystical poetry, and so much more.
It's all unfolding on the most ancient and mysterious labyrinth—the 7-circuit symbol of the feminine womb.
This new intensive is unlike anything I, or anyone, has created. And yet, I’m not telling you anything you don’t already instinctively know. My mantra since 2008 has been, and will always be:
“Everyone has direct and immediate access to the Voice of Wisdom within.”
But I sure didn’t learn this as a child. And I bet you didn’t either.
Religion told us the opposite. All of our patriarchal religions told us we needed an intermediary. Be he priest, minister, rabbi, imam, or the father of the family. And yes, that intermediary was always a he. It’s only in the last few decades that women have been ordained ministers and rabbis.
As Caroline Myss said so powerfully and succinctly in a speech she gave in Canada a couple years ago:
“For five thousand years, god was tribal and male, and the central story of each religion was about a god-man savior, and the emissaries to petition that male god were all male.” In short, Myss said, “for 5,000 years, females had no god but a man.”
That’s a long time to be told that you do not have access to the divine. It’s a long time to have to ask a male emissary to petition god for you. And it’s a very long time to not be allowed to see the divine as feminine.
The sacred divine feminine presence, who was the central creative force on earth for thousands of years before any patriarchal religion, was silenced and crushed by tribes who worshiped their male-only god. And obeyed his commands to eliminate all symbols of the Divine Feminine and destroy anyone who persisted in worshiping the Goddess.
So no wonder we wake up in our oh-so-modern world, with our degrees and careers and freedoms, yet are surprised to discover we still carry vestiges of doubt about who the Goddess is, and who we, Her living expression on earth, really are.
Who we are is both stunningly simple and shockingly profound. I can say it even more succinctly than Caroline Myss described patriarchy:
"We are Her sacred treasure of life."
This is the most powerful prayer I know. Every time I speak these 7 words, my heart skips a beat. I think my inner timid catholic girlchild is a tad shocked that I could say something so radical and say it out loud!
But who is this sacred “We”?
Well, one we is obviously the female through whom all life comes. But it’s not limited to the female-bodied. Jung led the way on this, trying to get us to see that we are all two-spirited. We all carry the energy and wisdom of the sacred masculine. And we all carry the energy and wisdom of the sacred feminine. We find our individuation (to use his terminology which always felt flat to me, so I don’t use it) when we find our wholeness.
It’s the divorce of these two equal sacred powers, symbolized in the culture by the diminution or outright removal of the Goddess and her ancient symbols, that has left us in a parched and angry Wasteland.
So the essence, the purpose, the heart of walking The Witch Sequence is to become whole. And holy.
We get there, step by step, as we awaken, remember, and trust all seven of our original sacramental gifts. The 2nd gift, the gift we are awakening in this intensive, is our Goddess-given ability to crisscross the threshold between worlds.
Why does this matter? Why is this the 2nd gift? It’s obviously of great importance, foundational to our wholeness.
As Rumi describes it so sweetly:
People are going back and forth across the threshold where the two worlds meet
The door is round and open
Don’t go back to sleep
I stumbled through that round open door when I stumbled upon deep soul writing. The big surprise for me—and for everyone reading Writing Down Your Soul—is that there’s a scientific name and explanation for what happens in that threshold.
The scientific name is “the mystical theta brainwave state.”
Does dropping into theta matter. Oh yes!!!
It matters because you can only find and trust your truth, your creativity, your knowing, your wholeness, your mystic communion by crossing that threshold. And when you do that, and discover you have direct and immediate access to vast wells of love and wisdom and creativity, you realize you need no intermediary. Indeed, you might well be viewed as a trustworthy intermediary. (Divination is the 6th witch gift.)
I’d like to leave you with a prayer Our Lady Queen of Magicians dictated. I’ll be reading it to everyone as we prepare to finger walk The Witch Sequence labyrinth for the first time in our opening ceremony.
Our Lady Queen of Magicians,
You have shown us the blueprint—
The Witch Sequence
You have whispered the purpose—
to heal the wasteland
You have sent Archangels Luci and Michael—
twin guardians of your original culture of love, reverence, prayer, and devotion
You have summoned 7 dragons—
to sing the song of the Whole and Holy witch
Now, we ask that you gather the witches,
hold our hands, guide our feet
as we walk your ancient labyrinth path
to Awaken, Remember, and Trust
your 7 original sacramental gifts
ours once, ours now, ours always
canticum somnium draconis
The A.R.T. of Becoming a Witch
2nd Mystica Inner-Versity intensive
2nd Original Spiritual Gift
2nd walk on The Witch Sequence labyrinth
How to Awaken, Remember, and Trust
Your Innate Ability to Cross the Threshold Between Worlds
to dancing through that round open door!
Janet
PS: If you've missed any of the last Notes from the Field about this intensive, you can read them all as blogs on my site
website: janetconner.com
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