The Golden Bough, a Fairytale Ballet for Children — and Adults

“The Golden Bough, a Fairytale Ballet for Children” is about a confrontation with the numinous.  The word ‘numinous’ means ‘to nod’ or ‘to beckon’.  It refers to the ineluctable call of the ‘wholly other’ within the soul, which may, on occasion also be experienced outwardly in synchronicities.  When you awaken to find yourself sobbing, not out of fear, but from a superfluity of profound grace from a dream, you realize that you have been intimately approached and beckoned to by the numinous power of divinity within your own soul!   It’s like you have been in a pit somewhere, and a hand has reached down to grab you and pull you out.  If you are paying attention and being totally honest, it is crystal clear to you that your own, pitiful ego was not the author of the dream.  In 1987, I had such a dream.  That dream propelled me into the inner work I needed to do and ultimately led to the creation of “The Golden Bough, a Fairytale Ballet for Children” (1996).

After the experience of that 1987 dream, I struggled to find the same quality or even support for my experience in the forms and language of the institutional church I had loved for so long.  The failure of institutional religious forms to any longer mediate a genuine experience of the numinous power that is simultaneously at the center of the universe and resident within the soul is a serious problem for many.  Going to church is now (with a few notable exceptions) just like going into the environment and chaos of a supermarket, for churches, strapped for cash, seem to have lost their way in a misguided and illusory attempt to somehow compete with the megaliths for people’s attention and dollars.  We no longer have a collective alternative except the degraded forms of American idol worship in mass media.  Without an alternative to the collective hysteria surrounding the megalithic sports and entertainment industries, the soul withers and society suffers from spiritual dislocation, disease, addictive behaviors, rage, brutality, and descends into chaos and mass psychosis (wars).  Without the vehicle for or a container of authentic being-ness, activity has no root and merely becomes a banal, enslaved knee-jerk reaction to the wizards, gimmickry, and advertising ploys of the megaliths.

  

“The Golden Bough, a Fairytale Ballet for Children” [1996 (paper) and 2000 (hardcover) English versions; 2015 Spanish, French, and Russian translations] is a parable about retrieving the genuine energies of authentic being-ness which leads to creative doing and manifestation in the world.  The “Companion Guide to ‘The Golden Bough, a Fairytale Ballet for Children’:  the Ballet as Parable” resides at the intersection of psychology, philosophy, religion, mythology, and art.  Where these various streams converge, the current of a genuine, inner-experience-based, non-theocratic, non-dogmatic religious human spirituality flows and is picking up breadth and strength.

  

In the future, which is now, the job of the Church almost certainly is to educate people on the use of metaphor and imagery in reaching a deeper, more soulful understanding of the traditional images and iterations of the institution.  By educating people in the use of metaphor and imagery, the Church might, it seems to me, redeem the products of fantasy which are all around us, illuminate dreams that occur every night, and reconcile all of these products of the imagination with the more traditionally-stated themes of the Church (i.e., penitence, crucifixion, resurrection, transfiguration, reconciliation).  If the Church were to loosen its grip on its insistence on analytical, linear, left-brain doctrine and dogmatic statements, it would find true ‘religion’ (from the Latin religare, “to link back”) — one that links the past, the immediacy of the present, and the future.

"This Day" — A Prayer by Wilor Bluege

“THIS DAY”

(Invocation by Wilor Bluege delivered to the St. Olaf class of 1965 at its 50th Reunion, May 29, 2015)

HOLY and SACRED MYSTERY:

THIS DAY we CELEBRATE with profound gratitude the GREAT MYSTERY that is each of us. Here, in this glorious PRESENT, “Everything is PRESENT.  Our PAST is not PAST.”

THIS DAY we CELEBRATE and ADDRESS the MYSTERY that brought us here a lifetime ago and the mystery of sheer GRACE that allows us to be here THIS day.

THIS DAY we CELEBRATE the MYSTERIOUS TENDRILS OF MEMORY, which still connect us.

THIS DAY we CELEBRATE the PRESENCE of those who have died.  Their lives matter still:  a vast deposit in the treasury of evolving human consciousness.

Many have died.  Many of us have been dismembered.  All of us have been wounded.  We are, each of us, both criminal and saint.  If there are open wounds in our lives, may we be granted the GRACE to begin to heal them, so that our children and grandchildren may not inherit the whirlwinds of archaic agendas.

THIS DAY and all of our days that follow, may we be EMPOWERED to RE-COLLECT those parts of our soul we may have left behind.   For, our histories may be what happened, but they are not who we ARE!  May we find THIS DAY the COURAGE and CLARITY to ask:  “What are we besides our history?  Who am I besides my history?  What task is there yet for me — and for us collectively?  What wants to come into the world through us?    What is the larger ‘OPUS’ that seeks to live itself out in us?”

THIS DAY we commit ourselves to the TASK of CREATIVE UNFOLDING which drags us — sometimes kicking and screaming — to the RECOGNITION that we are confronted by a PRESENCE in the depths of our soul WHO obliges us to GROW.  Grant to each of us — and to all of us collectively — the gifts of CURIOSITY, IMAGINATION, GENEROSITY, and EMPATHY as we face the unknown and our mortality.  Grant to us the AGILITY of wisdom to discern where we need to adapt, and where we need to confront.

THIS DAY may we EMBRACE the UNIQUE CALLING of our soul — a calling that asks NOT for PERFECTION but for COMPLETENESS, INCLUSION, and COMPREHENSIVENESS.  And, when LIFE asks more of us than we think we are adequate to accomplish or endure, help us, HOLY ONE, to choose the path of ENLARGEMENT instead of that which diminishes.  For whether we choose or do not choose, CHANGED we WILL BE:  either by our inner DIVINE or by our inner DEMONS.  No part is ever lost, though it may — through our CRUCIFIXION and DIVINE GRACE — be transformed for use in the wondrous tapestry of our lives.

THIS DAY we call upon the CREATIVE SPIRIT within to grant us the COURAGE to face our ANXIETY, AMBIGUITY and AMBIVALENCE.   Grant us THIS DAY, SACRED SPIRIT, the TENACITY, HUMILITY, and PERSEVERANCE without which nothing worthy of our souls can be accomplished.

THIS DAY, HOLY ONE, may we find sustenance for the soul as well as the body.  AMEN.  LET IT BE, LET IT BE.

Birds Preaching to St. Francis?

There I was sitting on the back porch, drinking my tea, attempting to ‘read the tea leaves’ (so to speak) about the present creative situation, trying to discern the right path among many paths vis a vis the Golden Bough Project.  Sitting there, watching the birds thronging around our bird feeder, I was enjoying the sheer abundance and amazing variety of the birds that had decided to frequent our feeder this year — in contrast to other years where we’ve only had the usual customers (the English Sparrows, some  Goldfinches and Chickadees).  We even have several pairs of Robins, which gobble up the raisins we leave for them.  Impertinently, we have begun calling them “our” Robins, for they look at us through the window.  One of them even sitting boldly on our railing, cocking its head admonishingly at us, as if to say, “Our food tray is empty!”  But today, right now, in addition to these usual customers, we have:

1. White-Throated Sparrows whose beautiful plumage, well-proportioned form and clear voice give us so much joy,
2. Stunningly beautiful Red House Finches (which we have not seen for many, many years) who have decided, inexplicably, to return this year and grace us with their glorious song,
3. The tiny, yet so bold for their size, Chipping Sparrows (who had never before eaten in the feeder but had only hopped about in the grass in previous years),
4. Cowbirds (grrrrr!  Parasites!)
5. And, wonder of wonders, even a tiny House Wren (a bird that’s not supposed to eat seeds)! “What?  Are you kidding me?” I exclaimed.

All were zipping in and out of the feeder.  This was amazing and totally without precedent since we moved in here in 2000!  I was thoroughly enjoying watching these avian visitations — and even a tiny mouse that darted under the stonework.  At the same time I mused how all these birds (and the mouse) were — in addition to being such a joyous gift, and in addition to being very hungry creatures (!) — presented me with an apt metaphor for the ineluctable draw which the presence of an archetype has on any situation where a leap of consciousness is demanded.   For, an archetype, like the seeds in the feeder and fallen on the ground, gathers to itself innumerable ideas and images that cluster around it, like the birds to our feeder. 

 

Amidst all this activity, the thought, “But the presence of so many ‘birds’ — the creative ideas that swarm around the archetype — at a backyard feeder also attracts the ‘hawk’ of one’s personal ambition”, had no sooner crossed my mind than a real hawk suddenly swooped through our yard, scattering the birds from our feeder!  The hawk did not land or even attempt to nail one of the birds at the feeder, but I got a very good look at its shadowy back as it whizzed right through our yard and the yard next door, like a shot from a bow and arrow!  That little piece of synchronicity certainly got my attention!  It also occurred to me that not only was my shadow personal ambition a thing to be aware of, but, just as importantly, that highly creative ideas attract also the “hawks in the neighborhood”, i.e. the people in one’s environment who have huge shadow ambition, who would use the creative situation for their own self-aggrandizing purposes, rather than the archetype’s purposes.  Having had the experience in the past of others’ (as well as my own) ambition “swooping in” on me and my creative work to ‘fly off with it’, i.e., expropriate it, I have been made wary; thus, my caution in the present moment as I try to ‘read the tea leaves’ and move forward.

The archetypal situation can be read in such simple events in the backyard as this.  Now, I wonder if we might not reinterpret (or, rather, add another dimension to) the images we have of St. Francis (see blogpost of May 12, 2015, re Dr. David L. Miller lecture) preaching to the birds, the wolf of Gubbio, and other wild critters.  “Perhaps we have been missing for several hundreds of years the fuller message of the paintings we have of St. Francis preaching to the wild critters like the birds, the wolf, and the mouse,” I mused, sitting in my chair.  

Our attention to certain ideas ('birds') 'feeds' those ideas because our energy is focused on them, granting them 'validity' and 'life'.  One can't stare at them (birds or ideas) too hard, because that, of course, is what predators do.  And the ego, like a wolf, would just love to make off with the idea for its own self-aggrandizement.  So one needs to be very patient with them (birds/ideas); giving them attention but not too much.  It's a discernment process.  At the same time those 'birds/ideas' are 'speaking' ('preaching') to our souls and calling to us to 'bring them out' from their coverts into manifestation in the outer world that needs so much to hear their song.  It's a dialectic going on, a conversation.  (A small mouse darts under a wall, reminiscent of the 'mouse of the lord' that darts in and out of my consciousness.)

(See my blogposting, 'Mouse of the Lord', March 19, 2011).   

While it may be the case that St. Francis was ‘preaching’ to the birds, etc., it may be equally valid to speculate that the reverse is also the case:  it is the birds (and the wolf, and a mouse, etc.) who preach to St. Francis!  ‘They’ (i.e., the multiple forms the archetype inhabits) are most certainly preaching to me in the current situation.  With the passage of time, I have become even more keenly aware that an archetype was responsible for the creation and production(s) of “The Golden Bough” ballet back in 1996-2003.  The same archetype has now somehow been activated yet again all these years later.  I am trying to discern what that means and the right path for me.  Clearly, a leap of consciousness is expected.  So, I have my ‘ear to the ground’ where the ‘Mouse of the Lord’ scurries about furtively, whispering truth to power.

(Woodcut by Carl Weidemeyer, 1911) (Source:  Wikipedia)

Now, about those Cowbirds …

I can’t say my behavior towards them has been civil — or even sane, since I have been seen a time or two chasing them away from the yard, flailing a broom maniacally in the air to disperse the varmints.  We’ve not had a lot of these pests in previous years, and the ones that do seem to find their way here have always left us after the migration period.  I’m hoping this year will be the same.

Their larger presence this year (and my deviant behavior towards them) gives me pause to consider their role in the current archetypal situation as I try to reach discernment.  Certainly, there seems to be a whole lot of energy swirling about not just our bird feeder but around the discernment process as well, and yesterday the flocks of Cowbirds that scattered before me on my way up to Brainerd provided me a reminder of some thoughts I had begun to chew on.  The easy pace and rolling countryside up Highway 25 gave me a good chance to reflect on these parasites of the bird world that refuse the burden of taking care of their own progeny and instead foist them upon other species to raise/feed.   

The lazy, slothful, uncaring, abandoning, 'trickster' behavior of the Cowbird, disconnected from its own creation, represents a threat to its creative production and a burden foisted on others.  And the poor little Cowbirds who are ‘orphaned’ reproduce the same abandoning behavior once they become adults — just like human babies and children who experience abandonment.  Synchronistically, I was confronted on both of the past two days with two completely separate incidents of ‘abandonment issues’ in young people.  In addition, the "Trickster" archetype seems to have been inexplicably constellated in the situation as I try to move forward and gain clarity in the present task of discernment.  The Cowbird tricks other birds into doing what it does not want to (or cannot) do for itself.

My experience of young people with abandonment issues shows that without the right attitude of the care-taking adults in their life, these youngsters may grow up just like the little Cowbirds, expecting others to care for their every need, incapable of taking care of their own nest (housekeeping), incapable of earning a living.  Frequently, the well-meaning folks who take them in are just so exhausted, or just so guilt-ridden, or just so fearful of losing the love of the child that they will simply throw money at the problems that arise.  But this method of dealing with the problems of abandonment never works out well for the abandoned child — or for the child’s well-meaning adult caretakers. It breeds dis-empowerment rather than empowerment on both sides of the relationship.  It is a disservice to allow sympathy for the abandoned child to trump preparing the child for a productive, real life.  It is a disservice to the child and to society at large to allow it to become a little tyrant and manipulator. 

Once again, the birds in our backyard have ‘spoken’ to me.  The presence of the Cowbirds provides a caution to me to be aware of the presence of a shadow tendency to foist the burden of consciousness and the burden of creativity onto others in the current situation.  The archetype that swirls around “The Golden Bough, a Fairytale Ballet” is showing signs of  'feeling abandoned’, thus its nagging persistence and the high degree of energy it is producing in the current situation.  I need to take care of my ‘Cowbird’ shadow, my laziness and sloth and non-committal attitude.  I need to get the ‘broom’ out and chase these shadow tendencies away!  Perhaps then, the ‘face’ which the archetype shows to me will change from ‘tyrant’ to ‘blessing’ from ‘parasitic’ energy-sucker to ‘cheerleader’.