Each Immram presented in this book brings the seeker to a physical landscape area of the Holy Isle that is an energetic mirror of a Station in the Avalonian Cycle of Healing. Each of these unique natural phenomena cycles energy in a very particular way. We see these Stations mirrored in the Sacred Landscape of the Island of Avalon, specifically set in the natural phenomena embodied by the Tor Valley.
The Red Spring holds the energy of the first Station of the Avalonian Cycle of Healing—the Station of Descent. This is the journey undertaken at Calan Gaeaf (Samhain) and during the waning aspect of the lunar dance. Here is when the intention to uncover the shadow has been expressed to the universe; we begin the process of delving within—seeking out things that bring us pain, leave us unfulfilled, and which manifest repeatedly as destructive patterns in our lives. Journaling, meditation, and connection with the Source are invaluable tools for this archaeology of the soul.
Next, embodied in the energy of the Tor, comes the Station of Confrontation—the recognition and naming of the root of the issue first examined at Descent. Women of Avalon use the black void of the dark moon and Gwyl Mair (Imbolc), the nadir of the Wheel of the Year, as mirrors that reveal all truths—no matter how difficult or painful they may be to look upon.
With the knowledge gained through the ordeal within the darkness, the ascent begins, shedding the light of the waxing moon and the fires of Calan Mai (Beltane) upon the long-hidden pieces of the self. Aligned with the White Spring, Emergence into the world of illumination brings the wounds of the soul to the surface of understanding. This is the time to sow the seeds of abundance where there was once only limitation, cultivating wholeness where there was once only shadow.
Resolution occurs in the fullness of the moon, at the zenith of Gwyl Awst (Lughnasadh); this Station corresponds with Modron’s Mound (Chalice Hill). Here, the fruits of our re-creation hang heavy in the orchards of our soul. We have successfully reclaimed energy bound in darkness, and re-channeled it into positive movement towards growth and self-realization.
At the center and between each of the other four Stations is a time of reflection and integration. Here, we synthesize lessons we have learned, assess the challenges that yet lie before us, and honor the Divinity within as our work takes us ever closer to the Source. With new tools at our disposal, we begin the Cycle again, seeing the journey with new eyes. The Station of Integration is symbolized by the whole of the Island of Avalon.
Entering the Cauldron for the first time is the most difficult for the woman who begins this cycle of Descent, Confrontation, Emergence, Resolution, and Integration. Change can be painful and is often shadowed by fear of the unknown. Like the Fool card of the Tarot, we must stride into the abyss with the faith that what lies beyond is a place of greater clarity, shifted perspective, and a step closer to wholeness. Once we have completed the first revolution and have seen progress made in our journeys toward actualization, that fear will be diminished for the next time through the Cycle. We have learned to trust the process and have come to know that the universe will support our own movement towards growth. We are never alone in our changes.
The great beauty of the Avalonian Tradition and the concept of sisterhood is that the seeker has access to other women, who also walk an inward (yet parallel) path, to use as resources and role models. Knowing that these women have faced their shadow and have emerged triumphant from the process is comforting and empowering. Every woman’s passage to self-knowledge and healing is unique, but there is no better support system than those who are doing the work and living with a commitment to personal growth and wholeness. How very blessed are we who know such sisterhood in our lives!
In the end, however, no one can bring us to our healing but ourselves. As such, those who ride the Barge to Avalon as a solitary path are not at any disadvantage. Whether we are in community or follow Her ways in solitude, the work can only be done as an individual within our own selves. The Goddesses are our greatest advocates for empowerment. Honored and celebrated on Avalon, They were not supplicated in hopes of performing miracles, making everything instantly better. More than anything, the Goddesses want for Their daughters to be out of pain and attain true wholeness; however, They cannot—and will not—do the work for us. They are with us every step of the way, and every turn of the Cycle. Lovingly, They are always available to guide, counsel, console, encourage, and inspire we who seek to know Them. Yet, when all is said and done, only we can change ourselves; only we can choose the path of wisdom that lies within. The Avalonian Cycle of Healing is a powerful companion for our journey.
It is important then to meditate upon why one is drawn to this work. Know that the path of Avalon is a path of service, and it is only through clear and unconditional surrender to this service that true Sovereignty can be obtained. Three chains uphold the vessel of service; they are necessary to support the Cauldron from which the Elixir of Wisdom can be brewed. These foundations are:
service to self: This service demands a commitment to personal growth and obtaining inner authenticity. We must seek to heal wounds preventing us from being all we truly are and we must reclaim the gifts lying dormant in our shadow. This service frees us from the outmoded perspectives that bind us to endless iterations of reactive behavior, having nothing to do with the present. The first foundation of wholeness is the ability to love ourselves.
service to sisters: This service demands a commitment to supporting other women in their personal process and building a strong, healthy community. We must seek the Goddess in our sisters, recognize the sacredness of the Feminine in all women and honor the lessons each of Her reflections brings to our lives. This service frees us from the competitiveness and mistrust for other women promoted by a society that seeks to keep us disconnected from our sisters and, therefore, from our power. The second foundation of wholeness is the ability to love others; true love can only come with the ability to first love oneself.
service to goddess: This service demands a commitment to revealing the Divinity inherent in all things and actively working to recognize our connection to the All. We must seek the Goddess within ourselves and manifest the whole of our potential, for it is through us that the Lady works in the world. This service frees us from the limitations of our physicality and the illusion of our disconnection from the Source. Our gifts are the blessings of the Goddess and are meant to be given to the world. The third foundation of wholeness is the ability to love the Goddess—without fear and without shame. Only by loving the Goddess within the self and within others, can knowledge of Her complete and unconditional love be obtained.
To travel with clarity to the Island of Avalon is to commit to the healing found on her shores. We do not reclaim her ways for the sake of reclaiming—she is not a trophy to be hunted, hung on walls for admiration. What we discover about Avalon requires us to discover the corresponding energy within ourselves. Piece by piece, we heal the inner landscape, reclaiming our personal Sovereignty as we reactivate the archetypal realms of Avalon. It is this process of reactivation that has been poetically termed “drawing Avalon from beyond the mists.”
In this process is an interesting duality: the more time, intent, and energy collectively invested in reactivating the archetypal realms of Avalon, the more accessible these realms become to any who seek her. And yet, the ways will never be completely open—it will still require much work and rarified discernment to fully part the veil and walk her sacred shores.
We who seek to be daughters of the island must acknowledge and honor our spiritual ancestors, those women of wisdom who have walked the path to the top of the Tor before us. We recognize the years of effort and standards of attainment upheld by these women and seek to integrate this into our own dedication to Avalon. This work is process-oriented—bringing forth the authentic self. A Daughter of Avalon is known by her sense of presence—a centered nature, a commitment to know herself and her connection with the All, a willin
gness to look into the waters of the soul and the courage to change what she sees. She is willing to facilitate the growth of others without interfering in their process: she holds up a mirror for them to see themselves, and is not unwilling to look into the mirror held up to her by others. There is never a time or a place where personal growth ends. No matter how long one walks the path of Avalon—four months or forty years—we must always return to look into the mirror pool—each time with increased sight and sharpened sense of clarity.
In the broadest sense of the word, a woman of Avalon is a midwife. She brings forth the priestess or wise woman within, sees and supports the emergence of the higher self potential in others, and knows that through her work and her life, the Lady of Avalon shines forth in all that she is and does. She has patience for herself and her process, and in the process of others. As the seamstress holds the shears, she must at times cut through entanglements of persons, perspectives, and situations in order to free herself from that which does not support her higher good. She does not passively accept the shadow face of others—a midwife empowers growth and does not enable destructive patterns.
Things must be cut away in order to move forward; a tree grows best when pruned of dead weight and diseased limbs. There is a delicate balance to be found: supporting others’ growth and keeping open a space for their journeys while also recognizing that ultimately one is only responsible for oneself. The wise woman knows she cannot change others—she can only support change through word, deed, and example.
It is because of this that the foundation for the way of Avalon is found within. Through the dance of the Cycle that moves us through our healing, we gain clearer sight and improved discernment by way of issue resolution and the quest for self-knowledge. The clearer our sight becomes, the more we are able to recognize the truths of the greater pattern. We can see the stitches that have brought us to where we are and follow threads that lead us to our destination.
Expanding our sight to see the full spectrum from horizon to horizon empowers us with choice. At every moment, we have the power to change the course of our direction. We must first acknowledge that we have this power, and then foster the ability to see the nature of the changes we need to make. This often involves seeking out the origin of any misplaced stitches so that we have the ability to rip them out, and set the weaving right.
This work is meant to initiate the journey to wholeness. Each journey provides energetic clues and resonances that facilitate a tie-in to the energy signature of the Avalonian archetypal realm. These Immrama open the door to consciousness—it is up to seekers to step through the portal and do the work for themselves. Once grounded in the archetype and working through the tides of Cycle, the Cauldron of Transformation will begin to reveal itself and the Elixir of Wisdom will emerge from this process of self-distillation.
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The Power of Cycle
Three things on which every person should reflect: whence they come, where they are, and whither they shall go.
Celtic Triad
From the whirling of galaxies to the Earth’s revolution around the sun … From the seed-bearing coils of a pinecone to the logarithmic spiral of a mollusk’s shell … From the intertwining double helix of the DNA molecule to the subatomic particles spinning around their nuclei—the power of Cycle is a fundamental expression of universal energy, revealing itself in many ways. It is constantly flowing around us, working through us and moving within us.
Consciously acknowledging and working with the wisdom of the Cycle as part of our inner process can be a powerful tool in our quest for wisdom and personal transformation. Aligning with the cycle of the universe permits greater insight into the rhythmic nature of our unfolding. Harnessing this never-ending, ever-turning cycle will synchronize our lives and our growth process with the ebb and flow, descent and emergence of the universe, allowing us to break though the barriers preventing us from being fully conscious and connected to the All.
The Whole
Understanding any manifestation of Cycle brings understanding of all the ways in which this cosmic force expresses itself; all cycles are one Cycle. The Cycle is a continuum, endless and indivisible. It is helpful to the human mind to break the Cycle down into disparate energetic components in order to understand the magnitude of the totality, but we must remember that these divisions are solely for the purpose of study. The Cycle can be divided in many different ways but the truth beyond all divisions is that by nature, the Cycle is a whole, encompassing all and endlessly turning—repeating the great pattern found in all things.
It is important to keep in mind the context of the division of cycle one is using in order to maintain consistency of perspective—that is, staying with the same divisional “lens” through which to consider the whole. At times, correspondences seem to change alignments depending upon the filter through which they are being considered. These are not inconsistencies, but rather a reflection of the indivisible nature of Cycle. In reality, the studied aspect is unchanged, only perception of it has shifted according to its assigned mental map.
As an example, think of a car and its driver. As the operator of the vehicle, the driver represents the active force, while the car is the passive force—taking direction from the driver. At the same time, the actively moving car passively carries the driver, seeming now to have switched energetic polarities. We can consider the car to be passive to its driver while at the same time it is active to the road as it moves upon it. The energetic essence of all things considered do not themselves change; the car, the driver and the road are what they are. What has changed is the perspective through which each aspect of the Whole is viewed. Context is the key, and is a very important part of Cycle study.
Dualities
The first major energetic differentiation of the Cycle is into halves. The Hermetic principle of polarities states that opposites are the same in nature, differing only in degree. In this way, we can best come to understand the Cycle’s dual nature by contemplating the differences in the polar extremes, as well as the center at which they both resolve. One of the most visible dualities in Celtic thought is the concept of the Dark and Light Halves of the Year.
The Cycle in Halves
Triads
Numerologically, three is an unstable number, ever in motion and constantly evolving into the next phase; as such, it is an agent of change as well as the number of physical manifestation. The sacred triplicity is especially important in the Celtic worldview. Cosmologically, it is represented in the Three Realms of Land, Sea, and Sky. We see it again in the Three Illuminations of Awen—the three rays representing active, neutral, and passive energies streaming down to the physical plane from the unity of the Divine. Many Celtic gods and goddesses appear in threefold aspect, encompassing the full breadth of skill, existence, and experience. The Celtic triskele symbol beautifully embodies the nature of triadic energy. Dividing the Cycle into thirds, then, evokes the energies of creation.
The Cycle in Thirds
Quarters
Dividing the Cycle into quarters resonates strongly with the physical plane and encapsulates the totality of the Middle World experience. We see it in the four elements of Western esoteric thought, the four lunar Holy Days of the Celtic traditions, and the four Cauldron Transformations necessary to gain entrance into the mysteries of Ceridwen which lie at the Center. The Equilateral Celtic Cross recalls the four directions, the four seasons, the four elements, and all aspects of the natural world existing in balanced and stable harmony.
The Cycle in Quarters
Fifths
Five is the number of the quest—that imbalance which propels us to expand beyond what is in order to pursue what can be. It is humankind’s striving to rise above its physical nature in order to come to know itself and the Divine. We see this expressively visualized in the pentagram, depicting the four elemental qualities of the Earth plane forming the fou
ndation, with the fifth element of Spirit rising above the rest. We see this image mirrored at the heart of the Apple—that powerful Avalonian symbol—representing the heart of women’s wisdom. Each seed represents one of the five Goddesses in the Avalonian pantheon and corresponds to a Station in the Avalonian Cycle of Healing.
The Cycle in Fifths
There are further significant divisions of the Whole relevant to the work of the Avalonian Tradition; these are beyond the scope of our present discussion and will be touched upon in later works. It is important to come away with the understanding that our intention influences the way we approach the Whole. Although our perception changes and we may focus on particular aspects of a cyclic division at different times, these are just mental constructs. The All is indivisible and constantly in motion—a continuum without limits.
All Cycles Are One Cycle
It is essential to recognize that all cycles are but manifestations of the Great Cycle. The Hermetic axiom of “as above, so below” is an integral part of this understanding. All things cycle, and all things holding the corresponding Station in the Cycle are related to each other. They are manifestations of the same vibration—the microcosmic echo of the macrocosmic template.
The pattern repeats over and over, as seen in this Cycle chart of correspondences. When reading horizontally across the chart, the cyclic progression from one Station to the next is illustrated using examples of several different manifestations of Cycle. When reading vertically, all of the C ycle aspects in each column hold the same Station in the Cycle, and can therefore be said to correspond with each other.
Avalon Within Page 7