This is a year of symbols and sacred tools. They show up loaded with purpose and meaning. In december I got a card this card on a reading (from Ariel Spilsbury´s 13 Moon Oracle)
The Sacred Tool of the Peacock Feather – TRANSMUTE
The peacock feather it has been a symbol of my path as a yoga teacher. I received one as a gift in my very first TT from my teacher Sianna Sherman, many years ago. Those where some of the most transformational years in my life and, that feather has been always in my puja as a reminder of the power of the teachings, the power of transmission and the power of the beautiful community in which I grew up as a yogi and as a yoga teacher. So I smiled when I got a new peacock feather in my life and linked to the word “transmute”.
In my last post I was talking about transmutation: a change of form, appearance, structure or nature. A radical change. A change that requires tremendous energy or time, like the energy implied in a nuclear reaction or the necessary time for a change in a DNA chain. From the yogic and Tantric perspective, when we think about radical transformation two different scenarios appear, that, as usual, are opposite and complementary.
On one hand there is the concept of “tapas”, the huge amount of energy we need to generate through practice and discipline to really shift the inner patterns of the mind and the external patterns of the body. Tapas implies effort but also constancy, dedication over time, clear intention and mental focus.
Card from Ariel Spilsbury´s 13 Moon Oracle
One the other hand, there is the process that is called darshan in the Hindu tradition. For example, a spiritually awakened being, through transmission, can bring an alchemical change of structure in your being. It doesn´t need to be a person. It can be a teaching from a book, a puja or any kind of ritual, a moment of profound connection with nature, a life experience. Sometimes just a light touch, like a feather touch, brings a deep shift of vision and that is the most profound of the changes. (Sometime this is literally done this way and the teacher touches the student on the top of his head with a peacok feather to transmit a stroke of illuminated awareness)
In some way, this polarity in the process of transmutation takes me back to the idea that for the practices to be sustainable in time, they have to participate from two elements: the fire (agni) and the nectar (soma). The intensity of our effort, that energy from the practice that with the power of our intention is able to destroy and create Universes, and the light touch of Grace. A blow, a breeze with such refined, elevated, precise, awakened energy that is able to bring about the most transformational shifts. The light touch of spirit that with subtleness, and not by any means less intense and radical, generates a momentum of quickening, of acceleration, of ripening.
I leave you with a contemplation:
Where or when in your life have you felt the subtle touch of spirit quickening the processes of change in your inner self or your outer life?
How does it feel to be softly pushed towards the vortex of transmutation?
I would love for you to share your experience…