After Tuesday's election I decided I, the non-tv watcher, need to watch more tv, specifically FOX so I can understand what is driving the anger, fear and hate of so many good people today. As I've now listened to Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Miller and have seen what the Koch Brothers actually look like a vision I had this time last year has been on my mind. It was the second in a series of three visions all at October's end. The first vision involved being in the Universe and seeing a heart made out of stars in the American flag where the fifty states are found. This is what followed two days later.
*****
Two days
after seeing the heart and flag of stars, I found myself in the Universe
again. Usually I
float along in awe of all the stars but this time I realized something was different. The stars were
minimal. In the distance was a man’s
face made of lines of light, a man appearing pained and frightened.
As I moved
toward the face, I realized this man had the saddest, most terrified expression
I had ever seen. The only thing close to this was my father's face once in a dream and then in real life as he sat in bed looking at me in his last weeks on Earth.
In the vision, I gradually moved nearer the face. As I did I began to gently float into middle of the stars making up this pained man's face. As I did, the face slowly fell apart and disintegrated. I found myself in a Universe absolutely
filled with stars.
I knew I had
seen the diminishing, pained and frightened patriarchy, the system that for
centuries has been in control. The man
represented not just men, but the part of us all that is frightened of losing
control, afraid to really sit still, be vulnerable and exposed. I also knew I had seen the unspoken sadness and
terror of the patriarchy that’s filled with grief and regret for what’s been done
to Earth and others directly and indirectly in the name of competition, control
and conquest. (It's hard if not next to impossible to express grief and regret when one can't be vulnerable and has lived life impermeable. I know. Although I am someone of great heart, I know. The one thing I didn't do with my father in his dying was open myself to express my regret and grief because I was unwilling to be vulnerable.)
Two days
later I found myself in the Universe again. In the four years I’ve experienced traveling
like this, never had three experiences been so close together.
This time I
traveled rapidly unlike anything prior. I
zoomed through space and as I did I saw the faces of many, many animals. Their
eyes and faces made of energy often come to me as I float among the stars but
never this many or this quickly. I wondered
if I was speeding to the edge of space or returning from the beginning of time.
The last face I saw I recognized. A fox
came and stayed with me as the vision ended.
I went
straight to my copy of “Animal Speaks” and read about fox. Immediately I knew why fox had stayed. Ted
Andrews writes that there are 21 different kinds of foxes found throughout the
world and that the “Card 21 in the tarot deck is The World, a card reflecting a
new world opening up, that the process of creation is beginning. It reflects
that the world is growing into new patterns that will be beneficial.”
This fit
perfectly with the first vision days earlier in which I saw the energy of
creation being pulsed to us through the stars and the grid laid for the new
consciousness of love. This world of new
patterns speaks to a model of relationship based in cooperation, community and
compassion for all arriving as the patriarchy is dying.
The Dying Patriarchy
The face of
the dying patriarchy had immediately reminded me of a presentation I heard at
Belmont in the Fall. The title “Death Watches: Keeping Company with Men Waiting
to Die” intrigued me. I sensed I was to hear this talk yet had a scheduling
conflict. Just prior to the presentation, a client who had never cancelled called
with an emergency. This wasn’t an
accident.
I rushed to
Belmont and found a seat just as Tucson writer Nancy Mairs accompanied by her
husband George was invited to speak on their work with men on death row.
What? I had come to hear a talk on how we
keep company with the dying patriarchy. I thought the title was a metaphor
since the talk was presented in the business school. This wasn’t what I expected yet I knew I was
to be there.
The speaker
shared of corresponding and spending time with Eric, one of several men she had
come to know on death row.
She and her
husband are a powerful testimony to profound forgiveness and compassion.
Despite having lost a foster son to murder, they do not support the death
penalty. In Mrs. Mairs words, “Somebody’s dead. Why would I want anyone else
dead?”
She told of
the heartlessness of the system and the disregard she experienced looking into
the flat gaze of men on a clemency board as she spoke on behalf of a man
sentenced to die. She referenced the childhood traumas of the men she had known
including the absence of nourishing touch in their young lives.
I found
myself thinking about the patriarchy, the hierarchical system of separation and
control that has contributed to the neglect, abuse and sense of powerlessness
creating the pipeline funneling so many into our prisons and death row. I found
myself thinking of those who profit financially through the stock market from
these prisons.
So many of
our systems are broken because the patriarchy is broken and cannot admit
vulnerability and shame. When vulnerability cannot be admitted or shown, it’s
nearly impossible to touch and be touched.
Like so many on death rows and in our prisons, the patriarchy has been
deprived of nourishing touch.
There is
grace and beauty in this time of such brokenness as we hold the fertile soil
for new patterns represented by the fox and the flag of love in my visions.
I found
myself wondering if a new world of patterns of compassion and relatedness are being
ushered in, what does a death watch or keeping company with the patriarchy as
it dies look like?
In one of
his correspondences Eric wrote, “I need a hug.”
I suggest as
part of the new pattern the dying patriarchy needs a hug, not a hug affirming
the wrong that has been done, but energy extended in compassion that says we
see your fear, your isolation and sadness and we will not retaliate or shame
you.
Although I like
to envision the greedy, controlling powers of today asking forgiveness, I
realize the patriarchy does not have to ask forgiveness for me to extend
forgiveness. Extending forgiveness as the Mairs do is part of the new pattern.
Another
aspect of the new pattern is honoring the gifts of the patriarchy. In the first
vision I saw an American flag in the Universe. If not for the patriarchy, I
would not have seen a flag nor be in America right now. I am not condoning what happened to the Native
Americans or slaves, nor any of the pain at the hands of the patriarchy, but
the patriarchy got us here. Hosts of souls from times past have brought us to
this amazing place in time.
I am
grateful to the Eric’s of the world who have given their lives as souls caught
up in our broken systems. I feel gratitude for Eric’s ancestors taken from
their home generations ago and brought to a new land. I thank them and ask for
their forgiveness.
And I feel
gratitude for the patriarchy for participating in this great drama unfolding on
Earth and in the Universe. I am grateful
to the systems that have gotten us to this place and I ask forgiveness for
standing on the sidelines so often in judgment and criticism.
The greatest
challenge of this New Time may be forgiving and loving the patriarchy, hearing
it through what’s not being said and providing nourishing touch rather than
retaliating or withholding presence. If this
system of control and conquering is honored, it will be laid to rest in love and
less likely re-emerge on a planetary scale in times to come.
About the Animals
For two
months I’ve puzzled over why the many animals showed themselves to me that
night. Previously if I saw a specific
animal in a vision, I would often have an earthly encounter with that animal shortly
afterward or hear of a related discovery in the news.
I’ve
remained puzzled as to why they showed up one after the other that night until
preparing this post when I realized it's through the animals I’ve been shown my own pattern
and thus freed to experience a new pattern.
I
have
heaped criticism upon the patriarchy for its mistreatment of nature and
the animals. I judge the patriarchy for being hard hearted
yet the animals have shown me my own hardened heart.
Over the
last three years the animals have been showing me my pattern of closing my
heart (with frightening ease) and turning away or disconnecting in despair when pained.
I recall the
first dead birds that I came upon and the rigidity of my hands and arms as I
tried to hold them. I knew I was to hold and honor them but I could not feel
anything. The animals kept arriving until finally tears
came. My heart finally broke and then I felt anger
that was more kin to rage as hostile thoughts tiptoed around the edges of my
mind. I would read news stories and wish I could inflict pain on those who abuse, torture
and misuse animals of all kinds.
The animals
kept coming and I finally realized the honor I was being given. Whether standing
on the roadside or in my yard, I am being given the privilege of bearing
witness to an animal’s living and dying. I’m gifted with a time to share gratitude
for that animals presence here on Earth and ask that they and their soul group feel
healing as their spirit returns to the universe. I am being gifted with an opportunity to not just love that animal but open my heart in love to the part of the patriarchy and all who kill and wound animals out of their own woundedness and closed, hurt hearts.
The animals
have shown me my pattern of closing my heart due to sorrow, pain, despair and
hate. Yet through their death they have
shown me a richer pattern, the experience of feeling gratitude, joy and love for life here on Earth. The animals willingly
come to Earth to participate in our lives, yet they are quiet participants, not
hoarding, killing or arming themselves. They do not seek revenge but offer themselves
to us so we might come to more fully be all we are created to be.
In
this new time may we realize our partners in the heavens and here on
earth and bring forth the highest and best of who we are through the
love and wisdom in our hearts and minds. (And in this new time may I see and hear all the ways that even the men and women on FOX news are my partners in this new Time!)
Sincerely,
Dawn Kirk
The Good News Muse, (8 November 2012 and 31 December 2011)
