Raven can give you the "courage to enter the darkness of the void, which is home to all that is not yet in form. " (Medicine Cards, p101) Raven is honored in many traditions as the 'bringer of magic'. When Raven appears along our path, "magic is in the air. Do not try to figure it out; you cannot. It is the power of the unknown at work, and something special is about to happen. The deeper mystery, however, is how will you respond to the sparkling synchronicity of the alchemical moment. Will you recognize it and use it to further enhance your growth? Can you accept it as a gift from the Great Spirit? Or will you limit the power of the Great Mystery by explaining it away?" (Medicine Cards, p102) | Are you willing to enter the void? Shrouded in darkness, no light to guide or distract - sitting in still-ness, can you find peace or does your fear cause you to remain chained to ignorance and circumstance? We have made it to week 12 of our year-long journey and we are learning about conscious choices. These are the choices we make to build the life of our dreams. These are the choices we begin to make when we stop reacting to life and start creating the life we desire. Magic. When we embrace Raven we open to the magic of the universe. We have gotten to a place where our fears do not control us. Raven is powerful medicine for building the life of our dreams. It allows us to become the magician and while fear remains we do not allow it to take precedence in our decision making. |
We find that the black of Raven calls us to seek answers on the spiritual plane, moving away from the physical while the iridescence of this medicine "speaks of the magic of [the void], and a changeability of form and shape that brings an awakening in the process." (Medicine Cards, p101)
Raven opens a state of mind that allows us to use the potent medicine of Snake to move toward freedom, understanding that our greatest fears are only as powerful as the lies we tell ourselves and the untruths we uphold day after day. The self reflection of Blue Heron has allowed us to identify unhealthy habits while Bat medicine and the rebirth it symbolizes have allowed us to move away from ways of being that no longer serve a constructive purpose in our lives. What do you want your life to look like? What can you do today to get you closer to that life?
Raven is the magic ignited when we stop trying to return and decide to arrive. It asks us to sit still long enough for the fear to pass, allowing for new horizons to appear, new worlds to open up. We are no longer confined by narrow, domestic walls - we begin to glimpse a bird's eye view of our world. Perhaps it is Raven that gives us the first taste of soaring above the mundane levels of life that are often filled with a heaviness that keeps us down, holds us back for as long as we are unwilling to gaze skyward.
Maybe it was Raven who first ignited my passion for the night sky. Gazing skyward on a new moon night, enthralled by the endless possibilities that each of the stars in the night sky represents to the dreamer in me - there are no boundaries, no limits. Perhaps it is Raven who allows us to see where there is no light, to sit perfectly still when fear tells us to run for our lives, and to act despite the doubt. It is Raven medicine that gives us the wings we need to begin to move in the direction of our dreams, encouraging us to take flight . . . but first we must be willing to enter the void.
"The first step is the hardest of all . . ." (Dave Matthews Band, You Might Die Trying)
Namaste.