10/16/13—Coming Home

Today's Draw Classic*: Island of the Falcon from the Celtic Book of the Dead. When you've been away on a trip, what do you see, smell, hear or sense on the return trip that tells you "home is near"? Do you feel like you energetically connect to your home before you arrive there? And what about your soul's home...what do you suppose it sees when it's time to return to the place from whence it came?

The Celtic Book of the Dead is a story about a hero's oceanic quest in search of the otherworld. Through his journey, he encounters 33 islands, each of which delivers a lesson through mystical creatures and experiences. As the hero approaches the Island of the Falcon, he sees a familiar creature—an Irish falcon—giving him comfort that he is nearing home. Indeed, the Island of the Falcon is the last island on the trip. 

The story of the Island of the Falcon comes to tell us that whenever we've been on a mystical or spiritual trip, it's important to reground ourselves back in our everyday existence and reconnect with our purpose on the way back home, otherwise we may fall prey to cruel reality when arrive. The book says all journeys ends are marked by some landmark or familiar symbol to help us do just that. It's also a way of assimilating all we've experienced during our time away. 

In human terms, this is like when I come home from the mountains. I'm out in the country and I don't have to work. I don't have to be anywhere or do anything. Everything moves slowly. I live a different version of my life for a short time. Somewhere along my trip home, usually when I hit the first major highway (and nearly get sideswiped by a car doing 95 in the slow lane), I start "coming home" in my body, mind and soul. 

When I've just been gone for a few hours, there's a layer of "arrival" I experience when I get within a mile or so of my home. That's when I tune into my waiting dogs and get anxious to see them. Anytime I'm away from my physical home, I feel an urging to get back. Since I work at home, leaving the nest isn't an everyday thing, so I'm very connected to the comfort of this space.

The phenomena works the same in the opposite direction. On my way out to the mountains, for example, I leave my everyday world and feel the energy shift when I exit from the major highway and hit the one-lane roads. There's an imaginary line you cross when you leave the dense energy of the metropolitan area and start hitting the lighter energy of the countryside. It's something you can feel physically, psychically, emotionally...every which way.

I'm guessing we all know what I'm talking about and all know that landmark or symbol that "brings us home". But since we're talking about bigger journeys this week, so I'm about to get all heavy on you. What do you suppose is the first thing you see when your soul makes its journey home after you die? Most people report a white light or tunnel. Do you think that's the landmark or symbol your soul recognizes as a cue to reground itself in spirit energy? Or do you think it's something else?

What might be even a harder question, though, is what do you suppose your soul saw on the way to inhabit your body before you came here? What might it have seen, felt or experienced to say "OK, it's time to ground myself in earth energy and be a human again"? And what if your soul has never been to earth before? What might be a more universal symbol that gave it the cue to prepare to take form?

The book for this oracle says the landmarks of your physical home are also the landmarks of your spiritual home. So what might those landmarks be?

*From 7/25/12