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The Intelligence of the Heart is a concept that has come up frequently in classes I have been teaching as well as my meditations in cultivating a worldview of vaccines, COVID, racial injustice and the choices that individuals are making, collectively and independently. And, so I wanted to share some of my thoughts and offer a brief (17min. pathworking) that will allow you to cultivate the spaciousness to nurture that intelligence within yourself.....

The Intelligence of the Heart refers to the concept that was explored by scientist and metaphysician, R.A Schwaller DeLubicz during his studies of Egyptian spiritual and alchemical practices. For most, the concept of intelligence is confined to the physiology of the mind and the sensory experiences that involve the intellect. To the Ancient Egyptians, the “heart”, rather than the brain, was the holder of these attributes of intelligence and knowing. According to Schwaller:

“Our rational mind is unable to grasp the central mystery, he argues, because our “sensory organization clearly seems to be imperfect.This condition can only be alleviated through a “perfecting of consciousness”. (1)

Let’s talk about our egos.

We can start by stating the obvious—our egos are now on high alert. But by holding the premise that a beautiful way in which the Divine is brought to awareness in this world is through a foundation of relationality, we’re going to start disrupting our usual response to ego engagement. This is important because so many of us still harbor the notion that egos are bad. Even the quest for enlightenment is often spoken about as moving on a path toward obliteration of the ego. And this puts the very mechanisms that have been gracefully designed to protect us into their most protective mode. That process, which is often completely unconscious, makes things a bit difficult on the spiritual journey. 

The role of icebergs in climate change is explored. Lucid dreaming is discovered to possibly have a link to the secrets of consciousness. And a whole bunch of exoplanets get official names. It's Earthy Thursday, our weekly segment on science and Earth-related news! All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

Friend and fellow colleague, Kevin Emmons, once described the sacred as “A simple thought that isn’t so simple. What we see and experience as sacred is what allows us to glimpse the eternal through cracks in consciousness caught in the field of time.” I love it when people say things that really make you think. You can find links to other inspiring writers on my personal blog at Down the Forest Path.

As a Druid and animist, to me everything is sacred. Everything is sacred, and yet everything is also mundane.  As author and Zen teacher Charlotte Joko Beck once said “Nothing is special. And when nothing is special, everything is”.  She wrote an entire book, called Nothing Special. I highly recommend it.

Kevin’s words are beautiful, evoking an image of eternity in which we can only catch glimpses.  My Zen Buddhist tendencies lead me to question whether anything is eternal, as the main tenet of Buddhism is the impermanence of everything, and yet there is a certain paradox in that the energy of life is never-changing: it only changes in the forms that it takes.  Energy manifests itself as different forms of matter dependent on circumstances such as environment, genetics, etc. So yes, the energy is eternal, but the manifestation is not.

Catching glimpses of this energy, of the sacred through cracks in consciousness is an absolutely delicious concept.  It reminds me of Emily Dickinson’s poetry, when she speaks of nature as in XCII:

To my quick ear the leaves conferred;    

  The bushes they were bells;      

I could not find a privacy             

  From Nature’s sentinels.            

In cave if I presumed to hide,             

  The walls began to tell;               

Creation seemed a mighty crack              

  To make me visible.

We cannot escape life. It is always there, always around us, and we are always a part of its flow. There is no separation, only integration.  We live with each other; we live because of each other in a beautiful dance throughout the ages.  These cracks in our consciousness allow us to break through our perceived reality, and move beyond perceptions, beyond subjectivity into the entirety of being.

Our senses are so beneficial to us, and yet they also are the cause of our subjectivity. We see the world through our own eyes, feel through our own fingers, listen with our own ears. Everyone is different, yet everyone has a shared experience. When the species is the same, there is a deeper shared experience, an understanding and knowing where the Other is not so “other”.  Transcendence is moving beyond the senses, moving beyond the boundaries and definitions into pure understanding, pure experience.  Then there is no “I” or “Me”, there is no “You” or “Them” – just life, glorious life.  

Our consciousness is a blessing, a gift. It is also the greatest hurdle to overcome, for it shouts aloud and above the songs of the earth, drowning out the consciousness of other beings in our own minds.  Cracking open our consciousness we allow those other songs to come through, to inspire us, to nourish us, to blend with our song in a wonderful symphony of energy manifesting, over and over again.

These cracks of consciousness are caught in the field of time (however you may view time, whether it be linear, circular, etc.).  Energy manifests, for a time, and then changes its form.  Time is what creates the impermanence that is so vital to life. Without time, there would be no conception, no materialisation, no death and no decay. Within the moveable boundaries of time we see a progression of the eternal processes of birth and decay.  Time is a gentle sanctuary, an indiscriminate boundary that allows these processes to occur.

And so, the sacred is that which allows us to glimpse the eternal. The sacred is anything and everything, if only we open up our senses and move beyond our perceptions.  Through the cracks of consciousness within the fields of time we perceive this sacredness, flowing and changing, manifesting and decaying, a boundless stream of energy moving through the cosmos.

May you see through the cracks to glimpse the sacred.

*For more writing on the sacred and other concepts witin Druidry, visit www.joannavanderhoeven.com for a full bibliography of the author's work.*

Taking Responsibility. That is such an odd phrase. There are so many ways to understand it depending where you put the emphasis. As children we learn to take responsibility for our actions. Often this relates to something we’ve done wrong. Instead of blaming the mishap on someone else, our parents want us to “fess up”. They tell us to assume responsibility so that they can deliver the consequences. This is an imposed system, made extremely explicit and structured by the grown-ups to demonstrate how life really is. We learn the law of cause and effect early and it can help keep us out of trouble. Being responsible becomes an initiation into acting like an adult.

Soon “taking responsibility” can be worn like a badge of honor. We learn that being responsible has great rewards and helps us advance in life. Telling the truth, showing up on time, and sticking by our word all become ways we are responsible. We often talk about teenagers that get good grades and hold a steady job as being responsible. It is an important distinction and these adolescents thrive on the compliments. Soon being responsible can become a dangerous source of pride.

Sometimes abundance looks suspiciously like chaos.

Life has been very, very busy lately. I am learning the meaning of abundance, I suppose, as both wonderful things and challenging things are happening, all at once. Each day feels like a cup filled past its brim. Taking a page out of a beloved friend's book, I have started giving each year a name, and in January I decided that 2013 would be the Year of Accepting All Gifts. Whoa-boy, did I do a number on myself with that!