It's been a long time since I've written and I can only say what I am
sure is as true for you as for me: This is a very busy time. I
went to Tucson and other parts west for my annual trip for new art
supplies and am now working on more ceremonial staffs. (Incidentally,
my husband tells me I was remiss to not tell you to just hit the
satolahsingularites.com button under my name). I was in South Africa
for a brief trip and two copies of AWAKENING WITH MOTHER EARTH now
reside in that country. Another went to an Israeli eco-kibbutz.
It makes me inordinately happy that my book is traveling to such far-
flung places. And finally, it seems like time to write again.
After she read AWAKENING, a friend gave me a copy of a book called
THE CALL TO THE SOUL by Marjory Zoet Bankson, in which the author
posits that, although usually spiritual in nature, a call need not be
limited to religious matters nor to professional religious persons;
call "engages our feelings and intellect toward some larger end"
which may be work or a stage of life or a particular project. She
goes on to describe the six stages of a calI. I was astonished to
realize I had gone through them all in the writing of AWAKENING.
I was telling someone about this the other day and she found it
intriguing, as she feels called to run for public office. Since she
hasn't the time to read the entire book, I offered to send her a
quick synopsis of those six stages. In the doing of it, it occurred
to me that many of you might also find it interesting inasmuch as
Bankson says that one is likely to experience several specific calls
in a lifetime. Here's my synopsis:
1 -- RESIST A call requires that you move in a new direction,
perhaps even change your life completely. You doubt what you are
getting is real and/or that you have the courage to take it on, are
"worthy" and capable of what is being asked of you.
2 -- RECLAIM This stage requires looking for a larger context
for our lives as well as for reconnecting to old relationships,
recovering put-aside gifts, reclaiming the sacred. While it is
relational and communal, it is also a kind of testing of whether the
call is real. You might ask for signs or clarification.
3 -- REVELATION Here you begin to get a bit more clarity. You
may have a vision, catch a glimpse of future possibilites, a larger
purpose in what you are being called to do. There is ambivalence,
uncertainty and potential danger in that unknown. Thus there is a
struggle between the safe and "known" and something larger than oneself.
POISON RIVER This is Bankson's term for the barrier that must be
crossed over to another way of being in the world. You may go
forward with the call but still have surges of fear, doubt and
indecision. It is the dividing line between inspiration and
application, to molding our inner personal life with outer public
expression. If you do not cross the Poison River, you go back to
the doubts and discomforts of stage l.
4 -- RISK Begin to trust the previously undeveloped parts of
yourself to bring the vision into reality. Follow the
"instructions" from your intuition and begin to share them with others.
5 -- RELATE Tell about what has happened to you, take public
action to discover, develop and build a new framework of
relationships to support and share in the new sense of purpose.
6 -- RELEASE The stage of integration, endings and release -- of
control of what you have accomplished, of power you may have gained,
of proficiency and prestige, of any organizational structure you may
have built. It is the time of rest and again listening for
guidance, ready for the next cycle of call.
It is no secret that we are living in a time of great change on
planet Earth. Personally, I feel privileged to be alive now. We are
all being challenged to let go of limiting beliefs and ideas and use
the gifts that every one of us has to map out a better way for ALL
life to exist on this planet. While this is not particularly easy,
it is comforting to know that others have trod this path and posted
some signs and directions along the way. So, whatever your call, go
for it! The rest of us are cheering.
Grand abrazos and blessings,
Fran Gatins
www.satolahsingularities.com
www.polkadotbanner.com
http://awakemotherearth.blogspot.com/
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Mary Oliver
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