Urban Shamanism

This is always an important question to consider, but even more critical now, so close to the Full Moon in Libra. When we think of justice, we think of rules, the law, punishment and reward, but often within the secular framework. Universal Justice works at a much higher, deeper level and it has nothing to do with our sense of entitlement or our victimhood. Human justice is biased and imperfect, but the Universe is absolutely neutral, so none of our experiences is actually unfair, regardless of what we think or how we feel about them. That means that terrible situations are also valid and necessary.

In the sixteenth century, a Jewish mystic called Isaac Luria (AKA the Holy Ariza) taught the principles of the Jewish concept known as Tikkun Olam, or "Fix the World". He said that, in the beginning, God created one world but it was so full of Light that the vessel couldn't hold it and shattered into shards which fell upon the second world that was created with larger vessels and a more restricted Light. According to Luria, these shards are embedded deeply into reality in a degree that corresponds to their elevation prior to shattering; in other words, the more sublime the Light, the deeper it settled into matter. Each soul is given a number of shards to unveil and return to the Source, which no other soul can find, let alone cleanse. The purpose of this existence is therefore finding these shards and pulling them out from the dirt to restitute them to the first vessel, thus fixing the world. Here's the thing: the people who have the deepest shards to pull out must experience the greatest darkness to get them. Luria explained that this is the reason for Jewish suffering throughout history, half a millennium before the Nazis killed millions of Jews.

This isn't a particularly convenient perspective, so it's easy to deny it in anger when we're suffering. How can an innocent child going through immeasurable torment or dying at the hands of criminals be just or fair? Well, that child's soul is far older than the body it inhabits, and it's full of experiences going back to the very dawn of existence. From that point of view, the child is just the latest of a long string of lives and, in many of those, he may have been the one doing the hurting and the killing, only with a different guise. There's no action without reaction, every effect has its cause and every cause, its effect. When we're born, we adopt a unique appearance and identity in the world, but we're not new to it, we just lack the capacity to remember our past. That child suffered because he had to do penance and, through that penance, extract a shard that only he could find.

Same goes with the beauty and the expansion. Self-awareness allows us to have increasing knowledge of these aspects of our existence and therefore, we suffer less while also fulfilling our task of extracting the shards allotted to our souls, thus experiencing much more pleasure and freedom. We still have to go through the dark to find the Light, but the work morphs from burden to service. Oppression is an imposition of our unconscious minds, we force ourselves to see and feel horrors until we understand that's not necessary for learning, and then we start paying our debts and exploring our shadows willingly, which brings greater accomplishment and peace.

The energy of the Full Moon speaks to us about this. All of us think that we deserve better, but if we don't heal our wounds, face our fears and clear our liabilities, we just repeat the lessons over and over. The more we resist, the more we doubt, the more we hurt, and we can resist even the good stuff, thinking that we're below some sort of arbitrary measure of attainment and success, which keeps us from getting what we want. We have to delve into our drives, emotions and thoughts, bring light into the shade, so that we can get what we truly deserve. The Universe wasn't built on hatred, it runs on Love, so let's give ourselves the love that we inherently deserve as creatures of this great design, integrating the shards that we've been given and navigating our lives with a sense of wonder, creation and joy. Purpose doesn't need to be a burden.

Mannaz, Assembly, the Public, Communication

Demonstrations, public discussions on topics sensitive to the collective. The structures of power face unprecedented pressure, the accumulated influence tends toward collapse, it is more auspicious to distribute the energy across networks, the stability of the temple depends on the quality and number of its columns. Delegate the work, there are burdens that you do not need to carry on your own and responsibilities that are not up to you; let go of what does not belong to you and you will have space for what you deserve. Avoid sharing opinions about issues that do not concern you and keep your advice to yourself, you may be receiving incomplete or false information. In times of commotion, equanimity is an invaluable virtue, mediation demands neutrality. Each community instills its own values, but the principles of communication remain unchanging; adapt to the context but do not lose your essence.