Guest Post by Jane Large, Retreat Attendee & Mentor, Circle Member
The image that accompanies this story is a re-creation of a sketch I did on December 11, 2015. I first called it my Wheel of Life. Later I was guided to understand this image as a representation of my Inner House and that my Heart is the foundation. My intention when I first sketched it was to make it into an altar cloth.
When I was a child I dreamed of building my own house. I’d spend hours pouring over my father’s home builder magazines, exploring what I liked and imagining putting all those pieces together to create the perfect home. What I have come to understand is that the home, the sanctuary, I so desperately wanted to build as a child, has always resided within me as my Inner House.
Every home needs a foundation in order for the rest of the structure to be strong and resilient. So, I have also come to understand that the foundation for my Inner House is my Heart. I imagine my Heart as a flame that dwells within the centre of my chest, like a never-ending bonfire that represents the strength of my connection to myself and to the flow of Spirit or Life Force that flows through all living things in Creation. It is also an energetic gateway within me which serves as a connecting point to all of myself, to my wholeness and to the understanding of all of my Personal Truths, such as my gifts and life purpose. It is also the gateway through which I am able to connect with Oneness, to everything, everywhere (to which we are all part of).
My Heart is like a pinion that connects me to all the cogs in a wheel that represents every aspect of my Inner House. When the Heart is tended to it is the powerful force of Love and a gateway within that fuels our passions and creativity, and can guide us in making choices that are in alignment with Love. However, if we are disconnected from our Heart, or it has been untended, allowing ice to build up around it, or if we have built cages around it, then our life may seem sluggish, without purpose or joy, lack creativity or passion, or we may simply feel a general discontent or numbness towards an aspect of ourselves or our life. Heart is the foundation for a strong, joyful and purposeful life where we feel grateful to wake each morning and each night when we go to sleep, despite the challenges we might meet along our path.
The symbol that represents my understanding of the whole of my Inner House is what I call my Wheel of Life. It is through re-connecting with my Heart that I have been able to re-connect to and reclaim a relationship with every aspect in my Inner House, my Wheel of Life. When I began to melt the ice and crack open the hard shell I had built up around my Heart, I was able to re-connect in joyful ways with all aspects of my humanness – my Body, my Positive Thinking Mind, and myself as Soul (or Spiritual Essence). As I did this I remembered that I have always been whole, that each aspects of my Human Beingness had been waiting in the shadows for me to be ready to accept myself.
As I journeyed deeper into my Heart connection, I met myself as Soul, and began to travel through the caves of my Ancestral Mountain within. I reconnected to many Ancestors within, with the understandings of my deepest Heart and Soul yearnings and of the aspects of my Soul Purpose that brought me to Earth for this lifetime. I learned what shines my Soul, such as artistic expression, singing, being in nature, and listening deeply to my Inner Knowings. I gave myself permission to flow in those Rivers of Expression (the Star symbol in my Wheel of Life). I began to recognize my Body as a sacred friend, the physical home of Soul for this lifetime and a Keeper of Ancestral Wisdom that resides in my flesh, blood and bones. I connected with my Positive Thinking Mind, which is my ally as I walk my path. One of my Father’s favourite spiritual teachers is Edgar Casey, who said that “mind is the builder.” I have come to understand that when my Mind is connected with the compassionate nature of my Heart and grounded into my Body, it becomes a strong builder within my Inner House.
The deep connection with my Heart has served as a platform from which I have stretched wider to connect with Relations (Creature-teachers, Ancestors, Guides and Helpers) from all 4 Cardinal Directions – North, East, South and West. In my Wheel of Life, this is symbolized by the square, representing my understanding of the Deer Medicine, which is to maintain my balance by having all 4 feet on the ground and a foot in each Direction. To honour this aspect of my Inner House and this teaching, I spend some time each morning in meditation and prayer, feeling myself connecting and reaching out through the 4 Directions within me, through all of my Iimbs to establish my balance and intentions for the day.
My Heart is part of the One Heart of Humanity through which all Human Beings are connected to each other. In a vision I have regularly, I am standing in a big circle, in the Circle to Which We All Belong. As I step into that Circle I reach out my hands and then everyone in the entire Circle joins hands as a big Human Family. In my Wheel of Life, this aspect of my Inner House is represented by the Rainbow Circle, a colour for each People from all corners of the Earth.
Although I always thought that the home I desired would be the house I built, I know now that it is simpler than that. My home is me and the foundation to my home is my Heart. And as I connect through my Heart to all the aspects of my Inner House that I have described, I am connecting to Oneness, a home that is unshakable because its foundation is the Light of all of Creation. Oneness is the Big House we can connect to when we accept our own Heart as the foundation of our own Inner House; when we are willing to step into the Circle to Which We All Belong as Sisters and Brothers, recognizing the Light that we are part of and that flows within us all. In my Wheel of Life, this final piece to my Inner House is represented by a fringe of white, a tone that includes the frequencies of all colours in the Light spectrum. This white fringe symbolizes the Oneness of all things, that regardless of colour, religion, species or gender, all Beings and Living Things in Creation are connected as One and carry valuable medicine to share with each other.
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Home Practice
One of the simple ways in which I connect with my Heart daily is to imagine it as a large bonfire. I invite all aspects of my wholeness to gather around this fire with me to be bathed in the light of my Heart Flame. As I do this I feel the warmth of my Heart Flame spread across my entire Beingness, like web of connection. I understand that in acknowledging my Heart daily I nourish it and tend to it, keeping it strong and bright. It is by tending to my Heart that I create a strong foundation for the myself and my life.
Using all of your senses, take time to connect in with your Heart. Take time to wonder what it is like to nourish and tend to your Heart, so that it is a strong foundation within you? In what simple ways can you nourish and tend your Heart daily?
As you connect with your Heart, wonder what your own Inner House is like? With all of your senses, explore the rooms/aspects of your own Inner House. Record what you collect from your exploration in whatever way calls to you – writing, art, song…
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