A Deeper Way of Seeing: Part IV – Sacred West

The Door

The Great Song of the Universe is, among other things, an invitation to the knowledge within and to the wisdom of the invisible world. It is an invitation to the Sacred Life Direction of the West. If our journey is a circular pattern then in a sense we could say that we leave home, the place of the Hearth (Sacred East), move through the place of the Great Song (Sacred South) and then as though coming home to ourselves come into the Sacred West, the place of inner knowing. In this place head knowledge is complimented with heart knowledge and body knowledge.

In his book The Celtic Way of Seeing: Meditations on the Irish Spirit Wheel, Frank MacEowen describes the Sacred Life Direction of the West as a place where “longing for the Otherworld, seeking vision, learning, and the importance of story in conveying depth of experience” resides. It is represented by the archetype of The Seer.

The potent quality of longing, according to MacEowen, is a powerful force in the process of soul discovery. He likens this powerful longing to a quest, a “cry for vision.” In his book, Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and the Psyche, Bill Plotkin describes something similar. He suggests that the surrendering of the familiar and the surrendering to “the call” of our deepest longings, is akin to opening a door and passing through a threshold into uncharted territory.

Plotkin uses the imagery of the D. H. Lawrence poem “Song of a Man Who Has Come Through” explaining that “you hear a knock and the front door swings open. There stand three strange angels.”

It’s interesting to note in Lawrence’s poem, that the Hesperides, often referred to as the “Nymphs of the West,” figure prominently into the body of the poem. Even a cursory reading about the Hesperides, of the garden they tend in the far West where golden apples grow, where they share their home with a hundred-headed dragon and where at times they themselves become trees – all of this fantastical imagery is worth the read. And all of this speaks of the many facets of longing and the quest associated with the Sacred West.

MacEowen explains that in a very basic way being a visionary simply means bridging the inner and outer world, gaining “greater comprehension of fluency with the inner terrain of the soul.” Drawing that characteristic out takes the work of the Counsel. That important role can be filled by an anam-chara (soul friend), “someone we can bear our souls to and who will listen deeply.” To have someone in our lives as we swing open the door to the “three strange angels” is a gift.

Who might your anam-chara be?

Writing Prompt for the Week: Quest