Being The Storm

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January 31, 2023

 


Fate whispers to the warrior,
‘You cannot withstand the storm.’
The warrior whispers back,
‘I am the storm.’

 

We were standing on the edge of the cliffs near Doolin as the storm came barreling across the Atlantic, a wall of wind and wave. The waves crashed against the cliff face reaching up the hundreds of feet to where we stood. It’s something I would never recommend in person. But we weren’t in person. I was standing with my ancestor in an Otherworld encounter. She is the same ancestor who was present in that stoned in Colorado experience, the ancestor who told me that working with the energies of stone and water was, as she put it, her magic. This was an experience of her water wisdom.

To this point, it had been easy to accept and resonate with her teachings on water. Water is, in most spiritual traditions, associated with emotion, cleansing, healing, change, and the grace of fluidity. Perhaps a reflection of an alliance with the energies of water, the Brehon Laws of ancient Ireland specified that hospitals should be placed by a stream of running water.

Healing, cleansing, and fluid grace. It’s comfortable to commune with a gently flowing stream. And it’s easy to contemplate how a sacred alliance with those energies can be manifest in our lives. Knowing when it’s time to visit a well of wisdom, perhaps one where the nearby hazel trees feed the Salmon of Knowledge. Knowing when it’s time to welcome a gentle cleansing rain. Knowing when the energies of a calm pool are necessary to still and calm turbulent emotions. Knowing when the steady rhythm of ocean on shore reminds us of the ebb and flow of life. All fairly zen, actually.

But today we were clearly exploring another aspect of water energy and this didn’t feel very zen. It was the aspect of storm, an aspect we humans would describe as lashing, violent, and pounding. Descriptions from a vocabulary we humans attribute to the actions and forces of nature, Mother Nature, when things aren’t going as we would like. It’s an attribution of intention when there is no underlying intention. It’s just the way things are. Stepping into an alliance with the natural world calls us to be with, literally and figuratively, what is … all of what is… and glean the wisdom present in it. 

Standing on that cliff, the warrior in me was exhilarated. I threw my head back and opened my arms to embrace the full force of it. My ancestor chuckled. She sensed the lesson was landing. In every aspect of water there is change, but nothing like this. A gentle stream may slowly move sediment, a gentle wave may shift the sand. But storm holds the power to move boulders.

On reflection I’m beginning to understand that it requires a warrior energy to both withstand and be the storm. Not the warrior energy of battle, conquest, and power over but the warrior energy of strength of purpose, of sacred purpose and sacred alliance, of service to our people and the Earth. Storms happen. It’s the power of what we hold and what we do in those storms that matters. 

In this power I am the storm.

Beannacht,
Judith

Note. If you’ve been following this blog for a while you will remember that I wrote extensively about water and the Seven Nations back in June of 2021. The Seven Nations include Stone, Fire, Water, Air, Creatures, Plants, and the Earth.

4 thoughts on “Being The Storm”

  1. First off, it’s hard to imagine facing the Atlantic while a storm comes from the west and not the east. I’d have to reorient, which someday maybe I’ll have the chance to do. Secondly and more importantly, what a fantastic relationship you have with your ancestor. A connection that emboldens you in enounctering the storm. Or, as you say, in becoming the storm.

    • Wow. Thank you. I hadn’t thought about that. Because of course out here on the west coast we encounter storms from the west. Seems natural to do that in Ireland as well. Laughing…well, I’m just stepping into that relationship. Been pretty amazing thus far.

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