"In all of us there is a lawless side like a wild beast that peers out during sleep." - Jim Steinman.
As afternoon turns to dusk, and the September air goes from balmy to chill, I shed my clothes and return to the earthy embrace of a pine and hemlock forest.
Unfettered by artificial chains, I stalk the forest like a wolf. I sprint across unkempt trails like a deer. I dance with the stars. I undo myself.
Shapeshifting is associated with werewolves, but has a deeper significance and power. It's not only about connecting to the wild beast within. It is about connecting to "nothing" and "everything." It is a return to Chaos.
In that chill September night, I become the Horned God spiraling back to the Goddess--back to the Garden. I am the Garden; there is no seperation. Only when I am fettered by the constraints of the adult human mind--seemingly secure in its razor logic and knowledge, definitions and divisions--am I cast out of Eden. Only then do I spiral away from the Unknown God, the Goddess, the Horned God.
Trapped within "I," I suffer, for I remove myself from the Garden. As long as I live I am removed, trapped within the Temple of perception from which I interpret the world without. But when shapeshifting, I lose myself to the Wild without. I become the child again, running naked without shame or sin. Maybe not in the Garden, but a part of it, for my Temple resides there. And I can choose which windows to look out!
I return on a damp September morning to the adult human world, where I must mask myself and hold back the Garden within.
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- Guitar's Cry
- Poetic and philosophical, I roam the woods of Maine wandering and wondering.
10 comments:
"It is about connecting to "nothing" and "everything." It is a return to Chaos."
Interesting. I didn't know that about shapeshifting. Of course, that is in some sense the goal of all mysticism, isn't it?
Shapeshifting is above all about exploring a new point-of-view, Paul. By doing so, the practitioner "shifts" focus from the "Self" to things "other than the Self."
I think shapeshifting does lead the mystic to a mystical experience. I cannot vouch for any other shapeshifter, though!
This sort of shape shifting is the "passing over" I talk about frequently, though I had never associated it with "Chaos" before, it can be quite effectively. And with that, I just shape-shifted (or did I pass over?). :?)
I think that shapeshifting is the jumping off point to the "passing over" experience, Brendan. My post described my experience with it.
By attempting to look through the lens of another being, you are opening yourself to Chaos--the void where shapes can be formed from the formless. From the Void, the Garden grows.
"By attempting to look through the lens of another being, you are opening yourself to Chaos--the void where shapes can be formed from the formless."
Like the Wood Between the Worlds?
Yes, Brendan! I think the "wood between the worlds" is another way of describing the Void between the Forms.
As you would say, it is a mythical expression of the same mystical experience the sages have been trying to impart through history.
It occurs to me I'm not sure why chaos is called "chaos". Anyone want to tackle that one for me? Either here or in a blog post?
In the Middle English, Chaos referred to "formless primordial space." It also referred to a "void or chasm." It is from the Greek "khaos."
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chaos
I do have a post planned for it already, Brendan! Especially the role of "chaos" in Chaos Magick.
I meant, "I do have a post planned for it already, Paul!" rather than, "I do have a post planned for it already, Brendan!"
Can you forgive me paul?
Sure! No problem at all. To be confused for Brendan is something of an honor.
Besides which, I can confess that I use "Paul" as my blogger name in part because I've noticed that by far most people who get my name wrong in offline life think my name is "Paul". I suppose I must look like a "Paul" to them, whatever a "Paul" looks like.
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