Life is what happens to you while you were making other plans
Published: Sun, 04/21/24
I seem to be in demand for my handyman skills and I get asked to do quite interesting things. I have built, or rebuilt, several quite fine fences this spring. The current project is located on the top of a hill deep in the Yorkshire countryside with impressive views of open fields. At home I built a lawn run for the guinea pigs so that they can be outdoors and eat grass all day, which is a guinea pig’s idea of heaven.
The plans that get delayed or displaced by life happening are more to do with writing and teaching etc. Last Saturday I did find the time to go to a church day held at Boston Spa Methodist chapel. The theme was church growth and some ideas of what might help communities to grow. The basic model suggested is a process of:
Listening to the needs of the community and individuals, dreaming up ideas which might serve those needs, then choosing one thing to act on. Then implementing that one thing. Then listening again to see if it worked, if so build on it, if not repeat the process. The message of the day was efficient use of resources, so perhaps the most important idea for me was the choosing and then focusing on one thing at a time. The hard part is in the choosing. There are so many interesting ideas to try out, lots of pleasurable activities to participate in, no shortage of pleasant people to spend time with. And yet, if you focus on one plan, it is essential to say no, at least for now, to many other possibilities. I am also learning to acknowledge that there is a grief process in letting go of activities which we might once have thought valuable and worth participating in. We are finite beings in time and space and a major life lesson is how
to make good choices. How to make the life that will happen anyway the best it can be.
I do plan to write more than I do and comment on the state of the world. I don’t actually write as much as I think I should partly because I follow what is going on in the world and wonder what I can say about the incomprehensible statements and absurd behaviour of those who somehow attain positions of power and ‘authority’. The sheer stupidity demonstrated in the grand plans which are made, and all too often implemented, by governments and would be ‘leaders’ just baffles me. Scott Ritter wrote a brilliant article last week exposing the biblical justification for the Zionist project. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, loves to quote the prophet Samuel who told Saul (the first king of Israel) to attack the Amelekites (a rival nation to ancient Israel), put the whole people to death, along with all their livestock, and destroy all that belongs to them. In modern Israel the Palestinians are equated with the Amelekites
and so killing them all and destroying their homes and all they possess is doing God’s work. Creating a militarised colonial settler project is bad enough. Invoking divine justification for genocide in the cause of such a project is just asking for trouble. The whole article is well worth reading, link below.
Compared to 3000 years of history leading up to the conflicts we see unfolding now, it is easy to feel inadequate and incapable of making any difference in the world. We are finite in time and space and even the presidents, prime ministers, and influential commentators are often as much swept away by circumstances as they are actually influencing events. Words spoken or written do make a difference when they influence minds and direct actions. Most words have little or no effect. The greatest effect actually comes through energy directed with intent. Call it magic if you like. However, magic only really works when aligned to divine purpose. Before we attempt to influence others, we first need to ask why we should even want to redirect another person’s path. We also need to know what benefit we might bring another person if they did come under our influence. I would also recommend cultivating a sensitivity to outside influences
and how to block out the unwelcome energies. Before we worry too much about the fate of nations we would be well advised to learn how to manage our own energy and intentions.
For me the runic stances have proved to the best way of daily grounding myself and managing energy. The best way of knowing and remembering the runes is to embody them daily in the stances. The physical benefits include: The development and maintenance of good posture. Gentle stretching and toning of the tendons and ligaments. The cultivation of deep and natural breathing. If performed out of doors, and it is always best if you can find a place with grass, trees, and other natural features for doing the stances, you can align yourself with the rising and setting sun and thus develop an awareness of your place in time and space. When possible I do my stances in bare feet in order to make the energetic connection with the earth. Our planet has a natural electrical cycle which enables life to exist and thrive on what otherwise would just be a lump of rock spinning in space. The positively charged sky constantly discharges to the
negatively charged earth. We see this process most dramatically in lightening strikes. Trees draw down positively charged water droplets from clouds to their negatively charged roots which is why forests have such an important role in managing climate. When doing the stances we too are connecting between the positive charge of the ‘Sky Father’ and the negative charge of the ‘Earth Mother’, our practice intentionally connects our own megin energy system into the planetary life cycle. Energising, grounding, and balancing our megin is essential to our vitality, clarity of mind, and general health and well-being.
It doesn’t matter too much what time of day you do the stances. I personally like to do the opening set as early as possible in the morning and the closing set just before sunset. However, the important thing is just to do them. A simple daily practice such as the Stav Stances is something which you can control in your life.
At Stavcamp this year I will put a particular emphasis on doing the stances. We will try each of the Galdre versions, yes even the Herse, although we may have to break it up over a period of time. The important thing will be to do the stances collectively in a woodland setting and equip each person who attends with the ability to continue the practice in their own lives after the camp. Link below although I will be updating the page in the next few days, dates and booking details won’t change though.
regards
Graham
Stavcamp 2024, 5th to 7th of July 2024 https://stavcamp.org/
Article ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ by Scott Ritter https://www.globalresearch.ca/sympathy-devil-amalek-effect/5854401
Graham Butcher
21 Beaver Road
Beverley East Yorkshire HU17 0QN
UNITED KINGDOM
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