A Horsefly Sting Leads To Ascension to JOY

Ascension to Joy ... A ceremony that was co-created with another Medicine Woman in order to ascend to the ecstasy of JOY in our daily lives and the lives of those we touch.  It was abundantly made clear that JOY is an experience not a feeling during a recently moment.

For this ceremony, everyday we open sacred space for the ceremony and spend an hour in sacred space adding the names and intentions to the prayer stick (Ascension to Joy Event).  Once the names are added the stick is carried to either an outdoor living altar to be held until the next day or place on an indoor altar when weather is not conducive to outdoor time.

We have had storms recently that have filled the skies with thunder, lightning, and cleansing rain in abundance.  The waters in our dry "moat" are flowing rapidly.  As our ceremony is bi coastal water ceremony, it is not really surprising that we have had so much rain (the time of year here in Florida).  During these storms, lightning has struck on or near the property four times now (Fire, Lightning, Rain Shift Perspective Blog).  Powerful skies.  

JOY as an experience not a feeling, not a situation.  In life every experience we have has the possibility to be seen as a moment of JOY or a moment of struggle.  Yesterday made this abundantly clear.  As I was carrying the prayer stick to be blessed by the rays of sun that had broken through.  Asking that the flow of JOY be graced to each name upon the stick.  In answer to the prayers, ensuring we all knew they were being heard, the sun filled sky opened in a drenching rain complete with the lightning and thunder clouds giving verbal response to the prayers.  An experience in JOY.

Allowing the rain to pour down on the stick lifted high to the skies, the experience was felt.  I was stung by a horsefly, a powerful strike rattled the ground beneath my feet, and a pouch of stones being carried flew across the green grass.  One must pause and look at the moment.  Look at the medicine of the horsefly.  Look at the medicine of the rains and thunderclouds.

Horsefly Photographer  Omid Golzar

The horsefly can teach us a lesson of growth.  She reminds us that it is the journey, never the destination in life that is important.  That each moment in the journey is to be treasured.  She helps us to open to the energy that is already within us, to bring it forward.  Her sting bites.  It pauses us to see that truths may also bite and sting, yet they are still truths.  They are still gifts, it is also a reminder that which may sting should not be seen as a negative but rather as an ascension opportunity to grow.  She truly shows us that change is coming.

An experience is more of an act of knowledge, whether inductive knowledge or experimental knowledge, that gains feeling, action, reasoning, or influence over the next experience. The experience of each moment is an accumulation of experiences knowledge. One can have the experience of observing. The experience of participating. The experience of living and breathing. Through each type of experience, when you  pay attention you can begin to hear, see, breathe, and truly experience the flow of life.  That experience becomes knowledge - which can be applied as wisdom.

The Ascension to JOY, the experience of JOY, is not a feeling but an experience.  Once experienced it can become knowledge for every experience we encounter upon the journey in the future.  That knowledge of JOY can be applied as wisdom in every moment - whether that moment reveals itself as the sting of a horsefly or a moment of ecstasy.

Sacred Lodge Sister  Karen Chrappa Photographer