A Harmony of Roses, part 2

This is the second post in the “Harmony of Roses” series. It’s written by Cecilia M. Farran, and features music by her daughter Celia Farran. If you’d like to start from the beginning, installment 1 is here.

As I do every morning, I take time on my porch, to meditate, to write. A zephyr breeze washes tree shadows in swaying patterns across my open page nudging me to begin. Shall I write today of the glimmers of glory in the perfumed garden air, or of the shambles in the gnashed despair of worldly rocks? Of miracles? Or mayhem? Of roses or stones? Which will it be? Knowing that if I am to grasp harmony, I must also explore what it is not, I decide to delve the gnarl that lives beyond this sweet forest, and to look in the eye the figuratively grey fog that seeps round my garden gate stifling my mind, just as it does for us all.

Today my pen asks, “why cannot I find harmony and peace, not for the world at large, but for myself, just for myself, for my own inner calm? How may I find fresh air beyond the dulling fog?”

How might I find Unconditional Roses? And so I begin, letting ink and paper lead me forward as they always do.

Hard Questions

If we are the powerful and creative beings that we are told we are, why must we so grapple to create the world we want?  Why is it that a wall seems to imprison our will?  If our will were free, could we not will war to end?  If there was truly a will to have Eden on Earth, would it not be so?  Homelessness? Done. Suffering? Ditto. We could do it.

So, what is it, I ask, that builds this wall and incarcerates our precious birthright of peace? Why is it so elusive, so hard won?  Ephemeral?  Could we not will that wall to crumble? What gets in our way? Hard questions long debated. Whatever it is takes its toll and does not feel good to me. 

Wetiko Energies

The good news is, that of late, and for the time being at least, I have found some comforting answers in the trilogy of books by author Paul Levy [4] in which he deals with a mind-virus energy he terms wetiko. He attributes the term wetiko to Native American cultures, but it could easily be replaced by what other cultures call demons, jinn, shape changers, trickster, or devil. You get the drift. These energies cunningly trick us to allow them enter into our minds until thoughts that we believe are ours, the ones that rule the day, aren’t ours at all, but are inspired, crafted, by them. Wetiko revels in stirring chaos, anarchy and discontent. Its greatest trick is to shape-shift until its masquerade obfuscates its very existence from our eyes; that in its glorified pomp denies it is against our own best interests. Do you hear a maniacal laugh? It’s wetiko, hiding itself yet tromping out a living struggle, a cadence for our lives.

As does Yeats, Celia (singer, songwriter, wisdom-bringer and poet) addresses that struggle, not in the weight of dictionary words, but in a lyrical lilt that speaks to the heart. 

Cue up that playlist again. Unconditional Roses. Listen carefully, and perhaps even again, as she captures the carnage of lava, of the suffering that the wetiko mind-virus implants within us:

the pain and the shock
the tears and the snot
the fears, the rage, the blocks and the shame

But you say, “I have been wronged. Hurt. My spirit is crying out. I am one with my anger. I want revenge. I am stumbling in the rocks. My pain is precious to me. It clouds my eyes, yes, but how can I see it any differently? I am afraid of what would happen if I let go.” But Celia gently reminds that you may be “telling yourself little lies.”

Perhaps it’s that choking fog again swirling a darkness, telling you that you lack self-worth. Have no inner Grace. Are powerless. Whispering that the mind-virus of wetiko will overcome you…unless you struggle really hard. Because wetiko loves to see you struggle, it tells you lies, and you tell them to yourself, until they become real and sacred. There is an image in The Lord of The Rings that comes clear here: wetiko as Wormtongue huddled close to King Théoden, in a hoarse voice whispering poisoned spells thus destroying the kingly man he once was. It is the work of wetiko to not merely deal in “little” misconceptions, but to tell us massive lies. Wetiko sets us up and has a field day. What’s to be done?  Hit replay again and catch this line:

“A Miracle’s just a shift in perception.”

Can we make that shift from stumbling on rocks to smelling the roses? Can we thumb our noses at wetiko?  A Course in Miracles by Helen Schucman (1975 &1995) [5] states that a miracle can happen in an instant; that is the instant we change how we see and think (and thus feel and respond). That is the instant when we kick out that old mind-virus, find a quiet place and let peace and serenity flow in. It is the moment that Théoden’s eyes brighten and he sees clearly. His strength and leadership return. It is the moment of miracle. He is born anew.

Gifts within the Darkness

That instant of shift is actually the gift found in wetiko for even in darkness lies a gift. As author Jean Houston PH.D. [6] reminds us, if we can look at the virus a different way (shift our perception) we can delve the “fascinating exploration of how to find the light that is hidden within the dark side of our human experience.”

Celia sings on. Walk the garden with her. Smell the roses. Let her words gift a banquet of fragrance for your hungry soul. Like a good poem read aloud, let her voice encode lilt, melody and sound into something more than the sum of the parts.  Celia the way-shower can lead you: “away from this wreckage to an Enchanted Land.”

But bliss is delicate indeed. Have I made it seem too easy? Let’s get real here. Getting to that place of shift of how we look at things is hard work. There is beauty in a garden of roses, but no one, least of all Celia, promises a rose garden will just magically bloom without a plethora of inner work to prepare the soil, plant the seeds, water and fertilize, and carefully tend the young seedlings.

Doing the Work

Much can stymie the growth of that garden, destabilize its peace. Tricksters abound hidden beneath the rocks and they are difficult to root out or pin down, sometimes it’s almost impossible to see them for what they are. Just as you think you have them all figured out, have done the work and know what the Wetiko Weed and its vine-twisting is capable of, it’s will-o-the-wisp energy will shift and you realize you are being lied to once again. Played the fool once more. Suckered into an illusion yet again, your work needs to begin anew.

The paradox is that the “work” is basically learning to do a different kind of “work” than we have been trained to do.  The “work” is not the struggle, but learning how not to struggle.

Listening carefully, you will hear words of gentle, unconditional non-judgmental peace delineating how to do the work. Relax. Release. Breathe. That is the work.

“It’s safe for you to grow.”
“Just let go.”
“Open your heart.”
“I’ll show you a land of abundance to give you a brand-new start”.
“There’s no pressure”
“Offer your hand”
“I will lead you away from this wreckage”

Are you ready to release, relax, breathe? Ready to choose different thoughts? It’s difficult to let go of habits, especially when one has spent a lifetime entraining to the importance of a clenched fist struggle. Is the bloom of a rose garden in your soul worth it to you? Are you ready to choose a smooth rock path over a jagged jumble of stone?

Maybe these words from a mystic will help:

Don’t seek,
Don’t search.
Don’t ask, knock or demand ~ relax.
If you relax it comes.
If you relax is it there.
If you relax you start vibrating with it. -Osho [7]

In other words, begin by matching yourself with the vibration of what you seek. If you want abundance don’t grovel in lack. If you want joy, sit quietly and feel how joy feels. Relax and match pitch and harmony with what you are wanting. No, it’s not easy, but then do you want to live in paralyzed victimhood, ever a raw target for the vibrational virus of rocks and a jagged mind? Your choice.

Which wolf will you choose?

Choosing is up to you. You can do it. I am reminded of the story attributed to a Native American elder.  He tells his grandson he has two wolves arguing in his head.  One leads him to a sanctuary of harmony. One to a disturbance of dissonance.  One requires focus and inner work. One allows for indifferent laze. The child asks him which one will win.  His answer “Whichever one I feed.”

Ah yes, which one to feed. It’s always our choice really; anarchy of mind or harmony of spirit. Which wolf do you choose to feed?  Listen. Here is the next song up on the playlist.

“Which Wolf Will It Be?”

Which Wolf Will It Be?
Which Wolf Will It Be?
Which Wolf Will You Feed?

By Celia Farran © 2020 Red Granite Goddess Publishing / ASCAP Available here on Bandcamp

Which wolf to feed is your choice, up to you, but know that when we shift how we look at things, the thing we look at changes. Yes, A Miracle’s just a shift in perception.

Choose your wolf wisely. You might find your support in music and song.

“If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it.”
-William Shakespeare [8]

Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh [9] gives advice and reminds us to keep that playlist tracking. Might be a grand idea to make a copy of his words to tack on the refrigerator?

There are many ways to calm a negative energy without suppressing or fighting it. 
You recognize it, you smile to it,
and you invite something nicer to come in and replace it.
You read some inspiring words; you go somewhere in nature or
you listen to a piece of beautiful music.”

The conclusion of this series can be found here: “A Harmony of Roses, part 3”

Featured photo of pink roses by Jonathan Meyer

For more information about Cecilia M. Farran, including her bio and her collected blog posts, check out Cecilia the Elder’s page here on Pagan Song

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End Notes

[4] Levy, Paul (1956- ) author; creative artist, a pioneer in the field of spiritual emergence, and a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner for more than 35 years. He is the founder of the Awaken in the Dream Community. His recent three books treat the mind-virus of Wetiko.

Dispelling Wetiko: Breaking the Curse of Evil 2013 North Atlantic Books

Wetiko: Healing the Mind-Virus That Plagues Our World 2021 Inner Traditions

Undreaming Wetiko: Breaking the Spell of the Nightmare Mind-Virus 2023 Inner Traditions

[5] A Course in Miracles, Helen Schucman, Course in Miracles Society 1975 & 1995

[6] Jean Houston PH.D. American author involved in the human potential movement along with her husband, Robert Masters, co-founded the Foundation for Mind Research. Jean Houston encourages that we delve the books of Paul Levy, for they are a way to learn of the wiles of wetiko.

[7] Osho (1931-1990); Indian mystic, and philosopher. Promoted meditation and rejected institutional religions insisting that spiritual peace cannot be attained by following rituals and traditions.

[8] Shakespeare, William  Twelfth Night Act 1, Scene 1

[9] Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022) Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, poet and teacher, he founded the Plum Village Tradition and is historically recognized as the main inspiration for engaged Buddhism. Known as the “father of mindfulness”, Thich Nhất Hạnh was a major influence on Western practices of Buddhism.