It was cut off a tree one time by someone, someone I don't know, any sticks or nubbies on its surface were cut off and smoothed down, and it was polished, perhaps varnished, by a craftsman, I imagine according to Old World standards for such things.
Then it was set in a particular place, being on display for sale when I happened along, saw it, knew of its righteousness, selected, and bought it. It's been years now, quite a while, and this old stick and I have been through a lot together. I'll be collapsed and it'll be standing tall in the corner.
I don't use it much as a walking stick, but I do use it. I use it essentially in the same way I use my sacred swords, for one point tuning, adjusting my mental and spiritual acuity. (Link 1, when I was involved in the Grange orgies; Link 2, even using a back scratcher as sacred sword.) There's nothing that says sacred spinal channels for me like a good sword or walking stick. We work together as a team. I know them, they know me. In fact, sometimes I think, in the case of just this particular stick, contrary to how I described it above, that it chose me, I didn't choose it! I've sought for anyone who can prove it otherwise, but so far no one has.
But so often it does nothing but stand in the corner. It's always strong and composed but I'm convinced I make it sad. Because I can go long stretches simply neglecting my spiritual health, and neglecting it. These things all go together. We always think books, sacred spiritual books, are the key to spiritual health, and there's a lot of good content there, but at some point, it's all just yak yak yak. You need a good stick.
Look, we're made kind of like a stick or sword, ascending, reaching for the sky, and so one of these little numbers is just what the heavenly doctor ordered. Take two sticks (or one) and call me in the morning!
Anyway, I want to get to the spiritual moments I had with my walking stick tonight.
For the best maneuverability, the stick and I went to the backyard. It's been a nice evening. It's kind of a spiritual night in and of itself, since this is the night Daylight Savings Time begins. I think that means if you balance an egg on your nose at exactly 2:00 a.m., it won't fall off till you set your clock ahead. Meaning, if you don't have a clock, you'll be walking around with egg on your face all year. Something like that.
The stick took me out. I stood in the backyard holding it. Everything that follows was done very slowly. I turned it in a complete circle around me, picturing myself as the compass point in the middle as it made its circuit. This was to make myself invisible, so no one walking or driving by would be able to see me.
Invisibility completed, I worked through a series of 37 very specific exercises I do. I held the stick so it was aimed at my feet as they were rotated (one of the exercises). If I needed to move my arms from one side to the other, the stick went through the motions as well. And so forth. One especially great one is to picture energy going through specific body areas on the way to the neck muscles and head. Having the stick there really centered the energy in my spinal centers. I'm just glad I wasn't near a major body of water, because when it's built up like that, an energy spill could be disastrous.
Being done with the 37 steps, the stick found its way for pointing toward the cardinal directions. I derived great power from the East. Then I derived great power from the South. Next I derived great power from the West. As for the North, of course that's my least favorite direction, so even though there was a little bit of power derived, it came in sputtering and most of it fell to the ground before I could get it tucked away. The stick looked at me with a questioning look, but understood when I simply said, "North."
This was quite an evening. I really needed this. And it will do me good if I learned my lesson and not allow myself to become distant again when it comes to spirituality and the inner life. Because it's all connected with life in its totality and the kind of life we all desire. Frankly, what I've been doing has dissipated my energies. I hate to say what it's been, but here goes, lots of Sudoku puzzles. They're very hard. But that's not the biggest problem, the biggest problem is how much time they take to do! You barely have time to squeeze in the Jumble.
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