For the last year and a half after my burnout, my personal journey has led me to explore what some might call “new age” and label as mystical.
Particularly, my journey has focused on two areas: shamanism and astrology.
But I don’t like or accept accept the term “new age” for these. That comes with some baggage I don’t appreciate after some serious and deep study of them and after gleaning some profound application and impact in my life because of it.
Also … they aren’t new … they are in fact ancient.
Before we had MRIs or AI, we had nature, we had the stars. And we had observation and insight. We watched. We noted. We recorded. We saw pattersn. We integrated our learnings. We kept learning more and more. And eventually we collected all of that into reams of wisdom that have almost gotten forgotten.
On Shamanism
My path down shamanism started with working weekly with a shaman (Naomi McDonald), who was trained by Alberto Villoldo, a medical anthropologist who spent decades in the Amazon and Andes. I’ve now read most of his work, starting with The Four Insights: Wisdom, Power, and Grace of the Earthkeepers.
The ancients knew a lot. A lot.
And I must confess, I arrogantly thought the ancients didn’t have much to offer me. But wow, they do and have. I’m so thankful much of that wisdom has been preserved and kept alive and practiced and now taught.
Because I need it first, but I believe we need it as a species.
If I had to boil down what I’ve learned about shamanism down to its essence, I’d say for me it’s a return to nature and the natural. The cycles of life. The elements of our world and galaxy. And the patterns of it all.
On Astrology
Next, my path has most recently led me to astrology.
I’ve always known my sign (Taurus) but mostly discounted it to lore of fortune cookies.
But recently, I’ve developed a growing interest and fascination with astrology and have, frankly, obsessed over it because of the insights it’s held for making sense of events in my life.
I’m still a real noob and rookie (and likely will be for the remainder of my life). But if I had to boil it down astrology to its essence, I’d say, these massive objectives we’re swirling around and vice versa — the Sun, moon, the planets have their own cycles, themes, patterns and … archetypes.
And we have much to learn and apply from them. In fact, this book has been incredibly helpful for me to understand my experiences with midlife … but I wouldn’t have bought it 3-5 years ago.
I mean …. we know the gravitational forces of the Moon cause our oceans to shift … daily.
Then think about the Sun, the things that keeps live alive on our planet …. it takes “8 and 1/3 minutes” for light from it to reach earth.
Why wouldn’t it all also influence our inner workings, our emotions, our thinking, and our entire lives.
And I’m completely blown away in awe with NASA’s James Web Telescope that is now showing us new incredible images into our galaxy that we’ll be learning from for eons.
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I’ve spent the last 15 years of my professional life hyper focused on “new” technology.
But now I’m relishing learning the “ancient” technology. The old age wisdom.
Humanity seems to be moving towards a future where we will embrace merge the ancient with the modern for an evolved life on earth. And I’m rather giddy for that.
I’ve kept it simple and practical, and as I’m learning about all of it and more and more seeking to apply it, to blend it, to synthesize it into my life
… the only thing I know today is … it’s helped me …. and I’m better for it.
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