Practical Mystics

[Ria Baeck]

 Practical mystics

Once we were monks and hermits and sages hidden away in caves.

We chose seclusion because we thought we would be more able to hear the voice of God.

We turned our backs on the world

And silence blanketed our days.

Once we were shamans and healers, the medicine beings of our tribes,

The bridge between this world and the other

Riding the drumbeat

Calling powerful spirits to our aid, helping the people.

Once we were initiates into the mysteries,

Taken at an early age, leaving all traces of our former lives behind

They shaved our heads and we learned the chants and rituals

We walked barefoot on the mountains.

Once we painted great animals on the ceilings of caves

We made handprints on the sides of cliffs

We moved stones into circles and traced the cresting of stars

We knew the rhythms of heaven and earth.

We knew the songs that called great powers

We knew the prayers that called great peace

We knew the ways that served all life

We knew the beauty of creation.

But the cycles have turned,

Now we must learn a new way.

We must learn to gather the silence within us

We must learn to hold the peace all around us

We must learn to voice the prayer that comes from us

We must live to honour the way that calls us.

No longer can we hide away

For what we know is needed in this world of form.

Who we are is a wayshower to those who long for more

Then they see with their human eyes.

Oh modern day mystic, will you answer the call?

Do you have the strength to live your calling in the midst of all that is now?

Do you have the courage to walk this path,

So different to what the world expects?

Do you have the heart to love your devotion as much as you love yourself?

Will you sing again the songs that call great powers?

Will you recite the prayers that call great peace?

Will you remember the ways that serve all life?

Will you honour the beauty of creation?

Become the one you wait for.

Share your mystical knowing in practical form,

Bless this earth with your being.

--‐

Mary Alice Arthur