It came quite unexpectedly, the first request for me to officiate a ceremony. I had just met two men and a woman from Tel Aviv who were also up in the north of Israel visiting a friend near the Sea of Galilee. The intention of their trip was to call forth the creation of a new human being. The men were a couple in a long standing relationship. The woman who was to become the mother of their child and tonight was to be the night she was to be inseminated. The three of them requested a ceremony to be held in the Jordan River the purpose of which was to release any fears or blocks associated with this dream.
We were guided to a spot down stream from where Yeshua was baptized by John the Baptist. The Jordan River at this local is like a small pond full of still thick blue green water appearing like a primordial gel. As we approached the water's edge we were greeted by an otter swimming gently down stream and parting the waters with the wake of her body. Otter in many Native American spiritual traditions represents woman's medicine. Otter has always been the foundation totem animal of my native spiritual guides. That Otter came to us opening the ceremony was a powerful message both for myself and the woman who was asking to become a mother.
We followed Otter's initiation with the woman stepping into the cold banks of the river. Her eyes became the color of the water and we were met by the spirit of Eingana the creator goddess of the Australian aborigines. It immediately became clear that we were not here to release this woman's fears, but in being here she had already faced the fears necessary to be present in this moment. She was not afraid, but open, ready and powerful. I felt my womb space open as her's was blessed and made ready to receive.
Following that moment one of the men stood forward for he was to provide his seed that evening. As he stepped into the Jordan a powerful being descended into our midst. Mahakala, Tibetan Buddhism's most powerful protector deity was with us guarding and protecting the corridor through which this child's essence would travel joining his or her fathers physical being. The man's body felt the jolt of Mahakala's presence and his eyes sparkled with the knowledge of what had just occurred. The child was indeed with us, a child would come forth that night.
Shortly there after while we rested on the bank another deity, Avalokiteshvara made himself known. Avalokiteshvara is the bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all the Buddhas. He was present to advise that he had been amongst us with Mahakala holding and blessing the ceremony. Through the power of this intention he had swept away any doubt or fear that had been released into the river. The otter then returned slowly making her way back up the still river, closing the ceremony with the wake of her body.
The men and woman left ahead of me and I paused to thank the river. The otter turned around and swam to the river's bank at the shore where I stood. She raised herself up, paws resting on the sand beneath the surface of the water. She looked at me, nodded her head and departed. I kid you not!!!
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Jordan River
River Otter
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| Avalokiteshvara |
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