UNEARTHING
Unearthing: to dig up, excavate, exhume, bring to the surface, mine, quarry, pull out, root out, scoop out, disentomb, unbury
I was born into this life through the love and partnership of two archaeologists. By the time I was born my father had already been raised in a family filled with mysticism and history. He had found his way to archaeology via a twisting path through the humanities, science and shamanism. My mother, having come from a more conventional middle American upbringing, found herself to be naturally inclined to magic and nature-based practices. It was during my childhood that she formally took up archaeology as her vocation, just one piece in the puzzle of the seer, wise woman that she was to become.
Both of them taught my sisters and I how to seek beyond that which we could see. How to question the obvious and hunt down the hidden.
From age 2 onwards my weekends and summers were spent on archaeological digs of various forms. As I grew in skill and instinct, I was allowed to join the excavation crews and participate in what I have come to know as ‘unearthing’.
You see, when I dug with purpose, seeking clues to the past that lay hidden in the fabric of the Earth herself, I seemed to enter a different space and time from that which we regularly inhabit. Perhaps you have memories of similar situations when you were a child? Making mud pies, playing Indiana Jones, or digging for pirates lost treasure instinctively? As kids, most of us will at some point have dived beneath the surface of the seen and delved deeply into the darkness of the Earth.
I learned to unearth lost times and lost people on an outward level very early in my life. It was only years later that I learned how to unearth within.
First, the process began with me. I would spend hours wandering on the land, often barefoot, allowing myself to reconnect to the planetary system in which I lived. As I walked, I would sink into a quiet place, as if my consciousness would drop down and down and down until it rested deep within my soul. Sometimes this process would take hours, sometimes days. I could always tell when I reached that place within my own human/earth ecosystem because suddenly the outer world would go soft and transparent; almost as if it didn’t really exist at all. In this state, I would feel as if I could reach out and weave together the fabric of the plants, animals and human world with my fingertips, so soft and malleable it seemed.
From here I would feel as if I was entering into a huge cave deep within my soul; a cavern of mysteries and of clues. Of clues to questions yet to be asked and answers yet to be heard.
I would find myself in an inner place where my unearthing could begin in earnest.
Often I would imagine that I could take a mythic flashlight and muster up all my courage to look at the darkest places within that cave. These places always became illuminated when I asked the right question.
The right question was often the very one that I was afraid to ask back in the day world.
Questions like –
What have I forgotten?
What do I not want to admit to anyone, least of all myself?
What am I hiding from or denying?
What am I really afraid of?
What do I love so much I would die for it?
As with all things, when we are brave enough to unearth our deepest shadows, we are gifted with the gold of our brightest and most inspiring answers.
My fears would reveal hidden desires and passions that would lead me to the next adventure in my day world.
My denial would open the door to my desire and my ambition.
My inner love would always show me what was most important and what could be thrown away.
Why not try entering into your own process of reconnection and unearthing? It may not happen right away and it may take some practice and some patience. But it will reveal the answers that no one else can ever give you. It will also lead you to the questions that will change your life.
Are you ready to ask the questions that you have not yet dared to ask?
If you would like me to walk with you, all that remains is to connect.
