The Makings of An Elder

Adapted from Joanna Powell Colbert’s Gaian Tarot, “Elders”

Feel free to substitute pronouns for your own need)

Holding Wisdom in his hands –
Passing it on with giving counsel
Teacher, Ancestor in the making.
You will prepare the way for descendants yet to come.

Brother, Son, Husband, Father, Friend;
Elders show how “vocation is the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.”
They show how to experience communion with the Great Mystery through worship, praise, and meditation.
They set an example of a life well-lived.
An Elder teaches how to be a song of peace and healing for the world.
This is what you do.

Elders live in la epoca del mito, the Otherworld, in the Time of Myth.
Their gaze is directed, potent, challenging.
They see right through our masks, and remind us to embrace our vulnerability not with shame, but with courage.
Elders remind us to open up to the world of energy and spirit, and they never sit back and accept things as they appear because
They embody the power of transformation.

The Elder’s time is a liminal time.
The time in between night and day.
Between shore and sea.
Between mountain and sky.
Sky and the stars.
Their time is the gloaming,
When sun paints the horizon.
A wise Elder, Rumi, has taught us that “the  breeze at dawn has secrets to tell. Don’t go back to sleep.” In seeking these wild and liminal times and places in Nature, we gain deep peacefulness of soul and find the strength to keep calm in the midst of a storm.
The Elder teaches us to “seek out these wild and magical places that fill our hearts with gratitude.”

The Elder is also known for kindness and has as skill for deep talking,
Deep listening too.
They open sacred space
Wherever they are, because they know that any place, any time, can be a container for the Sacred
With right vision and intention.
Gentle and strong, the Elder spins and weaves
Harmony
In the tapestry of home and community
To one day, with a prayer and tears, cut the Threads of Life.
The Elder knows most of all how to say “Hello and Good Bye.”

In all of these actions, the Elder knows,
The Deep Truth that these are all riches beyond measure.

The Elders:
The Wisdom Keepers.
The Silver-haired Tricksters.
The Transformers of Life and Death,
Sing songs, and whisper prayers to the four winds.

The Makings of an Elder are simple:
They have lived life through,
And they are determined to see that life
Continues, generation to generation.
Until the end and beginning again of
Life’s Great Poetry.
Until the end and beginning again of
Life’s Great Mystery.

Journal 3/29/14:

“Last night we welcomed our Brother Kurt into the Circle of Elders. Hand in hand, tear by tear, laugh by laugh; we welcomed him into this next stage of Life. With offerings of song, offerings of gratitude, offerings of directed soul penetating silent sight, the Elders welcomed him into their arms.

With gifts of praise, form, and laughter we were all reminded to lead with the heart. With gifts of Blue Coyote and Soul Poetry, we were all reminded to “Wake up! Wake up! This is it! The time is now! Live!” Deep Wisdom was given. Deep Love was shared. The Deep connection of Community was felt, and the energy in the room was both grounded and electric, while we were serenaded by frog-song and thunder as the rains returned.

To see such a community, a community of spirit, and deep soul connection beyond the superficial, brought me to tears. Seeing and also being WELCOMED into this Circle myself made my heart weep with the same feeling I share with my own Kindred.

My only hope is to be able to live long enough to reach my own Elderhood, and share it with those I love, honour, and trust with all that I am.

I am so grateful, and so blessed. In this I know, I am SO loved and I am SO lovable.”