Behind the Mind We Find a Home {February 2023}

ARRIVAL  •  SANCTUARY  •  DREAMING

Last month we sat together beside time, a place where we connect to all Time—past, present, and future. This month we’re guided behind the mind, where senses, thoughts, and knowings all converge. In each case, we are careful not to sever our connections to time or mind, instead we immerse ourselves in their wholeness. It is in this wholeness that we find a home. 

Most days our minds are populated by illusions. Our conscious thoughts tame and censor the wild dramas of the unconscious. Masquerading as separate and enduring entities, we mistake ourselves as captains steering our lives this way and that. Though we do have an incredible ability to make things happen, and we have agency in how we move and what we choose, we are in fact afforded this level of functionality because our minds are busy defending us from the overwhelming sensory chaos and unpredictability of the universe. 

Grateful for this service, we do not seek to separate ourselves from the mind altogether. Instead, we go to the place where we can remember who we are before words and between selves. Behind the mind, we find experiences of interconnection, synthesis, and unspeakable understandings. We catch glimpses of the life in us that is more than human. We dream collectively and open to the pain and joy of the world because it is our pain and joy, too. 

This month’s spell asks us to make this place our home. It is a reminder that this is the space we are to return to again and again for a sense of shelter, sanctuary, and belonging. It may be unreasonable to stay here, but when we’re exhausted, depleted, or confused, we can always come back to this place, behind the mind, and rest. Arriving at what is most real, we cannot help but dream.