Ritual 37: Monday, September 10, 2007

Waning Moon

It's back to school season. For many of us, school is a dim memory. But in life, there really is no end to the learning. It's become popular in new age texts to refer to life as "earth school" -- as in, "I was blissed out, totally united with the Supreme Being, but -- doh! -- She said I had some more lessons to learn before I could cycle of the karmic wheel, so it's back to earth school for me!"

We are always learning. Why, I just learned how to apply eyeliner properly. (To be fair, I'm also deeply engaged in a study of world religions.)

Learning is as necessary to the soul as breathing is to the body. Learning implies growth, movement. It is the opposite of stagnation.

Adults learn best by doing. But busy adults will reach for learning more through books than experiential classes. Books are handy -- convenient, affordable, portable -- and you can learn at your own pace. Way easier to squeeze into your schedule than a class. Unfortunately, most people buy books more than they actually read them. The yearn to learn is universal, but without any required reading assignments a book might lay partially read at the side of the bed for months until you finally give up and shelve it. If a friend mentions a book you've got, you'll chime in with "I have that book." But have you actually read it? And if you did read it, did you retain anything?

Strengthen your mental muscles tonight by selecting a book you've skimmed, read bits of, or whose cover you've barely cracked. Choose a passage using the art of bibliomancy. Ask "What is in this book that would be of most value to me tonight?" Then open the book wherever your hands guide you to. Voila! You have been guided!

Read the passage. Just a page will do. Now try reading it aloud. Notice a difference?

Call on Sarasvati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge and scholarship, to help you retain some piece of learning from this passage. Just ask her out loud in your own words for her help.

True learning involves both taking in and giving out. "You don't know it until you do it," a wise soul once said. Now that you've taken in this material, it's time to integrate and give it back out as an authentic part of yourself. You don't need to agree with what you just read to have an integrated, authentic response to it.

Since Sarasvati is also a goddess of the arts and music, use one of these tools to express what you have just learned. Using paints, crayons or song, offer up to the universe what you just learned. I call this kind of integrative expressing "getting it in your body."

Got it in your body? Great! Thank the goddess Sarasvati and bid her farewell.

You may find yourself using your new knowledge tomorrow. Write a post in the community section to let us know.

Tomorrow's new moon may also find you signing up for a class you've been wanting to take. (This is my hypnotherapist self offering a subtle suggestion to maximize your time on earth school.)

After the ritual, share your experience in our community section.