The Power to Surrender
The Sage speaks:
A flower can only grow as fast as it is capable of growing. There is no sense in hurrying the flower. This may be obvious to you, yet at times I see you trying to convince the flowers otherwise! Surrender to the flower’s process so that a bloom may finally come to pass, my child. It is this same rule that governs life, love, and magic. In magic, however, you are the one who decides what seeds to plant and where they will be planted. The rest is in the hands of the Mighty Ones.
As you continue on the journey through the widdershins spiral, your next stop is in the south. Traditional Neopagan magical systems associ ate the south with the element of fire, which holds the power to will The ability to manifest desires through directing psychic energy is the power to will. In widdershins work, the power of willing transforms into the power to surrender, which shifts your magical focus from fire itself to that which fuels the fire-from energy itself to the source of energy.
When something burns, it surrenders to fire. Every fire burns because it is fueled from some source. Similarly, every physical form that con tains life is fueled by spirit. This sounds very basic, but it is important to keep in mind because it translates into magical work. In order for magic to be alive, it too must be infused with spirit. Surrendering or linking to the realm of spirit is the power that underlies willing.
In practical terms, through surrendering you tap the source of energy behind the power to will and learn to release it. The dark moon power of surrendering is all about release. Initially, this power allows you to release and relax physically and mentally, so that you can access the source power of spirit. This then allows an unimpeded flow of psychic energy.
Once you have physically, mentally, and spiritually surrendered and power begins to flow, you can tap back into the deosil power of fire (to will) in order to mystically and physically direct the flow of spiritual energy. Directing spiritual energy sounds mysterious or even difficult to do, but it can be as simple as performing a physical action. Physical action is spirit energy in motion. Physical action helps move spiritual energy into manifestation. There is no sense in praying that your car will start up when it is out of gas. In that moment, action is needed—fill up the tank!Spiral within to tap the source of power, then spiral back out into action-that is the key to powerful magic. It is a balancing act.
Magical work requires flexibility of consciousness on the part of the Witch or shaman because spiritual energy moves fluidly. If you become rigid by anchoring your consciousness to either pole of willing or surrendering, it is difficult to generate magical power. It is impossi ble to sustain a flow of energy through willing if the psychic channels are not opened through surrendering. If you stay at the pole of willing, you can begin to drain your personal psychic faculties because you have not accessed spirit, which is the source of all power.
Likewise, too much surrendering opens the way to apathy. You can open yourself to gross intemperance and debauchery if you release yourself beyond the limits of self-control. Spiraling within opens the pathway for spiritual energy to emerge; spiraling back out opens the pathway for action. This double spiral of power helps to keep you flexible between the two poles. Surrendering is not only a magical, spiritual method, it is also a way of being in the world. It is a psycho logical position of seeing the processes of nature as complete-as needing no help to further it along. Mainstream westerners find this a difficult power to assume because their spiritual systems support the notion that the world and humanity are fallen, corrupt, or sinful. When the world is viewed as a mistake, it cannot be valued beyond its potential to be exploited. This is the mindset of control. It elicits power over the world, which is the usual way western culture teaches us to access power. “Power over” is a patriarchal construct, and it needs hierarchy-a pecking order-to keep it alive. It is dominance over nature and over others.79
If you surrender to the world and to nature, you open your con sciousness to the realization that humans are, as Native American Chief Seattle once described, “strands in the web of life” and not the entire web. Whatever it is we do to this web, we do to ourselves. Through this perspective, you evoke the power and strength that comes from interdependence. A new power paradigm emerges, called power with, when you surrender to interdependence. This power does not rely on hierarchy for efficacy. “Power with” turns hierarchy on its side, so that empowerment is evenly distributed; each of us and every creation has something valuable to offer in our existence and there fore holds a certain amount of the power of the whole.80
For example, there is power in a support network of friends because of the collaboration of skills and resources that go beyond the capabilities of an individual. An individual will is necessary at times, but so is a collective one. The power to surrender is a power that helps ground you in a perspective of mutual cooperation, which is well beyond the bounds of the individual authoritarianism that patriarchy supports.81
Again, there is danger in clinging solely to this psychological perspective. There are times when individual action is necessary. For example, in the cases of self-protection, improvement, and realization, or to fulfill a personal desire, you must mobilize your individual will and move into action. As with the powers of the west (to accept and to dare), the Witch learns to balance the south’s powers of willing and surrendering.
Quarrelsome Demyan
Once there was a man named Demyan who loved to pick fights. Everyone in the village knew of this characteristic, so they tried their best to avoid the man.
The villagers did such a good job keeping Demyan at bay that he became frustrated because he could no longer pick fights openly. So he began to resort to trickery. One day he invited another villager into his house. Once the villager was inside, Demyan told his wife to set the table, and he asked his guest to sit down for supper. The guest politely said to Demyan, “You shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble.”
With that Demyan slapped the man in the face and said, “Always obey the master when you’re in his house!” The guest, falling for the trick, sat down, and when the host offered him food, he ate.
Soon into the meal Demyan began to cut countless slices of bread. The guest asked, “Why do you cut so much bread, Demyan?”
Demyan gave the guest another slap, saying, “It is impolite to give advice to the host! Obey the master when you’re in his house.” The guest became distraught. When Demyan offered him some bread, the guest refused to eat, thus disobeying Demyan, who kept beating him, saying, “In someone else’s house, obey the master!” The guest fled from Demyan’s house beaten and upset.
Soon after that, a shabbily dressed man rode up to the house on an old horse. Without being invited, he entered Demyan’s front gate and rode into the yard. Demyan thought to himself, “Aha! Another guest to thrash!” “Welcome, stranger” said Demyan.
“Thank you, Demyan.” said the stranger, “but please forgive me for having come without first asking permission.”
“Never mind that, come in, you are welcome here!”
The stranger entered Demyan’s house and was entreated to sit down at the table. Soon, Demyan commanded his wife to serve the dishes of food and to bring the bread. The fellow ate and ate without contradicting his host. No matter how much Demyan tried to provoke his guest, he could not find a pretext for striking him.
Finally, frustrated beyond words, Demyan decided to resort to trickier tricks. He brought out his very best clothes and told the stranger, “Take off what you are wearing and put this on:’ Demyan, expecting the stranger to refuse out of politeness, was shocked when the fellow did not refuse. The stranger put on the clothes that his host gave him. Demyan began to offer the stranger this and that around the house, but still the man would not quarrel.
Demyan brought out his best horse, saddled it with his best silver gear, put the gold bridle on the horse, and said to his guest, “Take my horse. Yours is poor looking and ungroomed” Demyan expected the man would surely refuse, but the fellow mounted the horse. Frustrated beyond his limits, Demyan finally told the guest to ride forth. The fellow urged the horse on, rode out of the yard, and disappeared down the road. Demyan followed the man with his eyes, clapped his hands, and said, “Well, at last I’ve found my equal! Not he, but I was fooled. I wanted to thrash him, but instead I lost my horse!”82
Application of “Quarrelsome Demyan”
The two dinner guests in the fairy tale of Quarrelsome Demyan illus trate well the polar spiraling paths through the power of fire. Demyan represents what cannot (and should not) be controlled-namely, nature.83 The first guest to Demyan’s house symbolizes the impotence of willing against the tide of nature. We cannot prevent the sun from rising or setting, nor the moon from waxing or waning.
Yet in that tale, the visitor tries over and over to master, control, and will the situation. The result is a beating. Every time he exerts his will against the tide of Demyan, he is struck. This is the predicament our world faces today. In effect, nature is rebelling right now due to human attempts to control it. Ozone depletion, hunger, and disease are some of the ways nature has slapped back at human control.
The first guest would have claimed much more control over the situation had he surrendered or harmonized with Demyan. He needed to cooperate with the prevailing energies. The second visitor of the tale utilizes the power of surrendering to his advantage. Because he opened to that prevailing tide and surrendered to it, Demyan’s second visitor was ultimately able to gain a form of power. He claimed a new horse and new clothes, which symbolizes the idea that we too can gain power through harmonizing with nature’s tides.
The Sage Speaks:
“When fire is set ablaze across a wide, grassy field, it cannot be contained. No, the entire field, every blade of grass, offers itself to the life changing influences of the fire. After it is touched by the flame, that grass becomes something else over time, something that is needed by the field at that moment. Like the grass, surrender yourself to the processes of fire and embrace your perfect place in the universe.
Each of the following exercises will aid you in surrendering on each of the three levels of being. Try them in a series and then monitor your results. Through these exercises, you should experience a feeling of clarity and harmoniousness.
Surrendering the Body
Find a drumming audiotape or have a magical partner play live drums for this exercise. Some excellent drum tapes to use are recorded by Gabrielle Roth and Jim McGrath.84 You can find these artists’ works in any well-stocked music store.
Practice this exercise on the last night of the dark moon, which symbolizes the moon’s “surrender” oflight. Just as the moon has, in essence, surrendered its body, so will you. For this work, you need a work space that is relatively open, so that you don’t bump into things as you engage in physical surrendering.
To begin, find a drum rhythm that encourages movement. Select one that has a consistent beat. Then stand (or sit) in the center of your work space. Ground yourself in time and place and then focus on feel ing the weight of your body. Become conscious of the pull of gravity.
As you do this, listen to the drumming. Allow the pulsating rhythm to sweep over your body, and allow it to begin moving your toes. Stay with that movement for a moment. What surprises do your toes reveal as they move? Next, add in your feet. How do your feet respond to the rhythm? How do the toes and feet move together?
Slowly, add in each part of your body to this dance of release your knees, upper thigh, hips, stomach, chest, shoulders, arms, elbows, fingers, neck, and finally, add in your head. Be sure to spend a moment or two with each body part as you add it into the dance. The final, complete movement should be spontaneous and wild; the experience should be ecstatic and transformative.
I have done this exercise with many different people and occasionally there are those who balk because they feel shame over their bod ies, or they have fears about moving or dancing in front of other people. Yet, amazingly, once. they complete the exercise, they feel exhilarated and liberated. The moment of transformation comes when they move beyond their doubts and fears.
Many of them ask me why they had been afraid for so long to let go. I tell them that it is because they had learned to identify only with the parts of themselves that were culturally accepted. These were the parts that only dwelt in the light-the parts that said, “You can only move your body like everyone else, otherwise you should be ashamed of yourself.” Through the exercise of body surrendering, the dark moon or unknown parts were what emerged.
When you fear the dark, fear of letting go is a certainty.
Consciousness Surrender
Experiencing surrender at the level of the mind is what I call wondering. This is the widdershins power of the east, which you will explore more fully in the next chapter. However, this exercise gives you a taste—a small preview—of this power.
This exercise is good to do any time you experience lack of clarity in your thought processes. Begin by finding a comfortable body posi tio n, either sitting or standing. Close your eyes and take several deep, slow breaths while imagining that your muscles all melt like butter; they become soft and pliable.
Travel into your head and imagine how all of your thoughts look.
Give them all sizes, colors, and shapes-just make it all up! Then, imagine that you are able to open wide a doorway in the front of your head. You can see that on the other side of this doorway it is clear and sunny. Now imagine that all of the different sizes, shapes, and colors jump out of the doorway. Allow this to continue until nothing is left.
Then imagine that a gentle breeze picks up and blows through you. When you are ready, open your eyes.
Spirit Energy Release
Now that you have successfully surrendered in body and mind, you are ready to tap into the dimension of spirit and release its energies.
Begin by finding a comfortable position, either sitting or standing.
Again take several slow, deep breaths. Breath is important in generating spiritual energy,85 so make sure your breathing is slow, deep, and controlled throughout the exercise.
As you breathe, imagine that flames encircle you. They are a few feet away at first, but you feel their heat. The flames start to move in now. They continue their approach until they are literally at your feet. The flames do not hurt; they simply impart a warm, tingling sensation. Take a deep breath and allow yourself to feel the tingling and warmth.
Suddenly, the flames climb your legs, and you feel the tingling sensation directly on your body. Surrender to this. Allow these flames to climb up and cover your stomach, then your chest, arms, neck, and head. Surrender to the power of fire. Let it transform you. Look through your spirit eyes and see the world through the center of the flames. Meld with the flames. Become the flames. Allow them to burn away your physical being to reveal that part of you which is immor tal. Continue to breathe deeply.
At this point, begin to breathe in the power of the fire. With each in-drawn breath, fill up your body with this energy.Imagine that you are hollow inside and that an orange-red light fills up the space with each inward breath. As you do this, notice that the flames outside your body die down. They are being absorbed into your spirit. Continue to draw in the power of the fire as you feel your legs fill with its warmth and tingling light. Then your hips and stomach swell with power. Soon your chest and arms expand with fire power. Finally, your neck and your head fill up with the energy of fire.
When you are ready, open your eyes. Move into action and direct the psychic energy toward some goal. Be sure to ground and center yourself after this exercise.
The Athame Ritual
This exercise makes use of the athame (pronounced: ah-tha’-may), one of the Witch’s most powerful personal tools. Traditional Wiccan lore says that the athame is a black-handled, double-edged knife. The athame directs the will of the magical practitioner.
In this exercise, the athame symbolically connects your personal will to the rest of nature. Items Needed:
• An athame or some other sharp blade.
• A red taper candle (in a holder).
On the first night of the waning moon, use your athame to make fourteen evenly spaced notches along the length of the red taper can dle. Then light the taper and watch the flame consume the wax and wick. As you watch, realize that the candle surrenders to the flame. It does not resist. It surrenders its present form and transforms itself into light, heat, and warmth. The candle’s potential becomes actualized as it surrenders. Once the candle burns the wax down to the first notch, extinguish the flame with the blade of the athame. You can do this by patting the flame down.
Continue this meditation each night for the remaining thirteen nights of the waning moon.
On the last night, after you have lit the remaining candle and have watched it burn down, take your athame and go outdoors.
Face the south and hold the blade up to the black, moonless sky. Then with both of your hands, plunge the blade into the earth and say: I welcome thee powers of the widdershins south. I embrace the power to surrender!
Meditation: Gaining the Power to Surrender
Close your eyes and take several deep, slow breaths. With each breath, allow your body to become still. With each breath, quiet your mind. With each breath, imagine that you move closer to the center of your being. Mentally travel through your body, from your toes to your head, and relax each part as you go along.
When you have finished, imagine that a blue mist begins to swirl around your feet. It moves upward and covers you completely. The mist is warm and comforting. Soon, it begins to lift you up and take you on a journey to a place oflearning.
[Partner:pause for a moment.]
The mist sets you down now, and it dissipates. As it does, it reveals a new scene. You find yourself in front of a large oak tree in the mid dle of a warm, sunny field. Take note of its immense size. Walk close to it. Touch it. As you do, notice that your hand slips easily into the tree, as though it was an illusion. Let your arm go inside, then allow the rest of your body to follow, until you are completely inside the oak tree.
Suddenly, a transformation takes place. Your arms become branches and leaves, your feet become roots-you become the oak tree. Imagine how it feels to have branches and leaves. Feel your root system in the earth below you. Imagine how you take in nutrients from the soil and clear, still water from underground springs.
Now, feel the warmth of the sun on your leaves. A wind picks up now and sways your branches. Feel the rush of the breeze as it moves your body.
Time begins to speed up now; the sun moves fast through the sky, and soon it is dark outside. Look up and feel the cool light of the waning moon and stars on your leaves, branches, and trunk.
Just as suddenly as before, another transformation takes place, and you find yourself back outside of the tree. Look at it again and know that its life is not independent. Its life falls into a vast web of interde pendency that reaches into the deepest parts of the universe. See now how the web sustains your life.
[Partner: pause for a moment.]
The blue mist swirls at your feet, climbs, and covers you again. It lifts you and brings you back to the place where you began the jour ney. It takes you back to your physical body. When you are fully back, open your eyes. Take a moment to assimilate the experience.
79. Starhawk, Truth or Dare, San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987, p. 9.
80. For a full explanation of this, see, e.g., His Holiness the Dali Lama, A Pol icy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings by and about the Dali Lama, New York: Snow Lion, 1990.
81. Starhawk illustrates these types of power as they relate to group dynamics. However, they are applicable to the flows and directions of spiritual power. See, e.g., Starhawk, Truth or Dare, San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987, pp. 8-10.
82. Based on translation of”Quarrelsome Demyan” by Norbert Guterman in Aleksandr Manasev, Russian Fairy Tales, New York: Pantheon Books, 1945, pp. 163-164.
83. Many of the Russian fairy tales I encountered had a focus on combat. Although their characters many times represent spiritual principles, oddly, they are armed and ready for battle.
84. Some titles of drumming tapes by Gabrielle Roth that I recommend for this work are Totem, Bones, and Luna. The titles that I like for Jim Mc Grath are Drum Spirit and Percussive Environments.
85. Actually the origin of the word spirit is the Latin spiritus, which literally means, “breathing,” “breath,” or “the breath oflife.” See, e.g., D.P. Simp son, Cassell’s Latin and English Dictionary, New York: MacMillan Publish ing, 1987.