I am deeply curious about the possibility that metamorphosis in the soul of one woman can bring unpredicted profound change two thousand years later . What if the transformation in Myriam of Magdala is only beginning to be played out ? What if the effect of her singular acts of keeping watch at a cruel execution and returning to the place of trauma is actually intensifying in this day and age?
One place where I find this to be so is in the increasingly widespread turn toward contemplative practices for healing memories of painful events. All of us have painful memories - but sometimes we intuitively know that it is no longer necessary or helpful to repeatedly tell the story of ‘what’ we remember .
In a contemplative way of remembering we choose to bring awareness gently, simply, directly and repeatedly to the inner place of where we experience that whole painful event. We ‘touch’ into this place where we remember often and reverently - each time approaching it as an entry point in our own soul that connects us to hidden healing grace. We approach that place as our own particular dark tomb place that is also like a cave thick with intimate presences. We approach it as a womb place which in its own time will open and new life will rise. Like it did for Myriam both then and now.
Find your tomb
and enter it
wait in the dark
speak to angels
see through demons
hide in rock clefts
hear doves
strip naked
fold clothes
breath from source
lick wet rocks
follow gold seams
do not be afraid
incubate dreams
fall through the navel of the world
conceive.
Then stand up and walk
leave the darkness
heavily pregnant
with a new name.