POEM: Unbinding Spell
A poem about cleaning up old contracts and invitation to a live event!
Dear Friends,
Join me for a live on ZOOM event tomorrow night:
A Ritual for Breaking Old Contracts
Tuesday, May 21
7:00-8:15pm EST
Suggested value exchange is $28
We will go through a process of identifying and loosening the hold old patriarchal contracts have on us. We will work on the subtle plane and the material to:
Identify visible and invisible contracts, agreements and covenants we are holding and no longer want to be
Find the places in us that need holding and support so we can begin to let go, trust, and move into a more aligned relationship; one that accommodates growth and evolution
Bear witness and be witnessed in the courageous expression of our needs
Move through the process of letting go on multiple levels—holding any grief, fear, anger, or regret that arises (for us and the other party)
Trust the place of no-contract; the place of freedom, emptiness and possibility that underlies all contracts—seeking a direct relationship with Reality itself
Find a deep ok-ness, learn new skills, ask for help, begin to invite creativity
To Bring:
Paper and pen
If there is a specific contract you'd like to work with during the ritual, bring an object that represents that contract/relationship
A flower, fruit, water, chocolate, tobacco or other offering of your choice for the goddess and helpful energies
The next step would be the beginning of re-negotiation or re-design of our relating. I don’t think many of us are fully there, yet. The important thing is to begin to get unstuck from the structures and relationships that have bound us in ways that no longer serve. Once this process has been initiated fully, we can trust higher intelligences to help us find our way.
I wrote a poem for fun to explore the topic. I hope you enjoy. Maybe you can add your own observations!
Hope to see you!
POEM: Unbinding Spell Schuyler Brown May 2024 What is the sound of a contract breaking? Alarm bells ringing Voices quarreling Silence where there should be sound Two sides going 'round-and-'round Yet another “I’m sorry” Sighs filled with worry The desperate pleas of penitents A "yes" but with reticence. What is the shape of a contract breaking? Overgrown hallowed halls Angry mobs and protocols Cobwebs in the corners Barring entry to foreigners Wringing hands, an accident The wedding band no longer fits Fighting for a place in line No food to eat in Palestine Hard smiles and sour faces Women's bodies no longer sacred Centuries of oppression Overdue, deathbed confession Strip-mines and gold-lined pockets What's next on the docket? What is the smell of a contract breaking? Metallic tinge in empty rooms Unfamiliar sweet perfumes Repulsion where there once was lust A thickening layer of dust Acrid smoke from bonfire haze Set the evidence ablaze Formaldehyde and preservatives Deodorant and curatives Hanging on to what’s been lost Ignoring all decay and rot Fabric spray in rented rooms Nothing smells at all on Zoom. What is the taste of a contract breaking? Mouthfuls of bitter spite Spitting out what once was nice Minty hints of memory Umami-flavored melancholy New kitchen, old recipes Itchiness and allergies Indigestion, incomprehension Vaping fruity intoxication Sweet relief from alcohol Apples rot before they fall. What is the sign of a contract breaking? Suspicion where there once was trust Unexpected punch in the gut Confusion and procrastination Dried up wetlands, deforestation A trip to the notary The wrong time for revelry Running on an empty tank Stern demand for name and rank Obstacles too big to mount Problems too numerous to count Hanging on by gripping nails Riding good men on the rails What you once held dear Making a silk purse of a sow’s ear. There are contracts that we make to hide from the world, to avoid, to take advantage of others or correct the wrong of a system that's already far gone. Contracts born out of fear; clinging to what we hold dear; stunting growth or trapping others... we make these vows with friends and lovers and enemies and business partners... these contracts should be non-starters. They serve for a while, until they don't. Until I will, becomes I won't. Until I do, becomes I don't. Contracts that stand in for trust: it's time to break them now, we must! Avoiding endings is a bad policy when all they do is make way for novelty. Something new is waiting to come Beyond the contracts of officialdom. These are the contracts we must break; these are the spells we must unmake. Unbinding life to live as One, stepping into the great unknown. Does a hawk have a contract with the air? Do the flowers have a contract with the sun? Does the sky have a contract with the ground… or the other way around? It seems ridiculous to say but I don’t think they see it that way. There are promises we must keep and there are vows that run deep; and there are laws inviolable that make this great world functional. Commitments are a part of life. Healthy discipline is required to be an adult, to thrive together. We have to know we can count on each other. In the heart it’s quiet; nothing to defend Everything everywhere must come to an end. Recognizing when it’s time is the beginning of the spell to unbind. Invoke divine support to hold the parts of us the contract sold. Identify the conditions, note fine print, dig up records of the original intent, affirm what worked, celebrate the wins, own your part in entering in, apologize, forgive, release, find support--integrate, grieve, agree it’s time to tear it up-- Moving on is not giving up. Enter the bardo state of becoming... Not-in-contract can be confronting. Now you are free. Now you have choice. Now you have agency, a will, a voice! Whether or not you choose to renew is totally up to both of you. On new terms and with awareness: what a relief to create from fairness. Once you lose the fear to fall, you can be in contract or not at all. ~~~
Your words ring out with force! These reflections resonate with a poem David Whyte wrote about breaking promises. For context, I'll share it here:
TO BREAK A PROMISE
Make a place of prayer, no fuss,
just lean into the white brilliance
and say what you needed to say
all along, nothing too much, words
as simple and as yours and as heard
as the bird song above your head
or the river running gently beside you.
Let your words join
one to another
the way stone nestles on stone,
the way water just leaves
and goes to the sea,
the way your promise
breathes and belongs
with every other promise
the world has ever made.
Now, let them go on,
leave your words
to carry their own life
without you, let the promise
go with the river.
Have faith.
Walk away.
from
THE SEA IN YOU: Twenty Poems of Requited and Unrequited Love
© David Whyte and Many Rivers Press
He notes that the title of the poem could just as easily be called "To Make a Promise." He notes that making and breaking promises: “involve exactly the same combination of absolute presence and radical letting go.”
Thanks for your soulful words and reflections on the difficult topic of knowing when to dig deep and stay the course, and knowing when to bend the path towards something more generative. Either way, we are asked to stay with the trouble; to leave behind some former identity that doesn't fit the shape of the world that is being given to us. And either way, a new world beyond our imagination is waiting to meet us in our new shape and texture. But man, my mind sure wishes there was a clear manual to discern what the hell to let go of and what to give life to :)