A few words about guidance. Hafiz references friends here. Not too many people are aware or care how or why or if their lives receive guidance in any way. It takes a curiosity about such things to even notice how these energies move in our lives. Indigenous cultures have no despair about this as it is deeply embedded in their culture to be aided in their lives by ancestors and spirits. Those born into and embedded in these cultures have no need to explain to themselves or others. They are born aware of the vibration of the earth. It just "is" and they just "know". Science moves ever-so-slowly towards finding ways to define the application of this phenomena in our daily lives. We can wait on that or we can cultivate our own sense of intuition in these matters, if we choose.
Personally, to feel what it is like to be held so by energies is a fine and humbling experience. Like friendships and family as they appear in our lives, guides are allies with our best interests at heart. Also, like our real friends, there can be complications. In both relationships it behooves a person to maintain a discretionary attention to whom and what we are interacting with. There are rules; there are boundaries; there is attention to the flow of caring. We can navigate by a technical compass or we can look to the organics of the stars - or both. Either way, we we need to understand how these things actually work to use them properly.
Friendship is relationship and so it is with guides. They are our friends and while it may be the inclination to look askance at such notions, assuming and trusting what is there beyond rational thinking is actually the foundation for ceremony and not just primitive notion. It is a human one. If you look at the christian practice of holy communion, well...you needn't meditate too long on that before you find a belief system that relies on all kinds of disembodied benevolence through interaction. We find ways to narrate our sense of belonging to something or someone else and, hopefully, someone or something kind and not manipulative to guide us. Our rational minds can only carry us so far. Intrepid souls require guides.
Like all relationships there must be an exchange of - if not energy then, at least - interest. When I read Hafiz' poem about friends, it brings to my mind my relationship to my guides and how I perceive they support me and what I do to support their benevolent intentions.
Tell which mat their house key is
Hidden under.
Hafiz jump over, cut right through
All the small talk today;
Music: Astrologically I have Saturn and Neptune locked in a dance on my mid-heaven. Older folks born between September 1952 and October 1953 have this difficult conjunction as do younger folks born between December 1988 and January 1990. Its natal placement is different for everyone. Mine is on my mid-heaven which means it is highlighted in this life. I had a hand in where this transit is situated in my chart. It is difficult because these two planets are extreme opposing forces representing structure and flow; third dimensional life (Saturn/Neptune - Piscean) and the energetic reality of multidimensional existence (Neptune/Saturn - Aquarian). This aspect in a natal chart is like extreme tension locked in a small room called a human body together FOR LIFE. This is the longest relationship I've ever cultivated and even though it has been internal, it has not been an easy one. It has been such a trying endeavor that I could never integrate intimate relationships and still be true to my best life. I have never run short on guidance, however. I'm filthy rich with that and I've learned plenty. My cultivation of intuition and my relationship to guidance is why I know that when I hear...
We never miss the flowers until the sun's down
You never count the hours until they're runnin' out
You're on the other side of the storm now, you should be so proud...
just when I need it, this is guidance and support. Dermot Kennedy, Better Days.
The original post in this series of poems by Hafiz (including an addendum regarding the authenticity of these poems) can be found here.
The Gift: Poems by Hafiz and translated by Daniel Ladinsky can be purchased here.