Way of the Wild Rose

The Wild Rose



I Am


Beauty with Power
And Power with Love
Rooted deep in dark Earth
Bathed in Bright Light above

Behold my soft-petalled blossoms
Filled with Essence Divine
 Beware my fierce-thorned branches
Faithfully guarding what is mine

I heal, I empower, I break sorcery's spell
Learn from me balance and boundaries as well
I uplift the downtrodden, I strengthen the weak
Come embrace me if beauty, love and power you seek!

I am the Wild Rose!

Copyright © Avalon Sakti Tiamat, 22.01.2010

 
From Seed to First Bloom 
When I started this website I had a basic idea of what I wanted to accomplish. My intention was to create a system of empowerment that included shamanism and spiritual teachings from other paths that I am proficient in, such as Yoga. I didn't know yet how it would all fit together, but I sensed it would. The big picture only emerged in January 2008 when I had self-realisation. 

 In the beginning, before I even started my website, I couldn't think of an appropriate name and so I asked the Goddess for guidance and inspiration. The answer came immediately: "Way of the Wild Rose". Surprised, as this was not something I could possibly have thought up, I asked for confirmation that it was indeed to be Way of the Wild Rose. The answer was "yes". Not understanding but trusting in the wisdom of the Goddess and her guidance I then started the Way of the Wild Rose. Of course, being curious by nature, I wanted to know what exactly the mysterious name stood for, but all I was told was that it would become clear in time. 

Way of the Wild Rose certainly sounded nice to me, but why had the rose been chosen? Why not one of my power animals for instance? It was a mystery to me, a puzzle, which I intended to solve. My mind made up all kind of theories, but none of them held up. For example, though I like roses, the rose is definitely not my absolute favourite flower -- the lily is. Neither was the rose one of my power plants at the time I received the name. As I couldn't figure out the full spiritual significance of the name Way of the Wild Rose with my rational mind, I began to meditate on rose and work with it shamanically. It was a long journey of learning which eventually led to the rose teaching me its song and becoming one of my personal power plants. 

The first lesson the rose taught me was patience. Because it didn't reveal its secrets to me easily, I had to patiently work with it while understanding ripened. I had to wait for the seeds to grow and the seedling to develop and the first flower buds to form, so to speak. Many months passed before the power and glory of the rose were fully revealed to me and I finally began to understand why the Goddess had chosen the name Way of the Wild Rose for my work and teaching. But finally the blossom begins to open and I see where the Way of the Wild Rose is meant to go: it is a path of power, beauty and love, which I wish to share with you. 
And it all begins with understanding the rose!



Power and Love
The rose is a very interesting flower. It is widely seen as the flower of love, yet its most outstanding property is power! These two forces: power and love are often seen as opposites, yet they are really one. It has been said that the seeker of power eventually will find the ultimate love and the seeker of love will find the ultimate power. Because at the highest stage, which some call illumination or self-realisation, in the state of Oneness, you will feel pure love and in that love there is supreme power. It is only when we try to have one of these qualities without the other that things go wrong. Power without love leads to cruelty and corruption, love without power leads to victimisation, martyrhood and ultimately to destruction! It is therefore important to have these two forces, power and love, in proper balance. 



Lessons of the Rose
The rose is a flower that embodies the lesson of love with power and power with love. Its delicate beauty and uplifting fragrance opens the heart to higher emotions. Its thorns show clearly that it will brook no insult and knows how to defend itself. Like all flowers it gives freely of itself, yet will not be taken advantage of. It is a feisty flower, whose spirit is held to be male! Yet it has qualities that are both male and female. Its delicate softness and sweet fragrance show its Yin or feminine nature. Its hardiness and thorny protection show its warrior side, the Yang or male side. Thus the rose teaches us to integrate our male and female sides, the lover and the warrior, and go beyond traditional gender concepts into spirit and our androgynous nature. By embracing within ourselves the opposite polarity of what we have chosen to express in our bodies we become whole. 



Earth and Sky
The Rose shows us the way home, to balance and to Oneness. With its roots deeply immersed in the dark soil of Earth Mother and its shining blossoms turned towards the light of Sky Father, it embraces both light and dark, male and female within itself. And so the rose teaches us to embrace everything, to unite the pairs of opposites and become whole. 

 The shape of the rose blossom is a perfect example of a fractal (see Fractal Evolution) and has often been taken to represents the heart chakra, also called the lotus of the heart, which is our spiritual and emotional centre, the seat of our soul. Rose flowers can be used as an offering to the gods and their spiritual meaning is devotion. As a rose bud slowly unfolds under the light of the sun, devotion gradually opens your heart to the divine, so that it becomes a fit vessel for the light of God and the love of the Goddess.



Balance and Boundaries
The rose teaches us to keep balance in all things: to be loving and giving, but not to be taken advantage of. To stay grounded while we spiritually soar. To use our power with love, and to protect what we love with power. It teaches us to bring beauty to this world by expressing our inner selves fearlessly, sharing our beauty freely with the world around us, yet keeping boundaries so we will not be overrun and stifled by the weeds of takers usurping our space. It teaches us to open our hearts fearlessly, the way a flower opens to the sun, and let the light of illumination transform us. It also teaches us to close ourselves, to protect ourselves when exposed to a harsh environment, the way the rose closes its blossoms in harsh weather. The rose teaches trust tempered by wisdom. 



Strength in Adversity
The delicate blossoms are in stark contrast to the hardiness of the rose. Even in the harshest winter the rose survives. It takes its power underground, back to the womb of Mother Earth and there it rests until the light awakens it again to yet another cycle of beauty and growth. Rose teaches us that there is a time for everything and to go with the flow and be attuned to the Earth. Rose is a survivor and teaches us to survive hardship and unfriendly environments and yet prosper and grow spiritually through those hard times. The rose teaches us to be flexible, to adapt and make the most of our environment, and through it all to keep growing! Rose holds the virtue of strength in adversity. Indeed, the rose is the most supreme flower, and there is much we can learn from it!



Illumination
It was strange how after the experience of self-realisation, often called illumination or enlightenment everything seemed to come together. The many experiences I had in my life and the many different things I have learned, which seemed to be separate and non-related, now suddenly were just aspects of the One. I could see the many facets of this reality without losing sight of the whole, the big picture. I felt so blessed for having been given enlightenment -- though I worked for it, make no mistake, but I still considered it a wonderful gift. Now I wanted to share it because shared happiness is greater happiness. In my mind arose a question: How did I get there? And how can I help others to get there as well? 

Because I was still fully immersed in the Oneness then (the experience lasted for weeks), I could clearly see how every decision I have made, every experience, my spiritual practices, and most specifically the teachings of shamanism, Yoga and magick have brought me to that realisation, to illumination. It felt as if all the paths I had walked came to a confluence and became one. Through the path of Yoga I strove towards the light, as a rose grows towards the light. Yoga in its truest sense has been the foundation and the main pillar of my spirituality for many years. But then the inevitable happened. I had denied the darkness, the earthy energies, and so the darkness came knocking on my door and disrupted my life and my spiritual practices. When I found the Goddess I became more balanced, embracing the Earth energies and the divine feminine as well as the light and the divine male which I had worshipped for many years in the form of Lord Shiva. Even in the experience of self realisation it was the Goddess who opened the door for me, and Lord Shiva who was there when I walked through. It was through Yoga that I learned to control my mind and prepare my body and strive for the Light but it was the dark earthy power of shamanism and the sacred plants that pushed me through the last obstacles on the way to illumination.



Know the Way
And so I decided to make use of this potent mixture of Sky and Earth energies, of the path of Light and the darker path of mystery, Because in my opinion we need both. To become whole we must embrace the dark earthy energies and the bright sky energies. If we deny one or the other things get out of balance. And this is what I intend for the Way of the Wild Rose, a harmonious blending of Earth and Sky. 

Having walked the path and knowing the pitfalls I can say that I qualify as a guide for those who seek wisdom and power as I did and who are willing to do whatever it takes to get there. Nobody can walk the path for you, it is your own feet that must carry you, but others who know the way can act as guides. Only too often we find the blind leading the blind in spiritual circles. Only one who has been there can show you how to get there, but the choice of walking any path, and the effort of doing so must always be your own. Do not think a teacher or guru can do it all for you, that is a delusion of the ego.

Many fake teachers and New Age gurus will tell you that it is easy, that they have a fast and comfortable way to enlightenment and to power. They are liars, they do not walk in the light of truth. And it is truth that I was told to uphold when I had the experience of self-realisation. Lord Shiva told me to expose the false teachers and teachings, because they have become a disease that is afflicting humanity and is leading us to our doom. I was asked to shine the light of truth and show others the way. But knowing the way alone is not enough, next you have to actually walk it!



Walk the Path
Attaining self-realisation or knowledge or power are lofty goals. It is only logical that accomplishing such lofty goals will take some effort, just as climbing a high mountain won't be fast and comfortable. But it is doable, it is possible with determination and persistence. Though not effortless, it doesn't have to be a thorny path. If you know the way or have a good guide you can avoid detours, getting lost and stumbling around in the darkness of ignorance right into the brambles of false teachings that will only bring you pain. Do you know the true meaning of the word guru? It means dispeller of darkness. Only one who has the light of knowledge can be a guru and dispel the darkness of ignorance, showing others the way. Beware also of those who talk a lot of nice New Age concepts but don't actually walk the talk! As Bob Marley sang: "one man is a walking and thousand men are talking."

It is plain to see, you find people who don't walk the talk everywhere you look: the so-called healers who run to the doctor for every complaint, the spiritual teachers who have no ethics nor moral standard, etc, priests who commit adultery with other men's wives, etc. It is a sad but common sight. You find them everywhere, the preachers who don't practice what they preach. For spiritual growth to take place practice is the most important pre-requisite. But practice doesn't mean doing some form of exercise for just an hour a day, but living by consciously applying the teaching and spiritual principles in daily life, 24/7! A good teacher or true guru is one who practices what he / she preaches. And while they can show you the way, they cannot do the actual work for you. They may explain the mysteries of the universe to you, but then it is up to to walk the path and see for yourself! You and only you alone can do that. There is no shortcut!



The Way of the Wild Rose
The Way of the Wild Rose is simply a path, a path that leads from the darkness of the unconscious to the light of consciousness and may even lead to illumination, if you choose to go all the way. My teaching follows the proven formula of tradition rooted in practical experience. I acknowledge other paths that are equally valid. But I teach what I have learned in the spiritual traditions I was initiated to, and what I know to work from my own direct experience rather than relying on second hand knowledge. I welcome all those who feel that my teaching resonates with them and are ready for it. As the rose has thorns, spiritual development has its hardships too. And so it is that the weak and the wavering automatically get weeded out. Excuse the pun, but spirituality isn't always a rose garden...

Power with Love
The Way of the Wild Rose is a way of empowerment, for all who seek power tempered by love. It is especially, but not only, for women, as I feel women are most disempowered in modern society and the female or Goddess energy is most misunderstood and fragmented. Many women are being abused and trampled over, and they need to learn how to protect themselves psychically and energetically, the way the rose protects itself with its thorns. It is in the nature of the feminine to love, give and share. But this energy has become exploited and needs to be protected. When love is without power it usually gets crushed. And therefore for all those that are loving and giving, it is crucial to seek empowerment as well. The power creates a safe environment for love to grow and be protected. 

Boundaries and Freedom
Most people, male and female, would do well to learn boundaries. Our freedom and our rights are getting eroded and infringed upon, our space invaded by hostile forces which we need to stand up to and face. To do this we need to draw on the power of the Earth the way the rose does. Many people have become like weak indoor potted plants. It is time to break the pot of our limitations and get our roots back into Mother Earth. It is time to reconnect with Nature and return to a natural way of life, while enjoying the God/dess given freedom we were meant to have. But we cannot have freedom for long if we don't have boundaries, or if we fail to protect our freedom from the slow encroachment of oppression. The Way of the Wild Rose is a path of empowerment that restores your boundaries and shows you true freedom by teaching you how to take power back and cut cut through psychic entanglements and mind control. This particular aspect of the lessons of the rose is taught in my Women's Empowerment Workshop called Path to Ecstasy.

Our Wild Nature
The Way of the Wild Rose is also about being wild! We have become far too domesticated, if not castrated! Nowadays roses are being bred that have no thorns. I would not place these upon an altar for fear of insulting the Goddess! Thornless roses are an abomination. The thorns are part of the rose, as the wings are part of the bird. Taking away the rose's power to defend itself is a crime against nature which is reflected in the crime against the people: we too are being denied the right to bear arms and to defend ourselves. Self-defence is not just a human right, it is the birthright of every creature and living being on this planet. Self-defence is not something a government can take away or bestow on us. It is our inherent right and we must never give it up. Taking away the right to self-defence is equivalent to taking away the right to life itself!

A rose should have its thorns, and we too need to embrace our aggressive power instead of being domesticated and rendered impotent and helpless. It is time to take power back from authorities and be your own authority, and that is also part of what I teach. When you take a hybrid rose and put it in the wild, it will eventually return to being a wild rose! Our very cells and our souls remember our natural state of being, our inner power, and the freedom we ought to have. We must undo the conditioning that was placed upon us and reclaim our power and freedom! The Way of the Wild Rose aims at undoing the conditioning that keeps our minds in slavery and reclaim the wild and primal power within, our freedom and our right to unfold the way we want, to be the highest expression of our inner beauty.

Transformation and Illumination
To me the Way of the Wild Rose is a path of balance, as symbolised by the rose, a path of love and power, of trust and wisdom, of embracing male and female energies of God and Goddess, of balance between freedom and boundaries, gentleness and fierce protection. 

The Way of the Wild Rose aims to blend the wisdom of the old world, such as the teachings of shamanism, Yoga and the wisdom of our ancestors, with the modern world we are living in, and dawning of the New Age of higher consciousness which will commence in 2012. 

To me the Way of the Wild Rose is a path of healing in the sense of becoming whole, and a path of transformation applying the principles of "as above so below, as within so without" to achieve Oneness and evolution of consciousness.

The Way of the Wild Rose is a path of empowered love, leading from the darkness to the light of illumination.


 
Copyright © Avalon Sakti Tiamat, 29.01.2010