After the simple Rite of Consecration, I sit on the zafu and breathe thru a meditation for a while. I calm my body and my mind. I center and ground. I breathe.
I decide on my oaths and virtues. I will start with and later end with healing oaths, because above all else, when I consider my identity, I am a HEALER physically and magically. When I tread off that path, it messes me up. No matter how much I want to help in this looming battle/crisis, there has to be a way to do so and still remain true to myself.
As I begin working on these oaths and virtues over the next couple weeks (starting with tonight)... what do they mean for me? How have I applied them? How can I apply them moving forward from the recent incidents? Because... I cannot remain stuck in this magical space between, stuck outside reality.
Tonight, I will look at the Oath of the Healer's Path.
Oath of the Healer's Path
- Treat the Afflicted
- Cleanse the Impurity
- Mourn in Tragedy
To look at this in DnD terms, this is a Lawful Good Paladin's path. It aligns better with me than subterfuge and murder. This is spiritual, martial, and medical. This is being the Battlefield Medic.
This is a sacred oath. I might formally take it in a personal rite of passage at the next full moon on December 3rd. I can write the oath on rice paper (calligraphied) and before a sacred purifying flame recite it then burn it, marking myself with the ashes.
For now, I understand the Treatment of the Afflicted as using my mundane medical skills, my herbal/tea crafting skills, and my spheres of magic to heal wounds and illnesses and conditions. Who are the afflicted? Everyone in need of healing, regardless of color/code/creed/affiliation/etc.
As for Cleansing the Impurity, this requires that I sense/perceive more often and use my skills to purge disease and illness and infection. Can I extend that to purify ill-willed/negative energies as I did with my space? Or purify someone of possession?
Cleanse, Purify, Ward/Protect
Wash, Cure, Vaccinate
To Mourn in Tragedy is to share space with the lost life. It is to ease the passing of the dying, honor their passing/passed souls, and to be present for those who remain. To not mourn alone. Tragedy can be physical death, but can also be an unrecouperable loss. (I will revisit that idea later.) I should think up a small and simple rite to bless the dead or acknowledge the loss, release the spirit, and help bring peace to those left behind.
Tomorrow, I will start one day at a time reviewing the Bushido Virtues.
No comments:
Post a Comment