Myth, Magic & Miracles
For years I have imagined I would write “The Quest for the Good in Elderhood” in chronological order as it happened to me, using my journals for reference when my memory failed. After writing the first two articles on Medium, in the space between writing about the end of my time in adulthood and the beginning of elderhood, something unexpected happened to me. This is that story.
In the early 1970’s, I met a fellow parent, Carol Anderer, at my children’s elementary school. She turned out to be an important mentor in my life. It was Carol who first told me about Findhorn, a real magical community in northern Scotland. I began to read all the books about it and the people who were there in the beginning. It was a fairy tale that had actually come true and I fell in love with it all, the place, the people and the magic. They invited people from all over the world to experience their ways and I wanted to go; but my life then was much too preoccupied. I dreamed of visiting one day, maybe later in life, after my children grew up, I told myself.
From time to time Findhorn came up in my life but I never did get to visit. From research on the internet, I see now that Ram Dass and Eckhart Tolle, mentors I have already written about were there.
Tolle’s Publisher’s summary begins: “Best-selling author and spiritual guide Eckhart Tolle led a remarkable two-day retreat at Findhorn, Scotland, a community on the leading edge of personal and global transformation”
About three years ago, Findhorn came alive for me once more. This time I was invited to enroll in a new online series straight out of Findhorn, “Living the New Story.” They had reached out through the internet and met me online at just the right time in my life. Not only did I attend that series but I enrolled for two more. This year, in September, 2020, I began a third series, on the subject of “Myths, Magic and Miracles.”
I wrote: “My intention for this series is to unfold my myth and the group myth together. To learn how my myth connects, contributes and relates to the group myth. To see what is true and what is not. To feel at one with God/All that is, through love.”
A month later, I began writing “The Quest for the Good in Elderhood” on Medium.
Last week, the speaker at our session was Sharon Blackie. Amazon describes her as follows:
“Dr. Sharon Blackie is an award-winning writer of fiction and nonfiction, a psychologist who has specialised both in neuroscience and narrative, and a mythologist with a specialisation in Celtic Studies. Her unique approach to working with myth, fairy tales and folklore highlights the insights these traditions can offer us into authentic and meaningful ways of being which are founded on a deep sense of belonging to place, a rootedness in the land we inhabit.”
I was immediately, intensely interested. After the session, Sharon left us with some questions.
The first question began, “Which stories — especially any fairy tales — did you particularly love as a child? Why did you love them?” When I actually began to allow the answers to her question to come to me, I felt my imagination re-awakening, magical stories in my childhood flooded in, alive again and I realized how interconnected my life and those stories are! How intimately my belief system has integrated them into my whole world view. I could see how I spend far too much time using the left side of my brain and not nearly enough on the side that I love so much.
The questions took me on a journey back in time to my childhood when we lived on Easy Place (Really!), in SE Washington, DC. I didn’t know it then, but I was a lonely little girl. One of my favorite things was to sit on the carpet in the corner of our living room every Saturday morning. There I would listen to “Let’s Pretend” on our upright radio.
Oh how I loved that time and those stories! Later, on Wednesdays after school, I would ride my bike to the bookmobile to get my allotted three books, all fairy tales.
Many of those stories were about innocent children, often poor or orphaned, setting out in the world alone. Along the way, they were helped by old witches and wizards, animals and other magical beings. The good little hero or heroine went through challenges and met scary things, but they remained brave and kind, and were rewarded in the end when they lived happily ever after. I identified with those innocent children. Their stories were the way I imagined life could be and I was determined to be innocent, good and kind like them.
As a child I learned Bible Stories. At Sunday school, through stories, we were taught to be good and to trust that Jesus and God miraculously help us on our journeys. I loved Jesus and knew He loved me. I could feel the presence of God. My favorite songs were “Jesus loves me” and “In the Garden”. These stories were acted out in our lives and celebrated by our families and church communities on Sundays and holidays. Because my birthday was on December 20th during the Christmas season I felt especially connected to the Bethlehem story. When I was older, the birth of the sun at the Winter Solstice would be equally full of joy for me.
Shirley Temple movies told similar stories. She was an innocent, sometimes poor or orphaned, but always good, kind and talented. She is helped by good people who see the goodness in her. She too is ultimately rewarded. I think Shirley was a model for mothers of the time who wanted daughters just like her. My mother even styled my hair like hers and I wasn’t the only one. It was a popular style for all the little girls of the time.
The movies brought me Tarzan stories too. I loved the way Tarzan and the wild animals communicated and were always on the side of good. These movies made me feel my connection with nature.
Eventually, I read horse stories, all that I could find. Beautiful strong horses befriended the lone hero or heroine. They communicated with and rescued each other. Horses always represented strength, loyalty and freedom to me. Maybe that’s why so many of us love to see the free roaming mustangs. When I was older I settled on The Lone Ranger for a while. I liked his partnership with Tonto and again, their goodness.
I liked Wonder Woman comics too. of course! And at the movies, Barbara Stanwyck as Annie Oakley. I definitely did not like the women in movies who were always falling down and needing to be rescued. I was not one of them. I was a tomboy and I desperately needed to see strong women who were loved modeled for me.
Now, deep into the stories of my childhood, I can see now how they affected my whole life in both positive and negative ways. They established the way I related to the outside world, my aspirations, my successes and failures, my deep insecurities and anxieties. I was truly innocent when the culture I was born into began to indoctrinate me through it’s stories. But, I am also deeply aware that even as a child, I knew what I loved and didn’t love. I just didn’t think that mattered. If someone had only asked me that question then…
Q: So, why am I interrupting my story to tell you about this now?
A: Because now I know that the Medium story, “The Quest for the Good in Elderhood” is not simply about the past but is part of the larger story that is happening now. The Myth, Magic and Miracles series from Findhorn is fulfilling my intention to unfold our myths together! That is real magic and part of the good I am experiencing in elderhood now.
