Do you remember the story of how Athena, daughter of Zeus, was born? This ancient Greek myth has always stirred wonderment in me. To be honest, I think for many years I was jealous. Here’s why: when it came time for Athena to be born, Zeus simply opened his head and out she sprang, fully formed and complete. Now that’s what I call an entrance! Hello world, here I am! Not fun for Zeus to be sure, but mighty easy for Athena.

We mere mortals, however, don’t come into this world fully formed and complete. Our entry into the living field is a journey, a process. Consciously or unconsciously, we spend our lives in a movement of manifestation as we progress toward some known or unknown identity, role, or expression of Self. Like the birth of a star, our souls are formed over the course of time as light elements are squeezed under enormous pressure until fusion and equilibrium occur. The unrelenting pressure of sustaining ourselves as living, evolving, soul-embodied beings over time, this is what it takes. There is no instantaneous manifestation of Self.

We, and all our relations, participate in this dance, this journey toward wholeness. It is as much a defining quality of our truth as the energetic web comprising the fabric of existence itself.

And yet, the course upon which we travel as we evolve is by no means set by forces beyond our reach or our knowing. The power of intention as expressed through choice directs this sojourn. We can and do impact our path and the manner with which we walk through the choices that we make. While it is also true that there are myriad forces at work within us and around us that influence the path we take, to not recognize and claim our ability to steer, even if only by the slightest degree, is to forfeit an innate capacity to manifest intentionally.

So what? Why is the deep, though short, dive into the often frustratingly obscure depths of evolutionary metaphysics necessary, or even worth our time? Simply put, we need to make some choices. We stand, individually and collectively, upon a precipice of choice that will determine whether the sacred natural world and all the life it sustains will survive.

Is this a dramatic overstatement? Perhaps. Nevertheless, it is one that expresses a sense of desperation that permeates the hearts and minds of those awake to and aware of the unseen world…to Mesa Carriers. Now is the time to manifest our Call to Heal, a means of consciously applying the pressure necessary for the process of re-Membering to occur.

We all have choices available to us that will further the Great Work, be they deeply personal and private decisions or practices, communal ceremony, or public activism. We all have gifts and abilities that when focused and applied to the wounds of this world, are capable of bringing about tremendous change, progress, and healing. Now is the time to persevere through the doubt, fear and uncertainty, to claim our power of intention. The world needs us.

For me, these choices have led to a place of humbling responsibility. Over the course of my life I have made choices. More decisions than I can possible count or even recognize. Several, however, have involved my vocation. Ultimately, it was with heartfelt intention that I pursed a career as a psychotherapist. Yet, the sheer magnitude of the suffering I encountered in this role continually motivated further exploration, further evolution, and further manifestation of my own healing and my skills as a healer. With growing urgency, I made choices as if called by Source Herself. This process led me to an apprenticeship in the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition, a process in and of itself that proved true to its name – Cross Cultural Shamanic Arts for Personal and Planetary Renewal.

I have found here a platform upon which to build a place for myself as a more functional and responsible member of the collective cosmic whole. I have found here hope, community, and love in a world that suffers all too often from the lack of these things. I have also found powerfully pragmatic tools and practices that not only help me bring about healing in the lives of others and of the planet herself, but that fuel the continual and unending process of transformational manifestation in my own life, within my own soul.

I understand now that this process, this dance of manifestation, is about allowing myself to be re-made as if my design, purpose, and identify were already known to the universe but forgotten by me. As I’ve written before, trust and vulnerability, or lack thereof, have proven to be my chief impediments as I learned the art of dancing with the Great Mother and the Great Spirit. Yet, I have accepted this way of things. The Self I long to embody is guided in its journey to be re-Membered by the inner knowledge that my responsibility as a two-legged being in this world is to never stop manifesting love and light until the star is born.

About the Author

An awestruck husband to an amazing woman, and grateful father to two phenomenal teenagers, David is a soccer player and coach, wilderness guide, counselor, teacher, and non-profit administrator. He has devoted himself to the walk and talk of living a scared path. He completed the PMT 5-part apprenticeship under the guidance of Cynthia Greer, and more recently completed don Oscar Miro-Quesada’s Magic, Medicine, and Mysticism course. David holds a Master of Theological Studies degree from Emory University where he specialized in medieval spirituality, and a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology from Prescott College. While at Prescott, he developed an original integrative therapeutic model called “Gaian Soul Therapy” that synthesizes ecology, theology, and psychology as a means of healing self, community, and the natural world through right relationship. He is a licensed professional counselor with certifications in clinical supervision and trauma. David works full-time as the director of a community mental health center near Atlanta and part-time as the owner and operator of the newly formed Burning Bear Healing Arts, LLC, offering psychotherapy, supervision, spiritual direction, and shamanic ceremonial healing. He lives and works in Decatur, Georgia, not far from his hometown of Stone Mountain.