Recycling Wisdom

Neither animal nor plant,

My true self oft unnoticed

lives just beneath the crust.

Building myself from the ground up,

miraculous primoridium,

I ripen and pierce the universal veil

with a final upward thrust.

Shaman's sacred tool, 

I will alter your perceptions.

Yet remember

that I may be deadly in deception!

At times

I shade the brow of Death,

or appear

as an angel of destruction.

Complex in my simplicity,

the closer you look

the more you find.

All of science

still marvels at my construction,

studying my effects

on body, soul and mind.

I mark the door

to the Faerie realm,

and give shape

to their dancing floor.

Throne of salientian wisdom,

my favored treasures might be

uprooted by any passing boar.

Be the change you want to see!

Remember, inversion of efforts

sometimes yields the best effects.

From elder to child,

All Our Relations are a

community to be treasured,

worthy of respect.

I will teach you how

to journey within,

and recycle your decay.

There are no short cuts

to staying grounded,

and if you would quest for Visions,

first you must prepare the way.

Pharaoh's food, strength of legions,

My forms and functions are numerous. 

I teach you how to emerge

from the dark nights of the soul

enlightened and luminous.

Quinn Blackburn 02/01/2012

For those new to the game, each poem is inspired by a Teacher found in Nature; a star, stone, animal, plant, element etc that holds lessons of Wisdom for us. Can you guess who is singing today? 

"Go within every day and find the inner strength so that the world will not blow your candle out." Katherine Dunham 

“It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.” ~Agnes Repplier 

“Leaders are the ones who keep faith with the past, keep step with the present, and keep the promise to posterity.” Harold J. Seymour 

“Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.” Lao Tzu

             Mushrooms are interesting Teachers. Ripe with the duality of Life/Healing and Death/Sickness, they are capable of great good or great harm. Some are so toxic that we have no antidote ingesting even a small portion! Several varieties of these potent and potentially lethal Nature Teachers were used by ancient Shamans and other spiritual leaders to assist in vision quests, shadow work, and other shamanic journeys. 

Close to the Earth, they remind us of the importance of staying connected and grounded. Symbols of masculine fertility, they counsel the coupling of vision with action to effect change, growth, enlightenment, and healing. As guides, Mushrooms counsel humility, connection with our Ancestors and their wisdom, the importance of each individual becoming their own spiritual leader, the importance of making journeys within to discover and begin healthy work on our Shadow Selves. 

Because of such associations, Mushrooms as Spirit Guides have great potential to help us open locked doors within us, to journey within, to connect to the natural world for guidance, to Awaken, to remove self-deception, to re-connect us to the Earth and her wisdom, to promote change and beneficial metaphorical death, to help us develop clarity and teach the self-discipline and respect necessary for vision questing. 

         So many people seem to look outside of themselves for some of the most important things in Life; love, respect, happiness, leadership, spiritual guidance, closer association with Divinity. These tiny little Teachers whisper quietly from the shadows that all that we seek is already within us. We need only be Aware, embrace what we seek, and truly Listen. 

We should be looking within first for any answer we seek, rather than turning our search outward. Great leaders, spiritual or otherwise, are humble. They listen to the advice of those they respect… and they respect everything! Ultimately, each individual must make the decision to couple our inner visions with appropriate action to create the changes we desire. 

Mushrooms are excellent counselors when we find ourselves having difficulty with major transitions, like death, with duality, with our own bright and dark aspects or life trials, with the natural cycle of life in any of its stages, or when we need to detoxify our lives and remove decay. The mighty magical Mushroom teaches us that, light and dark, we already are the Teacher we so often desperately seek. Are we ready to move through the darkness within and learn?

“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.” Helen Keller

“For me, the essence of a medicine man’s life is to be humble, to have great patience, to be close to the Earth, to live as simply as possible, and to never stop learning.” Archie Fire Lame Deer

This particular mushroom is a yellow form of Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria), which are infamous for their poisonous and psychoactive qualities. It’s red form is perhaps the most instantly recognizable. Different in composition and effects than the “magic” psilocybin mushrooms or the seemingly innocent seeds of the common Morning Glory, once such potent and potentially dangerous Nature Teachers were used by the spiritual leaders of early societies from around the world to assist in vision quests and shamanic journeys.

Because of such associations, Mushrooms as Spirit Guides have great potential to help us open locked doors within us, to journey within, to connect to the natural world for guidance, to Awaken, to remove self-deception, to re-connect us to the Earth and her wisdom, to promote change and beneficial metaphorical death, to help us develop clarity and teach the self-discipline and respect necessary for vision questing.

On the flip side, they also have great potential to open the door to self-destruction, physical death, illness, madness, and generally inflate one’s Shadow Self in a variety of unpleasant ways! Like other small but potent and potentially poisonous Teachers, the simple Mushroom commands respect and is not to be taken lightly. Mushrooms of all sorts advise us to pay close attention, to make a habit of noting minute details, and to not make the mistake of allowing appearances to deceive.

Amanitas have strong connections to Flies and get the name Fly Agaric from being used in old days as an insecticide aimed directly at the common fly. Also, Amanitas will only grow in conjunction with various species of birch, fir, pine, spruce, cedar, hemlock and other similar trees. Thus, anyone looking at this particular Teacher should also study the wisdom of Fly and the trees with which the Amanita forms a symbiotic relationship.\

Associated with natural Magic of all sorts, mushrooms are often depicted with Faeries and other magical creatures. Divided into 7 different phyla, there are literally thousands of mushroom species around the world, very few of which are truly understood, and the study of just this one kind of Nature Teacher could easily be a lifelong study.

As guides, Mushrooms counsel humility, connection with our Ancestors and their wisdom, the importance of each individual becoming their own spiritual leader, the importance of making journeys within to discover and begin healthy work on our Shadow Selves. Much of society today seems designed to keep us from introspection, meditation, and building a familiarity with simplicity and silence. In fact, many people seem to actually be Afraid of spending time alone or feel the need to fill up silence with chatter! All change in Life begins Within. If you can't be comfortable and happy in your own company, if you can't build a healthy balanced relationship with yourself, you certainly aren't going to find success with others. 

Mushrooms are excellent spiritual counselors when we find ourselves having difficulty with major transitions, like death, or with duality; with our own bright and dark aspects or life trials, with the natural cycle of life in any of its stages, or when we need to detoxify our lives and remove decay. The mighty magical Mushroom teaches us that, light and dark, we already are the Teacher we so often desperately seek. Are we ready to learn?

“No Guru or Master can teach you anything that isn’t already inside you. They can help you in seeing what you are not seeing, in awakening to your true nature. We can bring experts into our lives, but you are the authority on your life. No-one can think your thoughts or make changes in your life but you.” David Stanley Bell

“The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.” Edward Bulwer-Lytton

“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Keywords: Recycle, Life/Death/Rebirth, Magic, Fairies, Awareness, Awakening, Journeying, Vision seeking, Shadow work, Underworld, Primordial memory, Trees/forests, caves

Associated with: Natural magic, Nature, Fairies of all sorts, Medicine, Death, Life, Rebirth, the Underworld, Trees, Fertility, Intoxication, Frogs/Toads, and all deities associated with these topics