IV. The Life-Journey Principle (The Four Wind Lodges and the Four Paths)
Life can be understood in many ways, using many models or even myths to make sense of it. The mythical model that I prefer is the model of the journey. A journey is a process, a movement from place to place, experience to experience, and to me, that clearly approximates life as I've known it.
I do believe that the power I experience as "me" existed before my memories of this life were gathered. I believe that the sacred power that is my ultimate origin- and the sacred powers that combine and weave to influence and shape me- have prepared a destiny for me, a purpose for my existence in this world. I can't claim to understand this fully, but I can strive to understand why I am here, and to stay on the road that will carry me to the fulfillment of my purpose.
When my destiny is met, I will return to being a spirit, forever. I may, as some spirits do, try to reach out and help others in this world, but who can really say? I do know that if my purpose is not met, that after my death, I will mourn the loss of my human life, just as my loved ones will mourn it, and I will begin the process of purification, learning again to exist in a non-human way. When I have done that, I will be released to carry on the journey. Perhaps that journey will take me through a human life again; I think it certainly will, until my destiny is met.
In the broadest sense, the destiny of all beings includes learning to live in harmony. Our conditioned state now is partly related to our incomplete destiny, and to our incomplete wisdom, which leads us to these places and challenges we meet. To be in harmony means to be pure of darkness- the darkness of ignorance which makes us live only for self and selfish things, and not for the freedom of the sacred and of giving in sacred relationship. What other particular things our destinies hold is certainly unique to each being, and really impossible to know. Only we can walk our particular roads.
The Red Lodge
Those coming into a human life are walking the red path- the path of taking on blood and flesh. That path leads to a red lodge, which can be seen as a womb. It is also the lodge or place of youth and childhood- the blessed time in which we are free of darkness, pure- because we just recently came from the sacred powers unseen, and the sacred power itself which is pure. This red lodge is associated with the southern direction, the place of youth and innocence and the source of life.
They say the spirit there- the south wind- is the husband of the "sacred woman"; she is the spirit of the generative power of the earth itself. She is feminine beauty and harmony; she is a mediator herself between the sacred powers and mankind. When leaves green and things grow in the spring and summer, it is her power rising up; her husband, the southern wind, is a giver of life and good weather. All of the winds are brothers. The south wind's brother, the dark northern wind, is always trying to contend for his wife. I know that the animals that mediate the powers of this direction and this lodge to us are waterfowl, and also the crane, and the meadowlark.
The Black Lodge
When we leave the red lodge, we walk the black path- the path of gathering darkness. Youth passes into adulthood, and the powers we encounter as we mature often burden us with prejudices, passions, and darksome things that obscure the clarity and innocence we had as children. The black path leads to the black lodge, a place of introspection and (for most) fear- for in that lodge, we are expected to face the darkness in us, and come to realizations about the dangers we've encountered and what these have done to us. We have to see what these dark powers and conditionings have made us do to others, and to the world.
Most people today don't do this; they can't bear to look or face it. Thus, they remain with that darkness that they gathered. The introspections of the black lodge are a means to our freedom. This lodge is associated with the west, the place where the sun goes to sink into darkness.
They say the spirit there in the west is a great fighter of evil- and he shares that western world with the Thunders- the powers who make thunder, and who also destroy evil powers. The animals that mediate the power of this direction to us are hawks, bats, and the bear- the bear, who seeks his own dark cave of hibernation, and his own sacred introspections.
The White Lodge
Those who can face the truth within, the darkness within, leave the black lodge on the white path- the path of purification. This, in a way, is even harder than facing introspection in the dark. Adulthood fades into elderly years, and the hair turns white- but there's more to the white path than that. This path leads north, to the white lodge, the purification place. We must be purified of our darkness, of all that holds us back. It can be a very painful process, but a needful one.
They say the spirit of the north is a great giant, vicious and powerful, but sometimes a helper- and a great sorcerer. His breath, they say, makes all things white with snow. Snow and cold are purifying powers for the world, just as the sacredness of the white path and lodge purifies the soul or spirit. The animals of the north that mediate this power to us are the wolf, the raven, and the owl.
Being purified means letting our impurities go to the jaws of the predator- the wolf; the raven guides the soul towards wisdom, just as the owl does. But purification is a sort of death; we must often lose the very things we've come to identify with. The owl is that omen of death, but of wisdom and clarity, even in darkness.
The white lodge is where we die, and become bloodless and white. After death, more purification happens- our death journeys and visions are a time of purification and adjustment to the new possibilities and realities of going back into a spirit. The old giant of the north may prevent those who are not yet fully purified from going on to illumination or rest. Many sacred persons guard the death-paths, testing those walking them for their degree of wisdom or purity, forcing those who cannot pass the test to remain in a conditioned state.
The Yellow Lodge
After purification and death, the yellow path leads away from the white lodge, to the east, to the place of the yellow lodge. The east is the place of rest, the place from whence comes spiritual illumination. The rising of the sun every morning is a symbol of that illumination, that new freshness- the return to the ageless vitality and light of the sacred. Of all the lodges, the yellow lodge is the most difficult to comprehend for adults sunk in darkness- but the pure light of that place represents the presence of the sacred power that is our origin. To walk the yellow road is to walk to harmony, to illumination.
They say the spirit of the east knows the value of rest- and he is a healer. He heals through rest, through peace. His helpers- the animals that mediate the power of this place- are nightjars or night hawks, and the eagle; they say that the eagle, the highest-flying of all birds, is closest to the creator, to the sacred power, at least in its embodiment of light and the sky. They'd be right- and the eagle sees the most. Those who are purified and who find their destiny's fulfillment- their harmony in the yellow lodge- they see everything that the sun and the eagle see.
More Than They Seem
These understandings of the four directions, the paths, the journey, the winds, the spiritual powers- they are all more than they seem. They are more than just beautiful or poetic- they are powerful expressions of truth. At some point in every life, you realize the sacred and pure, precious power in youth- normally when you come to know your own children, and you realize what purity you lost when you walked the black path. But that experience, for adults, is a direct experience of the gift of the south, of the red lodge- the gift of youth. That gift heartens people, because it is a reminder of the youthful eternity of the sacred. It is a direct reminder of that sacred quality in us all, a real blessing.
We all eventually come face to face with the darkness within; we consider our lives, become very introspective about things; this is the very experience of the black lodge. We go through experiences in life that do strip us of our illusions and cherished beliefs; we are purified in many ways, and this is always an experience of the white path and the white lodge. A powerful enough of a life-change can be a "death" of types- also a white lodge experience.
And when we die, either figuratively or physically, after we suffer further purification and re-adjustment, we do have an encounter with the mystery of life, the luminous sacred, the very illumination represented by the yellow lodge. We have a chance to find harmony and remain as spirits, free of conditioning. Those who cannot grasp that harmony yet can still experience peace and rest, and a have vision of guidance for the next stage of their journey.
We cannot find lasting harmony beyond life without finding it here- the earth was needed for us to find our destiny. Finding harmony here means meeting our destiny, and becoming properly purified. If we didn't need to live as humans, we wouldn't. This world plays a mysterious role in the creation of the wisdom that leads to harmony. Of course, this is not to say that the world was created specifically for us- this is only to say that it co-exists with us in a needful, mutual relationship, for perhaps the Earth’s own personhood relies on a wholeness that includes mankind, and all other beings that live on her.
Thus, the dead, after their mourning and purification from attachments to their former lives, move along the death trails to further reaches of their journey. Sometimes that is in the spiritual world with ancestors and other powers; sometimes that is as a human again, and they take the red path back to the red lodge.
Those who die in harmony, at peace, and already purified have no need for such a time of transition; they take their place among the sacred powers right away. Some say that the most wicked of people either become vicious, wicked powers in death, similar to what they were in life- staunchly refusing to see within or be purified; they wander unable to follow this ever-repeating sacred circle of destiny. Some say that the truly wicked cease to be at all; I cannot say myself.
I can only say that the circular path- the path from youth, to adulthood and darkness, to the introspective "center" of life, and then to purification and old age, and finally through death to the illumination of lasting harmony or to the sacred vision of guidance to further destiny- this all happens on many levels, at all times. It describes a man's daily life, his spiritual life, and his pattern within life and after it.
Since each of these stages occur in our everyday life, if we know how to recognize them, we can gain much. If we can recognize the influence of the lodge and path powers from minute to minute, day to day, even when they are not overt, we can make great progress towards our destiny.
The most important thing this way of seeing has to teach people of my world, right now, is this: adults have collected darkness, and must face it- through introspection and courage- and then seek purification if they wish to make any progress towards lasting harmony and their destiny. Too many today refuse to do this, or do not realize how they can.
