Post No. 125 - A sense of genetic entitlement

In my travels through various spiritual and psychic paths in this lifetime, I've come across some people who think they are - or would be if they were - inherently more psychically gifted because they are the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, or have some gypsy blood in their veins, or maybe because they have some Celtic or Nordic heritage. As an example of the latter, in the Dutch occultist Freya Aswynn's otherwise excellent book "Northern Mysteries & Magic" (pub. Llewellyn, 1998, St. Paul, Minnesota, ISBN 1-56718-047-7; I particularly enjoyed the connection of the order of the runes to the Northern creation myth, and also the explanation of the difference between invertible and reversible runes), a revised edition of her evocatively titled "The Leaves of Yggdrasil", the author writes (on page 98):

A parallel can be drawn between runic divination and a system of divination and insight found in the Far East. Anybody can read the I Ching (an ancient and very accurate Chinese divination system) in English translation and derive some value from meditating on the hexagrams, but only a Chinese person working with the I Ching in his or her native language will manage to penetrate much more deeply and correctly into its mysteries, through an understanding of the subtleties and poetic expression of the Chinese language - which is an expression of the person's own folk-soul.

The same applies to the runes. Language is an expression of the soul of a nation, and the runes are indeed a language, one useful for communicating at all levels, from the straightforward written messages to focal points of concentration and communication with the gods, who are the guardians of the evolution of the Northern group-soul. Because the runes operate as a language, they communicate information about questions asked or readings done and allow the rune reader to make contact with the deeper layers of the querent's unconscious.

OK, so here are my reactions and comments to that passage:

• Firstly, what about someone who has, perhaps, had three or four lifetimes working actively with the runes, who then reincarnates in a different situation (perhaps Africa)? Are they going to lose the three or four lifetimes' worth of skills? No - in fact, one of the benefits of past life regression (see my workshop notes) is helping rediscover and bring to consciousness past life skills (although, hopefully, with suitable adaptations for improved circumstances - see here).
• There is an issue of talent vs. hard work here. In competitive sports such as football or sailing, that is discussed, with, in general, a consensus towards the view that someone who works hard is better than someone with talent who coasts along (although, to be fair, someone with talent who also works is best of all: such people may well be bringing through skills from previous lifetimes of hard work - as I did with my competitive sailing, where I drew on many past lifetimes at sea). I recall several successful sailors (world champions and Olympic gold medallists among them) who commented to the effect that others thought they were "lucky", and the harder they worked, the "luckier" they got ...
• There is also an issue that I can only think of as describing as self esteem/worth, or maybe it is an attempt to escape from oneself. There have been many times when people have seen something "other" as exotic and desirable because it is "other" - for example, a few centuries ago "the noble savage" ("nature's gentleman") was considered desirable because it was different to the European "civilisation" of that era (gotta tend to agree with that one, actually ...). More recently, Druids and Celts have been seen as good to have in your history: again, there is an element of truth to that, but then, they were also head hunters ... As another example, look at the number of people (in Western cultures) who have stereotypical North American Indians as guides [2]. You don't need to look outside yourself: YOU have a spark of the Divine in you: it is your essence - it IS enough for all that you wish to, or could, be. YOU can achieve mastery of whatever skill or attribute you wish to - you just may need to be prepared to work at it, and, rather than look outside yourself for the exotic, be all that you can be [3].

Of course, maybe I'm just p*ssed off 'cos I can't find any such clearcut reason to feel superior :) but truth is I find such a sense of genetic entitlement narcissistic (see also here). ALL people are entitled to be psychic. In fact, I agree with Lobsang Rampa that the coming new world religion will be open to all, and a key feature will be (in my words) that ALL people will understand that we can ALL be "masters" ...

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

Notes:

1. Just in case anyone should be inclined to draw the wrong conclusion about Freya Aswynn, have a look at her post Troth to the Aesir, which is an argument for inclusivity that I will be including in a post on some other views of the "Northern Traditions" (including another post by Aswynn on some problematic aspects). One key sentence from that post is "Being Asatru is open to every one, the Gods will accept the Troth of a sincere person of whatever genetic or cultural origin". The quote I have given above is about, in my words, "natural talent", which I am arguing is due to hard work in previous lifetimes - and I'm going to basically suggest that, if you want to have a "natural talent" for something, start working - HARD! - at it in this lifetime, now, as an investment in your future. After all, even if you don't accept reincarnation, perhaps you consider that you have an eternal Soul? :)
2. I have some stereotypical guides, including a North American: he was, in that lifetime (NOT on the Plains, it was up around the Great Lakes), I was responsible for his death ... which makes for some interesting dynamics :) I also have some more or less "everyday" people as guides - which basically means the image they present is of fairly ordinary people (from time in American history). The image guides present can and does change: in my case, the "North American Indian" guide chose an image which would make me feel that I owed to that entity to listen (oh stop chuckling, White Waters Fall!), but one of my teachers relayed a story of one of his guides, who initially chose to present as a Nun, thinking it would have an association of spirituality, but, when the guide found it didn't (because of some unpleasant experiences as a child in a [Christian] religious school), the guide chose another image (which, interestingly, was male this time - for those who get hung up on gender!) On that topic, one of my patron deities is Yemaya, who claims me from the time when I was incarnated in Africa ... yet I still work with runes: things can blend!
3. When I took a year off in the 80s to study alternative healing, and wound up at ASPECTS studying and learning both healing and many other skills (such as past life regressions, crystals, mediumship, etc), I - and others - spent up to 15 hours da day, seven days a week, studying and APPLYING these skills. Nothing I have now has come easily, or without effort - as another example, I have been studying the runes for around fifteen years now, under the tutelage of my friend "Venerable Rune Master from the Bush", and I still don't feel like "an expert", let alone a "master" - and I'm nowhere near being ready to move off the Elder Futhark onto the other futharks ... (and, as I mentioned, I learned some interesting things from Freya Aswynn's book). Then again, we are always learning ... I even learned some new and interesting things in my day job just yesterday, after three decades working as an engineer: learning never stops, and Lobsang Rampa often quotes a saying "the more you know, the more you know there is to know" (more or less - can't guarantee that that is word perfect!).

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Tags: about me, attitudes, courage, I Ching, Lobsang Rampa, mediumship, perceptions, personal responsibility, personal characteristics, religion, workshop notes, heritage,arrogance, genetics, heritage, psychism, spirituality, Northern Tradition,

First published: Saturday 26th June, 2010

Last edited: Thursday 5th August, 2010 (added more tags)