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Mary Magdalen: Reflections from Midwest Witchcampby Cathy CombsTo say the very least I don't think I could've ever anticipated feeling so loved by myself and others during the week I just spent at Midwest Witchcamp. I had been anticipating this event for months, from the very first moment I knew what the topic would be, and I knew I just had to find a way to go! Sometimes anticipation ruins an experience for me because by the time the experience arrives so much fear has crept in I just want to get the experience over with. That was not my experience this time. I was thrilled to be there and the experience of being there topped my wildest imagination of what love and joy and peace could feel like. My purpose in writing this article is to share with you experiences that are personal and yet more than personal. The awarenesses that I came away with from this week with the Beloveds will carry me for the rest of my life. During our week together we were asked to choose a path to work with during the week. The pathwork I chose for the week was to work with aspecting the Beloved. We were asked to choose an archetype of the Beloved to work with for the week. The archetype of the Beloved I chose was Embodiment of Spirit. As the week progressed the story unfolded individually and collectively, internally and externally. The experience of walking among the Beloveds, Mary Magdalen, Yeshua, Jesus, Sun King, Time, Ancestors, Descendants, Elements, Spirit, and all of us who were present as the Beloveds who visited for the week, was an unforgettable experience. The two biggest lessons I learned this week at Midwest Witchcamp are: 1) if I truly honor and value difference I cannot use difference to shame and to separate; and 2) the personal is universal! I see these messages as fascinatingly intertwined just as the double helix is intertwined in the unseen realm of our physical expression. What I hear in my first lesson is this: If I truly honor and value difference I cannot use it to shame and to separate because I am embodied exactly as I am meant to be in this lifetime. Spirit makes no value judgment. Spirit is simply the embodiment of, and the Essence of, Love. I now take that to mean that my body vehicle is a cherished chariot for Spirit to live in during my lifetime, and that I am to do my very best to care for my body in every way possible because Spirit sees me as the Beloved. I have come to understand that it is a mistake to internalize society's messages about difference, whether the messages are negative or positive!!! I believe our work here as humans is to simply listen within to the still small voice of Spirit that speaks to us of our divinity as the heritage and expression of the Divine Beloved. I truly believe our purpose in life is to actualize our heritage and destiny as the embodiment of Spirit. By its very nature Spirit is expansive. One is in the all. All is in the one. Out of this Beloved expansiveness comes diversity. Diversity of outer expression does not imply separation from Spirit. Diversity of outer expression implies the expansive magnanimity of Spirit, the expansive creativity and vitality of Spirit. Individuality is different than separation!!! I truly believe that individuality is embodied as diversity and that diversity is embodied as individuality. In Essence there is no separation; only oneness. As humans I believe we have somehow incorporated what I call separation myths into the literal body of our reality. We have allowed fear to drive the spear of separation into our very hearts. It occurred to me today that Spirit has a personality of its own. That personality has many expressions! That personality of expression is unlimited. It occurs to me that there is a great great trust embodied in the honoring and valuing of the one in the all, and the all in the one. I do not have to be separate to be valued!!! I simply have to be myself to be valued by myself and others. I simply have to trust in the magnanimity of who I am. I simply have to be the embodiment of the Love that I am. I believe that is the lesson of the ages for all of us in this lifetime. As I walked among all the Beloveds during this week I felt the love of the Beloveds within me and all around me. I experienced the all in the one and the one in the all. I experienced moments of the separation myths for exactly what they are, myths. I experienced the trust that is needed to make room for someone to have their own experience. I experienced the trust that is needed to allow someone to have their own experience. I experienced the trust that they would do what they needed to do for their own experience and that I did not need to do anything to "fix them" and that I did not need to feel rejected for anything I did or didn't do. I experienced the trust that is needed to embody the reality that their story is their story and that my story is my story. I deeply experienced the inherent paradox I hear in the all is in the one and the one is in the all. How is it that we all come from the same Source and yet "they have their work to do, and I have my work to do?" The commonality I hear is Love. We all live the message of love through different eyes, through different hearts, in different ways. Human personality may experience that as irreconcilable differences. For me, I see that The Heart of Love of the Divine sees only Love in its infinite variety. The Heart of Love of the Divine is not fooled by the veils we seem to wear. I sincerely feel it is our divine legacy not to be fooled by the veils either. That is our gift to the Divine. The overriding message of this week that I carry with me is that we all came together to share in the restorying of a myth for all ages. We came together to reclaim Mary Magdalen as the vitalizing principle of the Love and Strength that she is. We came together to honor and value the intertwining of her life with her Divine Beloved. We came together to honor both of these vitalizing principles of Love and Strength as expressed in us and through us. We came together to carry this message of love and strength and hope and healing into our daily lives and out into the world to share with others so we may reclaim the world we live in as sacred space for all to share in love and hope and peace and joy. Thank you Beloveds for a great great week; for a great great life!!! Cathy Combs is a freelance writer and workshop architect specializing in Earth-Based spirituality, personal empowerment and leadership development. Contact her at (816) 561-5719, or visit www.cathycombs.com
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