The Hare and the Egg
by Aethnen - March 21st, 2009.Filed under: Meditations. Tagged as: Alban Eilir, egg, Gŵyl Gwanwyn, hare, meditation, potential, rebirth, spring, Spring Equinox, transformation.
Centre yourself where you are.
Make sure you are comfortable.
Sink into the feelings of your body … the softness of your animal body … earthy … permeable to the world around you … intelligent in its intuitions … Acknowledge your body.
Cup your hands over your eyes, feeling the same dark rest that your body feels in sleep. Do you see anything, even in the dark?
Cup your hands over your ears, listening to the quiet muffle of your own inner ear. Can you hear anything?
Place your fingers under your nostrils, inhaling and exhaling deeply. Feel the life-giving flow of air, moist and warm, hit your fingers. Does the air smell of anything?
Touch your tongue with a finger, wiggling your tongue about. Feel your taste buds, rough in texture but refined in taste. Can you taste anything on your finger?
Now caress some part of your skin. Feel it well. Is it smooth or rough? … Dry or greasy? … Wrinkled or young?
All of these senses you possess, the senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching are not merely human–they belong to the animal kingdom too.
Turn your mind to the Spring. Feel yourself at the very centre of it. You are surrounded by Life. See yourself standing in a great open meadow …..full of daisies, dandelions, bluebells, all sorts of spring wildflowers …..The moon is shining over the grass, tinting its green to bluey-grey. ………On the edges of the meadow is a woodland. ….Birch trees are rosy with sap. …….Every branch is bursting forth into bud…….The woods are full of shadows but you feel only deep happiness…..Look around the meadow………….an owl hoots from the woods and suddenly many little heads pop up out of the grass….. You are surrounded by hares, their soft dark figures silhouetted by the full moon …. head erect ….long ears rigid …. nose quivering …. haunches poised for escape….The moon is reflected in their glassy eyes.
Ahead of you, in the shadows, you can see a light. It is pale and white and shimmery. There is magic in the air.
As you walk towards the light, you realise it is the moon reflecting in a pool of water. …… The silence here is profound. …… This is a place where light and dark mingle and merge.
The hare is sat next to you in this sacred place, looking down into the water.
Your gaze is drawn down into the water too. At first all you see is the luminous white ball that is the moon…… Then all you see is the darkness and night surrounding the moon…… Finally the two dissolve into one another and you are looking at nothing and everything. ……………. Gradually images begin to appear on the surface of the water. …………………….. What do you see? …… What message are you being given, if any? …………….(place Easter eggs or blown eggs around at people’s feet) ………………………….. What does this message or the images mean to you now at this point in your life?
Slowly bring your attention back to the pool of water and the hare. Its ears are twitching now, as if ready to be going. Express to it your gratitude and thanks for leading you to this special place.
After this, the hare sinks back into the shadows and you are left alone beside the water’s edge.
You look around you again. You hadn’t noticed it before, but where the hare had been sitting next to you, there is now an egg. Maybe it is brown or maybe it is white. But it was left for you.
Open your eyes now and pick it up.
(Everyone now opens their eyes and discovers that they actually do have an ‘egg’—Magic!!!)
This egg is a manifestation of the message you were given.
This egg is both the old life you need to break out of and the new potential that is inside you.
Use your egg wisely.