Finding Renewal

I stood guard, looking east, my back to the breeze off the ocean, and the flame red sunset. Only the half of the Moon and scattered clouds filled the deepening sky. Soon, it would be dark, and the stars of Autumn would reveal themselves, and Orion, the Warrior, would again hold his shield against the demons of the dark.
Flames crackled behind me, my brother offering the agonies and the traumas of his life into the flames, purifying his soul, as his life of tears entered the fire. Words were spoken, prayers were offered, and I could feel his soul lightening, his burdens easing. His energy tonight was powerful, filling our place on this beach with his strength, his soul work.

The rest of us stood silent, awed by his courage, his spirit work. The voice of my soul, and those of my brothers around him, joined him in his work, giving him our strength, and our love.

The demons of my own pain walked here, too, and I took in the energy of Spirit, and girded my loins for my own battles, my own challenges. For, my brother and my fellow guards were with me, tonight, in my own battle, my own struggles. We were together, and I felt myself able to put down my own shield, a bit, and find comfort in the support of my brothers, as, I too, waged battle and burned my own agonies in the fire lit by my brother.

The smell of the sage, and the cedar, and the sweetgrass mixed with the cleansing air from the ocean, its salt and its purity finding its way into the pit of my guts, the place where my soul keeps its wounds. I breathed deep, and let the poisons and the pain go. Re-lease, re-newal. Re --- again. Yes, again. Each breath, a new re-lease. A new cleansing.

The knots in my shoulders, the ones I don’t know exist, until I can find re-lease, untie themselves, and I am at ease. My blood, filled now with the oxygen of the ocean and the cleansing of the smoke from the fire, brings new life and energy, and the tension is gone.

I look into the eyes of my brother, he who has wrestled with his demons tonight, called them out, and Named them, and I see his renewal, his release, his Peace.

In the Naming of them, and in the giving up of them, the agonies lose their power over our souls. We can cut their chains, and we can move on, and be free.

And, in his work tonight, I, too, am released, I am eased. And, I am renewed.