The Simple Gift
Image by Michele Walker
I have a practice of doing imaginal journeys where I spend time listening to the wisdom of my inner self, my soul. I often ask if there is something I need to know and always there is an answer but since our souls, our unconscious often uses images and symbols to communicate there is a puzzle to workout the meaning. This week the answer I received was an Apple from my feminine aspect and a knife from my masculine aspect. It was a regular apple and one of the utilitarian not fancy paring knives from my kitchen. My ego mind was like ”Cool a knife! It obviously needs to be a fancier ceremonial knife.” and when my mind tried to change the image of the knife my soul was really not having any of that. The message was clear that I was given what I was given for a reason. The wonderful part about imaginal journeys is the meaning of the gift you are given is up to you, there is no wrong answer and as you reflect on the gift there is often layers of meaning.
So what does this gift mean to me? I have sat with it for a few days and today I decided to get out the Apple and the knife and be present with them to see what else arose for me. I cut the apple to reveal the star at the centre and like always I have a sense of awe that hidden in this fruit is a star. It seems like there must be so many, even infinite possibilities, in the universe if in each apple there is a star holding the seeds of trees that will bear more fruit, more stars, more seeds. And I used this knife, this ordinary, not even very sharp paring knife to access this reminder, this promise of possibility.
These are the meanings that arose for me: It isn’t complicated; what I am searching for can be found in such simple ways; I don’t need anything fancy to do the work I am called to do; my ego wants to make things complicated and more difficult so I stay small and safe; don’t make it complicated because again, it’s not complicated; that the abundance of the universe is found in small things; that sometimes I need to look at something differently to remember the infinite possibilities waiting for me; my feminine side wants to nourish me with life and my masculine side wants me to engage with life to discover more; apples are delicious.