Deoch Mass 3-23-2022 - Possibility (Part 2)

At mass several moons back, I spoke to the misconception many had about what divine gift Deoch bestowed to Aisling kind.

On some level the gods are unknowable to us, so mistaken interpretation is understandable. At the time it was reasonable to assume that Deoch, the newly dubbed God of Inspiration, would have included a drop of his divine providence into his effort to finish the work that Danaan left behind.

I concluded last mass saying that Deoch’s true divine gift was the gift of possibility. The gift of the sleeping spirit to be born again in a new world, free of the expectations of their waking life. Truly, the most divine of gifts.

At this point in Temuair’s history, does this matter? And I say which has always been the case: possibility for the Aisling is the possibility for Temuair. I wish my peers to realize that possibility exists for Temuair even now. The future has always been what we make of it.

We cannot bring back the past. I learned this long ago and I have watched others struggle mightily with this fact ever since. I now strive to embrace that which _is_ possible.

There are many Aislings with no desire to interact with religious worship, to bring forth new ideas into our political spaces, to teach or be taught in the college, and no desire to be part of a greater community. However, because someone is born without the creative inspiration burning to contribute to these spaces… does not mean that it cannot be found or fostered. That is the power of this ‘possibility’.

It falls to us that remain to show these Aislings and any that are born from here forward that this dream is full of possibilities to which they have never considered in their waking form. Engage them in conversation, invite them to participate in these things unique to our community… searching for any spark of interest and encourage it to grow into a flame. Reach through timidness and reticence with guidance and invigoration. Do this and you may be surprised what inspiration springs forth from the formerly uninspired

I say in closing: 

Embrace the possibility of others and of this place as this has always been the underlying secret to Temuair’s greatness.

Deoch Mass 3-9-2022 - Possibility (Part 1)

The pairing of the Spark of Deoch and Mundane creates a new life… we, the Aisling. There is much discussion around this process and what exactly this “Spark” is. There are those in the past that suggested it imbues the newly created life with the Inspiration of Deoch, making Aisling beings of endless creativity and imagination.

It is no surprise that many came to this conclusion. Those first few decades were a renaissance of new thought, writings, and art to which Temuair had never witnessed before in its long history. There is little wonder that many revered Deoch for gifting us with such prowess.

As time went forward it was noticed that many new Aislings had no aptitude or desire to be creative and instead took on singularly martial roles. Leading us to question what we had considered a truth; that perhaps Deoch did not include his divine inspiration as part of his contribution to this Spark he helped create.

Many lost faith, not understanding why new Aislings did not have this gift that so many of the first Aisling possessed. The loss of idealism led to them leaving this dream for a time or, in some cases, forever.

So if Deoch did not include a touch of his divine Inspiration into his and Danaan’s creation… what was the gift Deoch imbued within the Spark? To my mind, that gift is the gift of ‘possibility’. Apart, the Mundane is rooted in drudgery and the Dreaming Spirit caught by the Spark just a formless consciousness of a creature burdened with expectation and experience of their waking world. With the joining of the two into our Aisling form, we are given to endless possibilities and the freedom to decide what that means. A fresh start to where anything is possible.

This is the great gift of the Spark and the true nature of The Aisling.
After all, what is more divine than another chance at life? Even if it is only in dreams.

Deoch Mass 3-2-2022 - Reaching to the Future

Sometimes letting go of the past is hard. It is familiar; comfortable. Our personal history is filled with lost moments that often ask to be remembered because they once held a special significance.

It is a mistake to think that moving forward means forgetting the past. It matters little if the road you have traveled has been pleasant or arduous; it is a part of you regardless. So, in that way letting go is never a function of forgetting for you cannot forget the past any more than you can trim away parts of your soul. Instead, letting go is loosening the grip from a fist to a gentle touch; a grasp so tight on the past cannot reach for the future.

This is especially true for those that currently live in hard times… the desire to reach out to cherished memories is strong. Our remembrance to the people we knew, places we’ve been, and to those that we loved form a powerful tether to situations that now only exist in memory.

There is a great risk in this because memories can become warped idealized versions of themselves and cause one to struggle with reality. This is the result of the mind gripping tightly to a memory made fantasy, making ‘the perfect the enemy of good’, as it were… unable to accept anything less than the ideal. It is only through opening the hand of acceptance that one can see the possibilities the future still holds.

Let us take this concept and apply it to the Temuair of today. There are those that fight so hard to bring back a version of Temuair that is long gone… and in some cases never really existed at all because many idealize the ‘golden age’ of Temuair that they first dreamed.

I found out long ago that fighting against the tide changes of Temuair is a sure way to burn out and be taken by the waves. Acceptance doesn’t mean forgetting, but it does allow you to see the possibilities of the future. If you truly care for the Temuair of the past and its legacy, then do not attempt to command the sun to rise in the west. Instead see the light of Danaan still reflecting from the moon and use that Light that remains to inspire Temuair in its twilight like those that did when this dream was young.