Gifts of the Underworld Journey of Descent

So much of our religious and spiritual language centers on images of sacred light and ascent. But without the pathway of holy darkness and descent we bypass essential aspects of our deepening journey toward greater wisdom. Our spirituality becomes shallow and brittle.

In mythic traditions the archetype of the underworld journey is a time of powerful initiation that calls us to make a conscious descent in those seasons of our lives when loss or uncertainty arrive and engulf us with grief or unknowing.

We all have seasons in our lives where we feel as though we have been abducted into the Underworld. It is a very disorienting time as we suddenly are without our usual bearings or securities. But the more we resist, the longer these seasons become intractable. We feel more stuck, more listless, more overwhelmed.

This stripping away calls us to consciousness, to make the journey without numbing or distracting ourselves. When we are able to offer ourselves this grace, and release our need for certainty, we are slowly transformed.

This will be a time of teaching, reflection, creative expression, and meditation. We will consider mythic images of Inanna from Sumerian myth and Persephone from Greek myth, alongside Our Lady of the Underworld and the Christian mystical path of the dark night of the soul. Together we will reclaim holy darkness and learn to embrace journeys of descent in service of the new life that arises from this fertile ground.

Please dress comfortably for gentle movement and bring a journal, pen, and some colored pencils, markers, or crayons. Consider also bringing something that is a resource for you like a prayer shawl, some stones, prayer beads, or a companion animal (any or all of these).