Sweet Flowers Can Emerge From Painful Places
Our cactus normally expresses itself in spikes, a metaphor of pain and defensiveness. A sweet miracle emerged with the sun’s dawn rays on this chilly August morning in the Appalachian mountains overlooking Asheville, NC. Over the past few weeks of abundant rains, our cactus has worked and worked, producing buds of something remarkably new and fruitful from deep within. Lately, something different has emerged, bursting through its tough, prickly skin.
Our cactus normally expresses itself in spikes, a metaphor of pain and defensiveness. A sweet miracle emerged with the sun’s dawn rays on this chilly August morning in the Appalachian mountains overlooking Asheville, NC. Over the past few weeks of abundant rains, our cactus has worked and worked, producing buds of something remarkably new and fruitful from deep within. Lately, something different has emerged, bursting through its tough, prickly skin.
Our cactus might sympathize with the fact that human life, at times, is painful. What is all that pain and suffering for, anyway?
All of the world’s spiritual paths and religions tell us that here’s the trick: we must use those painful spikes to discover a sweet blessing that enables us learn and grow, to burst forth with our own gifts, flowering like a desert cactus, each flower vibrant like a flame fueled by all the dead wood of our past mistakes and hurts. How can we earn wisdom and transformation from all that we go through, instead of becoming stuck in it — harmed by our ill fortune — and go down in the same flames that could have been our redemption?
Carrying heavy burdens of anxiety and transgression, patients come to receive healing here. We do our part to touch them with these sacred ways that have helped human beings to navigate life for many ages. As a result of this alchemy of pain and sacred transformation, something mysterious emerges: often it’s a gift that is unexpected and miraculous.
We had a new mid-30s patient recently who was looking for focus, strengthening of his values, and a stronger foundation to be a good, dependable partner and father. Our time together began a process of deepening roots and rising to the challenges of life. This good work will take diligence and effort on his part, and on ours. But he is up for it, and glad for the guidance.
After another new patient in her fifties experienced a soul retrieval last weekend, she felt deeply touched and transformed. After her recovery, she asked, “Do I need to figure out what caused that part of my soul to leave? Do I need to do some kind of trauma work?”
The answer, passed down from our ancestors: “The work has been done. Now feed and nourish that new part of yourself. You are more whole, and it is a lasting change that has occurred on the deepest level. No need to dwell on the past. Time to celebrate!”
Sometimes this transformation and flowering forth, this alchemy of mysterious help mixed with elbow grease and homework, takes a lot of effort. And sometimes it is less work than you think it will be. Just like our fruitful cactus, you need a little sunshine and support from something very ancient and everlasting. Then you can burst forth with mysterious gifts you didn’t even know were hidden inside the spikes and prickles of your life’s journey.
Cactus flowers and bees at Seeds of Tradition Asheville Healing Retreat in Asheville, NC
Nopal cactus fruits: a major food source in our tradition's homeland of Central Mexico
An ancient Mesoamerican codex that taught people how to walk a good path in life illustrates a goddess of fruition and a flowering cactus.