The Cycles of Death and Rebirth by Ann Moir-Bussy

As I write this column it is almost Easter – and here in Australia it is autumn – with leaves turning brilliant colours, the wind blowing them hither and thither as we move into the dark and cold winter.

In the Christian tradition the week leading up to Easter, was Holy Week culminating in the remembrance of the death of Christ – an agony and crucifixion and his resurrection after which many of his disciples saw him again and learned from Him. The Greek Orthodox religion called Easter, ‘Pascha’ – the Passover – ‘the eternal Passover from death to life from earth to heaven”.

Whatever one’s beliefs, the theme is of a descent, letting go of all that is no longer needed, death, and rebirth. This is what we spoke of in last month’s column of Descent to the Dark Goddess, and in the following zoom session where we explored death and rebirth in the story of Inanna and Ereshkigal. (See Note at end).

Winter and the dark night

The seasons are a beautiful reminder for us of transitions and seasons of our life. In our journey to becoming elders, we are faced with the journey of ageing, death and rebirth in many forms. James Hollis, a Jungian Analyst says:

There is no going forward without a death of some kind: a death of who we thought we were and were supposed to be; a death of a map of the world we thought worthy of our trust and investment; a death of expectations that by choosing rightly we could avoid suffering, experience the love and approval of those around us, and achieve a sense of peace, satisfaction, arrival home”.

Winter, Easter, and the stories we have explored of the descent to the dark goddess remind us of this. Just as Inanna had to be stripped of all her finery, and all she believed most precious that defined her, so too we need to ask ourselves the challenging questions of what it is we need to divest to be renewed.

What are the self-destructive patterns in our lives, those places where we sabotage ourselves through avoidance? Where do we adapt to the collective, blindly following the crowd? Or do we escape into the trivial, the conventional, what is acceptable to everyone else?

The Black Nubian Woman

There is an inspiring story from Africa that tells us how a young Black Nubian woman took up this challenge. She was very beautiful and walked with grace and dignity, but she was lonely as all the other young women were jealous of her beauty and particularly of the necklace of ju-ju beads that all the women were accustomed to wear. They conspired to take it from her one day.

Soon, as they were washing their clothes in the river and waiting for them to dry, they spoke to her and invited her to join them. They didn’t have their necklaces on, and she queried why, and their response was that they had made an offering to the river gods and thrown them in with a prayer.  Being kind and trusting, she believed them and so took off her necklace and threw it deep into the river where it went down into the mud. Mocking her, the women all laughed and then picked hp their necklaces where they had hidden them and walked off.

Distraught and in tears she prayed to the gods and goddesses to find it for her and then she heard a voice, “Dive in, dive in”.  Though afraid she dived into the depths of the riverbed and as the mud cleared, she found an old woman sitting there with oozing sores all over her. The old woman begged her to lick her sores. Her compassion was strong, and she did so and immediately the old lady’s face was healed and clear.

The old lady protected her from the river demon and then gave her an even more beautiful necklace with new white robes as she emerged from the river. A beautiful image of letting go, of rebirth and of the importance of compassion and love for the dark and unloved parts of ourselves. Sadly, for the other women, on hearing she had found it in the river, they did the same but could not bring themselves to show compassion to the old lad with the sores and so were devoured by the demon of the river.

So, it is time for us to reflect what is no longer needed, let go of old ways of thinking and being, descend to the depths where we must embrace all aspects of the dark goddess within, and embrace our instinctual selves. Only then can growth and transformation take place.

Join us for our rescheduled zoom session on Descent to the Goddess – Inanna and Ereshkigal.

Email Ann for dates and registration details at: annmb.ab@gmail.com