Welcome to the Wisdom Wheel Law of Surrender # 23

Not to give up, but to give over, is the essence of this Law. Who here is wise enough to understand Surrender?  To live humbly for a cause, rather than to die nobly for one. This begins to tell us what Power real Surrender holds.

Excerpted from the Wisdom Wheel Surrender card

Your Study Schedule for This Law

Full moon Fri February 02 2007 begin Week One – East quadrant – Mental, intellectual aspects
Last quarter Sat February 10 2007 begin Week Two – South quadrant – Emotional aspects

New moon Sat February 17 2007 begin Week Three – West quadrant – Physical and intuitive aspects

First quarter Sat February 24 2007 begin Week Four – North quadrant – Spiritual aspects

Next full moon Sat March 03 2007 begin next Law of Enlightenment
Introduction to the Law of Surrender

Time for the Law of Surrender, #23, the next-to-last outer circle stone. It holds the space between Feb. 19-March 21 each year. This means it is the Birth Law of all those born under the sign of Pisces. Water in Winter people reflect some of the properties of Surrender.  It is ‘hard’ to be Water in Winter, quite literally. How can you keep your flow going when the temperatures make Water freeze? Some environments make it difficult to do what comes naturally. The Summer side of the Wheel, the South Direction, is the natural ‘domain’ of Water.  Water in Winter people need to keep their spirits warmed, and attend to their spiritual needs and priorities, so they can keep the flow going. Remember this when thinking about friends or family members born under the Law of Surrender

When you reach the next Law of Enlightenment, your second year on the Wisdom Wheel Journey will come to an end. Your third and final year on this tour will start with the Law of Creativity in the East. The last year covers the 12 stepping stone Laws.   

While in the East Direction this week, reconsider your ideas about the concept of Surrender.  Maybe it’s time to toss some mental ‘baggage’ overboard. Surrender is not about waving the white flag of defeat and despair. Surrender is much closer to us. It is as natural as breathing. Don’t we have to inhale and exhale to survive? Likewise with Surrender, no one can take air in without letting some back out.

Maybe this is why Surrender belongs on the Northeast side of the Wheel, in the place of Wind, Air and Spirit, between the Visionaries and the Warriors. When we let air out of our lungs, we are surrendering to the Process of breathing, which is essential. We can survive for several days without water, and many more days without food, but we won’t last more than five minutes without air. This reminds us how precious spirit is too.

Air, energy and spirit are synonymous. They are critically important to Life. We must Trust Spirit to provide the next lungful of air for us. Likewise Spirit can be trusted to support our other needs, if we’ll just cooperate.

On the Wisdom Wheel Surrender card there is a symbol of a broken arrow, which means we have given over and ceased to rely on fighting and resisting. Whatever spirit wants of us, we are ready to offer. One of my favorite quotes about this Law comes from Abu Yazid Al Bistami, the Muslim mystic, who died in the seventh century. He was ‘prince of the Sufis’ and a contemporary of Rumi. 

For thirty years I used to say, ’Do this’ and ‘Give me that’. But when I reached the first stage of wisdom, I said, “O God, be mine and do whatever You want.

Jesus gave another great example of Surrender. The last thing he uttered while on the Cross was, ‘Into Your hands I commend my Spirit.’

People often ask, Why does Purification come before Surrender on the Wheel? Contemplate your answer to that question as you carry this Law. If we don’t come clean, literally and figuratively, will we be prepared for physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual, SurrenderPurification can come in a Sweat Lodge ceremony, via a fast or some other way, but the method used should leave us feeling clean inside and out. (Is this why Confession precedes Absolution in the Catholic religion?)  Surrender must involve the whole you; mind, heart, body and soul. 

The Law of the Journey balances Surrender.  This pairing reminds us to Surrender to the Journey. Which part of you resists when you contemplate complete Surrender? Letting the dream become real enough to move into requires facing the fears that prevent the actual Surrender. Although escape is the most common fantasy in corporate life, few will allow their fantasy to become reality? Why? 

The Beatles tune Let It Be is a good Surrender theme song. “…Mother Mary comforts me, singing words of wisdom, let it be… There will be an answer, let it be…” When the answers we seek don’t arrive as fast as we’d like them to, we need to carry our questions a little longer.  Here are a few questions to ponder this month.

-          Which part of you is the most impatient?

-          Where does your greatest need ‘to be in control’ come from?

-          What’s your personal experience with ‘powerlessness’?

-          How has this colored your ‘control’ needs?

-          What is the relationship between accountability & Surrender?

-          Why can one person accept others, and love them, despite their different ways, while the next person, when faced with identical challenges, feels the need to change, dominate, even kill the other(s)?

-          What makes us think/believe we can’t accept the other person’s right to just be how they are?

-          Why won’t some people let others say ‘No’ without feeling threatened? 

Ironically, ‘suicide bombers’ have become a symbol of spiritual Surrender and martyrdom in our times. The man who came up with the suicide bomber concept (first used in 1993) was Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Yassin, co-founder of the Sunni Muslim Palestinian Hamas movement.  Nearly blind, this wheel-chair bound quadriplegic, was eventually assassinated by the Israelis in 2004.

Think about the violence in this world; against men, women, children, animals and the Earth.  Where does that energy come from?  The Shadow is always there, opposing Purification, the Law which balances it. This affects our ability to Surrender to a better world.

The greatest sin is separation. We must purify what keeps us apart; our illusions and our conditioning.  Rumi, the Muslim mystic wrote, ‘...having nothing and wanting nothing… I absorb the shining and now I see the ocean, billions of simultaneous oceans moving inside me... A circle of lovely quiet people becomes the ring on my finger

The Whirling Dervishes, one branch of these Sufi Muslim seekers, are known to dance for hours, twirling in a Sacred Circle , surrendering to the Sacred Oneness that makes everything else superfluous.

Many blessings to you and yours, Malcolm & Cynthia Davidson

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