Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: spider

  • Spider Message

    Early one morning I received a text message asking what manual the method for removing phobias such as fear of spiders was in. “Healing with Language, starting on page 236,” I wrote and then continued, “I also like to share the totem meaning afterwards. I was HORRIFICALLY afraid of spider. Look at the totem meaning!”

    If you have Spider Totem Animal, you can be inventive, creative, tenacious and have a strong wit. You may know how to influence others and may have a good sense of the larger patterns all around you. Finally, Spider is a communicator – writers very often have a Spider totem. (From: WhatIsMySpiritualAnimal.com)

    “How cool is that!!! A couple of weeks ago she shared with me that she wants to work on her writing skills.”

    “My overall number is 2 in numerology – Number II is The High Priestess in The Animal Wise Tarot by Ted Andrews — represented by spider! EVERYTHING comes as gift/teacher. We often have to move into and through the fear to see/receive the gift,” I added.

    “Wonder if she subconsciously has brought the spiders’ energy in.”

    “Interestingly, I don’t think of it so much as that she unconsciously brought spider in which is a view of duality – me and not me – but that THE ALL THAT IS manifested as spider to bring the perfect, needed, desired message at the ideal time.”

    God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. ~ Luke 24:16

  • The Collective

    When I picked up the spoon off the napkin to stir my morning tea, a huge ant fell out onto the kitchen counter. I carefully picked it up with the napkin, and carried it out onto the porch.

    Looking up “ant as animal totem” I was surprised to see a reference to MOLD:

    The plant spirit medicine of mold is in partnership with Ant medicine and it teaches of the psychedelic dimensions of Earth.

    The insect nation is in direct communication with such dimensions which is why it is often very disconcerting to encounter Dragonfly, Ant, Spider, and all the other tiny crawlers of Earth.

    (Regular readers of Yellow Brick Road know we had quite the dance with mold.)

    Coming back to get my tea, I saw a long-legged spider in the sink. I grabbed a tissue and carefully delivered the spider to the porch as well. Very unusual happenings both of these….

    The following morning, another (near-identical) spider was in the sink!

    Over the past week I have been gifting contents from my professional office. While it was not an easy decision to give up a formal practice space, I have already had many confirmations that opportunities abound to love, serve, and remember, as Betty Lue and Robert (Reunion) taught us to sing.

    My massage table went to Tina at Creative Therapy School of Massage.

    The elephant statue was dropped off to Kimberly.

    It has been my hope that the love and healing related to each item and all of our history will continue to bless the world with remembered wholeness.

    I had an odd interaction when I dropped off the door name plate to one colleague. Knowing she had last expressed not having been vaccinated, I put on my mask and offered a hug. “No hugs,” she replied. “I have to protect you.” The words did not match the energy.

    “I am masked to protect you,” I responded.

    “No hugs,” she repeated, shaking her head.

    I got back into my car feeling some sadness. I was very grateful our next delivery was to drop off the afghan with Jesus surrounded all the forest creatures. It was a wonderful visit…. complete with hugs.

    One of the members of the Zen Empty Circle shared the stressful situation with his in-laws, who neither mask nor choose to be vaccinated against the coronavirus — understandably wanting his young daughter to come spend time with them. They miss her. He does not feel comfortable allowing her to go. The meditation teacher said, “Remember you are not keeping her from them, you are protecting her from the virus.”

    In our own family we have this dynamic.

    In many families, this polarized world view expresses itself.

    What will our post-pandemic world be? The wondering comes if we will we be like the Sneetches (Dr. Seuss) and get over ourselves, but at a cost like when McBean drives away with the Sneetches‘ cash, exclaiming, “They never will learn. No. You can’t teach a Sneetch.”

    It did not feel as though she refused a hug “to protect me” but I do know she is not a Sneetch, and neither am I….

    If you want to go fast,
    go alone.
    If you want to go far,
    go together.

    ~ African Proverb
    (The tag line on the ant totem reading.)

  • Tangled Webs

    One morning I photographed an amazing web wet with the morning dew. Later that evening, I mentioned the web while at dinner with friends. My one friend grimaced, said she hated spiders, and since dinner was in the home of our mutual friend, who was also desirous for our dear friend’s fears to be gone, I launched into the process of doing a Fast Phobia Cure. The process ended with a significant statement by my friend, “I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to spend my evening feeling anxious. I want to enjoy our time together.”

    “Nature’s Ways” is the name of my October Beyond Mastery Newsletter article, and it extols the skills of spiders as metaphor for life. I also have a previously post about spider’s and karma, so I won’t go into that now. But I have been reflecting this week on my desire to help my friend overcome the phobia of spiders.

    Oops…. I made a mistake. I wanted something she did not want. It was not respectful to push. We often walk the tangled web of desiring for another something the other is not desirous of. The following morning, I wrote this poem:

    Remembrance

    Dew wet the grass
    then the rains came
    will the sun come again?
    This dance of despair
    familiar like an old pair of shoes
    but far from pleasant!
    One more time
    I recall that you may not remember
    the years of faithful tending.

    Tending the garden
    removing weeds of sorrow
    so buds could grow again.
    Pulling the deep roots
    of delusion
    exposing healthy bulbs below.
    New sprouts of hopefulness
    peeking out from the soil
    rich, pungent, ready for life.

    Once I was caught in the underbrush
    too fearful to let go
    yet not willing to open to the light.
    Like a seed
    fear must be buried
    before reemerging transformed.
    Perhaps I can remember
    for you too
    as new life comes into view.

    09-03-2019

    Tangled webs are woven of fear. My feelings of sadness hanging in the air were tangled webs. My feelings of remorse were more tangled webs. My mulling over and over thinking and wishing things could have or should have been different—tangled webs.

    On June 17, 1999, I wrote An Ode to Letting Go.

    An Ode to Letting Go

    I will not look back at our time together and see it all as bad. I will have the courage to call it all good – our coming together and our coming apart. I will honor your memory by remembering the growth that our relationship inspired. I will not insult either of us by insisting that it could have, should have, or would have been different. It was as it was. I will use this experience to affirm the beliefs I wish to guide my life by; All things work together for good. You are free. I am free. Be with your life lightly as I am with my own. Take not from here a false belief that you or I are less than what you are: a child of the universe, whole, holy, and loveable. Be tender with yourself as you make this adjustment, just as you would be tender with a body part as it heals. Look into the mirror often and recall the truth – I once loved you deeply. Though the feelings have waned as the moon – your worthiness (as my own) has neither diminished nor dissipated. I will always honor your memory. I will always cherish your soul. Go in peace. Live, grow, heal, and continue on your journey. For this time of our being together has ended but the ties that bind our hearts in love continue – even as the love at the center of all of life continues to hold us and guide us and heal us. Amen.

    I cannot even recall now what the 1999 trigger for this writing was, but today, I know that what I am letting go is the weaving of tangled webs….