Escaping the Isle of Circe
"[Circe] will not be able to charm you, for the virtue of the herb that I shall give you will prevent her spells from working."...As he spoke he pulled the herb out of the ground and showed me what it was like. The root was black, while the flower was as white as milk” Mercury to Odysseus in the Odessy. Online translation from Samuel Butler (1835-1902) (full text here)
Behold, Mullein. Native to Europe, Asain, Africa, and South American and introduced to North America along trade routes. Some scholars believe a variety of her was given to Odysseus by the God Mercury before he landed tired and desperate with his men onto the luxurious isle of goddess/witch Circe. The plant was to be used as a guiding light to wake Odysseus up from the hypnotic and comforting feasts and pleasures of Circe’s home where he and his men where lulled into complacency (and turned into animals) stalling their progress for over a year.
The Journey of Odysseus is a symbolic and meaning rich work of fiction that we can look at as a symbol for our own journey of consciousness.
What does the isle of Circe and Mullein tell us about consciousness?
-That comfort can be numbing?
-That transformations (good and bad) happen to us when we are distracted by the hypnotic, comforting, seductive routines, people, and experiences we encounter?
-That staying too long in ease can halt progress?
“The Sorceress Circe,” oil painting by Dosso Dossi, c. 1530; in the Borghese Gallery, Rome
SCALA/Art Resource, New York
Maybe- but the lover of abundance, play, and ease in me knows better:
All beings deserve comfort and they do not inherently stall out progress- in fact, abundance is necessary- So what is this story really helping us to understand about the journey of awareness towards it's goals and intentions?
Let’s consider the concept of comfort for a moment.
Have you ever noticed that sometimes your ingrained programing and habits are of comfort to you? With both good and bad results?
Personal Example
A few years ago I quit my job as a full time professor and took a year off so I could separate myself from my comforting patterns of over-giving, striving to meet other’s expectations, validating myself based on my productivity, being in a position that gave me authority, making art work that was primarily about getting into shows or into collections, and excepting less than what was a livable income for work that was actually breaking my back. The ‘comfort’ trap of that job transformed me into a person with a broken body, little sense of self, and a drained wallet.
🖤🖤🖤The weird thing was, quitting didn’t lesson the impact of those comfort zone habits.🖤🖤🖤
I only knew how to be comfortable when I was stressed out.
Allowing myself to be JUST AS I WAS- without doing or producing anything was deeply strange and unnerving for me, a step into the unknown.
However, for the first three months of my year off I attempted create comfort and knowns by staying busy- because the spell of the familiar, the isle of Circe is hard to escape. Until one day, after getting deported from India (yep) and processing the grief that my plans to become a Yoga teacher were going to have to wait a full year- I finally woke up to my pattern and realized that I would have to ‘suffer’ through 3 months of unknown nothingness and that was the way out.
I sat on my porch for days, doing nothing and feeling lost. I journaled. I meditated. I cried. I finally addressed my uneasiness with stillness, with simply being. That’s when everything opened up for me, and my journey found a new pathway. My fire of awareness lit my way out of the comfort and into a new and more vivid future, with better patterns and comforts.
Disappointment was my saving Mullein torch.
Practice
Today- I’d like you to light a red, white, or blue candle, or Mullein torch if it’s handy.
Mullein torchers where used by romans and also were popular with miners in the middle ages because they create a clean, lasting flame (that smells sweet and lasts hours) to guide them in dark places. Odysseus escapes Circe by eating the Mullein and forcing her to transform his men back to their human forms. They leave the Isle and continue their odyssey. You can find more about the medicinal uses of Mullein here- it grows all over America and can be foraged and made into a torch of your own. (You can also source them on Etsy).
Reflection and Candle Practice
Light your candle, maybe even sit at your altar if you have one, or any space that is sacred to you.
🕯Is there something you feel stuck in?
🕯Is there a pattern like mine that you are ready to let go of?
🕯Are there things that are normal for you or your society that are actually harmful when they become patterns or habits?
🕯Are there things you want to do that feel big, scarry, or unfamiliar to you?
Imagine bringing the light of the candle or your Mullein torch into the darkness of your subconscious.
Sit for a few minutes breathing energy to this flame.
Allowing the light to illuminate parts of you that are comforting patterns. Become aware.
❤️What would steeping into something new and unknown allow for you?❤️
Open your eyes- staying in this energy pick up your pen for a reflection.
Journal
🕰What patterns are keeping me in my own Isle of Circe?
🕰How will my making a step into the unknown benefit me and others?
🕰What can I start doing now to let this go?
🕰What feels like a PLEASUREABLE not PUNISHING way to let this go?
🕰What is a way I could affirm my dignity, worth, and being during this process?
Closing
When you are done, thank the light from your candle or Mullein then snuff or blow it out.
Yours in lighting a path through the labyrinth.
