Friends, welcome to the 15th edition of the "Tracking Your Wyrd" course.
In our last love letter, I recalled the part of the myth of Er that says we come into the world “like stars shooting.” I want to continue this week with the metaphor of the star,
the unique star that we are.
In Michael Meade’s book The Genius Myth, he has a chapter called “Genius is the Star in Man” where he explores the connection between our wyrd and the star that we are. He writes, “Even scientists now must agree that we are each star born and carry star matter in our very cells,” building on the declaration by astronomist Carl Sagan, who famously said “We are all made of star-stuff.” Meade writes, “We are star born and at times star guided” and he writes of “the hidden light within our souls” that is our “star-spark.”
Continuing the star language, Meade writes, “Genius appears as an original inner constellation that holds the key to understanding the meaning and purpose inherent in each life.” (Last week, I suggested that the outer constellations of planets—including the sun which is a star—at the moment of our origin is a reflection of our inner constellation of genius.) Meade quotes the Italian Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino who stated, “Whoever discovers his own genius will thus find his own natural work and at the same time find his own star and daemon.” |
Staying with the myth here, in this wee program we have been connecting our daemon with our genius with our wyrd with our destiny (destiny being our lot in life, the life we chose for ourselves, the life the daemon is here to protect), and Meade reminds us that the word destiny comes from destinare, meaning “of the stars.” Destiny also means “’to stand out, to stand apart;’ especially to be seen standing in a visible relations to one’s inner spark of genius. Our true destiny sets us apart from others because our genius self becomes visible and shines for others to see.” Our genius, Meade continues, is the “‘star quality’ in each person that enables them to shine in some way,” to be “bright in their own way.”
So for this letter, as we track our wyrd, I want to pose these questions:
And I want to add to these questions this suggestion—ask others in your life this question: When have you seen (or when do you see) me shining “this little light of mine” most brightly? Sometimes we can’t see ourselves clearly, and it helps to have others reflect to us when they have seen our inner light.
Shine on, Friends. Shine on.
Love, Jennifer
- What lights me up?
- When am I most lit from within?
- When and where do I shine most brightly in the world?
- When have I been "set apart from others" and had a shining star moment?
And I want to add to these questions this suggestion—ask others in your life this question: When have you seen (or when do you see) me shining “this little light of mine” most brightly? Sometimes we can’t see ourselves clearly, and it helps to have others reflect to us when they have seen our inner light.
Shine on, Friends. Shine on.
Love, Jennifer
A few of my favorite star-spark things. . .
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Odetta was an African-American singer, considered by many to be "the voice of the Civil Rights Movement." The song "This Little Light of Mine" was one of the "freedom songs" frequently sung during the CRM. Here's a link to an NPR story about the origin and history of the song.
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"I Sing the Body Electric" is the title of a Walt Whitman poem which inspired Michael Gore's lyrics to this song from the movie Fame. The first verse is "I sing the body electric, I celebrate the me yet to come, I toast to my own reunion, when I become one with the sun and I'll look back on Venus, I'll look back on Mars, and I'll burn with the fire of ten million stars. And in time and in time we will all be stars." No need for time to pass, I'd argue. We're already all stars.
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This paragraph comes at the end of Marianne Williamson's book Return to Love.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone."
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone."
The idea that "we were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us" is an ancient idea found in Gnosticism and other religions, where it is believed that we are all divine sparks with a portion of the fire of God burning within us. The 12th century Benedictine nun Hildegard of Bingen also believed this. She wrote: “All living creatures are sparks from the radiation of God’s brilliance, emerging from God like the rays of the sun" and "Each soul a spark awakened from the great living fire." |
Though it was technically President Joseph R. Biden's day to shine, it was Amanda Gorman who was the brightest star on the stage of his inauguration.
Just 22 years old, and she was radiant that day. She embodied Williamson's words: brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous. She was lit from within with her wyrd. |
If you’re interested in a more in-depth study of how to bring your wyrd and your genius into more congruence in your vocational life, consider my course Deep Vocation: Restoring Your Soul’s Purpose, Power, and Pleasure. Click here to learn more.