Stone Masonry, Friends, and the Male and Female Mysteries

by Robert Wilkinson

It seems that reconnecting with old friends and acquaintances has recently been in the air, as has the need for some form of regeneration or renewal. Many have been cleaning out the old while embracing the new, or finishing up some relationships and renewing others. Those who go deeper are seeing how the past affects the present in new ways.

Today's post is personal, and speaks of my experience with the things I've been writing about that many recent commenters have been affirming is happening in their own lives. As many of you have noticed, I haven't had much time to answer comments (or even emails) lately. If you've wondered where I've been, well, I've been building a stone wall that's a true piece of art.

A 30+ year friend and Spiritual Brother decided he wanted to see me, have Thanksgiving, and hang out for awhile. He and I and another Brother slung a lot of mud, as they say, almost 30 years ago in Austin Texas. We built a few walls together in various combinations before we each went on to our respective futures.

They built many more brick and rock masterpieces in various cities and towns over the years, separately and together. The Friend who came down now owns the biggest solar store in Pennsylvania, while the other one still creates masonic masterpieces of art. I wound up at the corner of Hell's Kitchen and 42nd St. in Nuevo Yorko, as well as questing on tops of mountains doing my usual metaphysical thing, embracing the next chapter in my destiny before moving into temping, typing, script consulting, and television production and direction a few years later.

Anyway, I've wanted to build a rock wall for a while, both for privacy, aesthetics, and a wind break for my gardens. I started it a while ago, but didn't get very far due to a number of factors, most of which were entirely out of my control. So for a few months I've been staring at a partial rock wall with about 4 to 5 tons of rocks strewn around the yard and a pallet of concrete sitting under a tarp waiting for enough time to pick it back up again.

When my Friend realized the opportunity for us to do a piece of rock art together again, he enthusiastically embraced the possibility. He and I used our time together to celebrate each other's company and camaraderie by doing that wall together. It may or may not be the last such thing we do together, but the past week has been a time of deep togetherness, relaxed friendship, and extraordinary productivity, two men getting together to do a project that was immensely satisfying and refreshing for both of us.

Would either of us do full time masonry again as a profession? No, since each of us are doing a different profession we are good at and love to do that serve a useful public good and we're doing well doing those things. Sometimes we get to do things for fun rather than think it is supposed to lead us into different (or past) areas of experience.

But it was a celestial blast to do it again! I found myself in my old groove, holding my own relative to how much stone had to be laid before the rain and snow came yesterday. I hadn't lost the skill or the love of constructing a piece of rock art, and now I behold a masterpiece of cooperative skills and precision construction that will live as an object of beauty long after I'm gone (barring some Plutonic event!)

Now for the metaphysics. It turned out that my Friend has studied "Iron John," the book by Robert Bly on an ancient tale about men and the mystery of becoming a true Man. Since I was responsible for getting Bly's teachings to an international audience in 1989-92, I knew the Iron John myth very well, and have incorporated some of its precepts in my work with men and women trying to understand why each gender is the way it is, and what key mythological lessons each gender is learning, separately and together. Of course, there are other old tales that are invaluable in understanding the Male and Female Mysteries, but we have to get beyond the modern sanitized versions.

My Friend and I spent quite a few hours discussing many things related to the mythology of male-ness and female-ness. That he had read Iron John gave us a common language where much could be said without needing explanation. This enabled us to share much that brought our relationship into a dynamic present.

While I don't subscribe to any one philosophy (or mythology!) I believe that the more we can understand the symbolic life and tests each must master throughout the Ages, the more we will find compassion for each other as well as a common language with which to communicate. Studying the Male and Female Mysteries as revealed in old tales (and Nature processes) has enriched my life immensely, and given me symbols and ideas that I may communicate more effectively with my clients, my friends, and my world.

Many old tales are subject to misinterpretation, since we don't value or train genuine oracles and divines in our present left brain driven global society. But we can all know our heart's response to timeless teachings, grounded in Natural processes and our human heritage. The lessons of old tales are both personal and impersonal. That's why our responses to such timeless lessons are so emotionally charged. They are as embedded in us as our DNA, and relate us to the Archetypal Man and Archetypal Woman.

The challenge of becoming our Archetypal Self is daunting, but well worth the effort. According to Karmic Law, no Spiritual effort on our part is without a positive result. Over time, we will see ourselves becoming more and more the Spiritual qualities we admire and are willing to live.

By opening to the transpersonal issues and understanding a) the challenges of growth from the lesser to the greater, b) tools of transcendence, and c) triumphs of bringing Spirit into form that all men and women have gone through for countless centuries, we become the living manifestation of one quality of the Aquarian Age: That we are all truly Friends within One Life, Love, and Humanity. When men and women begin to understand the Mysteries of each and both, we will end war forever.

From a Friend to my Friends, Aum and Blessings.

© Copyright 2009 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Valerie]

Great article Robert, I love it when you go off on a spiritual tangent... Iron John sounds like my next read. Perhaps by building the rock wall, you needed to reconnect to the earth element, as well as your old friendship. Afterall, that's how we got things done in olden days, worked together with our backs and hands to build something greater, like a wall, a barn, a ship.

I myself like to dig in the dirt, move rocks, etc. from time to time, and watch nature as well. I get this fix when I go camping every year, building the fire circle, for example.

I saw a salamander (kind of rare around here) the other day before it got cold again, that to me was a message from earth! Great article ! :)

[chickie]

Your Highness,

What a timely story to fall on my tired eyes! You and Santa Lucia have given me a "fuel injected" broom!

[Kirstei]

I love to read anything with truth and insight but is there a particular spiritual path here that I am unaware of

I only ask due to some saying Your Highness...

Im genuinely seek to understand if there is some order here that is not immediately apparent.

Kind Regards

Namaste

to me it means divinity in all we all are seekers

Kirstein

[Sue Moon]

Ah, timeless friends sharing space, food for our souls. Thanks for plugging me back in to all the great journeyman I have in my life, whether I see them often or many years apart, we pick up instantly where we left off..........kindred spirits reminding us of our oneness.
Thanks so much for this Robert, I really needed it this morning to help in my daily spiritual assignment! Jai Bhagwan my friend and mentor!

[Robert]

Hi Valerie - Well, while I don't subscribe to everything Bly wrote about, his work still was pioneering in that he cracked the door open to men and women exploring their own and each other's mysteries. Such courage in opening something that volatile must be applauded!

As for the "earth element" as you put it, one great thing I got to remember and experience again first hand was that Nature's laws MUST be obeyed. The laws of chemistry and physics require that in building stone walls certain natural limits must be observed, and there is no give from those natural laws. We conform, or else suffer the consequences, like having rocks tumble from their cement bed as a result of not giving them enough time to set up before putting other mud and rocks on top of them! Our somewhat abstract and theoretical reality must submit to Nature's laws. And salamanders were said to be symbolic of Fire nature spirits, so that's a great totem to present itself!

Hi chickie - Glad this personal experience can inspire you. Also glad you got some movement so that you can renew your intention re: NO, pools and Divine Mother.

Hi Kirstei - There are many paths we are not aware of, but in this pizzaria we get to share as much as we know so that we can all learn from one another. Only chickie calls me that for her own reasons (probably her Leo saluting my Leo rising or something....) As the proprietor of this roadhouse, I try to maintain that the only order here is those who come here and comment come as Friends, to share and learn in an atmosphere of respect, affection, and good will. We are more aware, knowledgeable, skillful, and strong together than we are separately.

Hi Sue Moon - Work hard, play hard, laugh hard and be softly joyous was the experience of my time with my Friend! You also hit on something very important regarding true friendships. My best friends and I can pick up at any point in time, regardless of how long it's been. We celebrate the chance to catch up, and share who we are and our experiences since last we met. And of course you're most welcome. Joyous unions and reunions are one of life's true blessings!

[Valerie]

Thanks for your response... yes, I thought salamander was a very interesting totem, he is new to my life, and when I read up about him found that his might be the medicine I need. I even did a nice little graphic of a salamander.

I'm sure your rock wall is a very beautiful thing. Namaste! :)

[caliban]

Robert, are there pictures of your stone art on the web anywhere?

I am presently working with a wood art guy (he'd never call himself an artist, but he is) on ye old fragment of a farm of mine. He can reuse materials and turn them into wonderful fully functional structures that blend in with the rest of the ye old. I have nothing but the deepest respect for the craftsmenship of the artists who do this work.

Way to put the early December energy you spoke of to work. Alot of folks in these parts are not sleeping much. Physical labor does wonders.

[WarriorLady]

I love stories like these. Love when someone pops up out of nowhere, willing to team up and work on an artistic project. In my case, a friend invited me to lunch today, out of the blue. I walk dogs, have owned them forever, am currently working on a dog-related business, and she just got a puppy. Guess who's working together on the puppy-raising project?

:)

Saturn in Libra rocks!

[Robert]

Hi all - Am trying to figure out how to post a picture or three of the wall (especially now that the random whatever has been cleaned up!) Construction sites do get messy, whether stone walls or personality deconstruction and reconstruction. And there's some virtue in cleaning up as much as we can as we go along, as well as realizing as long as construction is happening, there's always more to clean up at the end of the job.

I am looking forward to other projects with other people in the future. That is probably one benchmark for those of us willing to figure out how to address some need as well as feeling like we're living and doing with meaning and purpose. Projects are of the now, and create things for the future. There is much to be done to bridge the ending of the old and the beginning of the new.

[Robert]

Hi "Stone Masonry" - You cannot continue to come here and post self promotional links to your products or you will be banned rather than simply depublished. If you want to post a relevant comment, fine. Any commercial links must be cleared with me first. I do not allow personal commercial promotions on this site unless you're a part of the community.