SharedBliss: Interview with Priestess & Seeker Aurora Collins

A recent pet portrait by Marcy:
Trixie as the Goddess Lakshmi

Listening to: It always amazes me how much this sounds like the music native to Tibet -- a culture completely isolated from the rest of the world. To me, it seems like evidence for the whole collective unconscious idea.

Bliss: Today is my last day in my 30's. There were times when I was younger that I felt so sad, so immersed in darkness that I did not know if I would make it to 34 (I am/was not being dramatic; it just felt that way)...and so I am thankful for the beautiful life I have. Tomorrow, it feels like I cross some sort of line, though I'm not sure what that means yet. So I am spending some time thinking about what it is I want out of my 40's. More tomorrow!

When it comes to spiritual exploration, I -- like many of you -- have been there and back again, as Bilbo Baggins would say. We have left home, crossed every kind of landscape, encountered danger in the shape and guise of dragons and trolls, fought hard, and returned home different than when we left.

As it should be. Whatever sort of spiritual life we have now, we are the richer for our struggle. I would not want it any other way.

My foray into pagan and Celtic and wiccan thought have added depth to where I currently reside. My spiritual life is not some cheap buffet but a banquet comprised of all the best cooking!

I have learned to notice and love each and every season, not just the ones that are "fun" or "easy." I have learned to count my days by the waxing and waning of the moon. I am constantly learning more about the night sky. I have a deep and forever love now of all mythology and its interconnectedness.

I see Quan Yin and earth goddesses and Mary not as some line of succession where one cruelly replaced the next but as one and the same -- manifestations of the eternal idea of creation and love, each with her own place, each calling to different people at different times, each essential.

About two years ago, I came across the writings of Jhenah Telynoru. She is a Priestess of Avalon and uses the stories of the British Isles as beautiful metaphorical pathways to our higher selves:

The Allegory of Avalon is profound in its simplicity; the path to reaching her shores is well marked. We are called to cross the lake -- to embark upon the journey through the unconscious -- the water realm of memory and emotion. From here we must part the mists -- rending the veil of illusion that obscures our clarity of sight. This artifice is the greatest barrier keeping us from obtaining our true goal -- reaching the Island of Avalon. The Holy Isle represents the truth of our sacred nature -- the paradisaical existence of the actualized Self. (Avalon Within)

We are all capable of crossing these waters and coming to Paradise. And there are many kinds of boats in which the crossing may occur -- or perhaps, you will choose to swim...or walk.

Magic. Prayer. Intention. Circle. Ceremony. Mass.

In the end it all has the same purpose: to raise our own energy to the highest, most divine vibrational level possible so that we affect all those around us through love and creativity.

Today, I am excited to offer this interview with Aurora Collins, priestess, fellow seeker, and energy raiser.

Describe the PrimaryBliss of your life. How did you come to know that this was your PrimaryBliss?

Being in tangible touch with Mother Earth has always brought me joy, peace, and the greatest feeling of at-one-ment. As a child, I spent all my available time in the woods, or walking across the fields near my home. It is here that I feel at home, and at night, I would spend hours stargazing and feeling a part of something much greater, much more profound, not religious but very full of spiritual fulfillment. Nothing else ever did that for me.

What types of choices and sacrifices did you make to be able to craft this bliss-filled life?

I found myself seeking through one religious system after another to find the place that felt “right” to me. I studied Mormonism, unity metaphysical Christianity, religious science, spiritualism, and read five different versions of the Bible. Then I fond Sybil Leek’s Diary of a Witch and I felt that she was living and teaching what I felt and knew inside myself. I made contact with her, and that led to learning from her, as well as studies with several others on a similar path. I founded two covens in the 80’s and 90’s and then was sidetracked to work with a Native American teacher and attended ceremonies that changed my life. It also brought me to the awareness that the Native traditions and the Old Celtic path were not different but actually very similar. My friends and associates in the “witch” world were not sympathetic and were incensed that I would go “native.” It actually gave me a more complete picture of how people so in tune with nature could create a magical life in a real day to day existence. Great sacrifice, great strength, and wonderful magic took place every day for them. And I wanted to share this and live in such a way myself. It gave me new direction and goals for my work. And great satisfaction.

How does your PrimaryBliss radiate out into the rest of your life?

I found that when I was in that bliss/atonement state that anything I needed or wanted would manifest quite effortlessly. When I was not in that state, roadblocks would appear out of nowhere...hence I learned that how I created my life was in my hands, so to speak.

What are some other activities that also give you this sense of bliss? Things that make you lose track of time?

Writing, being in circles or ceremony, being in a healing sweat lodge, meditation, standing in the wind, feeling the oneness of the elements, walking in the rain...it is almost sensual, this awareness of the elemental side of nature. And enjoying my animals.

What is your daily or weekly spiritual practice?

Meditation, candle magic for healing, etc. giving thanks for all the wonders of nature.

What music is your bliss?

Enya, Celtic music, drumming, native flutes.

Name books or authors/poets or people who are your bliss, who influence your bliss.

Ly de Angeles, Sybil Leek, Lynn Andrews, the Mists of Avalon series.

What advice would you give to someone who feels they have not yet discovered their PrimaryBliss?

Follow your heart. Your instinctive self knows what it needs. Meditate in nature regularly. The universe will show you the way if you are aware and watch for the signs.

Do you have a favorite quote you would like to share?

Magic is alive, the goddess is alive, magic is afoot, the goddess is alive.

--Buffy St. Marie

I love Aurora's emphasis on being aware. Holding your attention open to all the messages that are trying to get through, which can be difficult in our noisy times, but she gives us a clear piece of advice about how to do it -- get our butts outside!

Before I started exploring all of this, I hated the wind. Hated it! As if it intended anything toward me. But after a lot of reading and thinking and opening of my own eyes, I now have come to love the wind -- to see it as a harbinger of change. Now when it's really windy and I feel myself getting annoyed, I know to ask it to "blow my stink off."

In honor of Aurora, perhaps we could all think about changing our own mindsets about some aspect of Mother Nature. What about it?