Finding Inner Beauty and the Tuatha de Danaan

 

 

 

 

 

This is that Lady Beauty, in whose praise
Thy voice and hand shake still, –long known to thee
By flying hair and fluttering hem, –the beat
Following her daily of thy heart and feet,
How passionately and irretrievably,
In what fond flight, how many ways and days!

 

From – Soul’s Beauty – Dante Gabriel Rossetti

 

 

To live the one wild and precious life that you have been given,you need to be able to connect to beauty.  This beauty is not about glamour.  It is not about the cult of celebrity.  It is about the connection to your life force, the Universal Life force that creates all things from no thing, motivated by Love.  There is nothing wrong with being physically beautiful, but there are many people who are seen to be physically beautiful, who feel most unworthy.

 

As a storyteller, I love the stories of Irish mythology.  I especially love the stories about the Tuatha de Danaan.  This translates as “The Children of the Goddess Danu.”  She is the one who is the gift giver.  She gives all her gifts without condition to all her children.  The Tuatha de Danaan are also known as the fairy people and the Shining Ones.  They have, in the words of an old English folk song, “Been much reduced.”  Once they were tall and beautiful. Now they are small and have been driven underground.

 

Once these beautiful people were tall and shining.  They radiated the light of the Source from where they expressed their fullness and their beauty.  They are now living underground awaiting a time when Ireland needs their energy.  Ireland, in this sense, is not a physical place but the heart (4th chakra).  This is not some story of old.  It is a living story about you, what you and I do with the beauty of who you are and why we are.  The Tuatha de Danaan are not a people of olden times.  They are a metaphor for living the wild and precious life.  They are you as potential when you are willing to stop defining yourself as something outside of yourself.

 

A large part of your plan in living  a wild and precious life is to find an inner beauty that transforms . Then it will allow entry into that other room beyond what we call in Ireland “a thin place.” It will allow you to banquet in the moments that are always available to you.  It is the only time you ever have. This is the time of now. It will allow you to feel your essence and what is essential to life. You will recognise your essential self in the moment-to-moment experience of inner beauty.  Inner beauty is not some dream.  It is essence.  It is the essence of who you are.  Your work, if you would commit to it, is the revelation of that experience moving through you from the timeless beauty of Love into the one wild and precious life that you are here to live and to share.

 

This is provided you know how to look. Let me share with you seven reflections that may assist you in getting in touch with that inner beauty that you always are.

 

1. Inner Beauty means you acknowledge you are not who you think you are

Inner beauty is your essence. It does not come for your persona or your “thinking about.” Your personality is like the light of the moon. This light of the moon is beautiful. But the source of the moonlight is from the sun. The moon is merely a reflection of the true light. The light of your being is powerful beyond any “thinking about.” Start “to be” more and “do less.” The hard part is that this requires trust. Trust more and learn from your “inner telling sense.” This means trusting the sense of the body.

 

2. Inner beauty means you know.

We focus our energies outward. We look for satisfaction instead of joy. (4th chakra experience). We accept belief but do not venture beyond belief. This inner beauty that is your essence goes beyond any belief system. This inner beauty is your birthright. It is your psychological and spiritual home place. It is your place of belonging. You will not find this “home place” in the outer world. This outer world is only a reflection of the distance we have come from our inner beauty. Spend ten minutes each day in focused silence. This can be when you are walking, sitting, eating or at any time that best suits you.  Take up a daily meditation or prayer practice.  Take up one of the many practices of yoga or similar physical routine.  Take up spiritual gardening if that suits you.

 

3. Inner beauty means you are forever enough.

In this 21st Century of noise and haste you are focused on the dynamic of “never enough.” Our society’s main focus is ensuring that you never get to “feel enough.” If you get to feel enough it might then mean the end of economics.

 

 

You get little time to rest in your soul. This is the place of real recreation. This is the place where every day is a holy day. These words “holy day” are the original meaning of the word “holiday.” You do not have to leave home for exotic or non-exotic experiences.

 

You can travel the world of inner beauty without ever going anywhere other than your heart. You can go on holiday to your “home place” at anytime. Just take a moment. Sit still and breathe in and out slowly. Become the fine being you always are and learn to know you will always be fine. Commit to knowing life and give up the limitation of belief.

4. Allow your inner beauty to flow.

As a writer, I authorise this free flow of life’s energy moving through this body. When I write I am the experience of allowing writing to happen. I am not intent on going anywhere. When I write there is no sense of wanting. There is only surrender to flow. I sit before this fireside having a chat with my soul. Energy moves freely through “little me” when I let go and let be. This is inner beauty. This is free expression of the soul. Soul expresses through talent. Discover what it is you love, and then, as my beloved poet Rumi advises,

 

“Risk all for love.”

5. Inner beauty is not defined in words but felt in the body.

Inner beauty is not definable or a debatable point. It does not belong to “you” or to “little me.” It is not “my” beauty. I do not own it. One can make oneself look physically beautiful and this is a delight. Yet all outer beauty fades with time. Inner beauty develops with age and is timeless. It develops and is embraced with wisdom and understanding. Beauty proceeds from the inside out. It means honouring the inner beauty of this body. The delight of inner beauty is erotic and not just cerebral. For one moment each day lose your head and fall into the heart.

6. Inner beauty is the expression of love.

Inner beauty is the expression of love and compassion. (4th chakra experience).  It begins with awareness of each moment just as it is. This allows one to recognise the destructive power of judgement. (2nd chakra experience).  Each moment is beautiful. Inner beauty is the experience of presence without this experience needing to be other. We spend much of our time dividing our experience. In this way we filter out any experience of joy. We are like a battery that is afraid of being struck by lightening. We are made for joy but within our social consciousness the energy charge of joy would literally blow our minds. The experience of unconditional beauty would leave us feeling burnt out. Inner beauty requires you to be vulnerable. Take a moment this week to allow your feelings to be feelings without judgement.

7. Inner beauty is nothing special

.Inner beauty is the experience of no thing. It means being prepared to be empty in order that the Beloved can pour unconditional love into this empty space. You cannot grasp inner beauty. You have, metaphorically speaking, to keep the window open. This is the window of your heart. All you are asked to do is be attentive. Allow the free flow of grace to enter. When the moment comes you will know. You will know that you are the beauty you seek. When you know this you have returned home. You have returned to what is called in Ireland “the home place.” This is a place of reverence and belonging. This is your special place.

Be your longing. Be beautiful. Look inward and find the source of beauty that you truly are. This will give you a glimpse of the timeless wonder you are. You will disappear. You will go into a beautiful experience beyond belief. This will be enough.

 

 

 

 

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