The healing circle.
In the circle,
Every soul receives exactly what it needs.
Begin by finding a position of comfort,
Allowing your body to be held by whatever surface is supporting you.
Letting go of any need to hold yourself up.
And gently close your eyes.
And take a long,
Slow breath in through the nose.
Hold it for just a moment at the top.
And release it fully through the mouth.
Letting go of the day.
Letting go of whatever carried you here.
One more time.
Breathe in deeply,
All the way into the belly.
And as you exhale,
Feel your body grow heavier,
Softer,
And more at ease.
Bring your awareness into your heart.
Place one hand over your heart,
If that feels right.
And simply feel the warmth of your hand resting there.
Feel the gentle rise and fall of your chest.
And if you can,
Just for a moment,
Feel gratitude for this heart that beats for you,
Without being asked.
With love and care.
In your mind's eye,
I invite you now to find yourself standing at the edge of a great,
Open meadow.
The sky above is soft and vast,
A gentle light that holds no harsh edges,
Golden and warm,
As if the sun itself is breathing.
Beneath your feet,
The earth is firm and good.
Feel the grass,
Cool and soft,
Right between the toes.
And feel how the earth rises up to meet you,
To hold you,
To say,
You're welcome here.
The air carries a sense of green and earth and something ancient.
Something you recognize without knowing why.
It's the smell of being home.
You've been to walk slowly across the meadow,
No hurry,
No destination in mind,
Only the gentle invitation of the path beneath your feet and the beauty around you.
As you walk,
You notice that the meadow is alive.
Birds moving through the light,
Wildflowers nodding gently in a warm breeze.
And in the distance,
The sound of a small stream singing over smooth stones.
You walk towards the sound,
And as you do,
You begin to feel something else.
A warmth,
A gentle vibration in the air,
A sense of something ancient and wise drawing near.
And then,
Just ahead,
You see it.
A circle formed in the grass,
As if held by the earth itself.
A great,
Sacred circle,
Open and waiting.
And standing within that circle,
And around its edges,
Are horses.
Beautiful,
Powerful,
Still.
They turn their great heads towards you as you approach.
And not one of them moves away,
They welcome you.
They've been waiting.
You step into the circle,
And as you do,
You feel the energy shift.
As though you have stepped through a threshold,
Into a space where time moves differently.
Where the noise of the world cannot reach.
Where only truth remains.
There are four horses in this sacred circle,
And each one holds a different medicine.
Each one has been drawn here for you.
And for every soul in this circle today,
You do not need to choose which horse comes to you.
The horse will choose you.
Trust what you feel.
Trust what you see.
Trust whatever arises,
Even if it surprises you.
The first horse,
The white horse of peace,
From the northern edge of the circle.
This white horse begins to move towards the center,
Towards you.
It steps slowly and deliberate,
Each hoof falls like a heartbeat.
This is the horse of peace,
It carries no urgency,
It knows no rush.
It walked through a thousand storms and emerged,
Always,
Into stillness.
As it draws near,
Feel the energy it brings.
A quieting.
A settling.
As though all the noise inside you,
All the chatter and worry,
And that endless list,
Begins to soften.
The white horse stops before you and lowers its great head.
Breathe long and hard upon your hands,
Your heart.
Allow whatever peace this horse brings you to enter.
Let it land in the places that needs it most.
Perhaps your mind that will not rest.
Perhaps a heart that has been braced for so long.
Perhaps a body that has forgotten what it feels like to be safe.
The white horse has a gift for you.
It may be a feeling,
A word,
An image,
A memory or a knowing.
Simply open your hands in your mind or open your hands in front of you and receive whatever it offers.
And then take a moment to thank the white horse.
In whatever ways feels true to you.
And watch it step gently back,
Holding its peace around you like a cloak.
Then the deep chestnut,
Almost black,
Eyes that are not missing.
Anything steps forward from the east of the circle.
A dark bay.
A color that shimmers.
Powerful and grounded,
It coats the color of ancient earth.
This is the horse of truth.
It will not look away from what is real.
It will not comfort you with what is easy.
But it almost is in an act of love,
The deepest kind.
And it comes with no judgment.
This beautiful horse stands in front of you and holds your gaze.
And in those deep dark eyes,
You may see something reflect back to you.
Something you have known for a while.
Perhaps have not yet allowed yourself fully to face.
There is no need to shrink from it.
This horse is here and it will stand with you in whatever truth is waiting.
You do not face it alone.
Let this horse show you what it needs you to show,
Whatever truth is ready to be seen today.
However large or small,
It's yours and it's time.
Just breathe and know that truth,
When received with an open heart,
Is always a doorway and never a wall.
The dark horse dips its head gently and steps back.
Just put your hand on your heart and say thank you.
And then there is this beautiful golden horse,
This palomino.
As if lit from within with main like sunlight,
Who steps forth from the south.
The golden horse arrives and with it,
It comes warmth,
A radiance you can feel on your skin,
Even in this inner world.
This horse of healing.
It has walked every valley of sorrow.
It knows the territories of pain,
Physical and emotional or ancestral.
And it carries medicine for all of them.
The golden horse moves directly to the place where it feels the hurting.
It does not need you to direct it,
It already knows.
And it plays warmth exactly there.
Feel the heat of it,
Let it soak in wherever you are wounded in your body,
The heart,
The spirit.
Allow the golden horse to rest its medicine there now.
There is nothing you need to do but receive.
Healing does not always ask us to understand it,
Sometimes it only asks us to say yes.
Let any emotion that comes,
Come.
Tears are welcome here.
Release is welcome here.
The golden horse does not flinch from your pain.
It is here precisely because of it.
And as the golden horse gently withdraws its warmth,
Notice what has shifted.
Even the smallest shift is real.
Even the smallest opening is enough.
Just take a moment to give thanks to this beautiful horse.
And from the west,
A gray horse steps forward.
Silver dappled ancient eyes,
It has seen centuries.
Its movement is unhurried and deliberate,
Like a tide coming in.
This is the horse of wisdom.
It carries the knowing of the ages.
The accumulated intelligence of the earth,
The animals,
The ancestors who became four.
When it speaks,
It speaks in a language older than words.
The gray horse stands at your side and in a quiet of its presence,
A question may rise within you.
A question you have been carrying for a long time.
Or perhaps something you did not even know you were seeking an answer to.
Allow the gray horse to respond in whatever way it chooses.
It may offer a word or an image,
A sensation.
A gentle nudge towards something you already know,
But have not yet trusted.
Receive its wisdom with an open mind.
Sometimes wisdom does not arrive as an answer.
Sometimes it arrives as a deeper comfort with the question.
And sometimes it says,
This is not for knowing yet,
But you are on the right path.
And that,
Too,
Is a gift.
The gray horse leans its head briefly against yours.
A gesture of kinship,
Of recognition.
And then steps softly back.
All four horses now stand together in the circle with you.
The gray,
The golden,
The deep,
Dark chestnut,
And the white horse.
And they have given you what they came to give.
They have received from you what you were willing to release.
The exchange is complete and sacred.
Stand in the center of the circle for a moment and feel the combined energy of the herd around you.
Four different medicines,
Four different wisdoms,
All working together.
All in service of the wholeness that is your birthright.
If there is anything final you wish to receive,
Any last whisper from any of these horses,
Allow yourself to open for it.
And when you are ready,
In your own time,
Offer your gratitude to each horse.
In whatever way feels true to you.
A bow,
A word,
A feeling.
A hand extended.
And the horses receive all forms of gratitude equally.
Because they feel what is real in you,
Not where you perform.
The horses begin to soften their stance,
Some dipping their heads,
Some breathing long and slow.
And you feel the circle gently but clearly beginning to release.
And you begin now to walk slowly towards the edge of the meadow.
Carrying with you everything you have received,
Knowing that it does not stay only in this dream world.
It is real.
It travels with you.
The horses watch you go.
They will be here again whenever you return.
This circle does not close.
It only rests,
Waiting for you to step back into it.
Begin to feel your physical body beneath you,
The weight of your limbs,
The rise and fall of your breath.
The surface beneath you holding you with that same quiet faithfulness as the earth in your vision.
Gently begin to deepen your breath,
Filling the lungs fully and allowing the body to waken up slowly,
Kindly,
Without a rush.
Begin some gentle movement in the body,
Perhaps the fingers,
The toes.
A small rotation of the wrist or ankle,
Letting the body know it's time to return.
And when you're ready,
Only when you're ready,
Allow your eyes to open softly.
Taking the light in slowly,
Blinking gently,
Returning to this room,
This moment,
This body.
Bringing all of you back.
Welcome home.
And just take a few moments before you speak or move,
Let what you experience settle into your body like rain settling into the earth.
You don't need to understand it right now,
You don't need to explain it.
Just receive it.
And go gently with yourself today.
Drink water,
Rest if you can.
And be kind with what has been stirred.
The horses are still with you.
The circle is always open.
You need only be still enough to step inside.
Welcome back.
And welcome home.
