What Will Be – Curse of Premonition

March 19, 2012 at 5:38 am (Garden)
Tags: all, Cassandra Complex, coincidence, curse, deja vu, divine will, garden of the witch, Knowing, premonition, prophet, seer, serendipity, The Witch, willow, wish, wys

There have been too many dreams and happenstances to count. Serendipity becomes anxiety. Coincidence has long faded.

As a child, little occasions arrived on the coat tails of deja vu and these incidents triggered no great wonder or epiphany, only playful expectation. It was part of existence. Knowing “what will be” was a tool for planning surprise or greeting opportunity. However, with age, acting on premonition becomes less important. Social obligations, conformity, and tribal values begin to take precedent. Someone who “knows” quickly learns discretion.

The appreciation and respect of people is a tribal necessity — it’s part of bonding. Expressing one’s unique talents, like knowing what will be, requires just as much practice as learning to draw or play guitar. The visionary needs validation and encouragement. Yet, premonitions without appreciation can cause self doubt; the same as an artist’s doubt. The tribe recognizes the talent and offers patience to the young student, or rejects it. The glimpses and intuitions of premonition can be as brash and unnerving as listening to someone learn clarinet. And like a musician, the seer becomes reluctant to expose their own faults and mistakes. Isolation sets in.

Loneliness and the curse of premonition is common among practitioners. Who can empathize? Who shares this experience? Cassandra is one. The experiences of this seer have found their way into our lore and a psychological complex is named for her — the Cassandra Complex. There is reference to Cassandra’s plight below. Discovering familiarity in this characteristic can help ease the apprehension of one who sees and intuits, and then suffers the dishonor of prophecy. Many have shared this angst.

…

Something to learn or something to teach

A good mantra which might have saved Cassandra some woe — The teacher will teach when the student is ready. Therefore, if the students are not ready, the teacher has something to learn. This perspective can offer relief from the responsibility to impress others with their imminent fate, or convince another that premonition is an actual resource. Some individuals are not at a stage in their journey where premonition and intuition play a big role. Material existence is a large responsibility and people can become overwhelmed in the art of living. Many people miss the subtleties that accompany premonition. Knowing what is premonition is a skill, and knowing is honed with practice. Experiencing denial can significantly distract the seer, especially within a culture that denies the ability.

Knowing can be like following a ribbon, or clasping a strand of web on a breeze. Knowing comes on its own schedule. One must disrobe from their own will and leap, figuratively, on faith. A determination that the seer has something to learn, or something to teach, provides a sturdy platform to approach the experience: It’s all about learning.

Expectations, intentions, and notions do not spring from the experienced seer. Premonition is not conjured to meet an agenda. The seer becomes host to premonition and in disregard of their own will. The seer witnesses and interprets Divine will, often unannounced and unwelcome. The seer is led to ‘under stand’, and the seer, in the act of teaching, also becomes the student of the Divine.

…

No curse shall I set upon your path

It is vanity to utter curses without a clear doorway to the resulting experience. The doorway can close — when it should — and leave ill will before the footsteps of the instigator. Outcomes are very peculiar. If a curse is granted, what is being taught to the person who makes the curse? What other reason is there for the singular power in the universe to allow such deeds. For an example anyone can try: There’s a tree of long ancestry called willow. Enjoy the shade and the song birds perched in the flowing boughs, but if you muse or ponder beneath its leaves… be careful what you wish for. Notions under a willow, with its roots spread outward and limbs stretching to the sky, can evoke joy, or disappointment, or any range of possibilities. Is it the willow? Or is it the Divine with an open conduit during your meditation? Clarity in one’s own intentions are advised before making pleas of the Divine. Curse, and receive in kind. A selfish intention inevitably humbles the inexperienced seer.

“Loosen the blinders slowly from the horse,
lest the beast run amok and upset the cart.” The Witch

When is premonition a curse? When glimpses are unfulfilled like a message written and never sent. When understanding falls like beads from a broken string. The walk in knowing is precarious. Peace of mind is elusive, anxiety can leave the seer in constant chant and prayer, searching for objectivity and pleading for Divine oversight. The ‘wys’ or seer becomes reclusive, living humbly and without desire to affect or manipulate. To be disbelieved, ridiculed, and persecuted can be some of the woes of premonition. Society fears what they don’t understand. Often, the seer has just as little insight to the meaning of premonitions, yet is cursed to recognize what others do not. It’s okay. You have a gift to see the extraordinary. Go slow. The Divine won’t  charge you with a task unless you are ready for that task.

Premonitions might blossom for no apparent reason. Deja vu can seem unrelated to your world. Dreams and visions might appear confusing and unwelcome. The gravity of knowing can be intimidating. A desire surfaces: to have the gift of knowing taken away — to wake and know nothing, to walk in peace as a child, to live in harmony without responsibility. Go slowly, and recognize that you are priviledged to know, and the Divine grants only what you are strong enough to carry. There are others who will help to convey the message of premonition, just as you will speak when others cannot. Together, we have a circle of knowing and each will do their part.

Déjà vu (literally “already seen”) is the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the prior encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined. The term was coined by a French psychic researcher, Émile Boirac (1851–1917) in his book L’Avenir des sciences psychiques (“The Future of Psychic Sciences”) – wikipedia

The Cassandra metaphor (variously labelled the Cassandra ‘syndrome’, ‘complex’, ‘phenomenon’, ‘predicament’, ‘dilemma’, or ‘curse’),  applied in situations in which valid warnings or concerns are dismissed or disbelieved. […] From Greek mythology – Cassandra, daughter of Priam, the King of Troy, is desired by Apollo who provides her with the gift of prophecy. When Cassandra refuses Apollo’s advances, he places a curse: no one will believe her warnings. Cassandra, with knowledge of future events, can neither alter nor convince others of her predictions. […]  Layton Schapira: Cassandra complex results from a dysfunctional relationship with the “Apollo archetype”, referring to any individual’s or culture’s pattern bound by, order, reason, intellect, truth and clarity that disavows itself of anything occult or irrational. “The intellectual specialization of this archetype creates emotional distance and can predispose relationships to a lack of emotional reciprocity and consequent dysfunctions.” – wikipedia

Edited Aug. 25, 2015