Hanging with the Harpies

written: July 5th

Ever since the Harpies have shown up in my life, I have been rather curious as to their purpose in choosing me. I certainly did not go looking for them. And they had to work to get me to look past the most common (“modern” – they stress) understanding of them – as vengeful, wrathful, and very dangerous beings. While they do not deny that aspect of themselves, they stress that their original roots are as storm deities/spirits. But once we arrived at this point of understanding and mutual respect, they have quieted down and I am left sitting here, twiddling my thumbs, wondering where we go from here. I have called on them for protection and justice, and they are more than happy to come to my aid. And I have made offerings to them during various storms, but other than that, they have just been perched here, watching.

But tonight, they perked up. I guess the fact that I have cut the Thorny Perch (a branch from a Black Locust tree) for them, and I have made the War Water, as they requested – they realize I am quite willing to work with them now.

So I was soaking in the bath (using a sample of “Fearless” bath salts from SageGoddess) because my hips and knees are just solid, aching pain centers, and I started bottoming out mentally. The whole woe-is-me, my-life-sucks type of mentality. And I was really starting to wallow down deeper and deeper into it – the running loop of how I am broken and crazy and how damaged this makes me.

And that is when I heard the laughter. Talk about completely jarring. ::laughs:: Which was their intent. They flocked around me and just grinned at me, so completely amused. And then began the peppering of questions. Why was I depressed? What was making me depressed? Why? How could I fix the stimuli that is triggering the depressed thoughts? So why not get off my ass and fix that? Am I honestly depressed? Or am I just wanting to be? ::laughs:: Damn, do they know how to cut to the heart of the matter.

Needless to say, I did not stay and continue wallowing. ::laughs:: Damn Harpies and their logic. Though to be honest, it did snap me out of the self-loathing cycle there. And once I realized that I had full control of this depressive moment and I could choose to continue wallowing or I could let all that bullshit go – I chose to let it go. Not 100% my choice. ::laughs:: I’m sure if I had chosen to continue wallowing, they would have continued “harping”. But it was nice to get that boot up my ass, to stop willingly travel down this road. I am not saying that I can fully control every single one of my depressive episodes, but maybe they are not as prolific nor as strong as I originally believed.

So what are Harpies good for? Surprisingly enough, beyond being the harbingers of storms and the bringers of justice, they are amazingly gifted at busting up depressive moods.

So yes, I work with the Harpies. Yes they can be quite scary and intimidating. But they are awe-inspiring in their fierceness. And I have the very distinct feeling that once you have earned their loyalty and respect, it is an eternal thing.