The Symbology of Shepherds + Kings

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Shepherds + Kings

I just shared with you a very short reflection on this concept that everything speaks if you let it, and offered an invitation for you to listen to concepts, ideas, animals, songs, dreams that are really trying to get your attention, and get you to invite them on this journey, and this soul work, and this adventure going forward. So, besides the two that I named, congruence and squirrels, I did get kind of a tap on my shoulder recently, in some conversations with friends, with my spiritual director, with an energy worker I work with, with a friend that I sometimes do some mutual sharing and card reading with. And the tap on my shoulder came from shepherds and kings. And the feeling that I got from this was a broad invitation to look at the symbology, some of the symbology, around what these two, for lack of a better term, “archetypes” could mean for us on our journey during Advent and the Christmas story. I'm offering this to you, again for you to consider within your own tradition, your own understanding, your own resonance, and alignment, and integrity. I have found it fruitful enough, that I think that I will be trying to kind of name a shepherd and a king in my journaling practice throughout this course, and see if they have something more specific to offer than the broad brushstrokes around this archetypal meaning that I'm getting right now.

But here's what I'm here's what I'm getting so far. Shepherds are human beings that follow and lead. They also nurture and know their flock. They have an understanding of when to fall behind the flock, and follow where the flock needs and wants to go. And when to be in front or alongside of the flock to guide it somewhere. They are there to care for and nourish the flock, and also nourish the environment that the flock enters. There are some places that wouldn't be safe for the flock to go to, or places that need to be protected because the flock, if it was let loose there, would bite everything down to the nub, and not allow the land and the nature there to take root, and to grow, and to recover, and to expand. So, the shepherd is following, sometimes. And it's leading sometimes. And it's accompanying sometimes. And one of its blessings that I think it offers us this time of year and this season, is a gift of discernment as to when to follow, when to accompany, and when to lead–all rooted in nourishment and care.

When I imagine the shepherds coming to Mary, and, Joseph, and Jesus, when I imagine their arrival, and the kind of gift that they bestow, their own light that they bring to this family, and the light they bring to the light of the world, as we call the Cosmic Christ–when I think of that light that they offer, towards the greater light and as a unique expression of light to this family, I think their gift seems to be rooted in nourishment and care and then a discerning ability to know when to lead in order to give someone or something nourishment, when to follow and let the thing that you're nourishing take charge and run free, and when to walk alongside. I am a parent. And I'm a daughter and a sister. And I'm a friend, and I'm a partner–I'm a wife. And in all of these roles, I have experienced times where I'm not clear how to best love the people that I love. I don't know if I should be setting an example, if I should be providing freedom and opportunity, or if I should just be alongside. It isn't always obvious how to love those that we love. I think of the shepherds at this time, and I think, wow, if they had come to me, with their own unique, discerning light of leadership and accompaniment, and following, all rooted in nourishment and care, what they could impart to me what they could impart to all of us lessons about an information about when to fall back, and when to take the helm, and when to hold the hand of! So, that's what's coming up about the meaning and some of the archetype and particular light of shepherds.

Kings came with a different kind of energy altogether. They did not come with a gendered identity. And this is really important because when we're talking about symbols, and stories, especially when we are talking about kin-dom and connection and the family of all things, it's important that we make sure that these symbols, and lessons, and invitations include everyone. So, I think that what kings came to offer me was not so much about whether one has to identify as a man or a woman to be a king. It's more like an embodiment of earthly maturation, leadership, and finely tuned skill over a lineage of work. 'm not necessarily talking about, either, a kingship that comes only because you were born into a certain family. The feeling I got when I felt this tap on my shoulder about kings, was about this idea that wisdom and, again, care for a community and the ability to listen to the community, lead the community stand in front of and in place of the community as a figurehead, and kind of embodiment of very masterful skill, all gets wrapped up into this notion of a king. It's a very outward facing symbol. It's a figurehead. This is the thing that stands for a group of people or a large community. And they typically are associated with earthly power, and influence, and resource. And almost uniformly, we would describe a good, and loving, and caring king as one that serves and creates opportunity for the people that they lead and direct. And almost uniformly, we would say that a distrustful, or painful, or bad king would be an individual who takes the resources of wealth, and power, and uses them only to their own end and creates community on the backs of, or at the expense of the people in their community.

So, the symbol and the meaning around King also comes with some discernment, like shepherd, in that there is a knowing of when to use the resources, and the power, and the influence that comes with the position in the service of those that are in the community. And I imagine that for kings to come and visit this family, to visit Joseph, and Mary, and Jesus, for kings to bring their unique light, to the light of the world, and for kings to show us, the light that we can also embody or learn from, and receive from them would be a kind of blessing around how to stay both empowered and humble–how to realize that you are not loved any more or less than any other being on this planet, that your position, and your privilege, and your power, and your strength are all gifts, here to be used to serve the greater community and kin-dom. And that it can be done with joy, and mastery, and professionalism.

But these kings that came to the manger, they were not so attached to this privilege, and this power, and these resources. They were not divorced from their role of devotion and service to their community. And because of that, they knew when to express their humility, their kinship, and when to bow in service. They came in the story to recognize Jesus as the Christ, but they came to this family, I like to think, with a blessing of: we have institutional power, and resource, and expertise, and influence, and connection, and you are alone, and cold, and young, and right now, right on the edges of society, and probably your own trust, and your own energy, and your own ability to keep going forward. You're probably on the edge of hunger, on the edge of knowing what to do next. Your human experience, together, is probably pretty threadbare. And we are coming to you to bring you gifts that are tangible and helpful. And we are letting you know that we see you, and that we have no problem leaving our thrones and our places of power to come to you, and to give you what we can, and to model servant leadership, which is a huge aspect to Jesus's life. He lived in service to others. So, in receiving this gift of kings for ourselves, in receiving their light, and asking ourselves: How could we embody this light of a king? I think, like the shepherd, we're being given this gift, being given this opportunity to ask ourselves how and when we're able to share our gifts. How and when we're able to recognize our uniqueness, our power, our position, and know that in the kin-dom, we are above or below no one. And that it is a beautiful thing to leave our places of comfort and ease, and go to the people and the places that might need us.

And inwardly, shepherds and kings give us this light and this invitation as we relate to our own experience: How are you tending your own humanity, your own self? If your body is very tired and saying, “Pease Mind, please Taskmaster part of me, please let me slow down.” Are you letting the body lead? And as a shepherd, are you following the body to a place of rest? Are you giving yourself that permission to slow down? If you don't have the ability or privilege to slow down, when you really, really need it are you still able to just hear that that’s a need you have, so that when an opportunity comes up, you can ask someone else to give you the space and time to be able to take the rest that you need?

Are you looking out for yourself the way that a shepherd will look out for their flock? Are you looking for terrain and landscapes that maybe don't serve you to spend a lot of time in? Are you looking for contexts and places that help you grow and stay nourished? Are you able to be a shepherd towards your own self and care?

And the Kings ask us the same kind of internal questions. A king might say: Are you letting yourself know what you know? Are you letting yourself embody your wisdom, your experience, all of the lessons that you've learned? Are you letting yourself be, for lack of a better term, kind of expert or leader in a particular space? And are you also letting yourself not be so attached to that leadership, or that crown, or that label of expertise, such that it impedes you from being able to serve others and lift them up? Are you able to take turns with roles internally, maybe let a part of you that is really, really good at something, take charge. Like, maybe you're really great at planning and maybe it's hard to be spontaneous. And so, maybe the kingly invitation towards yourself would be: Can you let yourself shine as a planner and really embrace that and celebrate that and wear the robe and the cloak of that? But then also bend your knee toward the part of you that needs some spontaneity and let someone else gift you that need?

So, these were unexpected invitations for the journey, and unexpected things to share with you.

I hope that it, like everything so far, just gives you some things to think about. What is the healthy King? What is the healthy Shepherd? What does their light in the world look like? How can we embody that light or let it shine on us and serve us? And how can we embody that light and let it shine out to the world? If a king or a shepherd were coming to you, what gifts would they be bringing you? And would you be willing to receive them the way that the Holy Family received them? Would you be willing to say, “Yes, I will take the light and the gifts you're giving them. Thank you.” Or would we turn them away? Again, no judgment, just something to think about, something to muse on.

If it resonates, let these two figures and these archetypes move with you for the next four weeks. I think they're going to be with me. And if it doesn't resonate, don't worry about it. It's okay. Everything speaks, but maybe not everything speaks to all of us in the same way at the same time. And that's fantastic and beautiful. That means we get to share this journey and different parts of it in different ways. And divide the burden and multiply the blessings.

Okay, next time that you're going to hear from me, it's going to be when we talk about Bear and hibernation and personal transformation. Really looking forward to that. And in the meantime, friends, tune in to your own human experience, into the things around you that may be inviting you. Notice how you're responding to these invitations. Try not to put anything on a moral scale, but just observe when you find yourself experiencing insights or conclusions. Take them into your heart and take them to the Sacred. Talk about them there. Let them do their work on you before you make big proclamations about what it all means. Just let it journey with you, within and around you. Alright, until next week. Bye! (laughs).