Alchemy of the Earth: A Stable Partnership

Query from a friend:

Do you think humans and horses first teamed up to survive their mutual predator: the Terror Bird?

Reply:

It is, I think, most likely that the human desire to control and utilize horse abilities was greater than the evolutionary pressure of co-survival with Terror Birds. Surprisingly (or perhaps not), modern archeology claims it is unlikely domesticated horses and Terror Birds coexisted. Still, people have loved horses for millennia.

It is entirely possible — mounts and vehicles are both symbolic and highly functional, varying widely in attributes and abilities. Some of the earliest and oldest artworks (i.e., cave paintings) were of animals, especially horses. Animals, naturally, are revered for their qualities. In the world’s oldest spiritual tradition, entire temples are dedicated to the easy-going, fiercely loyal mount of Lord Shiva, Nandi the bull; and the warrior goddess Durga who rides a lion; Lakshmi, goddess of fortune, rides an owl; Kartikeya, the war god, rides a peacock. Indra, king of the heavens, rides into battle on an elephant with thirty-three heads; Indra also, in earlier times, rode a seven headed horse named Uchchaihshravas (Ooch-chai-shra-vas) meaning “one with exalted glory.” (I digress…)

Unsurprisingly, there are many, many twin horse myths (Greek, Roman, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Turkic, Chinese, Navajo, and so on) all relating themes of duality, balance, healing, fertility, guidance, protection, etc. In one version of a proto-Indo-European story, the Sun falls in love with a spirit of nature who takes the form of a mare and flees to earth, where the Sun follows her in the form of a horse (classic), and their union(!) is associated with the dawn and dusk, further highlighting themes of renewal and continuity. 

The word “vehicle” (meaning “that which carries”) works to convey both the balance and dynamic between predator and prey, work and play, theory and practice — an important step(pe) in a mount(ing) decision, a sure-fire method of crossing over terrain. Horses, as I understand it, are highly emotional beings, like humans, which makes a likely and enduring partnership for journeys so intense as survival, war, and adventure (necessity, business, and enjoyment). One cannot become a nomad or traveler without a proper vehicle. A human body works as such — for the biped, two legs may be enough to cross a country; for the warrior, a chariot of horses might be preferred; for the soul, a sufficient body. 

A (de)tour into nonsense can be a method for making sense. What problem am I solving? Horses. Survival. And more? Follow closely: If I plant a seed in my dream, in reality, what did it create? Nothing. No-thing is created, yet I clearly experience planting the seed. Unmanifest becomes manifest becomes unmanifest. Every seed, dream or not, has a certain reality. Discernment is essential at this stage of the alchemical process. Two things can be true at once. Consistency is secondary, truth comes first. One must be able to recognize the Sameness in all things and at the same time to discern the difference between truth and reality. It is inconceivable and sublime, without conclusion, invisible and immutable, pattern within pattern. 

Sometimes it is enough to see clearly what is right in front of you. Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and sleep. Sometimes you get on the horse and go. Sometimes it is an eternity before another horse comes along. 

Nature loves courage because to her it is the same as commitment. Working on yourself is like this. Every act of tenderness, patience. and gentle attention matters. In truth, progress in the realm of your spirit or soul is never lost nor subject to failure of any kind. Just one single percent of progress bears permanent results — one cycle or duration — and tomorrow you will begin at two percent, and continuously build, lifetime after lifetime, until mahasamadhi (the great union); meanwhile, any material or worldly activity offers no profit unless one hundred percent is achieved. If, for example, you are hungry, laboring for money, or seeking after pleasure, it is attained only in eating a meal, or being paid, or being pleased, not in the desire or quest for food, wealth, or satisfaction. But work on yourself can never be diminished; no small victory is without reward. All is grist for the mill in the temple of the universe. In spirit, all it takes is to simply begin again. 

What attracts me to life is essentially life liberating life via methods or vehicles like becoming-awake, becoming-nomad, becoming-cosmic, becoming-woman, becoming-animal, etc. (each one is a crowd). Balance, cooperation, and mobility play dynamic roles, perhaps as a loyal mount, a steadfast companion, or an inner resolve to walk a path alone — in truth, the journey transforms both the traveler and the terrain into something new and remarkable. 

As humanity’s ally, the horse may have afforded us a pivotal shift from localized, sedentary survival to expansive evolution and ambitious migration, bridging gaps between matter and soul, body and mind. Companionship may have originated in utility — fleeing predators, carrying loads — as well as in emotional needs for connection and guidance. However, it is also something much deeper: a mutual interdependence that mirrors the connection between the body and spirit, the one and the two, this and that. A horse is not merely a vehicle but a living, breathing reflection of its rider, responding to both the subtleties and intensities of touch, tone, and intentionality. In this intimate sense, a horse is a form of beloved, an emotional guide and physical aid.

A line of flight cuts across the whole struggle of survival — in the same aforementioned intimate sense, there is no fleeing the terror of The Birds without the human flight toward hippophilia. Relationships speaks to universal truths about growth and transformation. The rider must be attuned to their vehicle to accomplish the journey, i.e., knowing when to press forward, when to rest, and when to part ways with what no longer serves. A horse, after all, is like any method or vehicle, which can only do so much for so long, and we learn to lighten the load as we go, leaving behind all the unnecessary, unimportant, or uninteresting parts. (Don’t worry, they come back, though perhaps not for a time. Sometimes it may be minutes or days, sometimes it can be thousands or even millions of lifetimes.) In this beautiful chaos, all is grist for the mill. In my view, becoming-nomad is not just a physical act but a philosophical art of moving through life unburdened, unharnessed, and open to the possibility of anything and everything precisely as it is. 

In short, yes and no; what is produced is always a cosmic egg, an alchemy of the earth, a complete mess.