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Journey to Dub: The Ladies at the Back of the North Wind |
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Journey to Dub: The Ladies at the Back of the North Wind |
Dub is best regarded as a cloistered monastery. If you wish something in general you must come to them and then you will find that there is little that they will seem to offer you.You will notice that you only see one of the sisters from the back in the picture above, that is all you will ever see or know of them individually. The Monastery is also home to the Black Knights, who since they never lift their visor (on their armor) are just as veiled as their sisters.
When you reach the door of the Monastery you will be given a pamphlet and told that this is all the advice they have for you and if you follow it everything will be fine.
- Always look for the best in each person, situation, and thing.
- Resolutely turn your back on the past, good or bad, and live only in the present and future.
- Forgive everybody without exception, no matter what he may have done, then forgive Yourself whole-heartedly.
- Regard your job as sacred and do your day's work to the very best of your ability (whether you like it or not).
- Take every means to demonstrate a healthy body and harmonious surroundings for yourself.
- Endeavor to make your life of as much service to others as possible, without interfering or fussing.
- Refrain from personal criticism, and neither speak nor listen to gossip.
- Devote at least a quarter of an hour a day to prayer and meditation.
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Dub is a closed community - the pamphlet is all that awaits 90% of the people who journey there - for the 10% who have been vouched safe by a Black Knight or a White Lady it is possible to gain limited admittance. This is one place where reading something on a web site can't help you. Black Knights and White Ladies are real flesh and blood people who have read the pamphlet and chosen to live their life by its teaching. In general they'll need to be well over 60 before they have completed their own training and can add you name to the list of future acolytes.
I was in my early 30s when I studied with a White Lady (she was mid 70s). Since I only have my own experience to judge by I can't guess how the Knights and the Ladies chose whose name to add, though I have a deep seated belief that there is an unspoken dialogue much like I had with my Lady which says "Will you take up the mantel and follow in my footsteps and do the Work someday?" If you say yes then your name gets added. Again I have no idea how others respond to this experience - but I know that while the question was unspoken there was no doubt in my mind or in hers that it had been asked and that I had answered. That this is the pattern seems true to me since she shared once that she had had a similar experience with her own White Lady, when she was in her 50s.
I should say here that the Work in this context is that of guiding and supporting others - there is no glory in this Work, no fame, no fortune and in some ways very little recognition. This is NOT the path of the Guru and it's not the path of ego. One is called to this path and it waits in the future like fate or destiny.