The Journeyman’s Grace

“Oh please, journeyman, help me on my way
Oh please, help me please, I won’t be afraid.

Someone told me there’s a grace that leads you straight from place to place
And you always leave the road behind you
You don’t need your horses shod, just a dowser and his rod . . .”

So wrote Dave Swarbrick and Richard Thompson in 1971 on the Fairport Convention album ‘Angel Delight’

The song is about the journey through life, death and beyond, facilitated by the ‘journeyman’.

You and I are on this journey.

We go from place to place.

We travel steps on the way.

Following the ‘light’ that guides us.

Imaging you are driving at night on an unlit road. As you move forward your headlights illuminate the road ahead. You follow the light that moves forward with you showing the way.

The lights on your car are like the dowser and his rod – leading you on.

And as we travel – along the road and through our lives – we ‘experience’.

There is constant change going on.

Now I’m in one place – but now I’m further across the page, in a different place.

Experiencing different things, writing different words.

It goes on constantly; every moment is a new experience.

And consciously or not, every moment is a new ‘learning’.

Neale Donald Walsch in the ‘Conversations With God’ series explains that experience is exactly what we are ‘here’ for – on this planet, in this lifetime, now.

That is ‘what it’s all about’ – experiencing different things, different states, different emotions.

That is why we are, who we are, where we are, and what we are.

It is ‘The Meaning of Life’ and in the movie the Pythons actually did ‘get’ that.

It’s the ‘Journey’ we take through this life that gives us those experiences.

And it’s up to you and I to decide the journey we are on, or the series of journeys we want to undertake.

And that’s simply what we do, all the time, time and time again.

We travel.

But we need just one thing to be able to undertake our journeys.

We don’t need a horse shod to carry us and we don’t need a car with its headlights.

We need to know the ‘Way’.

From time to time people have appeared and said, in one way or another, “I am the Way – follow me”.

And people have followed – more often than not to their destruction.

It may have been the self-appointed leader’s ‘way’ but it wasn’t their way

Their own individual; ‘Way’.

This is where the ‘journeyman’s grace’ comes in.

The ‘journeyman’ is your own intuition.

And here’s where the two lines of the chorus in the song are really relevant and important:

“Oh please, journeyman, help me on my way
Oh please, help me please, I won’t be afraid”

Don’t be afraid of your intuition, your ‘gut feeling’ – let it help you on your way.

On the way you are supposed to go, not the way someone else wants you to go.

It will take you through the experiences you want, that you are meant to have, not though the ‘stage direction and script’ of someone else’s ideology.

But here’s the thing:

All ‘journeys’ have a start point and an end point.

Some are ‘short’, some are ‘long’, and some are concurrent – some journeys are part of another.

And to find ‘the way’ – your way – you need to know where the start and end of each particular journey are located.

At the same time, both your start and end points are ‘way points’ on your bigger journey.

But let’s just take one step at a time – one piece of the journey at a time.

Set up your intuitive ‘sat-nav’ – your ‘journeyman’ – to help you on your way.

The journeyman needs to know where you are now, who you are now – in the context of your proposed journey.

And then where are you going? Why are you going there – what experience are you seeking?

The journey is all about the experience you seek and there may be criteria you want your journey to meet.

It’s like programming the SatNav in your car to avoid traffic, avoid tolls, or find the quickest route.

Ask yourself:

• What journey am I on?
• What experience am I looking for? Or, what do I expect to find? At the end or on the way?
• And as a ‘quality check’ – Is this my journey or someone else’s? (Most people miss this one and spend all their time going on other people’s journeys.)

And then:

• Do I know the Way? Can I see the way?
• Am I prepared for the unexpected that might occur along the way?
• Is the way open? Or is it shut or blocked for some reason that I will have to circumvent – how ‘clear’ is the Way?
• And again – is it ‘My Way’ or someone else’s?

And when you start and are on your journey, just like when you’re driving a car; constantly monitor and adjust according to what you’re experiencing.

What journey are you on today?

Do you know your Way?