I learned about the invisible world
From a wild Celtic shaman I worked with
For some years
A long time ago
He taught me many things
But one of them
Was how to talk to
What we can’t see
How to court beauty
How to move between worlds
He tore open the fabric of reality
Through ceremony, prayer, sweat lodge
Poetry and story telling
We lived in a hidden valley in deepest Wales
At night we all gathered around the fire
In the roundhouse
And listened to tales of old Ireland
When life was magical and mysterious
When warriors stood for something
Before everything became small and ordinary
We played music, sometimes wild and chaotic
And sometimes wistful and heart breaking

I learned about true power from him
I sought power in caves and waterfalls
On the top of mountains, spending nights alone
With just the elementals for company
I cried, raged, fumed and threw myself away
I found what was broken and false
I found what was hiding from the world
And I threw that part to the invisible wolves

I learned rituals, not pious or sanctimonious ones
But true prayer from the innermost
I spoke to the invisible ones
Regardless of whether I believed in them or not
I have seen things, felt things, known things
That defy ordinary consciousness

And I know that life is ten thousand times
More mysterious than we can comprehend
We live in a superficial reality
And underneath and inside it
Is a gold mine
A vast swirling majestic world
Inside each of us
It is the true world, the real world
And that is why I became this poet, this musician
This opener of doors
To show others the window
To their own soul.