It's the strangest thing, the way we hide ourselves, sometimes even from ourselves. Most of us have gotten pretty good at it. Me, too.
Eventually, though, the unique expression of the Divine that we are demands to be seen; that Light wants to shine, and not be hidden under a bushel or a table or in a closet. Most of us require a whole lot of coaxing, and some of it pretty painful, in order to 'be as we are', in public.
I've been a mystic-shaman-priestess all of my life, with a natural affinity for nature, seeing or sensing what many people didn't seem aware of, for working with oracles, or creating ritual, seeking into the Mystery, or communicating with the Divine through intuition or other means.
For many years I definitely hid it, and hid it well, under the mask of a business woman, consultant, and writer and whatever other 'title' -- however accurate each title was -- wouldn't cause any flinching, or raised eyebrows, or God/dess forbid, controversy or backlash.
Even then, though, my affinity with the Unseen and unspoken, for sensing 'the energies' in an interaction or room, for being able to shift the energy just by being present, for 'Spirit speaking or writing through me', or using my words to calm, center, and inspire as needed, gave me an edge in communication and navigating transformation in my 'real world' professional work.
And all the while, as I was 'hiding the light under the bushel' in my public and professional life, I was pursuing and continuing life-long studies in the esoteric, energy work, vibrational work, Indigenous wisdom and shamanic traditions, the ancient Mystery traditions, and so on. But did I mention that to many people? No way.
Emile Zola wrote that you can only bury the truth for so long before it comes exploding out of the ground, taking everything within reach with it. Yup. That was definitely my experience.
Other people call it the proverbial cosmic two-by-four (or in my case and many others, a series of them), or a Dark Night of the Soul, or near-death experience. In Shamanic and other traditions, it's called the shamanic awakening or 'lightning bolt' (sometimes literally).
It's all of those and more, but the whole point is to awaken one to his or her authentic nature and the gifts that are bundled along with it. It's wholly transformative, particularly since most of us are far from living authentically.
In recent years, since my mano-a-mano with death and other shamanic lightning bolts and cosmic two-by-fours 'hit', and the time of re-awakening intuitive, psychic, vibrational, and other shamanic-priestessy gifts; and re-assembling myself from the wreckage of my former life and identity, I've hidden my mystic-shaman-priestess in plain sight, but still stopping short of really coming out with it: here it is, here I am, shamanic-priestess-mystic who isn't 'flakey', which to a lot of people seems an oxymoron.
But I'm living proof - a mystic-shamanic-priestess who's pretty well grounded here on Planet Earth, having done what to many are some pretty impressive 'normal world' things.
You see, to me, working with 'the Unseen' and energetic or vibrational realms is as 'normal' as when I'm writing or consulting. In fact, the latter are much more inspired when I'm connected and tapping the former.
It's time for all of us who have been living dual lives to unify and come forward, visibly, authentically. History tells us clearly why we hesitate to do that. But the times call for honesty, and all of the gifts in the Unseen, and those who walk in both worlds, and mediate between them.
Hiding is a drag, and it's exhausting. Being all of who we are, publicly, may be terrifying at times, but it's also exhilarating and energizing. It's time to be real. And it's time to be 'out there', and seen, and in doing so give others 'permission' to step out, too.
Wow, that's a relief!
Love and blessings, and lots of good juju.
Jamie
Jamie Yeah! Thank you for sharing. I wanted to say something about the flakiness. I recently read Ken Wilbur's book "Sex, Ecology and Spirituality". One of the most powerful things I got from it is this: We live in a holographic universe. Each 'layer' is contained within the next step in our evolution. It's not linear, but more like a series of russian dolls. The mysticism and nature-shamanism of earlier times was, according to Wilbur, pre-rational. It existed prior to the Enlightenment, prior to our evolutionary journey into the experience of life as a product of scientific proof. We didn't discard the earlier mysticism but encompassed it within our growing understanding of life.
These days, though, when we live in our multidimensional reality, we are "post-rational". We've encompassed the earlier 'out of body' type of spiritualism, plus the rational layer. And we've put then together to create a very grounded, embodied form of spiritual experience and expression.
So not flaky! So not airhead. Only problem is, many who haven't moved past the rational level have only experienced this type of energy as 'pre-rational' and so they think that's where we are. Not true. We've moved on and they'll catch up eventually.
Woohoo!
love Kim
Posted by: Kim Gould | 09/16/2009 at 06:01 PM
YAY JAMIE!!!! I knew I was picking up some very special stuff when we met!
Congratulations on finding the strength, confidence and courage to be open about your strong spiritual side. I'm finding the world is more and more open.....and even if they think they aren't, they are really hungry for goodness, kindness, nurturing and healing. So, those of us who bring that to the party cannot be shy!
Way to go! You rock!
Elaine
Posted by: Elaine Hander | 09/17/2009 at 11:14 AM
Look out world,...she's out of the closet!
Great article - you're setting a great example for all of us who sometimes feel we need to hold back.
Scott
Posted by: Scott Rumbaugh | 09/17/2009 at 03:30 PM