Priestess in Blue Jeans

Straddling Eras, Dimensions & Invitations

We're in the midst of changing eras, can you tell from what's going on in the 'outer world'? And for those conscious of and sensitive to the energetic realm, it feels like ever-shifting dimensions that can have us feeling clear and energized one minute, and foggy and listless the next.

There is a lot going on within and around us, so it's a good time to prioritize self-care, taking it a bit slower when the energy's waning and going with the inspiration when it's there.

Most of us have been conditioned to push through the times of waning energy, favoring action and 'doing' despite feeling the pull to slow down and go inward. Yet these ebbs and flows, inbreaths and outbreaths are natural -- and crucial -- for the creative cycle, accessing and then acting on intuition and higher guidance, and overall wellbeing, especially so during intense changing-times.

Over the last month I've noticed these cycles even more than usual, with periods of high-voltage energy and a flurry of intuitive information and insight and/or deep feeling, followed by a day or two when my mind is foggier, more dreamy, and my energy slows down and draws inward.

I used to ignore the slow-downs, good workaholic Athena-woman that I was (more on our Athena archetype coming soon in a new, upcoming Feminine Mojo series!). After a series of initiation cycles, I'd recognize them, but feel guilty about honoring the ebbs and going inward.

More recently I sense that the slower, more inward days are allowing an integration of the energy and insights that have come through, and/or setting  up the next flurry. I'm slowly learning to trust the wisdom of those cycles.

Feeling that Overwhelm?

A lot of people are feeling a bit overwhelmed right now, too, both in terms of the intense energies coming through in a variety of waves, and with what's going on in the world (and for many of us, in our personal lives as well).

Watching the Theater of Greed & Hubris as it unfolds in the Gulf of Mexico, or Wall Street, or elsewhere, and the heart-wrenching effects on defenseless creatures and critters who rely on our stewardship or suffer the lack of it, and the effects on the folks on Main Street, well, it's natural to feel overwhelmed. 

The Gulf, Wall Street, Washinton, D.C., B.P, and elsewhere...it's a colossal failure of imagination, empathy, heartfulness, and leadership, and we're all caught up in it. And the medicines for the insanity include just those things: imagination, empathy, heartfulness, and leadership.

Despite having had the lie of separation practically baked into our cells, we are not separate from what's around us. As our ancestors knew intimately, we're very much connected. So who in their right mind wouldn't feel a bit overwhelmed, really? It can seem like we're getting hit from all sides, and in a way, we are. It's a big 'wake-up call' time.

Coming Full Circle to Another Rung on the Spiral of Life

And that brings us back around to changing paradigms and shifting dimensions. Whether you look to ancient prophecies, current Indigenous elders, leading-edge scientists and spiritual teachers, or your own inner guidance, the message is the same: there is a huge change underway in how we perceive life and how we live; there is a major shift in consciousness underway.

It affects everyone; no one is left out, and it can help to have context and practices that help to stay centered amidst all the shifting. I listened in to a talk from Gregg Braden yesterday, called the Science of Miracles, and among many things that resonated with me was his statement that it's as if we're being called to a greater level of our mastery, and we've had training wheels on that have now been removed.

The challenges we see and face are wake-up calls and invitations to say 'yes' to the call and the invitation, and to embrace with devotion that path of greater mastery, centered in heartfulness, anchored in love. Earth, the critters and creatures, our neighbors on Main Street, our loved ones, and we ourselves depend on that 'yes'.

It's an awesome responsibility, isn't it? There are days when I feel that acutely. Yet it's also a creative adventure; there's something within us that responds, that yearns for it, even. 

We're invited to say 'yes' to the invitation to become 'artists of consciousness', as the visual-philosopher, artist, and actor, Leigh McCloskey calls it, or 'co-creative, evolutionary humans', as the visionary wise-woman Barbara Marx-Hubbard says. Did you get your invitation? It's been on the news, in your dreams, and tugging at your heart; and it's a bit time-sensitive. But you're probably already feeling that; not to worry.

There is no single Hero, or Heroine, on this one; we all get to pitch in, in our own unique way, in our own corner of the world, through our own practice and way of being, from right where we are. Together.

Blessings on the Way, and May Visions of a Healed, Pristine Gulf of Mexico fill our dreams and our waking hours!

Jamie

** Photo Credits: Sunset at Big Sur from PD Photo, shared through Creative Commons. Photo of the oil-soaked bird from the Gulf of Mexico is from Nature's Crusaders blog. Photo of the sea turtle in previously clean Gulf waters from U.S. NOAA. Earth photo from U.S. NASA.

Kudos to the folks at Nature's Crusaders blog for thoughtful, and heartful, coverage of the Gulf of Mexico oil-gusher reality.

Spiritual Awakening: Between Caterpillar & Butterfly

Yesterday I came across the spiritual-awakening story of a 'friend of a friend'. In his web-site bio, he'd shared a summary of his own spiritual-shamanic awakening, or more like one of the rungs on the spiral of spiritual awakening that have you ever-deepening and aligning with your authentic, true nature.

His story, like my own and those of others who have shared theirs with me, featured several 'typical' stages associated with spiritual or shamanic awakening or initiation. He spoke about how challenging it was to find mentors or teachers who really understood the journey, though they occasionally arose, like manna on his path.

While we have access to 'outlines' of the journey of spiritual or shamanic awakening -- like Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, or the Inanna story, or John of the Cross's Dark Night of the Soul story -- each person's process is his or her own.

We can know about the path, but experiencing it is something that is uniquely ours. It's like the hospice process -- it follows an amazingly clear outline, and yet how it unfolds, and how long it takes, is the mystery. Even so, sharing stories, and leaving breadcrumbs and lit-candles along the way, is invaluable as we and others make our way.

With the shifting energies now, more and more people are finding themselves on this path, whether by choice, calling, or circumstance. And so those breadcrumbs and lit-candles and stories seem ever more important.

We hear the saying about the caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but we don't hear a whole lot about what happens in the middle of that story. We just get the beginning and the end. We don't hear the middle of the story, where the caterpillar dissolves into goo that ultimately reorganizes itself into a butterfly.

Similarly, in the journey of spiritual awakening or shamanic initiation, the 'lightning bolt' moments are followed by a dissolution of all that is false or out of alignment with that awakened blueprint. Literally, the structures of our lives begin to dissolve and fall away. And that usually includes everything we've identified ourselves with before that crumbles, despite our best efforts to grab onto it.

In our culture, this is made all the more brutal because, rather than recognize it for what it is, we judge it as failure or punishment. We move quickly from accomplishment to accomplishment, neither fully honoring nor understanding what's dissolved or what's in-between. And so we may easily get stuck in dissolution, or the stage that follows it, re-integration to a way of being and living that is more aligned.

I say this from my own experience, and I know that others have experienced it as well -- the awakening of new perceptions, and the dissolution of what once seemed true and solid. The uncertainty and chaos of it; the joy and relief of finding little flickering lights along the way. The sometimes painful unknowing of re-integration into 'butterfly'. The patience and trust needed as we flap our new butterfly wings, standing right where we are, until they become dry and strong enough to take flight.

Right now, we're going through this as a culture, as well as perhaps individually, with structures, institutions, long-held beliefs and ways of being and living dissolving. And there isn't a widely known context for it, as there was long ago or still is in some Indigenous cultures.

We're all fumbling our way, reclaiming what wisdom we can find and leaving the breadcrumbs and lit-candles for others following after us. But with more and more breadcrumbs and candles -- stories, reclaimed wisdom, and practices shared, and circles and conversations created -- the path will be more and more gracefully navigable for others.

Do you have your own spiritual awakening journeys to share? Consider posting a comment...and leaving a breadcrumb and a candle lit. And if you're in the midst of your own journey, I'm happy to share what stories and resources I can.

Blessings,

Jamie

At the Heart of It - A Change of Heart

"At the heart of everything is what must be called a change of consciousness. This means a new way of living--almost a new man. Its ultimate creation will be a new and enduring wholeness and beauty -- a renewed relationship of man to himself, to other men, to society, to nature, and to the land." ~ Charles Reich, The Greening of America (1970)

At the core of most spiritual traditions is the emphasis on a change of heart, a change of mind. Charles Reich was a voice of the Spirit of the Sixties, during which the seeds of social transformation and a new consciousness were planted in modern history (though there were many who kept the flame alive before that).

We're living in times now when a change of heart and a change of consciousness is paramount. Many would say that it's no longer an option, much less a luxury, as we face many global, ecological, economic, and cultural challenges.

Many contemporary spiritual teachers, as well as Indigenous elders and prophecies, tell us that the change in consciousness is required to avoid catastrophe. And God/dess knows we've seen allusions to catastrophe in the more frightening 2012 coverage.

It seems like heavy stuff, and it is from that vantage point. The silver lining -- and it's a bright and shining one -- is that consciousness is shifting, and many people are awakening spiritually. We can find evidence not just in the devoted spiritual communities at the periphery of our modern culture, but also the expanded interest in the mainstream of practices like yoga, qigong, and the widely broadcast teachings of Eckhart Tolle through Oprah Winfrey's webcasts.

Llewelyn Vaughan-Lee, Sufi teacher and leader, Golden Sufi Center, says "A spiritually awakened person who works for the sake of the Whole can be a tremendous force for change."

And herein lies the real hope; the real good news.

In revisiting Eckhart Tolle's work recently, I resonated with his emphasis that our primary purpose -- all of us -- is to awaken spiritual, to grow in consciousness. Through this, or from this, we express our secondary or more external purpose -- consciousness expressed through us in our relationships, our work, our community interactions, our very way of being in the world.

Llewleyn Vaughan-Lee tells us that women, in particular, as embodiments of the Divine Feminine, are the principal midwifes of this spiritual awakening and renewal of consciousness -- the remembrance that all is connected in the One great flow of Life, and that all is sacred. And Rumi echoes, "A woman is a mystery that can guide the wise and open men." Men who revere and respect the Divine Feminine within all. That's the potent alchemy that changes everything.

This requires devotion and dedication, to be sure. It requires daily mindfulness and practice. It requires evolution of heart and mind to be a vessel for the same into the world.

And yet answering those questions -- to what am I devoted? What am I willing to really stand for? What am I willing to be a voice for? -- is what connects us with a sense of heart and meaning, of true joy of service. We infuse that devotion into everything we do, because it comes from everything we truly are.

Blessings on the Way,

Jamie

Photo Credit: Corona Aurora by Image Editor, shared through Creative Commons