(in the wake of the 2016 US election and the approaching Taurus Full Moon)
People are under extreme stress these days. So is the planet as a whole. Some of us feel our hearts breaking for the devastation of the water, land, and beings of Gaia. Some of us are at the brink of apparent mental breakdown, losing our minds and having to come to our senses. Some of us are angry. Some of us are shameful. Many of us do not feel safe in the current climate of divisiveness and confusion.
This past week i was immersed in a Shadow Work Intensive with seven other women and Robert Augustus Masters, a skilled and compassionate guide. I am grateful to have been held in that sacred space with full permission to be with all that arose. There were many gems, and i’ll share more as we go on through the weeks and months ahead. For now:
Practice keeping your heart open in hell. Practice having a bad day well.
Speaking of bad days going well…i keep reflecting on Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ deeply moving words posted on November 9, 2016:
“Do not lose heart. We were made for these times…Sometimes the string on the bow is pulled backward very hard, in order to let the arrows of peace and transformation fly forward…the farthest…”
Transformation is not often peaceful. The resistance, unrest and friction help build energy for change. Yet, we must differentiate anger from aggression, and direct this rising energy for good.
In the style of chiropractic i practiced there were three main stages of care - Discover, Transform and Awaken - and a fourth stage of Integration that weaves it all together, giving us the tools to continue on, growing, becoming, evolving, healing.
In Discover, we find peace with the way things are. In Transform, we meet our edges - many people drop out at this stage of the game, because it gets hard and uncomfortable. In Awaken, we experience Source, Ecstasy, Bliss, Oneness.
Here’s the thing: as lovely and transcendent as Awakening is, it is not sufficient for this time. The yoga of love, light and peace is not enough. This is a time of Transformation - a time of taking off the blinders and mufflers, of finding our voices, establishing our boundaries, getting uncomfortable, waking up and dancing in the flames.
It is one of our most challenging practices to not fall into aggression and desperation amidst the widespread chaos. Our work is not to dissipate the energy, but to increase our coherency.
How?
Go into deep self inquiry. Ask yourself: How do i feel? What is moving through me? What is needed?
Let yourself feel everything. Open to the whole range of emotions and experiences in this realm. The whole range. Cry. Rage. Scream. Wail. Laugh. Make fists, pound pillows, stomp your feet into the ground, dance. Move the energy. Don’t let it stagnate and fester.
Give yourself space to rest and rejuvenate, so your actions and words are clear. But, do not numb out or shut down. We cannot go back to sleep. We cannot pretend the darkness away. We cannot wish things away through meditations on love and light.
However, we can meditate to get clear and listen to the silence. Meditation is a foundation in the midst of great change - a touchstone - though not a crutch.
There is a potency in the silence underneath. There is a potency in the screams that pierce through the silence. Both. Compassion. Truth. Mercy. Severity. Create space for all of it. For all of you. For all of us. Truly, we are in this together.
You see, spiritual practices are not meant to make the bad things and boogie men disappear. They call you home to yourself and home to your place in the Great Tribe of Gaia and the Cosmos. They refine your awareness and ability to respond with right action in right timing.
Continue to come back to your Truth. No longer marginalize your values, your deepest loves and desires. Align the surface of your life with your core values. Transmute fear (and the overly rigid/controlled or overly chaotic) into profound listening and right action.
Ask the questions that call you ever deeper into alignment with Truth. Be ready for massive changes at an individual, collective, global and universal level. The only way out is through. Anything can happen. Everything is possible.
The process of alignment, transformation and integration isn’t always or often light and easy. Feel it all.
Blessed Be.
* The Guided Meditation this week takes us into a space of profound listening: And now…?
* Super Full Moon in Taurus on November 14 at 5:52am PST. The closest Full Moon since 1948 and until 2034.