GLOBAL FAMILY 1ღ COLLABORATING and COCREATING a LOVING,PEACEFUL, JUST and SUSTAINABLE WORLD.
Showing posts with label transformation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label transformation. Show all posts

The Art of Life; Creating Through Chaos



by  Jennifer Deisher -
There is an art to life and living, if we learn how to live it from the inside out instead of from the outside in. It requires the willingness to open our minds and hearts to our own unique, creative gifts. 

More importantly, it allows us the freedom to see through the matrix of boxes and squares  and  detach ourselves from controlled illusion of our reality. Then, looking from the inside out, we  find that the reality  of creation is actually beautifully chaotic.
"Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt that I had a beehive within my heart and the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey from all of my bitter disappointments."  --Antonio Machado

Down The Rabbit Hole
As human Beings, we can become attached to all kinds of ideas of what we think we need to be happy – comfort, security, career, social circles. But when  we look deep within ourselves, we realize these needs  are  mostly of a material and external nature.

Although they can be alluring, the happiness we find in these  attachments and identifications is usually  temporary, as they  reflect  our relationship to the chaotic  outside world, not our personal, peaceful inner world.

Of course, when our happiness depends on conditions  outside ourselves and our control, we search for  completion  from the outside in. Then, when those  external conditions are taken away, so too is  our sense of peace and fulfilment. We have lost control over our emotional being.
But everything is upside down in this beautifully chaotic rabbit hole. In our attempt to find happiness in the  outside world, we often perceive external chaos as our lives “falling apart”, when really, circumstances are just starting to come together in our lives in ways we can’t  comprehend.
There’s terms for this state of being and several come to mind – rock bottom, crisis, despair, and/or finding the Spirit within (a process that will crack you wide open, but that’s another article in itself).

In these times, whether we can see it or not, our external attachments and identifications are stripped from us, and it is only within ourselves that we can  create  comfort in the chaos.

The Life Force

What we learn about love is backwards. We are raised believing we must search  for love outside ourselves, find someone to love us, and find someone to love. We learn that we are alone, incomplete and loveless without the love of another.
In reality, we ARE love, in its purest form. But we are  conditioned to feel  separated from  that  true nature of love, valuing only the love we receive from outside ourselves. This leaves us open to fear, as we believe that love itself can be taken away.
Love and hate (fear) are like oil and water, so when they interact on an energetic and emotional level we often find chaos  in the polarity  – an  allergic reaction if you will.

Our loving nature and our fearful conditioning can’t co-exist. Something has to give. And in that  dark and confusing place, we find rock bottom; the inky black energy of the aether, where our training and our  truth  collide.

It’s also the place where we find  our greatest opportunity  –  the  creative “spark”  to light  our  way out of the dark.
Even in our darkest and most painful times, we always have that opportunity; that  choice. It’s harder to make that choice when we are in an emotional state of change because change can feel like we’re losing something, and in uncertainty,  we  fear what may yet be.

As we shed our external attachments, the way forward  –  that creative spark  –  can only be found in the emotion of the moment, right now, not in feelings of loss (past) or fear (future).  The only way out is through.
As the old makes room for the new, our overwhelming emotions can sometimes make us feel  like we can’t go on. Fear, loss and grief are all common.  But what we’re feeling in those rock-bottom moments is actually  the stale old toxic energy dying,  not our life force!

It’s no vacation, but at the end of it, we are left with new circumstances, new energy, a new perspective. On a micro level, these  old energy patterns are being felt  and released by individuals, while on a macro level, humanity is currently reflecting the same process —  we’re at  rock-bottom, feeling the chaos of  this energetic clash, and using that spark to light creative new ways forward.
When we go into darkness, it’s  no vacation. It helps to remember:  when emotional chaos takes hold, the best remedy is simplicity.

When we simplify our lives and remove subjective distractions, it  brings us closer to alignment and objectivity. We become more sensitive  in our perceptions. We can be still with our thoughts and feelings, while also  exploring the opportunities they create.

This  will  tell you everything you need to know – even if it feels upside down (you’re in the rabbit hole, remember?)

The Big Move

First, it helps to know that we’ve done this before even if we can’t see it, or forgot how.

Through the process of shedding old energy and  creating ‘the new’, we’re changing, morphing, evolving and moving energy – the emotional kind of energy that comes with great weight, which is why the process of releasing it is  called enlightenment. (light bulb moment!)

Although the ego part of us may attach to the feeling of loss, and resist letting go of  old comfortable energy, this process of  unpacking our emotional baggage Lightens our emotional load and helps us to  align  our  energetic being  to  what our heart and soul essence is really searching for  —  change and the fear that comes with it. The whole gamut of conscious experience.
It can feel daunting, looking into our own personal rabbit hole, but don’t be scared. The darkness is part of  the great  aether which is the spiritual energy of creation.

The aehter is the “place” and the mindset where illusions are shattered, perspectives are changed, new dreams are forged, and something beautiful and honest is  born – seemingly from “nothing”.
Remember though, the “nothingness” you may experience is still something, because there is no such thing as nothing.

In the heart-felt stillness of the dark, we find the presence, openness  and creative spark we need to truly see our reality and consciously invigorate our lives,  aligning our outer world to our inner reality and desires.
So honor the darkness  for the experience that it is and the lessons it offers  your heart and mind  – and most of all,  know that it is temporary.
To make ‘the big move’ is basically  a 2-step process. First, we have to identify and connect with the fearful energy that wants to be expressed – or  released.

Most of us have an awareness of our fears and the patterns they create in our lives, even if we’re unsure how to process them and/or persuade them to move out.

This is the process that we don’t necessarily like so much because it’s uncomfortable at best.

The key is realizing that we need something to replace the fear in our heart.
When fear keeps us “stuck”, the reason we find it so hard to move is because we stop supporting  the Universe to  support us, by focusing our consciousness on the “what if’s” — what we don’t have,  what we can’t do,  what may  go wrong, and often, what other people think.

The ego’s  perception becomes about  “loss” and “want” and “fear” of  the potential future; and so we lose touch with our  natural sense of gratitude for now  —  which  is a necessary ingredient for co-creating with conscious intention.

Tthat sense of fear  is not real, it is  the  ego trying to protect itself from the worst case “what if’s” that may or may not happen  in the future, and  redirecting our attention back to familiar  patterns of behavior that may  gratify  the ego in the short term but do not serve  the Self in the long term.
Then,  when ego/fear prevents  us from trying, or even dreaming, nothing happens at all! Today or in the future… …and so, this is where we get “stuck”, going round and round trying to solve fearful problems in our heads, trying to resolve our fears with the  same  mentality that created them… more fear. It’s the emotional equivalent of  banging our heads against a  proverbial brick wall.
Ego  is  the antithesis of Oneness. 

Inherently fearful of the unknown, ego  is hard wired into our biological flight-or-fight/fear response. It  views  reality in terms of  separation  and comparison to others,  blind to the bigger picture that exists  beyond its own self-oriented awareness.
The best  way to resolve the fear of doing is to DO. Go ahead and prove  your fearful ego wrong.
Sure, it can take great courage, discipline and self-understanding to honestly explore the dark recesses of our fears and ego.  But the truth  is, there is no other real option.

As we continue down this path of collective and personal  awakening, our unresolved ego/fears and their effects are becoming increasingly  obvious in our lives, and like any other unsustainable practice, we can no longer put them aside without consequence.
It’s time we cleared the space, start a fresh canvass, and show those  around us they can do the same too.

Grab a Pallette!

Our emotions ultimately tell us everything we need to know about what’s working and not working for us in our lives. When things aren’t “right”,  we experience discomfort or discontent in various areas of our life.

If we don’t allow these feelings to surface, and more importantly to guide our mind’s decisions, the  unresolved emotional energy will always find a way to be expressed, whether the ego likes it or not.

For many, the ongoing denial and apathy to  such challenging  feelings can  culminate in a ‘dark night of the soul’,  where the emotional veil suddenly drops and the  full range of emotional energies demand  that we feel them, and  heal them, at once.
In these times, we may not like what we see when we look at the canvas of our life. Reflecting on our fears and most painful experiences forces us to be aware of the fearful, unloving, or desperate decisions we’ve made in our lives.

We may not like the landscape we’ve painted, or the details in the background, or the truth about what we’ve emulated from our fear but we can change it, move it, enhance it, and color it in.

First we need to step back and really see the canvas objectively – without ego  – and feel the message within it.

Our pain, discontent,  anger and regret are  all  perfect indicators that we are settling for something  in our lives that is not aligned with our true Being. Exploring and acknowledging the whole spectrum of our feelings is  the first (and most difficult) step to  healing them, and starting over, creating through the chaos.
In order to unravel the effects of our feelings and experiences in ego  and  fear have  caused  on our  energetic landscape,  it’s a case of going back through the darkness in order to see the Light.

That’s the duality – Light doesn’t exist without dark, and the only way out is through. Follow the light.   Sometimes that means we have to stop, look, and listen in order to find a heartfelt stillness enabling us to truly see what our heart, and the universe by extension, is trying to show us.
Then, when we confront our true human and spiritual nature head on and “survive” the truth of our dark side (even though our ego feared  we would perish!)  we emerge with a new clearer perspective  — ready to create  a more honest, simple, joyful, meaningful, enriching, experiential kind of life.

The kind of life  that is perfectly aligned to the  inner Being we have come to know so well. The kind of life that is  impossible to create  while  the ego has us convinced  that what we want for ourselves is always somehow  out of our reach.

Colour in the Dark

Let’s be honest, our darker feelings of fear and chaos aren’t exactly  easy to look at up close and personal. We learn to keep our fear hidden just beyond the periphery of our conscious  awareness in order to stay “sane and functioning”.

The ego’s mode of operation is like a secret agent in stealth mode encouraging the turbulence of our fear. Its very purpose is to make us aware of our own fears and/or limitations taking us into the darkness of the aether.

The  darkness only obscures our view, hiding a blank canvass of infinite potential. We have something the ego doesn’t though — color, light and shade which equates to every imaginable outcome.
Creating something *NEW* is the best way to release emotional baggage and re-color our lives into a canvas we can’t wait  to claim as our own and share with the world.

If we allow ourselves to fully experience the dark side of our emotional existence, we can use that experience as both a motivation and a tool to create new experiences, new relationships, and new outcomes.
Our creative juices move in synchronicity  with the universal flow  of creation when we allow  ourselves to be  guided by our hearts.  As we release our fears and overcome the  urges of the short-sighted  ego, we  learn to listen to our heart and to our inner  guidance.

The dreamer’s dream comes to life before our very eyes and it mirrors back to us all that we truly are  – beautiful, colourful, and unique Beings of light, consciously co-creating  our own canvas,  and transcending the darkness of the aether.

Fun and rewarding, our existence suddenly becomes a vibrant colorful life when we make the choice to embody the art of life, with all its light and shade and open ourselves to experience its endless, beautifully chaotic possibilities.

About Author: Jennifer Deisher is an empath, intuitive, emotional healer, spiritual transformation artist, and the writer of the  Moon Hippie Mystic blog. Aaron Deisher is a psychic medium, shaman and intuitive  specializing  in behavioral and paranormal aspects of spirituality. Together they  founded  Blueprints For Butterflies  as a safe, loving space to support  people  who are awakening and making a spiritual connection with  their Higher Self. Offering professional healing and reading services, they work to help others confront their ‘demons’,  realize their divine  spiritual, emotional and creative blueprint, and create a life that  resonates with each  individual’s unique  energy signature.

The Key To Transforming Our Lives


by Gregg Braden -

TURNING POINTS:

We’ve all experienced turning points in our lives, although some are more memorable than others. In the summer of 1969, I experienced two turning points that changed my life, and they both happened within less than a month of each other! 

I was on break from school that summer and working on a ranch in southern Missouri. The near-100°F temperature, combined with the near–100 percent humidity that’s typical at that time of year in this region, pretty much assured that every outdoor activity would be a miserable experience. 

This was especially true for my main job of “bucking” wire-bound bales of hay onto the back of a slow-moving truck.

Walking alongside the vehicle, I was tasked with lifting each 60-pound bale from the ground and catapulting it into the truck to be stacked just as the truck arrived at the next bale, where my co-workers and I would repeat the sequence. This went on for hours at a time. 

I looked forward to dinner each evening not only to find relief from the dust, insects, humidity, and heat, but also because it was the only opportunity to watch the evening news and connect with the rest of the world.

Turning Point 1: To the Moon

There was a tiny black-and-white television in the dining room where everyone at the ranch would gather for meals. 

The TV was in one corner of the room, and the volume was usually turned so low that we could only guess what the people in the grainy images were saying. 

One night, however, that changed. As the drone of voices at the table fell silent for the dinner prayer, the words that were coming from the TV were unmistakable. “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” the voice said.1

I felt the wave of two very different realities pulse through my body as I listened—one from the world that separated us from one another before the announcement, and one from the world where that separation disappeared, if only briefly, afterward. 

The words were from Neil Armstrong, and his voice was traveling from the ladder of a fragile spacecraft on the surface of another world, across space, to the television networks around the earth, and to the little TV in front of me.

The first human had just set foot on the moon, and through the recording, I was reliving the moment it happened. 

This was the moment that humankind’s collective view of itself from countless generations past suddenly gave way to a new and expanded vision of hope and possibility. It changed me forever. It changed the way I felt about the world. It changed the way I felt about the people in the world.

On that day, we were a global family beyond North and South Americans, Europeans, Asians, Australians, and Africans. In that moment, we were human beings, and we’d just accomplished something that until that day had been only the stuff of dreams. 

Suddenly it all became real. We were on the moon, and I felt it in my body. That moment was a turning point for me, and I remember it vividly to this day.

Turning Point 2: Three Days of Peace

Just when I thought that I couldn’t possibly regain the awe that I’d just experienced, the unthinkable happened. 

The TV stations that had been showing the images of Neil Armstrong on the moon just a few weeks before were now carrying another story that the whole world was watching as well. 

As I stepped over and turned up the volume on the TV set, it was clear that the story had the attention of the tired workers with me at the dinner table. 

In a twist of fate that couldn’t have been choreographed any better in a utopian novel, the television was showing some 500,000 young people living together peacefully at the Woodstock Music Festival in New York. And it was happening during the same summer as the moon landing! What are the chances? I thought, reflecting on the irony.

The power and synchronicity of what I was seeing on the television was both surreal and deeply moving. The news reports were describing how the 50,000 or so people originally anticipated by the festival organizers had unexpectedly turned into a half million! 

The bottom line was that the facilities could no longer handle the sheer number of people safely. The organizers did the only thing they could do: they declared the festival a free event, and then did their very best to provide food, water, and medical and sanitation services to the rain-soaked audience that had turned the New York State Thruway into a virtual parking lot on their way to get there!

While it had long been known that both the landing on the moon and a gathering of so many people were possible, the unknown factor was how such events would turn out. 

The fact that Woodstock ended up being the largest and most peaceful gathering of its kind in modern history was a paradigm-altering moment in the minds of people throughout the world. 

With so many young people gathered in such a small area with so little supervision against the backdrop of heated emotions regarding the Vietnam War, the widespread belief had been that chaos would turn the event into a dangerous disaster. 

What transpired that weekend showed mainstream Americans that their fears were unfounded.

Throughout the three days (which turned into four days) of music, nudity, sex, drugs, rain, and mud, the reality of the festival became the theme for a generation: peace and love. 

The fact that humans went to the moon, walked on the surface and returned safely altered the paradigm that had held the vision of people bound to this world only. 

That this event happened during the same summer as Woodstock is a striking fact that future generations will study and marvel at. 

In the span of just a few weeks, we showed ourselves that we have the technology to visit other worlds and the wisdom to live peacefully on this one without the need for law enforcement or a higher authority forcing us to do so.

As different as the events were from one another, both Woodstock and the moon landing proved to be powerful turning points in my life, as well as in the lives of countless other people. 

While we know that millions watched both events unfold on TV, I can only describe the reason why they were so life-changing for me. Both scenarios challenged the world’s thinking, ideas and beliefs that had been in place before they occurred. 

Both scenarios showed me what was possible.

Whether a turning point is spontaneous or intentional, the key to taking advantage of it is to understand that once one occurs, it opens the door to entirely new possibilities and outcomes. 

In light of the kind and number of crises that we face in our lives today, it may be that our ability to recognize critical turning points or to create them when needed, will become the key to transforming our lives.

1 “Spoken by Neil Armstrong.” Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal Corrected Transcript and Commentary (2013): Last Revised. Print.

excerpt from The Turning Point pages 92 to 96 © 



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Breaking Your Emotional Codes



by Jill Alman Bernstein -
Each day is supposed to be a new day, filled with new opportunities and new choices.  But for so many of us, each day is a repeat of the one before.  

We have the same feelings about things, the same responses, the familiar cycle is like a loop – the same song repeating itself over and over, and like in the movie Groundhog Day, we try desperately to remember what we want to do differently and hope that we can shift things just enough to change the outcome of our day.

We all have patterns that we seem to repeat over and over again.  

We get stuck in the same cycles day after day and though we reach for thoughts and ways to alter our feelings and outcomes, most of the time we are unsuccessful at effecting change.  There are many tricks that one can use to help shift that pattern.  

One “thought stopping” technique is snapping a rubber band on your wrist.  This cognitive behavioral therapy technique is suppose to “snap” you out of your thinking pattern, if of course you remember what you are wearing it for and snap it.
From a psychological perspective, we are programmed to receive and respond to information according to our DNA, our learned behaviors, and our emotional codes. 


Take a horse as an example.  

There is a sequence of feelings and thoughts that cue a horse to rear and buck off its rider.  At the slightest hint of danger, the horse’s response pattern is to go on alert.  Its hair will stand on end, its nostrils will flare, its ears will pin back, and then it will rear and buck.   

I heard a great story about breaking that cycle.  A boy was on a trail ride and the counselor directly behind him noticed that the horse’s ears were pinned back.  He screamed and urged the boy to reach up the horse’s neck and push his ears forward.  

The boy argued, why did he have to do that, and the counselor continued to yell for him to just do it.  He did.  And instead of that cycle being completed, the mere shifting of those ears broke the programmed pattern of the horse.  There was no buck, no rear and no sense of danger anymore.
I love this example.  What if it was that simple for us to interrupt the pattern that undermines our ability to feel joy, or happiness, or love?

What are our hot buttons that indicate danger, that signal a blue mood is coming, or make it difficult for us to stand tall with confidence and self-esteem?

We all have these sensory loops.  

They are our personal set of responses to a given circumstance or feeling about it.  And there in lies the crux of these individual patterns that we develop, seemingly for our own safety and protection, but most times out of fear or self-doubt, or some other conditional response that we have owned and integrated into ourselves through time.
I wake up.  I feel heat in my stomach.  I feel like I am in a bubble, desperately trying to pop it, so that the thin layer of distortion will disappear and I can start my day on a clear, positive note.  

I immediately go to the emotional place where I left off when I went to sleep.  So now already I am tired and cranky and feeling sad.  In essence, my ears are pinned back.  

I noticed one morning when I was feeling that oh so familiar thought pattern, that when I turned on my computer and went on to facebook, and the very first post I saw was, “Here comes Monday

Set your intention for a fantastic week, full of love, joy, blessings and opportunities. Say thank you now for all of the goodness that is flowing your way this week!” that just reading it, the positive energy that it gave to me, shifted my mood and subtly, or not so subtly, lifted my spirit.  

I was no longer feeling that heaviness that I so often wake to.  Now there was something different.  I had somehow interrupted my sensory loop and now the outcome, how I would feel and perceive the morning and the day, was altered.
Of course it is sometimes not as simple as seeing a positive inspirational post or quote on facebook or on line.  

I often find that that is just the first step and that I have to remind myself to stay positive and centered.  Mantras, intentions, meditation, and conscious breathing all help me to continue climbing the steps to my potential happiness and joyful day.

Are you able to recognize your emotional loop?  

What are the things that set your day off on the wrong note?  What are your hot buttons?  What if you could stop all the dominoes from falling?  

Breaking your emotional cycles, your personal code, can be simple or challenging, it is your choice.  


There are many strategies to help you switch tracks so to speak.  
  • Consider interrupting your thoughts by snapping a rubber band; 
  • simply become aware of your thoughts and stop them by replacing them with a set positive word or thought; 
  • visualize something positive and peaceful that immediately takes you out of your set pattern; 
  • divert your attention – listen to music, go for a walk, do something that requires your focus; 
  • breathe consciously; set intentions or regularly do a specific mantra or affirmation; 
  • find a tapping sequence that helps you to change your mindset; 
  • try yoga and meditation; dance!
Just like the horse whose ears when flipped forward did not rear, our ears can be flipped forward too.  We have the power to break our own emotional codes.

About Author: Jill Alman-Bernstein has always been a mermaid. Part inspirational writer and part deep sea soul diver, she fearlessly immerses herself in the realms of her heart and soul, swimming and giving voice to all the tides, currents, and waves of life’s deepest waters. 





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Transformation and New Beginnings



by Julie Redstone -

The way of the world has, until now, been categorized as being opposed to the 'way of Spirit' and it has been said correctly, with reference to the ego and the Spirit that "ye cannot serve two masters." 

The union of the two worlds is rapidly approaching and in this union there will no longer be two masters to serve, but only one – the God within and the God without, for these two are but two parts of one unified whole. 

The God within is the Divine essence of being that belongs to each soul. The God without is the Creator and Author of life, present before time began.

The new ways are coming into being now, invisibly, quietly, and not without hardship, for the ways of the world are firmly in place and are being continually reinforced by energies that would have them remain in place. 

Yet in the midst of what appears to be an entrenched world picture, with events on the global scale often appearing to spin out of control, the new ways are being born. 

They are in the air. They are in the greater openness of people to spiritual thought and experience. They are in the greater longing of the heart for peace and love as values.

They are in the purification issues that are coming up for many individuals as the old seeks to be released from its bondage within the physical and emotional levels of being so that a new version of self can emerge and take its place.


We are, in fact, in the midst of both personal and global purification, and there are many dedicated souls who would wish to see more change occurring, more completion, but still have to wait to find their heart's desire manifested. 

This level of manifestation cannot be brought about by one's intention alone. 

It must be accompanied by the advent of greater light making possible an emergence of capacities and feelings that have been dormant since the beginning of our earth journey. Thus, the transformation and change that is sought is an act of grace as much as it is an act of longing, desiring and intending. 

The human instrument is becoming 'divinized' and the capacity to hold more light is central in our ability to finally achieve the depth of healing that is being sought. It is also central to our ability to expand into a new level of engagement with light and life.

Still, during this period of waiting, much is taking place. The light already present is doing the work of helping to free us by clearing out from our energy body, all that was not ours to begin with that we have acquired in the course of time. 

Change is occurring for many and new opportunities, new relationships and new perspectives are also emerging. 

These shifts are 'in the air' because of the advent of greater light and because our consciousness has become more open to perceive new vistas.

Now, at this time of transformation and of new beginnings, it is important to let go of what we have held onto out of fear or a sense of loneliness. It is time to give ourselves to the Divine and holy purpose that courses through us from the deepest layers of self. 

There is no one without such a purpose – no one whose life is merely ordinary. 

We are, in the grand scheme of things, the ones who have come to embody God's light and love upon the earth and in this way to help the planetary transition into light. This sacred opportunity is already present with us. 

It is a matter of turning toward it with love and courage in order to perceive the fluid and unknown road before us, knowing that this road will take us to the greatest expression of our true nature as children of God and of the Light.



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Alchemy Overview



If there is one thing which defines what alchemy truly is then it is the theory of transmutation.

The quest to make gold from base metals such as lead is what most people think of when they think of alchemy, and it is the theory of transmutation upon which this dream is based that forms the core of all alchemical philosophy and practices.

In actual fact, although the transmutation of metals has now been proven to take place in stars, this is only one particular example of the general theory of transmutation, albeit the one which most caught the medieval imagination and grabbed all of the attention.

In spiritual alchemy this universal principle is applied in relation to the inner nature of the individual human being.

First let me give you a very brief overview of the general philosophy itself: 

The basic premise is that all things are made from one universal substance – the prima materia – and that if this is the case then it should be possible to convert any substance into any other substance. But it also goes far beyond this to describe a universe evolving towards a perfect ideal. 

In the example of metals gold is conceived as being the idealized state towards which all metals are moving, and the alchemist must only help nature along its way by speeding up this evolutionary process.

Clearly then, the topic of this article is the spiritual evolution of man, trough the transmutation of our current nature.

This sets alchemy apart from most philosophies (or theologies) of spiritual growth in that it is inherently affirmational.

This means that there is no part of a person’s nature which is viewed as inherently bad, sinful, or worthy of excision; there are only the various stages of evolution, and even the lowest and most destructive parts of ourselves are not to be removed from our nature, but rather spiritualized.

This idea of spiritualization fits perfectly with Carl Jung’s psychology of individuation and the unconscious, which he himself viewed as a modern embodiment of alchemical principles and practices. 

Jung showed that when a person suppresses or tries to eliminate a part of their nature it never actually disappears but is relegated to a subconscious psychological complex (called an archetype), from where is continues to influence the person’s thoughts / feelings and their behaviour in novel ways which are beyond their awareness and hence beyond their control. 

Mental health is only achieved by confronting the shadow and re-integrating its contents back into the conscious mind in a balanced and healthy way. 

There are also social parallels to this personal process, such as the prohibition failing to prevent the use of alcohol or other drugs but rather handing the control over their manufacture and supply to a criminal underworld, with disastrous social consequences.

Thus, to give a few of the most general and universal examples, anger and hatred are not to be fought against but rather transmuted into righteousness and positive action for change.

Sensuality is not to be seen as the enemy of spirituality but rather transmuted into love and even beyond that into the transcendence of the individual personality, as happens in the sexual practices of eastern Tantra.

The process of confronting the shadow to reveal those parts of oneself most in need of spiritualization is covered in our article on The Blackening




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You Know What You Want, Now What?



by Claudette Rowley -

Most of my clients want to answer the question "What's next?" They feel dissatisfied with their current job or life situation but aren't sure what would satisfy them.

They make lots of wonderful and necessary internal changes - reshape their belief systems, overcome obstacles, gain clarity and craft a vision for the future.

Then they hit "The Threshold" - that formidable mental canyon that appears once you've identified what you want and blocks you from taking those first steps toward making your dreams real.
"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you 'til it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for it is just the place and time that the tide will turn." --Harriet Beecher Stowe
Once you know what you want, you must cross The Threshold by taking action. For many people, this is an onerous stumbling block.

A new host of fears rush in, making getting started about as easy as taking the first step onto a rickety swing bridge high above your mental canyon.

It's common to experience:
  • A fear of failure combined with such thoughts as "What if I try out this vision and it doesn't work?"
  • A fear of success combined with such thoughts as "What if I bring this idea to fruition and my whole life changes?"
  • An amorphous, yet fierce resistance to the task at hand. 
The kind of resistance that ignites more creative procrastination. (Having exhausted more common forms of procrastination, I've been known to trim my toenails and clean my computer keyboard in an attempt to avoid a task. In fact, I think I see a few specks on my keyboard right now...)


Here's a hint: 

Dreams and ideas come to fruition through pragmatic action. It's true. You can envision, manifest, pray and meditate on the state of your cuticles until the cows come home. In fact, feel free to do this, but don't expect your dream to come true.

How, then, do you take action in the face of fear and resistance?

Here are some concrete ACTION steps to take you through the mechanics of moving forward.


A - Acknowledge fear and take action anyway.

Action is one of the best antidotes for fear and anxiety. Many people decide that feeling fear indicates an incorrect course of action. Nope - not true. (Note: At the threshold, it's not uncommon for you to feel attached to a specific outcome.

Take action and stay unattached to the outcome. We can't predict the results of our actions; results may be immediate or may not trickle down to you until two months or two years later.)



C - Create a community of support.

Support is critical. If I counted every time I've told a client "nobody who's successful and accomplished has done it alone," I'd be a very rich woman. If you don't have a supportive community, build one. Find online communities in your field or areas of interest, visit or join professional organizations, and take a look at your friends and family.

Who could you reach out to and ask for support ? I recall a time when I needed extra support as I crossed that precarious mental swing bridge between one career and the next. So I asked for it. I identified two people who had room in their lives to give me extra support and I called them and asked for it. They were my lifeline during the few months I needed an extra boost.

T - Take charge.

Be a leader in your own life. Set goals. Make decisions. Get clear about what you're trying to accomplish. Can't stand bookkeeping? Hire someone else to do it. Plan. Organize your time. You are the only person who can get yourself where you want to go.

I - Interview and research. 

If you're at the threshold, chances are you have a thirst for more information whether it's about your career transition into marine biology or your move to Tijuana.

Schedule informational interviews. Set aside time to research online and at the library. Read books and magazines in your area of interest. Gathering concrete information is the name of the game.

O - Over-reward yourself.

This is hard work! You must reward and motivate yourself. The next time you identify a reward for yourself, I challenge you to double it. If you haven't rewarded yourself yet, you MUST do so immediately, if not sooner.

Here's why: living with mentality of abundance is going to take you much farther than a mentality of scarcity ever will.

N - Network, network, network.

Each time you speak to someone about your dream or idea, make sure to utter the magic words, "Who else should I speak to?" or wording to that effect. To network is the act of building your physical connection to people.

When you feel uncomfortable asking others for help, ask them how you can be helpful to them. In fact, no matter what, ask that anyway.


Standing at the edge of going after what you want can be the most challenging phase of transition. You're walking an unsteady swing bridge between where you are and where you want to be.

The next time you find yourself on The Threshold between your idea and bringing it to fruition, take a deep breath and focus on this question, "What's my purpose right now?" The answer will take you where you need to go.

Claudette Rowley, coach and author, helps professionals identify and pursue their true purpose and calling in life. Contact her today for a complimentary consultation at 781.538.6616 or by email. Sign up for her free newsletter "Insights for the Savvy" at metavoice.org.



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Transforming Loss into Creation




by Debra Reble -

Despite the pain it elicits, loss teaches us about the delicate balance, intensity, and richness of life. We cannot experience the pain of loss without first having experienced the joys associated with what has been lost. 

In the movie Shadowlands, poet Joy Gresham, in speaking about her impending death to author C. S. Lewis, expresses,
“The greater the love, the deeper the sorrow and the longer it will take to work through it. That’s the deal.” 

The heartbreak that wounds us most deeply eventually leads us to greater enlightenment, blessing our lives with a more spiritual depth of life.

As I deal with my dear friend’s untimely death this week, I feel a both a great love and a deep sorrow in my heart. However, that was the “deal” when I consciously entered into a pure loving partnership with her here on earth. 

Through our soul connection, I am reminded that our relationship transcends the physical level and energetically resides in the sacred space of soul and in me to transform my pain and loss into creation.

I can best love, honor and respect our connection by transforming my grief into creation. 

Moreover, I can channel the energy unleashed by her death putting her powerful light to positive use. One way is to let that energy as love pour out to those I love, whose friendships I cherish and to the betterment of humanity.

Acknowledging the positive side to loss doesn’t numb its pain for it is the pain itself that opens you to deeper love, trust and spiritual healing. 

The pain lets you know to take precious care of yourself, to sit with your feelings and release them fully before you just move on.

Time may ease the pain of loss, but it is being fully present with your heartache, rather than avoiding it, that is what self-healing is about and our path to transformation. 


Open Yourself

Be gentle, kind and open yourself to transforming your emotional release into a positive, creative force for a higher good. 

You will see that when you emerge on the other side of your pain, you are stronger and lighter for all you have experienced.

Transforming our losses into creation allows us to let go of the past, better appreciate the present and harness light energy to ride the crest of the tsunami in our consciousness toward a more positive future.

It opens us to embrace our natural life cycles, accepting life as a series of births, deaths and transitions that lead to personal transformation. 

It asks the question: “How will we live?” 

Embracing our losses permits us to face and experience the other side of grief, which is unconditional love and trust of ourselves.

The surge of light force energy emanating from this pure love and trust empowers us to let go and transcend emotional pain and create a monumental shift in our lives.




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A Recipe for Alchemy



by Keith Varnum -

Grandma has a scrumptious, old-family recipe for chocolate pecan pie that melts in your mouth. Uncle Bert whips up a killer BBQ sauce for ribs (or grilled tofu).

I’ve discovered a more direct route to happiness—a tantalizing recipe for alchemy!

According to Webster’s dictionary, alchemy is not simply change, but rather “permanent transformation.” Alchemy is a metamorphosis—a lasting, complete change in form. Transmutation.

Alchemy is like the caterpillar after it comes out of the cocoon, having morphed into a butterfly. If that butterfly doesn’t eat the “right" foods, or meditate every morning, it doesn’t boomerang back into a caterpillar! It’s a butterfly for good. Thank God!

So, when we manage to open to true alchemy in our lives, we are forever transformed. 

We’ve broken through to the other side via a one-way portal. The gains we make will last. The progress we’ve achieved will not reverse itself.

What’s Going on Here?

For thirty years with my friends, clients and myself, I’ve witnessed permanent alchemical transformation. Dramatic healings of long-standing physical ailments. Deep emotional and karmic releases. Breakthroughs with money and love. Spiritual awakenings. 

I always ask myself, "Why do some people heal, open or wake up after only one special experience—and for others it takes 20 to 30 such experiences? And for some people 'it' never 'takes' at all!"



The Secret Ingredients

My recipe for alchemy is simple. Mix in equal proportions the following 5 qualities:
  • Safety
  • Eternity
  • Reality
  • Honesty
  • Ecstasy
You can add these ingredients to your life in any order because they all spawn, feed and reinforce each other.

1. A Cup of Safety

What I’ve observed is that people shift toward health, harmony and wholeness when they know that they are safe. When people feel secure, they relax in mind and body. They release their minds’ “death grip” on having to monitor and control each and every aspect of their lives in order to survive.

They no longer have to be right about everything and have all the answers. They feel secure enough to allow some fresh solutions or options to enter the picture. Thus, they can let in a fresh approach or angle that can shift them into a new and better place.

When a person feels safe and relaxes the grip on the body, the body is free to shift, rearrange and adjust—and thus, it balances, harmonizes and heals itself. Even traditional medical doctors admit that the body knows how to heal itself—if we allow it to!

Get to know yourself psychologically. Pay attention to how you respond to different elements in life. In what environments, situations and relationships is it safe for you to relax, let go and open up? Seek and cultivate those spaces and people.

2. A Dash of Eternity

People feel secure when they experience themselves as being connected—part of—something eternal. When people allow themselves to love, or be loved, they open to the experience of someone, or something, outside themselves, larger than themselves. They feel timeless, serene, at one with all life. 

The aborigines of Australia greet each other daily with the salutation, “The forever part of me greets the forever part of you.”

Walk on a beach at sunset, sit on a mountaintop or let yourself fall in love with someone or something. If you allow yourself to be deeply touched by any aspect of life, that life will bestow upon you a glimpse of eternity.

3. A Good Dose of Reality

When people feel they are in touch with something authentic and genuine, their world feels solid and real. When people feel grounded, anchored and centered within their body and world, they feel safe and loved. 

When life feels safe enough to relax into, people feel connected to the Oneness and have a sense of being eternally taken care of.

Seek friends with whom you feel safe enough to be real. 

Find physical activities through which you can get grounded and anchored in a solid, tangible ways to the Earth, to your body and to life. Garden. Hike. Dance. Paint. Sculpt. Massage somebody. Pet a dog or plant. Hug a rock or tree. Do tai chi or yoga. Play a sport. Construct something with wood.

4. An Ounce of Honesty

People are in touch with what accurately and authentically exists in their world when they are honest about how they feel emotionally. This is a major reason why people like the reality shows that are so popular on TV right now. The show participants are entangled in real life situations, presented in fairly authentic ways, within familiar, relatable everyday situations.

Place yourself in situations and with people where it’s easy and possible for you to feel deeply and honestly. Find at least one person with whom you can be genuine and spontaneous—and from whom you feel safe to hear frank feedback.

Also, seeing the practical value of honesty makes the “truth” more attractive and exciting. When you’re honest with yourself about what truly is, and isn’t, working in your life, then you’re dealing with what is really so in your life—instead of what you hope, wish, think or believe is so. 

When you’re working with the truth, the changes you make are beneficial and lasting. You master practical alchemy.

The more you realize that you can manifest solid, permanent, desirable results in your world, the more secure you feel. And when you successfully use your innate power to manifest your soul’s desires, you get in touch with your true nature, which is eternal. To the same end, when you explore your world truthfully, you discover that you are, in reality, eternally safe and loved.

And breaking through into honest enjoyment of your true Eternal Self is an ecstatic experience. You feel real joy, bliss, orgasmic exhilaration. You’re “in heaven.”

5. Ecstasy Pie

The word "ecstasy" comes from the Greek meaning of "ec" (moving out of) and "stasis" (status quo, static, fixed, stagnant). Alchemy is moving out of an old, fixed, stuck place into a new, flowing world. 

As the Doors’ Jim Morrison reminds us, when you "break on through to the other side" of any stuck condition or limitation, you enjoy the freedom to experience life in fresh, different and exciting ways.

Break on through to Alchemy

Ecstasy is a fun and easily attainable state—since it is, after all, our natural state of being.

Give it a chance. Relax that grip on your old picture of yourself and what you think is possible. That’s all it takes to activate alchemical magic in your life!




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