At the end of August I completed my year-long 'Modern Day Priestess' training and became an Initiated Priestess. I am going to continue with the program as a teacher-trainer when the new training launches this month. If I weren't continuing on this particular path, I suspect I would have felt a deep sense of loss as the training ended. I have grown extremely fond of being in the high vibrational space held by the facilitator Kate Rodger, of sitting in circle with sisters, of remembering the ancient ways together, of processing and clearing while being deeply held by those who understand my heart as well as I do. Of course we are all connected in unbreakable ways and will forever be there for one another - it's just that initial blush, the first coming together of a sacred soul group that is unspeakably sweet and makes me want to grab onto it with both hands and never let go. And of course I eventually must and will. For now I am thrilled that I get to return to the warm embrace of the Casa de Maria, to witness a new soul group coalesce into brightness, to continue my own path of remembering how to hold space for another's brilliance to emerge. So I have been spending time with this concept of 'Initiated'.
Dion Fortune writes that the Initiate is one “...whom the Higher Self, the Individuality, has merged with the personality and actually entered into incarnation in the physical body." In other words, one's Higher Self has now entered the third dimensional purview of the Initiate. One has touched upon the fullness of oneself, and made contact with the higher realms of one's particular beingness. This feels true to me. Since Initiation, I feel a whole other level of connectedness with all that is, and my inner guidance is much more palpable. My still small voice within is ever so much louder.
Just prior to my Initiation, I was told that I was 'leaving behind my secular life' and was becoming something entirely new. These words really struck me, particularly 'secular'. Webster defines secular as "pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal." For all the years I have been on a spiritual path, it has mostly been a segregated one; my life was largely secular with a bit of spirituality thrown in. Over the course of the past few years, my focus has become largely spiritual with some secular thrown in. And now I have committed to a wholly spiritual life.
This is what my Initiation means to me - I have committed to live the truth as I know it, which means living this truth in every moment of every day. This truth is based on Oneness - that we are all One, a single Beingness that essentially copied Itself ad infinitum to experience Itself on a whole new level. To bring about something that had never been before. And the creative urge behind it all is simply Love. And so I am committed to holding the purest vibration I can - to allowing the All to reveal Love through me, as me - thus living my life to it's highest potential. Why? Because I see so much separation in the world - so many souls forgetting they are One with all others.
We have lived in the illusion of separation for many thousands of years, and it wasn't always this way. Our distant ancestors knew about Oneness, they lived it. And some indigenous peoples on the planet still live it today, although they are marginalized as primitive and immaterial. Due to many factors too vast to explore here, the collective consciousness moved away from the truth and reached a tipping point toward separation - and we literally fell from the garden that was Oneness, that was Love. We fell from a place of knowing that when one wins, we all win. And we all lose together too. We fell from sharing our food and resources, from making sure everyone's needs were met, from living in purposeful communities where all members were important and valuable. We fell from a place of understanding that the Earth is us - when we act with disregard toward the planet, we destroy our very own selves.
So, we fell into the illusion that we are all separate from one another and from the Earth and everything in it. We have been wandering in the wilderness ever since...and I choose not to wander any more. I choose to inhabit that part of the collective consciousness where Love resides. And it does not mean ignoring anger or avarice; I simply create a different reality for myself. In truth we each create our own unique world based on our deepest beliefs and truths. It also doesn't mean trying to be perfect, for part of the human experience is the freedom to explore the beautiful contrast of the multitudinous ways of being. The difference is that now when I 'check out', I do so by choice. I consciously go unconscious. And I find I am losing my affinity for unconsciousness.
Now, instead of reacting with anger to the guy who sped up on the freeway rather than letting me in, I remember he is me. I have done this very same thing unconsciously. Even if I haven't, I am certainly capable of an unkind act - we all are, it's our birthright, inherent in free will. And that poor guy hasn't yet remembered that I am him; if he slowed and let me in, his heart would be much better for it. The world would have become incrementally kinder in that moment. So, as an initiated priestess, I will remember for both of us. I will hold him in compassion rather than anger. I will bless him on his way and say a silent prayer that he hears his heart whispering the right thing to do next time. I will hold a space for his remembering that every action, no matter how small or seemingly inconsequential, is vastly important not only for our own lives but for the collective as well, for we are One. I am choosing to hold the high watch, to take the high road, to stand for Love - for all.
To initiate. To begin. If the prophecies of generations of indigenous elders like the Maya are correct, this year marks the time when we are all initiating a path of return - to wholeness, to Oneness, to remembering. To Love.
I believe ~ and I'll see you there ♥
Just prior to my Initiation, I was told that I was 'leaving behind my secular life' and was becoming something entirely new. These words really struck me, particularly 'secular'. Webster defines secular as "pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal." For all the years I have been on a spiritual path, it has mostly been a segregated one; my life was largely secular with a bit of spirituality thrown in. Over the course of the past few years, my focus has become largely spiritual with some secular thrown in. And now I have committed to a wholly spiritual life.
This is what my Initiation means to me - I have committed to live the truth as I know it, which means living this truth in every moment of every day. This truth is based on Oneness - that we are all One, a single Beingness that essentially copied Itself ad infinitum to experience Itself on a whole new level. To bring about something that had never been before. And the creative urge behind it all is simply Love. And so I am committed to holding the purest vibration I can - to allowing the All to reveal Love through me, as me - thus living my life to it's highest potential. Why? Because I see so much separation in the world - so many souls forgetting they are One with all others.
We have lived in the illusion of separation for many thousands of years, and it wasn't always this way. Our distant ancestors knew about Oneness, they lived it. And some indigenous peoples on the planet still live it today, although they are marginalized as primitive and immaterial. Due to many factors too vast to explore here, the collective consciousness moved away from the truth and reached a tipping point toward separation - and we literally fell from the garden that was Oneness, that was Love. We fell from a place of knowing that when one wins, we all win. And we all lose together too. We fell from sharing our food and resources, from making sure everyone's needs were met, from living in purposeful communities where all members were important and valuable. We fell from a place of understanding that the Earth is us - when we act with disregard toward the planet, we destroy our very own selves.
So, we fell into the illusion that we are all separate from one another and from the Earth and everything in it. We have been wandering in the wilderness ever since...and I choose not to wander any more. I choose to inhabit that part of the collective consciousness where Love resides. And it does not mean ignoring anger or avarice; I simply create a different reality for myself. In truth we each create our own unique world based on our deepest beliefs and truths. It also doesn't mean trying to be perfect, for part of the human experience is the freedom to explore the beautiful contrast of the multitudinous ways of being. The difference is that now when I 'check out', I do so by choice. I consciously go unconscious. And I find I am losing my affinity for unconsciousness.
Now, instead of reacting with anger to the guy who sped up on the freeway rather than letting me in, I remember he is me. I have done this very same thing unconsciously. Even if I haven't, I am certainly capable of an unkind act - we all are, it's our birthright, inherent in free will. And that poor guy hasn't yet remembered that I am him; if he slowed and let me in, his heart would be much better for it. The world would have become incrementally kinder in that moment. So, as an initiated priestess, I will remember for both of us. I will hold him in compassion rather than anger. I will bless him on his way and say a silent prayer that he hears his heart whispering the right thing to do next time. I will hold a space for his remembering that every action, no matter how small or seemingly inconsequential, is vastly important not only for our own lives but for the collective as well, for we are One. I am choosing to hold the high watch, to take the high road, to stand for Love - for all.
To initiate. To begin. If the prophecies of generations of indigenous elders like the Maya are correct, this year marks the time when we are all initiating a path of return - to wholeness, to Oneness, to remembering. To Love.
I believe ~ and I'll see you there ♥
