The Importance of the "Shadow"

“The Shadow describes the part of the psyche that an individual would rather not acknowledge. It contains the denied parts of the self. Since the self contains these aspects, they surface in one way or another. Bringing Shadow material into consciousness drains its dark power, and can even recover valuable resources from it. The greatest power, however, comes from having accepted your shadow parts and integrated them as components of your Self. Everyone carries a Shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. At all counts, it forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

- Carl G. Jung

“When you distance yourself from the source of suffering, when you name it as opposite to what you want to be (I assume that you all want to be good, don’t you?), you lose a chance to change it. Because it continues to live inside you, as part of you, making you make many of your choices, but you refuse to recognize it, so you remain in ignorant bliss and you continue to suffer.”

- Olga Kharitidi, “The Master of Lucid Dreams”

There Is Only the One Creator, Goddess

There is only One Creator. It is the Goddess, the Mother creating Herself as the Universe, as every living and non-living form. Goddess has created the mountains and the oceans, the stars and the planets out of all that She is. She is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent; She knows all there is to know, and gives of Herself unconditionally all the time.

Goddess is alive within me as my very heartbeat, as my very breath. I am made of the essence of Goddess, at the core of who I am is Her Peace, Her Wisdom, the Life that She is. This is true of me and every person breathing within and as Her Creation. Every word I speak, every thought that flows through me is sourced within her Essence.

I, therefore, speak my word with the understanding that I am divinely guided by Her Wisdom in all that I say, and all that I do, and that all is infused with Goddess. I declare that Her divine Love vibrates through every cell of this body temple in such a way that it expands out from my core into the world at large and touches every heart within my circle. This Love of Goddess draws into my Life the power of this Love in return so that I am surrounded by my complements in other people. All of my relationships are rooted in the deep harmony of Goddess so that I am supported, and successful in all activities, in work, in relationship, in prosperity, in health. Nothing is preventing the upleveling of my experience of Goddess, and She shows up in greater and more loving ways not only for myself but for everyone. For there is only One of us here, and I accept this Unity in, through, and as the Mother Goddess right here, right now.

In gratitude and with thanksgiving I let Her do what She does best. For “I can of mine own self do nothing.” (John 5:30) “But the Creator that dwelleth in me, this Creator doeth the work.” (John 14:10)

Amen.

The Soul of Money

I have been revisiting this book by Lynne Twist. She's been around the world as a fundraiser and activist for World Hunger and many others. She shares a story of a people that live deep in the Amazon rain forest, the Achuar people. This village of people have no culture based in money, have not used currency of any kind that exchanges hands for goods or services. Instead their culture is all inclusive in how it cares for its family and I can't get this image out of my mind. Imagine: When their child gets married both families come together and build the new couple their home. All they will need to begin their lives together is provided by their community. When a hunter brings food back from the jungle all the people gather to feast and share the food. No one is left without support and sustenance. She contrasts this way of life with the life of our modern monetary culture by sharing the experience of a designated native who lived with them in the US and learned our language and the culture of money. Our entire culture, purpose in living, and relationships as a community are based on the accumulation and value of money and consumerism. A person's value is based on their relationship and success with money. If you do not have it, have failed to earn it or succeed in the game of money, you are left to wither away, abandoned. What a contrast! I have been trying on the feeling of what it must be like to live in a community that gives freely of all of its resources with no intention or concept of keeping something for themselves when others are without. I am struck deeply by the inhumanity of our monetary culture and how it has destroyed our capacity to love and care for one another.

"...turn entirely away..."

"...turn entirely away from the condition, because as long as we look at it, we cannot overcome it. By thinking upon a condition, we tend to animate it with the life of our thought, and thereby it is perpetuated and magnified. To rise above the contemplation of conditions is to enter that field of Causation which makes all things new in our experience." Ernest Holmes
There are those days when I am at peace with my spiritual beliefs and teachings in New Thought/Science of Mind, and then there are those days when I am completely thrown by a statement that stimulates so many questions that I am lost in my faith; when I become so bewildered by a statement that I am thrown into a tailspin and know no peace with the tradition I had just yesterday strongly aligned myself with. I am looking for the Truth in this quote with a capitol T. My mind naturally gravitates toward solving problems, studying a situation in order to understand its parts and effects. I feel I must understand what is my part in facilitating any changes that will benefit and uplift the situation. (Like solving our environmental dilemmas.)I have been trained to never ignore or deny the shadow but to acknowledge its presence as a way of neutralizing the dark effects it can have. To turn entirely away from a situation can also mean to go into denial, to oppress, to disassociate when direct attention is the healing mechanism. Unless Ernest Holmes in this statement is referring to the tendencies sometimes to unnecessarily obsess or perseverate about a situation I am right now in disagreement with him. And I am in deep contemplation about the implications herein. One day inner peace, the next day not as much...Peace is not an easy or passive path.

Heart Intelligence

It is a universal law that I have been taught—that the more loving you are, the more intelligent you become. If we have been able to create so much using just our minds, imagine what we might create if we were operating from the heart! Mind would not be inactive or unused—it would grow much more powerful, because it would be in right relationship to heart—to the source of being, and to creation. If we stop operating from an ego-driven, mental consciousness, we stop striving for meaningless things that gratify only the smallest part of who we are. We stop wasting our mental energy and can start directing every ounce of our hearts and minds to creating bounty for all beings. We could create a paradise on earth, unlike anything we have seen before. From Kiesha Crowther "Little Grandmother". Full text here http://www.greatmystery.org/nl/glast2011littlegrandmother.html.

A Project of Self: The Power of Affirmations

I took an entire day to focus my attention on repeating mentally a well thought out affirmation that would have the power to change the conditions of my life. I repeated this affirmation before I started my day, while driving, while eating, while walking, while reading, while making art, during my entire day in every moment I could remember to practice it. It was like I held the hand of a small child with an unwavering grip as I embedded the truth of this affirmation into my thinking and feeling atmosphere. I was given proof of the impact of my efforts when throughout the night the changes taking place in my soul revealed themselves throughout my dreams. There were dreams of floods, massive floods washing away debris, displacing people, bringing community together for survival. More dreams of packing up, preparing for a trip, saying goodbye to my home town. The best dream of all was standing on top of a flat roof that functioned as a viewing platform with railings and all. The view was of majestic mountains surrounding the small valley of activity where the packing and planning for travel was taking place; tall, green trees covered the peaks and sides of these mounds of earth. I was standing in the middle of a majestic space, a living forest reaching high up into the sky. The wind picked up and blew through the forest with such force that the sound was of a roaring applause. The trees were applauding me. I bowed to them. I sent out a prayer of thanksgiving. Below a few people had set up some chairs and were watching the show. I turned, and hugged the people coming up the stairs to celebrate with me. I am truly in the process of creating a new me, a new life. There is a power at work in me and I hold the door open for Its will through me as I use It for my Good.

"Ideals"

"You and I are artists. But we are prone to look too long and often at our canvas--the results of our efforts; and too little at our ideals, which are the sources of all effort and power of accomplishment. Let us take time every day for gazing upon our models--our Ideals. The first thing in the morning and the last thing at night should be daily given to special gazing upon what we desire. Then many times a day we should pause in our efforts, for a few moments' study of the Ideal....And remember always that the matter of first importance is to keep sweet. To let a change upset you simply necessitates extra time and effort to get settled again." Elizabeth Towne