Quantcast
Channel: The Empowerment Experience» Healing
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10

Journey to the Underworld

0
0

For many, this is the time of year when winter’s bones rattle the loudest.  We retreat inward for warmth, comfort and ease while outside, storms blanket  landscapes in snow and ice, long tendrils of crisp, cold air wrap us in their frigid grips and the long, dark wintry nights provide us a shawl by the fire.

Even though it’s warm where I live, I know it’s winter with the way my body feels hungry for heavier, comforting foods, wants to rest more than be active and longs to stay under warm down covers as long as possible. Winter is a time of darkness, hibernation, stillness, and rest ushered in by the Winter Solstice.

For the Mayans, 12/21/12 foretold the end of the world.  For  me, I held to a belief that this date marked a transition point, a significant ending to old ways of being that no longer serve and the birth of a new and somehow improved consciousness both energetically and spiritually.  As such, I wanted to create intentional and sacred space to support whatever end-of-the-world, birth-of-the-new-order was to come.

I participated in a lovely Winter Solstice ritual guided by Kathleen Prophet to not only honor what was 2012, but to also honor the darkness, struggles and challenges I faced. I wanted to share this with you now because:

  1. I deeply believe that  when we make time for the sacred, we intentionally and consciously choose to nourish our souls.
  2. While many would say that on 12/21/12, “nothing happened,” for me looking back on January, it is clear that the Universe has been dropping some pretty major wisdom bombs in my lap (often through chaos, confusion and the totally unexpected) and I suspect that I’m not the only one going through such times of tumult and growth.
  3. We aren’t often willing to acknowledge or even name our darkness.  Yet, without a doubt, the Jewels in the Heart of Darkness (Kathleen’s aptly named ritual) are many, if we can just take the exquisite risk to willingly enter into our darkness to retrieve them.

But why honor the darkness?

Kathleen wrote,

“The great paradox is that much is fashioned in the Darkness… wisdom that we otherwise would never seek for ourselves. In ritually expressing (consciously marking) and celebrating this fact, new places of perception are opened which allow us to access this wisdom and open to the preciousness and potency of living each moment, no matter how challenging.”

Isn’t that beautiful?

So, I built an altar.  Here it is at the beginning:

2012 Solstice Altar

And here it is at the end of the ritual:

20121221SolsticeRitual

Music, guiding questions, silent time, movement, journaling, drawing and connection to the inner landscape: all these elements wove themselves into the S.T.U.N.N.I.N.G. ritual that led me out of 2012 and into 2013.

One of the first journaling exercises involved honoring the pain and suffering I’d experienced in the last year. I remember feeling surprised at how much was on my list. Writing the list allowed me to acknowledge losses, compassionately re-visit experiences of mourning and grief, and pay respects to the tears that flowed uninhibited during those times- 10,000 little expressions of a heart wide open to life.

The journey to the Underworld begun, the question became:

How does the darkness serve?

For those of you who are on the path of growth, healing, integration and self-awareness, this question is pure gold. The question of how the darkness both within and without has served, begs us to unearth the raw ore of our experience so we can later polish them into the true shining gems that they are.

Consider it. In the last year, how have your struggles and challenges, losses and confusion, despair and loneliness served you? What are the gifts born out of the darkness?

You might be thinking “It hasn’t served me. There are no gifts.”

Yet, my challenge to you asks that you widen the scope of possibility that the darkness within isn’t here for us to run from and deny, but that maybe, just maybe, all the challenges you experienced in 2012 (and beyond) serve a greater, Divine purpose that supports the full expansion of your Self.  

Hafiz said,

“All happenings needed to be; accept that my dear…then move on to your glory and sublime reign.”

What if your glory awaits you on the other side of the darkness that you fear to enter and that you resist to honor?

Here were the jewels in the heart of my darkness when I answered, How does the darkness serve?

  • Helps me to more fully realize my depths and expanse, far beyond my physicality, roles and identity,
  • Knowing my darkness, being willing to “go there,” allows me to sit more lovingly with others as they journey in their darkness,
  • It serves as a portal to other planes and dimensions of wisdom, consciousness and connection
  • Just acknowledging those cold, shadowy places within myself, helps me to know I am in the practice of self-love and acceptance,
  • Reminds me that I can love and trust in the great mystery that is life: messy, unpredictable, miraculous, full of joy.

Since then, many more jewels have emerged to adorn my awareness and soul’s path.  To name some biggies, I have learned that receiving love is more challenging than giving it, that judging others increases a sense of separation and decreases a sense of belonging and that truly feeling our feelings all the way through helps to release that energy so it doesn’t get stuck in the body or the mind.

And now, I want to know about you and the how darkness has served you?  In these times when winter has really set in and our craving for spring to arrive builds, opening to the darkness from within and without may bring you more light and radiance than the longest day of the year.

In the comments below, please share your insights, wisdom and gems gained from honoring the darkness.  I really want to hear from you.

As always, thank you for being here.

Blessings in the dark of winter,

M.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images