Moving this blog

I have decided to combine my blog and my website to make a more streamlined experience for me and for my readers, students, and clients. Hopefully this will mean that I will also be updating more regularly ;)

I'm leaving this blog and its comments in place for now.

Visit the new website at www.lamplightspirit.com

Follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jonahdoveCTS

Blessings,
Jonah

Invoking Love

My good friend Tina of Open Roads Coaching is hosting a really fantastic series of guest posts focused on self love. This is my contribution to her "Leap Into Love" series. I hope you'll check it out, and take a peek at some of the other entries. The series is running throughout February.

http://openroadscoaching.com/invoking-love

A is for Axis Vobis (part 2)

(Part 1 is here)

There is, as always, another layer to this concept of the axis of self. An axis is, after all, a sort of central column of something around which that something moves or rotates. So what is your center? What do you rotate around?

Most people have some trouble with this question. It's hard to touch on what lies at our core. It can be as difficult to see what our true values and beliefs are as it is to see what's going on with the hair on the back of our heads. Luckily we have mirrors. And the mirror we use to look at our Axis Vobis is our life.

Last week we talked about the energy from the heavens and the underworld flowing along the Axis Mundi and out into our world, creating all that is. We did some grounding work to take that concept and make it personal, channeling those energies through our own core. Well, just as the physical world is created by the combined powers from above and below, so are our lives created by our highest values and our darkest shadows.

The best way to come to understand what you truly believe is to take a good look at your life. We've all heard that we create our own reality, so let's try taking that literally.* What are the conditions of your life? What is in order, and what is in disarray? What feels strong and stable, and what feels flimsy? Where are there things, people, or situations that drain your energy instead of feeding it?

Once you've taken stock, you can begin to assess the method behind the madness. Ask yourself what beliefs you hold that might cause you to continually recreate the patterns you see. Which of these are valid and true and create good results, and which create more chaos than they are worth?

Some of these beliefs may not be conscious. Remember, your Shadow self lives in the underworld, affecting you on a level you may not even sense. What have you denied in yourself? What wounds have you sustained that have been internalized instead of healed?

What is really required for this work to be successful is a change of perspective. We can't look at things in the same old ways and expect to see something new. Odin hung himself upside down on Yggdrasil, the great World Tree, for nine days in the pursuit of wisdom. He made a sacrifice of Himself, to Himself, and received the Runes as a result.

What does it mean to hang yourself upside on the World Tree? Remember that you are the World Tree, the Axis Vobis, and turn your life upside down! Put your head down in the Shadow and see what's there. Put your feet up in the heavens and walk with your highest ideals instead of just giving them lip service. The self you sacrifice is the old, outmoded ego-trappings that you get stuck in so easily only because you cling to them. The Self you make the sacrifice to is your True Self, your Divine Self, your Unified Self.

But if you're not ready to turn your life upside down, that's okay, too. Just remember to ground. :)

*I'm not suggesting that you are responsible for what others have done to you, or that you necessarily deserve the hardships you are facing. But you are responsible for how you choose to react to them.

A is for Axis Vobis (part 1)

The Axis Mundi - the "axis of the world" - is often seen as the World Tree, the giant metaphysical tree that is thought to stretch between the three worlds, connecting and supporting them. Its roots reach deep into the underworld, its branches hold up and stretch through the heavens. The physical plane, where we live our lives, expands out around the trunk.

Yggdrasil - World Tree

As with all things spiritual, though, there is another layer to this. The World Tree not only extends through the worlds, it extends through us. We are the World Tree. The World Tree is us. And so 'A,' this week, is for Axis Vobis,* the "axis of you."

It has been said that only two Earthly creatures have access to all three realms - trees and humankind. The difference between a tree and a person, of course, is that people are not physically rooted and can move around. We can do work in this world. While the trees mediate energy between the realms above and below, we have the unique gift to not only mediate those energies but to channel them and put them to use here, in the physical.

One of the easiest ways to work with this concept is through a grounding meditation. Most people reading this will probably know one or more ways to ground already. Through this type of meditation you can access the power of the worlds below and above and draw them into you. My version of the grounding meditation also combines these energies and helps you to use them. Below is a simplified version of this meditation. While this visualization seems very "nice," there is a lot going on here, which will be explained below.

Stand or sit upright with a solid but relaxed posture. Breathe slowly and evenly, in through your nose and out through your mouth. Allow your thoughts and emotions to settle.

Imagine that a red cord begins to extend down from your root chakra on your exhale, burrowing easily into the Earth. Every exhale sends the red cord farther down into the Earth, through all of her many layers. Take as much time as you need with this, sending your cord down and down, until finally it encounters and dips into the glowing molten core of the planet. Feel the hot, red, liquid iron at the center of the Earth begin to draw it up through your red cord on each of your inhalations, as if you were sucking it up through a straw. Let it rise into your body, filling you completely. Every muscle is warmed and relaxed by this iron Earth energy. Every cell is revitalized and energized.

When you are as full as you can be of the red energy, imagine that your crown chakra opens up. A white cord extends from there, up into the sky. Just as you sent the red cord down, send the white cord up now, higher and higher, out into space until you find it up amongst the stars. Allow your cord to grow until it touches one of those stars, shining brightly with pure white light. When you are ready, draw white starlight down through your white cord. It moves quickly and easily towards you, rushing like a waterfall. Allow it to fill you from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet, just as you allowed the iron energy to fill you before.

Finally, gather both the red energy from below and the white energy from above at the same time. Pull them into your heart center and allow them to blend. They swirl together. They form a soft pink light. Know that this light is balanced and healing, containing the energies of the underworld and the heavens, of the stars and the Earth. The light spills out of your heart, filling your entire body. It continues, radiating out into your aura, cleansing it and strengthening its edges. And it flows out even more, moving out all around you, blessing the space you occupy.

The underworld is the world of our Ancestors and the Fay, and it where our Shadow dwells. It's sometimes called the "causal plane." While we live in the realm of effect, the underworld is the realm of cause, and the beings there have influence over the patterns of energy that will eventually rise up into our world as things and circumstances. If you think about who our Ancestors are, they are the ones who have formed us - through genetics, through their actions, through their creations, and through their ideals.

Our child/animal nature is also connected to the underworld, and by drawing up energy from there we connect with our most innocent - and our most carnal - aspects. The Shadow, which is made up of everything we've denied or buried about ourselves, is also thought to live in the underworld. Whether this means some shared underworld or a personal underworld (the subconscious mind) is debatable, and really irrelevant. Living in the underworld, our Shadow has power over the causal patterns that eventually manifest in our lives. This is why an unexamined Shadow can cause so much havoc. Connecting to the underworld through grounding can be a first step in preparing us for the journey towards reintegrating parts of Shadow - a journey that all serious spiritual seekers must eventually take.

The heavens or the overworld, on the other hand, is the world of our Gods, Guides, and Guardians. It is also where we find our "higher self" (or Godsoul, Holy Guardian Angel, Christ Consciousness, etc.). If the seeds of cause get planted in the underworld, it is the light of the heavens which they grow towards. The heavens are concerned with the big picture, the grand design, the cosmic cycles. We are cogs in a machine which is a cog in a larger machine, according to the heavenly point of view. "The needs of the many," the power of time to render small moments indecipherable from one another, the beauty of the spinning of galaxies... these are the powers we connect to above.

On their own, either of these principles are incomplete and potentially dangerous. Without the heavenly influence, the underworld power would make us self-centered, self-righteous, and self-serving. Without the underworld influence, the heavenly power would make us indifferent, dispassionate, and unfeeling. But together, in balance, compassion emerges. Curiosity is met with knowledge to breed wisdom. The whole is protected while the individual is still honored.

Yes, we need access to all of the realms, to all of our parts. And once we have accessed them and remembered their meaning, we can use those powers to shape the world around us by acting in right relationship to it.


A is for Axis Vobis (part 2) is coming up soon!




*Yeah, I don't speak Latin. Google Translate and an online Latin dictionary helped me determine that "vobis" might be the best word here. If you do speak Latin, feel free to let me know if there's a more appropriate way to express this concept.

Pagan Blog Project 2012

I will be participating in the Pagan Blog Project 2012. The idea is that every Friday each participant will publish a blog post about something related to their spiritual path. The writing prompt is a letter of the alphabet. So the first two Fridays in January are assigned the letter A, followed by two weeks of B, etc.

I'm starting a couple weeks in, so my next post will be on the letter A. I'm not sure if I'm going to try to keep up with the weekly postings for this project. I may just do one for each letter. We'll see.

Enjoy!

Stepping Towards Balance

Welcome.

We're entering Autumn - my favorite time of year, by far. Many people of my faith seem to find this to be true for them, as well. It's a time of magic, a time of being between. In the calmness, something subtle is given permission to arise. The crispness in the air carries those delicate threads of twilight in ways that cannot be found at other times of year.

For now, at the equinox, that magic is just emerging. The days here in southern California are still warm, but the evenings are getting cool; the moon shines her sympathetic light brighter than before. And for now, at the equinox, our thoughts turn to balance and to harvest.

It's unfortunate that at this time of balance, so much imbalance can be seen in every direction. It is saddening, and maddening, that I can't simply write a post about the warm fuzzies that come with the cooling of the year. While I was getting ready to write this, I remembered that one of my Teachers, T. Thorn Coyle, had written an equinox-themed post today which I hadn't yet read. She said it better than I could, and I recommend reading her post here.

We are so out of balance. The world, and the individuals within it. I see it every day in myself. I see it manifest in my clients right before my eyes. I see it in the news (which I am careful not to marinate myself in). And on this sacred day of harvest I am forced to wonder: what fruit has all of this imbalance borne? And as we struggle for an impossible ideal of a static, stubborn "balance" that ignores the constant changes, the many viewpoints, and the differing feelings and experiences both within us and within the world, what further damage will be done?

But this is why I do my Work. This is why I sit at my altar, why I teach, why I offer spiritual guidance and cleansing services, and why Theodora and I have begun making magical products to share with you all. It's about balance. It's about hope. It's about creating the space, time, environment, circumstance, opportunity to take a step back towards wholeness.

What do you do to help restore balance? What have you been doing to counteract that work - to undermine yourself? Not everyone knows what their Work is, or how to even begin turning things around. But it can begin with something as simple as a breath - something as quick as a moment. And in that breath, a decision to remember your wholeness, your compassion, your ability to heal.

We can find a way towards balance. My way and yours will likely not be the same, but there's no reason we can't help one another. In fact, we must help one another. We must come together and refuse to be driven apart. We must find a way to honor ourselves and each other.

And we can. We will.