Transmutation News May 2003
Over the years I have been sharing with you the practice of transfiguring into your divinity to heal yourself and the planet. We have been performing ceremonies together to focus spiritual light on creating a new dream of a world that embraces unity and love.
I have shared the stories of many mystics who were born with an obvious core way of being that embraces union, love and light.
Some of us get pushed to the edge into finding the power of working with union with the power of the universe, sources, oneness. I have written many times over the years about Jack Schwarz and his ability to heal himself and his attempts to teach others to do the same.
I just returned from teaching in Austria and Switzerland. A friend of mine shared a story with me about a man who survived being in a concentration camp during the war. When the American soldiers went into the camp to free the prisoners they found him to be in great health. He didn’t look like the rest of the people who had been deprived of food and water and who had been put through all kinds of physical trials. The soldiers asked him how he survived so well. He said that when he was placed in the concentration camp he knew he had a choice. He could either hate his captors or he could see their divinity. He chose to see only their divinity and in doing so did not suffer in any way.
This is an amazing example of how we change who we are and how we perceive the world around us as a way to change the world we live in.
When I talk about perceiving the divinity in others as I did last month and in past Transmutation News I am not talking about excusing the behavior and actions of others. But I am talking about recognizing the spirit and light in all life and thereby lifting the frequency and vibration in the world in which we live.
The mystics who lived and healed by being in union with the divine were born with this gift to teach others. We are all born with this gift, it is more we have forgotten the truth of who we are. So some people remember by being pushed to their limits like Jack Schwarz and the survivor of the concentration camp. I just described.
For those of us who prefer not to be pushed to such an extreme edge to wake us we need to make the choice to do the step by step process of traveling within ourselves to make contact with our own divine nature. We cannot see the divinity in others until we can see it in ourselves.
The rewards for this journey are greater than any material wealth can bring us. As you continue your process of unveiling the gold within you discover the true wealth the old alchemists describe
In working with transfiguration for healing and manifesting our dreams and visions it is important for each of us to continue to explore the attitudes, beliefs and emotions that block us from fully experiencing our divine nature.
It is important for us to keep exploring our inner states and not become static around our practices otherwise there is no growth. Growth is required to keep life in the practices we do.
When I taught the process of transfiguration in Medicine for the Earth I spoke about the need to dismember what physically keeps us separate from that source. We also need to work through and dismember the emotional states and beliefs that keep us separate from our true nature.
It is natural for many of us to get blocked with such beliefs that we are not worthy to experience ourselves as divine. Or we might feel that this is fine for others to do, but I don’t have the power to do it myself. There might be feelings of fear that arise as you tap into such an expanded state of consciousness and state of spiritual power. The list goes on as we each are burdened by different emotions and beliefs which end up supporting the energy of separation versus unity.
As we have been doing transfiguration practices together for years now, it is time to examine how we are really doing with our practice. How deep are you going? What is blocking you from reaching a true state of union?
If we want to truly tap into the full potential of the practice of transfiguration for heali
ng and manifestation we must continue to explore our blocks and obstacles to the process.
I would suggest that you begin this month with either the practice of shamanic journeying or meditating on what is blocking you from going deeper with this work. You might also try some automatic writing as I describe on page 32 of Medicine for the Earth. I find that automatic writing is a great process for getting in touch with unconscious beliefs and emotions that are driving us. Begin by writing a question such as, “What unconscious beliefs are blocking me from experiencing my divine nature?” Then just let you pen or pencil move. At first it might feel forced, but if you stay with it the writing will begin to flow. You can keep your eyes part open and part closed. Or you can close your eyes while you write. This can help you move the process out of your intellect.
Once we begin to learn about the beliefs and emotions that are pulling back on our transfiguration process we want to start to work them through.
For ways to do this I need to refer you back to some of the practices in Medicine for the Earth. For example, you can use the process of observation that I describe in Chapter five.
You might want to look at Part VI on Ceremonies. I find that we can work in partnership with the elements to help us release beliefs and emotions that block our creative potential. I wrote about fire ceremonies but you can develop a ceremony using any of the elements. You can create a ceremony where you let water wash away what you are trying to let go. You can ask air to carry away your blocks. You can ask earth to take and transmute your emotions and beliefs. Most important you want to make sure to remember to build into your ceremony the intention to transmute the energy behind your emotions and beliefs into love and light so that you are not dumping them into the earth, air, water and fire.
You can perform your ceremony in ordinary reality which creates a certain power when you have to get physically involved in the process. But you can also perform your ceremony of releasing and transmuting in a meditation or shamanic journey.
I had a request from a reader that we do some merging with the elements again. It is important to keep up the work by learning about the elements by becoming them. I have learned so much over the years by keeping up the practice and not just thinking one experience gives me all the information I will ever need.
This is such a potent time for the element earth. This month let’s merge with earth. I suggest that you merge with the earth where you are living. This will give you a real sense of the energy and power of where you are living.
You can look at pages 152-153 of Medicine for the Earth for how to work with merging.
If you are trained in shamanic journeying you would set you intention to want to merge with the earth where you live. Or you can put on some music and allow yourself to get into an expanded state of consciousness and do a meditation as earth. Notice the movement and heat as earth during this season. It’s really interesting to do this journey during each season.
At the end of your journey or meditation, through intention, disengage from being earth and ground yourself back into your body. Intention is always key with disengaging and grounding. As you know taking a walk outside or doing some exercise is good for grounding also. As you ground yourself to your land you just merged with you continue to deepen your relationship to the land where you live. We are always trying to deepen our connections and relationships as we continue our work.
I have had a big year for traveling and teaching. I have met so many people who told me how much they liked reading Medicine for the Earth. I always hear the same comment however about how many exercises there are to do as if they are a burden.
As I am preparing to do a lecture for a CD for Sounds True on Medicine for the Earth I am rereading the book. In the introduction I explained that the exercises are suggestions of how you can work with bringing the material into your daily life. I can’t find anywhere that I wrote you have to do all the exercises.
I think some of us get into a place of feeling as if you have been given homework. I want to remind all of you of the Haitian proverb I also quote:
“The gods won’t appear, the magic won’t happen, if we are not living our real life. Studying life is not living life and therefore has no magic.”
There are so many inspirational books available and so many workshops taught around the world on spiritual practices. I see the shadow side of such an abundance of material that people end up studying spirituality as if it was an academic course in school.
Books and courses should inspire you to change how you live your life. Your practices should sculpt you into a person that goes beyond the projections placed on you and who society told you you should be.
Please don’t see the exercises I have given in Medicine for the Earth as “homework”. Please allow yourself to read the book and suggestions of practices to bring into your daily life to bring you to living your life in a way that contains magic.
It’s all about how we end up living our life that makes a difference not how much knowledge we accumulate.
I taught workshops over in Switzerland and Austria during the month of April. Some of you shared with me that you wanted to participate in the ceremonies that I have been sharing in the Transmutation News but you have felt so isolated as you have no one in your life to perform them with.
I have been attempting to help us feel connected to a larger circle. I know this is harder to experience when we are home alone trying to do our ceremonies when you know others have circles where they are done in community.
I thought this month we could focus our energies on expanding our circle outside of our home and smaller communities we work in so we can embrace all of us around the world who feel isolated in our practices.
I suggest that on the full moon we continue to weave a planetary web of light. But let’s also all get into a transfigured state and in that state feel yourself connecting to all the people in the world who are working together on this day. Feel yourself connected to one circle of love and support.
Those of you who do work in groups focus your energies in expanding out and reaching your light and love to those working alone. We are never alone spiritually, yet we can feel alone when we are physically working in isolation.
Let’s focus our energies to really create a world community coming together to create a web of light for the planet. Open your heart and feel the connection. There is great power in this as we remember we are a field of energy that none of us are separate from.
And let’s remember to embrace those women and children around the world for whom our environment no longer supports life.
The full moon is May 15.
While I was teaching in Switzerland and Austria I talked to so many people who are either having problems reading the Transmutation News in English or who cannot read English at all and feel they are missing out.
Some students in Austria have offered to try and translate the Transmutation News into German and set up a separate website which would be linked to this one for a German edition.
I wanted to report that this work is in progress and will let you know as I hear more how it is proceeding.
I also wanted to announce that in 2004 I will begin a Two Year Training that will combine a progression of what I have been teaching in the Medicine for the Earth Gatherings and Advanced Healing Training along with training people how to teach shamanism and shamanic healing. This course will not include how to teach the Medicine for the Earth work. That teacher
training is still a separate course.
I have had a vision for many years that it is time to seed our communities with well trained teachers in shamanism. So I am delighted to finally work on manifesting this vision. I am planning to create an alliance of shamanic teachers as I have done with the Medicine for the Earth Teachers.
There will be one Two Year Training offered in the East Coast and one Two Year Training offered in Santa Fe.
I will give more details on the dates and contact information in the next couple of months. I have the dates for the one in Santa Fe. I still have to schedule the dates for the one on the East Coast and I will be doing that while I am on the East Coast in May.
Pythagoras urged humankind “to prefer the treasures of the mind and soul to accumulations of earthly goods.” On the Golden Verses of Pythagoras he says that if we transcend our lower material nature, we will once again unite with the gods and partake of their immortality.
Ancient writers, mystics, healers and teachers have been trying to share with us the great wealth that we can gain from doing the alchemical work in and through the dense darkness inside.
Think of the practices we are doing together as a great adventure instead of one more thing you have to add to your busy schedule. We are all looking for freedom. Freedom lies in you.
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