Copyright(c) 2007 Lynn Woodland
This is the week of the winter solstice, the turning of light that marks the beginning of winter. While spring and fall bring the radical, even violent, upheavals of physical birth and death, winter and summer bring far more subtle changes, especially in regions where seasons are most pronounced. Fall may start out looking like summer and end looking like winter, but winter begins and ends wintry.
If the equinoxes represent the birth and death portals of physical life, the solstices represent something more spiritual. Summer offers us the power of now: the spiritual recognition that life is good—abundant even—and all we need do is look around us to see it, and open our arms to receive it. Winter offers something equally potent: the restoration of faith in what can’t be physically seen. Winter invites us to find the wonder and wisdom of childlike perception that believes in magic and has abounding hope for the future. This isn’t the season for digging, planting, and striving to achieve goals. Neither is it the season to kick back and reap the reward of seeds we’ve sown. Rather, now is an opportunity to receive Divine Grace; to know that we are loved, not for what we’ve done, but because we are; and not just by those we know, but by something unseen and mysterious. Now is a time for being gifted, but not in the “Ask and you shall receive” way of the summer solstice. This is when we receive gifts we didn’t know to want, gifts of spirit that satisfy all other wants.
In the same way that we may resist the passions of spring, or forget to stop and smell the roses in summer, or choose not to heed the call of the hero’s journey through the underworld in fall, we may close our hearts to these gifts of spirit. As mentioned in last week’s lesson, that’s when we’re more likely to go into a funk this time of year. So, in preparation for the spiritual initiation at the end of this lesson, spend a whole day on the following exercise. Let it help you dial down the noisy reality of your physical senses and awaken the wisdom of your heart because, truly, awakening the heart is what the solstice rebirth of light is most about.
Exercise I: Building Wonder
Imagine that reality as you’ve known it has been suspended and you’ve entered a window where miracles can happen, where anything is possible. Before going on to the next part of this lesson, spend a day living as if every fiber of your being recognizes that miracles are in the air and you know that something wonderful is about to happen. You don’t know what, you just know it will be a magical manifestation of Divine Grace. As you go about your day, see if you can feel the very air charged with this sense of something wonderful about to happen. As the outer light darkens, imagine that you can see an inner light permeating the physical realm. Picture light emanating from people and a radiance coming from objects. Let a feeling of excitement, wonder, and anticipation build all day.
Claiming Power
Every equinox and solstice week of this course is dedicated to calling forth something important and life-changing. At the summer solstice it’s a ritual for manifesting in physical form our highest hearts’ desires. Now isn’t the time for growing tangible fruits, yet what we call forth may be the most important manifestation of all. Instead of seeking the fulfillment of outer manifestation, this week we’ll claim a spiritual power. Spiritual powers, as I’m referring to them here, include such qualitative states of being as love, faith, courage, acceptance, grace, peace, joy, living in the moment, compassion, honesty, integrity, forgiveness, vision, wisdom, creativity, surrender, trust, receptivity, and generosity, to name just a few.
Claiming spiritual power is very different from manifesting a specific outcome. A power confers the capacity to manifest many outcomes. For example, the disappearance of a physical symptom is an outcome, while the capacity to heal is a spiritual power. Claiming the power to heal promotes a state of health more broadly than does simply disappearing a particular illness. Creating a circumstance or event that evokes joyfulness is another example of an outcome, while the pure experience of joy regardless of outer circumstances is a spiritual power. The magnetism of inner-generated joyfulness has a way of attracting a multitude of opportunities, circumstances, and fortunate experiences to us and even enables us to find the blessing in experiences that others would see as misfortune.
Claiming power is different from creating an outcome in another way, as well. I’ve used the word “claiming” rather than “growing” or “creating” in relation to this process purposefully, because it’s not about identifying something we don’t have and looking outside of ourselves to find it. To claim a spiritual power we must reach within to our highest self; to our spiritual essence. At the level of our true Self, there is no lack. There is no missing spiritual power. It’s all there, even though our personality may not have recognized many aspects of this Self. In keeping with the energy of the season, we’re looking within for all that we need.
Claiming power can be accomplished simply, through the slightest act of intention, and may offer little evidence immediately that anything at all is different. Yet, this conscious willingness to become more fully our true Self opens the door for Divine Will to override our personality’s agendas, taking us in directions we may never have anticipated. What began imperceptibly takes on a life of its own and may change us dramatically, sometimes in ways that feel unexpected and out of control, since our ego is no longer leading the way. Yet the journey is always in the direction of our highest good and highest joy. It’s like getting on a roller coaster—it starts out slow and safe, until suddenly the real ride begins. Then we’re completely out of control and there’s nothing we can do but hold on for dear life, surrender to the ride, and wonder what made us get on in the first place. But, before we know it, the ride’s over and we remember why we got on: it’s fun! And no matter how out of control we felt, we recognize afterward that we were safe the whole time. Maybe we even turn around and buy another ticket! So, if you choose to do the spiritual work suggested here, understand the power of the process you’re setting in motion and get ready for the ride!
The power you choose to claim is entirely up to you. Why give attention to just one aspect of spiritual power when, in truth, we already have all power? Why not claim more than one, or many powers at once? There is no cookbook formula for this, and each of you must listen to your own inner guidance around this work. I suggest just one simply because choosing many is often the ego’s way of choosing none. Choosing everything can be a way of committing to nothing, and this claiming of power is, in essence, an act of commitment.
The spiritual work of empowerment isn’t an “I want” experience. Power is a responsibility, albeit a joyful one. It’s an offering of self (small “s”) up to spirit so that our life can become a more refined expression of Divine Will. Claiming this higher power invariably requires giving up some lesser one. And here lies the real work of claiming true power.
These lesser powers are ones rooted in fear. We’ve grasped at them as substitutes for true power because we believe we can’t have any better. A lesser power, for example, might be our stubborn insistence upon being “right” that we cling to because the power of love eludes us. Or, it could be the sympathy and other payoffs of being a victim that we settle for when we fear we won’t succeed as creators of our lives. It might be the power of invisibility we opt for when we believe we’d fail or be rejected if we took the spotlight and let ourselves be seen. Or it may be the power illness gives us to ask for what we need, set limits, and change our priorities (things we wouldn’t dare to do without the illness forcing us) that we unconsciously choose over the power to heal. It’s the power of being an underdog when we fear the expectations others would have of us if we embraced our power to lead.
Recognizing the lesser power that you’re most attached to may help you to see the spiritual power you’re most ready to claim. Or, it may be the other way around. If you know what power you most want to experience, consider how your life could change if you were to become truly powerful in this way. What new responsibilities would come with it? What options would you lose? What expectations would other people have of you? Invariably, any spiritual power you don’t recognize as present in yourself will lead you to a lesser power you’re clinging to out of fear. Being willing to acknowledge the payoffs of powerlessness is a necessary step into power.
Exercise II: Identifying a Spiritual Power and a Lesser Power
- Do some reflection to discern what spiritual power you’d like to dedicate the coming year to expressing more fully in your life. Bring your talisman into this process, because this is the work it was created for. Perhaps it has already shown you the direction of power your Higher Self is urging you toward. Meditate with it as you did in our lesson two weeks ago. Let your inner guidance direct you to the power that is your new path of spiritual growth.
- When you give this power a name, write it down somewhere so that you will be able to return to it this time next year and review all the ways it has actualized. Along with the spiritual power, identify the lesser power most holding you back. What are you willing to do to release this lesser power?
Exercise III: Reflection on Power (Give yourself a quiet moment for this.)
- Imagine that today a power is awakened in you. Not an ordinary power—a miraculous power that singles you out from other people. Imagine that suddenly you now have the power to perform healing miracles. Or perhaps you suddenly develop the ability to see angels or hear messages of guidance that others can’t hear, or see into the future. Maybe you become able to manifest things instantaneously with your thoughts. What if you now had the ability to attract an enormous flood of money to yourself and were free to use it as you pleased—to indulge yourself, to make a difference in the world, to create something…? Perhaps you have the ability to awaken healing powers in others, or to inspire and lead those around you, or some other undreamed power….
Imagine going to sleep tonight knowing that this power is now a part of who you are. Can you sleep? Are you burdened? Do you feel excited, grateful, or afraid? Imagine waking up with this big power. How do you go about your life? Do you do what you normally do, or does everything change? What do you tell your friends? How does it feel to live with this power? How does it change you, change your life, change people’s expectations of you? Do you feel more connected to other people or more separate from them? More at peace or more conflicted? Does it feel like a gift or a burden?
- Let the preceding reflection give you insight into your level of comfort with power and your readiness for it.
Exercise IV: The Initiation
Make sure you have some uninterrupted time to relax and imagine before you begin the following meditation. If you wish, light a candle, put on quiet music, or otherwise create a sacred atmosphere. You might even want to save it for the day of the solstice, which generally falls between the 20th and the 22nd of the month. The more care you give to setting up the experience, the more you convince yourself that something important is taking place, and so it does. Have your talisman with you as you go into the meditation.
This is extremely powerful work we’re doing. The power of group energy, the power of the seasonal energy of light reborn, and the foundation that’s been laid in previous lessons—all these come together to create an opportunity for a tremendous acceleration of your growth. This could be a turning point in your life if you choose to allow it.
Meditation
Sit quietly, holding your talisman. Relax your body and quiet your mind with some deep, slow breaths….
Softly, let your awareness expand to include your Higher Self—the beautiful, radiant being of light that is your true Self. See the Higher Selves of other students in this program now joining you…. We’ve all gathered, once again, beyond the illusionary limits of space and time, to assist each other in healing. Together we form a powerful circle for spiritual work. First you see those who are currently in this program, and then, because in the spiritual realm time is an illusion, you also see the lights of all the souls who have in the past and will in the future gather in this circle created by our intent. Recognize how much more powerful we are together. Our joined intentions quicken our growth so that what has seemed difficult in the past will come more easily now. Take a moment to feel the energy of the circle building….
Imagine that we are joined by a myriad of spiritual beings who assist in the spiritual evolution of humanity and of our planet. Call upon the power of Spirit and the forces of Light and Love in whatever way is meaningful to you. Feel them adding light to our circle and know that they have gathered with us to assist in an initiation into power for all those ready to take a bigger role in the work of Love. See them now preparing a place in the center of our circle for this initiation to occur.
While we’ve prepared an intention of power for this initiation, and will certainly claim it, for those of us who’ve done the work and taken the steps that have brought us to this circle, the center now offers an added gift—the gift of Divine Grace. This is a gift we may never have thought to ask for, yet it satisfies the deepest longings of our soul. It’s an unconditional gift that we don’t need to earn or deserve; it’s an expression of how loved we are by something we can’t see. It may feel and manifest differently for each person who receives it. Be open to receiving gifts beyond what you’ve dreamed.
When the time feels right, imagine yourself moving from your place in the circle to the center, with your talisman in hand. Take a moment to just be in the center and notice what you see and feel. You may sense or see spiritual guides with you. Feel every being in the circle radiating a powerful vibration of love to you, helping to awaken in you your chosen power. Say out loud, “I now claim my power of….” Fill yourself with the inner experience of the power you’ve chosen. Vividly see it, feel it, do it and be it in your imagination.
Fill yourself so completely with the energy of this power that it can’t help but overflow. Send it to everyone in the circle around you…. Send it as light, energy, emotion, and vibration to anyone in your life you’d like to give the gift of this power to…. Send it to the world as a healing emanation. Use your talisman in this ritual of energy in whatever way is appropriate. It may amplify the energy coming to you; you may flow energy through it; it may help ground you.
When your initiation of power feels complete, take another moment to be still and receive the gift of Divine Grace…. Just let it be….
Now ask for a sign—something you’re sure to see in your life from time to time, and when you do, it will be a reminder to release your lesser power and give in service the power you’ve just claimed.
When you’re ready, imagine yourself moving out of the center and taking your place in the circle, becoming a helper to other souls who are stepping in for their awakening into power.
Take a moment to let the ritual complete itself in your mind’s eye. Let your attention shift to your body and the physical space around you and the ground beneath you. Take a couple of deep breaths to bring yourself all the way back. Be aware of the talisman, still in your hand, now infused with the energy of this initiation into power. Let it help to ground you. Let it also be a physical reminder of the power that is now yours. Look at it often, perhaps carry it with you.
Exercise V: Walking in Power
To follow up this initiation, know that the best way to keep something is to give it away. Over the coming week, find as many opportunities to give your power in service as you can. Find a way to give this power away at least once a day for at least a week.
When you see clear evidence in your life that you are now manifesting this power so powerfully that you fully believe it’s yours, give your talisman away to someone as a gift to help them awaken this same power in their own life.