-SB
Hello friends. As I
travel on my spiritual journey, I often see or experience mystic patterns that
arouse my enthusiasm, that I want to share with others, but that are a little
too “out there” to share on any sort of mainstream social media. There are many that I love and with whom I have
wonderful relationships, but that do not embrace, or even acknowledge, a
spiritual path. I find no fault with
them for this. After all, the experience
of every single soul is legitimate, and a diversity of perspectives, ideas and
lifestyles is one of the beautiful things about being a part of the human
species. In the last several months I
have had wonderful conversations about spirituality with almost all of you
included in this thread. You might say
that I have been quietly developing my practice, sporadically bouncing ideas
off of one of you or another, momentarily enjoying connection and
vulnerability, before closing the curtain and retreating into solitude. You who are included in this thread are the
open minded seekers, and with each of you I feel some connection. In this message I wish to share something
with you all.
Summer is coming to a close.
Autumn is coming. It is a time of
transition. On September 21st
the Earth’s axis will be exactly perpendicular to the Sun, and the hours of day
will be equal to the hours of night. On
the 8 Shields Model, our planet and all the species she harbors will be in the
western quadrant, a time of abundance, a time to be of service and a time of
celebration. And for those practicing
Kabbalah, it is a time for a very important spiritual ritual: the annual
pruning of the Tree of Life.
It was Kabbalah and the Tree of Life that helped me to
understand the importance of autumn and the transition that occurs during this
time. My mentor explained this process
to me one year ago: in the summer, when the Sun is brightest, we are full of
energy, full of ambition, full of love, full of hope, full of life. Our frequencies are naturally higher, and our
spiritual connection to the Earth and all her wonders are more tangible. The brightness can be so intense that it’s
blinding, giving us the opportunity to grow outside of ourselves. Many of us feel the most optimistic and the
most powerful during the summer months, fed by the radiant energy of the
Sun.
As we approach the end of these euphoric summer months, we
start to feel a decline in our spiritual connectedness. Many of us become disheartened, some of us
experience a subtle sadness, and others crash into outright depression. The brightness ebbs, and in the dimmed light,
we begin to see things with new clarity.
Our weaknesses and sorrows and frustrations, which were outshone in the
summer Sun, begin to come back into focus.
It is a cycle that occurs year after year as we resist the evaporation
of the blithe of summer. This is why the
ritual of the pruning of the Tree of Life is so important.
I am only vaguely familiar with the mystical teachings of
Kabbalah, and I do not claim to have an understanding of the various branches
of the Tree of Life. But I do recognize
and have a deep appreciation for the way the mystics take advantage of this
time of transition. This is an
opportunity to see ourselves and aspects of our lives with profound
clarity. Take some time to look back
over the last year and the direction that your life is taking. Be honest with yourself about how you feel
about the decisions you’ve made. Take
this opportunity to see yourself in this moment with absolute clarity. And make the decision NOW about the direction
you want your life to take. Decide for
yourself what is working and what’s not.
Decide NOW what will be pruned away and what you will cultivate.
As I said, I first did this exercise for the first time one
year ago. It was one year ago that I
made the firm decision to prune away my job in the restaurant business and
cultivate a different path. It was one
year ago that I decided to cultivate my own spirituality, and prune away
contrary agreements that I had carried around for years. That’s not to say that my entire life
changed overnight. Over the last year I
have made many mistakes, risen from and fallen back into bad habits, lost my
way, doubted myself and my decisions, and even almost given up. But one year later, and as I prepare once
again to prune my tree, I can look back with pride and see just how far I’ve
come, how much I’ve grown, and how much more fulfilling my life has been since
I performed this ritual.
I share this with you all for two reasons. Firstly, this is part of my pruning ritual
this year. I want to prune away my
spiritual disconnection from other people and cultivate spiritual
connectedness. I admit that I have been
ashamed of my spirituality. I have been secretive
and hidden it because I have been afraid of being judged, misunderstood and
criticized. It is my intent to prune
away the fear and shame. I will instead
encourage myself to be vulnerable with those I can trust, and cultivate
spiritual community with similarly open minded spiritual seekers. Secondly, I know that many folks on the
spiritual path are sensitive to energies, both emotional and planetary, and I
hope that this ritual may be as helpful to others as it was to me.
Thank you to all of you on this thread. Thank you for your openness, your love, your
enthusiasm, your vulnerability. I thank
you for allowing me to be vulnerable with you.
I invite you all to participate in the pruning of the Tree of Life
ritual this coming Fall Equinox. I
invite any and all of you share with me and with each other what you intend to
cultivate in the coming year. With all
the love in my heart, Namaste.
-SB
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