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SPIRIT
LODGE
LIBRARY
Spiritual
Development
Page
4
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Some of the links for the 97 pages in this Spiritual Development
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ASSIMILATION: LEARNING
TO USE ONES’ GIFTS TO SERVE OTHERS
By CinnamomMoon
There are patterns, important patterns
that tend to repeat themselves as our spiritual path
develops and unfolds in its own way. These patterns include
the way we develop our gifts and
abilities and begin to recognize them for what they are. We're
initiated into that process (please
see the article on the Roadmap to Initiation) and begin to develop
the abilities, skills, and tools
that we possess to enhance the path we walk and the touches
we make in the lives of those we
share our paths with.
Prior to initiation abilities and signs begin to appear around
us, the indicators that something is
about to change, hints that something's coming, something's
in the air and we can't quite put a
finger on it yet. Perhaps we need to purge and take on an illness
to rid our body of toxins, or if
we are seasoned and know what's happening we'll fast. Sometimes
we fast naturally, just sort of
lose our appetite for a day or two. We're alert now, aware that
there's something in the air around
us, something strange is going on and we start to dig to find
out what it is.
Initiation takes us through the process and as we go we begin
to assimilate what's
happening...often phenomenal events that we've never encountered
begin to take place. Those
who are more seasoned will find such familiar events take on
new intensity and dimension to
them...they expand. We put those pieces together, have some
ah-ha! moments, and start to see
Spirit is trying to show us *something* about the not too distant
future. Initiation takes as long as
it takes and each one is unique, but it's not until that process
is complete that a full assimilation
of what has happened can be undertaken. Why? Because we learn
as we go through the
experience. It's hands-on training folks!
Those who are familiar with the patterns of spiritual growth
are familiar with the process of
assimilation. For some it's a brand new experience and they
grope around trying to try to find
someone to talk to about it....someone to explain what's happening.
Sometimes they find
someone to help and sometimes they have to figure it out on
their own. It's usually the first
indication that we *need a teacher*...and fast! But just as
often there isn't one around. Why?
Because Spirit wants us to have this experience, THEN find the
person who can help us figure
out what just happened. Or to figure it out on our own. Either
way the full assimilation is a very
intense period and usually calls for us to withdraw from those
around us for a period of time (as
long as it takes in case you're ready to ask that question),
just to find some space to sort it all out.
Often the things we experience during the initiation period
are profound. They challenge our
sense of reality, of ourselves, of what *really happened*, and
they make us face our doubts,
insecurities, and fears. They make us face our blindsides, to
look into the Great Smoking Mirror
within us and do some real soul-searching at times. Sometimes
the things we go through are very
terrifying at first, or emotionally painful, or make us wonder
if *this is really happening?*...are
we imagining all this or is it what everyone else has been talking
about?
When it's concluded we've passed or failed--simple as that--we
know which immediately.
Overcoming our challenges means we pass. We all kick and scream
at times, even the seasoned
pathwalkers, so that's normal. But getting through it we find
the means to dig deep, find our
courage, our inner strength, our faith in ourselves and in Spirit
to guide us. In the end we do just
that, it's what it's all about. If we fail, if we refuse to
go further, then Spirit will present us with
another opportunity to undergo it again after we've had some
time to adjust to the idea. Free will
is exercised, we choose from our inner being to do this or we
walk away and don't look back and
Spirit accepts that too. It doesn't present itself unless we
are ready to undergo the test of faith. It
means facing the unknown on spiritual levels and internal levels.
The events that took place on spiritual levels during this rite
of passage need to be taken deep
within us. We need to re-examine them in great detail, often
catching nuances that escaped us at
the time, and we sort through it all absorbing bit by bit. Most
of these events are dimensionally
linked and it's hard to talk about what goes on outside the
physical reality, how do you describe
the intangible? Or how do you describe what it feels like to
have the cells in your body begin to
change and things inside begin to emerge...sometimes things
you never dreamed possible? You
can't, not really, not unless the person you're talking to has
been there or had a similar encounter.
Unless they have they can't really understand, your words become
useless then, feeble, wasted
effort, so why try? Because you're itching to talk about this
fantastic experience, and if you don't
have someone to talk to the odds are you'll be keeping a pretty
intense journal during this period.
Working things through, sorting them out, putting them in the
compartments that make them fit
into our sense of self...it's very personal, it's all about
us as an individual evolving. Even for the
novice these experience can reach deep proportions, we all walk
such unique paths and our work
is timed to that. If we need a jump start it doesn't matter
how seasoned we are, Spirit sees we get
one. During this process there are things you can do to aid
your progress and sometimes expedite
matters a little. Like I've said you can talk to others, a teacher,
someone close that would
understand, they're only the people you have great trust in
as these things aren't easy to share.
You can write about them in a journal, work it out on your computer,
you'll find some way to
*get it out*. You can think it through, talk to yourself, look
in the mirror and carry on a very
intense debate...but it's a natural part of the pattern to want
to express it somehow. It helps as a
confidential sounding board is a welcome relief in whatever
form it takes. Be it a teacher, friend,
or journal those options offer a way to pull it all out of yourself
and go over it again and again.
We do this until we figure all the little details out.
Symbology is often a major part of that and if we don't know
what things mean we're scrambling
to find out. This draws us out of our solitude long enough to
find the answer and get right back
into it again. We limit our contacts to those we feel we can
share with and we avoid all others.
"Sorry, ‘gotta go, I've got a lot of work to do",
and we make excuses for not attending to outside
matters. You're probably asking, so what else can we do to help
ourselves? We've already
assumed isolation for a time, stepped back and away to just
sit with things, so what do we do with them?
Well, we can enter into meditation on issues and symbols and
open to re-enter their energy
signatures, repeat the process bringing it up from memory. We
can take that memory into a
guided visualization, initiate a journey, seek out our Spirit
Guides and explore the knowledge
safely, work with an emerging gift safely, hone our ability
safely. We need a quiet space to do
that, and then we need to let it out of us, containing it isn't
enough, knowing it isn't enough. We
took it in during the initiation, now we have to let it out
like an exhale. So we write about it or
we talk about it and as we do we begin to own it, to take responsibility
for it being a part of our
reality...a part of us. In this way we take it from a spiritual
level of experience merging it into the
physical world. We have just co-created something amazing with
Spirit. So now what do we do with it?
The phases of assimilation are often accompanied by a dream
or vision, often a series of them,
all of which are clearly sacred. They address more of what we
need to know, they help us to fine
tune things, see *how* we're to use this knowledge or ability.
Guides come to us and begin to
show us more. We begin to remember other little details and
jiggle them into place...things start
to *click*. Upon awaking we can't shake these dreams they stay
with us until we recognize how
important they are and put another piece of our puzzle together.
Day by day we have more ah-ha! moments.
Then comes a point where there is usually something personal
in our life, an issue that needs to
be resolved and there is pressure around it. Suddenly we start
to see that it takes this knowledge
or gift to do just that. Of course we have to figure that out
too. We practice our skill with it on
ourselves first. Hone it some more, jiggle things into place,
see how they work outside the
spiritual reality, and we receive our validation that we're
doing it right or we jiggle some more
until we get it right. Then another issue and another, usually
at least 3 times.
From there an immediate family member has a crisis so they come
to us asking for help or
advice. Again this skill is called for in some manner to be
applied to helping them overcome
their problem. Another jiggle, another way to apply the skill.
Here we can repeat it with other
family members another time or two or jump just beyond the immediate
family to another loved
one, perhaps a close friend. We share our ability with them
or use it to help them and again it
will be called for, another time or two.
Next a situation arises outside our family and friends, a little
further out into the community
perhaps an acquaintance or a stranger but situations keep calling
for us to use this and draw us
further and further into the world to use what we've learned
and apply it in many ways. By then
we're "out there" and serving with it...often before
we realize it, but we're comfortable doing so,
it's becoming a second nature now, we've got this down pat.
The next thing you know you're aware through hindsight just
how many lives you've touched
already and smiling or chuckling to yourself about the clever
irony. You begin to see Spirit's
unseen hands moving through your life, using you as a means
to serve the needs of others as well
as yourself, one touch at a time. You grow stronger and see
Spirit's hands upon you and you
know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you've begun something
very special.
You find you can accept the path ahead, wherever it takes you,
you trust the process, and you
wield your ability or gift to make the world a better place
no matter how great or how small your
contribution...you know it matters. So now what? Time to learn
something new, the pattern has
completed itself and you're about to start all over again! When?
When are the signs starting up?
Where's the curiosity to see what they mean? Watch for them,
they'll come. Meanwhile continue
to explore what you can that holds your interest, continue to
share what you can with others,
helping them, teaching those that come asking to learn what
you know, keep walking and keep
that twinkle in your eye. It looks good there!
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Libraries
are on this row
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INDEX
Page 3
(Main Section, Medicine Wheel, Native Languages &
Nations, Symbology)
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INDEX
Page 5
(Sacred Feminine & Masculine, Stones & Minerals)
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Text:
© Copyright: Cinnamon Moon & River WildFire Moon
(Founders.) 2000-date
All rights reserved.
Site
constructed by Dragonfly
Dezignz 1998-date
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