In Part 1, I discussed the first two phases of forgiveness and the first two levels of consciousness. These were lessons that I personally became well acquainted with on my own healing journey with Sacred Plant Medicine and through my own spiritual practice.
Recognition of what is, and Spiritual Action
And while your personal experience may differ, all of us as human beings will have known feelings of powerlessness and rage at some point on our journey.
Phase three - Surrender - Acceptance of what is - The phase of Anchoring Light - 3rd level of self-awareness
This is the part of the healing journey where the need to “have and acquire” falls away little by little. There is more and more acceptance of things the way they are (including the shadow and darker aspects of the psyche) and an awareness of self that goes beyond anything that can be learned. Rather it is felt through more and more subtle perspectives of spirit and intuition.
In this phase, the person who is healing recognizes that there is no need to strive for anything, and yet by living with intention, this is how we begin to channel spirit and anchor more light.
Once we reach this place, we are able to grasp that we are (and have been) all things, many times over (both the Victim and the Perpetrator) and now there is no need for anything else, other than what is.
For me personally, getting here is certainly easier than staying here ;-)
And to be human and anchored in a physical body means that by default we will find ourselves back in level one or level two at different moments throughout the journey. And a gentle practice of forgiveness of oneself becomes the ongoing meditation.
Then comes the recognition that our greatest weaknesses (or darkness) is also our greatest strength. For the wisdom we gain through these trials allows us to bring our gifts to the world. It is a period of grace that we can only ever be prepared for, and one that can not be forced.
Hence this is also the phase of Surrender. To do what we can to be ready and to trust, that with grace, that his level of awareness will simply find us.
This is the level of consciousness where a newfound humility naturally settles within the folds of the psyche. A recognition of how small we all are, and yet still, how each of us is so powerful and fully capable of anchoring in vast amounts of light.
This is an acceptance of the duality we live in - the final unfolding of the perfection of the journey we have gone through, despite the devastation it has caused.
There is no need to be better than anyone else now. That other person is actually an aspect of us and hence we are indirectly already having that experience.
"How wonderful" I hear you say, "but is this not just a little idealistic, considering all the pain and rage apparent in the world?"
Yes it is. So here is the practical application of the concept above;
To master this third phase, the person on a healing journey moves through the world without abandoning those parts of self that faithfully carried them on their journey towards healing, but rather, moving forward, arm in arm, with those parts of self as valued guides and tempering advisors.
However, there also needs to be a tender promise and soul covenant between all parts of the self that the goal for this evolutionary ascent is to eventually transform all pain and rage into compassion.
“To be able to move through the world with the courage and strength of a survivor/warrior (the sometimes abuser/perpetrator), and with the awareness of a victim/innocent (who knows too well what it is to suffer), we reacquire our God-like status of Experienced Observer, remembering again that we are (and have always been) ALL things. Compassion becomes the true bond that brings the two polarities of victim and perpetrator together - this to me is the REAL Hero’s Journey”.
Healing the Collective
Vedanta considers the three aspects of GOD as Brahma (creation), Vishnu (sustaining), and Shiva (destruction).
Yogi Bhajan stated that GOD was really an acronym for : Generating/Creating, Organising/Ovulating and Destroying/Delivering
It is through this ongoing cycle of self-awareness, expansion and collapse that the Universe or GOD comes to know itself. The cycle of creation, suspension and then destruction is meant to facilitate growth so that it can continue infinitely. This process is what the entire cosmos is built on.
Bringing the subject back to our human experience (caught up in a dance of duality) is the importance of learning how to end the cycle of victim vs perpetrator. To actually step out of this cycle, is really one of the major existential answers for us as humanity, one that is intricately woven into our DNA through progressive layers of ancestral experiences of victimization and retribution.
How many abusers/perpetrators started out as innocents, and were perpetrated against by others, who in turn, were also victims once before?
I am drawn to pondering the question: Are we not merely acting out the ongoing cycle of GOD, as an aspect of GOD, in this dance of creation, perfection and finally, destruction?
Are we not perhaps bringing all this experience home with us at the end of an incarnation?
As I write this, I am reminded of a quote from an ancient philosopher, a priest of Apollo, named Celsus.
‘The mills of the gods grind slowly', he says, even 'To children's children, and to those who are born after them.’
Celsus possessed a visionary awareness of this cycle of victim vs perpetrator. The cycle of the experience of being the victim or innocent and the subsequent act of breaking another (as a champion or a perpetrator, depending on the intention), which as an act of ‘cause and effect’ (or karma), could become a groove deeply carved into our DNA that continues to affect our children’s children.
We are so incredibly blessed in this time, that we have access to such amazing tools for self-growth, evolution and personal healing, far more so than even our parents had available to them. It would seem that in order to evolve, healing ancestral wounds of brokenness that are still so alive in our DNA is the first port of call. This will facilitate our own ability to spend more time in the 3rd level of consciousness, as compassionate human beings, whereby we may live with intention and channel spirit more often.
We are certainly the ones that we (and our ancestors) have been waiting for, in more ways than one. In the distant past, these opportunities were only ever given to certain bloodlines of royalty and privilege. The rest of us were merely doomed to live in servitude forever.
With more access to information now than we’ve ever had, we as a species have the ability and potential to evolve beyond anything our ancestors (going back ten to twenty generations) had the opportunity to do.
I would site Victor Frankel’s words again “What is to give light must endure burning.” And I would add that this all is part of the profound beauty and awfulness of being human.
Now, more than ever, there is a collective call to healing. Hence why nowadays, so many are receiving the message that they are healers and shamans. The call now is to heal ourselves through the process of healing others. If we won’t do it directly, we will be told what we need to hear until we do it....... albeit indirectly.
We are hence being called to rekindle our ancestral memories of nature based practices that reconnect us to our physical bodies and to the Earth (something we have been driven away from by an ancestral legacy of monotheistic religion).
And finally, this call to healing will awaken our collective senses so that we can all perceive the quiet song of the great mystery, to find our way back to Love again.
About the Author
Scarab Deva is a shamanic practitioner with a masters degree in Psychiatry, a certified Kundalini Yoga Teacher, a Reiki Master, Family Constellation Facilitator, an intuitive healer, and spiritual coach. She dedicates her professional life to assisting her clients with the integration processes before and after their psychedelic and sacred plant medicine experiences. www.scarabdeva.com