Self-Awareness and Meditation Newsletter

April 2006

www.lifepathsolutions.com

In this issue:

Astrology as a Tool to Know Yourself Better

When Spiritual Emergence Becomes Spiritual Emergency

Freedom of the Spirit

Meditation Tips (2)

Previous Newsletters

 

 

Astrology as a Tool to Know Yourself Better

For sample charts and analyses see below

No, I don't mean Sun Signs which most people associate with fortune telling. Can everyone with their Sun in the same sign (one in twelve people) have the same personality characteristics or, as the newspapers and magazines would have you believe, will have the same daily fortune? Definitely not, although it provides amusement for many people. Actually, I believe this kind of astrology has done the science of astrology more harm than good. There is a lot more to astrology than the daily horoscope. It is a very useful and accurate tool for understanding your personality with its character traits, strengths and weaknesses, so much so that the famous psychologist, Carl Jung, used astrology to help in his understanding of the problems faced by his patients. Other famous scientists who saw the value in astrology included Sir Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler and Plato. Gaining another insight into your character traits will help you to make appropriate choices in life and understand why you are the way you are, what strengths you can utilise and areas that can be developed.

The astrology birth chart is essentially a blueprint of who you are and who you can potentially become. Various techniques can also be employed to see how you as a person are influenced by current energies reflected in planetary positions as they are now either in real time or progressed through various methods in a symbolical way. How you respond to these energies is very much up to you. You can either be unconsciously affected or you can deliberately choose to utilise them for your own growth.

To find out more about your own astrology, you can either study books on the subject or employ an astrologer to interpret the various charts for you. Alternatively, you can purchase a computerised interpretation for a fraction of the cost although there are limits to a computer's ability to synthesise the many factors involved and intuitively see the picture that emerges. The best computer generated interpretation I know is the Starword program produced by Astrocalc.

Starword is a unique, standalone computer program which accepts normal birthdata and prints out on paper a complete interpretation of the birthchart, running to about 7 pages of concise but grammatically correct delineation, set out under logical headings such as Mentality, Career, Personal Relationships, and so on.

It is unique because, unlike most other computer programs which print out prepared paragraphs or phrases for each chart factor, regardless of the strength of that factor, Starword first analyses and measures the factor.

Thus whereas most programs will always give you a meaning for a very wide Sun square Saturn, Starword will first assess the strength of that aspect and may discard it altogether if it is too weak to be of any significance. This evaluation is done for every planet and every aspect, and so on.

When all relevant chart sources have been evaluated, Starword performs its own synthesis and makes final judgements on over 600 traits, selecting verbal output from 11 different levels for each trait or trait-pair of opposites, and linking groups of these phrases into sentences: all of which makes it the nearest thing yet to astrological artificial intelligence.

See below to view a sample or to purchase a personal interpretation. There are also other interpretations available such as AstroGeography which changes your chart into a global viewpoint to see how you are affected by different locations on the planet and how you would get on if you visited these places or interacted with persons from there. Finally, you could also choose the Transit Forecaster which gives you some idea (albeit computerised) as to what lies in store for you over the coming year.

An accurate time of birth will give more accurate results. It is essential for AstroGeography.

 

Astrology Interpretations

 

 

Starword

Personal character analysis

View Sample

Purchase*

Transit Forecaster

The year ahead

View Sample

Purchase*

AstroGeography

Your astrological aspects on world maps

View Sample

Purchase*

Synastry

Relationship analysis

View Sample

Purchase*

*Please allow up to 24 hours for delivery

When Spiritual Emergence Becomes Spiritual Emergency

Moving from any stage to another brings crisis as the cleavage between the old order of needs and a newer order is sensed. Often it is when the crisis reaches drastic proportions, when one feels one cannot go on any more and the personality is totally emptied, that there is a sudden inflow of healing energy from the soul. Many accounts of profound kundalini awakening indicate the continual fluctuation from moments of utter despair and thoughts of imminent death to moments of bliss and connectedness with the soul. It is as if, just when one thinks one can handle no more, relief comes. This process can last for years. It is very individual to the person concerned. In some cases it passes without much trauma, a lot depends on how ready the person is for a transformative process that will dig to the very depths of his or her being. How many suppressed complexes are there, how much is one living in the super-ego? The conflict will only end when the personality has completely surrendered and has become a true instrument of the soul.

It is therefore important for the person to consciously enter into the process of self-actualisation, by undertaking therapy or any form of facilitation that helps to unfold hidden potentials, enhance creativity and give a deeper meaning to life. The person needs to consciously create a suitable vehicle (personality) for the soul. This may mean learning to understand the soul's messages however they may come about, whether through symbolism, dreams, meditation, synchronicity in one's day to day events, coincidences, feelings of expanded awareness, or intuition.

When spiritual emergence takes on a suddenness and creates a situation that is very difficult to handle it is known as a spiritual emergency. Due to its psychosis like appearance it was referred to by Jung as transitory psychosis. Often this kind of emergency is not understood by psychiatrists and is consequently looked at as a mental illness and diagnosed as schizophrenia.

The term Schizophrenia is applied to a group of severe mental illnesses with related characteristics and literally translated it means "split mind" and is a psychotic disorder creating a split from reality showing itself in disorganised thinking, disturbed perceptions and inappropriate emotions and actions. Spiritual emergency can exhibit all of these symptoms at varying degrees of intensity, but rather than being a mental illness it is a crisis of spiritual transformation. Caution is needed, therefore, to distinguish between the two. It is, therefore, important to take a balanced approach and to be able to differentiate spiritual emergencies from genuine psychoses.

Before counselling or therapy is undertaken medical tests should be performed to exclude any medical condition. If the tests reveal no organic basis to the psychosis then it is necessary to distinguish between a possible functional psychosis and transitory psychosis. It is recommended that expert advice be sought from a practitioner who is able to distinguish between the two. Such practitioners can be recommended through the Spiritual Emergence Network.

Freedom of the Spirit

Freedom of the Spirit
By Owen Waters

True freedom is the ability to express who you are through a natural flow of love and creativity.

It’s an Inside Job

Freedom is first gained within your consciousness. Then, because your outer life always reflects that which is within, you gain freedom in all aspects of your life.

Often, much of this potential flow of authentic life experience is reduced by inner blockages. These blockages of the natural flow of love and creativity are formed by the fear-based emotions that come with the challenges of human existence.

Fear is the common factor underlying all disharmonious emotions. For example, fear of inadequacy can lead to jealousy and hatred, fear of lack can generate an over-reaction of greed, while fear of being overwhelmed by life’s challenges can lead to control issues.

Welcome to Planet Earth

When you are born into the human race, you arrive with your own, self-made, personal life plan. This plan includes a list of the personal and societal issues that you intend to work through during this lifetime. Your carefully made plan includes the location and surroundings of your birth as well as your choice of parents. It also includes the friends and associates that you will be likely to meet as your life unfolds.

The personal and societal issues that we adopt in our lives today are generally based upon the consciousness of separation, or duality rather than unity. For example, one issue being worked through today is equality of the sexes. The Old Reality of separation consciousness demanded separation of the power of the sexes into societies based on either matriarchy or patriarchy. The New Reality, into which we are shifting, requires an equality of the sexes; an integration of that which was formerly separated into two. Every woman and every man today is playing some part in this massive societal adjustment towards equality of the sexes.

As the purpose of the entire human experience is to work through and transform such issues, it is appropriate that we seek an elegant solution to all of these fear-based issues. When enough people pass through the gateway into freedom of the spirit, then the hundredth monkey phenomenon will click in and, suddenly, the whole world will wonder why it hadn’t seen such an easy solution all along.

The Shift to the New Reality is a shift to heart-centered and heart-powered consciousness. Society is building up to a critical mass where consciousness will flip from ‘you versus me’ to ‘you and me,’ a shift from competition to mutual cooperation. Every day, more and more people are making this shift to heart-powered consciousness. With a little inner work, these individual transitions to the New Reality happen sooner and more easily.

Dissolving Blockages to Love

Inner work, primarily, means daily meditation. When you make meditation your number one priority each and every day, then you are putting in the time that it takes to transform those societal issues within yourself and to work through your own challenges.

During meditation, you also connect to a wider range of your own consciousness. The deeper layers of your own consciousness can provide you with insights that literally catapult you out of issue-based blockages. As you allow these blockages to dissolve into the light of spiritual consciousness, you become free to express your true nature and to follow your inner joy.

Spiritual study helps adapt your mind to expanded views of reality. There is a recommended reading list of modern spiritual classics on the InfiniteBeing.com web site.

The Illusion of Fear

Some concepts in spiritual philosophy also help along this journey into freedom of the spirit. For example, love and fear seem to act like two opposite poles of mankind’s duality consciousness. Actually, from the viewpoint of unity, love is all there is and fear is an illusion which detracts from the natural flow of love through you. Love is a basic component of the original Creator consciousness that fills the universe. Love, therefore, is always available and ready to flow naturally through your heart. You do not have to earn it or demand it, just let it flow.

Allowance and Acceptance

Another key philosophy in gaining freedom is “Live and let live.” When you allow other people to be the way they are, your energy is not absorbed in anyone’s futile dramas. Instead, you are able to use all of your energy to follow your joy and help make the world a better place. You can recognize, love, and accept the inner essence of every person you know, regardless of their outward behavior or how much it may seem to need improvement. It is this unconditional love which heals the world, person by person, and there is no shortage of its supply.

Acceptance of yourself is also vital. Accept who you are now, unimproved, with your current motivations and be thankful that you are exactly who you are. You planned to adopt a certain package of feelings and circumstances in your journey through life. There is nothing ‘wrong’ with you at any point along the journey. Things that appear to need improvement are challenges, not faults, so enjoy the ride and gain the most from the experiences that you came to explore. For example, the inventor, Thomas Edison, carried out over 6,000 experiments before perfecting the first electric light bulb, but he never referred to any of those experiments as failures. Instead, he called each one a step closer to success.

Gaining Freedom of the Spirit

Freedom from fear-based emotions allows true, unconditional love to flow through your heart and true creativity to fill your mind as you pursue your deepest inner joy. When you see fear as the hollow illusion that it is and allow your heart to open to everyone in your life, then your actions are influenced, not by fear, but by your unconditional love for the people around you and, equally, for yourself. Unconditionally loving yourself means allowing yourself to develop loving relationships where mutual cooperation, not competition or contention, becomes your daily reality.

People’s greatest fears melt away in the face of heart-powered, inner awareness. Your intuitive insight is your connection to the part of your mind that knows each situation, even before it occurs. When you listen to that still, small voice within, you know where you need to be and when. With intuitive insight, you will never become caught up in unfortunate events that are not of your making. For example, if an aircraft is destined to crash, you simply won’t be on it. If you need information to bring yourself back to health, you will know where to find the answers that are the best for you. Even the fear of loneliness will never cloud your heart because, with love in your heart, you will never be left wanting for good company.

Love and insight will pour from your heart if you let them. Give yourself the gift of true freedom, the freedom to express who you are through a natural flow of love and creativity.

Owen Waters is an international spiritual teacher who has presented his insights into the New Awareness to hundreds of thousands of seekers. In 1963, he encountered his first spiritual awakening and began a lifelong search for spiritual answers. Over 40 years of study and research followed, along with the development of his spiritual vision. Today, as Editor and cofounder of Infinite Being, he promotes a philosophy of spiritual empowerment through inner connection to a conscious univererse.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Owen_Waters

Meditation Tips (2).

 

The essential purpose of meditation is to connect with your higher self. For some people meditation may simply be for relaxation or contemplation. Posture is important to facilitate this process. Within the body is a subtle energy system which comprises an intricate system of meridians and chakras. It is this energy system which is utilized by acupuncturists. The most important centres within this energy system are the seven main chakras starting with the base or root chakra at the base of the spine and rising to the crown chakra at the top of the head. Connecting these energy centres is a central channel which follows the spine, known as the Sushumna along which the subtle energies flow. In meditation energy often travels through the Sushumna and its adjoining channels called the Ida and pingala. To ensure that this energy flows smoothly, easterners sit in the lotus position with legs crossed. this is the ideal position but not easy, and usually impossible for westerners. It is, however, important to sit in meditation with your back as straight as possible, so as westerners you are  recommended to sit on a firm seat with your back straight and without using the back rest. At first this may be more difficult, but over longer periods your back muscles strengthen as they get used to this. Lying down is another way to keep your back straight but unfortunately it is difficult to keep awake. I suggest that you sit as long as is comfortable and then lie down for the remainder of the meditation. An hour a day would be ideal but if you can only manage half an hour then that is fine too.

 

 

Best Wishes

 

Charles

Accredited Life Coach and Counsellor

www.lifepathsolutions.com