Humankind is being led along an evolving course,
through this migration of intelligences,
and though we seem to be sleeping,
there is an inner wakefulness
that directs the dream,
and that will eventually startle us back
to the truth of who we are.~ Rumi
There’s a thin veil between our conscious Self and our Souls that over time thickens until we forget it ever existed. In doing so, we forget about the treasures, gifts and personal purpose that awaits us.
Many people out there are conditioned since birth to receive guidance from their societies which teach them to set ambitious goals and lofty dreams of power, prestige and wealth. But when they reach their dying breaths they realize that all of their efforts were soulless and futile.
But there are also some people out there who remember a time when the veil obscuring the soul didn’t exist, and these people spend much of their life journeys crossing the borders of the ordinary world into the extraordinary, eternal mystery.
Through Soul Revival these people encounter many ecstatic and joyous discoveries, but also many terrifying unhealed wounds, and even saddening discoveries of anger, guilt or resentfulness they had been carrying around all along.
THE HUMAN STRUGGLE TO REVIVE THE SOUL
As humans, we face an unusual dilemma that other sentient beings don’t experience: the duality of being self-reflective, that is, of having a conscious self (or ego), and a driving force that is the personal unconscious self (or Soul).
By conscious self, I mean that we all possess a sense of identity, a story, and a personality. By Soul, I mean our vital, mysterious and wild unique essence that goes beyond our personalities. This unique essence within us is the rawest center of our beings.
Everything in existence has its own Soul; the vibrant dancing of the wind, the busy and determined ant colonies, the temperamental ocean, the old majestic trees. The universe itself has a Soul which animates everything and decides the unique way all the atoms are arranged. The source of all Souls is what we call Spirit.
While most beings easily fulfil their Soul purpose, we as human beings struggle because of the division between our egos/selves and our Souls. It is our ego’s job to create order and structure out of the chaos that it perceives in order to survive. Because of this, our egos fear directly experiencing Soul, because Soul is completely free, unstructured, and unhindered. The ego needs to believe the absolutist idea that there is only “me.” If there is a Soul that can be experienced, this means that our egos have to question their own existence as the absolute and only Self.
This is why using Soul Revival to discover our deepest Soul purpose can be so difficult. Even if our conscious self is willing to attempt to experience Soul, our egos must temporarily detach themselves from the very identity they believe defines them; the foundation of everything they know. This is kind of like standing on a carpet and then trying to pull the carpet from underneath your own feet.
Even if our conscious self might be unhappy … at least it’s a familiar unhappiness. Ultimately the fear of the unknown gets in the way of our ability to experience and embody Soul fully. Deep down we fear that trading our unhappiness for something unknown and unexperienced could destroy us. This is why so many people are unwilling to give up jobs that they hate in order to make money doing what they love: fear. Fear of living on the streets, fear of loneliness, fear of losing friends.
This is why spontaneous Soul Revival experiences that drastically change our lives often occur after traumatising events such as a near death experience, or severe illness. But this is not the only way we can experience Soul Revival.
WHAT IS SOUL REVIVAL?
Soul Revival is not just an altered state of consciousness, or a glimpse of the divine and sacred. It’s also a deeply life changing moment often accompanied with a new understanding of who we are.
Soul Revivals are accompanied by the depth of understanding of a mystical experience, but they also bring a personal message for us to uncover.
This personal message might contain why you were born, what your spiritual calling is, what gift you’re meant to share with the world, past life memories, and many other possibilities.
Soul Revivals can also come in a variety of ways.
They can come through an image, a song, a vision, a revelation, a meeting with a spirit guide, a sensation, a dream, or an emotion. Each message is as unique and mysterious as your destiny.
My Soul Revival came in my late teenage years. After working for over 16 hours in the fields with no food, I was exhausted and resting on top of a rock. I suddenly noticed the intricate webbing of veins in a giant fig tree leaf above me. This image left me with the strong message that my life’s work would be to channel the currents of wisdom and knowledge of ancient teachings, and unite them to serve for greater healing.
Our Souls are much deeper and more expansive than our conscious minds. Our Souls possess qualities about ourselves that we aren’t even aware of and may never discover. We might experience Soul Revival once, or many times, but it always reveals to us something about the gifts we were born with and the quality of our essence that we must share with others.
Understanding why we were born with our own unique soul qualities (and not others) is the center of learning how to relate to ourselves. Just like a seed that lets its seedling learn how to grow, our Soul is the sacred essence of our deepest purpose, our unique meaning, and the guiding force behind our individual lives.
There are three main layers to uncover within our Souls, and these are our:
- Core Values or the beliefs and ideals we hold so strong at our centers that we’d be ready to die as we can’t imagine living without them.
- Core Gifts or the natural talents or abilities we were born with that contribute to our Souls maturation and that we are exceptionally good at.
- Core Wisdom or the mysterious knowledge we know without knowing how – much intuition comes from this core wisdom we’re born to manifest.
Our Soul always communicates to us through the universal languages of symbols, senses and sounds, e.g. through images, songs or stories. These symbols, sensations and sounds teach us about the very core of our lives, and teach us about our ultimate place in the world. It’s up to us to learn how to incarnate that message by living our lives in a “soul fulfilled” way.
6 WAYS TO DISCOVER YOUR SOUL’S MESSAGE
I’ve heard amazing experiences of people who carefully listened to their Soul’s message after a Soul Revival experience.
One person saw turbulent rivers, and they understood that their purpose was to help serve as a guide to help others cross the currents of life. Another saw a cocoon and felt that their gift was to be a healer helping others through the process of metamorphosis through massage therapy. Some saw mirrors reflecting the depths of the Soul, others saw a wolf hunting prey with fierce dexterity. There are an infinite number of messages.
There are no right or wrong ways for the Soul to speak to you as the messages are all as unique as the Soul they arise from.
There are literally dozens of ways I’ve conducted Soul Revival exercises but there are a few that we’ve already written about previously that go into the details and specifics. Being a Shaman, I prefer nature-oriented techniques, but many styles of meditation and yoga provide wonderful catalysts especially the more active forms. The use of psychedelics, fasting and vision quest practices are also used but require prior preparation and mature guidance.
1. LUCID DREAMING
Cultures for thousands of years have used lucid dreaming to facilitate transformation, personal understanding, and communicating with Spirit beings through the rich landscapes of our nocturnal visions.
Every dream is an opportunity to relate deeper with our unconscious minds, that which lies underneath our conscious identities and personalities. Your stories, desires, potentials and Soul gifts manifest themselves in your dreams. We must learn to look for the door in our dreams that will let us into the mysteries of our Soul.
2. ECSTATIC DANCING
If you’ve ever watched dervish dancing you’ll see how mystical and beautiful it looks.
The spinning in circles and the rhythm of the beat allows the dancers to quiet their conscious identities chatter and enter trance states, making themselves receptive to their Soul’s melody.
3. SACRED RHYTHMS
Sound is one of the most powerful ways to enter non-ordinary states of awareness. Luna prefers the singing bowl while I love the rawness of the didgeridoo.
4. CEREMONY AND RITUAL
When using forms of ceremony and ritual, we prepare our minds to follow patterns and repetitive tasks while also opening our awareness with gratitude that is grounded in the present moment.
5. NATURE ABSORPTION
There’s no greater way to connect back with the wild Soul than by returning to our most ancient roots.
Being immersed in nature and being completely present to the expansion of life and space which is around us, dilutes our egos into the vast ocean that is existence. In the company of nature, you have no name or story that reminds you of your created identity.
6. SACRED SEX
For most people, the first taste we get of a non-ordinary state of consciousness, a moment when the friction between our ego and our Soul isn’t there, is during our first orgasm.
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