spiritual teachings
A Sincere Apology Is Good For The Soul
One of the most difficult things in life is knowing when to apologize. It is obvious in some situations, but in others not so much. There are times when we need to weigh out all our options. Is the situation worth an apology, even if you are not the one who created a problem?
Knowing the right time to apologize is critical to the resolution. Was it done intentionally, or was it unintentional? Did the action cause others stress, worry, or pain?
You must also ask yourself if you can live without apologizing the rest of your life. Is it worth losing a friendship, leaving a group, resigning from a job, or not speaking to a family member ever again?
The good old Golden Rule can always come in handy in this dilemma. If you have done something that you would not want done to you, then apologize and seek atonement! Many people find it almost impossible to apologize. They struggle to acknowledge their own part in an argument or wrongdoing.
Some just do not seem to understand their actions were unacceptable, or they always feel that the world is out to get them. There is no compromise in their mind. They always try to twist every situation to make it seem like it is another person’s fault.
For some people, on the other hand, an apology seems to roll off their tongue a little too easily. When a sincere apology is made it must be followed by actions. Actions speak louder than words. By not repeating the offense, for example, it shows a true and sincere apology.
Sometimes all the other person needs to hear is a sincere, “I am sorry.” When we accept responsibility for our actions, we tell others we are sorry for hurting them. It is not always easy, but releasing guilt always is good for the soul.
Venus In The Underworld A Time Of Transformation
The ancient Sumerians associated the 18-month cycle of planet Venus to the story of the goddess Inanna’s descent into the underworld. It is a story of transformation, healing and rebirth. It is a process of letting go of the old, dying to who we were and being reborn.
Two months ago, on February 13th, the planet Venus disappeared from view behind the Sun as part of her orbit cycle. During this conjunction with the Sun she becomes invisible to us. When Venus disappears behind the Sun, she is said to be in the Underworld and at this point in the story, Inanna is killed by her sister who is Queen of the Underworld.
This is one of the most transformational parts of her journey and it is valuable to understand what is going on, so we can use the cycle and consciously work within it.
By paying attention to what may have been disrupted in your life in the last few months, you may see a pattern of recurring issues or triggers, where you are being encouraged to release the past fully, so you are ready to be transformed into a new and better version of yourself.
This often requires a process of surrender and letting go of the need to control, or constantly having to know what the outcome will be. It also can involve the need to grieve what is dying or being lost, or what is gone, even if it is a negative part of yourself that has been with you for too long.
This process is an important part of our soul’s evolution in life. It can bring us more fully home to who we truly are and a greater expression of our purpose. Astrologically speaking, Venus represents love, pleasure, beauty and harmony. In our natal chart it reflects what we love and value.
In the Shamanic Astrology interpretation, Venus, which is a personal planet, also represents our individual feminine nature for both women and men. It can be helpful to look at your own astrology chart to understand your Venus qualities and see what your feminine essence is.
Trusting The Truth Beneath The Surface
Spring is around the corner where I live, unfolding before my very eyes. But it has long been in the making, beneath the surface of Winter.
Similarly, rebirth or renewal is always on the spiritual horizon of our lives. Transformational energy is evolving and gaining momentum beneath the surface constantly – just waiting for the perfect moment to emerge and burst into bloom.
A psychic reading can see, hear, and feel into that energy to help connect your awareness with it. This is the most valuable way to approach any reading and ensure you receive the most from it.
Faith serves an integral role in mining the value of this energy from within. Our everyday physical senses are not equipped to hold the finer subtle matter, never mind the mystical or transcendental. But these senses are not the be-all and end-all in perceivers of truth.
Common constructs of society in the physical world put the burden of proof upon the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. Ancient seers, knowers, and teachers, however, have long understood and communicated that more exists than the imperfect instruments of the senses can measure. They have cited faith as evidence and have highlighted a higher dimensional reality reached by it.
The Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Hindu sacred text, is one such recorded source of Divine vision and knowledge of all that is. In this epic verse, Lord Krishna describes a world where the roots are upward and the branches down, like a tree reflected upon a lake.
The Three Laws of Grace
There are three primary Laws of Grace that function under the overarching Law of Attraction. Grace is generally associated with divine support or spiritual help, but in this context it simply means that we are always free to choose again.
The Law of Love
The first Law of Grace is the Law of Love. The Law of Love does not refer to feelings, sentiments or emotions. Too often it is assumed that love is a feeling we get when we are with someone, but in metaphysics and spirituality love is not a feeling.
Instead, spiritual love is choosing to accept others as they are and to want what is best for them. What most of us know as ‘love’ today is actually ‘like,’ because to like someone or something is conditional. Real love, on the other hand, has no conditions. It is unconditional.
There is also a common belief about ‘love’ that can be very damaging to relationships. Sometimes we create emotional attachments to future events and declare that “this is love.” Yet, it is impossible to love a future other – either you love a person, or you do not.
When people conjure up extensive images and stories about a future version of another person and attach their mental and emotional attention to these things, they often create a strong sense of painful longing, which creates within them the desire to change the other person.
It is this painful yearning that is the key to understanding, because with the Law of Attraction like always attracts like. Painful longing can only ever attract more pain. It does not even matter how compatible two souls are in this life, if one of them is participating in such a painful longing, then pain will inevitably become the result of the relationship.
Love is unconditional acceptance and there is only one love. Therefore, Buddhists believe one cannot have friends and enemies. If you have enemies then eventually all of your friends will become enemies, and vice versa.
How To Clear Your Karma
Karmic cycles are repetitive patterns in consciousness that emerge through a belief that is contrary to the laws of the Universe.
Some religions and spiritual teachings refer to humanity as the ‘children of God.’ When I use the term ‘God,’ I do not mean some off-world deity that is separate from us mere mortals. To me God is the All. It is the Creative Force. Being a ‘child’ of this Creative Force means that we have the same nature and creative capacity.
Many wisdom traditions also equate words, thoughts and consciousness with God’s ability to create. In other words, thought has a creative function in the Universe. Thoughts are words, images, and stories that are repeated in the mind and they have creative power.
Another way of saying this is that whatever we choose to think or believe about ourselves and others, and about the world around us, ultimately becomes true for us. This is important when discussing how to clear away old karmic patterns.
Karma are patterns of thought that are repeated in the mind and influence how we create our life experiences. Free will means that we have total freedom in what we choose to think and believe.
This is not to say that a specific thought, or even a behavior, is wrong or bad. In fact, the Universe or God always takes us at our own value and says yes to all our thinking and feeling patterns.
Karma is a secondary spiritual law to the Law of Attraction, that allows us to evolve continually into our higher potentials. From an esoteric or spiritual perspective this relates to the expansion of love, joy, and peace within our mind.
Karma and the Law of Attraction are also separated by a protective buffer, in that we often experience less damage than our minds can produce through thought, and we also receive more good than our minds can produce through thought. In metaphysics this is known as the Law of Grace. Continue reading
The Karmic Fruit Of Our Past Life Seeds
To be the architect of our own destiny is a spiritual concept that has been spoken of for thousands of years. The Vedas call it Karma. The Bible refers to it as ‘reaping what you sow.’
Karma is a Sanskrit word that means action, as well as reaction. It has made its way into our everyday language to represent the good or bad we create in life that will eventually come back to us.
However, the true meaning of karma goes much deeper than that. In this life it does refer to ‘sowing and reaping’ in the short-term, but it also extends into the long-term, over thousands of years and many lifetimes.
The Padma Purana, an ancient Hindu encyclopedic text of spiritual truths, compares karma to seeds that are sown and harvested in due course of time. It explains that every activity we perform bears four kinds of effects. The first is merely a seed, the second is not yet fructified, the third is in the process of being fructified, and the fourth has blossomed and is already mature.
The karma we are experiencing today, are the sweet and sour fruits of the past seeds we have planted, – not only in this lifetime, but also from thousands of years and lifetimes before this life.
Therefore, we may not be able to recognize why certain things are happening that seem out of sync with the efforts and energies we are extending in the now. Similarly, it may sometimes be disheartening and difficult to understand why the desired results of our best endeavors do not appear to be coming to fruition.
To thoroughly resolve these misgivings, a broader scope of our soul’s journey before and beyond this one body and lifespan must be considered. Clarity can come with spiritual vision and higher consciousness.
Karma And The Law Of Attraction
It is quite common to hear of the ‘Law of Attraction’ these days. However, although the concept has become popularized in mainstream culture, it is actually an ancient spiritual concept. In metaphysics, it is one of the primary Universal Laws.
However, what is less commonly known is that the concept of Karma is secondary or sub-law to the Law of Attraction. The principle of Karma or Karmic Law is found in various religions and wisdom traditions, particularly Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Jainism, and Sikhism. It prevails over multiple lifetimes and is associated with our soul evolution and rebirth.
To understand Karma, it is usually helpful to consider what it is not. Karma is not a punitive concept of punishment for the bad, and rewards for the good. Karma does not ‘come for us’ when we do bad or evil things. In fact, we can potentially resolve karmic patterns within a single lifetime, even before they manifest into actual events and experiences.
Karma is created through core belief patterns we have about ourselves, about life, and the world around us. These beliefs, mindsets and paradigms are often accumulated through many experiences over several lifetimes. And ‘negative karma’ is created when we consistently believe, for example, in things like fear, lack or limitation.
A good example is the Great Depression of the 1930s. During that time, many people focused on lack or limitation. There was a fear of poverty and hardship. These beliefs created many cultural challenges. For example, many parents abandoned their children and families.
This created a karmic paradigm for them, and if that paradigm was not cleared out in their lifetime, it will be repeated in future lifetimes, until it is cleared out. They will reincarnate in the next lifetime with this core belief still attached to their subconscious mind. In their next life they will likely experience abandonment themselves. Their abandonment is not the karma, their abandonment is the result of the actions that were taken as a result of their fear or false beliefs.