by Alexander Musgrave | Aug 29, 2022 | Community Conversations
Regardless of what spiritual tradition(s) you’re privy to, there are some simple ways to enhance your magickal abilities. Magic has been referred to as technology of the spirit, and the happenings that exist at the intersection of will and the phenomenological world. As empowered individuals, we can come into stronger standing within ourselves when we are in the knowing and trusting of our abilities. Magic is our birthright. That’s right, if you have a belly button, you can practice magic. Practically speaking, we are going to keep this very simple. This way, you can fully digest this information and hopefully incorporate it into your life!
Create a Container
As we all know, set and setting are important factors in nearly all experiences. What is it like for you if you’re brushing your teeth while driving a car? How about if you’re trying to study for an exam while cooking dinner? Trying to build a snowman at the beach in the high summer heat? The what, when, where and how we do things, are all very important indicators for success. Therefore, creating containers that establish the set and setting for any given experience, is a crucial step of practical magic.
Just like you wouldn’t practice your yodeling act while at the dentist, you wouldn’t want to practice any practical magic outside of a well defined and safe container. Creating this container can be super simple! You can also learn a lineage method for creating a safe energetic container by activating the sacred geometry around in our Sacred Geometry 1 workshop.
Activate the Elements
Ayurveda is the natural system of medicine that comes from India; the word directly translates to “knowledge of life”. Through the lens of Ayurveda, we are all composed of varying combinations and proportions of the Elements. We are built of the very Earth, Air, Water, and Fire that sustain life on this planet. To revere these elements in a heartfelt and authentic way, is to tap into the most primordial and elemental magic available to us. How can one honor the elements? Well, knowing that they are inside us, let’s move through our sensory experience to understand internally how these elements resonate with us.
Step one; our visual reality.
After establishing your container, let’s move into the first step, where we will alter the optical experience. Change up your lighting, either dim the lights or turn them off all together. Light a candle while connecting to the element of fire. Breathe the warmth of the flame in through your eyes, acknowledging all the creative life force that burns within you.
Step two; our audible reality.
Go ahead and put on some music that feels sacred to you. There is no one-record-fits-all here. This is for you and you alone to decide. Perhaps it’s some ancient Indian raga, or maybe it’s a Gregorian chant. Maybe you’re feeling sanctity in the simple today and would like to play Solfeggio Frequencies. Whatever you decide to hear, press play and put everything else on pause. Enjoy the moment of listening deeply with your body, receiving the sound into each cell.
Step three; our olfactory reality.
Begin to notice the smells around you. Empowering yourself to alter your reality, invoke our Higher Self into the space as you light some incense or burn some resin. White sage, copal and palo santo are great options here. Breathe in the wafting scents of the fragrant smoke, and connect with any memories that emerge. Invite yourself to be cleansed by the smoke, wash yourself by bringing the smoke to your head and then down and around your body. Do this a few times. Scent is the sense most tied to memory, so let the smell uncover any ancient memories ready to be remembered. This is a great time to acknowledge the element of water, as a vessel for planetary memory. Perhaps you have a glass or bowl of water that you can honor at this time, maybe by whispering “thank you” into the water, or anointing your third eye and/or heart space with the water. In this moment, we can invite the memories of the water within us to emerge and awaken.
Step four; our felt sense.
Find your feet on the ground. Acknowledge the part of you that’s connected to the Earth beneath you. This could be your sit bones, your thighs and calves, your feet, or your back if you’re laying down. Whatever position you find yourself in, simply connect with the felt sensation of making contact with this planet, whether that’s directly, or through some layers beneath you. With your eyes closed, perhaps expressing a bit of gratitude for this incredible life-bearing planet we get to call home. Be here, in this gratitude, for a moment.
Repeat this practice as much as you’d like! Create space within each of the steps for deep breaths and relaxation. Most importantly, stay light and enjoy your magnificence!
by user_dd | Aug 22, 2022 | Community Conversations
We all know how important it is to nurture a sense of belonging within our bodies. The language may register at a certain level, perhaps cognitively in the mind. Yet there comes a time in our journey when things we understand in the mind must be anchored down into the body. Having a felt sense of the concepts that our minds have come to understand, is essential.
For instance, this concept of a sense of belonging. We may understand what this means in our heads; the idea of safety, security, and protection. This can be understood cognitively as a relationship. We have relationships to each other, to our human family, to the larger more-than-human world, and to this beloved planet. These relationships create constellations in which we can feel varying degrees of belonging.
Moving the sense of belonging from a cognitive definition into a felt experience is a process with no end. Like life, it is a work in progress, and we can only continue to deepen into the practices that sustain our health and well being with a strong will.
So, let’s have a look at three different signs that you are experiencing a felt sense of belonging, in order for you to amplify awareness around what the felt sense really feels like in the body.
- Relaxed Nervous System
The first sign we’ll look at is the state of our nervous system. Within a constellation where we belong, and feel that sense of belonging, we will likely be experiencing a relaxed nervous system across the board. We will not be experiencing any fight or flight responses (or at least minimal).
- Muted Internal Dialogue
The second sign that we’re experiencing a sense of belonging has to do with our internal landscape. Sometimes our monkey mind can run a muck. We all know this feeling, when thoughts seem to think themselves and they move at a mile a minute. Well, usually when we’re feeling that sense of belonging, the monkey mind is able to take a rest. There is way less mental chatter, and more spaciousness in our minds for present moment awareness. We experience more inner harmony that is in response to the harmony that surrounds us. It’s a feedback loop, and we feel it.
- Open-Hearted Authenticity
The last sign that we’ll explore together is about our ability to express authentically. When we’re in a relationship, group, space or place in which we belong, it will be easier for us to speak our truth. Authentically expressing comes more easily, due to the air of acceptance and inclusion that would be present. When we accept each other as we are and feel inclusivity toward each other, there becomes more space for our hearts to express their authentic voice. We feel this as a sensation of open-heartedness, where our heart space is emanating a coherence that is in harmony with the field around us.
There you have it! May those three signs serve to support you in celebrating how you fit within your constellations, whether in 1:1 relationships, groups, your affinity communities, or team dynamics.
by user_dd | Sep 2, 2021 | Community Conversations, Transitory Thoughts
At what points throughout your day do you feel the most alive? What moments are your energy levels and your mood at a high level? These moments, for the most part, are often moments where all of our ‘bodies’ are engaged and activated; our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies are online and present in our experience.
Can you think of all the moments throughout your day when you tend to your physical body? Chances are, you commit a lot of time caring for and nurturing your physical form. This extends beyond just a work out; through basic processes of nourishment and elimination, movement and hygiene, we care for the needs of our physical bodies on a day to day basis.
There are aspects to these processes that can be up-leveled. If we are, in fact, becoming more mindful of the way we show up on our paths toward embodying our Highest Selves, then it becomes increasingly important to see the importance of every moment, every instance, every beat within the symphony. For it’s within each beat that the grand orchestra reveals itself!
Every moment is significant; there is nothing that is insignificant. In that way, a meal can become a prayer. A bath can become a purification ceremony. Everything is visible to the eyes of our Highest Selves; the more we think, feel, and act in alignment with our Highest expression – the more spiritually fit we become.
Optimizing Agility and Building Resilience
Staying spiritually fit means showing up to the interdimensional gym. We don’t need to be intimidated by the heavy lifters and the bench press; simply starting with some subtle squats and jumping jacks will do just fine. This gym is the non-physical space where our non-physical Selves can come online, to make use of our gifts from Spirit, and strengthen the muscles of agility, adaptability and resilience. Strengthening these muscles increases our ability to stay flexible amidst great change, meet any given moment with access to clarity and clear thinking, and make decisions from a place of poised inner trust and empowered choice.
A class we teach designed for training student to effectively use their energetic muscles on a daily basis is called: Spiritual Intuition Class.
Read further to learn more.
The Spiritual Intuition Class introduces the practice of using your psychic senses to get the answer to anything, anywhere, anytime, even under difficult circumstances.
How do some people just know what to do in any circumstance? Did you know that everyone has psychic senses? Are you using yours? In ‘Spiritual Intuition,’ you’ll learn multiple exercises you can take with you anywhere to develop your psychic gifts. With practice, you can access and develop different types of psychic senses innate to being human, so they never again go to waste in your life. What are you waiting for!? Let’s practice!
Benefits of Spiritual Intuition:
- Improve your self-confidence
- Develop the full range of your psychic abilities
- Clarify ambiguity with nothing more than your own inner wisdom
- Increase your intuition and spiritual gifts
Attendance at Modern Mystery School classes always means you’ll have a real experience of the energies we are working with. In this class, you will receive a student manual with the exercises we are using so you can do them yourself. After a discussion about how psychic senses work and how they can be developed, Matthew will lead you through these exercises so you know how to do them.
By attending this class, you will:
- Be able to identify the 5 psychic senses
- Describe some of the characteristics of how each one works
- Perform an exercise to develop each psychic sense
With questions regarding the class – contact me, otherwise if you are ready to activate and strengthen your intuition – register for Spiritual Intuition Class: https://spiritintransition.as.me/MMS-Classes
by user_dd | Sep 21, 2019 | Community Conversations
Have you ever thought: If it’s meant to happen, it will happen? I hear this all the time related to the New Age movement. Do you think this is true?
One of the things I hate about these kinds of statements is how general they are. We need to be more specific to avoid confusion and empower ourselves rather than stall trying to figure out what serves our highest and best good.
So, I can go a few different ways here in my commentary, but let’s examine how this thought has led people astray of their path and connection with the Divine.
Why ‘Meant to Happen’ is a Lie
“What’s meant to happen, will happen” implies that everything that’s happened was meant to.
So we’re saying that war, genocide, child soldiers made to kill their parents and then eat them— all these terrible things happening in the world today were MEANT to happen? What kind of sick and deranged thinking is that?
I’ve got news for you. This mess was not MEANT to happen. These atrocities are happening because we are letting them happen, but not because they were MEANT to happen.
What was MEANT to happen is God’s divine plan on Earth: Shamballah. In other words,, heaven on Earth. A worldwide community of caring, compassionate people resolving world issues, like hunger, war, disease with powerful tools based on Love, not on fear.
By cutting ourselves off from Spirit, we maintain the illusion that we are separate, powerless, victims of the current world. We increase fear when we say no to Love.
“What’s meant to happen, will happen” is based on fear of your greatness. Fear that you’re actually much bigger, smarter, and capable than the problems the world faces. Fear that you CAN make a difference with your thoughts, words, and actions. What would happen if you did? What would that mean for you and your life?
Here’s a revolutionary idea for you: you’re not separate, powerless or a victim. In fact, you have access to the most powerful force in the universe: the force of Love.
Why Love Connects Us
Honestly, it kind of feels weird to have to write about this, but there is some confusion about what Love is too which relates to this issue.
Love is a force, not a feeling. Love is the great connecting force of the universe. It is an energy that pervades all things. It’s a tool that we use to connect ourselves with the universe and each other.
You can love someone close or far away, and that act will impact them whether they feel it or not. The HeartMath Institute has done a lot of research on the nonlocal effects of the human heart field.
When we operate out of fear, we are not operating out of love. In a sense, they are mutually exclusive. Fear shuts off important parts of our brain that are necessary for love. One model to look at is the sympathetic versus parasympathetic nervous system. When activated, the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) literally pulls blood (life force) from your brain and into your ears, arms, and legs (think flight or fight response). The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS), however, does the opposite of the SNS at the same speed. When the PNS is activated, it creates a better state for your body to operate cognitively and emotionally.
Basically, we get worn down living in a world where our SNS is constantly activated, and then there’s no energy left to make a difference. By creating the conditions that calm our systems, activating the PNS through meditation and ritual tools in our lineage, we literally design how we want our energetic body to occur. We move from victim to creator. This makes available the four experiences that contribute to building closer, more productive and resonant relationships: hope, mindfulness, compassion, and playfulness.1
The Way Out of Confusion
In conclusion, there’s a way out of this mess, and it doesn’t look like trolling haters on Facebook. That’s kinda like fighting fire with fire. The way out is to learn traditional techniques for how to be fully human aka consciousness expansion tools, like those offered in the lineage of King Saloman.
YOU are the key to our future. What you think and do DOES matter. And you can leverage your actions more by increasing your power over yourself through self-understanding and enlightenment. Know Thyself is the ancient mystery school axiom.
By reconnecting with our inner divinity, we will change the world—one human at a time.
1. See research by Richard Boyatzis et al presented in his e-course “Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence”: https://class.coursera.org/lead-ei-001/class/index.
by user_dd | Apr 8, 2019 | Community Conversations
My meditation practice has not been peaceful the last few weeks. What’s more is that I’ve been rather lazy in approaching how best to deal with it. It’s almost like I’m stuck in observation mode, just watching myself wallow without jumping in with a strategy or plan.
What’s great about that is for once, I’m not jumping in with a strategy or a plan! However, I do want my meditation practice to return to a time of peace and deep relaxation. So join me as we go back to the basics and improve your meditation practice with me!
Meditation Basics
There are times when the going is good. It may still be a struggle to find the time to sit down however, once you do, you can feel yourself relaxing into the peace of doing nothing. Relieving yourself of the stressors of life, if even temporarily, is worth the sore butt from sitting too long!
Then there are the times when your meditation is not working out as planned. Try as you might to wrangle the mind, it refuses to be constrained. You just can’t find the right position, cushion, background music or back support. Or worse, your body is comfortable and your mind won’t sit still!
One of the keys I offer to you is this: meditation, like emotions, have phases. You can expect the beginning phase of your meditation to be unpredictable. Sometimes it will be turbulent, and sometimes calm. Sometimes you will glide into your meditation easily, and other times, it’ll be like herding cats in your mind. This is why I highly recommend you do your breathing practices first. Once you master your breathing practice, the subsequent phases of your meditation will flow through easily and predictably.
The Key is in your Breath
Controlling your breath, or intentionally altering your breathing pattern is work you can do on the physical system that directly impacts your mind. Bringing your attention to your body and addressing what’s going on in the body is the first step to any successful meditation practice.
That’s why meditation teachers will often instruct you to return to your breath if your mind has taken over. Your mind will follow your breath, so when your meditation practice seems to be giving you diminishing returns, turn it into a breathing practice until the calm mind state you are looking for returns. And it will return. Your mind will follow your breath.
So breathe easy knowing that the solution to our turbulent meditation practice is right under your nose.If you want help, join us for a complimentary Tools for Awakening series meditation which happen regularly. Just check out the calendar to see when the next one is upcoming.
Matthew Koren founded Spirit in Transition in 2015, a business consulting firm specializing in building high-performance learning organizations, teams and individuals.
