What we learn in the darkness…

What we learn in the Darkness…

The darkness gets a bad rap…

We think of the darkest times in our lives as times that we would sooner rather forget and write off, and that is fine. I am an advocate for moving forward in life, and not letting the past sabotage your future. However, I urge us for one moment to consider something. Might it have been that out of some of our darkest moments that something miraculous and beautiful presented itself in our lives. Was it out of such a moment that you said, “enough” to doing things one way, and made a change in your life that ended up not only feeling right, but that has changed the course of your personal destiny? Creation can also be birthed from chaos. Without darkness, we cannot see the stars shining. Without the darkness, the light that we strive for is not even possible.

It is in the space of darkness that we learn some essential lessons. We learn how to see differently in the darkness, we learn how to trust all of our senses. Our intuition becomes heightened, our smell, and even our taste… we start to see more with our third eye (pineal gland, focal point for wisdom and heightened connection to our higher selves), than with our regular eyes.

I want you to think about places that are considered “dark,” but where amazing and necessary transformations take place. Cocoons are where butterflies transform from caterpillars to vivid, gorgeous, butterflies. We cannot discount the cocoon if we claim that we love the butterfly.

Another space is the ground. The connection that we feel when we connect to the earth is one that makes us feel anchored and supported. When we plant a seed, that seed lives in the dirt, covered in darkness from the world above. We trust in the ground to support the seed. The entire potential of that plant lies in what happens in that dark space. If the magic is allowed to happen, we will be blessed with beautiful plants, some of which aesthetically bless our eyes, while some nourish our bodies.

The moon is a cyclic celestial body that also has a dark moon phase. This is when the moon is not visible to the human eye. It is a time when no sunlight is being reflected. To the ancient people, this was an important time of rest and deep solitude. It was believed that in this time, people cultivated the seeds of their own creativity, and got the rest that they needed so that they had the energy to manifest and birth their creative projects, their dreams, goals, and entire worlds. Albert Einstein was known for the amount of rest that he got, and also the walks in nature that he took as a way to have downtime. In these moments he solved some of the world’s greatest problems.

In Greek mythology, we learn of the goddess Persephone (Kore) who was abducted and brought to the underworld by the God Pluto (Hades). She ultimately spends 1/2 of her year in the underworld, but she doesn’t stay there—she must return to the land of the living, and so do we. When we spend time in the darkness, we must return to the light. But while we are in those spaces, what is it that we are to learn? Is it a time of rest? Transformation? Deep healing?

This year 2020 has been marked by a heavy Plutonian influence. We have already experience the feeling of being dragged to our personal underworld. It feels like a dark night of the soul, just on a larger scale, and for a longer period of time. Dark nights of the souls are existential crisis points in our individual lives, but moments that usually spark anything from spiritual awakenings to just a new way of being. Ancient mythology also speaks to us of the ancient Sumerian goddess Inanna who descents past 7 gates from earth to the underworld. As she descended, she was stripped of everything—her jewelry, crown, clothes, essentially her ego and everything that she thought she knew of the world. In the underworld she faces her sister Ereshkigal. Ereshkigal is essentially her shadow side, and once she has confronted her shadow, and has died—the old version of her dies, she is reborn as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. She steps into her true power and into her true and authentic self. Sometimes we also have to let our old selves die, so that we can experience fundamental rebirth.

In these unprecedented times, we are each doing a descent, and we are each experiencing moments of true darkness. In fact, I would venture to say that the entire planet, and this nation is facing its shadow side. We have stepped into the darkness. In this space, It is essential that we cultivate a space for ourselves that is one of joy both externally and internally. That is our bridge back to the light. We cross this bridge by utilizing what we learned in the darkness. Perhaps we come out more heart centered, or we realized what things have been working and have not been working in our lives. Perhaps it is when we let go of toxic things and people. Perhaps this is when concrete changes are made within the world that help everyone. Changes that make this place one with more love, more empathy, more compassion, and more peace. Either way, the time is now to learn how to see in the darkness…I hope that you learn lessons that transform your life in ways that is for your highest good. I hope the same for this world. There are lessons that we can only learn in the darkness, but we must not stay too long—we must return to the world of the living, we must return to the light, and rise into who we really are. Lots of love to you!