SEPTEMBER 2022 COLLECTIVE ANCHORING REFLECTION
Lawd!
End of July through now (end of September) has been a whirlwind for me. Dr. appointments galore, COVID, recovering from COVID, playing catch up with my doula training course, being laid off due to inflation. IT HAS BEEN WILD, but it has also been incredibly affirming at the same time. I've had to go back to my drawing board more than once, re-anchor myself in my path while shifting the way I approach and achieve my goals. It truly has been a trial-by-fire masterclass in FLOW. I'm always reminding people that a babbling brook is flow, a big ass gust of wind is flow, lava burning away everything in its path is flow, rocks breaking away from a cliff wall and sliding down into a valley below is flow. Many times I had to pause and ask myself whether or not I was truly accepting and walking in the divine flow of things. Despite the challenges I've been navigating I'm walking into something life-altering and expansive beyond what I expected as I close out the calendar year and head into the next one (more about this once everything is finalized). I 100% attribute what's ahead of me to the way the foundational practices of my spiritual walk continue to ground and sustain me.
To all the new loves I met at the West Indian Independence Celebration WHADDUP! You will find that I do my absolute best to keep it 100% real, raw, and vulnerable around here cuz that’s the only way to truly be and exalt yourself. To the youth in the midst expecially, I do all of this for YOU. SO we adults may become better supports and elders for your growth and development and so you can engage these reflections and gain this awareness now in your youth instead of having to correct as many things as my generation has had to. May our transparancy in un/relearning help you to work smarter not harder in your own journeys.
The portion of the September 2022 anchoring message I'm sharing with you today was written during the first week of September. I just "knew" I was going to be able to shove through and finish the report with the full depth and layering I love to provide, that I have established as my standard. ESPECIALLY after not sharing a message for last month. Today I'm gently scolding myself. in the voice of my graduate school advisor "Perfection is the enemy of done. Good is good enough, especially if it is your best." I stubbornly clung to my idea of what I consider to be my perfect execution and it left me with work undone instead of the pride I should feel in the foundation I had already prepared. A foundation that would have allowed you something to sit with as September progressed to work through with your own understanding. As an educator, I believe in scaffolding and providing opportunities for learners and audiences to be active participants in their own growth. Interestingly enough, in hindsight, this aligns with the message we received for this month.
SEPTEMBER 2022 - 6 The Lovers| Path 36 Al- Ali
Key Concepts: Balance, partnership, union. Entering into and honoring wise commitments. Talking YOUR talk and walking YOUR walk. Communities. Elemental Air energy
Astrological Aspects: Gemini
Hebrew Letter: Zain
Kabbalist Aspect: Path 17 - Disposing Intelligence
The Lovers aka Children of the Voice, Oracle of Mighty Gods.
One thing I always mention when the Lovers card is drawn, is that everything this card represents can be applied to your relationship with God, your Ancestors, and spiritual guides. We turn to them for understanding, for the wisdom of their learned experience, for support. They partner with us in our journey to balance. In Sufism, God is often referred to as The Beloved and each of us is the lover and the loved.
Aside from that, the most sacred and fulfilling relationship we will ever have is the one we have with ourSelf. Our Embodied Self is a partnership between our Essence (Higher Self), Inner Child self, Shadow self, past selves, and our ever-evolving view of our future self. Our most important commitments are those we intend to honor for ourselves. So much of the trauma we heal from is the compilation of wounds we feel we have inflicted upon ourselves. Most of us have found the need to forgive ourselves for times we doubted our intuition, were afraid to speak up, endured things for too long, failed to protect someone we love, gave up on goals or dreams, or didn't/couldn't take care of ourselves in the way we deserve. Even after understanding some of these things weren't our fault we need to release guilt or inward resentment. Just as interpersonal relationships cannot survive sweeping everything under the rug, our intrapersonal relationships rely on open, honest, communication, grace, compassion, and the occasional clean slate.
Not just this month, but for the rest of our existence as a soul in human form, we must meet ourselves at the table and receive to forgive as many times as necessary. Some wounds require multi-layered engagement. That is okay. Balance is achieved one intentional step at a time. Therapists, competent astrologers, gifted diviners, trusted elders, flora and fauna, and ourselves serve as mirrors for necessary reflection.
One of the foundational practices I worked to return to this month was the CONSISTENT use of mantra and affirmations, created from positive and comforting self-talk in times of fear, doubt, stress, or anxiety.
I like these for the start of the day:
- Today is a new day and I allow myself to be renewed
- I will do my best today
-Lessons of today become the wisdom of tomorrow if I let them if I am brave enough to embrace them
- Even the wildest dreams come true one step at a time
I like these for the end of the day:
- Today I did the best I could and that was enough
- Today I forgive myself for ________
- Today's experiences taught me ____________. I release any guilt around this lesson so this new knowledge is free to become the wisdom of tomorrow
- I release this day, accepting what I'm meant to keep into my mind, heart, and soul. I take the meat and leave the bones
For any point in the day where I need a reset the reiki principles are beautiful anchors:
**this is not saying you can't feel and embrace your anger, it is saying not to be so quick to anger that you're always angry, not to hold onto anger once it has been released so you're not altering your overall emotional state. For those who are "highly sensitive" or freely emotional, it is helpful to make note of when your mood shifts noticeably and why. Understanding your triggers means understanding Self. Understanding Self is crucial to honoring oneself. Honoring Oneself is a key component to recognizing when connections with others are good, harmful, or inconsequential. It's hard walk your walk when you can't recognize your feet beneath you. It's hard to talk your talk when you don't believe in and embody the things you say. Many of us came out of our youth feeling like only a few (if any) people really knew or understood us. We felt alone or as though we outgrew everyone by virtue of aging. We spent our teen years or even formative years protecting ourselves from everyone friends, family, and strangers alike. We became who we needed to be to survive, to access resources we couldn't be without, and once free of the circumstances that made those things necessary, we had/have to figure out how to reclaim or learn who we truly are. For those with marginalized identities, BIPOC, immigrants, LBGTQ+, neuro expansive, and differently-abled folks, this is not only a personal experience but a cultural/communal one. For the YOUTH especially: - I'm allowed to create and enforce my own boundaries - I don't have to be who I'm expected to be - I become who I'd like to be one day at a time, one step at a time - Life is one long learning opportunity and the most rewarding topic of study is myself - When I allow myself to be myself, I gift others the opportunity to know me too - I live and I learn - I am the only one who can live my life In general, we've reached a beautiful and interesting time when extended and chosen familial bonds are becoming of prime importance again. Your relationship with yourself is the blueprint for your relationships with others. These are some questions I ask myself from time to time to check in with the way I'm showing up for and as myself: - Do I trust my instincts (about people, this situation, etc)? - Am I acting like it? - Am I allowing myself to be myself without judgment? - Do I allow others to be themselves without judgment? - How do I deal with conflict? - How do I communicate when I'm disappointed, frustrated, sad, angry, etc.? - Is that communication clear? - Do I trust myself to be honest? - Am I a safe place for vulnerability? Pathway 36| Al-Ali, Experiencing Life at Its Peak ”Take the opportunity to feel yourself at the peak of everything, including letting any thought of yourself disappear.” As we live, learn, and grow, life will present many opportunities for the way we view and experience ourselves and our lives to shift. These moments are usually charged, whether it is with excitement and joy, fear and doubt, anger or frustration. There are also moments that shift the perspective of our lived experience that unfold subtly, we may not even register them until the moment has passed and the change is solidified. Either way, the conscious (re)acclimation is a challenge. How freely do we allow ourselves to change? How fluid do we allow ourselves to be? Are we the ones placing ourselves in boxes? September was definitely a month of this for me, and I absolutely had unwittingly put myself in a box. But WE OUTCHEA NOW! I hope y’all Also realize if and how you’ve restricted yourself unwittingly and break free. The Sufi refer to these moments as a peak. Where you’ve found yourself at the apex of something,a point where movement that changes your state and position is required. The core of the experience is typically to accept things as and how they ACTUALLY are. Acceptance is key to surrender, surrender is key to the flow of divine alignment. Surrendering to the flow of divine alignment is the key to organic balance (this year’s anchoring focus). From this year’s anchoring: 2022 is a 6 year. 6 is about allll the things. Fine-tuning your tings so they can stand alone AND fit together. When things work together for good with minimal effort, that's how you know you've successfully tapped into your divine flow, your organic balance. This year we prioritize the harmonization of our inner and outer existences, the individual with the collective. Remember the layers! Self, Family/Tribe, Neighborhood/Community, Greater Collective. ROOTS AND BRANCHES Traditional translations of this quality include “grand” and “exalted”. The sound ‘AL in Ali goes backward into the body, not outward, and is similar to the beginning Al in Alim (19), the understanding of forms. This sound points to the material reflection of the divine being which moved toward a purpose. The overarching purpose of everything in and through me is always whole-system Embodiment across dimensions. The outward projection of this AL sound appears in the word Allah as the great “Yes” of the universe.