OUR LUMINOUS LEGACY
You and I are modern mystics, whether we claim the title or not. And modern mysticism can save the world.
Anthropologist and shamanist Hank Wesselman wrote the book MedicineMaker: Mystic Encounters on the Shaman’s Path in 1998 – twenty years ago. He saw hope then, and we know we’re in more dire straits today. I need to see and understand and embrace the hope he holds out.
What were you doing twenty years ago? How aware were you? I was in year three of a five-year program to become a licensed spiritual practitioner in the Center for Spiritual Living, in Santa Rosa, California. I had recently come off of 15 years of wholistic exploration and training in New York City. I was already a “modern mystic.” But as I read this one chapter in Hank’s book I began to find the vocabulary to explain to us how we, as modern mystics, can and will alter this collision course the world seems to be on.
Here’s how Hank defines a modern mystic:
“You are a modern mystic if you:
1- Have a strong sense of social justice.
2 – Understand the importance of physical, mental, and spiritual balance and harmony.
3 – Are environmentally savvy. You see a pattern of connection of all. You understand that everything and everyone is part of a pattern and thus interconnected.
4 – Are committed to achieving the direct, personal transformative experience of the sacred.
5 – Most believe in the existence of more than one level of reality. The modern mystic understands that there are also the non-ordinary realities, the subjective dream worlds or spirit worlds, where the laws of physics and cause and effect may not work in the same way.
Take it a step further into these next ideas which I have explored and experienced as I delve more deeply into shamanism. See how much of this is true for you:
6 – The modern mystic believes that some individuals have the ability to enter or journey into these alternate realities to accomplish certain things and gain help, direction, and knowledge from the inner sources of wisdom and/or spiritual entities that reside there.
7 – They believe in the existence of spirit helpers and spirit teachers, who, in turn, are thought to provide the seeker with power and knowledge, protection and support, that one cannot access on one’s own.
8 – Modern mystics believe in the existence of spiritual or mystical power, perceived by virtually all as an invisible essence or force that pervades everything in the universe and that can be highly concentrated in certain places, objects, and living beings.
9 – It is understood that everyone can learn how to access, accumulate, and focus this power, and that one’s health, well-being, and success in life are all dependent on being able to increase and maintain one’s personal supply of it.
10 – There is also a belief in a personal energy body—the aspect of the self that carries this power as life force and which provides the etheric pattern around which the physical body is formed.
11- Most modern mystics also feel a genuine distance from and disaffection for Western allopathic medicine. They seek alternative solutions.”
What I nearly missed
I was feeling discouraged as I saw so many people with absolute opposing views on basic values and priorities. Whatever their reasons, they seemed caught up in the present and had no concern for our future – the impact our choices today have on the rest of our lives and on our children. Many people are simply focused on survival.
I felt outnumbered and alone. Where were all these mystics, these people working to raise the collective conscious?
I found them online. I found them in the groups that I participated in, in online courses I take. I joined with them in group meditations and continued to expand my own awareness.
This idea that there are so many active mystics in the world today is comforting because I know those of us who are aware that we are lightworkers are all doing our individual work.
Expanding my own spiritual practice makes me feel more valuable as an active participant in a larger movement, and brings me a comforting awareness that my spiritual focus can join with others all over the planet who are thinking and feeling and working in the same vibrational manner, to change our world.
There’s tremendous power in the energy of groups and even though, as an 85-year-old metaphysician in the conservative mid-west, I sometimes feel alone, I am not alone. I am part of the powerful steadily expanding vibrational thinking that’s gaining power on our planet. There are a lot of us on this mystical journey. And we are changing our world.
Here’s the turning point:
According to Hank’s book, in 1996 some 24% of Americans fell into this category of mystic. That was over twenty years ago. The internet has helped us find each other, and I am on group meditations and shamanic courses with people from all over the world. Yes, we mystics have the planet covered. We’re everywhere!
Now we need to increase our collective light. We do that through our ever-deepening spiritual practice and by joining with like-minded mystics to radiate light.
Mystics are in all cultures; they have migrated from all religions. They are everywhere. It’s incredibly powerful to join in a group meditation with like-minded people from all over the world. There’s an amazing sense of connection and an even greater certainty in our collective power to change the world.
What has to happen
Anthropologists call it a “cultural revitalization” movement. That means there’s a large group of us who see that the current way is not working and we are willing to explore a whole new set of ways to see ourselves, our problems and the solutions.
A whole new way. That means questioning all our choices, releasing a great deal of stuff and starting from scratch to develop and devise a pattern of living that’ll keep our planet livable and our lives sustainable in a state of profound peace and harmony.
That means a lot of change
That means a lot of letting go, of re-assessing, of being willing to change what we believe and how we think our lives should be.
It calls for visionary thinking
What does visionary thinking mean? It means finding ways to address overpopulation, land conservation, how technology is affecting the mental development of our children and our own social abilities, our livelihoods. What we will do when there’s no more land upon which to grow food, what we will do when the oceans rise and the ports all close and all trading ceases. Everything is so interconnected that when one strand is damaged, other strands have to change and compensate.
Fortunately, there are modern mystics working in all of these areas. We, as fellow mystics, must listen to them and support them. And if called to do so, join in the work.
We modern mystics must raise our vibration
You can begin to heal the world by examining your own thinking.
What you expect your life to look like is probably not going to be how it turns out. Technology and innovation are rapidly changing everything. How do young people train for jobs that don’t even exist yet – but will when they are ready to enter the workforce?
Be aware in every stage of your life that your options change, that new opportunities continually unfold, and find ever-expanding ways to offer your own gifts and talents and life purpose so that the choices you make are in alignment with your mission in life.
Question everything
Notice the repercussions of everything you do. Whether it is what you recycle or how far you drive or the activism work you do, allow your values to be fluid and adjust them to the ever-changing flow of nature and the expansion of your own spiritual awareness.
Question your physical body-suit life.
Expand your spiritual life and go deeper and broader and higher as you explore the invisible realms.
Be aware of the repercussions of your choices on others.
The waste, the pollution, the consumption, the warfare, the suppression are numbing. We are all part of the same planet. We are all connected. What we do affects the whole. All of us. Each of us.
Respond to new information
Scientists continue to uncover new knowledge about our universe, our planet, our potential. Keep abreast of those discoveries, particularly in areas that call to you. Then put that new knowledge to work in your own life and show others how to follow suit.
Know the repercussions of your action
I’m a vegan. I know about the food chain process. My personal choice is to save one animal at a time through my own actions. One person’s action can add to a collective result.
So much of the damage to our planet comes when people are not aware. Not aware of where their plastic discard will end up, not aware of the impact of their anger, not aware… We, as modern mystics, must monitor all we do and continue to raise our vibration in the world.
You are a member of the Transformational Community
If you resonate to any of these ideas, you are a modern mystic and a member of the Transformational Community. We may not call ourselves that, but it’s time that we recognize there are many others worldwide who are working to raise the collective consciousness of our world. We do that through our private, spiritual practice, and we find other like-minded change-makers and join with them, as activists, in group meditations. We are finding each other and that is empowering. Our collective light is expanding.
How do you choose to take your modern mysticism to the next level?
This is how I do it. I continue to deepen my personal shamanist work and explore the invisible realms daily. I actively focus on deepening my connection and awareness of nature. I mindfully radiate light to our world each day. I write articles like this to serve as a guide and encouragement for other spiritual explorers.
We are old souls, we mystics. We are the elders. We must do the consciousness work that helps others understand that we are one energy, one light, one essence. And as such, we are responsible for the well-being of each other. Our whole. Our world.
Mindfully raise your own vibration to your innate wholeness, and it will broadly affect the world around you.
There is hope. With each deepened awareness and each conscious choice.
Welcome, modern mystic, to the save-our-planet project. We can save our world.
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