A New Beginning

I have always had what I call a very "plastic" brain; by that I mean a mind that slips easily between paradigms of thinking. I begin to see through the filter of those other ways very quickly without losing my ability to relate to my prior position. I think this natural flexibility of belief this is the true definition of what Shamans call "walking in different worlds" and is what caused me to gravitate towards the study of shamanism in the first place.
I still call myself a Shaman, because I see the term as the closest definition to what I have become, but recently, a series of personal changes (and choices) has left me at a bit of a loss in terms of a defining paradigm. Contrary to what you might think, and indeed contrary to how I would have thought about it before, I'm finding that it's just fine with me! I do not mourn the end of an "identity", I celebrate the integration of my many facets into a more complete and effective Human Being.
I'm still writing stories, with plans to publish them in E-book form in the near future, but you will find other information here too. I believe that those who need to find this information will find it. I hope that something about my own personal journey speaks to you, and helps you to unravel some of the mystery of your own Life.
Thank you for reading!
-Grace

(just a reminder, all material and stories are copyrighted)

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

The True Story Of Creation, or, Don't Blame The Snake

Once upon a time, the great void gave a sigh and noticing itself for the first time, said, "I am."  In that instant, the no-thing-ness became some-thing.  
We call this "Awareness"
This some-thing was All-That-Is, for it had always existed and always would; and for the moment it truly was "all that is" and there was no-thing else.   But, as omnipotent as it was, it could know nothing of itself for there was nothing for it to relate to. The All- That- Is was perfect in every way.  But in that perfection it knew that it would never change or grow.  
Fortunately, there was a secret power to this thing.  You see, since this thing accepted itself as All- That- Is, it's acceptance was unconditional, and that unconditional acceptance goes by another name that we know well.  
It is called, "Love".

In that moment, there was a great shattering, for it is in the nature of Love to create.  Having nothing else to work with, Love created from itself and sent forth pieces of its own, infinite Being into the void.  These pieces were parts of itself, but also whole and complete so as to be itself expressed in parts.  Each part carried within it a spark of original Love which caused them, in turn, to send forth more parts.  
Now, there were plenty of pieces in the void, and they began to relate to one another.  Relating to each other enabled the pieces, which retained the ability to create, to  have the first experiences.  
We call this "Consciousness".
There were some states of being that for various reasons, were more desirable.  
We call that "preference".  
Preference gave rise to creations that were more in keeping with the desired state of being, which in turn gave rise to new preferences.  In this way, the original Love experienced all of what it could not conceive of in its original form. It expanded across the original void in rolling waves.

At the time, all things happened in a single instant, meaning there was no process by which they would come to Be.  All was created with the speed of thought.  
We call this "manifestation."
The simplest things came first.  "Light" is the energy which carries information and suddenly, there was much more information to be had.  So inherent in that initial shattering, was the first experience of the contrast of light and dark.  Then out of this, the elements eventually took shape. More and more cohesive forms became according to the preferences and agreed preferences of those sparks  But soon, the sparks recognized that true value was to be found in the process of creation.  They thought "We will be like the Creator Love and send forth pieces of ourselves into these beings to experience what we cannot."; and so they created, all from pieces of themselves, other Be-ings for whom the process of creation would happen more slowly.  
They were called "souls".
These versions of themselves were tethered to denser stuff in individualized units.  The units were designed to process and interpreted the vibrations of the stuff around them into experiences.  The denser forms of matter ensured that there was a process to all of creation which could be observed.  The act of tethering themselves to physical matter also created a framework which the physical mind used to gauge the relation of events to other events.
This was called "time".
Each tethered entity created its experiences from its own being according to its desires, and at first, there was contentment.  Each maintained a clear connection to the All That Is and so each existed in a state where there was no suffering or struggle.  They knew their place in the All That Is, and they knew that they were Loved.  They also had no doubt that they were being provided for and that everything about them had a reason for being; which they accepted without condition.
We call this "Paradise".

All Be-ings brought back their experiences to the All That Is, who accepted it all with gratitude, for it was in this way that the All- That- Is grew to encompass even more.  But because the Be-ings were created from Love,  it was their nature to expand because expansion is also part of the nature of Love. 
Eventually, a certain group of these tethered beings saw that they could achieve even greater experience with even greater contrast.  So they decided to make a change for the benefit of all the others. 
"What better platform from which to create preferences?" they thought.   And so they took this idea back to the All That Is.  And for these souls,  The All-That-Is made a sacrifice (which is another part of the nature of Love).   You see, the All That Is loved these parts of itself so much, that it agreed to let these tethered beings experience existencewithout conscious knowledge of their connection to itself.  
These Be-ings are called "Human".

To accomplish this, each Human Be-ing, before it incarnated into the world, agreed to forget about its previous existence and make its way in the World we know, on its own.  In essence, they removed themselves from Paradise.  This World would provide the contrasts that would generate new preferences.  New preferences would result in new creations and the cycle would continue and the Universe would continue to expand through them.  Because each body needed to relate to others, and by this relationship, come to know more about themselves, they were created with inherent duality.  Both male and female became separate incarnations but each retained some characteristics from both polar points.  This contrast served all of creation.
All- That- Is, and when they were not.  Though this system gave them the knowledge of positive and negative, it was their choice as to how they would interpret the signals-if indeed they chose to listen at all.
This is called "free will".
When they existed in harmony with the All -That- Is, they simply felt better.
To function as a mechanism to activate this sense of positive and negative, there was also incorporated into each physical body, a thread of energy.  This energy was like a snake, and its job was to rise up within the entity and open the energy portals through which information from the Higher Selves could enter.  You could say, that this is the snake which gives knowledge-or at least makes knowledge available. 

Over the eons, many of us have tried to re-create that sense of connection outside ourselves.  We have imposed outside rules and regulations to govern our lives, and set up outside sources as those we turn to for our own guidance. We judge our progress by what we see outside ourselves, and we have given our power away to those outside us and allowed them to determine the value of our existence.  Human Beings removed the importance of their own inner guidance systems and replaced them with man-made, artificial frameworks.  We have chosen to experience ourselves as separate individuals with no connection to one another.  But somehow, that tiny, snakelike voice within us is constantly calling us back into alignment with our Source.  It is always there, because Love is also patient.  It will not give up on us.
We are being given a choice.  It is as simple as paying attention to your own guidance system-the more you do it, the better you will become at gathering and interpreting the information that is constantly being offered.
Human Be-ings can choose to re-establish that connection, or not.  We are nonetheless loved no matter what choice we make, but the history remains the same and makes for a pretty good story.
Does this story sound familiar?
You might know it by another name:  "Genesis".