Spirituality
There has been a great deal written over the years on Religion, Spirit, and Spirituality.
As a child growing up in the 1950’s in England, I attended a Church of England school during the week, and often attended both the Church of England services with my fairly devout parent’s, and the Spiritualist church with my paternal grandmother. [Not that my mother was aware of such an attendance might I add]
So what is Spirituality?
The Encarta dictionary defines it as the quality or condition of being spiritual, and also as the property or revenue belonging to a church or church official.
I have generally defined my self as spiritual rather than religious, and although I am able to use the prefix of Reverend before my name it is as a Metaphysical rather than a Religious minister.
For me spirituality is about spirit, the innate part of our selves that lives on, many will refer to it as the soul, or even as the soul / spirit connection. The words really do not matter it is your own personal connection with your higher consciousness or your higher self that is what defines you as being or living in spirit.
There has in recent years been a resurgence of interest by people concerned with the issues and beliefs which may be seen as affecting the spirit or soul; these people can be said to quote the Word Net dictionary, to have a ‘spiritual approach to life’; other explanations are "spiritual fulfilment"; "spiritual values"; "unearthly love", "spiritual beings"; and "the vital transcendental soul belonging to the spiritual realm".
Most of us are content with being seen as or described as ‘spiritual’, or coming from ‘spirit’.
When we connect with the higher realms and our own higher selves or soul / spirit connection we are able to access much that is not readily available to us on other levels.
Often this can be messages from loved ones who have passed over, communication with angels and ‘spirit guides’ as they are often called, and in the deeper studies of the heavenly or higher realms with what are described as ‘ascended masters’ or to quote my husband ‘the heavenly hierarchy’, who he fondly refers to as the ‘team’.
No matter how you describe these connections they are very real to those who communicate with them.
I would like to offer some simple exercises in e class 5 for you to use at home that may assist you with connecting if you wish with those who offer their assistance.
Exploring Spirituality
Some explanations on the use of the word Spirit
The English word "spirit" comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning ‘breath’. It has both Metaphysical and metaphorical uses
In a metaphysical content it has attained a number of meanings
A substance or energy present individually in all living things. Unlike the concept of the soul , which are defined as being eternal and usually believed to pre-exist the body, it is believed that a spirit develops and grows as an integral aspect of the living being.
This concept of the individual spirit is common among many of the traditional peoples, the Australian Aboriginal, the American Indian and so on. There is a difference between the concept of spirit and that of the pre-existing or eternal soul due mainly because belief in souls is quite specific and far less common, particularly in traditional societies.
Some descriptions of spirits have been a Daemon / Demon or a Sprite, this is often the old explanation given for what may be termed a ghost or an earthbound energy which is usually conceived as a wandering ‘spirit’ from a being who is deceased or passed over, and of the spirit having survived the death of the body yet maintaining the ability to think and wander at will
In both religion and spirituality, the breath of the of the human being has for obvious reasons been strongly linked with the very occurrence of life Where there is ‘breath there is life’. Some cultures attribute the same significance to blood, and the pumping of the heart in a living body as differentiated from a corpse or dead body and the lack of consciousness and intelligence.
Animism or animistic religions,[those which hold the belief that natural objects, natural phenomena, and the universe itself possess souls] and these include religions such as Japan's Shinto and numerous Native American and African tribal beliefs, focus around invisible beings or spirits which are seen to represent or are connected to plants, animals [sometimes known as Animal fathers], or even landforms; the English word "spirit" is usually used when translating tales related to such entities.
Spirits are often visualized as being interconnected to all others and ‘The Spirit’ may be used as a term to refer to the theories of a unified spirituality, also some times described as ‘universal consciousness and in some instances a Deity, a God, or the Supreme Being .
In Christian theology , the Spirit is also used to describe God or aspects thereof as in the Holy Spirit, referring to a trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit: ‘The result of God reaching to man by the Father as the source, the Son as the course and through the Spirit as the vehicle of transmission.’ Some religions see the spirit or the soul as a way of communicating with God. In Christian Science, Spirit is one of the seven synonyms or closely related terms for God. These are: ‘Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Life, Truth, Love’
In Harmonism, spirit is a term reserved for those which collectively control and influence an individual from the realm of the mind.
Harmonism is a Superphilosophy
So what is a superphilosophy? A superphilosophy is a set of practical ideas that can be used in one's life, no matter what one's background may be. Harmonism believes that: All natural life is inherently sacred and All information on or about a person is their personal and intimate property
Harmonism offers a dream: Man is to protect earth, Mankind is to discover new worlds
Harmonism is about a few pursuits: Harmony in oneself, Harmony over the world
Spirit may also be used as a metaphorical term and also has several meanings
Spirit may be the word used to describe the feelings of loyalty and camaraderie in the inclusion of a group or institution such as in school spirit
The Declaration of Independence was written in the spirit of John Locke and his notions of liberty", or the term ‘zeitgeist’, meaning ‘spirit of the age’
As a synonym for 'vivacity' as in ‘She performed the piece with spirit.’
In Law the term spirit may be used in a literal meaning as in ‘the Letter and spirit of the law’
It is also well known as a term to describe certain alcoholic beverages which stems from medieval superstitions that explained the effects of alcohol as ‘demonic activity’.
In Mysticism, spirit is seen as existence in unity with Godhead. Soul may also be known or described as spirit, but soul is seen as certain individual human consciousness, while spirit comes from beyond that.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 587).
Spirituality and Spirit Guides
A Spirit guide is the name often given to an ‘intelligence’ which exists in another form and provides methods of communication and understanding for those on the earthy planes, these communications and understanding may be presented in many forms, and will be individual to each person receiving them.
Guides themselves come in many shapes and forms, from the physical guides you have in this life, which may well include your parents, teachers, and friends. In fact some of your biggest and best guides and teachers may well be the people whom you got on with the least.
Other ‘Guides’ may range from those who have passed over right through to the many levels of the Angelic realms. An example of this is the ‘parking meter’ or ‘parking space’ angel right through to the Archangel or Ascended master.
An intuitive guide might be working with you on one or more of many levels. Including physically, mentally, etherically, astrally, or even on a soul level.
You may have the same guide in a number of lifetimes, or you may have a number of guides in one life as you move through the situations that you have chosen to experience. In some instances your ‘guide’ may be learning or experiencing also, and have contracted to be with you to achieve a specific level of understanding or learning that was not available elsewhere.
With there being more awareness and openness in the field of things spiritual many are the ‘groups’ and meetings to work with or contact guides and guidance. Remember that your experience is just that ‘your experience’ so do not negate it by thinking or feeling that some one else has a better connection to a guide or guidance than you do.
Your guide may not communicate with you through voice channelling, pretty poetry, or physical indicators that they are present, eg feathers, flowers, cool breezes and so on, it does not however mean that they are not communicating with you on a level which is beneficial to you both.
To communicate with us here on the lower realms a guide in many instances must ‘lower’ their frequency to come down to one which we can cope with, and as we learn to ‘raise’ our frequency we are much more able to meet and communicate with them.
Young children communicate extremely well on many unseen levels, and it is often only when they are told that what they are hearing or seeing is not true that they begin to ‘close it down’.
So what types of guides and angels may you have in your life time?
We will look at Angels first, and then go on to guides.
I believe that we all have a ‘Guardian angel’ one who is assigned to us at our conception and supports us through the life, birth and passing process. This angel stays with us for the whole of our life and often for many lives.
Many religions have spoken of angels in their often ancient writings, some show then in a pictorial form with wings others without wings, the choice and acceptance of just how you ‘see’ or envisage angels I believe is your own.
Having worked with many clients over the years and introduced them to their guides and / or angels I am never surprised at what people report ‘seeing’ or ‘knowing’. Angels come from many levels and many backgrounds, we could spend a great deal of time on this subject, however I will recommend a very good book on Angels at the end of this article which will cover far more information than we are able to go into here for those who are interested.
Guides, as a separate subject may be of many descriptions, and the current trend of ‘channelling’ or ‘drawing’ Spirit Guides has allowed many people to connect with an image and a resonance of their own individual guidance. Some of the drawings I have seen have been incredibly beautiful and the energy which radiates from them has been exquisite.
I had the good fortune many years ago to work and travel with a well known teacher and channel who created the most incredible guide drawings, and all with her eyes closed. It was a fascinating process to watch these beautiful pictures unfold on the paper before me, and to see the expressions on people’s faces as they received their own guide drawing.
Many guides who present come with specific messages or a particular task to assist you with, and often these may be members of your family who have passed over some time before. A client of mine is well guided by her grandmother who she will ‘feel’ around her when there is a situation to be aware of.
My late husband often communicates through my sister who is very clairvoyant, and generally with a message for me.
Why you might ask when I am able to channel myself? I believe it is that he has a clearer channel to communicate through as I am usually working on many issues at a time and often for other people.
My sister however lives a simple and generally quiet life and has more available ‘time’ for him to connect with her.
They were also good friends when he was alive some seventeen years ago now, and his messages which can be quite humorous generally contain a component for her also. We will draw the curtain on her reaction to the fact that he generally communicates with her when she is in the shower!
Which then brings us to the next area of our guidance. How often are we given ‘guidance’ which we do not recognise or acknowledge, or we even ignore? Many a client has reported ‘knowing’ or ‘feeling’ that some thing wasn’t quite right, but had over ridden the knowing or the feeling and found out later that they would have been better to go with that inner knowing or gut instinct.
We always have ‘free will’ and I have often explained that our guides or angels may well be wringing their hands in despair and saying ‘woe is me’ as they watch you make what might be termed ‘mistakes or wrong judgements’ for they cannot and will not override your free will, and need to be asked or given permission to assist or ‘do something’ for you.
A guide may have a specific area of expertise, and recently we have been working with what could be termed ‘Business’ guides, these very astute guides have come in for a number of people specifically to be advisors on business matters.
In each of these instances the ‘business guide’ has made its presence felt very strongly, and has set up a ‘line of communication’ either via a conversational method of a ‘voice’ or through a channelled message. Some very fortunate young people I know actually have more than one business guide assisting them with their decisions.
We will address how to connect with a guide or an angel, and how to know if the guide or angel you are communicating with is ‘from the light’ in another session. Not all of the guidance that you may receive is of the highest benefit to you, and it is important to be discerning and also to be aware of what you accept.
Highly Recommended Reading
The Book of Angels, Francis Melville
ISBN1 74051 442 4
Published in Australia by Random House [2001]
http://www.randomhouse.com.au