Lifting the veil: Is the Time Now?

Is the time now? Always.

Have our religious, philosophical and ethical systems converged? Well…it’s a process.

Like any seed sprouting, there is a struggle against resisting soil to burst to the surface. The evolving spiritual consciousness is happening now. But to happen, it also meets resistance.  This is a necessity of growth.

Change is a tricky thing for us humans. On one hand our philosophers early on told us that change is the human condition. Yet, the I Ching was written to help humans negotiate the uncertainty and danger of change.  Change may be part and parcel of the human condition but we also seem to have a strand on our DNA that doesn’t make us like it much.

In Ireland, where I live, we joke about getting every kind of weather – in one day. There is an element of truth in the exaggeration.  I also live in a very ‘thin place’, both literally and metaphorically.  On the literal level, our village lies in two counties, Cavan and Leitrim. As the crow flies over Cuilcagh Mountain we see the boundary with Northern Ireland – an international boundary. Lastly, it is rumoured that Dowra has a remnant of the Black Pigs Dyke, an earthwork fortification to separate the rampaging warriors of the ancient kingdoms of Ulster and Connaught. On the more mystical level, this was the place where the fairy tribe of Ireland, the Tuatha dé Danaan, chose to arrive in Erin and retreat into the timeless sídhe.  The veil feels gossamer on so many levels in this place.

Which may be part of the reason that my partner and I have become hyper aware of the level of resistance and consequent suffering happening now.  This thin place does not offer a magic shield to the suffering of individuals and the collective consciousness; quite the reverse.  Certainly, since December 2012, we have become aware personally of the challenge posed by the Shift in consciousness being experienced by so many individuals, families and organisations.

But here is the paradox. Like the seed needing resistance of both soil and then, when emerging, to be tested by the challenges of weather- too much or too little of sun, rain or wind – we also need to meet our own resistance to raise our consciousness.

The labour that births a child is similar. Some children may make a slippery smooth entrance into the world. But others experience a forceps birth. Most of us would prefer the cosiness of remaining in the safe womb world of the mother.  But most mothers are more than happy to heave their child down the birth canal, expelling them into the world even as that child resists emerging. The end product is deemed a good thing for both mother and child. But it is not an easy transition and the change is fraught with uncertainty and new challenges over the next two decades.

Our evolving spiritual consciousness is like that child.  It is a work in progress over the next decades. But it is being experienced in a period where time feels to have sped up. It used to be that older people would comment on the swift passage of time. But I talk to 18 year olds these days who also feel that acceleration.   Most shamanic practitioners of my acquaintance are very busy; these spiritual midwives are dealing with the ramifications of the Shift. The ground of our being is shifting and so many people are feeling insecure with both the inner and outward manifestations of this time.

Resistance is often experienced as drama in life.  This could mean the resistance ‘plays out’ with a home repossession, job redundancy, divorce, bereavement, chronic illness or a terminal diagnosis, suicide, losing access to one’s children.   Governments and organisations also have their internal dramas as they struggle for retention of power and control in the face of the unknowable.

The common denominator is loss. Loss undermines our psyche as nothing else will.  But the drama of loss can sometimes distract us from the ‘real event’ of consciousness shifting inwardly.  Sometimes suffering a loss will be the instigator for spiritual evolution.  But paradoxically, resistance, wanting to stay in that metaphorical womb even though it is time to move, can also be a common response. This causes suffering.

No one likes insecurity or the anxiety, uncertainty, and outright panic it can incite. This is why it has never been more important to cultivate strong root, sacral and solar plexis chakras as a sturdy foundation for the consciousness to flourish.  As a reiki master, I am aware that these are taking a hammering for many people these days.  However, we need to be really grounded during this Shift to handle the betwixt and between times we live in and to adjust to the evolving consciousness.  Without this groundedness of being many souls who glimpse this consciousness want to drift, disconnect or exit the planet altogether.

If we are to see this shift in consciousness birthed into being, we need to stay with the process, equip ourselves to meet our own resistance to change, and compassionately assist those who founder in their own process.

Bee Smith guides tours in her betwixt and between region of Ireland through Irish Blessings Tours. She is also a blogger for Sagewoman.