Personal Growth

The Metaphysics of Romance

By: jgraf

 To explore relationship models that are counter-productive, one need go no further than what is presented by the media, film, and literature of modern society, as it descends now through the last phase of its materialist mode.
In answer to this dysfunctional arena, and to feed into an alternative stream, this article delves into some of the more whole-some relational and metaphysical dynamics of partnering, by apprehending what takes place beneath appearances.

Entering into relationship

A karmic bond is often the initial drawing force between partners. In a karmic relationship the underlying magnetism can be powerful, as a deeper wisdom works with the alchemic process of karmic balance. Despite suffering entailed (often a semi-sweet tableau), a rich harvest awaits.
Once the mainstay of learning has been processed, by one, or both, of the partners, the drawing force can abate.
Many long to transcend the karmic level, and move into the grace of a “soul-mate” communion. Either way, karma or grace – the shadow, or “pain body,” is activated to ensure spiritual growth.
Bringing consciousness into the arena of shadow is a central raison d’etre for relationship. No matter who you hook up with, whether the relationship is about karma, grace, destiny, or one’s soul-mate – call it just plain lucking out – shadow will be along for the dance.

Especially for pre-midlife adults, unborn children also create a powerful attracting force between partners. These souls striving to be born select their would-be parents and influence them to get together. The force these “spiritual babies” exert accounts for much of the principle energy moving within a couple’s attraction and sexual intensity. The force of attraction can decrease to the extent the spiritual-plane activity of the children abates. For example, by age 7, children have incarnated their own etheric body, by 14, their own astral body. Each phase reduces parental cohesion orchestrated on the spiritual plane, as the child moves deeper into incarnation.

By midlife, a more soulful aspect of a (functional) individual’s biography often plays a bigger part in the bonding force.

A key aspect for transcending the “child factor,” as well as enhancing the union in general, entails co-forming a foundation before engaging on a sexual level. The typical model of relationship that Hollywood has been serving up to ticket-paying masses tends to deliver lovers to the same unviable arena of relating that its own celebrities find themselves so often engaged in.
About 95% of love stories that modern film portray entail new partners advancing to sexuality at lightning speed – if not on the first day, then at least in the first week. On film you can do anything. In reality, this factor invites an early dissolution – or, at very least makes for a precarious basis for unity and rapport.
Imagine re-writing these barren scripts, so that a couple spends considerable time in the initial courtship phase, exploring all manner of experience – sharing interests, getting to know each other’s diverse facets, cultivating a soul-deep affinity. In effect, developing a solid foundation upon which to sustain the relationship.
Imagine, also, the dimension nurtured in a prolonged courtship, and the compelling body of experience that gets passed by when a couple depreciates their relationship. Driven by whims of unconscious craving, the intense fire of sexuality takes on a force of its own, so that these potential aspects of intimacy get short-circuited.
A foundational phase also lends room for resolving obstacles, including left over issues from past relationships, in preparation for the new communion. Partners can become active during the courtship phase at clearing themselves, as well as helping each other’s process (most of which is about being supportive, since every individual ultimately has to accomplish such clearing by virtue of their own intention – it can’t be done for someone).

“Love at first sight” can be a very real phenomena – but, then, it is only first sight this life. . . which brings to mind that statement people so often throw around carelessly, “You only live once.” I always add on – “. . .yes, but it’s forever. . . .”

Engaging, once in relationship

As a noted spiritual counselor has stated, “The purpose of relationship is not to make one happy, but more conscious.”
Relationship in action tends to address the existential question, where am I? Finding orientation within the soul’s terrain is a natural by-product of relating.
We know it’s working when a relationship induces the partners to fulfill their destinies, to optimize their potential.

Forgiveness at every turn opens doors of deeper awareness. The word itself, for-give – suggests that one give before having full comprehension of a situation, an act that serves as a catalyst to remove barriers to understanding.
At the same time, a true act of forgiveness does not entail condoning a dysfunction.

When I consider what a relationship would look like when it has evolved beyond the karmic level to a level of grace, I come to a perspective that views partners as revolving spheres that interact – an image that honors the multi-facetted nature of a human being, in which dynamics that might otherwise be shunned can find a place at the banquet of relation, and so come to wholeness.
On the face of the sphere are arrayed all possible conceptions and roles of an individual. As the sphere turns, the individual moves from vulnerable, to invulnerable, parental, to child-like. Aspect by aspect, moving through feminine, masculine, or “balanced” states. One phase as a lover, the next as a poet, servant, guru, healer, patient, humorist, teacher, student, visionary, seeker. . . an endless cast of roles. Meanwhile, the partner’s sphere is also revolving, engaging an equally limitless array of inter-weavings.
In a whole-seeking relationship this modality can work, as long as the partners are cognizant of the ever-revolving sphere. Problems can arise, if a partner gets “stuck” in one dynamic for a lengthy duration. But with a reasonable degree of functionality, the dance of partnering can assume all manner of dimension and proportion.
This becomes love acting in freedom. Practicing the engagement of one’s Being, and facilitating the same in one’s partner.

For the full version of this article visit Insight21.

J Graf is the coordinator of Insight21 and Earth Vision – doorways for the 21st Century.

Article Source: www.NewAgeArticles.com

Peace & Love

A Metaphysical Investigation Of Love

posted by: Deana Hudson

WHAT IS LOVE?

Scientifically speaking, how does it transform our lives? Why is it so difficult to exercise and understand? How does it physically apply to human life? Why do we all constantly crave it?

Love Is An Invisible, Intelligent Cosmic Vibrational Energy That Shifts Human Consciousness

Love is such a misunderstood property of life that many people can only partially interpret how it works to shift circumstances in our everyday lives.

Emerging from Global Metaphysical research communities are very important keys to understanding just how our souls are connected to our lives and how our lives are dependant on love frequencies for our very growth in consciousness.

We are now just barely beginning to understand exactly how love as an invisible property of life, actually feeds the human soul and assists in its entire development. Love exists as a frequency of music and light. It invisibly carries information about our souls throughout the universe and is our connection to all that exists. When our physical cells hold more of that frequency or light, those cells function at a much more intelligent level of awareness. The entire body changes and the behaviors of an individual also change. The soul changes and becomes more ‘light’.

We have become so deprogrammed from sourcing and balancing this intangible aspect of life sustaining energy from within our bodies that the word ‘love’ itself causes many dimensions of human misunderstanding. Metaphysically investigating the human energy system enables us to see just what emotion-based thought is and how such thoughts compel us to behave in distorted or unloving ways.

For our societal growth, it is extremely important for each of us to be able to understand just how profound and life changing a tool love energy is when channeled correctly through our bodies. More importantly, understanding how these energies work within our individual bodies helps us to understand why our societies are so disrupt and disharmonious.

Presently our global educative system lacks sustenance training for the emotional portion of the human soul. It is this portion of the human body system that seeks eternal connection by exercising behavioral love and unity with others. Emotional energy like all other known life properties is an invisible life support system of mathematically coded vibratory frequencies. What we emit and exchange from our bodies carries significant life building energies.

Our educative systems fall severely short in the area of teaching us how light (color) and vibration (sound) actually form our physical world and how love (cohesive energy) holds it all together. As a result we’ve lost our ability to see one another in our truer forms as light beings. We have forgotten not only the value of the energetic and emotional influences we have upon one another we’ve completely misunderstood how these human energies actually create our world events.

When it comes to remembering how to decipher the vibrational human consciousness that each human emits, we are completely lost. At best we tune into the vibe of a room and realize that something is vaguely amiss but can’t figure out who is emitting what and who is out of balance unless we talk to one another.

Consequently and as a result of our disconnected state to vibrational love frequencies we have created multiple societies that greatly stifle our natural and spontaneous expressions of emotion-based creativity. We witness this distortion of pure love energy as worldwide suffering, human corruption or animal terror.

There are so many little ways in which the systems we live in crush the creative expression and natural growth of souls, which is a divine right given to each of us at birth to experience. To understand ourselves as creative light beings we need to understand first just how we are created from light. It is THE KEY to understanding our individuated soul purpose, our psychic senses, our ability to love and our responsibility in terms of co-creating peaceful co-existence amongst all human races.

Part of this long term research in psychic drawn data retrieval is designed to bring into daily human reality grander metaphysical concepts so that anyone who desires to know can access these concepts and begin to release themselves from the darker aspects of their lives should they so choose to evolve beyond the beliefs they presently live by.

Bringing to light the profound value of metaphysical information gives us the tools to permanently dissolve the emotional bondage we call human suffering. This is not merely a utopist notion. It is in fact the profound cosmic foundation that underscores our entire surface world reality.

Hiding from our frailties and mistakes is not the answer. Opening to greater, more expanded truth is. And tapping soul knowledge is the key to our healing as a race. Psychic Science is the very path in which many have endeavored to investigate the creation and evolvement of the human soul. It is a fascinating field of research and all throughout our website we share with you some of the more profound discoveries in this field.
We are all psychic. We all possess far greater talent than we consciously utilize. Metaphysical education enables each individual the ability to see just how their very thoughts and actions create the reality they physically and emotionally face each day of their lives. When it all boils down to it most human beings simply care about their basic momentary needs. Love is the root urge from which each of us ultimately creates in life. Lack of it, loss of it, need of it and desire for it are all soul callings each of us feels within. It is part of us. It flows through us. We are made from it and therefore, it IS us.

Incense

The Types of Incense

posted by: Deana Hudson

When most people think of incense, they think of stick incense with a bamboo core. But there are several different types of incense available, and exploring the wide variety of incense available can lead you on an exciting olfactory journey.

All incense is lit and left to smolder in order to release its aroma into the room. Resin and powdered incense is placed on charcoal tablets. Lighting the tablet creates the flame needed to burn this type of incense. For stick or cone incense, lighting the tip and extinguishing any flame, leaves it to burn. This latter type of incense needs to include some kind of flammable material, such as resins or pastes, to keep it burning. Otherwise it just goes out and doesn’t burn.

Stick incense usually contains a “punk stick” or bamboo core. As the core burns, it also consumes the incense around it, leaving just the remaining stick to dispose of once the incense is gone. Most homemade incenses are of the stick variety, and you’ll most often see Indian incense, such as the 8-10 stick square packs commonly sold, created in this manner. Hand-dipped incense from individual crafts people also fall under this category.

Scents sold as sticks are often created into cone incense as well. The same material that helps the stick to keep burning also makes the cones burn, and since some individuals prefer cone incense, manufacturers provide both types. Instead of putting the incense material on a stick, it’s rolled into a cone shape and dried. The tip of the cone is lit with a match, and as it burns, it consumes the entire cone.

The other type of stick incense simply are the solid sticks, or spaghetti stick incense. In these cases, the incense is rolled or shaped into long cylinders. This incense goes by several names, such as dhoop, joss sticks, senko sticks or simpoi sticks. These sticks are solid throughout, and are either made by extruding (such as the long, thin joss sticks) or are hand-rolled like the thicker dhoop-type incense.

Masala incense can either be rolled around a bamboo core, such as the Hem Flora series, or created as solid incense sticks. Masala incense is considered to be of higher quality than regular stick-cored incense.

While the word “joss” has become synonymous with incense sticks, there aren’t any hard or fast rules in what constitutes a joss stick. The word is Chinese in origin, referring back to describing temples and religious idols. Thus, a joss stick, was an incense stick burned in a temple. The wide variety of traditions in the east, meant that each temple could create incense its own way. Thus, Indian joss sticks usually have the bamboo core commonly associated with Indian incense, and Japanese joss sticks are smaller, solid sticks of incense.

Dhoop sticks and logs come in two forms: a solid stick of incense, and a soft, gummy log. Neither type of dhoop has a bamboo core, and most incense of this type is either Tibetan or Indian in origin.

Senko stick incense sticks are also known as “Chinese matches.” Senko comes from Japan. They’re thin, smooth spaghetti-like sticks of incense, and can also be sold as “joss sticks” by such companies as Morning Star. Senko has many spellings, including sen-koh, senkoo, and senkou.

Simpoi sticks are a Tibetan style of incense stick. Primarily it’s based on Deodar Cedar and lacks the bamboo core. Tibetan stick incense is typically hand-formed and thicker than Japanese Senko.

Of course each of these types of incense requires its own burner. Thankfully most of the specialty incense, such as Tibetan or Senko, comes with its own burner. Other multi-purpose burners can also be purchased, such as ones that burn both cones and sticks.

There really isn’t one type of incense that’s “better” than the others. Most people’s incense preferences come from experience and familiarity. For many years, I burned the Indian incense simply because I wasn’t aware of the other kinds. Then, slowly, my incense repertoire grew, and now I have my favorite scents and brands. Stick incense, because it’s based on the bamboo core, tends to be less expensive than the other types, and because of this, may have a “punk stick” odor to it. For pure scent, it’s widely believed that the solid type incense provides a better experience.

When it comes to choice, my advice would be to try as many different types as you can. Each individual has his or her own preferences. Plus, with such a wide variety of incense available, both in type and smell, why would you want to limit yourself to just one?

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy: Make Your Own Gifts

posted by: Deana Hudson

Gift giving is always right around the corner and aromatherapy gifts are a hot item. When you give a gift that is enhanced by aromatherapy, you give more than just a gift. It is something that will rejuvenate the spirit of the recipient for a long time to come.

So what to look for when buying aromatherapy? I ALWAYS look at the label. If I can not pronounce most of the ingredients, then I will not purchase that item. I seek out items that are handmade, where someone took the time to make them with love and care and good ingredients.

First you must consider the product base. Many products call themselves natural, but when you educate yourself, you will be able to determine the difference between the real thing and the so called’s. My favorite products made with a grapeseed oil base. Grapeseed oil is known to be high in anti-oxidants and a light oil good for use on the skin. Did I mention grapeseed oil is hands down my favorite…did I make my point? Some people use it for cooking as well. There are other good base oils, almond oil, which is a little heavier on the skin than grapeseed oil, but has a very pleasant aroma. There is also peanut oil that Edgar Cayce recommended for joint problems and poor circulation. Peanut oil is also heavier than grapeseed oil, but an excellent choice for mature skin. Then there is castor oil, which several of my elderly clients swear by for relieving pain. According to the Heritage Store out of Virginia Beach, Doctors at the A.R.E. Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona use castor oil for virtually every aspect of health. Edgar Cayce recommended castor oil packs over the liver in 545 readings to benefit the liver and digestive system. Healers from many ancient cultures have used castor oil for over 3000 years. In fact in old herbal texts, it is called “Palma Christi,” Latin for the palm of Christ. And another good option is sesame seed oil, it is lighter than grapeseed and is an excellent option for people with hypoallergenic concerns.

Many oils call themselves aromatherapy, but are nothing more than perfume oils. True essential oils come from plants that grow in the ground, not plants that manufacture synthetic scents. True essential oils are known to be highly volatile, which means that they are not stable in heat. That is not appealing to those who mass produce scented products. So now that you know what to look for, lets get to the fun stuff!

These are oils that I believe should be in every home. They have wonderful everyday uses to help balance the mind and the spirit.

Lavender Oil: According to the Heritage store, Lavender is known to increase the alpha brain waves associated with states of relaxation and meditation. Add to bathwater for a relaxing soak. Spray on tissues and place with bed linens and lingerie. Lavender is universally known as the oil of beauty and may have exceptional qualities for hair and skin use. It is rumored that Cleopatra swore by her Lavender oil.

Peppermint Oil: I use many oils in my clinic, this is by far the most popular oil. I use 3 to 4 times more peppermint than any other oil I have, and I have a few. Traditionally, peppermint is known to help with fevers, headaches, muscle tension and fatigue. Adding a few drops of this oil to a foot lotion can give a nice tingling sensation that helps to pep up tired feet. This is an oil that I would use caution if applied directly to the skin. I usually dilute it 6 drops of essential oil to 2 ounces of base oil. This is an oil that has a wonderful aroma when used in a diffuser.

Sweet Orange Oil Sweet orange is in the heart of many aromatherapy blends. It is believed to be calming to the mind and the nerves. Give me a double shot!! Orange makes an excellent body moisturizer, and a few drops added to a facial wash or shower gel can encourage radiant, younger looking skin. Orange oil can be effective to the immune system for colds and flu and can help eliminate toxins, and as a diuretic it is useful for water retention and obesity.

Last month I discussed the wonderful oils Sweet Orange, Peppermint, and Lavender. Have you purchased yours yet? What are you waiting for? When I started “collecting” essential oils, it was a slow start to say the least. My first oil to purchase was peppermint. Oh how I loved it! I used it for everything! So which one will you start with? My advice on essential oils is simple, if you smell the oil, and are drawn to, then get it. If you are not drawn to the smell, then it simply is not for you right now. Our bodies have a natural intelligence. When we stop and listen to what our body is telling us, we tend to make wiser choices. So buy one or two bottles of what you are attracted to the most. Then, later, buy some more. And over time, you may have a collection as large as mine. I currently keep 40 plus oils in stock. What I need is always right there. I just replace them as the bottles empty. What an annoying habit those bottle have!
Every now and again, when there is extra fundage, I purchase a new oil and add it to “the collection.” And that is exactly how you can do it, too.

Jasmine- Jasmine has a very rich floral fragrance. This is an oil you are either strongly attracted to, or repelled by. I have yet to see any in-betweens. This is an oil that has been used by aromatherapist to help with many female complaints, such as, cramps, labor pains, uterine disorders and to increase sensuality. Jasmine has also been known to help with complaints pertaining to the nervous system, anger, headaches, insomnia, depression, worry, stress and muscular tension.

Patchouli – Well everyone who knows about Woodstock knows that patchouli is the hippie oil. Why did they choose this oil above all others?
This oil comes from Indonesia and has a very sensual, earthy smell about it. There are qualities of patchouli that help to repel insects naturally.
I know the Native American belief about patchouli is that it brings luck, money and fertility. Well, that sounds more like establishment thinking than a hippie frame of mind. For skin care, patchouli is the cats meow. It is reputed to be a cell rejuvenator, great for acne, inflamed, cracked or mature skin and wrinkles. A note about patchouli oil, it improves with age.

Spearmint- The ancient Greeks used it to scent their bath water. This is an oil that comes from the USA! I have yet to find anyone who does not like, well love, spearmint. It smells minty and sweet. It has uplifting qualities for the mind and spirit. It is also known to help with obesity and fluid retention. In medieval times it was used for gums and to whiten teeth. The sweet quality is supposed to help relieve tension, anger and aggression. Back the truck up to my house on this oil. It is defiantly one of my favorites.

Frankincense- In ancient times, this oil was revered as highly as gold. It comes from Africa. It has a spicy aroma. From ancient times until present day, frankincense has heavy religious connotations. We all know it was one of the gifts to the Baby Jesus. That alone should tell you the significance of this oil. In ancient times, it was believed that this oil was able to banish evil spirits. The list for the believed healing effects for this oil are too long to mention in this article. Let’s just say it has MANY alternative healing qualities. I highly recommend this oil.

BERGAMOT- This oil is native to Morocco. It has a sweet somewhat fruity scent. Bergamot is responsible for the distinctive flavor of Earl Grey Tea. This oil is known to encourage peaceful sleep, promote happiness, refresh and relax the user.