KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

February 22 through February 28, 2021

It wouldn’t hurt to keep a low profile this week, as we’ll be under the influence of a waxing Virgo full Moon. People can tend to be critical or nitpick at this time, and there’s always the danger that if you point out to someone else what they are doing wrong, three other people will point out what YOU are doing wrong! So lay low, keep your opinions to yourself and just glide along on the quiet and peaceful Pisces energy in the air. You won’t get much done on Monday or Tuesday as the Moon wades through Cancer, but don’t worry, as you can make up for lost time at the end of the week. The Leo Moon on Wednesday and Thursday will inspire you to take better care of yourself put yourself first and stay alert to emotional imbalances. Venus will move into Pisces on Thursday, adding an even more ethereal tone to your days. The Virgo full Moon on Saturday, also known as the Snow Moon, will call for a release of principles and ideal that no longer serve us. Based on what we’ve been through over the last 12 months, it’s inevitable that we are now on the threshold of new visions, new ideas, and new realities. But, it also means we’re on the threshold of new possibilities and new potentials!

The Quest for Spiritual Adulthood, by Richard Potter

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

After doing a few presentations about my book, Authentic Spirituality: The Direct Path to Consciousness, I am finding that people have become intrigued by my discussion of "spiritual adulthood." While this term only appears briefly in the book, it is implicit in much of what I talk about. Several people have commented about the lack of such a concept in exoteric religions and even esoteric spiritual paths. It appears to me that when one places consciousness—not human-made organizations—at the center of spirituality, spiritual maturity emerges as the goal.

If one looks at religions and schools of spiritual study, we typically see some version of teachers and students. There is a tendency in the patriarchal approaches to define these hierarchical roles in familial ways; teachers seem a lot like parents and students seem a lot like children. Certainly there is more texture to these relationships than is readily apparent from this description. For example, in esoteric schools, except for the highest teacher everyone is a student—even though some of them are also teachers. People can carry both the roles of teacher and student (parent and child), depending upon to whom they are relating.

From my perspective, a spiritual teacher is like the captain of a ferry, who takes us from one side of a large river to the other. Where is the place for those who have reached the other side of the river? They have crossed the river, used the expertise of the captain, but still have further to travel to reach their goal. It is not the end of the journey but the beginning of a new stage. Now the traveler must traverse new territory and often must do it without the help of a guide. We can continue on because of what we have learned while journeying with the captain and those who helped us previously. Unlike the captain of a ferry, a teacher has also given us a boon, or gift, that keeps us connected with many who have traveled this road before us.

How have we come to believe that we must always be pupils and not graduate into adult relationship and responsibility? Why is it that we cling to the belief that we are forever sheep that need shepherding? We have evidence all around us that children grow up and leave home. Students graduate and begin to practice what they have learned. Apprentices become journeymen and go on to become master craftsmen. What has caused us to ignore this reality in our spiritual lives? When we place consciousness at the center of spirituality, as I have in my book, Authentic Spirituality: The Direct Path to Consciousness, it calls into doubt these old ways of structuring spiritual pursuit.

It isn't difficult to figure out why the parent-child and teacher-student roles became associated with religious and spiritual development in the past. In pre-literate societies, the teachers/priests/shamans were those who had memorized the cultural stories and could share them with successive generations in the community. These elders not only knew the stories but had often experienced the life of spirit and could direct others from personal experience. Later, with the advent of writing, only a few were given the opportunity to venture into the mysterious world of literacy, and they belonged to the priestly or noble classes. These individuals held the "keys to the kingdom" for the vast majority of individuals in the society, because they could read and continue to preserve the cultural stories and secrets. However, with the advent of literacy it became less necessary for religious officials to have actually experienced spiritual depths; they could read about it and then share this second-hand knowledge with others.

Eventually the entire industry of organized religion began to guard access to its secrets and require periods of apprenticeship or study in order to be allowed to teach others and still the religious official need not have experienced that about which he was teaching. Mystical schools also developed where an older, oral tradition was maintained alongside the written traditions, and initiates into these mystical schools sometimes became teachers and shared the path with selected students.

An important message contained in Authentic Spirituality is that times are changing. In Western countries almost everyone can read and most of what used to be secret is now available to the general public. Unfortunately, much that is truly real gets lost in our culture since it relies on the written word to explain truth. Currently, many individuals are not only as educated as religious officials who are designated to be parental figures and dole out doctrine, but they are more educated. Priests, ministers, rabbis, and mullahs now face a struggle to convince us that they hold the keys to our spiritual lives. Among the mystical schools, the stories of the oral tradition can still be powerful—but they have been so become diluted and literalized by our materialistic culture that they are loosing their power.

There is still a crying need for inspired and inspiring teachers to share the mysteries of the path with others. There is also a huge need for people to live lives of soul and spirit. Living lives of soul and spirit means that people deepen and refine their consciousness. People such as these are needed to model for us how to begin this work. The great task of spirituality in this new age is to redefine the traditional understanding of teacher and student, parent and child, and to make much more room for the spiritual adult.

Much of my book, Authentic Spirituality, can be seen as a primer on spiritual adulthood. It is particularly by discussing "spiritual freedom" that we begin to see the process involved in attaining spiritual adulthood, which is the natural companion to spiritual freedom. Spiritual freedom requires that we have learned both to transcend our culture and live a good life within it. All truth requires the reconciliation of opposites and spiritual freedom is no exception. Transcending our culture means that we are no longer wearing our cultural blinders, made up of religious dogma, constricted consciousness, restricting concepts, and limited choices. It is also virtually impossible to live a human life without participation in the culture around us. When our individual consciousness becomes trained to be able to transcend our cultural viewpoints and at the same time partake in the teeming natural and cultural life around us, we have gained a degree of spiritual freedom. From this time forward we take on adult responsibilities for our own continued development and for the betterment of the world around us.

Spiritual freedom is the culmination of a long and arduous path and not the beginning (Potter, 2004). This is not what most people want to hear. We live in a society that wants things to be easy. When most of us hear about hard work, responsibility, and even adulthood, these things sound stifling and uninviting. We live in a society that holds youth to be the ideal state. Many children in the United States have little or no respect for the adults around them, most likely because the adults do not value adulthood. Adults would rather live a prolonged youth, avoiding adult choices and responsibilities. However, spiritual freedom requires us to go through a process of self-liberation where we rescue our true natures from the clutches of base ego desires and materialism of all kinds. Spiritual autonomy is not available to us when we remain wedded to our cultural addictions. We must use mastery, love, and will to transcend a previously adored state of spiritual childhood before we emerge into spiritual adulthood.

Is it worth it? That’s the real question. What is so great about spiritual maturity? I believe that the goal is worth the journey. I believe that the journey is also the goal, because the journey takes us through new realms of being and becoming, realms that in and of themselves are rewarding and exhilarating. I also do not want to neglect adulthood in general, because the truth is that being an adult in the lives of our families and communities can have much in common with being spiritual adults. It is only because we do not understand the benefits of maturity that we fear and avoid it. For a very long time the saturnian, joyless, patriarch or the depleted, overburdened employee have been our image of adulthood. When it is obvious that the whole purpose of life is to reach loving maturity and contribute to the well-being of our communities, we Western humans see drudgery. Where is our joy? Where is our love of life? Why do we forgo the emotional exhilaration of discovering the ever-unfolding life around us? Where is the peace that is found in fulfillment? Where is our gratitude for the mystery of life? These things, and many more, are the rightful inheritance of adulthood.

I have had the rare honor to have known several spiritual adults, and each has been quite different from the others. They also have had some similarities. I would like to create a new image of spiritual adulthood based upon the best qualities found in the spiritual adults I have known. I would like us to forget the stodgy authority figures of the past. We can move beyond an image of people too occupied with trivia to notice the beauty around them. If adulthood, responsibility, and maturity seem to us to be too limiting then we need to reevaluate our concepts. It is really our concepts, created by far too many years of repressive patriarchal, religious, political and economic rule that have indelibly imprinted a faulty view of both cultural and spiritual adulthood upon us.

Joy is universal among the wise. Joy is about being awake, and it seems to be impossible to be awake and not joyful. Joy is the natural state of the human heart, and as we awaken our heart, joy is the outcome (a time of healing may also be required). In a world that every day seems filled with more horror and ignorance, it seems incredible that spiritually awake individuals would be filled with joy, but that is typically the case. They are not blind to the ugliness of the world around them. They are in touch with the well-spring of joy within, and are therefore capable of seeing all the suffering, foolishness, and pain around them without becoming overwhelmed. They may become deeply concerned, sometimes outraged, by the cruelty of the ignorant, but they can remain centered in a joyful heart. The wise begin every action from their hearts and for this reason their actions can bring joy and light even into dark places.

We also see what we are attuned to see. When our hearts are filled with joy, we naturally are open to seeing the beauty, harmony, and depth of the exquisite life around us. How often have you noticed two people in the same situation and found that one saw mostly the beauty and the other saw mostly the problems? This is not so simple as to see one person as an eternal optimist and another as a pessimist. There is more at work here. Our consciousness becomes aware based upon what our heart is open to. When we are only open to sadness, our consciousness will extract sadness from the multiple possibilities in our environment. When our hearts are filled with joy we will extract joy from our environments. The spiritual adult will find reasons for joy all around and yet never be blind to the sadness.

Peace is the desire of the soul. It may be said that the entirety of life's quest is a search for peace that is beyond understanding. Because of its nature, peace cannot be completely found in life. Perfect peace is complete stillness and reserved for a time outside of time and space, or deep states of meditation, referred to as samadhi by the yogis. Humans have a deep desire for certain states of peace that can be experienced in life. There is a quiet sense of contentment that can come with spiritual adulthood that can permeate one's existence. A sense of no longer needing to prove anything, to strive to be better than others, or seek what is ultimately beyond our grasp, and the ability to know what is worth pursuing and what to let go, begins to accompany spiritual freedom and maturity. A peaceful heart becomes a balm not only for ourselves, but for all with whom we come in contact. Like a still lake whose calm surface only hints at the great depth that lies beneath, the heart of one who is spiritually mature can reflect the entire universe.

Yes, it is worth it to seek spiritual adulthood just as we need to value adulthood in our cultural lives. Who among us would not like to live our lives from a place of joy and peace? The outer world of the spiritually awake is often pretty much like anyone else’s, although one might perceive a little more thought and preparation. The inner world is where the difference lies. Joy and peace form the foundation and many other qualities are built from there. Qualities such as gratitude, love, wisdom, kindness, and magnanimity underpin the actions of the spiritual adult. There was a time when we thought that only gurus, high-priests and priestesses, prophets, and avatars could live such lives. Then what would be the purpose? Is it not more important than ever that as many of us as possible learn to live from a place of joy and peace?

When the time comes that we can see spiritual adulthood as attainable in this lifetime, when we can conceive of spiritual maturity as a natural state, then we will put aside the need to be shepherded like sheep or parented as children for our entire lives. We will not need to become teachers, father and mother figures to everyone we meet, or become inflated with a false sense of privilege. We will instead seek to learn and grow to adulthood so that we can take our rightful place in our families, communities, and societies. We will know that adulthood is normal and feel no need to be anything other than creative, joyful, and peaceful human beings.

Work Cited:
Potter, Richard N. (2004) Authentic Spirituality: The Direct Path to Consciousness. St. Paul: Llewellyn.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2005. All rights reserved.

About a year ago, my niece lost her wedding rings. She thought she had set them where she always did, in a little tray by the sink, but when she went to get them they weren't there. She searched everywhere for them to no avail. She was very upset about this, as they had been her husband's great-grandmother's rings. I even prayed with her for Spirit to help her find them, but we never did. Last month I moved to a new house, and before I began to move my things in, I cleaned the whole house from top to bottom. While I was cleaning, the most unusual thing happened: While I was wiping out the highest bathroom cupboard, my rag swept something out on the floor. I heard a clink, and when I looked on the floor, there were the rings! I was speechless. In fact, at first I thought this was just plain impossible. However, these were very unusual antique rings, probably one of a kind. I took them to my niece and she excitedly slipped them right on her finger. She knew that they were hers and wondered where I'd found them. When I told her, we both got chills. Do you think that somehow, Spirit placed those rings in my new house, and led me to find them?

- Doris

Dreamchaser:

This is such a cool story!

Of course I believe that Spirit placed the rings in your new house and led you to find them. There is no other logical explanation. You prayed to Spirit to help with the recovery of the rings, and Spirit answered your prayer. Period.

I hope this opens your eyes to just how active a role Spirit along with family, friends and other helpers on the Otherside can play in our daily lives. I often visualize myself walking down a regular street, and all sorts of spirit beings moving stuff in and out of my way so that I don't fall or get sidetracked, and so that I meet up with the right people and opportunities, etc.

I think there is a HUGE production like this going on around us at all times. We just don't know it because we can't see it. When something like this happens to us, we have to stop and realize that there is some heavy duty stuff going on here.

By the way, a great-grandmother to one of you says that she would like to be consulted a little more on family decisions. She was a family matriarch in life, and she intends to retain that position now that she has passed over. She wants everyone to see that she still has the power to help out and keep things running smoothly in the family.

That is why she pulled this ring stunt. She wanted there to be no doubt of her continuing care and capabilities. She's a pistol, that's for sure! (Also, please tell your niece that she would like her name considered when the time comes to name new babies in the future.)

The key point Spirit wants you personally to get here is that NOTHING is impossible. You are to see that if something like this can happen, anything can be accomplished with the help of your friends and loved ones in Spirit.

You said you prayed, yet you did not believe. This experience should boost your faith. Talking the talk is nothing if you can't or don't walk the walk as well.

By the way, you have a bunch of spiritual helpers that are very proud of themselves right now. They are asking if you like your new home and giggling to themselves, for you had a lot of help with getting this new house. It's a fabulous home, and I believe you will be very happy there.

I am so glad you two got to share in this incredible event. What a great bonding experience! You have a wonderful family - I hope you all appreciate and cherish each other.

I wish you many positive, productive interactions with All That Is.

*****

Astrea:

I'm sure if you look back on your life and on the lives of other family members, you'll see other times when small items were returned to you. This is probably the most dramatic expression of the love and care your Guides and Angels have for you, and it happened so you would know you and your family are being watched over.

Not many people have a story like this to tell. For those rings to return to you the way they did, a great effort had to be made by those Spiritual Caretakers. Can you imagine how difficult it must have been for disembodied Spirits to return something as concrete as those RINGS? This really was a great gift!

Regardless of how your niece's rings arrived in your cupboard, they did. SOMEONE or SOMETHING placed them there for you to find. Amazing as this was, it's not uncommon for prayers to be answered in such dramatic ways. Usually, the answer is not something as concrete as lost rings or other items that we can physically hold in our hands, so we aren't shocked and amazed.

Those rings carry special energy, and your niece's Guides were determined to get them back to the family any way they could. They chose YOU to find them because you're the responsible one in the family.

Perhaps they mean for you to keep them for your niece until her life is more settled and she can care for valuables a bit better than she has in the past. This is a lesson for her in caring for her treasures.

I believe you should indeed accept that you were being looked after, and see this as a manifestation of the Divine in your lives. View it as your Angels looking out for all of you. Most people don't get such tangible evidence of love from Spirit. You've been chosen to receive actual proof that there ARE spiritual beings looking out for you and your family all the time.

As odd as this seems, and as unlikely as it is for those rings to turn up where they did, this really happened. You can take great comfort in knowing that you have really great spirits watching over you!

It is always a good idea to find a way to say thanks to Spirit, even for small miracles. Give a little money to help the homeless, or volunteer as a family to do something meaningful for yourselves or others.

Gratitude isn't required of us, but it is certainly appreciated. No matter how big or small the gesture, do something to show your Guides and Angels that you are truly grateful for the return of those rings and this tangible manifestation of the Divine in your lives.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.