Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you. Stealers Wheel
It may have appeared in my last post that I am a mirror-gazing, Louise Hay enthusiast. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Except it’s not really true. So I would like to clarify a few things. One, I don’t do affirmations into the mirror, it doesn’t work for me, so I don’t do it. Two, I admire Louise Hay immensely for her tireless healing work, and I use many of her affirmations, but mostly reading her book “Heal your Life” just propelled me off into my own self-discovery around being comfortable in my own skin. I don’t pretend to be a Louise Hay expert, so please don’t expect me to be one.
Life is short, break the rules. Forgive quickly, kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that makes you smile. Mark Twain
Many years ago a wise woman told me that in examining all of the many approaches to living life, I should take what I like and leave the rest. It’s another way of saying live and let live. It also encourages me to keep an open mind, try new things for myself and make my own decisions about what works for me – as I encourage you, dear reader, to do. Don’t take my word for it, find your own medicine.
Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they are doing. Do things without always knowing how they’ll turn out. Randall Munroe
The first quote is from a song I used to listen to in my days of monopolising the jukebox at my local pub. I still love this song, with it’s classic ‘how did I get here?’ and ‘now what?’ sentiment. It also makes me think of my journey into self-acceptance. As I said it didn’t come from mirror gazing – although if yours does, bless you and no judgement here – mine was more from a rude awakening that “holy shit, I’m stuck here in the middle of this body for a whole lifetime, now what?”
Sometimes – actually most of the time – the human race just baffles me. I have to actively entice myself to engage with the world en masse, my personality and preference is to withdraw. Living in a cave sounds really appealing sometimes.
So then, the relationship of self to other is the complete realization that loving yourself is impossible without loving everything defined as other than yourself. Alan Wilson Watts
Connecting with others is very much related to the second chakra, which is the chakra I am exploring in Chakradance this week. The second chakra governs our senses, our emotions, giving and receiving nurture, as well as our creativity, sexuality, and relationship to money.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. African Proverb
My introspective personality tends to rumination. Introspection is helpful at times. I guess, for me, it comes down to thinking versus intuition – but how do you tell the difference? To me, intuition is never indecisive, it may be quiet, it may get drowned out by wordly clamours, or it may be the answer is ‘I don’t know yet’. In which case stillness is required, being, not more thinking. Intuition is an effortless decision-making process. Well, apart from the effort of letting go of my thinking, that is!
Know your awareness, by feeling your experience. Jeddah Mali
As I dance through the weeks of the Chakradance training, I feel as if I am revisiting my seven intentions and seven chakras. Last week was the base chakra and my intention of home. I did a massive spring clean of my home space, clearing out the old to make space in my life. Then I experienced a journey of self-love into my body, grounding through the root chakra, through visualisation and earthing practices.
Not only do self-love and love of others go hand in hand but ultimately they are indistinguishable. M. Scott Peck
This week is the second chakra and my second intention, community. The dance of the second or sacral chakra, was just beautiful. The energy of the sacral chakra is very flowing, like water. The dance began with the hips – which I love, I have always been a hippy dancer, love to belly-dance. The visualisations were first of being in water, then of dancing under the full moon. I had a fabulous time, I was transported first to an underwater world, then to an Arabian desert under the full moon, where I belly-danced my heart out. Jung believed the second chakra was the gateway to the unconscious, a mysterious, watery netherworld of unlimited possibilities.
I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘if this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’ Kurt Vonnegut
Svadhisthana – the sanskrit name for the second chakra, meaning sweetness – is where self-discovery, or individuation, begins. Jung believed that the second chakra was the beginning of the symbolic journey into the unconscious, a journey manifested through the remaining chakras. Chakradance draws on Jungian archetypes, and his concept of the shadow. The term ‘shadow’ is not intended as dark or negative in meaning, but as in ‘invisible’, it is literally the parts of ourselves we deny or refuse to accept.
Mystery is at the heart of creativity. That, and surprise. Julie Cameron
The archetype associated with the sacral chakra is the Empress/Martyr. It is an archetype of feminine receptive power, the energy of water and the moon is strongly associated with this energy centre. The chakra resonates to the colour orange and is centred around the area of the reproductive organs. This chakra allows feelings to flow, encourages nurture, allows the setting of loving boundaries, creativity, and sensual expression.
Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with dry, uninspiring books on algebra, history, etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the ‘creative bug’ is just a wee voice telling you, ‘I’d like my crayons back, please.’ Hugh MacLeod
Christianne Northrup writes that the key to balancing the spiritual and emotional issues that can block energy in the second chakra is addressing your drives toward sex, money, and relationships; co-creating with others; defining boundaries; including when to be assertive and when to be passive.
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven. The Byrds
Caroline Myss believes that while the base chakra is the tribal chakra, the sacral chakra is about how you relate one-to-one, it is your need to control other people, places and things. It is the place where you feel the heat of competition, the sting of jealousy, and the pang of measuring yourself against others. Wanting to control others, to feel needed, is the martyr shadow side of this chakra. When unconsciously seeking to be needed, it costs you energy, transmitting a part of your spirit to infiltrate that other person’s energy, plus you are also the recipient of other people doing this to you.
The second chakra connects you to everyone and everything you have ever wanted to control. Caroline Myss
According to Caroline Myss, trauma comes from investing your energy into perceptions you know are not true. Competition, vengeance, unforgiveness. These are tribal beliefs about justice. The second chakra requires that you shift to divine justice, trust in the divine karmic accounting system. This includes your beliefs about money. And your occupation, in the sense that what you do with your time can either be expressing your creative flow or stifling your creative flow.
I work extremely hard doing what I love, mainly to ensure that I don’t have to work extremely hard doing what I hate. Hugh MacLeod
Monetary affluence is influenced by this energy centre, as money is an energetic flow. According to Rev. Dr. Susan Corso, there are two modes of money flow: circulation and congestion. Circulation is paying your bills, giving to charity, practising trust and generousity. Congestion is hoarding, being fearful, and stingy.
Money is meant to keep moving from hand to hand, which is why it is called currency. Greed and hoarding undermine, even destroy, the purpose of money and cause the current to stagnate. The more that money flows in a society, the richer the society is, because the flow supports the unfolding of human potential in all of its citizens. Mayuri Onerheim
So money is a current, a currency. It should flow in the now. Rev. Dr. Susan Corso provides some techniques for getting in the flow with money yourself. She suggests you ‘pray your bills,’ that is, you give thanks for what the bills represent, shelter, water, heat, clothing, food, and for the money to pay them.
For me, it’s helpful to remember that humans survived for centuries without money. Animals today survive without it. Chris Cade
She also suggests you ‘bless your money,’ so whatever money comes through you, you bless and send on its way. These practices recognise money as an energy in motion, and resist the need to grasp or attach to it, which actually stops its flow and decreases your chance of abundance and affluence. I will certainly be giving these tips a go!
This planet has – or rather had – a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy. Douglas Adams
Money is a resource, not a need. Money is conceptual; those bits of paper have no value except though our consensus. Old forms of currency had inherent value, salt, that has value, gold has value. Money has no inherent value. So what I want is not money, but freedom, choice, and security, these attributes we have have given to the concept of money.
The economic system is a human invention. The idea of capitalism, free enterprise, corporations – these are not forces of nature. There are some things in nature we have to live with – physics, chemistry, biology… Why do we bow before human-created ideas? We can change those things! We can’t change our dependence on the biosphere for our survival. David Suzuki
It’s a pretty ludicrous concept really. However it is the current paradigm, so the lesson for me is that my attachment to outcomes, whether about money or anything in life, stops the flow. So my job is to remain unattached. Money or no money, I am okay with either for my highest good.
If you do what you need, you’re surviving. If you do what you want, you’re living. Unknown
The healing aspect of this chakra, according to Carline Myss, is in shared spiritual experience, the need to experience the sacred in connection with others. Ritual is a fundamental human need: for us to have daily rapport with the sacred. To share this experience is to honour one another. Vitality in this chakra comes from divine connections with others, this can be meeting with a beloved group of friends for coffee and deep and meaningful talks, dancing, choirs, group meditation, yoga, bushwalking in a group – anything that connects you with others and the divinity of life in a sacred way.
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Today’s affirmations on the sacral chakra by Natalie Southgate:
Pleasure is a good and valuable part of my life.
I give myself permission to fully enjoy my sexuality.
I allow abundance and prosperity into my life.
I allow my emotions to flow through me in a healthy way.
I am open to experiencing the present moment through my senses.
The universe is full of sweetness and beauty.
I easily express my emotions – they feel free and flowing.
have an abundance of healthy, sensual pleasures in my life.
I ensure that I am always hydrated and I enjoy drinking water.
I can identify what I need, and ask for it.
I enjoy stimulating and healthy sexual relationships.
I love to dance, moving with music feels good to me.
I am in touch with my sensitive side.
Bless!
Further Reading
http://www.wellbeing.com.au/blog/the-sacral-chakra-your-emotional-centre/
http://carljungdepthpsychology.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/symbolism-of-chakra-system-of-kundalini.html
http://www.logosofmoney.com/conscious-money/sex-and-money/
Click to access Omnifaith_Financial_Surplus_Practices.pdf
Title image: Toni Carmine Salerno Angels, Goddesses, and Gods oracle cards
Seven intentions 
On another note .. thank you for the visit and the follow!! Hugs … peace!!
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