In our spiritual tradition, we have a big festival every June that culminates in a night long ceremony on the night of Saint John, where down in the jungle they ignite a bonfire that burns all night long. Before the fire of Saint John, you can have a conversation with someone to make commitments for your relationship, whether in business, romance, or simply as good neighbors. You can throw your addictions into the fire, you can write the name of a person you are in relationship with on a piece of paper and put it in the fire to set them and yourself free from the energetic cords that bind you, or you can send prayers for yourself for transformation, or for the health or well being of other people. The fire of St. John carries these powerful prayers up to the heavens and to the stars where they are heard and then manifested according to our deserving, which comes from how we give the best of ourselves here on the material plane.
So for me I spent a good amount of time in prayer before the fire, and then on the way home in the wee hours of the “madrugada” with the rising of a waning crescent moon in Cancer on the day of Saint John, the five visible planets and the Moon all lined up in the predawn sky. I saw Saturn, dim and up high, and Jupiter, and then Mars and the Moon. From my view Venus and Mercury were not visible yet, but I could feel their presence below the horizon. This seemed to mark a transition from one cycle of the evolutionary spiral to the next. We closed our June festivities on the 30th of June, and then traveled back out to Telluride Colorado, where I am now writing this. We will be here for three weeks of July, which is both a lovely time to be here, and also a very lovely time to not be in Miami, where it is 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity by 9:00 in the morning. And so I planning to take this time to do the journaling that I rarely do, to write, to rest, to read, to hike and to sharpen up on some of my habits that have gotten a little lazy with all the busyness.
In my personal spiritual evolution, I am moving into a time of being more comfortable in my authentic being. For me this is manifesting as “trusting myself to follow my natural inclinations because I am inherently a good person and my natural inclinations will not lead me astray.” This is a very interesting study, because it’s very easy for me to fall into the trap of trying to justify something that tempts me that I know is not in my highest good. In this study of the warrior spirit, which includes the fundamental principle of submission to higher authority, there is a can be a conflict between doing whatever we want and following our divine guidance. This tension, in my case, I see in my relationship to Chocolate Almond Croissants. They tempt me, and they make me feel lousy about an hour after I eat one. The same is true with ice cream, french fries, added sugars, processed carbs of any type, salty or sweet, and even hidden sugars like Coconut water.
I have to exercise some self discipline to free myself from cravings for sweet and processed foods that are not in my highest and best good. If I leave myself to follow my natural inclinations, I can find myself gaining weight and losing energy. So for this three weeks I’m going to stay in self discipline to balance myself. So for me, this means avoiding:
- foods with added sugars
- any fruit juices, sweet beverages, or milk
- French Fries, potato chips, corn chips, or other processed carbs
- bread, wheat, and any substitute for bread
I will also exercise discipline in taking healthy supplements that have been prescribed to me, by getting plenty of sleep, by limiting my expenditures of “chi”, and by hiking daily here in Telluride. My goal is to recover my ideal physical condition and pull myself into as much integrity as I am capable of achieving.
But discipline itself can become an addiction. At the same time I am doing these practices, it is important for me to remember to be kind to myself and to other people. To enjoy the abundant fresh foods that are available at the farmers markets here, to enjoy the beautiful nature, and to enjoy the warm relationships I have in my life with myself, my wife, my close family and my special friends, and my dog. This is where I am learning right now. I am learning to walk in the balance of self discipline, self knowledge, and self love. In so doing I will develop my connection to my higher self, and learn to trust myself to follow my inclinations. There is a very powerful way of being that feels like it is still covered beneath the surface, and I feel that as I adopt these practices, I can approach it and it will be revealed to me. It feels good. It feels strong. It feels like the manifestation of the true warrior spirit within my own heart and way of being.
Peace.
Spencer Space 