3 Keys to Manifesting Your Dreams: The “Sacred Marriage” of Consciousness and Matter
3 Keys to Manifesting Your Dreams: The “Sacred Marriage” of Consciousness and Matter
Article and Artwork by Briana MacWilliam MPS, ATR-BC, LCAT
How many of you, on the eve of 2017, pulled out a paper and pen, wrote down with due diligence your new year's resolutions, and then burned them, buried them, or folded them in a scented envelope and stuffed it under your mattress, with a prayer that your dreams may come true, in 356 days?
How much earnest intent did you bleed into those words, watching the paper burn? How many tears did you stuff in that envelope, your heart in your throat?
...And how long did it take before you gave up already? How much faith do you still have that you will see the manifestation of your intentions? That your wishes will be granted?
Why is it so easy to backslide into old patterns of living and loving? Why can’t we just seem to “get it together” enough to remedy our finances? To take that vacation we’ve been planning for years? To finish that project we started? Or to start that project we’ve been dreaming about for years?
The short answer: your energy is blocked.
The long answer: your energy is blocked, and if you want to unblock it, you would be best served by figuring out how energy works, so you can grease your wheels and get this buggy back on track!
How to do that?
I give you, the Chakra System.
The Chakra system is a philosophical model of the Universe. Chakras came to the West by means of the traditional practice of Yoga, which is a discipline that uses mental and physical practices to integrate matter and Spirit. This is achieved through several steps of expanding consciousness; the Chakras represent these steps.
The main seven Chakras are created by the combination of two active principles, consciousness and matter. Consciousness may be perceived as entering through the crown chakra and moving downward through the body; I like to refer to as top-down processing, Anoeda Judith, in her book, eastern body western mind, refers to this as "the current of manifestation" (1996, p. 14). As the flow of consciousness moves down, the chakras and their related elements become increasingly dense, allowing for the embodiment of our dreams.
Secondly, we have an upward current, which moves from this place of density to ethereal consciousness. I call this bottom-up processing; Judith (1996) refers to this as "the current of liberation" (p.14). If we cannot create spaciousness around our more physical experiences, we cannot reflect, change, grow or expand. Similarly without the embodiment of intention, we remain scattered dreamers unable to make commitments or put our thoughts into action.
The combination of both currents is the ideal, and considered to be a "sacred marriage;" the congress of Heaven and earth. This union of opposites creates limitless possibilities.
When we are blocked in any one or more of our chakras, we may fall into habitual patterns that render us stuck, throwing us continually back into survival mode. Or, we may be unable to ground ourselves, lost in a flood of overwhelm and ideas, dissociated from the real world.
Unblocking a chakra requires addressing the problem on at least three levels: 1) clearing out the blockages, 2) clarifying your needs versus your wants, and 3) learning how to ask for what you want, and and be willing to embrace what you need, when it arrives.
Clearing Out Energetic Blockages in the Chakras
The first step in manifesting your dreams involves a clearing out of energetic blockages in your chakras. Cleansing the chakras involves an acknowledgement and releasing of Karmic vows, soul contracts, and wounds of shame from past lives.There may also be ancestral wounds that we carry in our lineage.
At best, these vows may simply be no longer serving us. At worst, these vows may be actively interfering in our lives now by keeping us from being all we can be today.
If your Higher Self has led you here, to this post, it means that you have fully experienced the outcomes of your action in taking the vows and you are ready to let them go.
All you need to do is ask!
Clarifying Your Needs vs. Your Wants
But before you ask for a clearing in order to manifest the life of your dreams, you must clarify your needs versus your wants. And getting to the root of your desires means confronting whatever you dislike in your life as a reflection of your own shadow; a mirror of all the parts that you have repressed.
The “you” that is creating your own reality is your transcendental self in its entirety, which means it's more than likely you have limited conscious access to a large part of yourself that is calling in your life circumstances.
However, just because a large part of yourself is not knowable, it doesn’t mean that you have no power to create change in your life at all. But you must have the passion and the willingness to step outside of your comfort zone, which is the ONLY WAY to get to the root of your desires.
To clearly examine your desires, you must step outside of judgment. It is the labeling of a desire as "bad" that sends it to the basement of repression. Rather, we should try to examine a desire for its underlying dynamics--what is the underlying need and fear?
Typically, a person’s desire is an externalized goal or reward (such as social approval and physical manifestations of it, like wealth or power) that he or she thinks will make him or her happy, but this pursuit actually impedes this person from getting what he or she needs internally (spiritual and emotional gratification).
For example, perhaps a girl felt ostracized as a child, so she wants to achieve celebrity because she thinks it will make people like her. But with celebrity achieved, she realizes that even though she might have millions of fans, they worship her as an object or a symbol of their own projections. In reality, people only like her for her popularity and she can’t trust anyone enough to engage in intimate relationships. The achievement of her external want actually prevented the gratification of her internal need to belong.
Sometimes, what you think you want won’t make you happy!
Learning How to Ask for What You Want, and Embrace What you Need
By now you must be wondering…
“How do I know if what I want is a reflection of my Shadow Self, or a valid request in alignment with my authentic needs?”
The short answer, “The Universe will let you know.”
You might have heard this explained through The Law of Attraction, which is based on three principles of Quantum Physics:
Everything is energy
Everything is connected
You create your own reality
Essentially, these principles amount to the idea that with concentrated energy and focused intention, you can change your reality in very real and physical ways. Particularly if your energy is “entangled” with another energy cluster (like, another person, for example).
Thus, “Ask and ye shall receive,” would appear to be both a scientific and spiritual truism. The only thing is, you might not realize you’ve gotten what you’ve asked for.
Because as we mentioned above, often we are not fully cognizant of our own motivations (or energetic frequencies) tied up in the question.
And frequently, the seed of want, is fear.
Fear of vulnerability…Leads to a desire to prove your strength
Fear of failure...Leads to a desire to prove competence/capability
Fear of worthlessness...Leads to a desire to prove worthiness and seek approval
Fear of abandonment...Leads to a desire to prove your independence (or hold tighter)
Because of this, you may think to yourself…
“I'm writing all these affirmations and I'm trying so hard to do all the right things, yet I'm still getting the same results!"
In fact, you’re still doing the same thing, you're just reframing it. For example:
It’s not righteous to bully a bully, it's the same behavior repackaged from a different perspective.
It's not generous to give more than is asked, it's invasive and rooted in a desire to induce dependency, in order to acquire control and stave off a fear of abandonment or irrelevancy.
Reading every self-help book under the sun, buying organic food, and attending every meditation and yoga class within a five-mile radius, in order to feel more "spiritual," maybe no different than working fourteen-hour days at a corporate job, in order to feel more "accomplished."
In fact, recent studies show that people who recite positive affirmations but do not actually believe them, experience higher levels of stress (Wood, Peruvonic, & Lee, 2009). And, of course, stressful energy attracts more stressful energy!
Asking for what you want is somewhat of a fine art. Because it includes a willingness to embrace what you need.
And sometimes you need to grow...and often times, growth stings. Like ripping off a Bandaid to treat an underlying infection; it hurts in the short term, but in the long term, you will heal and function better than ever!
So how do we ask for what we want?
→ First, we say, “Universe, I pray for you to guide me on my journey to fulfilling my higher purpose, and to assist me in seeing the signs that will help clear the path to abundance.”
→ Second, when the Universe then sends you a miserable boyfriend or girlfriend (boss, business partner, estranged family member, etc.) who stimulates your worthiness issues, realize the gift of this opportunity to remove that block from your soul.
Because if you DON’T recognize that difficult experience as a GROWTH OPPORTUNITY to embrace what you really need, that energetic frequency will keep calling in situations that leave you feeling devalued, and continue to manifest a lack of income or terrible romantic relationships.
Whew! We’ve thrown a lot of information at you in this post, and it's starting to feel a little heady.
Don’t worry if it's hard to take in, because much of what we are describing is MOST EFFECTIVE when it is experienced through body and spirit, and the best way to integrate these two energy currents is with CREATIVITY!
And we are here to show you how to do just that.
The Shamanatrix, Kristen Boyer, and myself, Briana MacWilliam, are offering an opportunity to learn more about the Chakras, and focus in specifically on the first Chakra, your Root.
Come join us for our LIVE Webinar, Wednesday, March 8th, 2017 at 8pm EST:
Healing the Root Chakra:
Mindfulness and Creative Arts Therapies
During this LIVE event, we will bust 3 pervasive and detrimental myths:
Keeping cords to old partners and people is loving, and helps you stay in the love vibration.
It’s selfish to put others needs first before your own and selfishness is a bad thing.
Playfulness is a waste of time and takes away from productively getting things done.
Come join us on the 8th to find out how these myths are holding you back, and what you can do to shift your energy tied up in them.
We hope to see you there!
REGISTER HERE