Presence
Important note: In part of this exercise, you are asked to attune to your everyday personal self. This is not an exercise in judgment or self-criticism. There may be things you don’t like about yourself, are ashamed of, and wish to change or improve. That is perfectly fine, but that perception is not part of this particular exercise. You may certainly make an honest appraisal of yourself; indeed, this is essential. But do not get into self-blame or criticism or begin listing ways in which you can change and do better. That is another kind of work, one you can engage in at another time.
pREPARATION
Find yourself a comfortable place to stand. This is a moving exercise, one in which you will be turning to face the four directions. In each direction you will face and attune to an aspect of yourself, eventually drawing them all into wholeness of your Presence.
Imagine yourself in a sacred or magical circle, a protected and honored space—an emergence space--that is dedicated to this exercise.
TRANSPERSONAL SELF
Choose any direction and face it. In this direction is a vision of your Soul, your Transpersonal Self, the part of you that is connected to the inner worlds and to transcendent states of communion and unity, spirit and creativity. Take a moment to reflect on being part of Spirit, part of a vast ecology of life and consciousness not limited to physical reality. What does this mean to you? What energy does it carry for you? What do you feel in its presence? What is your felt sense of your transpersonal nature? Be honest in your appraisal.
Take a moment to honor your Soul and Transpersonal Self. Appreciate it, give it thanks for its contribution to the wholeness of who you are. It is a channel through which Sacredness—your sacredness—can flow and act. Embrace it with your love.
NATURE (OR WORLD) SELF
Turn ninety degrees and face a new direction. In this direction is a vision of your Nature Self, your World Self, your Earthiness, the part of you that is connected to Gaia, to the physical world, and to nature as a whole. Take a moment to reflect on being part of this world, part of the biosphere, part of the realm of physical matter, part of the Earth. This part of you connects you to the World Soul. It connects you to ecology, to nature, to plants and animals everywhere. It connects you to the land, to seas and mountains, plains and valleys, swamps and deserts. What does this mean to you? What energy does it carry for you? What do you feel in its presence?
Take a moment to honor your Nature self. Appreciate it, give it thanks for its contribution to the wholeness of who you are. It is a channel through which Sacredness—your sacredness—can flow and act. Embrace it with your love.
PERSONAL SELF
Turn ninety degrees and face a new direction. In this direction is a vision of your Personal Self. This includes your personality, your Body Elemental, and your genetic lineage, those things and experiences that make you unique in the world. Take a moment to reflect on this uniqueness as a person. Reflect on what defines you, what makes you different from others. This is your ordinary, everyday self that connects you to the physical world around you. What does this mean to you? What energy does it carry for you? What do you feel in its presence? What is your felt sense of your personal self? Be honest in your appraisal, but do not engage in self-criticism.
Take a moment to honor your personal, everyday self. Appreciate it, give it thanks for its contribution to the wholeness of who you are. It is a channel through which Sacredness—your sacredness—can flow and act. Embrace it with your love.
HUMANITY (OR SPECIES) SELF
Turn ninety degrees and face a new direction. In this direction is a vision of your Humanness, the part of you that connects you to the human species and to human culture, creativity, and civilization. Take a moment to reflect on being human. Your humanity gives you various attributes and potentials not shared by other creatures on this earth. Your humanness makes you part of a planetary community of other human beings, part of the spiritual idea or archetype of Humanity. What does this mean to you? What energy does it carry for you? What do you feel in its presence? What is your felt sense of your humanness? Be honest in your appraisal, but do not engage in self-criticism. Humanity may have its faults and it may behave badly in the world, but that is not the focus here.
Take a moment to honor your human self. Appreciate it, give it thanks for its contribution to the wholeness of who you are. Being human is a channel through which Sacredness—your sacredness—can flow and act. Embrace it with your love.
PRESENCE
Turn ninety degrees back to the direction you were facing when you started. At this time, turn your attention to yourself at the center of these four “Selves,” these four elements of your Incarnation, these four “fixed structures” within your subtle field: your personal self, your human self, your world or Gaian self, your Soul self. You are the point of synthesis where they all meet, come together, blend, partner, cooperate, merge, and co-create wholeness.
Feel the energies of these four selves, these four directions, flowing into and through you, blending, merging, and creating an open, evocative, creative space within you. Feel what emerges from this space. Feel the holistic Presence of your unique incarnation and sovereignty rising around you and within you, enfolding you, supporting you, becoming you. Feel the Presence that embrace, includes, grows out of and is larger than the four selves you have acknowledged and honored.
Who are you as this incarnational Presence? What is the felt sense of who you are?
At the same time, feel the love that honors and holds these four aspects of you and of the world together, enabling them to collaborate and work in partnership. This love is the fire of sacredness within you. Honor this and honor yourself for your ability to hold it in your Presence.
CLOSURE
Stay in the circle feeling the reality and energy of your Presence for as long as feels comfortable to you. When you begin to feel restless, tired, or distracted, just give thanks. Give thanks to your wholeness, to your Presence, and to the Sacredness from which it emerges and which it represents within the ecology of your incarnate life. Absorb, integrate, and ground as much of the felt sense and energy of this Presence as you can or wish into your body, into your mind and feelings, into yourself. Then step forward out of your circle, thus ending this exercise.