Availability, Willingness, Saying Yes by Jan Engels-Smith

Each year LightSong School of 21st Century Shamanism and Energy Medicine conducts a practicum for the students.  The practicum setting is beautiful and blissful.  We use pristine land in Tillamook, Oregon, an area that is part of the rain forest of Western Oregon.  We spend a week together camping, singing, journeying, applying the teachings and using the land as a teaching arena. This year was LightSong’s 30th practicum.  During the practicum our spiritual connection is profound and intense. The spirits have consistently supplied me with invaluable information that has literally molded the structure of LightSong and molded the lives of those that participate.  I continually use this information as teaching material in our various classes. It is rich and encourages mind-expanding insights.

There is always a theme that presents during my initial journeys when I am preparing for the experience. These journeys precast the teaching I will deliver to the group.   I never know what the theme will be until we actually embark upon the land. There were four interlocking themes that presented this year:

• Humans are revered in the universe and being on Earth is equivalent to working on a doctorial degree in spiritual development while enrolled in the Earth school.
• Life on Earth is about relationships and emotion.
• The spirits have more access to you to help when you are available and willing and say “Yes.”
• There is always a bigger picture occurring energetically that is often divine in character.

Each of these themes has several subcategories to them, which I will flesh out in future writings.

Human beings are very complex and accelerated beings in the universe and are esteemed and revered in the cosmos. That doesn’t mean that humans have accelerated intelligence or technical skills, but that we have been many lives in many places and times, and becoming human is to be part of the advanced “school.” In my journeys, the spirits said that before incarnating as human on this planet we incarnate into many animals, plants, geological features, nature spirit forms, and, in fact, most of the things that exist on the earth. We use these incarnations as teachings. Teachings that when remembered bring us into the full expression of being human. Humans are the only species that develops a strong ego, but lifetimes as other creatures are pure and uncomplicated.  Origin instruction isn’t lost in the imprisonment of the ego.  Lessons on love, cooperation, unity, harmony, balance, communication, collaboration, and telepathy are easy and natural from nature.  These lifetimes are documented into our individual signature, which the spirits call our own personal Akashic record that we hold within.

In previous teachings the spirits explained to me that frequently the more difficult the life the more advanced the soul.  I learned while performing soul retrievals on individuals whose character and integrity I might have doubted that the spirits rebuffed me for any negative judgment.  The spirits often displayed extreme reverence for individuals whose character I might have doubted. A person’s actions that might create problems for others might not be appropriate but they are also a challenge to the person who must overcome any interior faults or shortcomings. When I asked about this, the spirits explained that challenges in a person’s life can lead to great advancement and that often extremely difficult life experiences, especially those of the handicapped, are often the source of extremely advanced souls. The degree of success of the individual will be determined by how the person develops in love. The trials and tribulations of a challenging life may well produce a stronger and more developed loving expression, which is seen as an advancement of the soul.

I thought of Stephen Hawkins and his debilitating illness, Ludwig Beethoven’s loss of hearing, and Michelangelo’s failing eyesight that might have ended their lustrous careers before they had accomplished their full destiny and recognized that their challenges might well have compelled them to greater heights of achievement. Each of us faces challenges that may seem insurmountable, but the very act of choosing to overcome these hardships of our life circumstances will lead to ever-greater potentials for accomplishment. Each lifetime contains lessons and humans, to be successful, have to balance heart, mind, and spirit in the rich fields of awareness, love, harmony, and peace if they hope to fully realize what the spirits know to be the natural conditions of existence. Our effort is facilitated by the spirits insistence that we recognize our perfection and move away from judgment, attachment and any sense of futility and toward becoming our true selves.

Earth is the planet of diversity and emotion. We are a people of diverse cultures, races, religions and language. Our emotions govern much of our actions and create strong egoic opinions. Amid this entire myriad of influences, the human race strives to develop a common understanding of the cosmos and attempts to develop an actualization that determines our future and allows for the general ascension of human beings to an awareness of our universal perfection in a loving and supportive universe.

Humans have to coordinate all of this. Every moment of every day each of us is dealing with diversity and attempting to establish positive relationships. It is a challenge that the human race faces as individuals seek self-actualization and collectively we strive to allow our spiritual natures to break free of our egos and self doubts. The fundamental question is how to bring humanity to a higher place and achieve oneness with the cosmos. Every human experience is ultimately about relationships.  We seek personal mastery but with the goal of living in harmony with the entire planet and as one with the universe. Since Adam and Eve first established a relationship, civilization has always sought—often with little success—to bring harmony and peace to our world in congruence with all of humanity. The barriers of ego and the attractions of greed and power seem to have always held more appeal than the values of a spiritual life lived in concord with an understanding of the unity of all things in a perfect universe. We seem too willing to accept the inevitability of conflict and divergence because we have been taught in an ego-driven world that that is the nature of existence. The spirits have made it clear that such a decision is in opposition to the true nature of existence.

Tom Kenyon, in his book The Hathor Material, supports this concept with a descriptive graph titled the Pyramid of Ascension. The movement of the spiral as it spirals upward strikes all four corners repeatedly. If a corner is not solid in its foundation, the spiral will topple. The four corners are about relationship: to yourself or your Body, to others, to Earth or the elements, and to service.

I want to emphasize that as long as humans have existed or will exist, we will be occupied and engaged with this issue. Our individual attention to the ascension pyramid assists us to focus on our personal challenges with understanding that what we do individually will either help or hinder humanity. Often we don’t realize or comprehend that our individual actions affect all of humanity. We think of ourselves as individuals, with personal experiences and desires, often forgetting that our experiences have a profound affect on the whole of humanity. As we are challenged and work through issues, we are working through issues millions of people hold. They are common to the human condition. As you find success in your concerns, you bring success to others.  The common denominator in all things is relationship. Relationships are about love and the human condition is about discovering what true love is while still juggling opinion, judgment, loss and difficult situations. The spirits say we are learning what it really means to be human as we strive for the glory of harmony in diversity, which they deem as a mastery level incarnation. With that we gain understanding on why we would be revered in the universe and why we are in such a rigorous and demanding school—the Earth school. The concept of the Earth as a school may not be new—in fact I have heard the term Earth School for probably 25 years—however, the new information that the spirits delivered beckoned me to review these teaching another time.

I want to read something that I experienced when my mother passed two years ago.  I made contact with her on the other side on the two-year anniversary of her death.

I wrote about this in my article titled “Death and Dying from a Shamanic Perspective.”

My mom appeared in all her radiance.  The love emanating from her was spellbinding.  We greeted, hugged, kissed, and wrapped ourselves together.  I was overwhelmed with recall of special intimate moments.  My life flashed before me with magical instances with my mom.  It was holographic in nature.  All my senses where activated: smell, touch, sight and sound.  I was reliving my life with my mom much as I would image a life review but everything happened simultaneously and holistically instead of in chronological order. I fully embodied our life together from my birth to her death. I basked in this love fest for several minutes.

As our time progressed and I gained my composure, I asked her what she wished to share with me.  She said: Life is all about relationships.  Love is just another word for relationships.  All relationships need to eventually be unconditional. What you don’t bring into alignment in this lifetime you will repeat until you get it right. (I was thinking Groundhog Day on steroids!)  Time passes on earth like a flash, enjoy and foster good relationships.  Make that happen for yourself. Do whatever you can to make that happen, always. Share this information with your children, your grandchildren, your friends and all that you know. Relationships are the foundation of love.  I contemplated her statements. My mom never taught with words, always through example.  Her relationships were exemplary. Had she discovered the truth about love while living? My heart was bursting.

At our practicum this year, the spirits taught on this subject for the entire week.  In this article I will emphasize three words that they used: availability, willingness and saying Yes.

Availability. What does that mean? How many times a day do you make yourself available to spirit? We are busy beings and often we aren’t available to spirit. We must take the time to listen. The spirits are communicating in everything that we come into contact with every day.

Willingness. Are you willing to be different? Are you willing to make the changes the lesson is asking you to make?

Spirit can do a tremendous amount for you, but you also have free will. You are ultimately in control. When you are ready, say Yes and ask “What can I do every day to put changes into action?” If your actions support your change you will make progress.

**Artwork by Margie McMahon