THOUGHTS ON CIRCLES

Creating space for healing to flow in ‘circle’ has become such an integral part of my work and life in recent years. The connection and sense of community that it evokes is beautiful and feels so necessary in modern day life. Here in the West we are conditioned to see things in a rather linear way - like any "good" story with a clear beginning, middle and an end. For many, our time here on Earth is simply that - we are born, we live and then we pass away – with our beginnings very much separate to our endings. We are encouraged to prove ourselves as individuals, to “stay in our own lane” and keep “moving forward” no matter what happens – to live along these lines. But what if in living so linearly we are forgetting the deeper part of our existence? That life moves in cycles - something we slowly come to remember each time we join in circle…

Through a circle all is connected. There is no isolated ending or beginning, simply a continuous cycle. In a circle there is unity and wholeness. It is a symbol of oneness that is reflected back to us throughout the Universe. The focal points of our skies - the Sun and the Moon in fullness - both appear to us as circles. The spherical Earth spins on its axis in revolutions giving us the cycle of night and day. The orbit of the Earth around the Sun, although technically elliptical is almost a perfect circle, giving rise to a yearly cycle. Even the Earth's electromagnetic field can be seen to move in cycles with waves resonating at 7.83Hz or 7.83 cycles per second. This is often termed the “heartbeat” of the Earth.

Some of our earliest ancestors; the various Shamanic tribes living 50,000 years ago connected to these powerful cycles using the circle as a prompt. Gathering together in circle, they sang and danced to the beat of what developed into a circular drum. By beating the drum 7-8 times per second they synchronised with the frequency of human brainwaves (7-8 cycles per second) in the Theta state, facilitating deep meditation and trance. This beat also synchronised with the Earths resonance or “heartbeat”. They became completely aligned with the rhythm of Earth and with the Spirit plane too – creating a space for spiritual communion and healing for the collective. What incredible, ancient wisdom!

During the Neolithic period towering stone circles such as Stonehenge were built and used to perform ritual, mark potent moments in the cycle of the seasons and to honour the passage of the dead. It is almost as if the creation of a physical circle can help us tune into the circular nature of our earthly existence, (through passage of the seasons), and also our spiritual existence passing through life, death and returning to Spirit.

Hindus and Buddhist mandalas have long mapped the cosmos as circles moving within circles on an ever-increasing scale and Carl Jung noted the mandala as one of the archetypal symbols arising from the collective unconscious. Young children, when asked to meditate silently for a short time and then paint "whatever they saw" mostly created images of concentric circles reminiscent of simple mandalas.

If we feel the system of reincarnation as a truth then our time on this planet can be seen as one more revolution on the "wheel of life”- another golden opportunity to evolve our consciousness and learn through human experiences. Throughout our lives we move in familial and social circles and looking further still, into the human energy body, from the Vedas we understand that our consciousness also moves in circles through seven main chakras or spinning “wheels”. Our energetic reality then becomes reminiscent of the famous song:

"Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel,
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel,
Like the circles that you find, in the windmills of your mind"

Using the circle as a sacred symbol, as our ancestors have done before us, can help us awaken to a deeper reality. A reality where there are no endings, simply a turning of the wheel and a new phase of the cycle. A reality where we are all divinely connected - to Earth, Spirit and one another. This is the true power of a healing circle – it is a homecoming and a remembering of our connection to All That Is.

THOUGHTS ON ONENESS

Thich Nhat Hanh says: "enlightenment is when a wave realises it's the ocean" which is such a beautiful metaphor.

It's a pivotal moment when an individual (or wave) realises that it's like all of the other waves - made of the same stuff (water) and connected together in something so vast and powerful that it's almost beyond comprehension (the ocean). What's even better is when a wave realises that it's also like the whirlpools, ripples, spray and splashes - that we humans are just like the animals, trees, birds, insects... and that together with us, they too form the ocean. This is the realisation of Oneness - that we are all formed from the same fibre and that we are all interconnected. 

If we can practice living from a state of Oneness then it follows that we become more enlightened - but what does that actually mean? En-light-ened to me - means being in more of our light - embodying more of the highest, purest part of us and seeing that same light in all other creatures. Now, you may well be asking - why do we talk about light all the time and is this just another spiritual metaphor? Well, I don't believe so and I'll try my best to explain why...

On this level of form we are conditioned to split reality into two parts - matter, things which are tangible and have a weight - and energy, which exists in waveforms like sound and light. As humans we are comfortable that we exist as matter - we have a physical body which we can feel and clearly see the edges of - but are we also aware that we exist as energy?

 In fact, we exist as a spectrum of energy across different frequencies or wavelengths - the higher frequencies of which are constantly in flux. The physical body is the lowest frequency/vibrational rate and the most dense part of us which is manifest. We then rise higher in frequency/vibration into the aura and the largely unseen parts of ourselves - our emotional, mental and spiritual bodies. Our spirit or soul energy is the part of our energy spectrum which has the highest frequency. And what is the highest frequency of energy in our universe? Light. Our soul is made from light.

With that in mind, looking at ourselves holistically we are a soul (light) blending into a human body (matter). In fact, we are the living examples of the paradigm shifting 'wave-particle duality concept' developed by quantum physicists in the 20th century. This concept holds that particles (matter) can behave as waves (energy) and vice versa - that our reality is not split between matter and energy but is a constantly moving picture between the two.  All matter, including our physical bodies are built from atoms and even smaller subatomic particles - particles that can also behave as waves or energy. We are matter which is also fundamentally energy. Applying this scientific concept to our existence - we can say that beyond the physical manifestation, beyond matter - we are all energy, we are all light - expressed in a variety of forms.
Just the waves, the ripples and the splashes are all expressions of water.

When we see and feel this truth of oneness, the implications for our world are far-reaching. Would racial, gender, religious and cultural divides exist as they do now if we could all see past the physical packaging of our souls? Would warfare, cruelty and our abuse of the planet be as prevalent if we all felt more unity and connection? I really don't think so.

I wholeheartedly believe that as more of us awaken to the true nature of ourselves and our existence, as more of us embody more of our light, that there will be a critical shift in our collective consciousness. A shift that will align us further towards equality, harmony and love. Collectively we will rise up out of fear, resentment and prejudice. This shift has already started and continues with us now as individuals, reconnecting with our soul through whatever practice feels right, being kind to ourselves, others and the planet, and taking responsibility for our own energy. I share with you my efforts in this collective endeavour and thank you for all of yours <3

With much love, always
Justine xxx

THOUGHTS ON SURRENDER →

This past year I have been thinking about and trying to work with Surrender quite a bit.
Surrender is listed in the dictionary as "the act of stopping fighting and officially admitting defeat" and I originally associated it with war and an external enemy. To me, surrender was throwing your hands in the air and giving up the fight. It was what you did when you knew you couldn't win - it seemed weak and a last resort.

Surrender can be looked at on an internal level too "if you surrender to an experience or an emotion, you stop trying to prevent or control it". Again, surrender seemed to be a passive course of action - to stop trying and give in. It sounded like it was an easy option - and yet it is not - it actually quite the opposite!  

In April of this year my Mum was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer - it was a massive shock. My first reaction was to use Reiki to help - I found myself hoping for healing which was also fully curative. I also started to use all of my will and power to push for the best treatment for her. I directed a lot of my energy trying to prevent delays and manage her journey through the NHS. All of this was natural and necessary, but I noticed whilst I was busy doing this I wasn't really accepting the situation or my emotions. I wasn't really present. 

So I started trying to surrender - to accept the reality that despite my best efforts my hopes for mum's situation might not come to pass. I believe that our essence never dies it merely transforms to another state - yet despite this belief, the thought of the physical loss of mum was still so very painful. So I tried to be more present, I threw my hands up and opened my heart wide. And it was difficult and it hurt, but I noticed that things started to flow much better when I stopped fighting so much. I learned that surrender is actually acceptance.

Surrender didn't come easy though - it took a lot of work to let go and try to relinquish control, and I'm still working at it! I continued to practice Reiki with mum daily but bit by bit with less of a focus on achieving a positive outcome and more on just working towards her highest good - whatever that may be. I started to experience how much strength and courage is required to surrender to not knowing. I learned that surrender is also trust. 

It is trusting that everything which is happening is for all of our eventual highest good - even though it can be difficult to see it or feel it at that exact moment in time. For me, it meant becoming more present (using Reiki & meditation) and connecting to my essence - that deeper part of us which is beyond the human mind/will. In doing so, I cleared space and allowed some of the most brilliantly creative solutions to occur. It really is amazing what can happen when you surrender and start swimming with the current of the Universe instead of against it!

Sending you much love
Justine xx