INSTEAD OF FORCE, WHAT ABOUT MAGIC?

In a number of days, I will begin leading a six-day intensive
with participants who are deeply committed to their healing and growth.
Over time, they have come to know there are depths within them
they didn’t know before,
and that as they meet themselves in their own depths,
they will have the opportunity to discover or re-discover
traumas they experienced long, long ago,
feelings they buried in the midst of the trauma,
thoughts, decisions, behaviors, physical responses, and plans (conscious and unconscious)
for how they would relate to others and life itself.

They will have the opportunity to find where they are stuck within
in their own healing and their own development.
In a world where so much is attempted by force,
they will get to experience the reality of healing.
In a world where so much seeking is done in the outer world,
they will have a chance to search for themselves in their inner world.
In a world where so many attempt to accomplish in the outer world,
they will have the chance to open into their inner world
to make felt but unseen changes within
from which something new will be birthed inside,
and something new will be created from the inside out.
In a world where so much seeking to connect with the Divine
is done through prayer,
they will have the opportunity to dissolve within their very selves,
the blocks between them and the Divine.

They will meet within themselves
the light and the dark
and go through the gateway of each.
They will meet what they experienced long, long ago;
they will meet their involuntary responses to their ancient experiences;
and they will meet the defenses they created in response –
once protections for the child they were,
now, if acted out, destructive for themselves and perhaps others.

They will do this safely,
and purposefully for healing,
and at their own organic rhythm and pace.

They will do this for themselves.
They will do this for those they hold dear.
They will do this for our world.
For every piece of work we do during this intensive
will have a healing effect on us all.
There is a magical mystery in this healing work
that changes things inside and out.

I am so thankful for these people committed to healing to the root …
for themselves …
for all of us.

© Judith Barr, 2016

One thought on “INSTEAD OF FORCE, WHAT ABOUT MAGIC?

  1. Recently, the women of Sacred Circle concluded our annual six-day Spring Intensive, during which I help them to heal in the deepest of places in their psyches and souls. As they concluded the Intensive, they felt inspired to write the following letter for me to share with you in response to the above post. It is our prayer that it helps to show in an even deeper sense what the healing-to-the-root journey is all about…and that it inspires you in your own healing journey…

    “We have often asked ourselves how we can give others a more specific window into what it means to do deep healing work. When people think of “therapy” they often think of talking about their problems and having someone tell them how to fix them.

    “Here we take things that have a here and now emotional charge and allow the feelings to take us to deeper and deeper places where we first experienced those feelings at younger times.

    “We don’t limit or censor ourselves and we don’t act out those feelings on or with other people. Rather we explore them to the depths for ourselves. The whole process is guided by an experienced leader who continues to do her own healing work, and is held safely by the group.

    “The group witnesses and supports the process for each individual searching for the common threads in their own lives. Healing happens for the person doing their own work and for all of us who are participating.

    “This time we all started with anxieties about our financial situations which led to literally talking to money, which resulted in each of us discovering past traumas that we have transferred onto money without realizing it.

    “One of us discovered a fear of dependency and being abused that she had transferred onto money.

    “Another found she needed to keep money close so she wouldn’t have to feel her father’s leaving.

    “For another the experience took her to grief about her mother’s death many years ago – that just like her mom didn’t stay, money wouldn’t either.

    “Another person realized she was jealous because her father loved money more than her.

    “Another realized she tried to hurt her dad who had abused her, by hurting herself by not having money.

    “At the same time as we did our work with our distorted relationships with money we know that if everybody did this work with their relationships with money, our country and world would be healthier financially. Money can’t heal the wounds we suffered as children. By finding out the real wounds that we have put on money we not only improve our values about money, we not only heal our relationship with money in the here and now but we also can access and heal wounds and traumas from the past.

    “We hope that by sharing these examples from the profoundly rich six days we have spent together doing this work, we have touched, inspired, and shown you what is possible.”

Leave a Reply