Transformation
Coming from Middle English, via Old French: a change of form, nature, or appearance.
There has been a lot of chatter on the internet about the Lion’s Gate Portal, which just occurred on Friday 8/8. The alignment of the sun in the Leo constellation with the Sirius star system and Earth are said to create an energy that facilitates spiritual growth, manifestation, and transformation.
I think this realm we inhabit is full of so many mysteries that I have no doubt this could be true. Did I feel a particularly strong energy on Friday? No. But I wasn’t really paying attention to astrological happenings. I generally don’t, my radar is not naturally attuned to those happenings. If I had, I probably would have manifested an experience that might have brought meaning to shifts and changes that I am aiming for. The places where we allow our awareness to expand make all the difference.
The image for this blog post is of a juvenile bald eagle that lives with its parents and 2 siblings in a tree at the edge of my property. We have listened to these babies every morning since they were born this past spring, calling for food and attention, and now we are graced with their presence flying around, strengthening their wings, learning how to be an adult. They are the size of their parents, but will keep their young feathers for the next several years, molting each spring into summer as their brown color slowly allows white to come through, but not looking like the iconic adult bird until age 5. The molting process requires a lot of energy, understandably — feathers on a large bird of prey take months to grow. The parents will continue to bring food to the young, providing all they need to grow. The transformation at times looks awkward, maybe it feels awkward, and it happens whether they like it or not.
Transformations happen all the time, in our outer world as well as our inner. Each breath brings a transformation of the blood cells in our body. Each night while we sleep brings a transformation of our bodies on a micro scale: flushing, purging, healing, growing. The small transformations of life are continually happening just below the radar of awareness.
But what about the big transformations?
As a seeker of truth and wholeness, I must allow transformations to happen. In fact, I welcome and actively search for them. Sometimes they come after concentrated work, study, meditation, conscious manifestation. I am reaching, and then finally grasp something that brings me to a new level of understanding or ability. And sometimes they come suddenly, by surprise, seemingly out of nowhere. I have had utter revolutions of opinions, beliefs, habits, and desires. Big shifts that feel like a sharp turn on my life’s path. I’m in the midst of a transformation right now (aren’t we all?) and I am humbled by shifts in my perception, showing me where I have been wrong, where I have to soften to allow the new awareness a space in my life. I am absolutely and totally humbled by all the ways in which I do not know. There are more mysteries in this world than stars in the heavens, and I want to remain soft and curious, finding the balance between openness and discernment, to welcome the discomfort that means I’m in the process of discovery.
All my practices come down to this: can I stumble, sometimes even fall, and then keep going? A new and evolving understanding and appreciation of my faults and frailties, along with everyone else’s, grows out of each misstep. My compassion grows as well, making more space for love and continued growth.
How are you making space in your life to allow for transformation?
