Over the past several years I’ve had the opportunity to sit in ceremony with jungle shamans, also known as the curanderos, deep in the Amazon jungle. The trek to get there takes a few days of travel between big planes, little prop planes, buses, and motorized canoes. Deep in the heart of the Peruvian jungle, the nightly ceremony we participate in is not for the faint-hearted. It is life changing and profound, testing every part of our soul. Our ceremony work involves moving through death, journeying between worlds, seeing the deepest parts of yourself, and going far beyond what I ever thought reality to be.
One of the first lessons I received formed the foundation for an intense period of transition in my life that followed. It changed my view of life itself.
I hope this serves you for wherever you may be, whatever cycle you may be in, or whatever challenge you may be facing…
DEATH, RE-BIRTH AND GROWTH
Like the two nights before, I made my way along the dense jungle path to the small wooden hut. We all walked in silence, listening to the crunch of the broken nut shells under our feet as we wound our way along the jungle edge to the small thatch-roof hut. The torches that lit the darkest parts of our walk poured a thick, grey smoke into the night air but were sufficient for us to find our way. I climbed the wooden stairs and opened the creaky door, entering in silence to take our place within the circle.
Soon after we began our journeys.
A few hours into ceremony, as I had already passed through death and was deep into my visions, I asked my Guide – on this night a beautiful translucent feminine energy – if I could understand the Universe. She seemingly laughed, saying I was not yet ready to understand this depth.
“Can I at least understand something about our galaxy?” I asked.
In that next moment I saw myself next to her, seemingly at the outer planet of our Solar system, floating in space. I could sense and see the stars and the planets of our solar system. I could turn in all directions and see the beauty and immensity of our galaxy. In that instant we began to fly by each planet, and I could see in perfect clarity the rings, the surfaces, the composition – everything. We then flew towards the Earth and I could see it practically breathing with life. It took my breathe away as I gazed at the shear beauty of our planet set against the vast darkness of our Galaxy.
At this point I felt the need to ask:
“What is the most abundant place on Earth?”
“It is where you are now” she said.
“In the jungle you mean?” I asked.
She nodded yes, and from that place in space I suddenly felt us zoom in to view the abundant jungle in South America, teaming with life – plants, animals, oxygen, water, energy, and so much more.
“There is abundance here because cycles are embraced” she said.
She continued her explanation without pause:
“Death, re-birth and growth happens quickly here. Each cycle gives life to the next, creating abundance. Each process is never stopped or slowed and is allowed to be for what it is. Each cycle moves quickly because it is embraced. In this last century humans have increasingly ignored cycles. They always wish for growth. By doing so, they have ignored the importance of each cycle and stopped their ability to create abundance. As a result, humans have created more suffering.”
I saw the jungle again while being witness to the trees and animals that died, which quickly became consumed as food and nourishment for the growth of other plants and animals which were lush and rich in energy, which in turn furthered the cycle. I then saw flashes of the human condition and saw where so many people needlessly created their own suffering by fearing the death process and resisting growth. It locked them into an anguish of their own creation.
I then began to witness in my own life where I had resisted change – specifically death.
Death of a relationship, death of a job, death of a way of being, death of anything I was fearful of ending because I didn’t know what was next and wanted to hold on to what I thought was good. Or another way to put it, I wanted to hold on to what I was comfortable with. Re-birth was often painful or, at best, clumsy. I’d often have to re-build my life, find new ways of seeing the world, move cities, or other activities that threw me into seeming chaos while my life re-settled into the new.
But in every instance, there always – always – became growth and an abundance of “new”. New Life. New love. New opportunities. New friends. New learnings. New wisdom.
My Guide and I proceeded on to numerous conversations thereafter and, hours later, my journey ended and the Shaman had us return to our cabins. But in the days to follow I continued to integrate the lessons of that night, realizing how deeply the concept of cycles run.
In our Western culture we often fear any change in our personal lives. As much as people say they embrace change, that’s rarely the case. We have our routines and ways of being. We like to play it safe and know what’s next in our life. We resist making major changes – especially suddenly. But that actually leaves us with LESS, not MORE abundance.
Pretty much since birth we’re taught to fear or hold off death of anything. Consider especially in business, where the focus is continually on growth quarter after quarter, year after year. Anger and disputes arise anytime a down cycle happens. The concept of cycles is rarely embraced economically, until we’re forced in to a downturn and then everyone suffers and wonders why.
Why is because cycles are imminent and a part of life in all forms. Ultimately, life will force you into Death at all levels along your path. And we get plenty of opportunities to practice it. So why are we so resistant?
What my vision taught me was the very real law of cycles and the absolute beauty that can be created by embracing that process. But that is the key – embracing and allowing the cycle to happen, feeling a cycle coming on and jumping in with both feet down that rabbit hole full force, feeling what needs to be felt, knowing it WILL end at some point and move on to the next cycle.
My first test of this lesson came very quickly, the day after my return home from the Amazon. My husband and I separated, and by the end of the month I moved out and started a new life in a new city. It was hard, and at times very sad and painful. There was a process I had to nurture as I healed and carried on. But my lesson on cycles helped me realize I had in fact been in the “Death” portion for a long time in that relationship, but I had been resisting it and suffered as a result. My fear of Death within that relationship was significantly hindering my ability for anything new to come in, no matter how glorious and amazing that “new” was going to be. I couldn’t see it because I was clinging to an old cycle. The faster I embraced the new cycle the faster I could get to Re-birth and eventually abundant Growth. So rather than running away from Death, I decided to jump in fully and let myself fall. I reminded myself that, as a cycle, Death will end eventually and something new will come in its place. I let myself feel what I needed to, heal where I needed it, and welcomed the new opportunities.
As a result, Re-birth and Growth did in fact come very quickly.
This cycle happened again with work and other areas of my life over the last year, at times very suddenly with little warning. In some cases the fear and pain still creeped in, but consciously I knew to embrace the transition and welcome in the process as best I could. In each case, without skipping a beat, the next cycle came and often brought something far better than I could have imagined in my prior circumstance.
And this time, each cycle seemed smoother, faster, and certainly more abundant as I was awake to the process.
In Death I accepted what was, released my hold, embraced the change, and took a leap of faith.
In Re-birth I took time to nurture myself, rest, learn, reflect, and stay open to signs of the new.
In Growth I drank deeply from life, gave thanks, and enjoyed the abundance that came from the lessons I had and what was still to come. But of course, I knew this too would all come to pass as I circled around the wheel once again up the next level of my evolution.
Ultimately, that evening in the jungle kicked off a profound lesson I would come to need for the rest of my life here on earth. My Guide had shown me how abundant life can become when we embrace cycles, and it’s deeply shifted my approach to life.
The faster we embrace a cycle, the faster we can process, and the faster we spiral up in our evolution to a beautiful abundant life of our own creation. This is part of our ascension to understand and embrace this concept.
It was a profound lesson I needed to learn so I would be prepared for so many of the changes I would come to experience. But that lesson set the foundation for the beautiful life I now embrace – with each and every cycle it brings.
In love & light,
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