WHEREIN LIES THE MAGIC?

Photo: Jesse Albanese

For me, the magic of human life resides in experiencing my soul’s expressions and also in experiencing the expressions of the Earth’s soul – also known as nature. As I set off on this most recent journey, it was a chance to witness the magic within me through the external interaction with nature. Yet, traveling across the highly populated State of California, I couldn’t help but run across some fellow humans on the journey.
 
If I haven’t said it before, I’m a huge fan of humans and all their parts, light and dark and the grey in between. Nature too contains all parts. A sunny day can quickly turn into a violent storm – the more wild you get, the crazier the storm can be. Though humans and nature are the same in containing all aspects, there’s usually a difference in their general approach to the dark. Humans tend to want to shut out the dark, resisting negative thoughts and unpleasant emotions. Yet, nature is unwaveringly unapologetic for its most destructive tendencies. Nature knows destruction is part of a cycle, part of the whole, part of the experience.
 
It’s only a mild example, but I was able to witness these aspects of nature and humans while traversing the 10-mile loop in the stunning Andrew Molera State Park. As I trudged along admiring the unparalleled beauty of the rugged Big Sur coast, I noticed several people turning back on the trail. Poison oak, they said. Tick danger, they said. Just like pushing away negative thoughts and emotions out of fear, these people were giving up a rare opportunity to witness the Big Sur beauty and the super private beach cove on the other side. Needless to say, Ollie and I trudged on through. The law of fear was not ours.

​Unlike nature, humans - whether conscious or unconscious - consistently apologize for their dark parts through denial of negative thoughts and resistance to unpleasant emotions. I witnessed this firsthand as I sat around a fire with four beautiful souls my last night camping in the redwood forest. I observed their inner darkness raise up no matter how much Jameson they drank from the bottle. It became clear that none of them were aware of their own magnificence, including the beauty of their inner destructive nature they were so intent to drown. With each sip of whiskey, I watched as they further stuffed down the poisons and venoms of their so-called darkest parts, making them blind to the beauty of their inner human darkness. They could not see their own magic.
 
MAGIC is defined as the power of influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces. But one needs to look no further than his or her own soul to create his or her own, unique magic in life. Magic is neither dark nor light. Like the soul, it knows no duality, no right or wrong, only what exists. For me, peacocks are living, breathing representation of magic. These beautiful creatures, which have inspired overwhelming fascination, actually exist within our physical reality for all to see – unlike unicorns who are reserved for those of us with vivid imaginations – to remind us that magic exists all around us.
 
For those of you who don’t know, peacocks dine on poisonous plants and venomous snakes. Many researchers believe they convert the poisonous fuel into the vibrant colors that appear in their legendary plumage. If you are open to it, the peacock can serve as a reminder that magic is all around you. You have not lost it; you only need to expand your awareness to include it. Like the swaggering peacock, we, as humans, can remember that the negative and destructive are in fact parts of who we are. We can remember that when we deny the dark, we are denying a large portion of ourselves. And in this resistance, those destructive parts can seep from the space under the door of the closet in which we shoved them only to have the door burst wide open in an  explosive way. 

Instead of avoiding our so-called negative thoughts and emotions, we can dine on them like the kings and queens we are. Like the peacock, we can take the poison and the venom, transmute it like the masters we are, and allow it to create radiance in our proverbial plumage like the azure and golden ringed ocellus that appear on the peacock above. Yes, you say, that sounds wonderful. Let’s integrate those negative thoughts and feelings we have been resisting for so long. But how? How to I do it?

IMAGINATION. 

Imagination is the ability to form and recognize new images and sensations from the soul, which are not perceived through senses such as sight, sound, taste, smell or touch. Like intuition, or gnost (inner knowing), imagination is a gift from the soul. It is an amazing way our soul can communicate with us, the human. But it’s not real, you say? Anyone who has had a vivid imagery-filled dream would beg to differ. Was that reality not as real as the one you’re living in right now? Why not bring the splendor of your dream state into your waking life?
 
Imagination is a sensual process rather than a logical or emotional one. Thoughts and emotions come from the human aspect of self, and imagination comes from the deepest part of self that exists in the absence of time and space and physical reality – the soul. Imagination is an excellent and innate tool for conscious creators. When we become aware of our own capabilities at the soul level, the deep sensual process of creating through imagination becomes an easy and delightful way to live life.
 
We can bring our dream/fantasy - state creations into this reality without the limits of human thoughts and emotions. Sure, the thoughts and emotions are still there, yet when we are in soul alignment, we can recognize them and witness their limits from an objective perspective. We do not deny them, yet we allow them to flow with a deep understanding of their true nature.
 
I recently was reminded of my own ability to transmute the poison like the majestic peacock and the magic of my imagination when I took quite a spill, splitting my head open and waking up in a pool of blood. I wish I had an exotic story of how it happened; yet I simply tripped in a hotel bathroom in the middle of the night. When I finally pulled myself off the ground, turned on the light, looked in the mirror and wiped enough blood away, I could see that my left eyebrow had been ripped open and was about two inches below where it should be. Yikes. Here’s where I get to use intensely what I show private clients each week.
 
First, I allowed my human to be human. With compassion, I witnessed my human panic, worry about her beauty, deny that the event even happened – the full range of human thoughts and emotions – for about 30 seconds before the soul was put back in charge. Soul said, ok, look up where the hospital is. One-half mile. Great. Put the dog in the car. Drive there. Hold that towel on your eye with pressure. Walk in. Stay calm. We got this. The human popped in again. We are not safe. This is a sign to go home, it screamed. Soul said, this is an experience for growth and we are going on that trip. Take a deep breath.
 
The human took a deep breath and remembered to trust the soul. Soul, the human said, I do not want to feel pain, can you please shut off the pain receptors there on my head? Check. Done in an instant. My soul was fully back in the the lead in the five minutes it took me to drive to the hospital. I had an excellent team of people helping me. I got to know all their names and about their families. There was still no pain as the trauma surgeon on call arrived. Dr. Vaughn sewed my left eyebrow back on as he shared his life story and we tried to come up with a better story than tripping in a hotel bathroom. I was glad to meet him and hear about his life. When the last stich was done, he declared, Now you have super powers! Mister, you have no idea, I thought. (Pictures below)

I said my goodbyes to the team in the St. George, Utah hospital. And two hours after my arrival, I was back in the hotel bed. Before drifting off to sleep I asked my soul, how could we make this heal faster with minimal scarring? My soul showed me an image of golden and sliver streaming light - almost in the form of a DNA strand - weaving the affected area back together. I sensed a very pleasant vibration in the area that maybe lasted one minute. Soul, I need the pain sensors in this area to stay turned off until it’s healed, and with an inner knowing that the message was received, I drifted off to sleep.
 
I woke up the next morning, feeling normal and vibrantly alive despite the four hours of sleep and still without pain. The magic capabilities of the soul, especially to self-heal, are endless if we open to them. Yes, the doctor and nurses help, but involving the soul in our healing process is the magic that brings it all together.
 
I was off to camp and experience fully Big Sur, and the wound never bothered me. Tuesday I had the stiches taken out - only four days later - and I knew my soul had heard my request. Only a faint scratch remains (photo below). It’s hard to believe from a human perspective because the muscle holding the brow up had been severed. I already feel it reconnected internally and am able to lift the brow again.
One friend commented, "What the eff? You heal like you're made of lava - regenerative as fuck." 

Talk about magic! The human body when in communication with the soul has endless potentials and possibilities. I hope a tiniest bit of the scar will remain to remind me of the magic that occurs when we are in soul alignment. If anything, the venom of the sting of my head trauma has only made my proverbial peacock feathers grow brighter and bolder as I am reminded of the amazing ability of the soul to create and to use imagination to turn a so-called negative human experience into a beaming bouquet of soul radiance.

Integrating the poisons and venoms of our human aspects is not reserved for physical ailments. When you connect and align with soul, the poisons of destructive thoughts patterns and venoms of emotional turmoil can also be integrated. Isn't it time to stop being the bitch to your monkey mind and roller coaster emotions?
 
I invite all of you to go ahead and swallow the venom of your so-called negative emotions and the poison of your self-doubting, fearful thoughts just like the peacock. I invite you to allow the imagination of the soul to flow freely. Allow images to arise from soul that show you how to integrate that which no longer serves you. No thinking. No editing. There is no duality of right and wrong when using imagination.

But I can't hear my soul, you say. I don't see any images, you say. MAKE IT UP! That's what imagination is all about. If your soul could speak, what would it tell you? If you could see an image of the perceived dark parts integrating, what would it look like? If you don’t like it, create something else.

​Paint it. Sing it. Write it. Dance it. Play it. Create like you did as a child. Use those imaginative expressions to create your reality. Allow your soul to shine. There’s magic inside all of us. There's magic surrounding all of us. We only need to take the blinders off to sense that which already exists. As conscious creators, we are in charge of our reality. Therein lies the magic. Happy creating, friends!