The metamorphosis of a Dark Night of the Soul is a spiritual process.
We can see this so clearly with the caterpillar who essentially builds it’s own tomb or womb or void space and willingly enters the darkness to dissolve (entirely into a soup!) to be transformed and re-born anew as the same essence but in entirely different expression. Pretty miraculous really.
This kind of alchemy extends far beyond being biological. It is a beautiful example of Spirit and its divine intelligence.
When it comes to your own human and soul transformations it is a very similar process. One that calls you to withdraw from the external world and turn within to be able to move with the intelligent impulse of your spiritual transformation that is guided by your soul energy and communicated to you through your intuition.
Yet, this is often experienced as quite a destabilising process. Especially initially due to the fact that we have not;
a) Fully acknowledge and owned ourselves as spiritual beings first and foremost. Collectively, we still see and relate to ourselves through a material reductionist lens.
b) Because of this, there is little quality education and support within our current societal structures that encourages a person to learn and understand themselves outside of the intellect.
c) Essentially, this then creates a spiritual deficiency within ourselves and our society – which is clearly evident but it’s also something we are currently collectively beginning to address embody and understand.
I feel it is important to name these things because the spiritual metamorphosis experience can bring up a lot of shame, fear and guilt for an individual who is within this process and who is experiencing – beyond their own rational mind and human control a deep internal change within themselves that impacts how they are turning up to their every day lives and relationships.
It is also difficult to put language to what it is they are sensing and experiencing in a way that isn’t viewed as tom-foolery or airy fairy mumbo jumbo.
For someone who has had little education around the mystery science of spiritual alchemy and transformation that is the Dark Night of the Soul it can feel like you’re loosing your marbles. And this is a challenging burden to bare and can deeply impact the effects and outcome of their process.
Lets discuss the stages of a spiritual metamorphosis.
Death & Endings
Rise of Shadow and Pain
Grief and The Void
Cleansing & Purification
Exploration & Integration of New Impulse
Embodied Expression
I could go into each of these phases within this spiritual initiation but I feel it might be more helpful (and for the sake of less words to read) that I share a few other key points in a summarised way.
The Death & Endings Process.
This is a deeply humbling and unavoidable part of the human experience and soul growth process.
It’s also a challenging part of the process due to the fact that culturally we have great discomfort and fear around Death.
Our fear around death is a symptom of our spiritual deficiency and distrust.
It also glaringly highlights the limitations of relating to ourselves and the world through a solely scientific material reductionist lens that drains and represses our brilliance and innovation due to the fact that this lens keeps our consciousness and experience of ourselves and life within the confines of a set dimensional spectrum. Kind of like trying to understand yourself and life through a box that is too small to fit within. The impacts of this are massive!
Everything is cyclic.
From the rise and fall of epochs and empires, to the seasonal phases.
Everything passes through the birth, bloom, fruit, decay, death, rebirth process.
A seed grows into a tree which flowers and bares fruit. The fruit drop, decay, die, and its intelligence and life force is absorbed into the soil of the earth for its essence to be reutilised again. The caterpillar itself digests itself! Melting into a mushy moosh to be rewritten and rebuilt for new expression.
We as a soul come into and leave the earth plane over many life cycles with the purpose of soul expression and evolutionary development.
The more we allow ourselves to cultivate and enter into relationship with our own spiritual essence (developing trust with Self/Soul/Source) the more we realise that death (either physically or metaphorically) is simply a transition of states of expression.
It is essential to grieve the process of death and endings (which is a non linear journey that does not work with timeframes).
But it is also important to simultaneously have the awareness that there is an alive and gently awakening, liberating and divinely intelligent impulse that you are receiving that is guiding you forward. Into a new and deeper understanding of You, so that you may pass through into the new paradigm of yourself.
Self Trust, Intuition & your new Impulse.
The transformational space of the Dark Night of the Soul or metamorphosis requires an entirely different paradigm of understanding, skills and tools to navigate it, due to the fact that it is multidimensional process.
This means, you are transforming from within to without, from the Unseen into the Seen, cleansing the internal density of what is old and receiving a finer dimensional spectrum of spiritual intelligence to bring into form through your embodiment and expression.
To navigate death, endings and the Void space you require self trust in your intuition and the spiritual impulse that is ushering aspects of you/your life into completion and renewal.
To identify and integrate your shadow you require self trust and your intuition to guide you through the healing process of tracing ‘wonky’ string lines of energy that will take you back through time to rework the energy/beliefs and experience itself. (This is the process of purification/cleansing that opens you to alchemical nature of compassion and forgiveness)
To navigate the non linear process of the grieving you require intuition and self trust to connect with the appropriate ‘medicine’ for each stage of your grief process.
To feel connected and confident in the new impulse of your expression and the direction it’s guiding you towards you RELY on your intuitive senses to inform you and you trust in resonance and uplifting energy it floods you with.
To feel safe in your new expression and your creative powers and purpose, you trust in your spiritual potency and move with the flow of your intuitive guidance to bring to life what’s ripe within you in service and honour to your Self and others.
To attempt to move through an initiation purely through a physical, emotional and mental plane creates pain, frustration, blockage and disconnection. We inherently sense within ourselves that there is an ‘other-wordly’ and essential aspect to such a transformation and when we deny the (often repeated) intuitive guidance from our spiritual essence we suffer.
If you are being ushered into the Unknown you are being asked to DEEPEN and further develop your self trust and psychic/intuitive senses to understand yourself and the new paradigm you’re entering.
This means drawing upon your current skill level and making it more conscious and diving into the playful challenge of deepening it further.
What would it feel like to surrender to your internal guiding force to create trust with it?
How much tension would be relieved from your body and energy if you could soften to your own evolution rather than resisting or holding on?
If you weren’t fixated on who you no longer are, and instead turned towards who you are becoming?
Much love,
Lauren x