It is said that the physical heart is like a clock, rhythmically beating and keeping the count that measures a lifespan. Time moves us forward on its currents, without missing a beat, but this isn’t the only principle that governs how we age and change within the seasons of our lives. The more metaphoric aspect of the heart, meaning our emotions, our memories, and the stories we tell ourselves based on them, have a strong impact as well. There are many ways to approach rejuvenation, from the standpoint of health, yet addressing it on the psychic level can impact the way we dream our lives and ourselves at the deep unconscious levels.
This work begins with inquiry. What is rejuvenation? Or better, what creates the youthful inner glow and outlook that makes life feel like an open book of possibility, adventure, and soulful learning? Because, if we can preserve or recover this, we are more likely to naturally renew ourselves again and again, emotionally, psychically, and to some degree even physically. Preserving the child-like wonder of the heart, and our engagement with the mysteries of life, allows us to notice the beauty within and without and to find more enchantment and serendipity in our paths. Think of the Fool card within the Tarot. We dream best when we move through the world light as a feather, and full of trust.
But, it’s not so simple. Lightness isn’t easy to preserve, as we meet the challenges, wounds, and disappointments of life, perhaps again and again. We gain wisdom as we mature, through these experiences, but they take their toll as well. When we have collected too much heavy emotion, too many self-limiting beliefs, and a running tape of inner talk that tells us what to fear and avoid, then we begin to expect difficulty, lack, and even decline. We can dream this way too, even when we don’t mean to, and how we participate in the creation of ourselves and our lives will be deeply affected on an unconscious level. We may become tired, feel tempted to slow down to the point of stagnation, or even give up on what is still essential to the soul’s journey. Then how can we return again to the open eyes and trusting heart of the Fool, holding again our potential flowering, and walking a path that feels guided? How do we mature into the Chariot, taking the reins of our lives with energy and clarity, or into the Priestess, trusting our intuition, inner power, and connection to the Divine? Perhaps it’s not a straight line towards a goal of maturation, but a cycle. The truth is everyone needs rejuvenation from time to time. We all collect too much. We all have moments of losing our inner Fool and no longer seeing our way to growing into Strength or the Magician or other sought after states of being. It doesn’t help us to stay above the fray of life and its potential wounds, but there are some principles that can help us to renew ourselves, when be become psychically depleted.
The first principle is to have a regular practice of releasing and cleansing. Sometimes it’s hard to tell how much we are collecting. Most people move at a fairly fast pace in life, and we receive a lot of input without the spaciousness to process it all. Psychic or emotional impressions from the people around us, from the media formats we engage, and from our own varied experiences build up within us and can easily cloud our more natural way of thinking and feeling. If we wait until we are overwhelmed before we do something to help clear this, it may be more difficult to motivate ourselves towards this kind of self care. In more desperate states, it’s easier to reach for something to make you feel good quickly, even if it’s not the most helpful tool. This is how downward spirals of unhealthy choices begin. Having a regular rhythm of clearing, whether it’s ceremony, personal bathing rituals, time to ground in nature, or a disciplined spiritual practice ( like meditation, yoga, or working with the obsidian mirror) can help us to clear what we may have encountered or have emerging from within, even if we are not consciously aware of what’s affecting us. This can help keep us from sinking into heavy emotional conditions and depletion, and avoid its more physical manifestations in our lives. Purification rituals, at any stage of perceiving imbalance and stagnation, are a powerful way to rejuvenate ourselves at the deepest levels, while providing us with some needed self care time.
Gratitude, as a mindset or intentional practice, can also be a potent rejuvenation method. It helps us to tune our perception towards the things that are going well in our lives, and to notice and appreciate the blessings we have. This counters our negative bias, the very old survival mechanism in our brains that encourages us to be hyper aware of negative experiences and to retain the memory of them more strongly than anything else. We have negative bias in order to remember what may be harmful to us, so we don’t accidentally repeat it, but we have to train ourselves to keep noticing and remembering the positive. Naming our blessings can train our brains to stay more alert to and expectant of positive outcomes, possibilities, and contentment, but it is also a spiritual exchange with the Divine. When we offer gratitude, even for the things we are in the process of developing, we are also making a kind of contract of faith with the Divine and with our highest selves, acknowledging the blessings we’re given and our own efforts, while putting forward the energy of trust. This allows our work of manifestation to flow more easily and our sense of hopefulness to be renewed.
Another principle that may not seem obvious is taking time to feed the dreaming side of our nature. If we want to be light as a feather for dreaming in our highest capacity, that too takes practice. If everything we do is for a practical purpose, meeting responsibilities and solving problems, then the dreaming side of ourselves begins to feel distant to us. We need beauty, wildness, the arts, whimsy, ecstasis, mystery, and our own idiosyncratic creativity to be alive in our daily lives in order to feel consistently connected to the magic and possibility of life. We need to honor our own forms of respite and inspiration, and to allow this side of ourselves a seat at the table. Nurturing and trusting these aspects of ourselves is one of the most joyful and nourishing ways to rejuvenate psychically and emotionally. It also helps us to dream bigger and maintain a sense of youthful wonder.
Finally, especially as we are now in the early phase of the Harvest season, there is much inspiration and rejuvenation to be found in celebrating our first fruits. We don’t always need to wait for the full flowering of our projects and dreams, or for perfect final results, in order to acknowledge our efforts. It is also important to celebrate progress, our small successes along the journey, and the first fruits of our labors. Taking time for this helps us to see the process that is unfolding, renew our energy, excitement, and hopefulness, and refocus on the work ahead with more joy. It is a practice that combines gratitude with feeding the dreamer within us, so that we can return to the path with lightness and trust. Forgetting to take stock of our first fruits can leave us feeling more hopeless, or burnt out, than we need to be, while likely missing the beauty and magic of the moment we are living. Taking time to enjoy how we have grown, and what we have created thus far, can refill our inner well when it feels dry.
It’s quite possible that no one else will do this for you, so are you willing to create this acknowledgement and celebration yourself? Here are few questions to bring to your individual practice of spiritual and emotional inquiry this early Harvest season. Use your journal, your tarot or oracle cards, or your other forms of sacred seeing, and ask yourself the following: What aspect of yourself feels dry or depleted this season, in need of rejuvenation? What renews you at the deepest level? What practices help you to cleanse and release, while nurturing your heart? What dreams have you been building this year? What first signs of growth, change, or manifestation are becoming visible now? What acts of gratitude feel right to offer at this time? What would be the most meaningful and joyful way to celebrate your personal first fruits, and to encourage their blossoming to the fullest potential harvest?
May you sparkle inside and out this season,
the eleventh house
-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez. You can learn more about her work and healing practices at www.metzmecatl.com