Here you can read about love established from beyond the flesh, the feelings and the concepts, love that is first of all an expression of the spirit. Also you can read about the great power made available by dedication to love and how you can use this power to change yourself in positive ways. Benefits for workers with magic would range from strengthening the focus to energizing white spells.
1. Introduction
The path that I speak of is the life path that I am on. It is not an ideal, it is not a beautiful dream, it is not a veil cast over reality. It is the reality of the spirit that inspires my existence on all other levels. I have a long, intermittent history with this path, but only at this age have I been given to draw strength from it. I could not say how long it will take you to profit from it. It depends on your destiny.
The love that I speak of is the love for a woman. Thus it is not the equal love for everyone and everything. That love stems from the love that I speak of, because my love is first of all spiritual. Please do not let yourself be confused by judging which love is superior. The love that I speak of empowers the general love, as well as all aspects of my life. Further more, the love that I speak of allows me now to live in this world as a complete human being, instead of isolating myself into the spiritual aspect of it and having to live with disconnected levels of myself. Also, it is not the love for any woman, but the love for The woman, the one and only.
The following sections are so organized as to help build your understanding gradually. I will tell you a bit about my life situation, about my love, so that you can be aware of the authenticity of the information that I share here. Next I will name certain aspects of the human being that are involved in love, so that you can easier relate your thoughts to this path regardless of your current believes. Then I will express the essence of the path, the core message of this thread, in the context defined by the previous sections. Finally I will speak of the benefits that I have so far derived from following this path and I will point to other uses based on the great similarity between keeping the flame of love burning and training for the practice of magic.
2. About myself
Some fifteen years ago I fell in love with her. She did not return my feelings. Although it was painful, I kept loving her for a few years as that love was the most beautiful thing I knew. The most I could approach her by was helping, occasionally and I was lucky enough to have one of our last common memories be a gift that made her smile. I was unable to feel the same for any other woman, before or after knowing her in this way.
I have lived like a monk most of my life. There were various ways to restrict me from living happily. I was shown pleasant things and then they were taken from me. I was made ugly and stupid in the eyes of the one I loved and others I tried to love. There were traumatizing accidents. And there was no guidance, no help to overcome up to enjoying life fully. There were also breaks and I was allowed occasional, moderate pleasures. I had to cope with these things inside. From the point where I look at my life now, I could say that the steps of a ladder were built. The last steps were marked by an almost complete renunciation at this world. Finally I was awakened to the life of the spirit. For those interested in Astrology I could point to a strong influence of Saturn until the end of its first return.
For those interested in Alchemy I could say that I am now at the beginning of the citrinitas stage. After reaching as far in spirit as possible I was given now, in my 34th year, to turn my attention towards the material world and build myself a new life, with my base, my source of strength in the spirit. For this, apparently, an anchor was needed in the material plane. It was to be my memory of her, with my love for her linking all the planes; I was surprised to discover that my love for her was as fresh and beautiful as in the beginning, as if it was locked in my heart chakra as in a bottle :) The light that I used to see her enveloped in is now shining through me.
One of the most significant changes of my spiritual awakening is a great confidence in the path that I am on, a great clarity of my situation and of my objectives in life. I know that I am given all that I need to pursue the goals which are according to my destiny; there is no more struggle. During all this year's month of Taurus I had the memory of her clear in my awareness. First I opposed it; the understanding of what was happening only came gradually. Now I'm sustaining it and it takes the least conceivable effort on my part; actually I derive more strength from this than required by that effort.
3. Definitions
No matter were we are in our evolution, each of us can speak of the level he or she is at, the levels below and the levels above; the latter two in the collective sense. The difference between the levels is in the proportion of forces from below and from above acting on and through our being. The closest forces from below are of egoistic nature. The closest forces from above are of spiritual nature. Appearing in our awareness, these forces take on the aspect of our being and we refer to them as ego or spirit. My spirit is my connection to the planes above. My ego is my connection to the planes below.
To avoid any confusion I must mention that, when I referred to spirit earlier, alongside concepts, feelings and flesh, I was speaking about what is lived and what I am aware of at the level of the connection to the planes from above. The spiritual love is, on our side, the love that we are also aware of at the level of the spirit and more, a love that raises the vibration of living at the levels of concepts, feelings and flesh. On the side of the Universe, spiritual love is a love coming from the planes above. The greater the preponderance of spiritual forces acting on our being, the greater the beauty of this love is. The divine poet's words found in section 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, of the Bible are the closest I know to describe this beauty:
"Love suffereth long and is kind. Love envieth not. Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth (...) For we know in part and we prophesize in part, but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away (...) And now abideth faith, hope and love, these three. But the greatest of these is love." Some correspondences of these words will be revealed in the following paragraphs.
In contrast, the ego is capable of bringing upon both pleasures and suffering. It comes with tricks and illusions. It is capable of comedies and dramas. Just as the spirit, the ego seeks to be satisfied. But the ways and the goals of the ego are inferior. A prominent aspect of the ego is that it cares only about itself; even under the cover of caring for another. A better way to say this is that the ego, being farther than the spirit from the inter-connection of all of us on planes above, seeks to satisfy itself in a disconnected, isolated way. I believe that this notion of the ego is familiar to most of you, even if I may not use it in the strict, psychological sense; and so I will not say more about it.
In my current reality the ego is still involved, although with much less intensity. And so the tendencies described above blend. Understanding can not be completely clear and it does not have to be. I am not guided by it, but the reflections at the level of the intellect, the concepts, are only there to assure the participation of all tools of the physical being. To put the concepts in order: the classification spirit, I, ego describes the interface to the interior, while the classification spiritual experiences, concepts, feelings, sensations describes the interface to the exterior, the tools of existence. The path of love reintegrates me within my inner and my worldly self. And while I am guided along this path, I invest myself through faith, not understanding.
4. the Path
In essence, the path is loving her more than anything else, including myself. The path is loving her everywhere I turn my attention, all the time, as if she would be present among all things. Her image in my mind is an embodiment of the Light, the source of all that is good. She really is everything for me. My love is not lust, not feeling, not an ideal, but it is spiritual expression which transforms all other aspects of my being. It is a transformation that I take part in, continuously - as complete an experience as I am capable to be aware of.
At the interface to the physical world and beyond, in all matters of the material life, my love fuels me to become a man that she would welcome in her life. This is the natural way to become able of bringing her happiness. It is the longest road for me, but even if it takes me the whole life it is worth striving to reach this goal; even if the Heavens will allow us only a few old age years of closeness :) Until that time I approach everything in the world as if she would be there too. Instead of the response of her physical being, I receive my reward (ego terms) in the form of strength from the planes above.
There is a fundamental difference between the egoistic striving for achieving a material response to the love and the spiritual striving to become worthy of receiving love. Also, as the light is the same in me and in her, the spiritual love does not require a material response. But I naturally dream of being close to her some day. This is in accordance to the fact that spiritual love inspires all levels of my existence in this world, instead of separating from them. There usually is no suffering from not being able to have this any time soon or from not having the least promise that there actually is a chance for us to meet again. When suffering comes I have to work harder for a while to recenter myself in love; but her memory always gives me a strong boost.
I did judge her in the past, but at least I respected her wishes even if they hurt me. Now I feel that there is no place for pain or judgment in a relationship with her. No place for envy of fear. It is this simple: if I would be the perfect man for her then she would not seek the company of other men, if I would offer her everything she needs then she would not seek elsewhere. Therefore I strive to become that man, that provider of what she needs. My whole energy is channeled into this becoming and so there is no place for other forms of energy. I ask nothing of her, but to be herself. My concern is not how she is, but to love her. I can only smile to her. I wish (ego again) she could have known me like this.
For those of you that have not yet found their one love, it is still possible to advance on this path by loving nature or a majestic part of it, like the physical light, as you would a woman. Nature was the first woman I was romantically attached to, until meeting my one love; who I first perceived as the embodiment of nature. One special experience was feeling no tiredness once, when hiking through mountain woods, as a teenager, while telling nature a poem about her feminine beauty. If you're a wiccan you probably understand very well :) It has to be nature because it is all around us, even if in some places it is just the polluted air you have to breathe. It is much easier to devote to something that has a continuous connection to you in some way, as opposed to, for example, devotion to a deity that you can only imagine, also most often by separating from your worldly self.
For those of you that have found their one love but have their ways mixed with the ways of the world and thus keep letting themselves attracted to other women in hope that they will receive a better response to their own needs, you're missing on the better things of life: only by trying to make your true love happy can you become truly happy. Of course, as long as the ego is strong you will not see this clearly and you will keep suffering. I can only recommend you courage, patience and perseverance. It is a spiritual path that requires full commitment. Let your moment to moment joy be following this path. Whenever my eyes slip in the direction of some woman, I immediately remind myself that I can only love one woman and that, without this love, I could not be happy. It would help you a lot to obtain this conviction :)
I started on this path after having reached the point where any worldly way is as good as any other. I have taken her preferences as my own. There was no conflict in my mind. The hanging onto being in a way in this world is something of the ego, while the way is mostly determined by the Stars. Incompatibilities between Sun signs, for example, can not exist at spiritual level - where the basis of your being should be when following the path of love. I also do not need her to have the same degree of spiritual awareness as me, so as not to care about a wordly way: as long as I am aware that she also exists spiritually it is enough to love her. I mention for completion that preferences of the demonic and beastly natures mixed in man are obviously out of the question when we talk about happiness.
I train in this second nature by continuously reminding myself: what would she like? how would she like me to be? The most difficult times are when dealing with aggressive, vulgar, inferior manifestations of this world, or when I am subject to an unusual effort or an injury. Then I must remind myself to keep my cool. By responding aggressively or depressive I would also hurt her feelings, since also she is there. It helps too that being strong and patient is also among her preferences, as one born in May :)
It should also be mentioned that by loving her everywhere I turn and through everything I do, I also love the world: directly on the physical level and indirectly on all other levels - as I concentrate on her, not on the world. Most if not all the people I ever knew learned to wear a mask of seriousness and control as suits their social needs. Seriousness of involvement and self control come naturally when placing her needs before yours and striving to meet them in every little thing.
5. Benefits
This big, long term transformation that I go through would not be possible without a great strength that comes, in my case, from the planes above. All I have to do in exchange for this strength is stay on the path. Once you are centered on this path, centered in love, there is no effort necessary other than to remain centered. And that is only of some difficulty when the ego lashes at you. This great strength fuels everything I do and everything I am. I cannot compare it with anything else I ever lived or had. It is a tremendous will - not overwhelming though: everything is in good order. Any disorder, accidents and failures are the making of the ego and all you need to do is recognize and separate from the tendencies of the ego. The order, the strength and the love are there unchanged, waiting for you to recenter.
Changes at the physical level so far (three weeks) have been: a positive change in diet, supplemented by well managed intake of pills; a greater dedication to weight training with positive changes in the shape of the body; an increase in sexual capacity and an improvement of voice. This last aspect was particularly impressive for me. I always had a weak voice (except when I was getting angry and the lion came out) and now I feel well on the way to becoming able to sing to her :) There have also been some injuries and side effects but I have faith that these are only temporary setbacks. Changes at the emotional level are in the course of being effected in particular through chakra work. One special result is that focusing on her image while invoking all good that I can imagine brings about a sensation of effervescence at the level of my heart chakra :) On the mental level I begun to adopt traits that she would prefer: calm, patience; firmness, quiet strength; perseverance; controlled slowness. I also change my walking style and my posture, my way of talking, my way of handling objects. Also, I may have been lead to this site to benefit from practicing the preliminaries of magick; it remains to be seen as I am still at the stage of sorting out information.
Conviction, focus, will and generally a natural, almost effortless cooperation between all your levels come from being in love. You are also centered and easily fight off bad thoughts. The energy of love may also be strong enough to keep other forms of negativity away from your being. Besides, spiritual love implies that your are inspired by benevolent entities that work with you. I believe these are things that a magick practitioner can make use of. It is worth mentioning too that the practice of controlled slowing down brings benefits usually associated to meditation. As the energy of love fuels the transformation on the physical, emotional and mental levels, it helps to turn ourselves into better channellers of this same energy. I don't think there is any area of life that this energy cannot be invested in, as long as you act in accordance to the path, by giving first priority to your loved one. With regard to magic, I could say based on what I have browsed through so far that, using this energy is not an effort of desire and imagination - you can feel this strong energy physically, emotionally and mentally and you can direct it just by willing things. Again, the only condition is that what your wish must be in accordance to your love for her. I think you should be making the right choices as long as you are dedicated to loving her while being based in the spirit. White magic spells of protection, healing, strengthening and bringing joy are probably the most suitable. Some nature and elemental magic workings of positive effects may also do. It is probably not a good idea to invoke any entities other than great manifestations of Divinity; like Archangels or Gods. And it is probably not good to ask for things in the name of your love, as there should be nothing more important than your love. The best way is, I think, to love her through what you do, magical or otherwise. In this way, what you act on and what you achieve are less important than loving her. Also, the care not to harm her should keep you safe from bad spell choices. You figure out more :) Of course, your ability to use this energy can not be expected to be too great in the beginning and the projects that you become involved in are probably in accordance to your destiny. Life is a journey of the spirit and this journey does not stop at the discovery of love. The path of love is a way of being in this world for those awakened to spiritual life.
6. Epilogue
To follow the path of love may seem daunting, in spite of the benefits. To engage on this path, to dedicate is an easier matter if it is inspired from the spirit. As you may only meet what I write here intellectually, you can start preparing for this path by analyzing your life and trying to put things in order in the light of what I wrote here. Before deciding to follow the path, try and have a fair judgment of all things and see which of them seemed to lead to your happiness and which not. In my case, my devotion was built on an empty slate. Probably you will have to start cutting down all that you don't really need in order to arrive at the same simplicity. It's not easy as the ego will keep wanting to try all things. It is good if you can at least weaken the links to useless things, while trying to raise yourself in spirit. Remember that the path of love does not take you out of this world. You would still be leaving in this world and doing things in it. The end of this preparation should have you clearly seeing all aspects of your life, past and present, divided into those which really matter and those which don't. Further, to see the solution of living according to what matters as the path of love, it may only take to be deeply in love with the one woman; or, if you are a woman, with the one man, of course :) Do not let the division of things into private and public keep you from knowing your loved one everywhere. It is a path of oneness, of unifying all tendencies. Also let there be no difference from being with your loved one physically or just in your heart and mind. Obviously, you need not follow my life path. I am not separated from her because I want to :) It may also be that you can't see your next thirty years of life or so practicing being on the path of love. The course of your life is, after all, in accordance to your destiny. Just take one step at a time and let love improve your life gradually. Also, it will be inevitable to step outside the path now and then. Just remember what matters more and return to it. You will regain your balance after a while.
One final aspect that needs to be dealt with is whether or not these are the exaggerations of a fanatic, or of the milder version of the obsessed in love :) For me they are not. I know because I have went through those states in the course of my life; ok, the obsessed in love part I was only accused of, but what matters is that what I live now is completely different from all my past experiences. Actually I think that what I live now is normal. I don't see myself different from other people, except through the particularities of the course of my life and, possibly, my current material condition. The poet said "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things." Leave in the past all that is unimportant and if you remain with only a few wonderful, exciting things, this does not make you a fanatic. There is more room for the expansion of those good things in life :)
I hope that I managed to make you a little more aware of the Light in your life. Aim to live as completely as possible, aim to be happy. If you cannot be enough, have enough, if your life is not good enough, then strengthen your faith and be patient. There may be many changes throughout life in what you feel you are and what you are capable of, as you progress towards the planes above. And there are things worth waiting for and preparing for even if it takes many, many years to get there :)
|