New moon, new energy, new era, new beginnings, new you—if you make it so. Seeds can be planted all year long and with intent the fruits of your labors harvested repeatedly. For you are of nature and yet you also have your own nature, as powerful as Mother Nature. Your own nature may overpower you at times, but it is up to you to take back your power. You are never powerless. You are only temporarily unaware that you have any. Stir it up with the new moon energy and get it back into alignment with the seeds you are about to plant, for even though Mother Nature is heading into dormancy don’t be fooled. There is plenty of opportunity for life to grow anew. Your temporary powerlessness is about to get a big boost of energy. Grab it and run with it. New life depends on it. Wake up and get planting new seeds of new life. There is no time like now!
Stay connected to that which is of the utmost importance no matter what comes up, no matter where you are or who you are with, and that is your heart center. From this place speak, act, and do on behalf of the self, for it is the evolutionary progress of the self that is of utmost importance. That means that if you can stay connected to the journey of change that you are on and advance each day all else will eventually fall into place, all else that is truly worthy will become part of your journey. Focus on your heart center, not as a pining heart but as a guiding heart, a patient heart that knows all, loves you, and is all that you need at this moment on your journey—yourself.
Even as the sun rises over Mother Earth each day so are we, her children, charged with raising our consciousness… – Photo by Jan Ketchel
Freud rightly identified early childhood as the stage of Primary Narcissism. We are born into this life with but the seed of an individual personality planted in the fertile soil of this world, what the Hindus identified as the first chakra, Muladhara, at the location of the perineum at the base of the spine. The spark of awareness at this stage, amidst the vast unknown dark soil of this world, is simply the needs of the body and the relief of those needs from somewhere. The infant can hardly differentiate itself and its needs from the world and from who attends to its needs. All is experienced as one narcissistic Me.
For Freud, this need state evolves into the Pleasure Principle, the prime mover of all stages of life through its myriad of mature civilized permutations, what Freud came to understand as civilization and it discontents, ultimately a variety of sublimations under which lies the libido of narcissism.
Jung introduced the two primary trends in nature, introversion and extroversion. In human nature the introvert looks to the inner self as the final arbiter of truth and rightness. By contrast, the extrovert is open more to the greater external reality and adapting to it as the basis for survival. From this perspective, the introvert, though perhaps more self-reliant, can also be seen as more self-involved or narcissistic. The extrovert, more keenly in tune with the needs of others, can on the one hand be seen as more related to the other yet on the other hand self-negating or codependent. The truth is, however, that both natural introverts and extroverts are likely to be equally driven by narcissism as long as their maturity is limited to the first three chakras: Muladhara, Svadhishthana, and Manipura.
These first chakras, in fact, all exist in the realm of narcissism. Despite outer appearances these three chakras are extremely self-involved, essentially in establishing the ego in the areas of basic security, sexuality, and individual power. These three chakras are bathed in narcissism at their core, simply a fact of development at those stages. These are necessary chakras in the foundation of the ego/body self, which then serve as the ultimate launching pad for the discovery of the spirit self in the fourth chakra, Anahata, located in the region of the heart.
It is only at the level of the flame of consciousness at the heart where an individual is truly freed from the dominance of the pleasure principle, the primary motivator of the animal part of the self, which dominates the first three chakras. It is only at the level of the heart that an individual can grant another autonomy and independent value, separate from their value as a need-fulfilling object, which is the perspective of the world at the first three chakras. At the lower levels, whether introverted or extroverted, the outside world is colored through the lens of what’s in it for Me, whether that be in the form of food, sex, or power and control.
Rising to higher consciousness… – Photo by Jan Ketchel
However, once kundalini energy rises to the level of the heart, narcissism undergoes a mighty transformation, as one becomes truly capable of love for another. While narcissism once narrowed the energy of love to the self and how the world could support it, true love at the heart level grants the other and their needs a place in one’s own heart. Thus, at the heart center the way of narcissism becomes the way of love. Of course, the body is included in this new mix, but it must acquiesce to the greater objective need the heart accesses, beyond the narcissistic orbit of Me only.
The journey from the lower chakras to the heart center is many-faceted, involving many explosions and implosions as the world increasingly refuses to gratify the entitled expectations of the narcissistic self. This may result in repeated cycles of failed relationships, but over time, with knowledge accrued, it eventually becomes clear that the main culprit behind the failures is the compulsive drives of the narcissistic self.
With this point of self awareness one learns to contain the leaking of emotional frustration in the form of blame and develop an introspective posture that reveals the prejudices of the narcissistic worldview and begins to mold the objectivity of the heart center that acts from the place of truth vs blind need. And with this accomplishment, narcissism transforms and finds its way to true love.
When you get out of your head and into your heart things change. Your heart does not ask why or how or who or what, it simply is. It beats out the rhythms of life, pulses with the planet, flows with the rivers of life. It is at one with you and all beings, for it does not discriminate, judge, or care about anything except life and spirit and all that naturally is. Take to your heart. Without question reside there more often. Your true happiness resides there, your true love, your true calmness, and your true Self. It is all you really need, the beat of your own heart teaching you all you need to know. Go there. And then see what happens.
Support your changing self, who wants things to be different right now, with patience and compassion, knowing full well that change evolves over time and that when the time is right things will evolve. For the time being, slow down and be fully present in each moment of change, for even though it is happening slowly it is happening nonetheless. Each moment is vitally important, each moment witness to the birthing of your new self. Stay aware so you don’t miss a second of this most transformative unfolding of a new you. You are well worth the wait!
