Image by @yoremahm
One of my favorite Instagram filters is the one that lets me play around with the shadows of the pic I’ve just taken. I love how different the image looks when the shadow balances the light in different angles.
It’s almost poetic in the way that it can illustrate the mood that the subject is in by either lessening or adding to the intensity of the outline.
I love how the result is a photographic representation of what we humans go through each day when we encounter the darker sides of our emotional nature. I’m talking about the not-so-nice feelings like anger, jealousy, anxiety, sadness, shame, guilt and grief.
I often marvel about the fact that I had a tutor for Algebra when I was at school, yet nobody ever asked me how I wanted to feel, or taught me that there was much to be learned via the shadow sides of my personality.
Ayurveda, the sister science to Yoga, is a wonderful tool that helps us understand the yin and yang behind our natural predispositions.
One of my dominant dosha’s is kapha – this explains my dark olive skin and hair, but also my capacity to retain information. My memory drives my friends and partners a little crazy, as I’m prone to recalling things like “Remember that jacket you wore 5 years ago when it was winter and we were on the way to so-and-so’s wedding, and you said..”
It’s what made me a great social worker years ago and an empathic energy healer today. My amazing ability to retain details (of people I care about – excel spreadsheets are an exception) means I don’t need to make notes.
But the darker, shadow side to this is that the elephant in me also doesn’t forget the hurts that I have experienced and up until recently, have realised that I have really struggled to forgive people from past pains. Which also means that I wasn’t able to forgive myself and move on.
As we celebrate 2 equinoxes and 2 solstices every year, the upcoming Autumn Equinox is particularly poignant for me. It’s a time of deep cleansing and shedding of things I no longer need, clothes I no longer wear, books I no longer read etc.
It represents a time of letting go, but also a time to make space and to call in your soul’s deepest desires. I remember sitting in a sacred circle last summer solstice, only 3 short months ago, and getting ready to move my life to the States.
I’d found someone to move into my home, sent a whole bunch of stuff overseas, turned down thousands of dollars worth of work and stated my claim for all the things I wanted to manifest once I moved there.
And 3 short months later, instead of moving over, I’m arranging for the stuff I have stored at a friend’s house to come back. I’m honoring my soul’s messages. What my head wanted to create was not right for my heart, and so I’m back.
Autumn Equinox has traditionally been the trickiest transition for me to navigate. As a solitary introverted person who already spends so much time alone, the shorter days that invite a greater introspection often means that I become even more reclusive than usual.
The Universe offers us a lot of support during this period, especially as the new moon and solar eclipse falls right before the equinox this year. And while we can state our intentions, if our inner energy isn’t aligned with our external environment, the universe will provide what our soul needs, versus what our mind wants.
I’m sending a little extra love than usual during this profound period of change. Here’s an extra hug for you as well. Patty xxx