Downstreaming

Things have been pretty intense lately with my job.  11 hour days, full weekends etc – so I haven’t been up online as much as normal.

One of the other things that I’ve noticed in this grounding earthy pentacle energy is that I’ve very much switched into what my teacher calls a “downstream cycle”

In spiritual life we spend our time cycling through ecstatic highs of magick and connection – where we are spinning on ethereal webs of universal stardust – where nothing can touch us and we feel superhuman.  All of our meditations take us on brilliant journeys – all of our magick seems to work with just a thought. The synchronicity is everywhere and the energy of our practice is tangible and real.

And then at some point that cycle ends, and we swing down again into the earth, and the grounding deep energies that pulsate in her belly.  We might be facing our own worldly shadows, unpacking past emotional baggage, or just simply overwhelmed with day to day crap.

It’s common in this phase to lose sight of practice, to feel as if all those highs were just a dream – maybe even someone elses dream.  Some people might walk away from practice.  Without that constant hit of feel good energy surging in, it’s easy to want to step away.  Downstreaming brings up all the stuff that you don’t want to deal with, or that you were glossing over while you were high on the feel good energy of the upstream.

While it might seem like nothing particularly special is happening in this cycle, it’s important to not be discouraged and to push forward.  This cycle is just as important to your spiritual development as the highest high.

The world is built on the backs of cycles and polarity, and this is just another of the multitude of examples.

As we’ve all heard a million times by now, we are spiritual beings living a human experience – two opposing forces coming together to embody the universe.  It’s hard work, but somebody’s got to do it.

One of the reasons we’re attracted to practice is we’re instinctively driven to integrate the polarity – between heaven and earth, magick and mundane, god and human, no-self and self.  And because we’re not gods (yet!), we will forever cycle between the two.

So in the upstream we gather cosmic wisdom and energy and insight – and in the downstream we integrate that wisdom into our human life.  Even if it feels like nothing his happening, even if we’d much rather be floating around in states of bliss and connection.  In this phase we come down from heaven to plant a seed in the earth.  On the surface it looks like nothing is happening, but underneath the roots are unfurling and stretching out and growing strong.  There’s a slow undulating deep growth that happens when you delve into your emotional life to integrate insight – and it’s not always obvious on the surface of things.

So take your downcycle as an opportunity to integrate, and remember why we practice.  We don’t just practice for the fun parts – for reading cards or blissing out in jhana, or flying around astrally.  All those things are amazing too of course, don’t get me wrong!

But as spiritual beings the big picture is that we’re drawn to practice to resolve the duality – to balance heaven and earth in ourselves as well as the world. Our downcycle is an opportunity to practice bringing insight into our day to day life, to shine a light on our past emotional trauma so we can more fully integrate ourselves with heaven.  In many ways, this is where the real work of spiritual practice happens.

So keep practicing, every day. Even just for 10 minutes.  Even just a single tarot pull.  Even just a deep grounding breath, lifting your face to the sky.  Trust in the slow grounding energy of the earth, and the roots that are growing underneath it. Know that it’s happening, and feel it’s subtle energy at work.

As one of my past teachers loves to say:  If you’re too busy to practice, it means you need to practice more.

Thank you for your practice,
S