A few years ago a call from subtle partners came into my awareness. At the time it felt more like a headache. I didn’t sense any idea at first, only a sense of pressure and insistence. It happened in the middle of an all coworkers meeting at the Findhorn Foundation at Cluny. Cluny is the refurbished Victorian spa hotel that houses about half of the Foundation members. Due to generations of loving care and cooperation between people and the subtle realms, Cluny has very thin ‘veils’ between the visible and invisible sides of life.
After a while the pressure in my awareness had started to feel like depression. This happens to me when I don’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to a spiritual impulse in a timely way. I realised I needed to head for the sanctuary to meditate. Conveniently, Cluny’s exceptionally beautiful sanctuary was right next door to where we were meeting. About three seconds after I seated myself in the sanctuary, I realised that the inspiration was to hold a conference. It would be an event bringing the human realms and Earth’s subtle realms together.
I had never organised a conference before, but I decided to jump in head-first. So I stood up in the coworker meeting and announced I was committing to holding the focus for the conference. To my surpise, a woman came up and gave me a big hug. The woman, Judy McAllister, was a subtle realms teacher and long-time member of the Findhorn community. She told me that many beings at Findhorn had been wanting this to happen for a long time. However, her subtle partners always told her to wait for someone new to come and hold it. Because I agreed to do it, I was that newbie.
Conferences at the Findhorn Foundation are not just one-off events. They embody spiritual impulses that move through the community and into the world. Being a focus point for this conference, my microcosmic journey reflected a larger evolutionary movement. The event is like a resonating bowl sending out a note calling people and other beings to transform in a specific way.
This is what I know of that calling, and how I learned to work with it:
When I asked the conference’s co-creators who live in the subtle realms what their goal for this event is, I heard an instantaneous, clear answer. ‘To increase the love between the subtle and human realms’ flashed into my mind. I see great wisdom in their approach. Love will draw people to meet the unseen realms. Love will also sustain us as we (re)discover how we can weave our lives more closely together.
It’s very different than some approaches I encounter in spiritual writings. I’ve encountered plenty of strident messages, supposedly coming from the subtle worlds, about how humans are ruining things and need to change. It’s easy for people (including me sometimes) to buy into that sense of shame or guilt, while feeling like it’s somehow virtuous to do so. But it also doesn’t show us a healthy way forward.
I think my subtle realms allies are right. While I do believe that for the whole world’s sake we need to change, I believe that increasing our love for the world and all its subtle realms, not increasing feelings of guilt and shame about our role, will shape a positive future.
[Exercise] Take some time to walk in Nature and appreciate the beauty and fascination of what you see in it. Breathe deeply and let your sense of appreciation and curiosity lead you. This is a wonderful way to open doors in your perception]
When I participate in the Tuesday meditations to support the conference I sense a throbbing cascade of love, as if crowds of supportive beings are surrounding our group, peeking in through the roof. I always feel deeply moved by their eagerness. My sense is they’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a while and are very keen to come closer to us in love. It’s not as though everyone in the subtle realms wants to connect with us. However, I do believe there are many partners who would welcome a closer, more loving relationship. They also indicate to me that now is an especially good time to deepen our connection.
Now is a perfect – and needed – time to partner more deeply with the subtle worlds.
Finding ways to relate with the subtle realms is both deeply natural and also tricky. Our partners meet us on the level of our inner being, where we meet intimately. However, I have found this a bit awkward sometimes. For example, it’s easy for me to tell someone ‘I’m fine’ when actually I’m upset or intensely enthusiastic. There’s no possibility of doing this with subtle realms partners. They see what I’m really feeling and thinking, sometimes more clearly than I do. So I don’t think there is any precedent for the new kind of relationship we need to cultivate with the unseen realms, which to me makes it a challenge at times. However, I see that our subtle realms partners are eager to learn alongside of us how to develop the partnership we and our world need.
For me learning to relate with the subtle realms (including my own subtle aspects) is the greatest calling and adventure I can imagine.
In this short exercise, you will connect with a space that is home for you, somewhere you spend a significant amount of your time. It could be your room, your house, your neighbourhood or perhaps somewhere in Nature you often visit. You will know what is appropriate for you. Many thanks to Freya Secrest of the Lorian Association for developing it.
The Lorian Association offers online trainings that will enhance your perception and ability to work with subtle realms. Join them or see below for Findhorn courses in doing so (many Lorian teachers come here to offer workshops, so check our calendar of events as well.)
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