An Aquarian Spiritual Path of Relationships
Different than each and every spiritual Path defined and utilized in the past, this specific Path is based on utilizing all of the various relationships we encounter in life to provide the catalyst for our spiritual journey to Mastery. Naturally, it is well-suited to the stay-at-home parent or the domestic spouse in many marriages. This unique spiritual Path can just as easily be utilized by anyone who truly feels that the most important part of their life is their relationships.The “initiatory process” for spiritual growth, regardless of Path, teaches us to develop spiritual relationships with those in the outer world and with a variety of inner spiritual Beings, including our own internal Soul and God Within. This Aquarian Spiritual Path of Relationships will certainly cover our current and past day-to-day relationships. It will also help us orient to key spiritual relationships that will help accelerate our spiritual growth. In fact, many of the spiritualizing practices will directly focus on creating a different relationship with various parts of ourselves.Spiritual growth, like life, involves various cycles and phases. Integrating psychological astrology with the initiatory process provides an excellent way of incorporating various life cycles into our spiritual journey. For our spiritual Path of Relationships, key phases can be defined consistent with other Paths and the initiatory process to spiritual Mastery.Each of us in each embodiment must build a Personality. A significant part of our psyche and Personality are built based on the conditioning from our childhood and adolescent relationships. Until we build a conscious connection with our Soul, we are as much a product of the outer world as we are of our internal character. Therefore, the first two phases of this spiritual Path are focused on self-development and self balancing. Once we have completed these two phases and have a balanced integrated personal Self, we're then ready to become Soul focused on our way to becoming a spiritual Being.
Path of Relationships
The “Spiritual Path” is most assuredly a path of psychological transformation and human transmutation until we each become our potential as a spiritual Being. Most of the Paths defined during the Piscean Age (about 500 B.C to the 1600s) rely on a guru/Master/teacher to provide the structure and direction for the disciple. Within psychology, our guide is usually the therapist. As we fully move into the Gemini (communication/education) phase of the Aquarian Age, we have an ideal opportunity to replace the Piscean guru/ Master/teacher with an integrated structure and process for psychological/ spiritual growth to Mastery.The process for spiritual growth in the past would seem to be very different depending on which Eastern or Western philosophy/theology one embraces. In actuality, they can all be synthesized by what has been defined as the "Initiatory Process" (accelerated growth vs. evolution) within metaphysics. Insightfully documented by Alice A. Bailey during the first half of the 20th century, the initiatory process does not utilize symbols or terms from any one growth Path, but integrates aspects of many. Unfortunately, neither metaphysics nor other growth Paths have been able to provide a systematic structure for accomplishing conscious attainment of our higher spiritual "Self" within the parameters of normal life expectancy.By looking into the energetic science of astrology, we find a powerful key to a systematic structure which can reduce and finally eliminate the need for our therapist/guru/teacher. The process-centered astrology of Dane Rudhyar integrates our life processes of involution, evolution and devolution with a psychological astrology. Through integrating and synthesizing this process-centered astrology with the initiatory spiritual growth process, a truly Aquarian Age spiritual Path of Relationships can be created.
Images on this page provided by: Jenny McCarthy
We will also begin developing additional spiritual senses which can include knowing, higher creativity, comprehension, synthesis and discernment. Consciously, we now operate daily from our spiritual Self (Christ Self). If we continue to pass our spiritual tests, we make the "Assumption," which initiates us to the position of Master or Adept in Earth's spiritual hierarchy.Various spiritual practices during this phase are focused on developing and expressing various virtues. These virtues include charity, justice, fortitude, purity, self surrender, perseverance, freedom and spiritual hope. We define our spiritual service to others while learning to "know when it's time for change." Beyond our outer relationships, we also begin to identify and resolve our God issues.This phase in spiritual growth will carry us beyond Mastery on our way toward living our spiritual destiny in this embodiment. It doesn't seem obvious yet, but psychological transformation and human transmutation does not end at this point. In fact, what we realize is that we're always in the process of transcending our past and present to touch, then embrace and finally live our God Within.Integral
This next phase on our spiritual Path of Relationships involves developing a new orientation to life and relationships. Far more subtle than earlier changes, this transition is about realizing our Soul’s Plan for this life and the true meaning of our spiritual relationships. For us to accomplish this, we will embrace a much larger part of Spirit in the way it expresses. In the initiatory process, here is where the spiritual disciple purges the ego and regenerates the Personality to its death and resurrection. This is why there are a variety of spiritual practices focused on humility, benevolence, obedience, compassion and gratitude. Various intuitive and inspirational faculties open up to us which can include telepathy, spiritual healing, inner vision, pure reasoning, realization and revelation. All in all, we are forced to face not only the remaining unpurified parts of our Personality, but also our various Soul problems from past lives.This part of every spiritual Path is designed to separate those who strive for spiritual growth and those who live it. As mentioned earlier, our saving Grace is the powerful and expanded spiritual forces which become our allies and catalyst to persevere through this difficult period. We know there is no going backward and regardless of our difficulties, we have a renewed and more powerful commitment to fulfilling our spiritual destiny.Soul Focus
Even though this next phase will seem the most arduous on our spiritual journey, we will spiritually have more help than any other time on our quest, especially after Mastery. This period involves living under Grace, which is our spiritual gift until we consciously step beyond Grace as a spiritual Being. It also includes a period theologically described as the "Dark Night of the Soul." Jesus dramatically demonstrated this in the crucifixion.Regarding our relationships, this is the phase where we see and begin to resolve those karmic relationships in our life. We also learn to rely on our intuition and spiritual insights. Our normal orientation to outer world authority and reliance gives way to a powerful reliance on our internal spiritual Self and energies. We further identify our life's "Achilles' heel" and how to transform it into our greatest spiritual gift. Various spiritual practices during this phase involve dealing with our instinctual nature including our fears, our herd instinct and our gender and parental conditioning. We also need to gain a sense of sobriety by purifying the way we act out with anger, envy, jealousy, vanity, sensuality, pride and uncharitableness. We also begin transforming the emotional structures that we have lived by and any assumptions/requirements we make in close personal relationships.Self Balancing
A key component to our spiritual Path of Relationships involves making our agreements conscious and resolving our relationship issues in a proactive and spiritual way. This means that some of our relationships will end while others will take on a more spiritual orientation. Even our most casual or seemingly surface relationships will take on a new depth and/or meaning. This second phase of this spiritual Path is about balancing self versus others, personality versus Soul and spiritual life versus outer world orientation. For those who begin their spiritual growth in their 20s, this will easily carry one into their 40s with a new and solidified spiritual commitment to life. Many old relationships will have been dissolved while new or transformed ones now thrive in their place. Even more importantly, we learn through practice to live our life based in the new orientation. This is an orientation of appreciation and gratitude, non-competition, humility, living life based on our own defined values and spiritual principles while beginning to qualify our whole life with spiritual energies and psychological transformation.Various spiritual practices assist us in this process. These include implementing Loving Issues Resolution exercises in many key relationships. We also learn to bring two key characteristics of Spirit (Beauty and Faith) into our day-to-day relationships and living environment. We further focus on balancing our masculine and feminine nature while removing our projections and expectations of how others should help to fulfill our lives.By the end of this phase, we have made both internal and outer self-adjustments to live our life and relationships based on intent, other orientation and a faith that our spiritual focus conditions our life and relationships for the better and Good. At times we have felt somewhat like Job, but we now know that the “promised land” of Spirit is a Reality.Self Development
Most individuals do not consider becoming consciously committed to spiritual growth until adulthood between the ages of 21 and 28. Therefore, much of the first phase of self- development takes place unconsciously based on conditioning and Soul impetus. We are taught by instruction and our observation of others how to behave in relationships, for better or worse. We have many ingrained habits and attitudes regarding relationships. Besides family and school peers, we have usually had various kinds of romantic relationships and relationships with authority figures before we consciously commit to spiritual growth. Unfortunately, much of this experience is materially and personally based without the benefit of spiritual guidance. As we will later do with various Soul relationships, the spiritual part of self-development will be focused on transforming our ingrained attitudes while transmuting the results of our experiences thus far in life.
