March 2013 - Deborah King

Ascension: Moving Up in Consciousness

This week we are celebrating two major holidays: the Jewish Passover and the Christian Easter. Both come at the beginning of Spring because they hold the promise of redemption and resurrection—the flowering of the soul as it seeks the light and grows in consciousness.

The ritual meal of Passover, called the Seder, is designed as a journey from darkness to light. Seder means “order,” and its significance lies in God’s order for how to proceed from spiritual slavery through purification and on to spiritual freedom, as shown by God’s redemption of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. One part of the story involves the sacrificial lamb whose blood on the doorway to a home indicated that God would “pass over” that house and the firstborn would be spared. In Christianity, Jesus became the lamb who sacrificed himself so that others would be saved. Then Jesus took it one step further and ascended bodily to heaven. Usually the term “ascension” (as used by religions) applies to those who enter heaven while still alive, such as what is called the “assumption” of Mary. In the case of Jesus, he died, was resurrected, and then raised bodily to heaven.

What does ascension have to do with your own spiritual journey? It’s not being raised bodily into heaven, but that does serve as a symbol of what ascension means for the spiritual seeker: moving up the ladder of spiritual growth and having the ascension experience of merging with the Clear Light of God (while still keeping your physical body). So in fact there are two types of ascension: spiritual ascension involves the liberation of the soul, while physical ascension has been reserved for a select few souls who have mastered all the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of life and are able to take their bodies with them into the higher realms.

Think of ascension as the process by which you eventually transform your material desires and habits, thoughts and emotions, into the spiritual desire and pursuit of liberation and God-realization. This takes place through a series of initiations, like many of you have experienced at my events and workshops. As you climb the initiatory ladder through the various planes, you eventually ascend in a full merger with the I Am Presence, , while still here on Earth.

You don’t have to be perfectly healthy to ascend, or completely free of all negative emotions or ego and the lower self. It is said you have to balance only 51% of your karma to ascend. You’ll feel similar to the person you were before, but you will be operating at a higher octave and carrying more Light. You’ll be more connected to spirit and to the Ascended Masters. In times past, when people took the initiation in which they had the full experience of ascension, they usually left their bodies and went into the spiritual world. However, nowadays people ascend and continue to serve on Earth in order to help bring in the New Age. Even those at lower level initiations who are unaware of the initiation as it happens, or who don’t think of themselves as “spiritual,” are open to finding their life’s purpose and trusting their intuition.

Here are some signs that you could call “symptoms” of ascension:

You feel like you’re on an emotional rollercoaster. You are easily touched and can cry over any heartwarming moment, even a commercial on television. Try to stay present with your emotions and feel them fully, allowing them to pass through you with ease.
You feel a stronger connection to nature. You may like animals you never liked before, or appreciate even the coldest winter.
You may feel like a yo-yo in your energy levels. One day you can barely crawl out of bed, while another day you feel like you’re walking on air and bouncing off the walls. Don’t worry. It will stabilize. This can include unusual sleep patterns, and your dreams may be very intense.
You may develop food intolerances, allergies, or crave strange foods. Listen to your body and trust it. Remove offending foods and then try them again in a few months.
You become more aware of synchronicities in your life. Appreciate the guidance you are getting from these signs and messages.
You may have body aches and pains, especially in the neck, shoulder, and back, which are the result of intense changes in your DNA level as the “Christ seed” awakens in you.
You may feel called to change your job or career.
You may feel lonely, even in the company of others. Don’t let this cause you anxiety; it’s just difficult to relate to others at this time. You also may feel like you’ve lost your passion. You simply need to shut down for a while in order to upload the new Christ-seed energy.
You may feel slightly disoriented and even feel a loss of identity. Who is that person in the mirror? Don’t worry; you are okay.
You feel a deep desire that is hard to explain to go “home.”

We all evolve at our own pace. Ascension is not a competitive sport. Each of us must go through all the levels, all the initiations, on our way back “home.” So as you celebrate the beginning of Spring and the holidays that give us such deep symbols of spiritual growth and freedom, take a moment to feel gratitude for being on your own journey of ascension!

Near-Death Experiences (NDEs)

I have talked before about near-death experiences, such as my own on my first date with my husband-to-be, when I slipped into an icy river and almost drowned. What I haven’t told you about are the after-effects of such an experience, which almost always change a person’s life—usually for the better.

As there is often a choice involved as to whether or not they will return to their body—and obviously those who tell the stories of their NDEs have always chosen to return for one reason or another, when they do come back, they understand that they have a purpose in life, a reason for being here. The same is true for those who “hear” a voice telling them that it is not yet their time, as I did, no matter how much they would like to stay in the loving warmth and comfort of the Other Side. For many, an NDE is the beginning of their spiritual journey. They may make major changes in their life, such as, in my case, switching careers; others may begin or end a relationship, or move, although these changes may not manifest for years.

A woman named Alice nearly died after giving birth to her third child. In her NDE, she was lifted into joy and ecstasy, and was given a choice to remain or return to her body. She was being taught, and felt herself expanding and becoming part of All That Is. She came back with reluctance, and managed to squelch any aftereffects for 20 years, until her psychic sensitivities warned her she had to make major changes in her life or die. “My inner voice burst into activity, somehow picking up the loose threads of my near-death experience…. and I finally listened.”

The typical effects of an NDE can include stunning psychic abilities, an extended perceptual range, and heightened faculties in general. After an NDE, you may be visited by the dead, know in advance of pending deaths, or be aware of the exact moment someone dies. Often, the spiritual guidance that people receive on the Other Side makes it possible to get through whatever challenges they face when they return—whether it’s a long, arduous recovery from a car crash or the disbelief of others when they try to talk about their experience.

Everything that happens to you—whether you see it as “good” or “bad”—happens for a reason. It’s not necessary to come so close to death that you see yourself at your own funeral in order to find your life’s purpose, develop your psychic abilities, and learn to live a more fulfilling life, filled with love, peace, and compassion for others and for yourself.

To learn more about out-of-body experiences, join Deborah and Hay House in a fun filled 4 part series on Astral Travel!

Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs)

Have you ever seen your physical body sleeping peacefully in bed while you are looking down from the ceiling? Have you ever dreamt that you are flying? Did you ever “visit” with a spiritual guide or angel in a heavenly realm? If so, you’re one of many who have had an out-of-body experience (OBE).

Science may call OBEs hallucinations, caused by psychological and neurological factors, but the 10-15% of people who admit to having had such experiences know otherwise. They know that these experiences feel even more real than what scientists call reality. Whether your OBE happened spontaneously as part of a lucid dream, as you were falling asleep, as a near-death experience due to some trauma, as a result of extreme physical effort, or if you deliberately induced it through astral projection, these events are hard to deny. And why would you want to?

We all leave our bodies every night. In the dream world, you roam free, totally separate from your physical body lying in bed. The difference between that and an OBE is that during an OBE you have a greater consciousness in your astral body than you do in a typical dream, and you are aware that your physical body is still in bed while you are free to travel about.

I recently had this type of lucid dream/astral travel while I was at Miraval, where I lecture and teach workshops. I was semi-awake, lying in bed, when I was suddenly transported back to L.A., visiting with my cats. Ginger, who is old, was with Mr. Manx, who has been dead for quite some time. The two of them had lived together for ten years, and I thought that maybe Mr. Manx had come to take Ginger to the Other Side. Then I “left” and went to see my mother, who lives in northern California. The cats had come to take me to my mother. Their eyes, and my mother’s eyes, were shining white. I woke up and called my mother immediately to find out how she was.

In an out-of-body experience, you may find yourself in a location here on Earth or in an apparently real domain that’s clearly not on Earth—the “other worlds” talked about by traditional peoples or the astral plane as it’s called by occultists and New Agers. Normal physical laws don’t apply as travelers go from one realm to another. You can travel backwards or forwards in time, go to heaven or hell realms, visit with loved ones who have passed on (including pets!), or meet with high spiritual beings who give you insight and guidance.

While we are alive in our physical bodies, our astral bodies are the ones that do the traveling. Of course, there are beings who only possess etheric bodies, such as planetary angels or solar angels, called devas. Devas often appear to clairvoyants as colored flames about the size of a human being. The Theosophists also believed that nature spirits, elementals, and fairies, who can all be observed through an activated third eye, are all etheric entities on the path of deva evolution. These types of beings possess etheric bodies, but no physical ones.

Your astral/etheric body can travel out of your physical body, but where it can go is related to how high your vibratory level is. You can nurture your etheric body with light and positive energy. You lower your vibration through negative thoughts and emotions, especially fear. When you learn to control your astral body through soul mastery of your thoughts and feelings, it can help your physical body to heal, slow down the aging process, and take you to visit higher planes while still alive on Earth. This is the key to ascension, which I will discuss in detail in a later blog, as well as to spiritual out-of-body experiences.

When you learn how to deliberately induce an out-of-body experience through lucid dreams or in deep meditation, you’ll come to appreciate the great potential of your astral body, as well as its connection to energy healing.

Starting next week, on Thursday, March 14^th, I’ll be teaching the ins and outs, ups and downs of astral travel in a 4-week live online Hay House event (/events-workshops//astral-travel). Join me to learn how to astral project and explore the higher astral realms safely. It’s a sure-fire way to deepen your connection to spirit and to lose your fear of death. Really!

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Deborah King