Excerpts from:
SEVEN STEPS TO SOUL
A Poetic Journey of Spiritual Transformation
By Suzan Caroll
THE FOURTH STEP TO SOUL
Relationships ~
Learning to Love Ourselves, Others, and the Planet
Relationships allow us to learn about love and the healing power that it holds. However, whatever conflict we hold inside ourselves will be mirrored out to the relationships around us. If we can learn to love ourselves, then we can forgive our past and create a new future. Only in loving ourselves can we allow ourselves to trust enough to freely love another. When we have truly permitted love into our hearts and lives, we can realize that each of us is a portion of a greater whole. This whole is our planet. If we do not love our planet, we will not truly show our love to our people for we won’t create a safe place for them to live. Once our hearts are filled with love, our sphere of concern widens and a responsibility to all life grows. This responsibility to all life is the dominion of the Goddess.
The Goddess is the beacon of the power of love. This power of love is an energy field and it is not limited to women, or even to humans. The beacon of the Goddess finds our mates, bears our children, and holds our families together. The Goddess nurtures, heals, and grows our seeds of creativity into manifestation. Men may also live the power of the Goddess, and more of them are doing so every day. Balancing the God and Goddess within us allows us to create and maintain relationships that are co-operative and peaceful.
TAKING THE FOURTH STEP
She saw the fourth stair before her. It was on the stairway that curved up to the porch of the house she shared with her true love. Could she allow the joy of this love to take root in her heart and give birth to all that continues; or would the pain of the past hold her in fear? This stairway was short, but each step held a lesson. These lessons were meant to teach her how to hold her love completely open—without giving her Self away. Could she heal her past and learn her lessons?
To find that answer, she must love herself first.
THE FOURTH CHAKRA AND RELATIONSHIPS
The fourth chakra represents our ability to love. Without love we feel isolated and alone. However, if we do not love ourselves we have difficulty accepting the love of others. Our inability to love others and our self is the result of past experiences and we must heal our hurt before we can truly open our hearts.
HEALING THE HURT
There are very few who have not experienced some hurt in regard to love. Therefore, our Heart Chakra teaches us to forgive. This forgiveness is largely based on understanding. Understanding creates acceptance, and from acceptance we gain the true intimate knowing that is LOVE.
This forgiveness, acceptance, knowing and intimacy must begin with our Self.
AWAKEN
The early morning light
shines through the window
glistening and dancing
across the table.
Now is the time to remember,
remember your Self.
Now, when the light is near,
allow it to enter deep within
to reveal your Soul and
awaken ancient memories
that know all,
feel all,
think all,
love all.
For only in
knowing your Self
can you truly know another.
Only in
trusting your Self
can you truly trust another.
Only in
receiving comfort from your Self
can you truly comfort another.
Only in
loving your Self
can you truly love another.
OPENING THE HEART
Once we have developed intimacy with our Self, we can feel guided and protected enough to open our hearts to others. Through the vulnerability of an open heart we can learn the lessons of love.
THE LESSON OF LOVE
To love from the
Center of your Heart
can pull you from your Self.
To love from the
Center of your Heart
can make your life a dream.
A dream of question,
and a dream of fulfillment
beyond all conception.
To love from the
Center of your Heart
is to be naked in another,
to open from your Soul.
But how can you keep your Self
when you love from the
Center of your Heart?
You don’t.
You share it.
Oh, but to share what you don’t know
is impossible.
It is impossible to share a Self
you have not found.
To love from the
Center of your Heart
requires that you find that Self.
You must find the Self
that lives in the center of your Heart,
and Share!
Share what you didn’t know you had until
you loved from the
Center of your Heart.
LIVING IN LOVE
Living in love is not easy. We must constantly face the darkness and fear that is within us and within those with whom we have chosen to have intimate relationships. To be truly loving to our self, we need to maintain a balance of independence and vulnerability. We need to keep our hearts open so that we can maintain our inner relationship between our own feminine/masculine and human/divine selves. We must remember that love grows best with understanding, acceptance and freedom.
I MISS YOU
The candle burns
without your essence.
The mirror reflects
without your presence.
The sun still rises
and sets each day,
but something’s missing
when you’re away.
Apart we look
inside to see,
we can be in love
and still be free.
Then, when we’re
together again,
something starts
and something ends.
We await our reunion
knowing we’ve grown.
For together we’re more
then when we’re alone.
I await your return.
My heart calls your name.
Our souls are quite separate,
yet somehow the same.
For I know, as the sun
sets in the night sea,
it will rise again each dawn
on you, my dear,
and me.
LOVING THE PLANET
When we expand our sense of Self, our relationships expand to encompass all of life. When we honor the feminine as well as the masculine, we remember the Goddess in everyone, whether they are male or female, as well as the Goddess within our home—planet Earth.
ARISE
Arise, awaken-
the Mother calls.
Alight your wings
your tails, your claws.
The Earth is ready
for a change
and many fear
disaster’s range.
Fear not for Light
and Love and Purity,
but rather know them
as security.
If you have learned
to Love each other,
you’ve learned to Love Earth
as your Mother.
But, if in your greed,
you have taken all
it is that choice
that is your fall.
Release them now
your many things.
They close the eyes
and clip the wings.
For that which is possessed
possesses.
And that which is released
releases.
The flight of the Phoenix
began with a fire
to cleanse and
purify the mire.
The streams of Life
will flow forever.
The breath of Spirit,
it ceases never.
Protect the Earth.
Embrace the Moon.
Accept the Sun.
The hour is SOON!
