Many people are drawn to the Craft because of the manifestation of certain gifts. Maybe she is sensitive to spirits or can hear them. Maybe she can leave her body and travel in the astral realms. Regardless of the gift, walking the path of the witch is one way we can learn to manifest them at will. As with any new 'thing', learning to use ones gift is a process, especially if this gift is not something one has had all of her life.
One gift I grew up with is sensing the spirit world and another, which manifested during my teen years, is walking between the worlds and being both here and there at the same time, literally treading with one foot on either side of that boundary. I rarely speak of the latter of my gifts and, ironically, it is the one which I accepted most easily. Acceptance of a gift is the very first step in learning to manifest them at will.
From a personal standpoint, the appearance of my gifts is often a difficult thing to talk about. When something new happens to me, I accept it for what it is, even if I do not necessarily have a label for it. However, speaking or asking about it takes courage beyond measure. I have this strange internal dialogue as to whether or not this gift is supposed to manifest at this particular time. I argue with myself that I am not a weirdo among the strange. I have to remind myself that the time the gift manifested is the exact right time and that there is no set time frame to which these things happen. I have to remind myself that no student on this path is a 'typical' student. The biggest irony of them all, in my reluctance to speak of these gifts, is that I wonder just how much more responsibility will be handed to me if I do speak of them. (Because I haven't already accepted responsibilities that may or may not be beyond my skill level and, you know, thoughts are not things. . .)
I write these things because of certain manifestations in my life recently and the struggles I have with appearing 'normal' among the muggles while these gifts randomly turn themselves on and off throughout my day. For the most part, I can hit the 'off' switch to my gifts because I have worked with them long enough to be able to do that. However, when new ones manifest, sometimes it takes more work and focus. A good example, from just last week, is that I was talking to my supervisor and two other people when a blast of energy hit my crown chakra. It hit so hard my head and face began to tingle, physically. My third eye opened completely and my physical vision dimmed to nothing. All of this happened while I was in the middle of a sentence. For about two seconds (the longest two of my life!) my body was on autopilot, trying to form coherent thought while 'I' was pure spirit.
In that brief time, I had to push that energy back out from my third eye and crown and close those chakras as I came back to myself, and I had to do this while I was still talking. The experience was kind of scary, but I knew that I couldn't panic. Had I been alone, I would have let the energy pass through and do what it was going to do. I have come to terms with my gifts and the strange manifestations which surround them.
As I said, acceptance is the first step to learning our gifts. The second is not being afraid of them, allowing them to happen as they will. The third step is paying attention. We have to pay attention to the things that trigger our gifts, how they feel physically, and how it feels once the experience is over, as well as our reactions to these stimuli. As this 'opening up' was occurring, my head felt tingly, like I'd just received a big electric shock. My vision dimmed to nothing, and my train of thought derailed (thankfully, there were survivors). Afterward, I felt dizzy and overloaded mentally, but I think part of that overload is because I was not in an appropriate place to allow this. . . whatever it was, to fully manifest. I don't have a label for it as of yet, but I also haven't asked others if they have had similar experiences.
So after paying attention to the event and after effects, I usually find myself in the element of air trying to intellectualize what happened. (Because we all know that ripping apart the unexplainable spiritual happenings in our lives is the best way to understand them. . . not.) I do not necessarily look for a rhyme or reason to the event, but I do examine the physical and finite effects of the actual event. I've given up asking why. I've given up pondering what it is exactly. I just accept that weird things happen to me and that someone I know, a teacher or elder, will be able to point me in a direction to discovery or give me a label to the strange event, so I can go on to discover more about it from other people's perspectives.
Be aware of your gifts as they begin to manifest. Do not fear them, no matter how disorienting the manifestation may be. Allow them to happen, if and when you can and pay attention. These gifts are given to us for a reason. We should not run away from or hide them. It is an imperative thing for us to learn to use them for the greater good. After all, why are we on this magical path if not to create change for the better?
I share this journey of gift manifestation with the hope that someone, somewhere will benefit from my own struggle. If you are that person, you aren't alone. You aren't as weird as you think. We all struggle with something spiritually. We all fight with ourselves. We all ponder just why we have to be the one to be 'different.'
Until next time, brightest of blessings on your journey, friends. May the return of the light illuminate your life and bless you in the coming year.
One gift I grew up with is sensing the spirit world and another, which manifested during my teen years, is walking between the worlds and being both here and there at the same time, literally treading with one foot on either side of that boundary. I rarely speak of the latter of my gifts and, ironically, it is the one which I accepted most easily. Acceptance of a gift is the very first step in learning to manifest them at will.
From a personal standpoint, the appearance of my gifts is often a difficult thing to talk about. When something new happens to me, I accept it for what it is, even if I do not necessarily have a label for it. However, speaking or asking about it takes courage beyond measure. I have this strange internal dialogue as to whether or not this gift is supposed to manifest at this particular time. I argue with myself that I am not a weirdo among the strange. I have to remind myself that the time the gift manifested is the exact right time and that there is no set time frame to which these things happen. I have to remind myself that no student on this path is a 'typical' student. The biggest irony of them all, in my reluctance to speak of these gifts, is that I wonder just how much more responsibility will be handed to me if I do speak of them. (Because I haven't already accepted responsibilities that may or may not be beyond my skill level and, you know, thoughts are not things. . .)
I write these things because of certain manifestations in my life recently and the struggles I have with appearing 'normal' among the muggles while these gifts randomly turn themselves on and off throughout my day. For the most part, I can hit the 'off' switch to my gifts because I have worked with them long enough to be able to do that. However, when new ones manifest, sometimes it takes more work and focus. A good example, from just last week, is that I was talking to my supervisor and two other people when a blast of energy hit my crown chakra. It hit so hard my head and face began to tingle, physically. My third eye opened completely and my physical vision dimmed to nothing. All of this happened while I was in the middle of a sentence. For about two seconds (the longest two of my life!) my body was on autopilot, trying to form coherent thought while 'I' was pure spirit.
In that brief time, I had to push that energy back out from my third eye and crown and close those chakras as I came back to myself, and I had to do this while I was still talking. The experience was kind of scary, but I knew that I couldn't panic. Had I been alone, I would have let the energy pass through and do what it was going to do. I have come to terms with my gifts and the strange manifestations which surround them.
As I said, acceptance is the first step to learning our gifts. The second is not being afraid of them, allowing them to happen as they will. The third step is paying attention. We have to pay attention to the things that trigger our gifts, how they feel physically, and how it feels once the experience is over, as well as our reactions to these stimuli. As this 'opening up' was occurring, my head felt tingly, like I'd just received a big electric shock. My vision dimmed to nothing, and my train of thought derailed (thankfully, there were survivors). Afterward, I felt dizzy and overloaded mentally, but I think part of that overload is because I was not in an appropriate place to allow this. . . whatever it was, to fully manifest. I don't have a label for it as of yet, but I also haven't asked others if they have had similar experiences.
So after paying attention to the event and after effects, I usually find myself in the element of air trying to intellectualize what happened. (Because we all know that ripping apart the unexplainable spiritual happenings in our lives is the best way to understand them. . . not.) I do not necessarily look for a rhyme or reason to the event, but I do examine the physical and finite effects of the actual event. I've given up asking why. I've given up pondering what it is exactly. I just accept that weird things happen to me and that someone I know, a teacher or elder, will be able to point me in a direction to discovery or give me a label to the strange event, so I can go on to discover more about it from other people's perspectives.
Be aware of your gifts as they begin to manifest. Do not fear them, no matter how disorienting the manifestation may be. Allow them to happen, if and when you can and pay attention. These gifts are given to us for a reason. We should not run away from or hide them. It is an imperative thing for us to learn to use them for the greater good. After all, why are we on this magical path if not to create change for the better?
I share this journey of gift manifestation with the hope that someone, somewhere will benefit from my own struggle. If you are that person, you aren't alone. You aren't as weird as you think. We all struggle with something spiritually. We all fight with ourselves. We all ponder just why we have to be the one to be 'different.'
Until next time, brightest of blessings on your journey, friends. May the return of the light illuminate your life and bless you in the coming year.
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