I am often introduced to or reminded of some practice or ritual which immediately takes root in my life. Over the years this has happened many times, providing me with a rich reservoir of possibilities for ritual and ceremony. As each one has integrated into my practice it has been informed by and altered by what I already carry within.
This past week, I was reminded of the work of Ihaleakala Hew Len and his use of the Hawaiian Cleaning processes of Ho’oponopono. Ho’oponopono means to “make right” in the Hawaiian language. In this practice, you look at an encounter you have with someone else and what you feel as a result of that episode in your life. You then take full responsibility for your feelings, perceptions, and reactions, moving from “I am sorry. Please forgive me,” to “Thank you” and “I love you.”
It is a practice of clearing the sub-conscious mind of thought forms, and freeing the person who has come into your life to show you what needs to be cleared. Each time an encounter activates a protective or defensive reaction; fear, anger, guilt, shame, resentment, judgment, victim identity… it is an invitation to go within and explore one’s own experience.
This week, my teacher, Della, also reminded me of a ritual that we both learned from Sandra Ingerman.
I am deeply sorry for any harm I may have caused you in this lifetime or any other. I ask for your forgiveness.
I forgive you for any harm you may have caused me in this lifetime or any other. I release you.
One of my current challenges is expressing my soul’s gifts in more tangible ways and receiving a financial livelihood from this work. The day I was reminded of these practices, I was invited to put them into use. I had a mini-meltdown trying to complete financial paperwork for my health insurance.
Sharing with Bill, I found that the overreaction had roots from ten years ago, when I was the trustee for my parent’s estate and went through the legal process of the estate being sued.
That evening I decided to create my own inner cleaning ritual using the two practices I have shared above. As it unfolded, I also found myself using a ritual that had emerged several years ago in a shamanic journey, which I shared in an earlier blog, “Transforming Diminishing Energies.” I found these practices weaving around one another, strengthening and empowering one another.
After preparing for the ceremony, I put on a long recording of shamanic drumming. I went back in my memory to a settlement conference in a courtroom. This was the first time I met these key players and as I recalled that day I recognized the archetypal roles each participant stepped forward to play.
I focused on one individual at a time and began by apologizing for any harm that I may have done them, especially around this shared situation. Then I called back any diminishing energies I had sent to them through my words, thoughts and actions, at that time or in the intervening years. I asked for forgiveness.
As I shifted to forgiving, and focused on taking complete responsibility for my experience, everything shifted. I saw that all of my interpretations, projections, emotional triggers, and responses were within me. I was the one who created the feeling of being a victim or being bullied. This was not about the other person or their actions and words. It was the chance to acknowledge that my own conditioned filters and internal trigger points and work with them.
I finished by releasing the person from all responsibility for my experience. I found “Thank You,” emerging as I recognized this person’s willingness to play a role in my life and allow me to play a role in theirs. In some cases, the role they played for me was a tough one. I was filled with judgments and negative impressions of them that distorted their true being as a fellow spiritual traveler in this world.
As I finished with one, feeling that they were free from my thought forms, another would step forward. It was an hour later when I finished this process with the primary figures in this episode in my life.
The next day, I went through the whole practice again. There was less emotional energy this second time. Taking responsibility for my own experience was a bit more familiar. As I understand Ho’onoponopono, you move through this process each time the situation or person comes to your mind. I don’t know how many times these issues will emerge for my benefit. I will expand the work to include all of the people who were involved as I created my myths around money, earning, saving, and generosity. I am willing to let this practice ripple through as a gift of clearing the way for the work of my soul.
This is on-going work as experiences carry us from one set of reactions and thought forms to another. As each one of us clears old thought forms that hinder us, we are all set free. Ihaleakala Hew Len speaks of this in a YouTube interview.
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As part of honoring my inner cleaning work I want to offer my gifts to support you as you clear the way for your soul’s full expression to emerge.
The process I envision begins with an email from you describing what you would like to clean or clarify in your life. A zoom session would follow, with me providing preparation for the ceremony, and either guidance or companionship as you move through the rituals that emerge from our work together. It often helps to have a witness to the continuing work you do and the shifts in your perspectives and reactions that occur. Follow-up contacts will allow us to check in for this sharing.
If you are interested in this, or other one-on-one work relating to your spiritual path, please use the Contact Me on this site.
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