Walking – well, hopping on my crutches – along the streets of Cuenca Ecuador, I see life size “dummies” and multicolored masks lining my way, images of famous people, entertainment figures, as well as “regular” people.
It’s incredibly intriguing, and of course my curiosity wants to know what this is all about. Locals, as well as Google, hold a wealth of information.
According to the tradition of “Año Viejo” or “Old Year”, these effigies are burnt in the streets of Ecuador on the night of New Years Eve, as a symbol of purification… letting go of any political or social ills, as well as personal struggles.
Today I bought my very own effigy, in preparation of a New Year ceremony I will hold, as we move into a new calendar year. It’s really just another night, but what a powerful symbol it can be, of moving into a new era… on the level of personality, as well as humanity.
My personal dummy is a symbol of this human being called Eva Charlotte - one representation of the human species, but also one expression of Divine order, Love and Light.
The human Eva Charlotte has traveled though many different expressions, awakenings and self realizations throughout this one life time – a life time that in a way encompasses several very different life expressions, experienced almost as several lives in this one life time.
Each “life” in this lifetime, has taken me to the “next level” in my quest for awakening, in my desire to live an awakened and spiritually embodied life.
I’ve experienced so many transformational and spiritual teachings, and they have all been powerful in their own way… but nothing has come close to the ruthlessness of my most recent “teacher” – neurological Lyme disease.
Most of our thoughts and emotions are generated by our own storytelling mind, and by mastering your mind; you can master your life story… creating any life you want. I had mastered my mind and the ability to stay calm, centered and happy, amongst pretty much any life circumstance.
But there was a deepening to my journey awaiting…
The collection of many different microbes often referred to as “Lyme disease”, has the ability to penetrate through the walls of our blood vessels into the surrounding tissue… in my case, mainly the central nervous system and the brain.
There they have the ability to shift the chemical balance and literally generate the kind of emotional states, that ensure a healthy living environment for the microbes, not for the host… me. Emotions like extreme fear, paranoia, anxiety, fight or flight reactions and on and on; emotions I had not chosen to experience in a very long time, all of a sudden became daily occurrences… and none of my old tools worked.
These were not thoughts and emotions created by me, the mind called Eva… they were generated by an external microbial invader in my body… and I had no direct personal power over them… not at the level I had already mastered. A new level of surrender was at hand.
The ruthlessness of this disease forced me to face every aspect of my being still unresolved.
Not “choosing a different path” or “creating a different reality”, not “redirect my attention, get over it and move on”… none of that was sufficient any longer. It would be like building a new building, on the swamp that just swallowed the previous one.
No… this forced me to face every wave of emotional and mental energy moving though my being with relentless force, and to learn how to be with it all… “riding the waves” so to speak.
I, consciousness, who had learned to separate myself from these energies to stay calm, centered and happy, had to learn to bring my awareness fully into my self, being present with every aspect of my human being, shining love and light into the face and hearts of any demon arising.
Through this process I learned how to heal not only my own pain, but also ancestral pain and suffering carried in the human DNA… ultimately becoming completely aware that I am not those waves, I’m not the surfer riding the waves, not even the ocean, but the space within which it is all arising.
What can seem like years of illness, pain, failure, loss, invisibility etc., has been the most powerful and empowering time of my life so far, and I am grateful beyond words.
According to the tradition of “Año Viejo” or “Old Year”, these effigies are burnt in the streets of Ecuador on the night of New Years Eve, as a symbol of purification… letting go of any political or social ills, as well as personal struggles.
Today I bought my very own effigy, in preparation of a New Year ceremony I will hold, as we move into a new calendar year. It’s really just another night, but what a powerful symbol it can be, of moving into a new era… on the level of personality, as well as humanity.
My personal dummy is a symbol of this human being called Eva Charlotte - one representation of the human species, but also one expression of Divine order, Love and Light.
The human Eva Charlotte has traveled though many different expressions, awakenings and self realizations throughout this one life time – a life time that in a way encompasses several very different life expressions, experienced almost as several lives in this one life time.
Each “life” in this lifetime, has taken me to the “next level” in my quest for awakening, in my desire to live an awakened and spiritually embodied life.
I’ve experienced so many transformational and spiritual teachings, and they have all been powerful in their own way… but nothing has come close to the ruthlessness of my most recent “teacher” – neurological Lyme disease.
Most of our thoughts and emotions are generated by our own storytelling mind, and by mastering your mind; you can master your life story… creating any life you want. I had mastered my mind and the ability to stay calm, centered and happy, amongst pretty much any life circumstance.
But there was a deepening to my journey awaiting…
The collection of many different microbes often referred to as “Lyme disease”, has the ability to penetrate through the walls of our blood vessels into the surrounding tissue… in my case, mainly the central nervous system and the brain.
There they have the ability to shift the chemical balance and literally generate the kind of emotional states, that ensure a healthy living environment for the microbes, not for the host… me. Emotions like extreme fear, paranoia, anxiety, fight or flight reactions and on and on; emotions I had not chosen to experience in a very long time, all of a sudden became daily occurrences… and none of my old tools worked.
These were not thoughts and emotions created by me, the mind called Eva… they were generated by an external microbial invader in my body… and I had no direct personal power over them… not at the level I had already mastered. A new level of surrender was at hand.
The ruthlessness of this disease forced me to face every aspect of my being still unresolved.
Not “choosing a different path” or “creating a different reality”, not “redirect my attention, get over it and move on”… none of that was sufficient any longer. It would be like building a new building, on the swamp that just swallowed the previous one.
No… this forced me to face every wave of emotional and mental energy moving though my being with relentless force, and to learn how to be with it all… “riding the waves” so to speak.
I, consciousness, who had learned to separate myself from these energies to stay calm, centered and happy, had to learn to bring my awareness fully into my self, being present with every aspect of my human being, shining love and light into the face and hearts of any demon arising.
Through this process I learned how to heal not only my own pain, but also ancestral pain and suffering carried in the human DNA… ultimately becoming completely aware that I am not those waves, I’m not the surfer riding the waves, not even the ocean, but the space within which it is all arising.
What can seem like years of illness, pain, failure, loss, invisibility etc., has been the most powerful and empowering time of my life so far, and I am grateful beyond words.
My effigy is a symbol of the human being called Eva Charlotte and her identification with her body, mind and emotions, with the story of her life.
I will burn her at the stake of purification… returning her to the light – through the expression of fire - and subsequently to the darkness the light is arising from, once again being the “emptiness”, the space of consciousness, that we all are.
I will light this fire of purification and light, for of all of humanity,
with a prayer for peace, harmony and awareness.
I invite you to join me, by lightning your own candle, with the intent for peace and love in this world.
May all beings have peace, live in joy and have all their essential needs met.
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