Summer is a time when great energy is available to us for transformation. We place those things which no longer serve us into the fire to be purified and cleared. It calls to mind Hexagram 50 from the I Ching, “The Cauldron,” which states, “All that is visible must grow beyond itself, extend into the realm of the invisible. Thereby it receives its true consecration and clarity and takes firm root in the cosmic order. The highest earthly values must be sacrificed to the divine.” This is what consciousness is all about: growing beyond ourselves. Moving from the visible to the invisible. Evolving out of the earthly and into the divine. 

The I Ching is an ancient Chinese divining tool I use occasionally when I need objective insight around a particular issue. Looking back at instances when I received The Cauldron as an oracle, it was usually during a time of some hardship. I was being asked to place my beliefs into the fire. 

Lately, I’ve been studying a new framework for understanding consciousness based around the concept of the different dimensions. (Yes, I’m really going out there on this one :)

Let me break it down for you. We live in a very 3D, material world. It’s been this way for millennia. Yet we have now entered into a time where the three dimensional world is falling away and we are moving into the fourth, and for some high beings, the fifth dimension. Currently in physics—our 3D attempt at scientifically validating reality—scientists know of multiple dimensions. (I believe the current known number is 11.) But let's focus here on three, four, and five.  

The process of moving from the third dimension into the fourth—from unconsciousness to consciousness, both individually and collectively—involves much fire, transmutation, and burning up of karma. All of the dimensions from the fourth onwards represent different states of awareness and are not defined by physical reality. So, it’s not like the fourth dimension is another planet we can’t access—it’s more like changing the channel on existing reality. The fourth dimension is a different channel than the one you’re tuned into now. It's less connected to physical, earthly reality. So the question is, in our personal journeys, how can we cultivate our own transition beyond the third dimension and into the fourth and even fifth?

What follows is a chart I’ve created to simplify, including some characteristics of each level. (This list is informed by various Internet research, the work of Gurudas, Edgar Cayce, Rudolf Steiner, Paramahansa Yogananda, and Tom Kenyon.) 

<< The Dimensional Progression - Curently in the 3D – Moving into 4D and 5D >>

Maybe you can get an idea of where you lie on the spectrum. We’re all making this journey from less conscious to more conscious, less love to more love. As the I Ching prophetically declares, our earthly comprehension of reality and the attachment to the 3D must extend into the realm of the unknown and surrender to the Divine. 

One big way we can move along the spectrum into more consciousness is through transforming our beliefs. Not everyone is interested in or capable of going down this rabbit hole. But it is the work for those of us who want to wake up.

It's time that we accept that making true change is not just behavioral—the mechanistic, Cartesian paradigm desperately wants us to cling to this idea, but it only keeps us trapped in the 3D. The real issue lies in the belief systems connected to our behavioral struggles, and requires that we peek behind the veil into the fourth dimension, a level of consciousness that recognizes how thoughts inform our earthly reality. Remember: just as vibration creates matter, so does thought create our experience.  

Trying to make a change without acknowledging the attached belief is like putting a bandage on a festering wound. The surface symptoms might temporarily clear, but the underlying issue isn't healed. The more often you apply a band-aid, the stronger the attachment to that pattern/wound becomes.  

I'm not suggesting we spend all our time writhing around in pain over-excavating ourselves—you can get stuck there too. (Been there, done that!) And it's not that healing always has to happen according to the same series of steps (e.g., first physical, then the mental, or first the astral, then the emotional). But most of the time there is a program—a set of beliefs that we were either taught or that we cultivated within ourselves—that is getting unconsciously played out until we decide to hit the stop button.  

Say for instance that you’ve identified a painful pattern in choosing emotionally unavailable partners. First off, great work! That’s a real breakthrough and it can take a long time to discern and own that. And let’s say that you’ve also successfully named a belief that you don’t deserve a partner who meets your needs because you’re unworthy and you should just settle for whomever you can get.  

Now we get to the fun part. When you reach a place where you can identify the pervading belief attached to something you need to heal, you get to make different choices around that belief—to shift the energetics. Now that you’ve peered through the veil to the other side, how much energy you give your self-limiting beliefs is up to you. I like to use whatever practices resonate: yoga, meditation, working with stones, dance, tuning forks—anything to raise the vibration.  

In the Focusing with my clients, we work towards being with all our parts and the unknowns. Using flower essences, I call on those plant spirits who are here to help us reach a place of presence and acceptance—two main energetic themes of the fourth dimension. I especially love Golden Amaranthus and Habanero Pepper for inviting presence, and Black Eyed Susan, Beech, and Pine for addressing acceptance. Additionally, Goldenseal is excellent for working with negative thought forms. 

I believe the plant and mineral kingdom spirits are here to support our evolution from the 3D into expanded consciousness. As they require us to open our minds to a deeper awareness in order to heal, they seem particularly intended for our ascension. They are emissaries of light. To phrase it another way: The plant spirits create a matrix within our bodies that allow us to hold more light, raise our vibration, and enjoy the gifts of expanded consciousness.   

May the summer solstice be an opportunity to harness the fire of the sun at its peak. Bow before your cauldron and offer up those false beliefs that you’re ready to surrender to the Divine.