This week’s blog is part two of a series on consciously aligning your personal evolutionary/spiritual process with Nature’s Yearly Cycle. Before continuing with the series, here’s a recap of what I addressed last week in part one of the series.

For Nature, a garden is any endeavor or environment that is initiated, defined and maintained by humans. Thus a garden can be either be “soil-based,” as in a vegetable or flower garden, a pond, hydroponic greenhouse, a farm, a city or national park, etc. Based on Nature’s definition of a garden, gardens can also be “soil-less,”  such as in a business, a song, a work of art, a website, a scientific experiment, a vacation, a house, etc.

From Nature’s perspective,

• gardens that pay no regard for the laws of nature are considered “human dominant.”
• gardens that are initiated, defined and maintained with varying human interpretations of the laws of nature are considered “nature friendly.”
• gardens that are initiated, defined and maintained by humans who consciously understand Nature to be a “full partner” in the design and operation of that garden, and who actually act on this knowledge, is considered a “co-creative garden.”

Nature’s Yearly Cycle begins with the Fall Equinox. For the northern hemisphere, that means the new year’s cycle begins on or around September 21st. In the southern hemisphere, the Fall Equinox would be on or around March 21st.

In a revised edition of last week’s blog, I also described a simple process for doing this alignment.

The process of doing this is quite simple – or it can be a little more elaborate if you're into ceremony! You don't even need to set up an official soil-less garden nor open a “coning.” (See the sidebar on my homepage for a definition of a coning.) But if you know how to do these things, by all means do these first. But again, you don't need to. At this stage of your learning, all you would need to do is consciously connect to the larger energetic happenings of the planet and you'll be on your way. So, here's the simple approach:

First, find out when the exact time of the Fall Equinox is for your time zone. (The Fall Equinox for 2009 is 4:18 PM CDT on September 22.) To prepare, take a few moments ahead of this time to quiet yourself and then, at the exact time of the equinox, make a statement like this, either out loud or to yourself:

"I welcome the next cycle of my own evolutionary process and I declare my intention to consciously assists and participate in its unfolding over the coming year and to align myself to the right timing of it's unfolding."

Again, at the time of the Fall Equinox, the “call goes out for the new cycle to activate and begin its formation processes at the deepest of energy levels.” (Perelandra Garden Workbook Second Edition, Machaelle Small Wright, pp. 181-182)

The big picture advantage of CONSCIOUSLY aligning one’s own evolutionary process with Nature’s Yearly Cycle is that you are allowing your consciousness and your life’s journey to come into sync with the higher evolutionary processes of all that exists on our planet and which “naturally” happens when not interfered with by humans. It’s like going with the flow and staying BALANCED all along the way instead of being out of step with and out of balance with the whole of the Creation as it is being expressed on this planet.

Now the above statement in red is going to be an important base to hang on to as you read the next bit of material I’m going to be sharing. The concepts are going to get a little thick for a while and I’m going to stretch you a little further -- or maybe even a lot further! -- than you might think you want to go! But hey, you can hang in there! And if need be, read the following multiple times to help with your absorption and comprehension of the material!

To understand what actually happens with the Fall Equinox, what it really means to activate and begin the formation processes of the next evolutionary cycle of any particular form at the deepest of energy levels, you need to understand a little bit more about the manifesting process.

Now you’ve probably heard that manifesting starts with our ideas and thoughts. Well, those thoughts have to come from somewhere and ultimately that somewhere is from Consciousness.

Physical manifesting is the process by which Consciousness, which is a soul-oriented reality and is beyond form, goes about creating or taking on form all the way “out” to the physical energy level, the vibrational level at which something can be detected by our five physical senses. We can taste it, touch it, see it, smell it, hear it at a physical level.

Another way of saying this is that physical manifesting is the MOVEMENT of energy from the most deepest and most subtle of vibrational levels all the way down the vibrational scale to the point where the thing is no longer just an idea or a thought, but a physical reality in our third dimensional world. Your physical body is ready example of this process in operation! Your physical body is your Soul expressing itself in physical form!

There are many different groups or expressions of Consciousness. For example, there is God Consciousness, which we can describe as the all encompassing Life Force/Soul Reality from which all other individuated soul expressions originate, such as Nature Consciousness and Human Consciousness, to name a few. Each of these types of soul-oriented realities have different defining qualities, different operational dynamics.

Nature defines itself as “a massive intelligent consciousness group that expresses and functions within the many areas of “involution,” that is, moving soul-oriented consciousness into any dimension or level of form. It is the conscious reality that supplies order, organization and life vitality for this shift of soul-oriented consciousness into form.” (Perelandra Garden Workbook Second Edition, Machaelle Small Wright, p. 7)

The defining quality or operational dynamic of Nature Consciousness is inherent balance. The Consciousness, the Intelligence that is Nature simply knows balance. “It does not need the faculties for understanding what it knows and why.” (Co-Creative Science, Machaelle Small Wright, p. 31)

The defining quality or operational dynamic of Human Consciousness is free will. Now here’s a can of worms if there ever was one! Free Will means that as a CONSCIOUS individuated soul we get to decide WHAT we want to experience and HOW we want to experience it. 

There are two primary levels of individuated consciousness where Free Will comes into play.

First is at the High Self Level. When you were birthed from God as an individuated spark of God-Consciousness, you came “out” of the Source of All with particular qualities and abilities and patterns of expression are unique to YOU. These all make up what can be called your ORIGINAL GOD CODES, your original BLUEPRINT. Within the codes, within the blueprint is the FULL POTENTIAL of who you are and what you are able to evolve into and EXPRESS FULLY in an outward manner, in outward FORM. 

The CUSTODIAN of your original God Codes, your original Blueprint of you as a Soul, is an aspect of you known as your HIGH SELF. Your High Self the part of you who stays very close to the Source, very close to the your connecting point with Source. The consciousness level of your High Self is as high as your individuated consciousness can reach before rejoining with the Oneness that is God-Consciousness.

Think of the High Self as HOME BASE for your Soul. The Soul moves out into the different realms, dimensions and levels of Creation from the High Self.  And the Soul can move out in many different directions at once. These different directions are called Soul Rays. The whole point in moving out in these different directions of reality is EXPERIENCE, to gain the experiences needed to help you MATURE as a Soul.

This maturation process in part of the “package” that is the Human Soul. We were not birthed from the Source in our full adult, mature state -- the state where we are fully expressing all that we are capable of doing and being as a Human Soul. Again, because of the particular “package” that is human consciousness, we need to grow into that “adult” full-expression state. And as Human Souls, we grow through experience. For experiences to be growthful, we need FREE WILL, we need full freedom to choose our experiences and learn from those experiences.

We also need ego and personality, which constitute our "small self." This is the second level where we consciously exercise Free Will. For now just think of your ego as your conscious awareness of your individuality. Think of your personality a “character” that you have assumed in order to live out your current set of life experiences. Whereas your ego stays with you and evolves with you through your different lifetimes, you will have taken on many different personalities in the course of your many different lifetimes. Personalities are like shoes, they help us “get around” and experience things.

And so we have two parts of Self that we need to be aware of when it comes to Free Will. We have our High Self, the larger part of us who has the consciousness to understands and direct the big picture of who we are and what we’re tying learn and do. And we have our small self -- the part of us that we normally and narrowly think of as “me” and that has a particular personality.

Think of the journey of the Soul is the journey of the small self growing into and coming into alignment with our High Self. The growth happens when small self learns the lessons our experiences have to teach us, when we integrate those lessons into our understanding of ourselves and that understanding expands and deepens. Eventually, we come to KNOW & EXPRESS ourselves FULLY and in accord with our Original God Codes and Blueprint.  

And again, because FREE WILL is the defining characteristic or operational dynamic of human consciousness, of the human soul, Free Will is operating at both of these levels of our Soul’s expression -- at the High Self level and at the small self/ego/personality level.

At the High Self level, that Free Will always remains in alignment with the Higher Will of God for all Creation and for the individuate Soul itself. In other words, High Self is always going to be working to make sure that whatever the Soul experiences is going to help it mature into all that it was created to be by God. It’s going to work very hard and diligently to help the Soul stay on track --or, get BACK on track! -- and reach the point where all of its inherent God Codes are active and functioning and what is laid out the Soul’s Original Blueprint actually becomes a Full-Fledged Formed Reality.

But the immature Soul, expressing itself “out there” in the playgrounds and classrooms of reality as the ego/personality and having all these different learning experiences, ALSO has free will.

And Free Will is absolute. You can’t just have a little free will. It’s an all or nothing deal! And this means that, even as our small ego selves, we ALWAYS have choice. Do we cooperate with the High Self and stay in alignment with our original blueprints or God Codes? Or are we going to decide to go our own way and do what we want to do without regard for the consequences or ripple effects of our thoughts, actions and choices?

Now that last question points to a whole other can of worms that we’re not going to get into today!

For now, let’s just focus on the fact that WHEN WE DO USE OUR FREE WILL to consciously operate within the perimeters of our True Blueprint, we are choosing to align our small will with our Higher Will.

And when we do that, Nature is able to give us the information (the matter, means and actions) we need to ensure that what we create and what we experience is in “balance” -- within the ourselves, within what we create, and within the greater contexts that we and our creations are a part of.

Balance happens when a “thing” -- something in form -- is able to vibrationally hold a certain level of authentic expression of its “thingness” and when its “thingness” enhances the bigger things that it is a part of.

Think of a masterpiece quality painting, one in which each component of that painting is artfully and appropriately placed in relationship to everything else in the painting and the essence each component is expertly rendered on the canvas. When all these elements combine in the most optimal way and in alignment with the full intention of the artist, the whole painting becomes more alive and more vibrant than it would if even just one element was missing or not executed with care and skill. The high state of balance of such a painting is quite notable. That’s why it’s a “masterpiece.”

Now just imagine that someone comes along, and with deliberate intent, a draws a mustache on the face of one of the characters in the painting. Such an expression of "free will” seriously detracts from the overall order, organization and life vitality of the painting! We’d say it was “ruined.” Nature would say that the balance has been reduced or lost.

Balance can also be hindered or lost because of ignorance. But the elimination of ignorance and the “enlightenment”  and expansion of human consciousness is a key part of the evolutionary path of the whole humanity, on this planet and elsewhere. Once there is awareness of ignorance or when we are exposed to new knowledge, we are again brought face-to-face with our Free Will. Do we choose to remain in ignorance or ignore the new knowledge? Or do we choose to move forward and into greater and greater levels of alignment with who we are as individual persons, as Souls, and members of the whole of humanity?

The bottom-line of what I’m urging you to consider is this: Our individual choices have real consequences, real ripple effects! The question is, Will those ripple effect enhance or detract from the balance of our lives and of our planet?

When we, through the conscious use of our Free Will, intentionally align our own evolutionary process to Nature’s Yearly Cycle, we are allowing that process to be guided and played out in a balanced way by Nature.

Again, Nature knows balance! Our job is to start tuning in with our intuition and with the use of other multi-level communication tools so that we can “hear” and then act upon the information that Nature is sending us to help us fulfill our stated intentions in a balanced way. All the different aspects of our lives can be enhanced by this conscious alignment.

I myself have found the process of consciously aligning with Nature's Yearly Cycle a tremendous help in keeping me MOVING FORWARD on my own evolutionary/spiritual journey and in helping me stay in alignment with the desires and purposes my Soul set out to accomplish in this lifetime.

The beauty of all this is that our own individual balanced expressions -- in our lives and in what we create -- aid and heighten the overall balance and evolutionary process of our relationships, our communities, our world. By giving ourselves the gift of balance by working consciously and co-creatively with Nature, we give that gift to others as well.

Now, I promise that next week’s addition to this series won’t be as “heavy duty” as this week’s! Next week I will address what actually happens during the first phase of the new cycle that begins with the Fall Equinox and continues through to the Winter Solstice when the next phase of the cycle is activated.

Until next week, Namaste!

Julia