Excerpt From "Making the Shift: Field Guide to the Emerging Consciousness"

Many of us talk about how much we want to change— even transform. Can you imagine becoming a totally different person—free from all the old blockages that limit joy? Wouldn’t it be wonderful!

Contact with our soul instigates this immediate change. In order, therefore, to instigate this change, all of our attachments to the familiar need to be released. Although adamant about our desire to transform, we often don’t feel ready for this profound level of conversion. Maybe we wouldn’t even recognize ourselves!

The moment we state our intention, desire, and readiness to change we enter the great Tunnel of Disorientation where the old self completely breaks down but the new self has not yet fully emerged. At this juncture dozens of unconscious sirens—investments in the status quo—shriek to reinforce their dominion over our evolution. The worst fears about ourselves surface because even though we may not like ourselves, the poison we know seems safer than the monster we dread becoming.

It is so tempting to neglect the uncovering process of the true self. Misgivings about full self-disclosure undermine transformation as we cling tightly to our known identity and attempt to block the impact of the soul. So we plaster ourselves to the same autobiographical page broadcasted for lifetimes in an effort to resist the current tremendous tide of heightened vibrations.

But time served in the Prison of the Familiar— boring and stagnant— compels us to finally be receptive to change. We can then greet today’s accelerated frequencies with open arms and gratitude for the stupendous gift of possibility available to us NOW at long last. This truly is the birth of a new cosmic day. Birth is the metamorphosis that requires a nonnegotiable complete surrender to what has been.

Nevertheless, most of us don’t believe that fundamental change is possible. After all, humanity has always suffered, so why should there be collective joy at this point? We all agree that life on planet earth has been cemented in difficulty, pain, scarcity and separation. Nothing could possibly budge that misery.

The greatest stumbling block to collective transformation is our unwillingness to envision transmutation as a real probability. Humanity refuses to apply our fertile imagination to paint a picture of who we could actually become. Our rigid investment in keeping things the same as they have always been gives us the illusion of control, dominion and security.

No one wants to stand on the brink of uncertainty and willingly jump into its abyss of unknowing. Are we ready to witness our identity, beliefs, and meanings wither in the face of a greater understanding? Can we surrender our swords of confidence/certainty and submit to the great wave of humility ushered in by true metamorphosis? Are we afraid to pioneer this new consciousness because we might be ridiculed, exiled, punished for touching the Brink of the Original? Maybe we might lose our mind, relationships, career, and beliefs.

So we cry and rage about our imprisonment in sameness. We bang against the stockade walls; we beg to be released. But subliminally our resistance says, “Don’t you dare let me out and confront me with my greatness— too muchness— and a new truth that belies all previous truths. Don’t make me face the crisis of transformation— not yet.”

But NOW is the time. Can we unpretentiously drop to our knees and accept the part of ourselves that is afraid of this new wave of consciousness that will invariably cleave us from our treasured moorings so well banked lifetime after lifetime? Who will step to the front and be the first to embody the new and vastly different human being?

We need to explore our opposition to change and search for where we most cling to the known. What does that known give us? Are we willing to sacrifice our comfort zone for transformation? What parts of ourselves do we believe are set in stone and therefore refuse to adapt? These are precisely the areas under direct instruction to convert. Nothing on this planet is so ensconced that it is impervious to today’s vibrant energies.

Everything ultimately yields to the unassailable essence of the Divine Plan masterminded within the great halls of metaphysical genius. This Canopy of Order is the consummate cornerstone for our focus as we dash our obsolete selves on the rocks of great tides, determined to overthrow the tyranny of the fear, predictability, and self-assumption that drowns the spirit. All aspects of human nature are available for adaptation, adjustment, and transmutation.

Our blueprint naturally accommodates the Great Flow. We simply need to claim our innate elasticity during a time when rigid adherence to the known would only provoke despair, destruction, and hopelessness as the prison door slams shut. We don’t want to miss the opportunity to participate in the greatest show on earth— our collective transformation.

Ancient alchemists understood that form was malleable, not rock solid. Their awareness yielded inspired exploration of the transformation that turns lead into gold. Modern society has forgotten the wisdom of these venerable wizards. False beliefs insist that it is possible to be trapped in who we are with no feasibility for true, deep, everlasting change. We are grateful to make what little shifts in attitude and behavior that we can muster while unconsciously enslaving ourselves to the tried and true of our traditional self-perspective.

By using rational predictions for our sense of potential, our modern day “sophistication” eclipses any inate attunement to the metaphysical world of magic, so deeply explored by the alchemists. Our natural instinct, as children, is to touch the realm of magic. Sadly, this impulse to explore the expansive dimension of magic is narrowed by societal admonishments not to fall into the folly of magical thinking for surely it will trap us in the realm of illusion and make a mockery of our intelligence. We would be shamed -- seen as fools. So, we dare not think outside the box and consequently cannot fathom the full extent of change that awaits us on the very near horizon. Alchemists learned from the Greater Mysteries that there are three stages in the transformation process. The initial step is the blackening (nigredo) phase when the obsolete structure rots, decomposes and disintegrates into chaos. Then the whitening (albedo) stage purifies and releases the putrefied debris spoiled through the blackening affect. Finally the gold (rubado) reveals the complete metamorphosis.

Alchemy also occurs in the human psyche. It is easily witnessed in sleep dreams that reward us with vantage points on our transformational process. Dream images of black, white, and or gold deliver us the “weather report” on the aspects of our inner life that are undergoing transformation.

Even when dreams elude us, we can intuitively sense our current stage of metamorphosis. Life often appears bleak, dark—blackening— as we descend into pockets of the unconscious that are begging to be rendered down for transformation. We may tunnel through darkness for a while and then mysteriously our perspective begins to brighten— whiten— as we experience the cleansing of timeworn congestion that has blinded the soul. We may be flooded with a sense of liminality and transition, knowing that we are on the Path to complete illumination. Something internal has dislodged and opens a space for extended awareness. The gold finally arrives -- displaying itself as special moments— or a series of them— when our entire being knits together into a new pattern that exquisitely proclaims our magnitude.

From this point on there is no turning back. Our attempts to reattach to who we were would be like diving into a dumpster to retrieve pieces of decomposed garbage and reconstruct its original form. We have transfigured into someone entirely different even though, paradoxically, we still carry the eternal essence that links all facets of our soul’s evolution. Rather than severing from our past, alchemy of the soul results in the inclusion of all previous selves into our new being. Happily, the rewards of the transformational outcome of gold are so staggering that impulses to look back vanish into a sea of irrelevancy.

Our faith in this process can be undermined when we assume that a part of our psyche is completely transformed only to discover that it has reared its ugly head again, perhaps after many years. This is like handing in our final term paper and receiving an incomplete on the course. Our fury at Source is then catalyzed as we rail about the apparent impossibility of true and complete CHANGE.

But soul alchemy is a deep process that ultimately addresses all the nooks and crannies of the psyche that have been festering for centuries with trauma, illusion, and negativity. In the initial stages of transformation there is much karmic debris to blacken. Most of us are in these beginning stages. Today’s heightened vibrations are catalyzing descent experiences we never dreamed possible. We are being forced into internal hells that we would never choose to visit.

Since everything in our culture happens fast, we expect change to happen overnight! But true alchemy is precisely timed. Our souls need to cook as long as it takes—no more, no less. Impatience only feeds futility and compels us to abort the process because we can’t take the heat of the alchemical oven. Alchemy cycles through in layers, as it turns parts of the psyche into striations of gold that weave through the rest of the untransformed material. These golden ribbons focuse concentrated Light that bestirs and enkindles the alchemical process to snake its way through the darker, denser areas of the soul.

The middle of the blackening stage often catalyzes waves of despair. Change seems absolutely impossible. Life is only getting worse. All that was ever held near and dear seems to be falling apart, disintegrating into nonsensical chaos as we succumb to overwhelm and self-pity. Our spiritual pride suffers in a sea of judgment that chastises us for not being further along the path after so much hard work. Our vantage point on the world is seen through a bleak filter that displays nothing but black— black— black. This darkness becomes global and causes us to doubt that the human race has made any progress.

Today’s potent vibrations bombard the planet and stimulate the kundalini to travel up the spine and encounter any blockages in our energy field. These areas of congestion are immediately placed on the alchemical conveyor belt that traverses the psyche with its cauldrons of fire that heat up and putrefy all encumbrances. The original distortion that generated the congestion crumbles.

This transmutational Force is experienced as a potent, terrifying quicksand-like vortex that pulls us down into the sub-basement of the unconscious where all our prevalent horror movies are continuously being shown. Trapped in a roiling quagmire, we completely lose sight of our golden destination. To struggle against this nightmare only energizes the process by increasing the heat of the fire.

Tremendous strength and clear perspective are required to help us remember that THIS IS A PROCESS—not an endpoint— that ultimately guarantees change— transformation —liberation! It eases the process to remember that the result of this rigorous undertaking that blasts open all internal prison doors is FREEDOM. There is no point in fighting alchemy. It is much bigger than our egoic will. Rigid, sticky, stalled places within are so highlighted by this mandate to change that we can no longer look the other way. It is impossible to talk Source out of It’s Divine Plan.

Our optimism is warmed when we remember that the promise and gift of alchemy is our birthright. No one is immune to the process of transformation. Change is inevitable. So we might as well acclimate to opening to a fresh identity each day that reflects the new perspective from our changing inner reality. As we collectively accept metamorphosis, then change itself becomes the norm— the pivotal cornerstone of our journey.

The willingness to adjust to transmutation allows us to embrace each cycle of alchemy with gratitude, understanding and cooperation. If the black gunk in our psyche’s basement cesspool is oozing up, we can only yield to it, compassionatly dramatize and give it a voice, and honor its key place in our journey. The transformational conveyor belt transports this debris to the whitening laboratories within that initiate intensive cleansing.

It would be such a relief to immediately wash away the blackening sludge. But a million showers can’t accelerate the whitening stage. Cleansing has its own timing. There is only so much poison we can handle as it circulates through psyche’s bloodstream on the conveyor belt that eventually transmutes it into the pot of gold at the end of this alchemical rainbow. When we cleanse the physical body of contamination, the cells discharge toxins that circulate in the bloodstream which often produces symptoms of headaches, nausea, fatigue, fever. The liver would be overburdened if the body discharged all of its noxious dreck too quickly. Ironically, we would get sick from too much fallout.

Similarly, the whitening stage can only circulate one layer at a time through our consciousness. This timing reflects Source’s compassionate orchestration of the human transmutational process, and makes it possible to hold our center and stay grounded while pieces of the soul are being dislodged and reshaped a little bit at a time.

Paradoxically, the heightened vibrations are evoking the conversion of more soul material than ever. Although we can’t rush this conversion, we feel rushed by the intensified new levels of clearing being demanded of us by the Cosmic Agenda. Yet the traditional tempo of alchemy, regardless of its compounded acceleration, is still the tempo. To trust that we can change, will change, have no choice but to change, allows us to claim our birthright of adaptation. We are naturally adaptable, an essential requirement for evolution.

We often assume that enlightenment in this lifetime is unattainable. After all, don’t we need more time to cleanse ourselves before we fully awaken? But the collective shift in consciousness requires adaptation and acclimation to the new frequencies. We are called to examine our willingness to let go of life as we have known it and as we open our imagination to the new. It is time to trust that our innate ability to accommodate the Divine Plan allows us to naturally adjust to the new cosmic atmosphere in which we find ourselves.

We open to our intrinsic recognition that something wonderful is pulling us forward, regardless of the ego’s resistance. The new energies, like billions of magnets, impel us forward in an original direction. Like metal fillings, we can’t resist the powerful vibrational draw that stimulates a profound response within our soul that has waited throughout all lifetimes to bask in this momentous cosmic shower of movement and release. As we accept that we are meant to change, the skins of the old self are shed. We are left astonished at our ability to adapt to the new.

The mandate for change is upon us. Change so fundamental to our being leaves no stone unturned. Many pots are cooking simultaneously on the alchemical stove. We are challenged to gracefully submit to this comprehensive reorganization of our being without drowning in overwhelm. This is a time of such glorious opportunity to convert into the new human being who experiences an unprecedented depth and expansion of consciousness. In this liberated position we are finally ready to walk side by side with all of the Great Ones Who have guided our Path.

The Tibetan teaches:

“The accelerated vibratory rate impacting the earthly plane brings an amplified Light Factor never before experienced by humankind. The boundless etheric quality of this intensified light quickens the transformational process by bestowing an augmented spaciousness that literally gives the psyche more breathing room during the circulation and release of karmic debris unearthed by these frequencies. Consequently, students now have more resources available to assist them through the rigors of transformation.

The psyche can now handle the demanding process of uprooting, circulating, and cleansing greater amounts of negative energies. The new startling Light potency uplifts and sustains the spirit. This buoys self even when moving through gigantic dumps of offscourings—the river of refuse that would normally drain one’s spiritual bank account because of the negative vortex catalyzed in the blackening stage.

Humankind references itself as a limited recycling system that can only transmute so much rubbish at a time. Historically this has been true. The collective unconscious, apprehensive about this alchemical process, believes that it is inadequate to the task and will therefore self-poison in the stew of garbage.

Please remember that the expanded frequencies carry the remedy, not only the catalyst, to the poison. Light transforms everything upon contact. There is no need for extensive suffering in the blackening stage. Reference the heightened Light Factor and trust that much of the poison transmutes automatically in the face of such expanded frequencies. All four burners within are cooking to accelerate the change. Know that self is truly up to the task and is supported, guided, loved by the Angelic Force, Ascended Masters and extraterrestrial friends who so gladly assist in this process and celebrate this time of Birth.”

Moriah Marston, a 10 year columnist for Wisdom Magazine, metaphysical teacher, and founder of the School of the Golden Discs—a Sanctuary for the Soul and Center for Expanding Consciousness (www.transformationaltimes.com ), is also a gifted channel for Ascended Master Djwhal Khul, the Tibetan since 1986. Moriah masterfully teaches and facilitates the school’s transformative, life changing classes, seminars and phone groups at the school location in the bucolic surroundings of western Massachusetts. In addition, she is soul-based psychotherapist to individuals, couples and groups since 1983. Specializing in phone sessions, Moriah applies astrology, dream analysis, and past-life integration with her intuitive link to the Tibetan’s cosmic perspective. In addition to her newly released book, Making the Shift: Field Guide to the Emerging Consciousness, she has published many articles as well as two previous books: Soul Searching with Djwhal Khul, the Tibetan and Earth School: A Fresh Perspective on the Human Condition, which is a compilation of 68 articles from her “Soul Connection” column in Wisdom Magazine. To purchase a signed copy of the book and for more information, visit www.tinyurl.com/MakingtheShiftMoriahMarston