Understand Your Spiritual Awakening With These 8 Key Stages.

- By Michelle Therese

So what exactly is a spiritual awakening? It’s a profound wake up from an illusionary slumber. A shift in consciousness in which an individual transcends their belief that they are ‘just’ a human being. The awakening process brings about ones awareness of their multidimensionality, and their ability to connect across many dimensions. This realisation forms an interconnectedness with their divine spark and the oneness of the universe and all of creation.

Sounds all fantastical, magical and wonderful doesn’t it? It is! But I’m not going to lie and say this passage is all easy, peasy, lemon, squeezy. The awakening process is essentially a peeling back of many layers of the psyche. As we unlearn all we have learnt through our identification with our humanness.

In order to connect with a higher reality, the ego must experience a death and transformation in order to align with the soul and connect with higher concepts of existence. These intense periods of shedding and growth can be a little challenging. If you suspect you are going through your own spiritual awakening, don’t let this be a cause for concern. I experienced 8 key stages during my awakening process. In this blog post I am going to share these pivotal stages with you and some self care tips that you might find valuable, in hopes that you find understanding and comfort whilst on your journey back home to the magical, limitless being that you are.

The 8 Key Stages Of Awakening.

Stage 1 - The Wake Up

This stage is essentially as the title suggests. It’s the divine wake up call! This is a natural evolutionary process and your time of awakening is now. There are two ways in which your awakening may come about,

1. Spontaneously

As the spontaneously awakened spiritual seeker, you may feel a deep sense of inner longing. Like something is almost missing in your life. You may also feel an immense pull to go on a quest to find that missing puzzle piece and find yourself curious around various spiritual practices. You are hearing the call! The call to return to your intrinsic nature, your divine self the metaphorical missing piece of the puzzle. There is no need for a catalyst to push you to follow the call. You surrender to the path of ascension naturally. Although you are embracing this shift in consciousness, it can still be a little unsettling. Because it may bring into question your current reality. That may be people, places and things that are not aligning with this shift.

2. Cataclysmically

As the cataclysmically awakened spiritual seeker, you may feel as if your whole world is being flipped upside down. By this I mean there is a catalytic situation or circumstance through which your awakening is being initiated. Some examples of this could be a relationship breakdown, the death of a loved one, illness, divorce, trauma, financial hardship, national or global crisis as we have on many occasions collectively experienced.

You may also find after reading about the characteristics of a spontaneous awakening you can recall a time in your past where you may have also experienced this type of awakening, but at the time refused the call to transform. Essentially opting to stay in the status quo zone.

Awakening through a catalyst at this time may have you feeling extreme pain, fear, overwhelm and sorrow. But it also gives you the opportunity to connect to your faith, dig deep, grow spiritually, heal and put you back on your divinely guided destined path.

Stage 2 - Loved Up

Now that you have awakened in stage 1 and your consciousness has elevated, the divine gifts you a peek in at your new alternate state of reality. In this stage you may feel a sense of being blissed out, as you feel very connected to your divinity. Your heart chakra has awakened and you may be experiencing many moments of true connection to your soul and have the realisation that there is more to you than just your humanness. This is something we tend to forget after a lifetime of our mind dominating our lives as we busily run around on autopilot day in and day out. You may also find yourself having some of these experiences,

• A lot more compassion for others.

• Deeper connections with others.

• Feeling a sense of unity with all things and merging with all of creation on an energetic level.

• Crying a lot or experiencing a lot of emotions.

• Altered states of consciousness.

• Synchronicity, where you may see repeating number sequences.

• Synchronistic alignment with spiritual mentors, teachers and spiritual practices.

• Soulful connections with other spiritual seekers. You feel a sense of familiarity with them although meeting for the first time in this lifetime.

• Signs through totem animals and song lyrics. Also random things people say may align with something you have been trying to find clarity around.

• Serendipity. Whereby past lovers, friends, old acquaintances may show up out of the blue.

• Childhood memories start resurfacing.

• Heightened intuition.

• Vivid dreams.

• Discovery of some spiritual gifts.

• Deep introspection into who you are? And, why you are here?

Stage 3 - The Dark Night Of The Ego

In the previous stage 2 the veil is lifted, and the fog somewhat clears as you get a sneak peek into the authentic reality you are meant to be living. One of love, purity and connection to all of creation. The previous stage was swiftly propelling you forward into the remembrance of your infinite, intrinsic nature. Because of this prior realisation, in this stage The Dark Night Of The Ego you may find yourself in a state of extreme confusion. You will most likely now start questioning your very existence. Your ego is now being challenged and with this a huge purification process begins. Old beliefs, behavioural patterns and thought forms are being purged from the psyche, in order to make room for the concretisation of your newly evolved consciousness.

You see, as children we were very connected to our intrinsic nature, but somewhere along the way we developed spiritual amnesia as we were seeded with the beliefs of our ancestors, parents, teachers and society to conform to a particular status quo. Although this was very well intentioned guidance, we lost that childlike wonder and love of life and instead began to engage in the world from a place of fear. The more we listened to others the more our ego grew in power. A paradox really when you come to think of it. As it only resulted in a limited perception of the world, collective depression and conformity. Not really what I would classify as a powerful way of being at all!

As your old paradigm collapses you may feel deeply disconnected or unplugged from life, some classify this as a deep spiritual depression. In actuality an existential crisis is taking place and it’s feeling very uncomfortable. Everything you believed to be true about life feels like a false impression of reality. Your remembering the deeper meaning of life and who you truly are.

"Stop believing your just a human being, your keeping yourself small! Your a Multidimensional Being who is capable of more than a human being could ever comprehend"

- Michelle Therese

The onset of this stage may be fraught with anxiety and confusion. You may find yourself doing some deep introspection and pondering on questions like,

• Who am I?

• There must be more to life than this?

• Why am I here? What is my greater purpose?

In this stage you may feel the following,

• Deep sadness.

• Despair.

• A sense of loosing everything.

• Isolation.

• Hopelessness.

• Melancholy.

• A sense of life being a bad dream, not real.

• Feeling as if you are dying.

• Some individuals may experience more than one dark night of the ego throughout their spiritual journey.

Stage 4 - Tests, Obstacles And Karma Clearing

You may find yourself experiencing tests, obstacles and karma clearing at any time throughout your spiritual journey in order to help you clear your more deeply engrained patterns and beliefs. This will further align your mind, body and spirit. By this I mean you may have a wound from childhood which has been templated as a belief that you have carried throughout your whole life.

E.g. Your grade 3 school teacher always called on you for the answer to an equation in maths class in front of the other students. You most times got the answer wrong. This experience lead to your classmates taunting you at lunchtime with hurtful name calling such as a dumb-ass, idiot, loser etc… A belief then formed as a youngster that you were all these things. You were just not good enough!. And as time went on this belief grew in power and manifested into a more nuanced negative self talk like,

• “I’m a failure”.

• “I’m a disappointment”

• “I’m incompetent”

Present time a job comes up that you are absolutely qualified for, but you don’t even show up for the interview believing you are not competent enough for the role. This is what I would classify as a test. This incidence would most likely force you to ask yourself the question of why you would do such a thing and let this amazing opportunity pass you by? If you are able to be consciously aware, go inside, find and heal the original childhood wound, you will give yourself the opportunity to release this belief about yourself, so as you don’t let another fabulous opportunity pass you by ever again. Your soul also purges this karmic energy and your frequency elevates through these experiences.

Stage 5 - The Cellular Body Aligns

We are dualistic creatures us human beings. We have an energetic component and a physical component to us. Both are interconnected. In stage 3 The Dark Night Of The Ego your energetic body experiences an energetic purge that being old thought forms and deeply repressed emotions. Now its time for your cellular body to align with this shift. As this dense energy is released the physical body also starts to detox from a deep cellular level. Looking at this from a higher perspective its such a wonderful gift to have a cleaning house taking place, but whilst in the midst of this process it can be quite unsettling. Some of the physical symptoms you may experience are,

• Dizziness.

• Digestive issues.

• Rashes.

• Acne.

• Bloating.

• Lethargy.

• Falling.

• Vibrating during sleep.

• Tingling sensations throughout the body.

• Changes in diet.

• Food intolerances.

• Disrupted sleep, waking during the night at the same time repeatedly.

• Sensitivity to light and loud noise.

• Aching bones.

• Muscle soreness.

• Ringing in the ears.

*Please use your own discernment. If you are concerned about any of these physical symptoms listed above, please seek medical advice.

Stage 6 - The Cocoon

This stage I feel is likened to the butterfly life cycle. Whereby the caterpillar enters the cocoon to surrender to the complete falling apart of itself, therefore essentially only existing in essence. Its past life has been shed and in this shedding has made way for the rebirth of its new ascended form. The beautiful butterfly! After stage 3, 4 and 5 this is exactly what has happened. You have experienced the breaking down of all past templating, beliefs, wounding so forth. Your cellular body has also gone through a great purge. After all the deep healing that has taken place, you are now in the great resting cycle, just before emerging out as the new upgraded version of yourself. During this stage you may feel a sense of,

• Disconnection to the divine.

• Isolation from the outside world.

• Being stuck in the in-between or no mans land.

• Extreme fatigue, as a lot of healing has taken place.

Stage 7 - Metamorphosis

In this stage you emerge from the safe haven of your metaphorical cocoon. You have transformed! The beautiful light of your soul has been further activated and it is now time for you to engage in the world from your souls point of view. In this stage you will also integrate the past by seeing the deeper meaning of your human experience. You will understand why various situations and circumstances took place whether they were good, bad or ugly. You will also find forgiveness for yourself and for those who took part in your evolutionary process. Forgiveness doesn’t mean we forget, but we understand the importance of the roles others have taken on for our growth and healing. Extreme gratitude for the hardships you have overcome, a deeper connection to the divine, an unwavering love of self, and a desire for peace will also be felt. You may also feel a sense of,

• Being more grown up, regardless of age.

• Change in personality.

• Spiritual, emotional and mental maturation.

• Being more grounded, and that a balancing out of the material and spiritual aspects of being has taken place.

• Your human vessel being more in harmony with your soul self, as they have learnt to play harmoniously together.

• Being “Bossed up” and more powerful and optimistic than ever before.

• Being able to return to the external world, no longer resorting to escapism.

• No longer being wishy washy, submissive or emotionally fragile.

• Being more decisive and truth telling.

• More connectedness to yourself and able to embody self love.

• Not being afraid to set boundaries, as you value your new upgraded energy frequency.

• Experiencing a deeper connection to the universe and the divine, this is in a more grounded sense, unlike stage 2 Loved Up where you are more airy fairy.

• Being able to manifest and magnetise desires more effortlessly . (So be careful what you wish for. It’s always a good idea to go inside first with your intentions to get clear!).

Stage 8 - Realisation And Commitment To Life Purpose

Stage 8 Is all about grounding your life purpose. You may or may not have an understanding in this stage what exactly your purpose is here on Planet Earth. You most likely would have pondered on questions like the following throughout your awakening process,

• Who am I?

• Why am I here?

• What can I do to help humanity at this time?

If you are still feeling lost in regards to what your superpower is, I have a short exercise to get you started off on the path to discovering your destined purpose.

Take out your journal and reflect back over the many roles you have played throughout your life’s journey. Role playing or interests as a child, are also valuable to note. Write down all the skills that were required in those roles, there is usually a strong theme of reoccurring talents. Interestingly enough this reflection holds a valuable key to unlocking your most authentic character you were meant to play in this lifetime. These skills will become transferable and you will have the realisation that these past roles were actually qualifying you for your most authentic calling, in which you would step into in some un foreseen future.

Uncovering your life purpose may take some time. So do try to practice patience with yourself and the process. This exercise is a great way to start you off on the journey, then just follow the signs.

You will know when you have discovered what your purpose is by the feeling you have in your heart space. If you feel passion and excitement with this revelation, move without hesitation towards where you are being called.

Self Care Tips You May Find Valuable

• Don’t fight the process, it’s best to surrender.

• Eat a clean diet.

• Stay hydrated, drink lots of water. This is most beneficial whilst your physical body is purging.

• Meditate/Pray.

• Get involved in spiritual practices.

• Immerse yourself in nature.

• Journal write about your experience.

• Re program your mind with positive affirmations.

• Spend time in communication with your spiritual team, ask for signs, protection and if the energy is too much ask for a more gentle process.

• Cultivate a deeper connection with your intuition.

• Try your best to let negative emotions and thoughts just pass through you rather than going up into the mind space and going on walks with negative narratives.

• Socialise with like minded individuals who can support you on your journey.

  
  

So there you have it, the 8 key stages I experienced during my spiritual awakening process. Something important to add though, no two people are the same, we are all unique. Therefore your experience most certainly will differ. You may find the stages occur at different times or overlap and that is absolutely perfect for your souls evolution.

Your spiritual awakening will prove to be a phenomenal journey of self discovery. The highs and lows of the process will develop your awareness around your multidimensional gifts, elevate your consciousness, and empower you beyond what you ever thought possible. You have done some deep healing and are now cultivating the best version of yourself. Something we should all be striving for in these modern times.

Now it’s time to play! Go and co-create with the divine that magical life you imagined…

What stage are you in? I would love to hear in the comments down below.

Love always,

Michelle Therese xo