Our Resurrection Story

The resurrection story, for me, had primarily been that of Jesus’ story. And I’m not even Christian. There are of course resurrection stories in ancient belief systems and many non-Abrahimc religions. Resurrection is also part of a shamanic process and an archetype.  Returning to life after death, however, is about all of us. Just within this lifetime.

Resurrection – the Story of Winter & Spring

Spring is synonymous with rebirth, new beginnings, and yes resurrection. In Winter, the season of death and stillness, we sit in the void and let what must die, die as Clarissa Pinkola Estés writes.

Winter represented by the colour black corresponds with the Kidney, where our Essence resides. In the darkness, before the light of Spring, we return to the blueprint, to our origins story, to the space before the trauma, the loss, the illness, or whatever holds parts of ourselves apart from us. To rise, we put down whatever cross we chose to carry – someone else’s suffering, shame down the ancestral lineage, the abandonment and victim story, dysfunctional and defunct belief systems and paradigms…

Left to right: Print of engraving by Matthius Merian (1660); from the Aberdeen Bestiary Project; Friedrich Justin Bertuch, Bilderbuch für Kinder, 1790-1830 (Eigenbesitz), Fabelwesen. Public domain.

Perhaps this is why so many people resonate with the Phoenix. Rising from the ashes, regenerating and immortal.

To be resurrected we must release what keeps us from living and merely surviving in a numbed existence. To recognize what blocks we hold, what barriers we have built, what filters we have installed requires self awareness. It also asks us to forgive and to bathe ourselves in compassion. In a lower consciousness state, we may have made choices that are misaligned, misdirected, or misinformed.

What have we become so attached to that it’s become part of our identity? The illusion of who we are binds us in unhappiness, suffering, and struggle.

Missing the mark is the meaning of sin. Missing our full spirit and the pure light of our heart. Our Heart-Kidney axis is awaiting activation, to bring the light of our Shen from the heart into the darkness of the Kidney to shine on our destiny, our potential and then to manifest in the light of the world.

resurrection shining our essence photo by victoria-quirk

What is Our Resurrection?

What is resurrected is our essence, or rather our expression and remembrance of who we truly are. Bringing to the world, the unique gift of who each of us is – our compassion, presence, radiance, love…. Who we are is our beingness, rather than our doing. Our job title doesn’t equate worth. Our lifestyle, skin colour, orientation, culture – these are all elements of the personality our Essence is being expressed through in this lifetime. A role we play, a wardrobe we don.

The other night I was out with my dog. It was 3am. “Can I pet your dog?” This guy asked. He put away his phone that he was checking and stubbed out his cigarette. A third year student from India, he’s still adjusting three months after being back in the rainy weather from blistering heat. He shared that his girlfriend back home also has a Golden Retriever. He seemed so happy petting my dog, talking about back home and Indian food in town. Even though my dog is not as mobile or as young as she used to be, she’s still carrying out her spiritual mission. For me, she’s an ambassador for love. She’s a love activist. That’s Essence in compassionate motion. What’s yours?

As another Spring is upon us, I invite you to lay down those crosses, let go of any self-judgment, regret, anguish, shame, guilt, and any prisons we have built for ourselves. It’s time for our resurrection.