Rekindling the Pathway of the Priestess | The Empty Center

Written by Baelyn Elspeth

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From here we will dive right in. Asking a worthy question that can be contemplated for eternity. How can we continue in every moment to empty and allow space for the divine to enter in?

After we explore our senses and drink in the wisdom of the living masters, it is then time to set it all down, and empty the center. Just like the contents of a bowl that is being filled, that bowl will eventually also have to be emptied. If the contents were to stay there, eventually stagnation would occur and those contents would become fetid and sour. By emptying the vessel, we complete the cycle, integrating what we can and then setting it all down and beginning again.

I have learned intimately about this process through the pathway of Cha Dao ~ preparing tea in practice and tapping into its living wisdom which applies daily in life. There is a saying in tea that my teacher often shares ~ “Advanced techniques are basic techniques mastered”. Which means, everyday we have an opportunity to begin again, building a strong foundation we repeat movements each day in this pattern and routine - practicing and refining, and each day we choose to approach these movements with great awareness and a fresh perspective. An opportunity to consciously meet each moment for the first time. In this space we begin to see where our mind gets in the way, where the unconscious habits we have built overtime taint our capacity to receive the purity of each moment.

And so then this asks another question ~ How much are you willing to let go of to continue to become more of what you are and less of what you are not?

This means setting down everything you think you have ever know. All the stories, programs and conditionings, all the ways in which we identify and all our frozen opinions. We set down all of these things that create the walls of the boxes we live in, to become more, to be the empty vessel that is connecting to the unlimited truth of source energy. To be a clear channel for the divine, we must set it all down... purify, transform, integrate, surrender .... and begin again.         

So how do we get there? A funny question when there is no destination.

This is not something we can strive for and achieve. It is quietly clearly the opposite of almost everything we have ever been taught ~ especially in western culture. It is void of competition and grasping, and melts the duality of success and failure. Just like exploring the Tao, the moment we start talking about it, or looking for it, we have missed it completely. However, for the sake of this conversation... Let’s continue, and explore briefly these “holy laws”.

~ As above, so below

It is all connected. I am sure you have heard this many times before. When we really start observing what is happening within the cosmos above and we also observe how it all unfolds here on earth, we begin to recognize themes of energy and movements that fit together like an intricate puzzle. We begin to touch this experience of heaven on earth, of the chaotic cosmic energy swirling on the winds, of the earth as reflected up in the sky. As the moon waxes and wanes, the tides the in ocean surge. As the constellations shift and we rotate around our Sun the seasons come and go. These are the natural laws and cycles ~ one thing always effecting another.

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As within, so without  

 When we really being to recognize that all that is within is also without, that  what comes to meet us in the external world is just a reflection of our own  creation, we step into a new space where we realize that we create our reality  and therefore are solely responsible for it. On all energetic, mental and 

emotional levels ~ even physical, life mimics nature, mimics life. Our organs  have similar expressions in nature as they do in our body. For example, walnuts  look like our brain, our capillaries like the veins in a leaf, almonds like our  eyes… And, quite often the natural medicines we find in turn support the  organs that they have a similar resemblance to. As we broaden our perspective,  and surface from a limited tunnel visioned way thinking, which only focuses on  our small limited self, we start seeing the correlations happening between  ourselves and the world around us. We can then transform our experience and  also see that as we make the space to shift, everything naturally begins to shift  around us. As we heal our wounds and traumas, we stop attracting others that  reflect those wounds back to us. When we actually start seeing our external  reality changing over time, we know that we are also truly changing on the  inside as well.  

And now, with an understanding that what is above is below, and within,  without, we practice becoming the vessel that is the center point in between all  things. And when we empty that vessel and make space, we have a chance to  truly become a conduit for the divine. When we shed personal preferences that  are based on the limitations of our ego, and we start to really feel connected to  the interdependence of all things, then we align our will with the will of the  Divine. Then our prayers and offerings are for the good and the good of ALL  beings and we listen through our senses, hearing the call of the living masters,  honoring those that have past and those that are yet to come by doing what  must be done. A life of ceremony is not always easy. We are asked to show up  sometimes and do things that feel arduous and inconvenient, but when we  dedicate our will to the greater harmony, the miracles that unfold through our  actions as guided by source, are unparalleled. This is the true way. A way  guided by integrity and heart, by reverence and devotion. This way is colorful  and expressive and almost never looks like anything you would ever have  expected and as you find yourself in the midst of it all, you exclaim, “Of course!”  I would have never thought, but of course this is it!”. Because you are free in  every moment to be here now, you just have to choose, to let everything else go. 

And then you dance and play, you cry and rejoice, for the simple fact that you  are alive and remember. You remember that you are here to delight in the work  of the divine and that you are all things and all things are you. And that is it, so  simple, always for eternity.  

This is the Pathway of the Priestess  

As above, so below

As within, so without  

 With air as my breath  

 Fire as my spirit 

 Water as my blood and living womb 

 Earth as my body and holy temple  

 I AM here in the center, an empty vessel  

to see the colors of the Divine  

to hear the holy songs  

and smells the fragrant oils 

with hands that perform good deeds  

and a voice to sing the hymns of Heaven and Earth  

These are the holy laws  

So it is,  

Blessed Be  

Asherah, Asherah, Asherah  

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