Have you ever gone through "the dark night of the soul"?

[I Have A Dream]

http://www.themystic.org/dark-night

It seems as though many of us are suffering spiritually now, and I'm wondering if this is what is happening for some of us.

[oxbow]

1. I'm going through it now

the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I've been continually stressed and traumatized to the point of exhaustion this month, had to face down all my demons, lost control of my ability to do energy work, and so much else. Thankfully, I think I'm through the roughest spots. God knows what happens next though. All I can do is pray and trust in the highest good to come as a result.

ps-that's a great link! I ned to take a break now, but I'll definitely be reading it all later soon.

[I Have A Dream]

2. I hope that the link helps, oxbow. I felt drawn to post this, so...

someone here must need it right now.

I hope that you're about to turn the corner and get to the point where you are feeling the joy that comes with fully connecting with your higher self. Until then, please be gentle with yourself the way you would be if it were happening to someone that you loved with all of your heart.

:hug:

[oxbow]

3. Thanks dream! that's good advice

I've actually been having some trouble with that very thing. I've started treating myself the same way I do my friends and family and especially my cat, and that seems to help. You have a pretty good sense of intuition there! ;)

[Bluestar]

4. Thanks for this

website. It articulates exactly what this state of being is like. My guides call it "pain of separation"--separating from the earthly ego and moving toward essence. As you move toward essence, both ego and essence become like two tractor beams with energy pulling you from both ends. It gets especially interesting as you move towards the central tipping point. I have to say, I was in this state for several years and it took a lot of guidance from above for me to finally understand and move closer to essence. It involves clearing the ego filters so you can move towards essence. I came in with a TON of work to do on these filters. Most important, I think, is to surrender to essence. My guides scared me with the word "surrender" because I was VERY stubborn, but eventually I came to realize this just means love and acceptance. Once I got that, things got better really fast. Sending good energy to everyone on this thread.

[NMDemDist2]

5. ego is fear driven

and it gets very "lizard brain" when it thinks it's being discarded. after all, ego's job it to protect your physical being.

love your ego, let it know you will be safe and thank it for a job well done

it helps IME

excellent post Bluestar, thanks for sharing it.

[FreedomAngel82]

6. Yes

Things seem to just be so negative now in my soul/spirit. I've been really down lately and lonely. I can't feel my guides and my guardian who is also my soul mate as much as I used to and it seems like my guides don't want anything to do with me. :shrug: Maybe it's just me. This part has been me a lot lately: All of that is me but I don't have fellow seekers or really good friends. Heh heh. :shrug: Only thing I feel like doing is staying in bed and sleeping where my dreams seem to be okay.

[FreedomAngel82]

7. I also wanted to add

thank you for posting this. I've been wondering what's going on with me, so it seems this comes at the right time. :hug: How long does this usually last? Everyonce in a while I will have this very positive feeling in my heart charkra. Like love I guess you could say. :shrug:

[I Have A Dream]

8. I'm sorry to hear that you're going through this, FreedomAngel82.

I'm certainly no expert on it, although I think that I have gone through it myself. For me, it just sort of went away over time. However, I don't think that I'm on the other side yet and at some point, I expect it to return. For some reason, I felt compelled to post something about this even though I don't really know much about it myself. Maybe the Universe just wanted us to know that it has not forsaken us when we go through this and that this is just part of the process that some of us have to go through to get to where we want to be. Also, I don't think that there's a set amount of time. The site said that it has to do with the dissolving of the control of the ego. This could certainly take different amounts of time for different people, and it could also come back if the ego reasserts control. I'm being given the image of the "tempering" of steel. Some of us have to go through the fire to find our true strength and our true selves.

Most importantly, I think that you need to realize that it's all part of the process and that you're still much beloved by the Universe. :hug::hug:

Also, a big :grouphug: from the beings that work with you. They're still there with you regardless of whether you're able to feel them. Now it's all about faith until you get to the other side.

[FreedomAngel82]

14. That's true

Sometimes I guess I just don't have enough faith. :blush: It also feels like I've been in this "rut" for several lives now and that sometimes the universe forgets about me. I always hear of other people having great signs and things like that but I don't have many that have happened to me. :( My guides don't talk too much to me anymore. :shrug:

[I Have A Dream]

19. I suspect that I have an inkling of how you feel. I also do not...

have many signs and things like that which happen to me. However, I think that the difference for you is that it sounds to me as though your guides communicated clearly with you at one time. I've never had that except for a very few situations. Therefore, I think the conscious contact with your guides going away would make you feel more abandoned, even though you're not.

My heart really aches for you because of what you're going through. I wish that I could help you. :hug:

[oxbow]

9. much love, Angel

Even deserts have rainbows, and in the soul's darkest night, there is still light to walk by.

I don't know if this will apply to you, but my trial got easier once I stopped resisting things so much. Like I was dealing with a lot of negative emotions and trying to make them go away, or to transform them. But finally I looked them in the eye, accepted them and let them say what they wanted, and since then things have been a little bit easier.

Your heart is strong and that's what matters. I know you will get through this triumphant, so don't worry at all. And when you need to vent, we are always here :) :grouphug:

[FreedomAngel82]

15. Thanks oxbow

:hug: I'm not sure how to deal with everything though. Just when I think I do it turns out it doesn't. I had a strange dream last night but I'm too embarrassed to post it here. :blush: If anyone is good at dreams please PM me.

[u4ic]

10. THANK you for that link!

:loveya: :hug:

I have been going through that exactly the past year or so...it's becoming much more intense the past few months, and I feel right now I'm going to burst...something is around the corner; it's like a faint smell...I know, but can't see what it is yet. I often felt/feel like I was/is going crazy. The anticipation...being at a strange place physically (my health has been very poor the past 5 years, but is improving slowly. I discussed it more detail on another thread).

It's as if I wrote it. Everything makes sense. According to him, I'm close to the "dawn of a new life". It gives me some hope. :-)

[I Have A Dream]

11. I'm so glad that it is able to give you a little comfort, u4ic.

It's difficult to have faith that we're on the right path when we feel as though the Universe has forsaken us, which, of course, it hasn't. Too bad that we, as humans, have to rely so heavily on our senses and emotions. I pray that you'll be turning the corner very soon, and that your soul will then be filled with an abundance of joy.

I feel as though, until we get past the ego stuff, we're living life by looking at the back of an in-process tapestry that is our soul. From the back, it appears to be a mess, and we can't tell what the next "stitch" should be. However, once we more regularly connect with our higher selves, we begin to see the front and realize that what we're creating is amazingly beautiful. Additionally, when we can see the front, it is very clear what the next "stitch" needs to be. I can't wait for the day that I can finally start to see the front of the tapestry that is my soul, and I wish the same for you. :hug:

[u4ic]

13. Thank you

:hug:

There is so much wisdom in this forum. It gives me strength to be amongst such gifted souls. :grouphug:

[jokerman93]

12. No matter what

No matter what appears to be happening, no matter how hopeless, chaotic, or disconnected it all starts to seem, just keep showing up ever morning. Be kinder to yourself if you can remember to. Go sky diving. Kiss a cat. Look for beauty in the darkness, since that's the aspect of "!" that's visiting you. Take what pleasure you can. Grieve if need be, but try to remember it ends, when it ends, with a blessing.

When the shadow pulls back, it leaves us less than we thought we were, but more alive and able to love, wonder, and participate in our deeper humanity.

So they say.

Peace,
J

[Desertrose]

16. Don't know if this helps or not....

Sometimes her Energy Alerts are right on and sometimes...not so much....

http://www.whatsuponplanetearth.com/latest.htm

December 21, 2005. The solstice. How does this particular solstice affect us at this particular time of our evolutionary process toward returning to Source?
 
With the advent of January, 2006 very soon on the horizon, and finding ourselves in a space of wanting quiet solitude or perhaps a feeling of wanting to stay “in” and at home while we are integrating and readying for the next phenomenal year, the solstice, then, greatly supports these feelings and experiences. And being in the temporary “stand still” energy, we may also feel confused with no direction as yet…….as if much has “stopped”. Quite some conflicting energies when combined with the hectic and busy energies of the holidays.



Like a huge salad that has been tossed in the air, much is in the process of “moving” and has yet to land. Where will each soul decide to reside (here or in another reality)? What will each soul decide is his/her role? Will some souls stay and be willing to evolve here on the New Earth? (And some may be feeling better than they ever have, as their roles and time is over and they are now ready to leave). Yes, everything will be vastly different, and what we are feeling and experiencing during these days before January is a sifting and sorting that will serve to support our re-birth into a New reality and experience.
 
If we can lay low and be patient for several more days, things will again move ahead. Decisions right now can be difficult as there may appear to be a fog or for those of you who are fairly tuned in with your higher selves or guidance, you may not be receiving much of any clarity in certain areas. This is because there will be great change in certain areas (notably real estate and the economy), and any decisions made now will be subject to change. We are only being protected and at these times radical trust is needed!
 

It seems as though we get these huge energy "pushes" or influxes of light and all is wonderful and things move & manifest...then other times that "support beam" isn't there and we feel lost. I've learned when those dark times come...to breathe and trust and know that the connection to guides, spirit, higher self or whatever you call it, is still there...is always there. *We* are the ones who choose to close it off, never is it closed to us.

It ain't easy on this side of the veil...but as long as we remember who and what we truly are, at least for me...if I remember, I know I will be ok.

:hug:DR

[mrgorth]

17. I can't tell you how dark

Been depressed and anxious for going on 2 years now. Very rough and I see no end in sight.

[I Have A Dream]

18. I'm sorry to hear of the suffering that you're going through, mrgorth.

Does the description of the "dark night of the soul" discussed on the web site match your feelings, or is it something different that you're feeling?

Living in this world is difficult since our memory of what we're truly capable has been "erased". However, it's especially difficult for people of a higher frequency who still have a nagging feeling that something that we could do before is missing. It's sort of like losing sight after having use of the eyes as a really young child.

I ask that the Universe help you to figure out what needs to be done to make you no longer feel the crushing weight of the depression and anxiety that you're feeling so that you are able to feel the joy that is available in this world so that you are able to do the work that you've come into this world to do. (This or something better for the highest good of all involved.)

:hug::hug:

[marions ghost]

20. oh yes

for me it began in 1996 and is now thankfully past. I say past because when you come out the other side it's as though nothing can ever be quite that bad again. You are closer to the 'essence' is a good way to put it. And you learn to harness a kind of strength you didn't know you had. Different things catapult individuals into a state of internal crisis. For me it began in an actual catastrophic storm which heralded an avalanche of several disturbing, seemingly random and external, events, one after another. I was finally told that I was showing signs of PTSS (post-traumatic stress) which can occur after such a conjunction of events. But I also interpreted this time as 'dark night of the soul' --when you question everything you have ever learned or valued. There is a lot of fear and feeling of loss and abandonment. Yes, it often is a kind of death of the immature ego-state. It is a grieving process. A shedding of a cocoon.

Some people may find help in groups or talking with others who understand the situation. If you can avoid being with those who lack understanding (as much as possible) it helps. A couple of years ago I had an astrologer look at the transits and progressions in my chart over that difficult time. She said that Pluto was conjunct my natal sun and then proceeded to a position opposite my natal Pluto during that time. From my limited knowledge of astrology I take this to be a strong statement of the transformative nature of Pluto. I am not the same person I was before The Dark Night. She also said that these influences would subside as they slowly are.

The interesting thing to me is that having come through this, I feel that I can weather disturbing things better than before. I think the regime of Bushco would have knocked me flat before, but now I find the well of hope and have no problem believing in it's healing powers. I absolutely believe that together we will find creative ways to deal with the Dark Night of Bushitler. We will eventually be transformed as a nation, I think. There are opportunities within adversity. Hold hands. They can't take millions of us down with them. More are joining us all the time.

So in my experience there are benefits to the Dark Night of the Soul, even as something is irrevocably lost. But it's hard to believe that platitude when you're in the middle of it. Each person has to find the way to the next plateau that is best for them--I think there are many different passages. To anyone reading this who is now alone and afraid--Do NOT despair. As they say in the Tao, high winds and heavy rain cannot last all day. Do whatever you need to make sense of it. Practice becoming quiet and humble and waiting for answers. They will come. They will come. Try to give yourself the gift of Time. It takes time to learn to live differently. Be glad that you have been blessed with a sudden realization of what's really going on here in this life.