A springtime breeze blows, carrying tidings of deep change. The animals can sense it, with their ears pricking up and whiskers twitching as they “taste” the new flavours on the wind. I feel many of us humans are also going through a period of “whisker twitching” and are strongly sensing the call to growth in human consciousness.

Enter Ascension.

The Ascension Goal

First of all - what does Ascension mean, from a New Age perspective? Is it about stepping into a higher vibration? And what exactly is a higher vibration? Higher than what - or who? How do we get elevated? And is there a peak to reach in this incarnation?

In short, Ascension is an invitation to grow by “doing the work” and being extremely open at some point to new paradigms in consciousness. This ultimately means facing our shadows and allowing light into our wounds in order to heal them. Once we “clean up our own act”, we are then better able to contribute towards healing the world.

More and more are becoming aware of this in perfecting time, as the Age of Aquarius unfolds, an age that encourages us to evolve our awareness of the Greater Good.

Additionally, Ascension means a transition from the 3D plane (the dense Earthly, material world) - to existing the 5D plane. To my understanding, 5D is a state of being rather than a physical place and allows us to experience the world at a much higher level of consciousness. When we’re operating from a 5D perspective, we tend to default to taking actions that serve that Greater Good. Our new version of joy on a personal level becomes more about seeing all beings co-thriving in the cohesive 5D state.

The Expansion Idea

I’d like to actually rename the term “Ascension” into something that I feel is much more apt: Expansion.

To me, what we are tasting on the winds of change is not so much “ascension”, but a call to have a broader perspective of ourselves, others, the Earthly plane, the known Universe and in time, we may come to understand interdimensional spaces a little more too (interdimension is another topic for another time!).

In a nutshell, there is no hierarchy of achievement here, simply ripples of learning getting larger and larger.

In fact, the term Ascension itself feels very 3D to me. There is no top tier level we need to achieve as we Expand. Expansion includes elements of “the journey, not the destination” and feeling a sense of achievement in the ongoing gathering of skills, knowledge and experiences. To me, once we begin gently broadening our experience, there is really no end game or goal post, as the opportunity for expansion is infinite.

I also feel Expansion invites us to know an ongoing sense of contentment, no matter what life throws at us. Even when times of hardship require our focus to be in the 3D foreground, we can still simultaneously run a “program” that things are ok, always have been and always will be, somewhere in our awareness. We can still choose moments to relax into contentment within ourselves, despite any mayhem going on around us.

The Love Taxi

It’s comforting to remember that during this whole experience of Expansion, we are not alone and have a constant travel companion - Love.

Love simply is. And we are conduits of Love.

At times, this requires us to be open to a high level of emotional vulnerability. In some instances, it takes a lot of courage to let Love love through us. So many of life’s unfair experiences understandably challenge people to decide whether they want to keep their heart open, or temporarily disown Love.

Since we are so highly capable of choosing Love no-matter-what, I sense that we are Love’s preferred beings to share a Taxi ride with! Love can float through the universe without us, but it’s much nicer to share the ride. Perhaps Love gets to experience the joy of us, as much as we experience it.

The Muddle in the Middle

Let’s get back to tacking the challenges that come with the process of growth. When it comes to learning, it feels like there are many pathways to choose from, but I wonder if the multitude of attractive teachings somehow blocks us from consulting our own deep instinct.

I don’t know about you, but there are times I’ve felt like a deer frozen in the headlights, thanks to the many spotlights on the multitude of paths to Ascension!

Looking for a guide is a common go-to for many. But which guide? What if you choose the wrong one? What if they only get you so far? How many guides must we enlist until we finally find ourselves taking the steps required to make our lives more joyful?

It feels like we’re inundated with the amount of options that jump up on our feed. Don’t get me wrong - I’m glad there are many paths that help us expand our consciousness, than less. But is less appropriately more at times?

And now we go to the table at the centre of the Muddle - the smorgasboard!

The Smorgasboard

At the Grand Expansion Buffet, there is smorgasboard of healing modalities and awareness-raising topics to choose from. And there is often a structured recipe behind each “dish”.

Structure definitely has its place. Structure feels Earthy, methodical and safe. It can be wise to undertake spiritual coaching with an Expansion practitioner if they do offer a carefully structured modality.

But what happens when we have learned all we can from the one source? Do we find another coach to fill in the gaps? Over the years, I’ve met people who have learned from one spiritual coach after another, after another. With each teaching, these people have been able to gain a broad range of perspectives, all of which has helped expand their awareness.

However, there can be limitations with oversampling the smorgasboard. At what point do we stop looking without for answers and start consulting the Wiser Self within?

The Trusted Guide

Not long after the turn of the millennium, I spent a fair amount of time living in East Java, Bali, Thailand and Nepal. I connected with trustworthy spiritual teachers across different faiths, which certainly helped with my Expansion process.

In Australia, I also found helpful guides who taught me about my own Celtic ancestry, Pagan traditions and many Esoteric practises. The learning was so stimulating, deep, challenging - and fun!

Then one day I put the brakes on. Mind you, we never stop learning - but I got a powerful intuitive nudge to actively stop studying for a period of time and just sit with all I’d learned to date.

It wasn’t easy to begin with. But I eventually went from being “workshop junkie” to finally mustering the courage to consult Inner Wisdom!

The first step was to allow myself to experience Pure Awareness. I’m sorry to say there is no structured methodology for this. It’s difficult to explain, but it is like a lesson that has no beginning, no end and no teacher. It is the wise counsel that’s there for the taking, if only we’d listen, to what I call “My-voice-not-my-voice”.

It requires complete faith to trust that guidance comes from the Divine which speaks to us through our Higher or Wiser Self. It also requires an huge amount of grounded discernment, to sort through between the very believable arguments our ego/anxiety presents to us (this part is where workshops and guides come in handy!).

The Listener

Over many years, I have coached people in spiritual development, offering some structure, but mostly building their confidence to begin listening to their Wiser Self. And at some point in the coaching, they are called to have taste of how strong this connection can be.

Many students thrived in this experience and were visibly able to achieve their goals over the years in the 3D world. Some believed they were not ready and were perhaps afraid to know themselves in this way, preferring the treadmill of endless study, course after course, teacher after teacher, building their theoretical knowledge.

Listening to the Inner Voice it is understandably quite confronting - and intoxicating! When we first truly experience the depth of our connection with the Divine, it’s a lot. It’s why some people get giddy after a Kundalini awakening, or feel “mind-blown” when they use external plant substances to facilitate their connectedness to the Divine within.

Helping Hands

At this stage, I feel the Expansion journey requires a balanced approach.

Growth works well by interacting and learning from the world around us. It’s great to know we’re all humbly here to help each other along the way when the 3D expereince gets tough. Serving others in this way is an honour - and having the experience of being served and nurtured through a tough time is an equal privilege, because we get to appreciate others and their wonderful gifts.

But also knowing when the Divine spark is flagging us down for a deep chat is imperative. And our role is to simply make room to listen.

And as for the muddle, the answer is simple really - through Expansion, not ascension, our self-awareness increases, our connection to the Divine strengthens - and so does our Unity with others.

The Ascension Muddle

Toxic Trigger Accountability

How Wizards work Spiritual Pop Culture