Vale of Shadows

A lotus blossoms with deep rich mud into which she plunges her roots and draws great nourishment. From this mud, made of water and earth, growth happens and great beauty is revealed. Your Soul lotus thrives through depth of emotion and aliveness of your body into which she can plant her Self and unfold as a lotus of light.

Your Soul lotus is blossoming. Just like a plant that outgrows the pot in which it has been planted and requires more soil to spread its roots and continue growing, your Soul lotus needs some more mud – some more water and earth energy – so that it can grow and shine.

In the spiritual worlds, all things serve. Everything. Including our darker emotions and parts of our body that we may not think are acceptable. They are actually good nourishment for our Soul. The Soul craves to love and be in love with all parts of you! Like a passionate, divine lover, it wants to hold nothing back and become completely spiritually intimate with all aspects and all parts of you whether you have thought they were loveable or not.

This can be challenging because it can feel extremely uncomfortable to visit and consciously engage with those aspects of our personality and our bodies that we have yet to really love and accept. Yet this is what you are guided to embrace now.

This process might be started by taking a class or engaging in a physical practice that honors the shadow part of you. If you have considered yourself an introverted person, it might be to begin to honor the counter side of this, the part that needs community and people in order to thrive. If you consider yourself a quiet person, you might need to explore how you can find joy through sound, music and energy, for example. If you consider yourself a passionate person, you could benefit from finding the part of you that is peaceful and content in the moment with things exactly as they are right now.

This inner play isn’t about saying that who you are now is not enough, it is about acknowledging that you are that thing you believe you are not – and finding a way to live it with consciousness and love. It is about delving into the parts of you that have been hidden in a vale of shadows, and are now becoming ready to be revealed and lived as a part of the beautiful and whole being that you are in truth.

In particular this oracle asks you to look at where you can nourish your emotional and physical life with more focus – perhaps through art, creativity, journaling your dreams, creating collages, or engaging in dance or other forms of movement. Your spirit needs it to thrive at this time.

Healing Through the Vale of Shadows

Sit with your journal and write down five things that you admire in another but do not believe that you are or have within you, and then do the same with five things that you dislike in another but can not recognize in yourself.

Say, “Through the grace of Kuan Yin and with the healing purpose of nourishing myself into greater Soul light now, show me how I can claim these lost parts of Self and live them with consciousness and love.”

Take a moment to imagine how the beautiful light parts that you don’t see in yourself could be given an opportunity to begin to grow. An example might be that if you love the skills that you see in another, you could commit to trying out some classes to see where your own hidden talents lie.

Take another moment to imagine how the dark parts you see and dislike in others could be recognized and forgiven in yourself and possibly turned into more conscious expressions. An example might be that rage could be turned into healthy anger that sets loving firm boundaries.

Acknowledge your courage in doing this work and take a moment to give thanks for your own efforts and the divine grace that will assist you on the journey to greater self-embodiment.

A Prayer for Assistance Through the Vale of Shadows

I pray to Kuan Yin, beloved spiritual mother, please help me be fearless in the Vale of Shadows, realizing that I am just growing in self-awareness and whatever has grown ugly through lack of love will gleam like a polished jewel through my attention, willingness to love and accept all parts of me and my divinely-inspired creativity in integrating this part of me into my life with more consciousness. Om Mani Padme Hum. May all parts of me be blessed. Om Mani Padme Hum.