Dark Night of the Soul

You are ready for a more real and radiant relationship with the Divine. Your preconceived ideas and safe, limiting beliefs may be sacrificed in order for this to happen. To the Divine, these are only the clothing of your spirit; they are impediments to the absolute intimacy the Divine seeks with you. You might feel vulnerable or uncertain as the Divine goes about stripping away these barriers. This is when you enter the dark night of the soul. You understand there is nothing to rely upon but the Divine, and you will find it difficult to trust at times. This night will end, however, and the sweetness of the Divine dawning in your heart shall render all worthwhile. But for now, you are meant to feel exactly as you feel. You are not doing something wrong. You are moving closer to the Divine.

Even though you are already on a spiritual path this lifetime, you can go deeper. Sometimes people know this and yet are afraid. Familiar with emotional drama,  they are hesitant to let go of what they know – even if that is emotional suffering and mental anguish. That fear prevents them from being willing to trust in the loving hand reaching out to them. It might seem silly, yet letting go of fear to take hold of the hand of love can be extraordinarily difficult.

If you don’t trust that will hold you, letting go can seem like allowing yourself to fall into an abyss. a feeling of madness may plague you, as you wonder if you are sane to leave a known world behind you and enter into the darkness of your own doubt and fear. You sense that the old self and the familiar ways will not survive this dark night. Even if you know in your heart that this sort of spiritual death is an opening to new life, it can still be profoundly confronting.

The only way to end the dark night is to go through it. To endure it and know that, although you will not understand how it could be possible, it will transform itself into the sweetest grace. In time, you shall be on your knees, not in despairing prayer, dearest child of love, but in gratitude, peace and devotion.

Though it begins as a challenge, the dark night of the soul will become a saving grace. Love knows you are ready. No matter what you may think at this moment of struggle, you are ready to take this spiritual test and emerge more in love with the Divine than ever. Remember, this is an advanced initiation and therefore challenging at a profound spiritual level. Therefore, get some support. Even though you walk the path alone, another can help bear witness to your process and remind you that you are on a noble path of empowerment, love and truth. Also, although you may feel your guidance has abandoned you, in truth they are with you ever more closely, whispering words of encouragement, hope and love. Look for the love within and let it guide you through the dark night. It will lead you faithfully, and in perfect divine timing, into the light of your sweetest morning.

Invocation

The dark night of the soul is love calling me into the light, calling me to let go of fear, to release my every doubt and say, instead, “I know that love is more real, more powerful, than anything else. Always.” So I accept love’s power and grace, and I invite the healing presence of unconditional divine love into my heart, now. Bring me the peace and the spiritual blessing that I need to be freed from darkness and opened to the sweet light of love’s truth. May all beings caught in darkness be assisted by unconditional love, to see, feel and know that the path of love is theirs forever. Through my own free will, so be it.