The Language of Your Soul
Symbols, suggests Debra Moffitt in her book Awake In The World, are the language of the Soul. She goes on to suggest that when we are open to the symbols that are all around us in the world, they help us learn the deeper meanings and contain emotional power that assists us find solutions to our problems and have a better understanding of ourselves and how we walk in this world.
Symbol dictionaries give us a basic meaning of the symbol, though they do not give us what the symbol means to us personally. Added to this, as we grow older, and we build on our life experiences, the meanings will grow and change with us.
It is thought that unique symbols’ meaning can come from our experiences and this is a good place for reminding ourselves of “who writes the rules?” They also can reflect our inner state or our deeper feelings and encourage us to weave the tapestry of our life that integrates the dark and the light and the thin and the thick of the textures of our experiences.
Similar to the theme of the piece before this, do you need to know exactly what a symbol means? Many of the symbols present in the natural world or in ancient stones or texts are about the gift you can give yourself by becoming more adept in the language of your inner world by checking in with your feelings and then honouring them by acting from what you discover there … whether you are male or female, you can tap into your feminine aspects.
It isn’t just about the symbolism of dreams or markings carved in stone, it is more the commitment to ‘pay attention’ to the many facets of nature and life that play out in our journey in this world and then interpreting it from your inner world and allowing it to flow into the outer world of your life. Living your life in this way means you are not reliant on the approval or the love of others in order to feel the inner wisdom that gives you the ability to flow with your life.
So how does this link with Reiki? Working for many years with the symbolism of the Moon and Native American Medicine, then looking at aspects of the Futhark [‘Older Language’] Runes and more recently the language of the stars and astronomy, I see it as easy to work with Reiki and the symbolism present in this system of energy healing.
Regardless of your Degree Level of Reiki, the first and foremost aspect of working with symbolism is to work with Albert Einstein’s thoughts that “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift”. Working with symbols is a brilliant way of seeking out our own intuitive thoughts and feelings about any aspect of life.
The commitment to learning the language of your Soul and to understanding its messages begins with asking about simple things or working with your imagination which you pass through your heart to draw on its guidance and wisdom.
You might be saying to yourself, well that’s ok for the Reiki second level and third level apprentices, but I don’t have Reiki symbols. Strictly speaking, no you don’t; however, there are a number of symbols around that are contained in or related to the Reiki symbols, and one you can start with is the Buddhist symbol for infinity which is an anticlockwise flat spiral, or the Tai Chi or the Lemniscate, probably more familiar as the figure 8 laid on its side. Another symbol is the Caduceus and the healing ‘snakes entwined’. Or you can look at the bark of a tree and find a ‘green man’ and see how you feel about that.
Reiki I apprentices as well as Reiki II and Reiki III apprentices could begin their own symbol collection – use small, plain, index cards and paste or draw pictures on them that mean something to you, or on which you would like to meditate to learn their deeper wisdom.
Another way of working with symbols is to become very clear about what you need in life and so you can ‘talk’ to your journal or in your prayers or in conversations with the sky as you have a solitary walk. At the end ask for a clear, recognisable sign and then use the ‘symbol’ that shows up in your dreams, through animals, numbers, coincidences (including advertising hoardings!!) or that you are drawn to create in your journal. Then infuse your life with these fresh insights.
Hawkmoon.
Image – Conrad Ziebland – Unsplash
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