Steve and I had a great conversation about a year ago about the intersection of gratitude and power. The practice of gratitude is one of my favorite spiritual practices. I practice it in two ways, one is a cornerstone for me to step back into my power when things don’t go smoothly. The other is to get myself into a vibration from where I can manifest my desires.
Steve’s question to me was “To whom are you grateful? Is not the expression of thanks or gratitude the yielding of your power? Asserting that something is bigger than you that you must bow and give thanks to?”
My response was "It doesn't matter." It is the vibration of gratitude within myself that I am cultivating more than I am directing it TO something. If you are working with a particular spirit or deity and receive the help that you asked for it may be appropriate to express gratitude to them. The words “the Universe”, “Source”, “God”, are all words that are owned by different organizations and groups and have many meanings to different people.
Don't get stuck on the level of words. A word is no more than a means to an end. It's an abstraction. Not unlike a signpost, it points beyond itself - Eckhart Tolle
Phase 1 - Gratitude Practice - creating a powerful place to start manifesting
I am going to work with the idea of the Universe here, not because I ascribe to that, but I need a word to express the concept. For the purpose of manifesting it seems that if you reach out with your intention and emotionalize what it would be like to receive your goal, the universe organizes itself around you to see that you get to the place you stated you want to go.
Vibrations that are counter to your goals are doubt, lack, fear, anxiety, and unworthiness.
Focusing on gratitude gives me a clean place to begin manifesting from. It creates a way out of these counter productive energies and sets the stage for me to powerfully manifest my goals.
Once I have identified what it is that I choose to create, I write it out in positive present tense empowered language.
(We discuss the Language of Manifesting in week 2 of Moon Magic and Transmutational mediation. And in our blog The Language of Manifesting – How to Get What You Ask For.)
- I choose to expand my clairvoyant abilities.
- I choose to experience my next great love in my life.
- I am constantly making $3k per month.
I bet into my gratitude vibration by stating what I am grateful for. They are things I have achieved, things I have received, things I have learned all related to the goal I choose to manifest.
This puts me in a neutral empowered place.
From there I can speak out my intention. Then feel what it will feel like to have it. What will it mean to me, how will my life be enhanced by the achievement of this goal.
This practice can stand alone or be reinforced by whatever magical system you work with. Candle Magic, Sigil magic, and Chakra work, can all be great places to start.
Phase 2 Gratitude Practice - staying grateful on the path
In my experience when I plant a 'goal flag' in the distance stating “This is the intention that I choose,” the Universe hears me. That does not mean it instantly appears, it means the journey of attainment begins.
A class I once attended described it this way, all of the people who have what it is you choose to have, possess a way of being that makes it possible for them to have that thing. Something about who they are is a match for the things, experiences, and abilities that they possess, therefore the things they have are attracted to them.
So when I say:
I choose to experience my next great love into my life.
The Universe, or the part of me that is the Universe, sets about getting me ready to be able to receive the gift when it comes, to become the kind of person who attracts the kind of love that I choose to experience. This very often comes in the form of challenges. These are opportunities for me to learn new lessons, experience new points of view, or heal things within myself. Some paths are longer than others, but the bigger the goal the bigger the change required to get it.
So when those challenges come the mantra I use is:
“How can I get back to grateful”
How can I choose to see this as a challenge rather than a defeat? How do I use this situation to empower myself to learn the lesson from the challenge that I created when I chose to manifest this goal? This creates an opportunity to expand my point of view, or reflect on what is coming forward to heal. Then I can begin to do the work that is required to implement that learning.
For example:
I choose to experience my next great love into my life.
But what I experienced next week was a terrible first date.
“How can I get back to grateful”
- Ok, what did I learn about what I don't want?
- How can I make my picture of my perfect relationship clearer?
- How did I respond to the interaction?
- Did I practice creating boundaries?
- Where did I value myself and see that reflected, or where did I not present myself as a person of value and was therefore not treated well?
- Where can I practice letting go of resentment against this person who I will never see again.
- Where am I being stubborn or holding on to old beliefs that no longer serve me?
- I then choose to see the whole experience as if I have just been gifted a low stakes practice session, because he is obviously not the right person.
This is the process that I take myself through every time these challenges arise in my life.
What I am creating here is an empowering context.
- I am using gratitude to get back centered and into my power.
- I am staying out of victimhood, it did not happen to me, I created a situation for my growth.
- If I manifested this situation it must have been for a reason let's find it.
Using each situation as a way to practice the skills you are honing to become the person you choose to be.
- Applying these learnings to become a person who embodies the way of being that is necessary to possess the things you choose to have.
These two applications of gratitude have become a favorite part of my practice. The first allows me to enter a mindspace from which I can powerfully manifest free from the push pull of backward energy. The second allows me to stay on the path of attainment of that which I desire. It lets me see challenges as growth opportunities and stay in my power around them. If I manifested it, I can overcome it, and I can use this to make me better.
The conversation Continues with Moon Magic
Steve and I have continued our conversation on the Intersection of Gratitude and Power. We have now written 3 (soon to be 4) books on Moon Magic, and working with the 7 Magical Phases of the Moon.
Our conversation on gratitude really found a home in What is the Best Magic to do at the Waning Gibbous Moon?
As we often do in our collaborations Steve has taken the gratitude idea and run with it. He suggests we use gratitude as a type of banishing spell at the waning gibbous moon.
Gratitude is a superpower
Using gratitude as a practice will empower your manifestation skills, and bring about the life you choose to create. The only real question is what are you waiting for? Stand with me at the Intersection of Gratitude and Power.
With Much Gratitude,
April Morgalis
Are you ready to Empower Your Magic at The Intersection of Gratitude and Power?
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