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What to Do after a Major Otherworldly Vision

Full title: What to Do after a Major Otherworldly Vision or Powerful Calling from the Gods: Priesthood Means Service

 

A major, otherworldly, life-changing vision—or a forceful calling from the Gods—that lacks the follow-through of acts of service corrupts one’s spirit eventually.

 

The calling or vision ends up feeding the false ego. ... Wow, voice-recognition software turned “feeding the ego” into “cheating the eagle.” Oh, my Gods! (I added the word “false” later, when correcting the errors voice recognition created.)

 

The false ego then curtails connection with the Divine and creates a mirage of connectivity that gives erroneous information. This misleading guidance leads one into wrongdoing. 

 

The whole process I described of going astray after a major vision or Divine call can occur unwittingly. 

 

People who call themselves a priestess or priest, but the only thing they serve is their own ego—even if they do it unknowingly—get corrupted. Yes, even if they have the best intentions, corruption sets in unknowingly.

 

I am by no means suggesting the follow-through must be perfect, fearless, or immediate. All human undertakings are far from perfect. And it can take someone a long time to figure out what their follow-through should be. 

 

And often, we might know the most immediate way we can be of service but not know our longterm plan of service yet. That's to be expected.

 

For myself, I’ve been in an ongoing process; my ability to serve and the ways I serve both continue to grow, and they need to continue to grow because I cannot rest on my laurels; to whatever degree I am not of service is the exact degree to which my spirit is not whole and the exact degree to which I will not be happy. 

 

I'm not suggesting self-neglect; service includes taking care of myself, knowing my limits, and having boundaries.

 

A priest or priestess is a servant. That can take many forms. It might mean you give Tarot readings to the general public. Or perhaps your work is hidden because you serve the Gods through constant offerings to Them, rituals to heal Gaia, and tending the property on which you live. 

 

Perhaps your wonderful work would invalidated by misled priests and priestesses who deem your service too humble to be called priesthood, e.g., cooking healthy nutritious meals for your family and otherwise taking care of them on the physical plane. 

 

A Divine call or major vision, without a follow-through of service, not only eventually corrupts the spirit, it also can destroy one’s spiritual peace and material well-being.

 

If my definition of priesthood— that a priest is a servant—is true, then humility must be an ever present goal. 

 

Achieving humility is a topic unto itself and no easy trait to acquire. Nor is it an asset that, once acquired, is permanent. Finding humility is a lifelong journey. But here are a few suggestions.

 

1) Find a teacher who does a lot of service and ask them for instruction.

 

2) Pray for humility.

 

3) Think of someone whose arrogance really bothers you. Good chance it's because they're mirroring your own arrogance. Yes, you may have other good reasons for being bothered by their conceited attitude, such as it hurting those with whom the pompous person comes in contact. But put that aside for a moment and try to determine what in yourself they might be reflecting. You may have to get creative here, because large or subtle differences between their arrogance and yours can make you not see your own. In these instances, I get in touch with the sort of feeling that person’s arrogance gives off, as opposed to any specific haughty actions of theirs that bother me. I then check inside myself to see if that same feeling is in me.

 

Be assured none of this essay is empty words. Life has taught me a road to happiness, and what I'm saying in this essay describes part of that road. 

 

As a shamanic teacher, I don’t suggest anything I wouldn’t do myself. While I’ve been writing this essay, I’ve also been examining myself for ways I need to apply it to my own life right now. (It doesn't matter that I've applied this essay’s thoughts before; if I'm writing about them, I need to apply them again.) So know you're not alone in your journey as a visionary or as someone whom the Gods have called; we are in this together, growing and learning, even if we never meet in person or online.

 

Serve well! You will be whole and happy. 

 

To learn about my upcoming classes, subscribe to my free newsletter here: http://www.outlawbunny.com/newsletter/ .

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Francesca De Grandis aka Outlaw Bunny is the bestselling author of "Be a Goddess!" Founder of The Third Road, a Faerie Shamanism tradition that she teaches through both text and oral tradition, De Grandis says, "I'm a trickster working for benevolent chaos Gods, so I don't play mean tricks." Bard, painter, mystical innovator, and busy elf who works part-time for Santa Claus, she blogs here and on her own sites, www.stardrenched.com and www.outlawbunny.com

Comments

  • Jane Gilgun
    Jane Gilgun Tuesday, 26 September 2017

    I'm looking forward to autumn and to winter because winter especially in Minnesota can be beautiful and because of the cold it invites quiet solitude. This essay gives me something to reflect on.

    Receiving gifts from mysterious sources leads naturally to service, and if something else inhibits the movement to service then we do suffer. As for the arrogance of others being a source of pain, yes, sometimes they are mirrors. Sometimes they also activate memories of times in our lives when the arrogance of others was so intense that they dominated us. This happens in families where one or more self-centred persons pay no attention to the emotional development and experiences of children. After a while, the children experience invalidation and doubt their dignity and worth.

    Later in life, witnessing arrogance in action can activate memories and emotions associated with a sense of worthless and disrespect. Such an association may be thought of as a mirror but in such cases the mirror reflects meanings that we might not recognize and that cause us emotional pain. Such pain can cut us off from others because the pain can create self-centeredness in us.

    Quiet moments in the calmness that winter represents can allow natural loving-kindness toward the self to arise and thus ease the harshness of doubting one's worthiness. When this happens, we are emotionally available to others and capable of service based upon loving-kindness for ourselves and others.

  • Francesca De Grandis
    Francesca De Grandis Tuesday, 26 September 2017

    Hi, Jane, thank you for your comments. They are beautiful, well spoken, loving, and deep. I agree with all of them.

    As I said in my essay, mirroring is not the only reason one might be upset when witnessing arrogance. I didn’t have space here to go into any of those other reasons. So I’m glad you spelled one of them out for others who might come to this post.

    I find it interesting that you mention pain causing self-centeredness. That is not something that many people realize, so I teach that a lot to my students.

    Blessed be!

  • Ted Czukor
    Ted Czukor Tuesday, 26 September 2017

    Dear Goddess, Francesca, this is a wise-womanly piece of teaching, and very obviously NOT just empty words! Your experiences reflect my own path and remind me to reorient my focus in a more service-oriented direction. Thank you

    I love the mindless arrogance of computer software! It has come a long way since the closed captioning on America's Got Talent, but what programmer thought that "cheating the eagle" would make more sense than "feeding the ego?"

    You'd better feed the eagle, or it WOULD feel cheated - and then what would you be? A bad servant with a messed-up face!

  • Francesca De Grandis
    Francesca De Grandis Tuesday, 26 September 2017

    Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha, Ted, that’s hysterical!

    Thank you for your loving support.

    That someone as service oriented as you could find value in the post proves my point, I guess, that we have to keep finding the next leg of how we’re going to be of service.

    For me, right now, there are so many questions and confusions about this in my own life. But I said in the essay that we wouldn’t always know the answers right away, so I will be patient and keep trying.

    Blessed be, my dear.

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