Faith illuminates the way when we are lost.
Faith is reaching for the Unseen’s hand when we are stumbling along rock-strewn paths, through dark and winding forests. And yet, faith has been justification for horrendous acts. And yet, again, it is the ground in which we plant seeds for miracles.
Though faith is often associated with religious trappings—and is as often observed as antithetical to rational thinking—I propose that faith and ration are actually quite complementary and, as humans, we are incomplete in the way we interact with reality without having a solid touchstone for both.
As I said above, faith is a component, maybe the most foundational, of our relationship with the Unseen.
And what is the Unseen?
The Unseen is a force of energy and consciousness that can take many shapes and forms. It is a fairly phrased catchall for anything that falls outside of “regular” perceptual range. It includes beings who are both benign and malicious. The Unseen seeps into our imaginal realms even as it forms them and our dreamscapes.
The Unseen communicates with us through our senses and symbols.
The underlying reality is symbolic, and our lived reality is felt. What we see manifested as “material” reality are collections of energies, patterns, and archetypes as well as billions of people’s lived and remembered experiences printing and re-imprinting on and in our physical bodies and the world around us.
The circumstances that are currently unfolding in my life have held my awareness as a potential reality for years. Does that mean it was destined to come to pass? No. I do not believe fate works that way, but people within patterns are predisposed to certain behaviors, and those behaviors generate rather predictable outcomes. There is, of course, grace and divine dispensation which can intervene as well as human intercession. And some things seem to “play” out no matter what we do.
Part of my own emotional, neurological, and psychic development was to watch others, take in the energy they emitted, and predict a likely behavior or outcome based on what I could feel. This is a rather nifty ability—and it is a survival skill. Many people who we think of as psychic or as “empaths” are people who lived through volatile situations and, as a result, developed a more refined “antenna” for sensing things. How many stories have you heard of a platoon that survived an attack because one guy had a “feeling” and people listened. It’s pretty common. This kind of intuitive ability is also instinctive.
Extra sensory perception is a natural trait in human evolution, and something that we are more “open” to when we are younger before social structures and filters solidify.
The first “trance” we enter into as children is when someone tells us: “That’s not real”. It could be about an “imaginary” friend, a spirit, an elemental—something beyond the “regular” range of adult human perception. Which is to say: something that an entranced mind is unable to imagine or perceive. This was part of our course material in the certified hypnotherapist training I took. And it was one of the most valuable things I learned. This usually well-meant misdirection begins us doubting our own senses and our relationship with the Unseen.
This “rupture” is actually a breaking with faith. When we are told that we cannot trust what we see, sense, and feel that plants the seeds for other forms of doubt.
It also creates a crack where other “artificial” constructs can be inserted. How many billions of people believe in some permutation of an invisible daddy sky god? And yet, we are trained to doubt the existence of “Others” that do not fit into the prescribed religious structures. The belief in these other beings, let alone the practice of forming relationships with “Them”, has been deemed as heresy, and in past years was punishable even unto death.
Perhaps it is a result of a deep and dangerously inflicted collective “wound” that when we speak of the “Others” we are rapidly shut down, and warned off of them. We are told “It’s just your imagination” or, as I stated above, “That’s not real”. Aside from causing us to doubt ourselves, this also severs us from our internal worlds and our own guidance systems. We are told, “You can have faith in this because lots of other people do so, despite being irrational, it is a socially accepted delusion that you can subscribe to, too!” But Gawd forbid you should have your own “guides”, “voices'', totems, or feelings that you trust above and beyond what any doctrine allows.
Faith is neither dogma nor philosophy; faith is the tangibility of our relationship to forces that cannot be explained by rational alone. It is how we define our felt sense with reality, and how we connect with deeper mystery. It is also how we once again come to trust in our own instincts and intuition.
As a child I saw things, felt things, knew things… I always have.
Not just the patterns I mentioned above. I saw elementals and knew their natures. I remember telling a teacher—who was part of a “spiritual” community and “woo woo” organization that believed in a hierarchy of all kinds of unseen beings—“The river elemental is moody and the children should not go in today”. I was told, “All elementals are our friends, and ‘serve’ the Ascended Masters”.
Ummmm….no.
You’re clearly not paying attention.
People drown and elementals can be moody and if not the cause of trouble, which they may well be as many legends around the globe say, they might simply be amused by watching. I knew what I knew. I still do. And that, too, is faith.
I have known for years that I would be navigating the waters that I am currently in. I have wriggled, squirmed, and fought the reality and attempted intervention in all kinds of ways—communication, supplication, and even light threats. I have cried to friends and counselors about what I knew was coming. It was all part of the process, and it was all an extension of me trusting in what I knew. Of all the things I have done—outwardly and psychically—the most powerful thing I have done is prepared myself.
I am the version of me that is most suited to handle this situation. I have woven a net of protection and stability around my personhood and my home. I am the hand of grace in this situation. I know this in my womb, in my blood, and in bones. My heart beats this truth with its every thump, skip, and pattern.
That is faith.
We are more than what the eyes can see, and our relationship with life goes far beyond, yet so inextricably connected with what we can touch. And believe me, what we touch matters.
Do you see? Do you feel? What are your senses trying to share with you? What symbols are speaking through, from, and to your soul? What do your dreams know that you are yet waking up to?
Because listening, learning, and developing a keen sense for what the Unseen is telling you is how we restore our faith.
Lotsa love,
~Justice
If you are interested in exploring and honing your relationship with the Unseen, your dreams, and the deeper symbolic nature of reality you may want to check out the Dream Keys course which begins on February 2, Imbolc, and goes through March 21, Spring Equinox. You can find information at sensesandsymbols.com/dreamkeys.
Wonderful essay. I love your definition of faith. The word is related to Latin "fideo,"also the root of confidence. My confidence in unseen forces, Intelligences and entities was also shaken very early. The return of confidence in them has been laborious and slow. It's frustrating.
One distinction I've made that helps is between faith and belief. Belief describes a condition we'd (or someone) would like to be true.Beliefs are propositions that can be stated, rehearsed and instilled and perhaps they can lead faith to a degree. But if beliefs do not accord with Natural Law, Faith eventually departs. The male-only, "One-Thing-to-rule-them-All," violates Natural Law. Therefore the process of eradicating the Mystery Schools, Druids and all other pluralistic views of the Unseen took monotheistic terrorists centuries of genocide. And it will never be done because Nature's Wisdom is rooted in our Essence.
Good luck with your New Calling. I'm here for you!
Well said Justice and thank you.