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"CHECK YOUR
MAILBOX*':
RITUAL,
SYNCHRONICITY ,
AND INNER GUIDANCE
Larissa Vilenskaya
(Laura
V-
Faith)
Monterey,
California
Within our
reach
lies every path
we
ever
dream
of
taking.
Within our
power
lies
every step
we
ever dream
of
making.
Within
our
range
lies every joy
we
ever
dream
of
seeing...
Within ourselves
lies
everything
we
ever dream
of
being.
Amanda Bradley
Introduction
On
the
Labor
Day weekend
in
1990,
my
friend
and
I
arrived
at
St.
Sabina
Center
in
San
Rafael,
California,
with
some
time
to
spare
before
the
beginning
of
the
Seventh
International
Conference
on
the
Study
of
Shamanism.
After
we
registered
and
found
our
room,
I
started
telling
to
my
friend,
Charlotte
Berney,
about
a
workshop
on
development
of
intuition
and
creative
problem
solving
that
I
conducted
a
month
ago,
in
early
August,
during
a
conference
at
Carleton
College
in
Minnesota.
The
idea
of
the
workshop
came
to
me
after
reading
Life
Between
Life
by
Joel
L.
Whitton
and
Joe
Fisher
(1986),
and
I
elaborated
on
their
method,
combined
it
with
some
work
with
Earth
and
Cosmic
energies,
as
described
by
Stevens
(1984:172-173),
added
some
intuitively
gleaned
details,
and
was
surprised
by
the
results.
To
make
a
long
story
short,
I
led
the
workshop
participants
in
"reading
Akashic
records."
"Perhaps
there
is
a
message
for
you waiting
there,
and
you
need
to
go
and
retrieve
it,
I
said,
relating
to
her
the
phrase
I
told
the
workshop
participants.
About
half
an
hour
later,
when
Dr.
Ruth-Inge
Heinze
began
her
presentation
about
the
ritual
process,
I
was
utterly
astonished
by
her
phrase
about
looking
for
messages
in
"our
mailbox"
(Heinze,
1990:12),
for
this
was
exactly
what
I
asked
the
workshop
participants
to
do
and
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what
I
was
telling
my
friend
minites
ago!
Furthermore,
I
found
that
I
intuitively
used
the
process
which
incorporated
the
same
seven
steps
of
a
ritual,
discussed
by
Heinze
(1990:11),
without
ever
thinking
about
them.
This
coincidence
(or
synchronicity)
prompted
me
to
write
about
the
workshops
and
to
share
my
approach
as
well
as
some
"messages"
received
by
workshop
participants.
Instructions
to Participants
There
were
about
participants
in
the
ages
from
early
20s
to
middle
60s.
All
of
them
had
at
least
some
experience
in
meditation,
and
many
meditated
regularly.
All
had
some
experience
in
the
study
of
spiritual
traditions.
I
first
talked
about
the
importance
of
listening
to
our
inner
guidance,
about
universal
"Akashic
records
which
are
believed
to
contain
all .information
about
the
past,
present
and
possible/probable
futures
of
humankind,
and
the
power
of
every
one
of
us
to
access
them.
The
participants
were
given
instructions
as
follows:
You
are
about
to
enter
a
Sacred
Space.
There
is
a
great
value
in
symbolism.
Whatever
you
can
imagine
clearly,
visualize
clearly,
see
clearly
has
power.
And
therefore
it
can
connect
you
with
the
Sacred
realm,
the
realm
you
are
striving
to
contact.
Before
we
begin,
you
can
ask
a
question
and
send
it
to
the
Universe--if
you
have
a
specific
question
and
want
it
answered.
Or
you
can
go
and
see
what
comes.
.
.
.
Perhaps
there
is
a message
for
you
waiting
there,
and
you
need
to
go
and
retrieve
it.
Relax
and
let
go
.
.
.
don't
force
it
.
.
.
it
will
come
(pause)
.
in
a
minute,
I
will
turn
on
the
music,
and
you
will
close
your
eyes
and
enter
a
meditative
state.
You
will
become
a
channel
of
healing,
revitalizing
energies.
The
music
is
on
now.
Close
your
eyes.
Allow
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yourself
to
relax
and
be
in
the
present
moment.
Notice
a
tiny
light m
the
center
of
your
head.
Be
in
the
center
of
your
head
and
be
that
light,
your
Inner
Self,
your
soul
(pause).
Now
place
your
attention
in
your
pelvic
cradle
at
the
base
of
your
spine.
imagine
that
with
every
breath
you
breathe
in,
you
are
drawing
thousands
and
thousands
of
tiny
threads
of
energy
into
your
pelvic
cradle.
As
the
many,
many
threads
of
energy
meet,
they
intertwine
and
become
a
rope
of
golden
energy.
Feel
the
weight
of
that
golden
ball
of
energy
holding
you
to
the
chair.
Allow
a
portion
of
that
golden
twined
energy
to
drop
down
between
your
legs
.
.
.
and
gather
it
into
a
small
dense
ball
of
14-karat
gold,
still
attached
to
the
golden
twined
rope.
Allow
the
golden
weight
and
the
golden
rope
of
energy
to
drop
down
into
the
center
of
the
Earth ...
all
the
way
down
to
the
exact
geographic
center
of
the
Earth,
through
all
layers
of
soil
and
rock,
water,
gases,
crystals,
and
into
the
iron
core
of
the
Earth.
Allow
the
golden
ball
to
fuse
with
the
core
of
the
Earth.
Feel
a
tug
at
the
base
of
your
spine,
and
notice
that
there
is
a
golden
beam
of
energy
from
the
base
of
your
spine
into
the
center
of
the
Earth
(pause)
.
Leave
your
grounding
cord
there
.
Be
in
the
center
of
your
head
(pause).
Now
place
your
attention
on
the
arches
of
your
feet
and
bring
a
pink
Earth
energy
into
your
feet.
Allow
this
energy
to
travel
up
your
leg
channels
and
into
your
pelvic
cradle
and
hold
this
energy
there
for
a
moment
(pause).
Now
place
your
attention
on
the
crown
of
your
head.
Bring
a
blue
Cosmic
energy
into
your
crown.
Pull
it
down
the
back
part
of
your
spine
and
into
your
pelvic
cradle
(pause).
Combine,
balance,
and
blend
these
energies
in
your
pelvic
cradle.
Allow
the
mixture
of
energies
to
run
up
the
front
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part
of
your
spine
and
out
the
crown
of
your
head
(pause).
Allow
the
energy
to
flow
through
you
(pause).
Earth
energy
into
your
feet
(pause)
.
Cosmic
energy
into
your
crown
and
down
the
back
of
your
spine
(pause)
mixing
these
energies
in
your
pelvic
cradle.
The
energy
then
goes
up
the
front
of
your
spine
and
out
the
crown
of
your
head.
The
energy
flows
as
water,
cleansing
you,
allowing
you
to
flow
with
the
current
of
the
Universe
(pause)*
Be
in
the
center
of
your
head
(pause)
.
Now
you
will
focus
on
your
chakras,
beginning
with
the
solar
plexus
and up— the
solar
plexus
(pause),
the
heart
chakra
(pause),
the
throat
chakra
(pause),
the
adjna
chakra—your
third
eye
(pause),
and
the
crown
chakra
(pause).
You
see
as
they
start
glowing,
full
of
energy,
full
of
light,
beautiful
revitalizing
light
(pause)
.
Now
you
will
see
your
Sacred
Temple
and
enter
it.
What
this
temple
will
look
like
it
is
up
to you— a
church,
a
synagogue,
a
mosque,
a
chapel,
whatever
comes
to
you
(pause).
You
enter
the
temple.
Now you
are
inside.
In
one
of
its
corners,
you
see
a
long
stairway
going
up.
You
are
going
up
the
stairs
(pause).
I
don't
know
how
long
you
will
need
to
go.
It's
different
for
me
every
time
I
go.
It
is
maybe
long
and maybe
not
(pause).
Keep
going
(pause).
And
then
you
see
a
corridor,
a
hallway
with
many
doors.
Maybe
some
of
these
doors
have
signs
on
them,
maybe
not.
Maybe
there
is
one
which
has
a
sign
with
your
name,
or
a
sign
inviting
you
to
enter.
Or
maybe
you
will
just
feel
that
this
particular
door
is
fo r
you,
specially
for
you.
And
you
enter
this
door
(pause)
.
'
What
you
see
there— it
can
be
different
for
everyone
of
you.
I
usually
see
there
a
big
library,
with
many
shelves
and
many
books,
and
they
look
the
same
from
the
outside.
But
you
go
to
a
particular
shelf,
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and
you
know
where
to go— something
guides
you.
You
take
one
of
those
books
and
open
it,
and
read
what
is
there
for
you
to
read.
But
it
is
maybe
different
for
everyone.
You
can
see
a
room
where,
instead
of
the
shelves
with
books,
there
will
be
shelves
with
tapes,
many
of
them,
and
a
cassette
player
in
the
middle
of
the
room.
You
can
choose
a
tape,
put
it
into
the
player
and
listen
to
the message.
Or
it
can
be
a
room
with
many
video
tapes
and
a
video
player.
Or,
in
our
technology-oriented
world,
it
can
be
a
computer,
it
may
be
a
computer,
and
you
will
be
able
to
see
your
message
on
its
screen,
or
on
any
type
of
screen.
It
may
be
a
symbol,
a
text,
or
a
combination
of
the
two.
You
will
see
what
is
there
for
you.
Now
I
will
be
silent
and
allow
you
to
concentrate
on
your
message which
you
are
about
to
see
or
hear.
I
still
will
be
helping
you.
At
some
point
in
time
I
will
ask
you
to
come
back
and
to
celebrate
your
return.
Coming
back,
you
won't
need
to
descend
the
stairs,
you
will
just
come
back,
and
we
will
share
what
transpires,
what
happens
(pause)
.
You
are
there ...
I
am
appealing
to
Cosmic
forces
to
help
you
.
.
.
maybe
I
will
meet
some
of
you
there
or
ask
someone
to
be
your
guide.
If
you
meet
someone
there,
it's
all
right.
Have
a
good
journey!
I
went
into
meditation.
In
about
minutes
I
came
back,
asked
everyone
to
return,
to
open
their
eyes,
to
stand
up,
and
to
embrace
the
person
next
to
him
or
her.
I
congratulated
everyone
on
coming
back
and
asked
them
to
sing
Russian
Hymn
to
the
Earth:
If
the
people
lived
their
lives
as
if
it were
a song
for
singing
out
of
light,
providing music
for
the stars
to
be dancing
^
-
circles
in
the
night.
Then
I
asked
everyone
to
thank
the
forces,
inside
and
outside
of
us,
within
and
without,
that
enabled
us
to
make
this
journey.
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