Life is a witch and then you ascend. It's an interesting notion, suggesting that life can be a tricky and challenging journey, but ultimately leads to transcendence and growth. In many ways, this phrase captures the ups and downs, the twists and turns that we all experience in life. **Life can indeed feel like a witch at times**, throwing unexpected obstacles and challenges our way. It can be difficult and painful, testing our strength and resilience. There are moments when it feels like everything is working against us, and we may question why we have to go through these difficult times.
Was this truly what my commitment to meditation, yoga, chakra alignment, and shadow work had earned me? Why was this happening? What was wrong with me?
And I do mean real, fiery, terrible rage temper flaring, fist clenching, body trembling, stomach churning, sobbing and screaming, afraid of what I might say or do, rage. By learning to recognize, accept, and listen to the truth of our anger, perhaps we can also learn to manage our emotions as they arise, rather than burying them and allowing them to erupt later on.
There are moments when it feels like everything is working against us, and we may question why we have to go through these difficult times. However, it is precisely through these challenges that we have the opportunity to grow and evolve as individuals. **Obstacles and hardships force us to dig deep within ourselves**, to find the strength and courage to face adversity head-on.
The Spirituality of Anger
When I first began dipping my toes into the world of meditation, yoga, breathwork, inner child healing and shadow work, one of the most confusing things that happened to me was the transformation of my relatively “tame” feelings of anxiety, fear, hopelessness, and sadness into feelings of unbridled RAGE.
And I do mean real, fiery, terrible rage: temper flaring, fist clenching, body trembling, stomach churning, sobbing and screaming, afraid of what I might say or do, rage.
I felt perplexed and broken—what was happening to me? Why wasn’t my spiritual practice “fixing” me in the way had I expected?
One of the most profound feelings of rage I have ever experienced happened a few days after a kundalini energy event (I say “event” because do not believe it was a full kundalini awakening, but rather a shifting of energy as a result of performing daily chakra aligning meditations and yoga).
Immediately following that particular event, I began feeling ungrounded and spacey—and then suddenly, there it was: RAGE. It felt as if my entire body was filled with black, angry, clouded energy. In that moment, I might have believed I could breathe fire.
Was this truly what my commitment to meditation, yoga, chakra alignment, and shadow work had earned me? Why was this happening? What was wrong with me?
All I knew for certain was that keeping this terrible energy inside of me would burn me from the inside out…and I had come too far to let that happen. So, I faced it.
I sat down on my floor, and I cried. I screamed. I rocked back and forth, shaking, as I felt every emotion and saw every hurt played out before me. I listened to the things that my anger had to say.
As I did this, I imagined all of this fiery, angry energy leaving my body and flowing into a candle I had set on the ground in front of me. When I felt utterly exhausted, as if every drop of energy had been spent, I lit the candle and thanked my anger for protecting me.
And it was only after I had done this—after I sat with my anger, felt it, processed it, lived it, thanked it—that I was able to say goodbye to my anger and return that unwanted energy back to the universe.
Anger is rarely discussed in spiritual communities, and if it is, it’s usually about letting go of anger or moving on from old wounds. The message is clear: anger has no place in spirituality, and in order to ascend spiritually you must let go of those dark feelings.
There is certainly some truth in this message, but it doesn’t show us the full picture. Spirituality isn’t that easy, straightforward, or “fluffy.”
As more time has passed, I’ve begun to see this new feeling of anger for what it is: the much-needed release of emotions that have been repressed for far too long; the eruption of words unspoken, needs unmet, hurts unhealed, and feelings unprocessed—years and years worth, many of which I had never even taken the time to acknowledge, much less manage or begin to heal.
For so long, I wasn’t speaking or living my truth. I wasn’t embracing my inner power. I wasn’t following my intuition or listening to my inner voice. I wasn’t striving to meet my highest self.
Of course I was angry—and the person I was angry with was myself.
My anger is my suppressed shadow self, fighting against her restraints and begging to be seen and acknowledged.
My anger is my inner child, afraid and heartbroken and lashing out, just hoping to be noticed and soothed.
My anger is my highest self, shaking me and pleading with me to wake up and notice that I’ve strayed from the path.
Anger can be incredibly healing, but not when it is about placing blame on others. In fact, my belief is that this type of deep-seated anger doesn’t have anything to do with other people at all.
Repressing our anger or taking it out on other people is like putting a bandage on a wound that goes deep into the body—it ignores the true, raw need in favor of a solution that is temporary and shallow.
Spiritual anger is about showing us our inner wounds that need to be healed, our personal boundaries that need to be reinforced, and the ways that we can show up and do better for ourselves.
When I feel that now-familiar feeling of rage flaring up inside of me, I sit with it. I go into another room, shut the door, get comfortable, and listen to what my anger is trying to tell me.
What am I really feeling? More often than not, it’s much more specific than simply “anger”—perhaps frustration, sadness, bitterness, resentment, jealousy, exhaustion, anxiety, or feeling misunderstood, disrespected, unloved, or abandoned.
Then I reflect on why I feel that way: Is there an unhealthy pattern of behaviors that led to this situation? Do I feel that one of my boundaries has been crossed or disrespected? Am I bringing any emotional baggage into this scenario rather than looking at this single incident for what it is?
We don’t get to choose how we feel, but we always get to choose how we respond to those feelings.
Instead of losing control, retaliating, saying things we will likely regret later, or shutting down, can we react another way?
Can we sit with those feelings of anger and listen to them? Can we have an honest discussion? Can we practice compassion for ourselves and/or the other person? Can we define better boundaries? Can we remove ourselves from the situation? Can we simply let that emotion go?
Anger is just one of many expressions of our inner voice; just as in the natural world, the dark is no better or worse than the light. Anger is no more or less spiritual than any other emotion.
By learning to recognize, accept, and listen to the truth of our anger, perhaps we can also learn to manage our emotions as they arise, rather than burying them and allowing them to erupt later on.
Perhaps we can allow our anger to be the spark that empowers us, rather than the one that burns us.
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Comments
- Cynthia Kelly says May 5, 2021 at 8:03 pm
This week my class started chakra healing. Learning how to balance and heal our own chakras. Yesterday I noticed while driving I was more easily angered by “stupid drivers”. It happened twice on my drive to work. I thought “why am I so angry?” Then did not think on it again till today. I was balancing energies for my ex who has a tendency to push my buttons. He did today and my reaction was over the top! I yelled at him and told him to get off my massage table and leave it he truly believed what he said. Needless to say he was taken off guard and asked why I was over reacting? He was just teasing. I resumed treatment but when he left I was sad, angry, and had this overwhelming panicky feeling. So I took my dog for a walk. But I can’t help feeling something is deeply wrong with me. Maybe this class and the meditations of this week are messing me up. This is week five of eight. The first four weeks have been amazing and I felt so incredible. Now… I feel like I want to run away.
How about when you’re at a 9-5 though with toxic people? I try so hard to remain focused inward but they pile it on so thick. Beautifully well written piece. Thank you for sharing❤️
I couldn’t figure out why after every meditation, I feel so angry towards stuff and people. I thought meditation was a form of relaxing and loving and being kind. Well, life taught me deeply that my standard of love and happiness is wrong, simply put, what my mind thought of love and happiness was utterly wrong. One day, I realized that my life is so full of bitterness and sadness and depression and fear that I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I feel bored in life, I feel I am done putting up with everything in life that keep on repeating itself over and over again. So I choose to be angry, I choose to be defensive. I say everyday to myself that I don’t give a shit anymore about anybody or anything. Honestly I am aware that I am angry, it’s a defensive mechanism that my mind gave to me as a response to my fear and depression. At least I feel a bit of in control then powerlessness. When I am bask in fear, I feel I can’t do anything, I feel a lack of confidence. But in anger, I feel a slight trust in myself. I don’t know what it’ll lead me to, but I will keep on meditating and continue on my path of spiritual awakening. The angry self, the grief-self, the guilty-self are differents forms of me that I need to go through. I sift through those forms and peel it off me until I reach my most authentic self.
Brilliant, incredible article. Thank you for illuminating this truth and guiding others through the process. This is what I’m experiencing now – I thought I was spiraling again because my trauma work plunged me back into that horrible horrible darkness I had been running from. But that darkness was SCREAMING to be seen, heard, accepted, forgiven. She was me, just as much as the parts of myself I had not repressed. We have been given a gift – the gift of Truth. Of learning to transmute this pain, anger, trauma, grief into light. To help others find the way. We are in this together. Thank you for your wisdom and strength.
Anger is indeed a bit shunned in spirituality. It has to do with your quote: “We don’t get to choose how we feel, but we always get to choose how we respond to those feelings.”.
In life, you can choose 2 paths: service to self or servce to others. Both paths open up chakras. In service to self, the heart does not open. All other chakras can be maxed however. In service to self, cultivation of anger and hatred is mandatory. This is really well demonstrated in the starwars movies. The jedi are service to others, the sith are service to self.
Service to self is not a fun ride. There is no love. There is only power and control over others. It creates hell on earth, a slave society.
That’s why the service to other path is promoted in spirituality. It is the only way for love to blossom and therefore freedom. It creates heaven on earth. It is also the only true way to ascend as the heart chakra must be open to do so. Service to self is the luciferic path of illusion. The ultimate lie is that you can be god itself. When you reach this point of realization, you need to depolarize and open the heart. A ton of karma needs to be paid. This is no picnic. Aaron Abke discusses this in his series of ‘the law of one’. Beautiful material. Broader context than most spiritual stuff.
So, do feel your anger, but do not engage with it. Simply sit with it untill it wears off. I have to do a lot of sitting 🙂 I have a lot of rage inside for being a fool for way too long. Now I prefer solitude over social interaction. I can no longer be played and this makes people angry. Well, I guess they need some sitting too 😉
It is during these times that we discover our true capabilities and learn valuable lessons about ourselves and the world around us. Just like a witch's spell, life has the power to transform us. **Through the struggles and hardships, we are able to rise above and overcome**. We become stronger, wiser, and more resilient. Life's challenges shape us into the individuals we are meant to be, pushing us to reach new heights and discover our true potential. Ascending from a challenging experience or period in life is a powerful and transformative process. **It involves letting go of the pain and negativity**, and embracing the lessons learned and the growth achieved. It is an opportunity for personal growth, self-reflection, and spiritual awakening. Ascending also suggests moving to a higher level or state of being. **It symbolizes personal and spiritual development**, transcending limitations and reaching new levels of consciousness. It is about evolving into a better version of ourselves, leaving behind the old and embracing the new. Life is indeed a witch. It can be challenging, unpredictable, and full of obstacles. Yet, **it is through these challenges that we have the opportunity to grow, learn, and ascend**. By embracing the difficulties and facing them head-on, we can transform ourselves and reach new heights of personal and spiritual fulfillment. Life's journey may be tough, but it is ultimately rewarding and transformative..
Reviews for "Witchcraft and Healing: Ascending to Wellness through Magical Practices"
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