(ironically) requires a safe container...
Our culture can be a very lonely one. Learn from Tara how to create a compassionate refuge for yourself and others, in which it is safe to explore loving connection!
Don't surrender your loneliness So quickly. Let it cut more deep. Let it ferment and season you As few human Or even divine ingredients can. Something missing in my heart tonight Has made my eyes so soft, My voice So tender, My need of God Absolutely Clear. -Hafiz
Magical practice: Journey to Meet Tara and Create Compassion out of Loneliness
Find a spot to sit comfortably with your spine straight, and settle into a trance state. Imagine that you are in a safe place, perhaps a clearing in a gentle, cool, green forest, or held in a warm lap of a caring person. Just notice what safe space appears to you. Sitting in this place, allow yourself to begin to feel your own suffering, whether it be loneliness, grief, rejection, shame, disappointment, or physical pain that wants a soothing touch. Have you been resisting it because it feels overwhelming, or you are not able to trust that it will ever end? Have you been attempting to ignore it because others have been invalidating it? In this place it is safe to pay attention to it, a little at a time. Allow yourself to feel as much of the pain as you are ready to experience. Say to yourself "Darling, I care about this suffering. I see you. I am with you." Feel yourself held in the loving embrace of your own caring presence, and allow the loneliness and pain to cut more deeply. Allow yourself to feel as fully as you can the longing in your belly and heart to be loved, to merge with another being, for your emptiness to be filled. Allow the longing to deepen until it is a clear call to the Beloved, not just the individual(s) whom you are longing for, but longing for love itself. Reach inward to that gnawing emptiness, that aching, gaping hole. Let go into the desire, the yearning for connection. Let the call grow until you notice a larger caring presence, a radiant field of compassion surrounding you. Then expand your awareness to include the lap of love that is holding you, caring about your suffering. Merge into the warm and shining immensity of this divine presence of Green Tara (or for you perhaps Kuan Yin or Christ may be the face of the wounded healer). You and Tara are one caring being who is both suffering and soothing the hurt. As you do this, become aware of your heart. You may feel expansion or vibration, or a sensation of the color green. Pray "May this suffering serve to awaken compassion," and feel your heart field strengthen. Allow the residual feelings of pain or grief or disappointment or rejection still present in your belly to flow upwards into your heart field and feed this expansion. Feel and feed as much of the pain and longing as you wish into this receptive field of caring understanding and tender sadness. Feel your belly and root chakra soften and deepen your connection to the earth. If you wish, you may also pray for peace. Place your attention on your shoulder blade region and notice if you feel a flow of healing energy entering your heart chakra region from behind and feeding the expanding heart field. Feel your shoulders relax and sink as your chest expands, opening up your lap so that it is a warm embrace available to hold other beings who are hurting. Relax your arms and feel your expanded self as a chalice into which is pouring the compassion and peace of Tara, with the stem of the chalice firmly planted in the earth. Into this bowl of compassion, place your wish for healing for yourself and the others who have been feeling similar suffering and loneliness. Ask that your own longing for love awaken your ability to sense the same longing in those around you. Continue to expand as much as you wish, until (perhaps) you feel yourself dissolving into the Oneness of Compassionate Love feeling and holding and healing the suffering of all beings. When you are ready, find yourself again in the lap of Tara, but retain a sense of awareness of your connection to the field of Divine Compassion. Place your hand on your heart as a reminder, and thank Green Tara for (re)awakening in you a compassionate heart. As you move back into waking consciousness and back into relation with others, set the intention to stay open to sensing the pain of longing in yourself and others. When you do sense that longing, touch your heart to reawaken compassion and the ability to answer the call for connection. If the longing is within yourself, stay with it long enough to ask for what you need, and, if it is not forthcoming, tell yourself "Darling, I care about your suffering." If it is another's call you feel, ask yourself "What reassurance of love is this person asking me for?" and be sure to respond in some way. This practice will begin to form a warm and loving energetic space of safety and understanding in which you and those around you can relax and feel free to explore deeper vulnerability, play, and connection. Love and Magic, WildCat