Once Awakened: a Spiritual Journey to Manifestation
Through my readings and workshops, I've been blessed with meeting many beautiful souls. Learning about their life journeys is an honour that often puts me in awe of the resilience of the human spirit. In awe of our ability to rise from the darkest times and travel toward the light.
This post is by a courageous and compassionate survivor, Laurie Benoit. Laurie is someone who endured many years of abuse, before embarking on a healing journey that ultimately became the journey to help others.
Laurie's book, the Transformative Power of the Word, is hauntingly moving and inspiring.
She shares her journey to spirituality in this post.
Of the many things that have occurred in my life; I never in a million years, would have guessed, the day would come to find me sitting here, sharing my journey to manifestation.
But in truth, it had been many years in the works.
It began nearly ten years ago, when I was feeling quite unsettled with my life and though there were many positive things in my life; including the feeling of safety; I felt drawn back to crystal healing and Tarot; but also began learning the art of meditation. Through this though, I still felt like there was one thing missing from my life, because truthfully, there always had been.
Spirituality
In my quest to find that missing piece, I found myself being pulled in many directions. But at this time in life, what I continually heard about, was “a new age spirituality”.
The Law of Attraction
But was it really new age?
Out of curiosity I delved into researching everything I could possibly find about it and discovered a number of interesting pieces of information.
- Anyone that had experienced information about “The Law of Attraction” usually sold their knowledge for hundreds of dollars
- Free information contained the same message: Ask, Believe, Receive
- It is a process we all have the ability to do, whether we consciously acknowledge it or not
- And there are also universal energies that can amplify and fine tune it's energies
Now truth be told, I had already been manifesting for years but honestly had no idea.
Yet the more I researched, the more it felt like I was chasing a rabbit down a series of tunnels that kept ending in a wall. Feeling disheartened and almost completely dismissing the entire process I decided to purchase just one book while in a bookstore one day.
Jack Canfield's Key to Living the Law of Attraction
And in one small book came the answers I had been searching for. A clear message about exactly how to manifest using the theory behind the law. If you are ever interested in learning about it, I would suggest starting with that book!
Admittedly, through this all; I still didn't feel that spiritual connection I had been longing for and wouldn't for a few years yet.
As I began working with more crystals I came across one that would not only aid me in my spiritual journey but also in an entirely new journey I had yet to embark on.
Healing
Gentle and soothing Scolecite was just what I needed as a loving touch of magic to guide me. I had become attuned with this crystal in a way unlike any others. I was deep in a guided meditation one afternoon when suddenly, I felt a warm loving light fill my entire body and being, it was a beautifully enlightening experience for me. I continued to use this crystal for years and still do; because it has been gentle and beneficial at easing the weight and layers of my unresolved pains.
See, I have carried a very dark past, a past that continually haunted me and was riddled with pain. I am a survivor of generational and domestic abuse and had spent a great deal of my life trying to exit that cycle of unending torment.
So when this loving stone came into my life, I clearly began to see all that I carried had to go.
But how?
I had spent years of my life in therapy with very little success and the rest I spent angry, after repeatedly being let down by a system meant to protect the victims of such atrocities.
As I meditated with this gentle stone, I asked how I could do this.
Without even a moment of quietness in mind, my answer came loudly and clearly.
The thing I had desired almost my entire life to do...
Write
A moment further in quiet contemplation came the next questions. What did I know? What could I possibly write about? And where do I begin?
And again without hesitation came my answer... The abuse I endured and the effects it has had on my life.
It was an answer I was truly terrified about.
With hesitation, I decided to make a social media page and reluctantly began sharing my truth. It was so absolutely terrifying for me some days that I would literally be sick to my stomach with fear. But I pressed on and as time passed, years went by, I slowly began receiving feedback.
Positive feedback.
As I continued to write, little did I recognize, I began to heal. In the years to follow I was lead toward many positive changes and universal blessings. Some completely unexpected, others I saw as they were coming into being.
What I wasn't prepared for however, were more lessons of chaos and trauma. Why after all these years had I needed to be faced with more trauma?
Because I still hadn't achieved what I had been looking for...
My spiritual connection.
And so among all the chaos & trauma, also came goodness in my life. This is when my spiritual connection would come into being.
One restless night I had a very strange dream. I was talking to the face of an elephant and the body of a person. They ushered me closer and as I approached I paid attention to every detail about their appearance, it was entrancing. Though I could not hear the words spoken to me, I explicitly knew they were addressing me.
Now, I hadn't paid much attention to my dream for weeks after; until we visited a crystal shop that I frequented. And that was when I saw it... a statue of what appeared in my dream.
Upon returning home I began researching everything I could and that was when I finally put a name to the figure.
It was Ganesha.
He is widely known for being a remover of obstacles and new beginnings. He is also known for being the patron of intellectuals, bankers, scribes, and authors. And so here it was, the spiritual connection I had been seeking.
The next time we visited the same shop, I adopted the statue that spoke so gently to me and since then my life has been in consistent change.
Just weeks after adopting this statue my life began to change drastically. I was let go of my job without cause (where I was being bullied); I was afforded an opportunity to enter a writing contest and won; which allowed me to write a small autobiography; and was then afforded further opportunity to write in magazines and even speak live on a talk show geared towards domestic abuse. It was a great deal of change, but necessary for my growth and peace.
In recent years I have continued to grow and learn more techniques to fine tune the art of manifestation. Upon seeking guidance from Daria, of AstroLoggia, I have further been able to understand how lunar cycles can also positively impact the process. In fact, since taking her courses, I have had further and better success with my manifestations working and have actually seen results in less than six months time.
The last thing I'd like to leave you with is this.... If I can transform my life from what it was, I know you surely can too. It is only a matter of believing you can and then doing something about it. For you can not expect change without changing yourself.
Laurie Benoit @ Once Awakened ~ Healing Through Beauty & Chaos