Unconditional Self-Acceptance

In the last post in this series, I said that shifting a pattern was first and foremost a matter of simple awareness. Here, I will add to that, it is also a matter of deep, unconditional self-acceptance – the kind that can only come when the heart is open, clear, balanced and radiant. Or put another way, you cannot heal a core wound, or shift a troublesome pattern in any chakra unless the heart is also engaged.

As John Lennon once said, “All you need is love.” As simplistic and as clichéd as this idea can sometimes seem, we all know, deep down it is true. It is, however, by no means a simple thing to achieve. Whenever we are wounded, the heart shuts down. We protect ourselves, we guard ourselves, and we become less present, less capable of loving ourselves, and of offering our love to the world. If we want to heal, this automatic and totally understandable response to what has caused us pain has to shift. Shifting this, opening the heart, heals the wound. It is that simple. It is not an easy thing to do – but in the end, all wounds, all issues dissolve in unconditional love. Without unconditional love, healing is not possible.

It is also true that as we do the hard work of digging into our patterns, becoming more conscious of them, retrieving the insights and awareness that is there, feeling and releasing whatever difficult feelings are there to be released, and reclaiming whatever hidden treasure might be buried beneath the pain, that the heart gradually opens. It works both ways. Opening the heart is a healing force. Bringing a loving attention to our core wounds and our core issues opens the heart. This is a bit of a bootstrap kind of operation.

In terms of the chakra system, we can note that the 4th chakra – associated with the heart – is central within the chakra system – at the halfway point between the 1st chakra and the 7th chakra – so within the larger dynamic encompassed by all the chakras, it is central to the process of self-healing and the spiritual journey toward wholeness. This is a very important chakra – probably in many ways, the most important.

This is so, in no small measure, because the heart is a place of emotional, psychological and spiritual integration. Integration here essentially means becoming whole by incorporating the familiar shards of our brokenness into a more seamless expression of being.

This is why when we get to the planetary dynamics of the 4th chakra, we see a bit of repetition. We have encountered the sensitive planets in the 4th chakra – Sun, Moon and Venus – before. The Sun is a planet with a natural affinity for the 1st and 3rd chakras. The Moon is a planet with natural affinity for the 1st chakra. Venus is a planet with natural affinity for the 2nd chakra. Mars is a planet with an affinity for the 2nd and 3rd chakras.

When any of these planets appears in a 4th chakra pattern, it will reference the preceding chakras in which it also has natural affinity. So, for example, when the Sun appears in a 4th chakra pattern, it implies that before the heart can open, you must have done some work in the 1st and 3rd chakras. Or conversely, intentionally doing the work that is yours to do – in whatever 1st and 3rd chakra patterns you have – will go a long way toward opening your heart.

There is a kind of reflex action going on here between chakras. The Moon references the 1st chakra as well as the 4th; Venus references the 2nd as well as the 4th; and Mars references the 2nd and 3rd as well as the 4th. What do I mean by this? Let’s take each of these sensitive planets one at a time, and see more specifically how this works.