Regarding feelings and emotions in inner work, one of my mantras is 'the friction is the conversation.'

Dysfunction, dissatisfaction, and discomfort are your best friends in inner work. Let's face it: the angels of our nature do not need more tending. Hermetic inner work is about bringing illumination to the dark places and seeking understanding as to why you do those things you know are not productive, why you do or say those things that cause my inner dialogue to say, 'That is not me.' What is preventing you from moving forward or filling me with fear?

Note that I said 'seek understanding,' not eradicate, excise, or distract. We've been programmed into the knee-jerk response: if I feel uncomfortable, I need to get something remove that unpleasantness. The problem is that avoidance evolves the suffering felt from the avoided in proportion to a person's fear of being hurt.

To enter willingly into this work takes a vast amount of courage. Ultimately, to succeed at this, you must first put a person in a Moses and the Burning Bush scenario. If you had been raised a prince at the peak of your society's technology and prosperity and found yourself in a situation where you had to kill another to defend a helpless person only to be forced into exile because of your actions, where you now herded sheep all day you would have plenty of time for introspection.

Just as our mythological figure Moses was drawn from the waters, so too does the inner traveler draw from the waters of consciousness those occurrences of desolation in their lives that radiate out light from seemingly never-ending flames of anguish, burning them and yet consumeth them not.

At times like these, one must act counterintuitively and, instead of turning away, step into the umbra and, through seeking understanding, find the inherent luminance within all. During their 'Vigil of Nature, ' I have clients start with two main questions:

Why are you uncomfortable or in anguish?  Where does this discomfort come from in your body?

A dialogue is created by going to the source of the discomfort and listening. Often, the response is not what most people are expecting. Indeed, when you learn and utilize this skill properly, what unfolds inwardly is a tale as epic as any Hollywood drama. Still, it involves the forces and energies within you becoming personified and conversant.

The first thing is to say I will not run from this feeling; I will turn towards that burning bush and see what happens. This work invites you to accept your feelings, frailty, and faults. Acceptance, though, is not acquiescence! Your 'problems' are part of your uniqueness; in the Hermetic perspective, they impart specific lessons to aid in your realization of self. Therefore, comparing yourself to another is always futile; your experience is valuable, and your experience is only for you.

Remember, this work is about retraining the nervous system and educating the mind. To establish a friendly, loving relationship with your feelings, they are not the enemy. Once you know something is true, the false stuff does not hang on.

This work is not about seeking a pardon or forgiveness; it's about the vindication of your soul! As I mentioned above, what one experiences when doing inner work is 'a tale as epic as any Hollywood drama.' While no two people have the same experience, overarching patterns, symbols, and levels reveal themselves in everyone's journey.

The means of catalyzing these experiences is through the specially prepared alchemical products I mentioned in my article on 'Alchemical Gnosis.'

I intend to create a more detailed explanation of alchemical products and their uses within Hermetic Inner Work practices. Still, this series of articles necessitates describing these products with a finer granularity than I did in the initial 'Alchemical Gnosis' post.

To be continued...