Are You Resisting Spiritual Growth?

A couple of blogs ago, I shared why I’m no longer talking about astrology here as much I used to.

(You can read it here if you missed it.)

I didn’t come to that decision quickly, or easily.

When you put years into something, it can feel disorienting to realize you don’t feel the same way about it as you used to. Given that astrology is part of my spiritual practice, it was a decision that went beyond just a newsletter.

For a while, I questioned myself:

Do I not believe in astrology anymore?

Do I not think it’s important?

Do I not want other people to discover it and see it the way I do?

I do believe in astrology, and I do think it’s important. But I want to have a different relationship with it now.

And to do that, I need to take a bit of a step back from working with it so publicly.

This isn’t an easy thing to do these days, with our lives so out in the open online.

This is a reflection of what happens when spiritual practices evolve. Our relationships to our spirituality, including our beliefs and attitudes towards it, can change over time.

As you grow and change, your spiritual life will, too. It’s normal for that to happen.

Spirituality is not fixed. It is fluid.

When I was a teenager, I was drawn to witchcraft. I didn’t have a lot of resources available to me in order to learn more about it, though.

A lot of what was out there felt like vague, nebulous information. I found new age books that talking worshipping a goddess, but which goddess? Some didn’t name a specific deity and talked about witchcraft as nature worship, which sounded nice to be me but was a little too general.

I often wondered: What am I trying to believe in, exactly?

And then of course there were older texts floating around that talked about complicated spells, Devil worship, hexes and curses.

I took bits and pieces from what I had access to. Eventually, I learned that just because a book is in the new age section does not necessarily mean it’s reliable, accurate, or right for me.

I didn’t know that starting out, though. That realization ended up being an important part of my spiritual evolution. The deeper I went into pre-Christian history the more I learned about magic, deities, and mythology – with very specific names, details, and philosophies.

That was how I realized that some of the earliest resources I had been exposed were poor, watered down ideas about gods, goddesses, and ritual magic.

There’s been a trend in new age teachings to accept work without proper context, reference points, and research. But we can’t just channel our way through a lineage. If something feels like it was created out of thin air, yet claims to come from ancient sources, it’s best to widen your research beyond a single source or teacher.

And there’s nothing wrong with developing entirely new, modern practices – as long as that’s clear from the start and it’s not presented as a masquerade of something older and wiser.

That being said, what I learned early on in my path didn’t all go to waste: The bits and pieces of information I had picked up early on gave me a start. And honestly, if I had had access to as much information as is out there today, I don’t know if I would have known what to do with it all right away.

I might not have been able to appreciate it, or understand it when I was younger and just starting out.

Sometimes, spirituality feels like following a trail of breadcrumbs: You get the information you need for where you’re at, and then another layer is revealed when you’re ready to accept it.

The same thing has happened to me with tarot.

The way I read cards has changed drastically over the years.

And my relationship to tarot has changed, too. I see more and more possibilities in the cards all the time – and more lessons that we can take from them.

But I would have been overwhelmed by it all at first. I had to start with the basics, and also go through periods of trial and error with various techniques and philosophies before I got to where I’m at.

Everything needs time.

Which is why we have to be mindful that there is a difference between commitment and stubbornness in spiritual practices, as well as evolution and abandonment.

It’s important to be clear in our commitment to something. Spirituality is a relationship. To actually experience more depth and growth through a practice means that we have to put the time into it. We can’t flit around from one spiritual concept to another and expect to experience depth in any one practice – that leads to superficiality, not connection.

But we also can’t be so stubborn in thinking that a practice has to be followed one way, and one way only. To assume that the first thing we learn about anything – tarot, astrology, magic, energy – is the only thing to learn rarely holds true in the long run.

Some people resist spiritual growth because they think that letting go of an old aspect of a practice means giving up altogether. But to embrace a new one doesn’t indicate a wavering commitment. It just means your perspective is broadening and you’re ready to move to a new level in your spiritual work.

With that being said, there is a difference between evolving and moving on. Commitment is key to anything we do in life, but it shouldn’t keep you locked into a path or practice that no longer serves you – or that no longer feels right, safe, or conducive to your spiritual connection.

You might grow out of something, or grow away from it, or move on altogether and embrace a completely different paradigm. But every aspect of your spiritual past stays with you to inform your path as it stands now.

Until next time,

Liz xo