Ase!

 

Astral traveling, vibrational alignment, third eye opening. I do believe these abilities are possible, I have seen and experienced they can be done. Yet a blockage at the lower levels will lead to interference of these higher levels and leave one spiritually dysfunctional.

Ashe/Ase is energy, spiritual power of the universe, power, life force, or essence. It can be transferred, it can be moved, it can be consolidated, it can be lost, it can be recovered. The more one works with it the more one can realize it is as tangible as grains of sand. You can open your fingers and let it slip away or you can work with it and make spectacular sand castles. Ase also means So be it. This is a reminder that the breath carries ase and that there is power in our words to create or call into existence.

Intention is a concentration of thought or effort. It involves using a higher state of mind for a particular purpose. There is a design in intention, a current. Even in the medical field, intention is a manner of healing. Combined with ase it is a brewing powerhouse.

Meditation and the ability to quiet the mind is the glue between intention and accumulating ase to effect an outcome. Sitting in front of my boveda or my Ancestral shrine, I have to practice quieting my mind, focusing on my intention. My mind, like most, runs at 1,000 miles per hour and does not shut up without intentional focusing.

While shopping for items needed for a ceremony, food offerings (adimu), or even a spiritual bath I do not pick these items up with my routine food shopping.  When I go food shopping for the house, my intention is obtaining food for the house. When I go shopping for spiritual items, my intention is a concentration on that. I make it a separate trip so that I can focus on the way to the store, walking through the store, selecting the item, placing it in the basket. My entire being is on what is my purpose for obtaining this item? What is my expected result? Why am I participating in this ceremony or taking this bath? If the items are related to Egun or Orisa, what does that Egun or Orisa mean to me? How have they contributed to my life?

The phone is off on the way to shopping, during shopping, after shopping and definitely when I start to prepare. I check my own emotional state. Am I angry, agitated, feeling negative? What do I need to do to rid myself of that before attempting to start to work with intention and accumulating the necessary energy for what I am about to do. Who are the people around me and what is the energy they are contributing? Do I need them to leave? Do I need to call on someone to come? Is the television off? If the children are up, can they help? If they get off track can I bring them back without breaking my own concentration?

Focusing on intent and energy through meditation (concentration) is an invaluable tool that can be used time and again to connect to elevated energies. Simple lower levels of spiritual practices build a solid foundation to achieve higher level functions.