Initiations: Tests of Life

Most of us have been confronted with challenges at different times in our lives We may have been surprised by changes at work, in relationships with our significant other, our children, extended family, friends, and in ourselves. Some of these may have been grueling or even life-threatening.

In those moments we stood before two doors: One was Light-filled, the other shadowy. Therein lay our test. Which door did we choose?

The shadowy door may have included inaction, fear, feelings of inadequacy, cowardice, justification, perhaps even corruption. The Light-filled door most likely included courage, resourcefulness, strength, conviction -- and a sense of power that grew as we took action to respond to the challenge before us.

The purpose of these tests of life is to challenge us. Who are we at our very core? What are our values? When we are being tested, will we live from those values or will we sacrifice them? How do we respond to daunting challenges? Will we ask for the learning in every situation? Will we choose growth? Will we find the joy and love hidden in our darkest hour?

The tests we have faced may seem small compared to those human beings on this planet who have chosen to incarnate to learn through their direct life experience about starvation, dis-ease, loss of life, or betrayal.

This may look like extreme hardship to others viewing that person's life from the outside. The test is for the individual living that life to learn the lessons he or she incarnated to learn, to gain the experience directly that would forever change them for the better, and for the journey of the soul to be advanced.

As we step back and look at the journey of the soul lifetime after lifetime, we begin to understand the larger picture. We begin to develop equanimity, a peace deep inside that honors the choices of the soul of every individual. We learn to allow them the spaciousness to be.

When someone asks us for help, it is our soul's journey to decide how to respond.

If we jump in to rescue another without being invited, we may inadvertently be doing them a great disservice. Consider the catepillar that is transitioning into a butterfly. If we see the young butterfly struggling to emerge from its cocoon and we rush to help it by cutting it free, it may never gain the strength to fly on its own.

When we do not learn the lesson at one level of challenge, the universe will often 'turn up the volume' by giving us another challenge of greater intensity.

From a different perspective, when we have been the butterfly emerging from our cocoon, how powerful and free did we feel after our struggle as we soared free of our limiting cocoon?

The challenge of life is to bring consciousness to our actions, to understand that all is far more than it appears on the surface -- and to take Guidance before taking action.

The Hopi Elders Speak

You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour. Now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour. And there are things to be considered: Where are you living? What are you doing? What are your relationships? Are you in right relation? Where is your water? Know your garden. It is time to speak your Truth. Create your community. Be good to each other. And do not look outside yourself for the leader. This could be a good time! There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift, that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. See who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally. Least of all, ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt. The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

My Story

Dancing with Source™ feels like the culmination and integration of an exploration I began the day I was born.

I was introduced to DWS and Ashley by Diane Boivie (now a Master Practitioner), whom I was seeing for Life Coaching. Diane was one of Ashley's first students and I was one of Diane's first "guinea pigs". To my amazement, even though our sessions were over the phone, I could feel Diane tracking my system as if she were in the room. And I could feel myself shift in ways that had nothing to do with my imagination. Wow, this stuff was real! It became even more real when I discovered myself thinking and behaving in hitherto unimagined ways, such as volunteering to present bi-weekly educational talks at my business networking group despite the fact that I was afraid of public speaking and felt like an idiot each time I stood up. I continue to be amazed with the ways in which I am thinking and behaving differently, particularly in areas that have been the most resistant to change despite 25 years of constant work.

As we progressed, Diane suggested I have a few sessions with Ashley, and later encouraged me to take the DWS training. I was initially skeptical, since I had renounced "psychic work" many years before as being too "out there". I was very happy using my talent for sensing the wider field of experience through my hands as I gave Rolfing and Biodynamic Craniosacral sessions. If I couldn't feel it in my body, I wasn't going to do it. And I was NOT going to have entities showing up in my office!

Well, Diane suggested I ask Source to give me information through my body rather than through my mind, and Source graciously complied.

I became hooked on the DWS work when, as a beginning student, I woke up one morning so emotionally ungrounded I was afraid to work. I decided to start driving to my office, and cancel my sessions if I couldn't pull myself together before I got there. To my amazement, 5 seconds after requesting my etheric grid be replaced (using a process I learned on my first day of DWS training), I felt sane again! I knew the process worked when Diane or Ashley requested it for me, but I had no idea it would actually work for me.

I now turn to Source every time I feel out of alignment, rather than just setting my jaw and plowing through, or hiding under the covers. I easily recover my sense of balance, and creative solutions arise before me. I think and behave in more resourceful ways. DWS is such a wonderful tool for self-regulation.

I now have been studying DWS for a year, and use the processes to ground and clear myself and my office before each client, and request help from Source whenever I am unsure what to do next. DWS is helping me further refine the art of the quiet mind, which is essential for craniosacral work. And slowly, slowly, I am finding more dimensions showing up in my clients' biofields. I know from past experience that a client's system will only show me what it is willing to work on and what it knows I am able to perceive. As my perception increases, Source is expanding the parameters in which I already work, and is helping me to be a more clear and neutral practitioner.

Several weeks ago, I attended the DWS spiritual retreat at Angel Valley, Sedona, and walked the large Chartres Labyrinth there. What a moving metaphor for life's journey. I felt the strong energy of that valley, the presence of the ley lines and energy vortices, and all those things I thought it was impossible to feel. I felt the presence of Source and the Archangels, and received teachings I am still assimilating into my daily practice.

DWS, Ashley, and Diane, have allowed me at last to own that part of myself I have always had but not known how to acknowledge I finally have a strong reliance on Source. They have shown me how to help myself and in so doing enhance my ability to help others in my own way, in my own profession.

What I love about the DWS processes and its lovingly neutral language is that it fosters a calm mind, an open heart, and a strong connected presence. In my opinion, these are the necessary ingredients for major transformation. I am so grateful to Source, to Ashley, to Diane, to the Master Practitioner Gloria Cotton, and to my fellow students, who are all such amazing healers and dance partners in this work.

Kathleen Cheek, Certified Rolfer and Registered Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist, has been in practice for over 13 years. She has offices in San Rafael and the town of Sonoma, and specializes in careful, collaborative alignment of the body-mind delivered with a gentle touch. She can be contacted for work that will change your life.

• Contact Information:
  • Link: Kathleen Cheek
  • Phone: 415.305.7748

The vision of the Dancing with Source mystery school is Oneness. We empower all to create a clear two-way communication with the Divine and transform past lives, trauma, disempowering genetic & behavioral inheritances through family bloodlines, disempowering core beliefs, incongruencies with Highest Good and congruencies with what is not, karmic patterns, programs, attachments, fragmentation of soul, personality, and Spirit, removal of dark teachers and implants, as well as dynamic relationship work with the archetypes, concepts ideas, people, places and so forth that hold us back from moving into our Light Bodies. When we clear these and other barriers from our Bioplasmic bodies, we become progressively able to hold more Light and can be of greater service in the uplifting of human consciousness in preparation for the Ascension.

We do this through advanced energetic healing workshops, private sessions, speaking engagements, and spiritual retreats in partnership with Source, the Archangels, Ascended Masters, and All Beings of Light.