“The issue should never be how to get rid of power, masculine or feminine. The real issue is how to steward it, and how to channel our other instincts along with it into life-giving and world-building activities.” from The King Within
There is a desire within us all
to stand most high, proud spine expanding
to tousle with the starry wisdom
and the healing heart of Earth;
to preside over the mounting chaos
of a dying age, fearing its expiration
and be vanguards of the new birth
stewarding the lost into finding
in the beautiful creativity weaving the world
awake in golden time.
How bold, how heroic, how sagacious
is this desire to be creator of worlds?
And the shadowy aspects remonstrate
shunning: how dare thee?
But the fiercely calm visage of the King-Queen
only smiles in return
Knowing nature intended nothing less
That humanity is to rise
and rule as the Sun's dominion of light
and its empire of virtue
intending for life to flower
into the beauty known as truth...
The King/Queen Within represents the essential revolution of the sovereign, self-governing self in us all to usurp the limited conditioning of selfhood that modern society teaches us to become. It beckons us to also rebel against old, tired beliefs, such as one's about a domineering Father God who rules us, often punitively. Yet, there is no God out there that will help us order the chaos of our lives and the world—that power is within us all. This is the height of individualism; that at the pinnacle of development, we realize we are surfing the crest of a torus of energy--in our highest power, our power overflows to bless the world with nobility. The greatest individuals serve a higher purpose and serve the upliftment and caretaking of the world.
To feel so regal requires tremendous inner-work. To place ourselves on the throne is not as modern society would have it with our fascination with pop-culture icons who stand exalted above the common person due to ‘star-power’. True ‘star-power’ would be one who looks at the stars in an awe-inspiring night sky and feels a tremendous sense of obligation to the cosmic beauty before them. A true King/Queen knows to be on the throne is an immense responsibility to be a steward for a sacred balance, a divine order, to bestow on a chaotic world and/or to sustain the harmonic elements already in place, amplify them even or creatively adjust them to be unique expressions of their own soul’s creative revelry.
When they lose their sense of awe,
people turn to religion.
When they no longer trust themselves,
they begin to depend upon authority.
Therefore the Master steps back
so that people won't be confused.
He teaches without a teaching,
so that people will have nothing to learn.
Lao Tzu (c.604 - 531 B.C.)
We have been culturally conditioned to project this natural sovereignty in us unto others, whether political leaders or celebrities, and in so doing we betray our birthright: to be shining conduits ourselves of mastery and excellence. It is the summit of every mystical path: to be self-realized. And when the self is fully realized, we are told by the prophets of eternity that we find something ultimate in ourselves; something so powerful that we are able henceforth to govern ourselves; to be in perpetual knowing of what is the right way to live and how to sustain such holistic health of mind-body-soul. This refinement of ourselves is a path of alchemy which our inner-Magician adores the work of: evolving the base elements of our personality into something golden. It is the work of a lifetime and one that invites one upon the path of self-mastery, for as we evolve we become masters of profound skills of awareness, generosity, heart wisdom, etc. To be in such relentless work is relentlessly captivating: there is no greater joy than in evolving oneself and embodying the fruits of one’s inner-labours. But not in the making of a vanity fair but a virtuousness that blesses all who come into our orbit.
Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues: hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.
AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO
Power is something in deep need of revision for too often our cultural conditioning projects images of power as domineering over another, or based on accumulations of material wealth, or wielding vast political influence or even physical strength. But this is so far from the case. True power is honed and sourced in love, a mighty love that aggressively cares for the world and all of its peoples. This power is generative, not destructive; blessing, not cursing. The King/Queen understands that power is multiplied in cooperativity so, thus, seeks to find and cultivate unity with others, usurping egoic intrigue of what it would be like to rule over many and garner constancy of praise. True power cares not for praise, though it will acknowledge it perhaps as an anointing by the world itself that their path is righteous. But this praise is not found in medals or awards. It’s the subtle praise that moves mountains within, such as when a man, after considerable sacrifice, rectifies his love to serve a woman’s empowerment rather than constantly dragging her down in shadowy co-dependency. There will be a look of admiration in her eyes that will restore his heart as King. It’s found in the earnest gratitude for authentic traits in one’s self that when acknowledged open a tender warmth within. It’s found in the garnering of more responsibility and greater tasking from the world whose adversity is met not with downtrodden, shoulder shrugs, but a chin-raising, and coy smile, that knows more challenges are how the world continues to test and polish our philosopher’s stone. The world rewards with more adversity, not all of the time (for the world is fair) but this kind of reward is often most misunderstood. The King/Queen knows to make a difference in the world is distinguished from making a mark for the latter holds still too much of an egoic desire, whereas the former cares more about the generations to come and how to make the world more blessed for their thriving.
“He has come to know the mystery that his masculinity is enhanced to the extent that he is appreciative of his Anima. He has experienced within himself the sacred marriage of the King with his Queen.”
from The King Within
It is no coincidence that the ancient guiding stories or mythologies frequently portray the anointing of true power to a man or the masculine within us all by a woman or our mutual feminine-inside. One can reflect on the sacred marriage or ‘hieros gamos’ rites in ancient cultures where a would-be King’s final test of his worth was to make love with the High Priestess of the temple; a ‘sky-dancing’ dakini or adept of ecstatic arts who would take the King to intense feeling states where his sensitivity would be acutely evaluated. If he was not able to pleasure this paragon of wise-womanhood to the heights of a spiritual desire and receive such in kind, he was dubbed not sensitive enough to serve the multifaceted diversity of needs of the domain. In kind, the Grail mythology of King Arthur finds the holy sword Excalibur being given to Arthur by the enigmatic Lady of the Lake, with the powerful image of her hand outstretched from the murky depths of the unconscious as its guardian and Queen with sword in hand as signifier that the greatest power of might symbolic to the sword is only rewarded when the feminine nurturing capacities and commitment to the shadow work of the profound unconscious are in alignment so that might is issued for right and not to become the bane of tyranny.
Woman within and without is the womb and the King/Queen is a conduit for the boldest capacity of our humanity: world-making. World-making shares the common womb-wisdom of all that is made: it usually begins with an act of love-making. Things can be made otherwise, unskillfully, in the throes of lust; in the aloneness of cold self-interest. But the best things are made in the amplified uni-verse of love, where common ground exalts a connecting of all energy in a towering inferno of joy where above and below are married in the symphony of two souls blending in torus and/or the embrace of our inner-masculine and inner-feminine. When we draw our inner-masculine and inner-feminine into balance, an inner-love making takes place and we feel bliss. Moreover, we engender 'children of the mind'--our creativity becomes profoundly powerful, as the intuition of the Heart couples with the rationality of Mind, and our visions are cared for and cultivated supremely by this devoted inner-parentage.
To be this true King/Queen requires a constant vigilance that we are stewarding forth the virtue that the ancients decry the Heart is oracle of; those marvelous impulses the Taoists tell are remnants of the formless eternity that existed before form emerged and, thus, are conduits for that unity. The true King/Queen realizes to be a world-maker is often more burdensome than blessingdom for the world of matter is stubborn, sluggish and there’s great adversity to change and evolution, especially that of a harmonic order. And yet, the King/Queen, sourced in the magic of spiritual life, stokes hope continually, is fueled by beauty and is armed with truth in constant supply as perpetual utterance of their aligned Heart. They do not shirk from the ‘demons’ and ‘monster boys/girls’ who wage tyranny on the world but know and adore the deeper wisdom of the symphony of galactic beauty and unifying power of love that births the universe evermore. They rise to the challenge to captivate the ‘lost ones’ into paradise found.
Their world-making may put them in grave danger, as so many heroes have perished, snuffed out by imbalanced dark forces scared of illumination, and yet, they have already died, at least their old limited form where ego reigns. Heroes truly die twice. And they have been reborn in connection with their centre, their ultimate self, their inner-sovereign, their inner-King/Queen sitting in proper stead as ruler of the realm and they know this identity is more a flow of endless consciousness which they are participating in. They know it cannot be killed and, more so, it is emboldened if their mortal form is killed for in following the great cosmic mission even into death inspires in others knowing of the power that transcends mortal life and apprehends the undying Light.
He who sows virtue reaps glory.
LEONARDO DA VINCI
It is time for the return of the King and the Queen; for men and women to exalt themselves along sturdy and authentic lines of power that cares fiercely for all creation. When we are smacked down, inevitably, by healing the great collective traumas of generations, our inner-King/Queen awaits us, in the temple of the Heart, sitting quietly and confidently on a radiant throne, unsullied by the transits of suffering, eager, in fact, to take them on and steady the wavering of wounds so they may open as ancient flowers to bloom with their hidden wisdoms. It is time for us to realize for millennia we have been controlled in systems that have belittled our great and natural power as humanity and to step forth into an ever renewing world where every man is King and every woman is Queen. We eye each other then, not with the vain tremblings of envy or the competitive hubris capitalism sought to dissuade us with. We smile with a sanctity of joy that celebrates the empowering of another, knowing this power is not scarce but the very father/mother of infinity itself. And the broken world moves into past tense as, mightily, our empire of love stands forth, jubilant to make the great dreams of a world of unity and peace an indomitable reality. Life becomes full engagement as a blessingway and every adversity an opportunity to express the excellence of our being, which we joyously face as the brave knights of old yearned always for a quest to test their mettle and enliven their life with an adventure. So imagine, actively, that you are so sovereign and the world the realm to order and guide into golden age, even if in the mundanity of errands or the passion of reveling with your beloved--all is an opportunity to rise and glorify. The King and Queen are returning and we are welcomed to channel their powers in our lives for the goodness of All. Become the call!