The Seven Mirrors of Self

Introduction

Earth is a plane of demonstration in which we witness the way consciousness creates material reality. One of the most direct reflections of our own individuated consciousness is through the mirror of relationship.

The Essene Nazarenes believed that all human beings are initiates in the School of Life. They had an extremely sophisticated awareness of interpersonal human relationships, the complexities of different states of consciousness and how to find the unifying point between two poles, thus illuminating the illusion of separation.

The Essenes had a method of utilising these mirrors of relationship to accelerate spiritual ascension. Their belief was that in recognising these mirrors in our experiential encounters with others, we get an unobstructed glimpse at aspects of our own consciousness that are usually kept hidden.

They recognised seven distinct mirrors in which the outer experience reflects a state of inner consciousness. They said in order for us to know and master ourselves in this world, we will see one or some combination of mirrored patterns in others. These mirrors become progressively more and more subtle.

1. THE MIRROR OF THE MOMENT
   
   The Mirror of The Moment is a direct reflection of your true nature, the core of your consciousness and is a reflection of your personal frequency. Some may think of this mirror as the ‘karmic mirror’ as it is the direct reflection of our cause & effect.

   This mirror shows us everything we experience is a reflection of our consciousness, that we reap what we sow. It shows us that the world reflects our emotional frequency back to us through our experiences.

   This mirror is also an insight into how our lens of perception alters our experience. More specifically it shows us our exact frequency match at that moment. This is an explanation for those days when good things just keep happening and also those days when one bad thing happens after the next.

   
   EXAMPLE

   You are having a bad day and notice yourself feeling irritated. A situation that usually wouldn’t bother you seems to illicit a big uncomfortable response. The Mirror of the Moment is showing your dissonant frequency is calling in and attracting more of that experience. Irritation attracts more to be irritated by, thus affirming itself. Your consciousness is warping a neutral experience (as all experiences are) into a negative or uncomfortable one.

   THE LESSON

   Practice witness consciousness. If you can create the space to pause and observe, your experience can become a direct reflection of your inner state. This is a call to give more awareness to your own vibration and to return to sacred neutral.
   

2. THE MIRROR OF RESISTANCE
   The Mirror of Resistance or Judgment reveals to us all of the aspects of self that seek our loving integration. This mirror reveals the aspects of self we reject or deny - our shadow. If we witness a mirror and do not identify what we see with an aspect of ourselves (illuminated or shadowed) we activate the mirror of judgment.

   This mirror really highlights the ego/personality and its preferences. Our identity is crafted by the ego’s preference for one pole over another across infinite expressions.

   Eg. I am nice - not mean.

   I am considerate - not selfish.

   I am punctual - not tardy.

   This mirror reveals all of our learned biases, prejudices and preferences. Our concepts of good and bad, right and wrong. It also teaches that whatever we judge, we attract. We continue to attract aspects we have judged and rejected until we are able to reconcile & integrate it.

   It is not our role to judge anything in this experience. Our task is simply to love what is unifying and to forgive all else. We do not have the necessary perspective to judge anything. This mirror is a call to forgiveness.
   
   EXAMPLE

   You see someone yelling at their children and you observe the thought-judgment that behaviour is bad.

   THE LESSON

   Practice compassion, humility & forgiveness. You do not know this person’s story and you also have the capacity to lose your emotional composure under pressure.
   

3. THE MIRROR OF MAGNETISM
   The Mirror of Magnetism or our Lost Love is a mirror of all that was loved and lost, taken or given away. This mirror reveals our desires. It shows us that what we desire from others is an aspect of self we have lost, has been taken or has been given away by us during our many incarnations of life.

   This mirror is the Law of Attraction and the nature of reconciling polarity. All parts seek their reunion in wholeness.

   The message of this mirror is that you only seek what you lack. If you are holding a mango, you have no desire for a mango because you possess it already. It is a call to deeper embodiment and to nurture the aspects of self we feel disconnected from.

   When we notice an instant, electric attraction to someone it is a call to witness what that person embodies that we currently do not. Are we seeking a return to wholeness through that other being?
   
   EXAMPLE

   You might be a little controlling or anxious and met someone who is really spontaneous & carefree and feel an instant, magnetic attraction to them.

   THE LESSON

   Learn to discern between your desire to obtain wholeness through other or desire for genuine connection. Witness any strong desire to merge with another as a call to activate their attributes within yourself.
   

4. THE MIRROR OF OBSESSION
   The Mirror of Obsession & Compulsion is our insight into our addictive behaviours and patterns. This mirror is activated when we recognise a behaviour is obsessive or compulsive but cannot seem to stop. It is an indication that a wound might be overriding our capacity to use free will and discipline.

   We witness this mirror in the anxious-avoidant dynamic or our co-dependent relationships. We witness this in substance abuse, food addiction & really any behaviour that becomes obsessive.

   They show us our unhealthy attachment to the material world and the body. The underlying factor here is fear. This fear is generated by being falsely identified with our limited instrument, the body, rather than with our eternal essence, the Spirit.

   These obsessive or compulsive behaviours usually find their roots in deep, unacknowledged emotional pain. They are a call to point your awareness inward and to lovingly tend to aspects of yourself you deem unlovable.
   
   EXAMPLE

   You notice that every time you have a fight with your partner and you feel bitter about it you end up craving and consuming sweet food.

   THE LESSON

   Witness your compulsive behaviours with loving awareness. We never quit a behaviour whilst we are still resonating in the frequency of the wound. So we need to recognise the pain to tend to it first.

   In this instance, you might be substituting a lack of feeling the sweetness of emotional support & compassion you desire during conflict with the sweetness of food. Thank your body for its intelligence and capacity to outsource and then find ways you can offer yourself the support you desire. Perhaps this is communicating your needs to your partner or even showing yourself more love & compassion during conflict.

   Often when the wound itself is tended to spiritually, the physical desire for the bandaid naturally falls away.
   

5. THE MIRROR OF SACRED RELATIONSHIP
   The Mirror of Sacred Relationship is the mirror reflecting our relationship between our earthly and divine parents. This mirror connects our earthly father with our Divine Father and our earthly mother with our Divine Mother.

   What it is showing us is that our relationships with our maternal and paternal figures reflect our connection to faith & the Divine. In the Essene practice, the Heavenly Father represents the Divine immaterial aspects of consciousness. The Earthly Mother represents the Divine material aspects of consciousness. Think unmanifest and manifest creation.

   Our relationship with our maternal figure will often reflect how we feel supported by and connected to our material experience. Does the world support the meeting of my needs?

   Our relationship with our paternal figure will often reflect our relationship with God/Source/Consciousness. Do I feel a depth of connection with Spirit or do I reject the concept of a Creator?

   Reflecting on your relationship with your earthly parents can give you a better understanding of your beliefs and faith in the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine expressions.
   
   EXAMPLE

   You were raised by your mother who struggled to financially support you. You often found your basic needs were not met. You find as an adult you live in a resonance of lack and fear you won’t have what you need to survive. You might hold a belief earth has finite and insufficient resources to sustain life here.

   THE LESSON

   This mirror is a call to witness our relationship with material and immaterial creation and how that may be distorted by our experiences with our earthly parents. Healing one heals the other.

   Common examples...

   An absent father-figure may reflect as atheism or not feeling a connection to God.

   A controlling mother may reflect feeling controlled by our sense desire or bodily limitation.

   A father that we seek approval from may reflect feeling insufficient in the eyes of Spirit.

   A mother we see as vulnerable & wanting to protect may reflect the soul desire to care for the land.

6. THE MIRROR OF DARKNESS/LOSS
   The Mirror of The Darkness (or The Dark Night of the Soul) is the mirror that reflects our deepest, darkest struggles, fears and difficulties. This mirror often finds us at our rock bottom, our greatest tribulation. It is often an experience of ego death and total dissolution of the distortions we have been upholding.

   This mirror is a call to shed the armour we have created to protect us from our experience and the world around us. To remain open, vulnerable and perfect - exactly as we entered this experience.

   The Mirror of the Dark Night of the Soul is an insight into the many attachments we have to our created identities. This mirror can be expressed through many different experiences but are often huge pivotal moments in our lives connected with great loss.
   

   Eg. Loss of a key relational figure

   Loss of a career, marriage or home

   Deterioration of our health

   This mirror is a profound call to balance and integration. It requires we witness all of the “dark” aspects of ourselves that we try to deny and to illuminate them instead with love.

   EXAMPLE

   You are an artist & you lose your sense of sight.

   THE LESSON

   Through the mirror of darkness, soul-shattering loss, you are invited to reacquaint yourself with your individuated consciousness without its most valued & core physical sense - sight. The loss experienced here is beyond the physical senses though, as it shatters the identity you have crafted as an artist & it dismantles the way you connect to the world.

   This mirror highlights where our soul clings to identity, repetition and patterns. It reveals how we might limit the expression of consciousness through us by our crafted identities.

   It is a radical and often shocking chord-cutting moment. Not without great pain and exceptional will to overcome. These moments are really mirrors for the experience of death. Shedding of the self to begin the process of reuniting with the Self.
   

7. THE MIRROR OF DIVINITY
   The Mirror of Divinity could also be called The Mirror of the Tao, of Order, of Logos or of Law. It is a very subtle mirror and the most difficult one to integrate and master. This is the Mirror of Oneness. This mirror comes to us with a challenge: Can you detach from your ego’s concepts of bad and good and accept everything as perfect?

   This mirror is a call to zoom out to a macrocosmic perfective on creation. If we can detach from our personal perspective, we can see that all things - both comfortable (good) and uncomfortable (bad) - occur in service of creation. It is an opportunity to understand good or bad as relative or subjective experiences.

   The difficulty with this mirror is being able to witness the Divine order that exists when we are in our time of trial. Are we able to recognise and appreciate the mystery in our moments of suffering?

   Working with this mirror will allow you to take sovereign responsibility for your experience. You no longer seek to blame others or God, but instead have total surrendered acceptance of the isness of things. You become an active and willing participant in the experience and creation of life.
   
   EXAMPLE

   You become ill. Instead of seeking to avoid the experience (perhaps taking medicines to numb the symptoms or complaining that it is unfair), you bring appreciation to the body and its ability to detox & upgrade through the alchemical experience of illness.

   THE LESSON

   Loving detachment. When we completely surrender control over our experience we come into loving detachment and can accept that all experiences we attract are beneficial for our growth & self-actualisation.