I’ve been fascinated by spirit and have always been intensely curious about how the unseen works for over 25 years, so inevitably I’ve crossed paths with gurus, Asian masters, shamans, adepts and teachers.
I’ve been extremely lucky.
At least three times (that I’m aware of anyway!) I almost got sucked into situations that were ripe for oppression, abuse or control. At the last minute something would intervene and I’d somehow escape for the most part unscathed but much more wary.
What I’ve found in my odd combination of skepticism and seeking, is that the majority of guru/teacher types claim to be much more powerful or knowledgeable than they are. They may actually believe it to be true, but the reality is often quite different.
Many more are masquerading as the light when they are actually more aligned with the darkness and seek to oppress or control.
Some have amazing gifts and teachings AND are quite wounded, running all sorts of distortion patterns that prevent them from being as clear as their followers believe them to be. But being called a guru and having non-ordinary abilities doesn’t make the distortion patterns go away!
And of course there are also wonderful people in alignment with Pure Source, with a tremendous amount of access to knowledge, humble and very much contributing to the massive awakening that is happening currently.
We all can benefit from good guides—they can absolutely accelerate things for us. We just need to be careful about who we choose to align ourselves with and how we are in relationship with them.
In this week’s episode (#72), “Do You Need A Guru?” Dennis and I talk about what to watch out for with gurus—what might be harmful or slow you down, and what to look for in someone who can help you most effectively and efficiently down your path.
The free Group Frequency Calibration® (GFC) at the end will give you more clarity around power so you can see relationships more clearly, steer clear of those that will not serve you and attract more that will.
Without releasing these distortion patterns we can easily give away our power and end up in situations or relationships that are more harmful than helpful.
It’s good to know what you’re getting into!
Until next time,
Karen
SUMMARY:
• At the start of your spiritual journey, it can be difficult to discern the difference between someone who’s really good at talking the talk of spirituality and someone who’s awakened and able to guide you toward where you want to be. A guru or master is someone who claims or is considered to have a certain level of spiritual knowledge, and people follow that person to share in that knowledge.
• The challenge with the guru-follower, master or teacher/student relationship: followers often give their power away with the hope of attaining the same level of knowledge as the guru or master. The guru or master tends to become elevated—placed on a pedestal—and the followers consider themselves as less than. It’s a power dynamic ripe for abuse.
• This abuse of power often comes in the form of energetic hooking. Gurus or masters are just people, and can be possessed by things that are dark—entities that realize the guru has access to lots of other beings. Since entities need bioenergy to sustain themselves and grow stronger, they hook into the followers to feed off of them. This heightens and exploits the power imbalance between guru and follower.
• There’s no need for an intermediary between you and the divine—you are already of Pure Source. If you’re giving your power away to a guru or master/teacher, you’re denying your own inner divinity. Surrender to nothing but Pure Source.
• As a spiritual guide, Karen refuses to take others’ power away. Many clients offer it for the taking, either wittingly or unwittingly, but Karen simply will not accept—it disempowers the person and is a form of abuse. She’s here to guide and to empower—but not to save. Saving and being saved are predicated on a power imbalance and involves one person being responsible for another—but true freedom and ascension require personal accountability and responsibility to and for oneself.
• If you find yourself in a guru-follower, teacher or master/student relationship, ask yourself: do I blindly listen to what they’re saying without thinking about it? Do I close down to other perspectives? Do I get very defensive of that person? Do I ignore or justify incongruencies between their words and their actions? This indicates a skewed power dynamic. Look to your inner compass and decide for yourself whether this relationship is really serving your highest good.
• There tend to be a lot of “shoulds” and “should nots” in a guru-follower or master/student power dynamic. But there are no “shoulds” with Pure Source. Pure Source is absolutely neutral—your choices are yours alone. When people are telling you what not to do, that’s a potential indicator that they’re not in alignment with Pure Source. If you’re in a neutral state in your beingness, then it doesn’t matter what the other being does. Someone who coming from that stance of neutrality can offer advice or suggestions when asked, but will not impose judgments or shoulds on others.
• It can be extraordinarily difficult to pull out of a relationship with a guru, master or teacher —Karen has seen energetic hooks present in her clients who haven’t seen their guru, master or teacher in years. For such a hook to be established, you simply have to open your heart. Opening your heart, power, and essence allows something else to come in. This isn’t saying that people shouldn’t be kind, compassionate, etc.—but rather that there is a more masterful way to be kind that doesn’t result in opening one’s heart field to being occupied, hooked into, by another. Opening one’s heart in that less careful sense is an invitation to be exploited.
• People often have patterns of low self-worth and non-deserving when they’ve opened themselves to a guru, master or teacher. They want to be blessed or acknowledged by the guru, master or teacher—but that sort of acknowledgment doesn’t lead to awakening. Being complete on spirit level and accepting your own brilliance is what’s important—and it’s an internal game. This is your journey. It doesn’t belong to anyone else.
Note – although I have used the word “guru” as short hand for a spiritual teacher, in no way am I singling out the Indian tradition. I’m speaking of any tradition, Western, Asian, Indian where there is a tradition of elevation of a spiritual teacher above their students or followers.