letting it all fall away

what happens when you are between 2 shells

essentially every single time I open TikTok, I am immediately greeted by a clip of who I assume is Alan Watts (or Alan Watts adjacent) doing a little speech on letting go of what’s letting go of you

it’s a good time to put some stuff down.

as we close out the season of the crab (cancer season) let’s consider the journey of the hermit (crab).

many people on the spiritual path use the metaphor of the hermit crab to discuss growth - that as you change and expand, you leave one shell and search for another one that matches your new growth. it gets tossed around willy-nilly in the spiritual growth community. so much so, it has lost its meaning mostly, but let's reopen ourselves to the great lessons we can glean from this humble creature hero journey.

with the full moon in Capricorn (pt 2) on 7/21 - it’s a great time to reflect on the growth you’ve been experiencing.

Growth is both expansion and shedding. We must shuck our shell to accommodate our development.

yes, I am the creator.

When we grow and expand to the next shell - there are two things I think its worth digging into a little further:

1. the pause (pre-action momentum)

2. reframe the landing (adjusting to your new shell home)

The Pause - BEING VULNERABLE // RELEASING THE PAST

the easiest part to overlook imho, is the beat in between shells - the part where you are a soft lil crab body, vulnerable and exposed, looking for the next place to nest.

In the crab’s journey there’s the pause before shedding + then there’s the void space between shells. when we are in these moments, it can feel frightening, out of control, or like nothing is happening, when in fact, everything is happening¹.

In order to take action, we must locate ourselves in time and space. To locate ourselves efficiently + effectively, it’s ideal to come to a stop. When we take this beat and pull all our energy into the present moment, it’s actually very strategic.

BUT EVERYTHING WITHIN YOU LIKELY WILL FREAK OUT PRIOR TO THE PAUSE MOMENT

The pressures we put on ourselves both externally and internally fight against the pause moment. But if there is anything I’ve learned about moving around in time and space and creating new circumstances, it’s embracing paradox.

The pause allows you to release the old shell - The pause allows you to hear your intuition so you can act on it. The pause is a critical push, creating space for momentum as you embark on your pilgrimage to find your next shell.

As you venture out into the void, you shed the old shell which can be massively uncomfortable! Even when we’re ready to blast off, we can find ourselves missing the weight of our previous shell home. Limits and familiarity are strong pulls.

Knowing we’re in the pause and void gives us the directional force to keep going -

when we do find that next shell, it can feel like it’s our new forever home… which brings me to my next point:

Reframing the Landing - Adjusting to your new shell home (Everything is temporary)

The funny thing about life is how it just keeps happening. When we get the things we want, it is typically not the magic wand we hope it will be - new desires and obstacles pop up, just as they did before. (crab goes out, finds shell, has a little cry that maybe it didn’t solve everything)

BUT THIS DOESN’T NEED TO STOP US FROM CELEBRATING THIS NEW SHELL LEVEL! Celebrate landing at the this moment! But again acknowledge the beauty and the duality of life is that…NOTHING IS PERMANENT.

Landing in your new shell means taking stock of how ‘this too shall pass.’

This has been the message and wisdom I’ve been sinking into as of late - as cancer season really brought out the blues in me (after reaching a goal that I’d been seeking for a Long While) I was like oh man, that’s right - we just keep on moving, even when we collect that $200 (yes, monopoly reference) it’s the nature of things to shift as we go.

Enjoying this new shell as a stage or phase allows me to let go of the pressures that I’ve put on this new level unlock to solve for everything. Remembering that it’s all fleeting and we’re going to set our sights on the next thing (paradoxically) helps me be more present.

This works in both directions: we don’t “rock bottom” once and then never hit bottom again, just like we don’t “level up” just once. It is an ongoing process.

(lest I need to remind you one more time: let go, let god, let go or be dragged)

Where do we go from here?

take stock of where you are in time and space. how do you feel about where you are? good, bad? neutral? whatever your feelings are - great, honestly - feel them and acknowledge them as fully as you can. This pulls all your power into the present moment.

No matter where you are, you can create. It asks one thing, can you let go of the shell you are in and imagine that there are new circumstances that can meet you?

You can take the girl out of the church, but you can’t take the church out of the girl - the message that has struck me and stuck with me the longest is… 2 Corinthians 4:18² “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Remembering that the 3-D is just the manifested world helps me to keep going on this wild journey of life.

This is the basis of energy work, reality creation, co-creation, manifesting - whatever you want to call it - this is the premise!!!

What we don’t see is the eternal energy field, the invisible forces - when we can have faith that things are moving and happening even when we don’t see them, that’s when we can really start to play.

We get to jump shells as much as we want - we can get a bigger shell, a smaller shell, a brighter shell - but remember, the shell isn’t you.

That’s the fun in all of this - embracing how it’s everything, it’s nothing, it’s both and.

So as this moon portal hits us, let’s let go and see what shell pops up next.

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I’ll be in Austin the 6-12th of Aug - if you want to do IRL human design, I’d love to read for you.

I also think I might schedule a little energy reader meeting of some sort - if that’s up your alley, reach out

1. (what happens in the meadow at dusk? - I heart Huckabee’s a scene that plays in the background of my brain most days)

2. New International Version