Why Love Matters in Energy Healing and Spiritual Transformation
I’m posing a somewhat false dichotomy here: If you had to choose, which would it be, Love or Light?
When we energy workers, et al, send someone well wishes, we often say or write, “sending Love and Light.” We usually put these two words together, for good reason, too. Love and Light are co-existent in Oneness. You can’t have one without the other. However, we embodied souls in the physical realms experience duality and so we can think of these as separate.
Something I read this past week by an energy healer (who shall remain anonymous) stirred something inside me about this topic. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what exactly it was. Then a couple of nights later, I saw that the Harry Potter Deathly Hallows films parts one and two were on TV, and with a sudden flash, I was able to put it all together and identify this new insight.
Going back to what I had read that spawned the ripple effect in the first place: for this energy healer, Light is the preference. Light. The healer doesn’t come out and say Light over Love, but the healer references Light (big L) constantly and love (little l) only briefly, only as an attribute of Light, and describes situations where Light (purity of energy) is far more important than love. For example, this healer made it clear that they would rather protect their Light than act in a loving way. Now I’m not sharing any of this for a critical assessment of the healer. I happen to know this person is really gifted and the healer is being very honest in sharing.
However, with the other experiences shared by this healer that all had a similar pattern, it seems to me after reflecting on this energy ripple, that when purity of Light is valued over and above Love, things go out of balance. I share this as someone who’s written a book called You are Light, so I in no way disagree with the Light aspect of who we are. It’s the priority given to purest Light possible over and above Love that seemed to be throwing things out of kilter, at least for me.
Why would we choose purity of Light over Love?
1) Protection. Purity of Light might seem better because then we don’t have to be in contact with all the variations of vibrations that exist out in the universe. We can insulate and isolate ourselves with Light. We can ignore the shadows of others and we can also ignore facing the universe’s mirror that is showing us our own shadows to work on and integrate. With Love, being completely open in the Universe feels like it might be too vulnerable. In actuality, Love is the strongest energy. Being in Love and sending it out in a continual stream of energy is the strongest protection there is!
2) Power. Again, more Light seems like more power to keep one safe to keep one well, to keep one “untainted.” But when we choose power over love we skew towards power over and skew away from power with. We skew towards the love of power rather than the power of love. We skew towards fragmentation to protect our power rather than toward integration to process our light and our shadow. Only in unconditional Love for all and for all the parts of ourselves, no matter how shadowy or tainted, are we healed back into our original Wholeness.
When we energy workers, et al, send someone well wishes, we often say or write, “sending Love and Light.” We usually put these two words together, for good reason, too. Love and Light are co-existent in Oneness. You can’t have one without the other. However, we embodied souls in the physical realms experience duality and so we can think of these as separate.
Something I read this past week by an energy healer (who shall remain anonymous) stirred something inside me about this topic. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what exactly it was. Then a couple of nights later, I saw that the Harry Potter Deathly Hallows films parts one and two were on TV, and with a sudden flash, I was able to put it all together and identify this new insight.
Going back to what I had read that spawned the ripple effect in the first place: for this energy healer, Light is the preference. Light. The healer doesn’t come out and say Light over Love, but the healer references Light (big L) constantly and love (little l) only briefly, only as an attribute of Light, and describes situations where Light (purity of energy) is far more important than love. For example, this healer made it clear that they would rather protect their Light than act in a loving way. Now I’m not sharing any of this for a critical assessment of the healer. I happen to know this person is really gifted and the healer is being very honest in sharing.
However, with the other experiences shared by this healer that all had a similar pattern, it seems to me after reflecting on this energy ripple, that when purity of Light is valued over and above Love, things go out of balance. I share this as someone who’s written a book called You are Light, so I in no way disagree with the Light aspect of who we are. It’s the priority given to purest Light possible over and above Love that seemed to be throwing things out of kilter, at least for me.
Why would we choose purity of Light over Love?
1) Protection. Purity of Light might seem better because then we don’t have to be in contact with all the variations of vibrations that exist out in the universe. We can insulate and isolate ourselves with Light. We can ignore the shadows of others and we can also ignore facing the universe’s mirror that is showing us our own shadows to work on and integrate. With Love, being completely open in the Universe feels like it might be too vulnerable. In actuality, Love is the strongest energy. Being in Love and sending it out in a continual stream of energy is the strongest protection there is!
2) Power. Again, more Light seems like more power to keep one safe to keep one well, to keep one “untainted.” But when we choose power over love we skew towards power over and skew away from power with. We skew towards the love of power rather than the power of love. We skew towards fragmentation to protect our power rather than toward integration to process our light and our shadow. Only in unconditional Love for all and for all the parts of ourselves, no matter how shadowy or tainted, are we healed back into our original Wholeness.
In Harry Potter The Deathly Hallows, there is a point at which Harry must choose: power or integration. He can reach the unbeatable wand before Voldemort does and thereby have the power that the three deathly hallows give one (mastery over death). Or, Harry can pursue the path Dumbledore set out for him, to find and destroy more Horcruxes. Horcruxes are objects Voldemort has hidden parts of his soul in (fragmentation) in order to be immortal. When Harry destroys a Horcrux, a shadowy energy emerges from the object that tests the destroyer of it with their own shadows: fears, jealousies, hate, etc. To confront and embrace and heal the shadows, Harry must choose the longer, harder path of re-integration over the path of power (deathly hallows).
So for energy healers and those on a spiritual path: what do you choose—Love or Light? Do you choose purity of energy (not hanging with anyone who lowers your vibe) over Love (compassionate presence with all)? Do you choose power/authority (more energy gifts for yourself) over equipping others (teaching and passing along your know-how to students/clients)? Do you choose more Light (energy) over doing the gritty work of integrating your shadow? I also wonder if this is the big question in our society right now: Integration (Love) or Purity (Light)? Is prioritizing purity over integration a spiritual seed that leads to racism and xenophobia in society?
Although in Oneness the more unconditional Love you have the more Light you have and vice versa, nevertheless, these are the questions the Universe is inviting me to explore and reflect on this month of Love. I invite you to reflect on them as well.
I remember that Jesus, the Great Healer, hung out with all sorts of people. He didn’t hold to the purity laws that seem to come from the same place as needing to keep one’s energy “pure” or of only a “high vibration.” It is in integrating, in embracing, in including all (unconditional love) that our greatest being and our greatest power happens. It’s when we try to protect our power that we fragment. On the other hand, when we integrate we unify everything in compassionate understanding and project both Love and Light.
Of course, sometimes we need to protect our energy/Light. Sometimes we need to have the space to clear our energy of others’ energies. Sometimes we need more energy in order to integrate. However, keeping Love and Light in balance with perhaps a bit of a priority towards Love is how I’m interpreting this reflection for myself.
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Monica McDowell is a dynamic speaker, author, and practitioner in alternative wellness and spirituality. Find her on Thought Catalog here. She is the author of The Girl with a Gift, Confessions of a Mystic Soccer Mom, You are Light (internationally published by 6th Books in over 14 countries) and My Karma Ran Over My Dogma, and has the distinction of being the first ordained minister in America granted civil rights by a federal ruling. She lives in Seattle, Washington, USA, and can be reached at monica@monicamcdowell.com.
“The safest place in the universe is in your expansion, not your contraction.” ~Michael Bernard Beckwith
