Dark Night of the Soul

Article by Ashwini Chubé

It was like a dark night. Which didn’t seem to get over, although there was always a hope of a dawn breaking. There was a hope but there was no dawn. I was walking in this forest. The night was getting darker and darker. Fear was rising. What if the night never got over? What if it’s dark always? What will happen in a winter night? I might die of cold or worse get handicapped or eaten by a wild beast. It was getting darker and darker. Now I gave up my hopes.

All seekers on the road to higher consciousness will pass through what we call as the dark night of the soul. The reason being what I feel is you need to sit in darkness to know the value of light.

What is Dark Night of the Soul

Eckhart Tolle describes the dark night of the soul as follows:
“It is a term used to describe what one could call a collapse of a perceived meaning in life…an eruption into your life of a deep sense of meaninglessness. The inner state in some cases is very close to what is conventionally called depression. Nothing makes sense anymore, there’s no purpose to anything.”

Symptoms of your Dark Night of the Soul

Symptoms and experiences vary from person to person, however the chiefly observed symptoms are as follows:

1. Insomnia. Most suffer from sleeplessness or disturbed sleep. One of the most common characteristic is waking up at odd hours of the night.
2. Losing faith in everything. You are all time fearful and scared and worried. Nothing seems to work out and important things get delayed.
3. Relationships or jobs falling apart. Your relationships and friends too fall apart you may lose your job or get fired.
4. Feeling every minute is difficult to pass until you achieve something. Most goals seem to be long term and every minute of survival becomes tough.
5. Dreams or nightmares are common, because you are releasing so much your subconscious is throwing out all that isn’t needed.
6. Having pain in body which can’t be explained. There are weird body pains and aches which you cannot explain and have no logical reasons.
7. Weird cravings. Most may resort to binge eating or excess of sweets/salty foods.
8. There could be mood swings where in one is getting angry or crying for no reason.
9. Physically aura may diminish and one may observe, severe hair loss and skin issues. You may gain or lose excess weight
10. You may be troubled over personal matter like a dear one or a family member being sick or in tremendous pain. This will test you to the highest level.

The dark night occurs after considerable advancement in spirituality in the journey toward the higher self. Being spiritually aware of one’s true self is a lengthy process and requires a lot of patience. On the journey to discovering yourself you may have several experiences. Spirituality will open a Pandora’s box for you and you’ll experience certain things, which you may not ideally want. The key is to deal will the dark and find light within.

It is very much like cleaning a dirty utensil. Once we start cleaning it for the first few minutes only the dirt comes out. It is after that the dirt has gone, only then the utensil becomes spiky clean. Dark night of the soul is the phase where you have put your hands to clean the utensil of your pent up karma and you are releasing it. Trust me your life gets better after this phase passes.

People sometimes also feel it is like an extended healing crisis after you become an energy practitioner yourself. Most people will get fooled and may leave spiritual path due to the fear. Close family or friends may even say that you are going through this because you went on spiritual path and are suffering from mental condition called depression.

The fact is you are releasing karma of so many lives at a single go which is helping you unite to your higher self or consciousness. Just stay on the path and keep yourself connected to the energy of the masters. This shall pass.

How to Deal with the Deep Long Dark Night?

1. Know it will pass. It is difficult done than said but know it will pass. After going through all this, if you just know it will get over, even that is good enough to restore your peace of mind.
2. Try to meditate as much as possible. Especially if you wake up at odd hours of night and are so anxious to see 7 a.m. on the clock and feel stuck at 2:30 a.m. Again I know it will be tough, but try.
3. Stay away from everyone who breaks your peace of mind. Limit your circle to close friends/ family who understand you and pull you up.
4. Avoid watching harsh television shows, movies or even some negative news. These suck the energy out of you.
5. Spend time in nature and get grounded. It is very important you do grounding as you feel better. In my article on 3 golden energy techniques I have discussed grounding.
6. Get a healing done. If you are an energy practitioner, heal yourself. Else ask a friend or a professional to help you in getting healed. Please don’t forget to pay the energy exchange.
7. Read beautiful books which lift you up.
8. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, artificial sugar as much as possible. Drink ample water.
9. Take salt water baths regularly to keep your aura clean.
10. Do a Ho’oponopono regularly and seek forgiveness (my article on Ho’oponopono will explain details).
11. Maintain a gratitude diary to count your blessings.
12. Avoid gossip and malicious talks about others. These activities bring you down.
13. Learn healing modalities or connect to the wonderful archangels. They help you through this. Know you are not alone. Archangels Michael, Haniel, Raziel and Raphael can help you through this.
14. As a Reiki practitioner you can primarily call in the Reiki masters and ask them to help you pass through this. A large Sei He Ki on heart chakra, a big master symbol on crown and third eye and some beautiful symbols of Karuna® Reiki like Rama and Shanti below your pillow as you sleep can help you get out of this with much comfort.
15. Violet flame healing can help you to transmute your fears. In my article on Transmutation I have mentioned details of it.
16. Find your creative passion. Dance, exercise, paint, and sing. Do everything that is food for your soul.
17. Having a spiritual master with whom one can discuss everything definitely helps. If you do not have a master along your side, just connect to the Usui Master symbol and let it guide you.

I know it is a very difficult time. But the real beauty of this will be after this night passes by and where you realise that all the beliefs you had about life were false. The old belief system collapses like a pack of cards and what emerges is a beautiful new dawn of life.

As the very famous quote says “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly” Hang on.. Stay there, have faith. Remember. It is darkest just before the dawn.

Please note that some symptoms above are also those of depression or mental diseases. Not all the time the above symptoms show that you are passing through the dark night of the soul. Especially in case if you have not started healing your inner part or are not really in search of higher self. Kindly consult a psychiatrist or a clinical psychotherapist and please don’t assume you are passing through the dark night. See a doctor on time. The above article is a deep profound concept and needs to be dealt with care.

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Dr Ashwini Chube is a Usui Reiki Grandmaster since 2014 and holds a Ph.D. in Energy Medicine. She practices Usui Reiki - Karuna reiki - Excalibur Reiki - Angel Medicine - Violet Flame Healing - Lavender Flame Healing and many more modalities.
Ashwini is also an Access Consciousness Bars, Body Process & Intro class Facilitator. Ashwini is an Angel Psychic - Divine Channel -Tarot Reader & Claircognizant and also the teacher of Angel studies. She is a Life Transformation coach and also a Twin flame coach. Ashwini is also an Ascension teacher with the Diana Cooper School of White Light and takes workshops on Ascension and also facilitates Spiritual retreats.
Ashwini works on Body movement as a therapy and is also a licensed Zumba Fitness instructor and takes in person and online sessions.
Being an ex-investment banker working previously in Mumbai & London - she is an impact speaker and Life Transformation Coach with corporates and groups.
Get in touch with Ashwini through her Website: www.unicorninsight.com or at [email protected]. Her Facebook page is: facebook.com/ashwinichubeofficial