Honoring the Beauty of Spiritual Gifts

By Shawna Bluestar Newcomb

Like many people, my personal spiritual journey has been filled with many ups and downs, ultimately moving me towards a deeper acceptance, honoring my innate spiritual gifts. This is something I recognize that each and every person on the planet has within. And yet how many of us were taught to honor, accept, or trust these abilities?

My own journey began very early on with deep and profound spiritual connections. As a young child, I was not prepared for (and did not have guidance to) understand these experiences. I did not yet know how to accept my ability to see and hear intuitively — or understand my prophetic dreams. Yet, I also felt a burning inner calling to make a difference in the world with my gifts.

I’m grateful for my connection growing up with my Indigenous elders of many nations in a multicultural community. This allowed me to experience understanding and appreciation for the beauty of differences, as well as a deeper connection to the spiritual path through guidance from the elders and from ceremony.

More and more I recognize the spiritual gifts of the women in my family, such as my maternal grandmother who was a curandera (healer). I honor the wonderful healing abilities of all my grandmothers. Each of them lived such challenging lives, and most of them were greatly misunderstood or dismissed in their time. In the spiritual guidance work that I do with students and clients around the world, I feel deep appreciation that as I embrace my spiritual gifts, I am honoring my grandmothers, ancestors, and all those who have been shunned for this kind of work in the past.

People all over the world are seeking answers to the chaos and confusion spinning out of control in recent years. People have broken away from the spiritual path and have fallen into anxiety, hopelessness, and despair. As I look from a deeper historical perspective, there’s a point where our original spiritual connection was severed. For us to remember what was lost, we must open to our spiritual connection again. The beauty of this new paradigm we are moving through — The Great Shift — is that there is a profound awakening, with an invitation to return to who we truly are. We have such tremendous strength, resilience, potential, and capacity. When we connect back to the wisdom of our ancestors, we will know what is truly possible.

How sad that most of us have been taught to distrust our own inner guidance system. Too often we turn instead towards outside, misguided, and fear-filled sources. We wonder why there is so much anxiety, anger, and depression — especially in the Western modern world. It is because of the disconnection from our true Source of empowerment, well-being, and wisdom.

One of the greatest tragedies I see is how the loss of our spiritual connection has resulted in patterns of domination, dehumanization, corruption, and greed in the modern world. I refer to this pattern as The Domination Code.

As we examine history, we see that beautiful spiritual wisdom, healing gifts, and energy medicine have been treated with condemnation and disdain. How is it that in the name of “civilization,” our greatest potentials, including deep spiritual connections to the seen and unseen world, have been stamped down, discouraged, or even vilified? How can it be that some of the most beautiful souls in history were not able to pass down their gifts, knowledge, or wisdom because they were seen as heretics and witches, with many even being burned at the stake? Profound spiritual practitioners, wisdom keepers, and healers, with often life-saving healing abilities, have been dismissed (labeled “crazy”) and abused. These patterns are, unfortunately, still all too common today.

How different would our current world be if the spiritual practitioners of the past had been allowed to flourish with their innate gifts and abilities?

The time has come for us to turn things around. It’s of utmost importance that we begin to see the error of the prevailing patterns of the Domination Code: of greed, corruption, domination, and dehumanization all across the planet.

How beautiful that the solutions we seek are within each and every one of us. There is so much untapped potential within every human heart, mind, and spirit. Throughout time, sages, mystics, and healers have understood the potential that lies within us all, and the power in honoring our spiritual and healing abilities.

I speak and teach about The Reverence Code, and The Time That Was Before. In ancient times, there was a deep understanding about respect, of maintaining balance and harmony, and living with deep reverence for all life. The Reverence Code was the daily Way of Life, and the gift of this time offers the invitation to return to this Original spirituality of the planet, for all peoples. These teachings offer a way of coming back to ourselves in the current paradigm shift we are in. The invitation is here to move past the blocks that have been put up around us, bringing people back into alignment with a greater sense of self-trust, self-love and self-acceptance. This enables us to find our true purpose, by living it, being it, and coming from a place of service. This allows us the freedom to bring forth our innate spiritual gifts, so we can contribute to the world on a bigger scale, for the betterment of the world.

Part of my spiritual practice is to reflect on the Original Instructions and teachings taught by our Indigenous elders. We understand, honor, and celebrate the spiritual and sacred energy within all things. We understand that we are nature. We honor the waters, the land, the stars, the rocks, and even the spiders as our kin. We honor and remember our ancestors and the Original Sacred Instructions that bring a sense of balance and harmony for our planet, and the natural world. We honor the seen and unseen realms.

Truly our innate intuitive abilities and sacred gifts are needed now more than ever. It’s time for each of us to awaken and break free from self-limiting beliefs and ideas. Let us all come to realize a rich spiritual connection with the natural world, which is meant to be a part of our daily sustenance. We need to move away from lifestyles that keep us stuck in patterns that continue the old paradigm. It’s time to embrace a life of meaning and purpose, based on the truth of who and what we really are as spiritual and human beings. Now is the time for us to heal and come back to ourselves. This is how we can turn things around and truly make a difference for our planet and future generations.

As part of our healing journey, it is also imperative that we see the hard truths in history, and how the Domination code negatively impacts the planet, and all of us in our daily lives. Now is the time to awaken from the fog of disillusionment, and remember what we once knew, to see as we once saw, and to feel again the intricate interconnection of all living things, and the Great Web of Life.

During this Great Shift, let us all return to a state of heart connection and compassion for the survival of our planet and our future generations. Now is the time to honor, trust, and celebrate our spiritual connections and the gifts of The Reverence Code, and The Time That Was Before. We really are all in this together, and this is my invitation to you to walk this Sacred Path.

Shawna Bluestar Newcomb (Shawnee, Lenape, Azteca) is opening hearts and minds sharing profound universal messages to navigate these times of uncertainty and change of “The Great Shift.” Shawna guides seekers to connect with their authentic power, intuition, and unique genius, with insights from her teachings, and courses, The Reverence Code, based on ancient and Indigenous knowledge, and Sacred Feminine Rising, healing arts immersion. Explore more at her website.