How to observe Lent as a religiously averse spiritual person

I used to think lent was just another way for Catholics to flagellate themselves yet again. I used to think how dumb it was to remove something you liked from your life, all because… it was going to make Jesus happy? Do we really need to keep making Jesus happy? What’s he ever done for me? Why am I listening to what man tells me Jesus wanted me to do? I was ignorant and also unwilling to lose my harsh disdain for religion for what might have been the actual truth. Now I can’t get enough of it. And that Catholic/Christian wound I used to carry where everything religious-related warranted a pantomime finger-down-my-throat.

Nowadays, I want nothing but the truth. The ORIGINAL truth. Not a truth fed to me by mass media, big business, or big religion. I want the origins of everything. This includes our spiritual practices. I really do believe the ancients knew more than we did on certain things, and what they practiced to become closer to the divine (rituals) was one of them.

I study ancient texts now, I look for the true meaning in things, and I look for where women played a role since it’s quite obvious how much that whole thing has been covered up (hullo, Mary Magdalene). I’m devoted to Truth with a capital T, and that’s got to come from within my own aha moments, my own discernment, and my own elated vibration of resonance when the truth just HITS.

This was the first year I decided to participate in lent. My devotion to the True meaning behind ancient rituals brought me to it. I want to know WHY we do these things, not just that we SHOULD. When I learned what lent was true about, I jumped at the chance to join in. And just in time too, because it was starting the next day, March 2, 2022. This is where my guides came in. They immediately told me what it was that I needed to “give up” (hint: that’s the old language of abstinence and restriction). To my surprise, lent isn’t about restriction at all. IT is about something much more powerful and beautiful. Purification. 

You see, I don’t really believe too much in restriction, especially the all-or-nothing kind. I was restricted a lot as a kid, which is part of the reason why I didn’t understand why people would give up something they loved for such a long time of year. I watched my friends growing up suffering, and for what? Nobody knew. They just knew they were supposed to. That type of restriction makes no sense. As a teenager I said to my catholic friends, why would God want you to not eat candy? I was damn lucky if I got a piece of candy or a cookie, there’s no way I’d be giving it up for a cause that is not all that explained to me. When you’re already restricted, more restrictions make for a really dull life… and I didn’t realize at the time most kids had the space to give up some pleasant things. But after all, isn’t enjoying the pleasantries of life, what life is all about? God made pleasant things so you can enjoy them.

The truth behind purification:

So here’s the truth about purification. It is not about self-depreciation or ridding your body of something. It is not about purging, it’s about integrating. It’s about clearing the way inside your mind, body, spirit, and aura so the divine can be birthed through you. And this is the story of Mary the virgin. This is the archetype of Virgo. To purify, cleanse, make better, organize and analyze. I see Virgos akin to defragging a computer. Putting all the bits in a better home so the computer has more processing space. But what purification does more than defragging is that it creates more space than you had before. You become a larger container or womb, for the divine to be received, grown, and born into the world as something completely new. So when you “give up” something for Lent, you’re letting go of what no longer serves you to make room for more and better. In this case for me, it was coffee and the caffeine that came from coffee (but not from green tea.) you are creating energetic space for more of the divine to flow through you. So the clearer your channel, the more potent the messages, creations, and manifestations are.

Here is what I accomplished during my days of purification:

(by the way, I did not observe it like the Catholics do, and allow for these things on Sundays. That feels made up to me and somewhat modern. I went completely old-school purification and when you’re purifying, you just don’t STOP for Sundays. So in total, it’s 46 days, not 40 when you take out the 6 Sundays.)

• I got the urge to finally write the book I’ve always wanted to write. Except I didn’t know what it was going to be about. So I decided to channel it completely from my guides. I learned the guides channeling through me were called the Rose Collective. And if you know me and what I do, I am a rose priestess educator. So this was quite fitting
• I was able to channel nearly 20,000 words to this book exactly in this period of time.
• I had many personal aha moments about my relationship and what I had been doing to contribute to our mess. And how easy the fix was for my portion of things. 
• Started, and kept up (keyword) a podcast
• During the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction (towards the end of lent), archangel Chamuel came through with the full title of my book and told me I was a rose code activator which I had used code and activator in my Instagram story the night before which I never do
• I learned I can do anything uncomfortable for 46 days. I really do have the ability to persevere through discomfort and perform even when not at my best. 
• I attended the Gaia conference in Denver, co where while I was walking through the labyrinth, my rose collective guides gave me the rose priestess induction ceremony that I never received from my mentor. It was a beautiful wedding for me to the rose collective, where I also learned was where my consciousness came from.
• I learned there is the 13th chakra and that the goddess laws, the system that I’m channeling, existed. 
• I’ve had more sex than I ever have had in my entire life
• My divine channel is always lit.
• I learned truly what divine surrender meant, and how I was not embodying that part of the feminine. I was still in a chokehold over control and expectations with people, places, and how my own life and goals were unfolding.

Guided steps to observing esoteric lent:

1. Decide that becoming a smooth ride for the divine is a goal of yours. Really tap into deciding if you want to be the bobsled run for the divine bobsled chariot. If the answer is a whole-hearted yes, read on.
2. Now you know you want to become a larger and more clear container for the inspiration to come through so you can create with that energy. Tap in during a quiet time (for me it’s running the water while doing the dishes!) and ask from your heart for support from your guides.
3. Did you get any messages from the above step? Did they give you something to remove that’ll help you become a clearer channel? If not, I bet the first thing you think of is the thing your body, mind, and spirit need less of. It can be as obvious as substances like cigarettes or coffee, but it could also be behaviors that get in the way of your highest self. Like not being able to let go.
4. If it’s behavioral, it’s going to be harder to notice you’re doing it, and remember you are to be aware of this behavior, so write it on a post-it note and stick it where you’ll see it daily.
5. create an altar space to use as your signal to the divine that you’re ready and need support. An altar is a portal so the energies will be higher in that area and can help you.
6. Replace your bad habit with going to your altar. All that extra time you have in the day can now go toward your devotion that you decided upon in step one.
7. Forgive yourself when you mess up. God isn’t looking for you to be perfect. She’s looking for you to devote yourself. and a part of devotion is to notice when we slip, not to not slip. I may not have had coffee (because it would take a literal effort to do it,) but I did accidentally drink drinks that had caffeine in them that I wanted to avoid. this isn’t about restricting like when you restrict calories in a diet (I do not recommend), messing up doesn’t put you at square one. forgive yourself, ask for divine support and move on.
8. Celebrate your wins. at the end of each week, write in your journal all that’s changing in your life due to being purer than you were before. Also, give yourself props for being without your vice for this long.
9. Pray pray pray. Meditate. Whatever it is that connects you. Ask for support. Ask for guidance. GROUND! Usually, our vices are the things that ground us. Find a replacement. For me, it was Mud Water, caffeine-free teas and Matcha (I asked my guides if those things were ok and got a yes. As I said, it was less about caffeine and more about the constituents of caffeinated coffee)

In the end, even though I did suffer on those afternoons when I was premenstrual and a second cup of coffee would have made me more productive, the benefits outweighed it. I highly recommend intentionally purifying to become a clearer channel for the divine. It feels really great to look back on 46 days and see all the changes and shifts that were made within me, and as we all know what happens within happens on the outside too. So your manifestations become even closer to your dreams than ever before.