Processes and Workshops
The Obsidian Essence work offers a whole journey in spiritual transformation. It is equally suited to those who have been on a journey of spiritual development and to those who are beginning. The principle qualities one needs to bring to this work are sincerity about one's own development, and integrity and genuineness about what is required to engage in the journey.
The workshops and process described here show how the journey is presented.
The first workshop segment, Overview and introduction for the Obsidian Essence approach to spiritual development, intends to lay down a clear understanding of what the Obsidian Essence journey involves. It offers a space to evaluate and decide on one's capacity and genuineness for the journey.
The second and third workshop segments, Understanding Taoist Inner Alchemy, and Human Design in relation with Taoist Inner Alchemy, present an explanatory background to the work that takes place in the following five segments.
The fourth and fifth segments, The first part of laying the foundations and The second part of laying the foundations deal with preparing the relationship between body and mind for the spiritual transformations that take place in the final three segments. It is important for the body to be healthy and strong, and for the mind to have the capacity for relaxation and attentiveness prior to going on into the final three phases of transformation.
The sixth, seventh, and eighth segments, Refining Essence to Transmute it into Breath, Refining Breath to Transmute it into Spirit and Refining Spirit to Return to Emptiness, deal progressively with increasingly subtle aspects of consciousness development.
The background to these processes is presented in the About Obsidian Essence section of this website.
Each of the major workshop segments constitute a learning experience that initiates participants in a process of development. This learning experience continues in the weeks and months following attending the workshop segment. It is in this period of developmental process that transformation takes place and one becomes ready to attend the next major workshop segment. The workshop segments are each a beginning of a process of transformation that matures over time. The transformation that begins in the workshop intensifies and gains traction as time goes by. The role of the workshop is to enable the coming transformation. It is important not to go forward into the next stage until a sufficient degree of integration of the prior stage has taken place. The entire process will take place over a number of years.
This work is not compatible with the taking of any kind of psychoactive substance, whether psychiatric, recreational, or transformational, while participating in Obsidian Essence work. This arises for two reasons. One is that any intention to direct or manage the natural process of unfolding is contrary to the basic Taoist idea of inverting the course. The other is that the whole process of transformation is grounded in the body's subtle reorganization of its own endocrine configuration and it needs to be left free for the autonomic nature of this process. The focus instead is on healthy, natural, and sane living, good nutrition, and healthy environment.
The primary focus of the Obsidian Essence work is to present spiritual developmental work based in Taoist inner alchemy and enhanced by the integration of Human Design understandings. The work will also be presented to people whose primary focus has been working with the Human Design system and who wish to investigate the spiritual dimensions of the Human Design work in the context of Obsidian Essence work. This is one way to approach what Ra Uru Hu has spoken of as the radical engagement with one's Human Design journey into spiritual realization.
The first three workshop segments will be presented in a separate stream for those who have a substantial background in working with Human Design. The intention here is to focus on deepening the understanding of one's Human Design journey through the perspectives of Taoist inner alchemy and inverting the course.
Each of the remaining five workshop segments feature a stage of the Human Design developmental process placed in a context of Taoist inner alchemy and inverting the course. Workshop segment four features strategy and authority, deconditioning, and engaging with living one's design. Workshop segment five features engaging with one's Primary Health System practises according to one's resonant eating regimen and resonant environment. Workshop segment six features engaging with the first aspect of one's Rave Psychology, one's correct and distracted views. Workshop segment seven features engaging with the second aspect of one's Rave Psychology, one's correct and transferred motivation. Workshop segment eight features engaging with advanced aspects of one's Primary Health System and Rave Psychology, aspects of the design and personality lunar and planetary squares that allow one to access and fine tune the most subtle aspects of one's Human Design.