The ascension path has been grossly misunderstood. But those who are attempting to move beyond the physical and permanently join the Transcendental Souls, will follow a particular path that includes certain levels of learning, much like a school.

The First Level – The first level is a basic “waking up” to the concept that one is more than a physical body. At this level the initiate will often come to admit to the presence of ghosts and be fascinated with the idea. It’s a big WOW! The realization that your consciousness exists beyond the physical, must be accepted to move from this level. Most people misinterpret this is to a “last level,” because the experience can be very profound. It is like a toddler who proclaims, “Look Mommy, I can walk!” and then follows it with, “I’m a big boy now!”

From the toddler’s point of view, they are indeed a big boy now. But, from the mommy’s point of view the child is still a baby taking his first steps.

The Second Level – The second level is when the magic happens. The initiate begins to sense the presence of guides, or has enormous numbers of synchronistic experiences. This is often called the “book falls off the shelf level.” It got the name because the initiate is amazed at how many times they are given the materials they need to proceed on their journey. This is much like a young child who is going off to school and is given the correct books to read to pass onto the next grade.

The Third Level – This is the amazing, “Hey this is great!” level. “Bring it on!” Like a pre-teen who is discovering how wonderful it is to be in the world, and thinks they can handle everything, this level feels exciting at first, but leads to some pretty enormous challenges. The initiate is meeting others who are like-minded and immediately trusts them. At this level the initiate is seeking community and friends to bond with, and share the journey. For a time, everything is very rosy and warm.

The Fourth Level – This is the level when the initiate experiences the attack of psychic dark energy and either runs from it or turns to face it. The rosy glow of “I am always protected and don’t need to think about bad things,” is shattered by the reality of both the third and fourth dimensional astral realm. It is during this phase that the initiate turns to more and more outside help through devotion to deities, or gurus to assist with navigating this realm. The initiate feels “safe” surrounded by the love of their guru and deities. They build altars and spend a lot of time meditating with spiritual guides and doing rituals. However, unlike the Third Level the initiate is now aware of the presence of the darkness and doesn’t feel the same level of safety.

The Fifth Level - The initiate experiences the heartbreak of betrayal in community during this level. The friends they trusted turn against them. Like a seventh-grade gaggle of girls the friends become catty, or down-right mean.

This is often the level when the guru becomes the Great Betrayer. He is not only human, but in some cases downright crazy and abusive. The aura of safety is gone. The initiate experiences a period of lostness and aloneness as they realize they need to rebuild the structures that protected them.

The either return to the “normal world” and shun the spiritual, or they dive forward realizing that this experience is given to the self to become smarter. The initiate realizes that “self-mastery” must be achieved by going through the self. The initiate now begins the journey to “go within.”

The Sixth Level – The initiate understands that they must clear their own karma, and master their fear, if they are going to proceed. The shadow can not be run from, nor ignored, and it must be met with full awareness. This is often called the “Dark Night of the Soul.” In this level the initiate spends huge amounts of time alone as they try to wrestle with their inner demons and come to terms with a world full of darkness and shadow.

The Seventh Level – The initiate emerges from the “shadow phase” to step into the world but shuns the rose-colored glasses and the need for others to share their point-of-view. They become self-taught by sitting quietly and waiting for guidance as they realize that patience and acceptance must be mastered at this level.

It is at this level that both the physical and the spiritual teachers on the astral levels disappear. Often the first emotion might be of abandonment. But they are teaching the initiate to stand on their own two feet, if they are to be in Mastery then they must learn to be self-reliant. The spiritual guides will rejoin the initiate when they feel this lesson has been learned.

The Eight Level – The initiate achieves Buddha-heart which allows them a full-hearted, and fully-awake consciousness while still maintaining “detached empathy.” At his point the initiate is able to see darkness, and discuss it without fear or attachment. They are able to understand the role karma plays in existence and to honor the Quantum Fabric while also being in service to it with love.

The initiate returns to the world, but in a different manner. Much like Jesus walking through the world with love, yet also detachment, the initiate is ready to accept the dictates of the Higher Self, no matter where that leads.

When the initiate unconditionally loves the self, they realize that all their rituals and worship was done from a deep-seated sense of unworthiness. There is no longer a need to worship deities greater than the self, for the self is indeed one with God.

Past and Future Issues that Block the Path

Very often an initiate will become trapped at a particular level, due to some type of karmic interference. When this occurs the level repeats lifetime after lifetime until the initiate realizes that they must overcome their block to move ahead and reach a state of peace. There are a number of reasons this can happen, so if you believe this has happened to you, it would behoove you to do some more digging.

How do you know this is your situation? You will feel that you “should” be further along than you are; you might have an intellectual understanding of all the concepts, but be unable to embody them. Perhaps your crown chakra or your third eye chakra are blocked, or perhaps the heart chakra is blocked. These blockages can occur because the initiate is afraid (subconsciously) to make themselves vulnerable, and so blocks these chakras to feel safe. Often the blocks will occur because the individual has been hurt when they have made themselves “seen,” or let their gifts and abilities shine. If this has become a repeated Samskara (karmic complex) then the blockage will be brought with them lifetime after lifetime and be ingrained into their personality.

The more ingrained the blockage, or issue, the less the initiate will be able to recognize the issue in themselves. Often the words, “This is just who I am,” will become a way to hide the wound, and so prevent the individual from dealing with it. This will lead to an outward projection of the inner hurt, and culminates in a lifetime of over protection and loneliness.

When the issue is “mirrored back” to the individual they will react fiercely, perhaps even defensively, to keep it at bay. The problem with this behavior, if it goes on long enough is that it stifles the initiates ability to more forward into the future, and ultimately to ascend off the wheel of reincarnation. Sometimes traditional therapy will help the individual to work through the issues and blocks that keep them held so tightly, at other times it will be past life therapy that is required. All souls will benefit from some type of positive energy healing such as acupuncture, Reiki, or other types of body work.

The Root Chakra Blockage

It serves all initiates well to unblock the root chakra. The root chakra closes when the individual experiences uncertainty (or worse) on the physical plane of existence. Disease, trauma, upheaval of all types causes the root chakra to clamp down. The foundation that grounds you to the beloved Earth weakens, and the individual becomes unbalanced.

What makes a Starseed different, is that they will live “above” the root chakra and utilize their upper chakras almost exclusively, ignoring the root chakra blockage. This can result in disease, and a feeling of “unsteadiness” that must be addressed for the initiate to finish their lessons and progress.

The idea that only the upper chakras are necessary for ascension is not a full-bodied concept; ignoring trauma held in the lower chakras will not allow them to receive the healing they need. The assumption here is that all those who read this material have a desire to transcend the Earthly plane; or at the very least have greater control over when and where and how they reincarnate upon it.

When you balance your chakras with color: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, you are using the third eye chakra to move your consciousness to each of these places and strengthen them. You can also talk to your chakras: Ask them what information they are holding; for the chakras hold old stories that would serve you well to see and understand.