How to cultivate a sacred relationship with life (transcript)

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Episode Transcript:

Lian (00:00)

Hello my beautiful mythical old souls and a huge warm welcome back. What if the sacred isn't hidden and separate but there in the everyday, in the practical, the mundane, waiting for us to find it? 

In this week's conversation I'm joined by the wonderful Sara J. Sarderson, a fellow Be Mythical team member, soul guide and interviewer for this special conversation inspired by our current UNIO quest, the Sacred Life quest and Sara's ponderings. Together we explore the profound connection between magic and practicality, how we can bring sacredness to even the most mundane aspects of our daily lives. Through Sara's brilliant questions, I reflect on the ways that we often compartmentalize our lives, seeking life hacks and solutions for the everyday, while overlooking the soul nourishing magic that lives right there in the mists of it all. 

We talk about the vital role of sovereignty, how choosing where we place our attention and recognising the projections we cast onto life can radically shift our experience. We explore how consciously creating rituals can become a bridge between the mystical and the mundane helping us to find the balance between work, family, self care and spiritual growth.

Ultimately, this conversation is an invitation to remember that life doesn't need to be split into the sacred and the ordinary. When we bring intention and reverence to how we live through the simplest daily acts, we begin to live a truly sacred life.

And before we jump into all of that good stuff,

I would love you to know that I will soon be beginning my brand new crucible for women called Beauty Quest, the Alchemical Antidote to the Beauty Wound. We begin on the 29th of April. If you'd like to find out more and join us, go to bemythical.com slash beauty.

And if you're struggling with the challenges of walking your soul path in this crazy modern world,

and with benefit from guidance, support and kinship, come join our Academy of the Soul, UNIO.

You can find out more by going to bemythical.com slash UNIO or click the link in the description.

And now back to this week's episode, let's dive in.

Lian (02:32)

Hello, Sara, welcome back to the show.

Sara J. Sanderson (02:36)

Thank you for having me.

Lian (02:38)

Oh my goodness. my interview extraordinaire, interviewer extraordinaire. Welcome back for I don't know how many times we've done it this way round. This is like maybe the third time. And this one perhaps as before actually, I was about to say this is the one that's been something that you

Sara J. Sanderson (02:45)

You maybe.

Lian (03:04)

asked for, you suggested it, was your inspiration, but I actually wonder if that was the case in the previous times as well, but anyway, this one definitely was. So first, would you just share what it was that you were seeing that you felt would be make for a powerful episode?

Sara J. Sanderson (03:12)

Yes Sure. firstly, it links to the current Unio quest for March, which is about seeing the magical, experiencing the magical and the sacred in the mundane. And what I recognised in that quest, just thinking about it, was how the mundane, the day-to-day things of life, the challenges. I can often look for practical ways to navigate them, support myself through various things. And I tend to think about life hacks, like the quickest way to do X, Y, and Z, or how to solve X, Y problem.

Lian (04:10)

Mmm.

Sara J. Sanderson (04:17)

and I don't necessarily jump straight to magic or myth

Lian (04:22)

Hmm.

Sara J. Sanderson (04:24)

I suppose it's that forgetting sometimes that magic can be very practical. The things which you talk about in Be Mythical, the invitations that you give, they all have a practical element to them. Yes, they're sacred. Yes, they're in the realm of the spiritual, but there is a practicality to it as well. And I seem to sometimes forget that and almost like separate.

Lian (04:47)

Hmm

Sara J. Sanderson (04:53)

the two things. So navigating life, I need life hacks and the sort of mainstream self-help guides, practical things. And then when I'm thinking about my inner world and I'm looking more to the magic, the mystery, the sacred, and what I wanted to talk about is how those two things actually come together.

that maybe sometimes when I'm looking at life hacks, I'm actually looking in a direction that is taking me more, don't know which way around it is, is it taking me more upstream or downstream? Which ever one's taking me further away from what actually is gonna nourish my soul and ultimately be more rewarding, fulfilling and easeful than I might initially think it's going to be. Does that make sense?

Lian (05:34)

Hehehehe. Mmm. Hehehe. Mmm. Mm. It really does. And I'm so glad I asked you to share that because I thought I understood what you wanted and now I really do. And I love that so much. It actually occurs to me in this moment. It's like, that's possibly one of my favourite things ever. yes, it makes sense and I can't wait. So I'm already feeling like I want to say lot in response, but I'm going to hold it back and wait for your questions. So Please begin.

Sara J. Sanderson (06:22)

well, actually, my first question then is, if you're holding something back, I really want to know what your first what was kind of like bubbling up for you, as I was sharing that introduction, because actually, I think there might be some gold in that, that will help with what questions I ask.

Lian (06:38)

Hmm, okay. We're gracefully throwing a golden ball back and forth between each other. And so what was occurring to me as I was hearing you talk was like, of course. Yes, that is how people in general do , probably is my sense as you were listening to us like, yes, of course, that is kind of the, I guess there's first of all, the average way, the mainstream way of approaching life, which probably has got very little kind of magic myth going on. And then there's people who have consciously set foot on, let's say, the path of soul, who do perhaps have that more of a dichotomous way of relating to life that you just described. And it was occurring, I think, because I've gone so deep into kind of seeing all of life as mythical, more and more, there's places as I was sharing with this month's quest where it is more of a challenge, but my go to is that orientation. 

It was only as I was listening to your site, of course, that's not, it's taken me a long time to have that view. And perhaps it isn't as typical as I was thinking it was, and it was just dawning me as you were talking. And then I was thinking of examples of seemingly very practical mundane things I've been up to recently that were fully approached in a magical way with very magical results. And I perhaps might share something of that in a while, but yes, it just, it's like, what an incredible opportunity.

to be able to approach all of life, including the things that we do want to have resolved or change in a practical material sense, if we were to be able to approach all of that from this mythical worldview, my goodness, wow. Yeah, that's what was occurring to me.

Sara J. Sanderson (08:50)

Hmm, perfect, perfect. So leading straight on from from there then if somebody was feeling stuck in what you might call the daily grind of life, what's the first thing that you would recommend that they do to see or feel a change in that kind of that felt sense of stuckness and the fact that they feel that it's a daily grind as opposed to a magical life that they're experiencing.

Lian (09:19)

Mmm. I suppose the, and as I said to you before we started recording, I'm in danger of answering archetypes to every question or taking us down a big rabbit hole. Or both. And so I'm going to do what I can to sometimes allow myself to do that, but then sometimes see if I can answer in a simpler way. So of course.

As you alluded to, that sense of life being a daily grind is in itself a perspective, is a view. recognising that in itself allows for something different. I read a quote earlier, I think it was Jung, it was very Jung-like quote if it wasn't Jung. And it said something like, The moment we are able to fully become conscious, I think it was actually that language, become conscious of a projection, we recognise it actually belongs inside and it loses its power out there.

In fact, give me a moment, because I might be able to find it quickly, because I think it is such a potent quote, and I'll explain why it's related to what we talk about here in a moment. This is almost like the magic trick to all of life, honestly, what he's talking about here. And I read it earlier and I was just like, my goodness, that's one of those things that we can't be reminded of enough, quite honestly.

So yes, it was indeed Jung. The complete consciousness of a projection always destroys the identity. When you are entirely convinced, really understand that a certain thing is a projection, it can no longer be experienced as something outside of yourself.

And the reason that came to mind in answer to your question is that notion of life being a daily grind is a projection on life.

It can be hard, the hardest of all actually, sometimes to see how we're projecting on life itself. I think those of us in the work are perhaps, it's easier to see how we're projecting other people, not always necessarily easy to become fully conscious of it and really allow it to land that it is being generated internally. But I think when it's something like life itself or our household or something like that, it's much harder to recognise this too is a projection.

So that's the first thing I'd say and I appreciate that's probably the least I set the intention to try and answer simply. is probably the least simple answer I could have started with. But hey, it was there. I would say, and again, this is a quite a general answer, but if we are experiencing life as something to pause first and recognise this is something we are projecting on life that is creating that experience of life.

And I don't at all mean this in a bypassing way as in, therefore if I can only see life as something wonderful and positive and magical, it would no longer feel like a daily grind, but it just as a starting point to, and sometimes that can be a daily practice even. You know, if we've been experiencing life as a daily grind for a long time, we've created a habit where we are constantly projecting daily grind on life.

So in order to change that, we are likely going to need to create a habit of reminding ourselves of the way we're projecting daily grind on life. in a kind of, look at me doing life hacks, it could be setting the intention as we wake up to spend a couple of moments in that conscious practice.

practice of recognising, okay, how I create life, how I project on life is what's going to have me have a certain experience. What is that? What's arising in me? What is that actually in alignment with what I say I want? And so again, not with this intention of like, therefore I need to start to overwrite it, but even creating some space allows things to start to shift.

Sara J. Sanderson (14:08)

Yeah, I love that. And I know you said that you were concerned you might go down a rabbit hole. I might just take a slightly down one. But actually, just think saying this from the get go, so just carrying on a little bit with that perception piece, because I think it's and the projections, it's such a good reminder.

Lian (14:18)

You

Sara J. Sanderson (14:32)

At the moment, with the way the world is and all manner of things that are going on, it feels important to know what we stand for in life. But I'm just wondering how much what we stand for can play a part in how we show up, in how we perceive and how we create this outer world. So I'm curious.

like you say, because it's not about, we don't want to bypass anything. But I'm curious whether having a sense of what we stand for or put another way, our soul purpose, know, what are we, what are we really about? How that then has a bearing on the lens through which we see the world and how we sort of start our day. So I'd like to know whether you feel that there is something in that,

Lian (15:30)

Okay, so if I can just understand, make sure I understand. there is,I guess, almost like, how do we know what we stand for? I guess is part of what you're asking first of all. Is that right?

Sara J. Sanderson (15:46)

It is because I think we can easily get, because like I said, know, there's, you know, lots of chaos and all manner of things going on in the world, as there always is, to be honest. I mean, so, and sometimes we can get pulled this way and that way. And, and I just wonder whether there's something around having a real sense of what we stand for can help with how we go about life and how we perceive life and whether then something does seem more of a grind or a battle or whether it helps with seeing the bigger picture and not getting so caught up in the projections and what have you.

Lian (16:40)

Excellent. And I think you're right, although this is a little bit of a rabbit hole, I see it more that the first couple of questions and answers are more kind of setting the scene that hopefully we we can then gesture towards those and make follow on questions and answers simpler. So when I hear the word stand or stand for, I hear it as devoted to.

Sara J. Sanderson (16:49)

Yes.

Lian (17:08)

Does that still feel as though I'm talking about what you mean by that?

Sara J. Sanderson (17:13)

Yes, you've basically just made that bridge between the seemingly practical, earthly, worldly thing and the magical, the sacred. You've brought the two nicely together.

Lian (17:26)

Hmm.

Wonderful.

So, and I think there is something in your recognition of that too, because if we are living a life where we have some awareness that we even have a soul, which might sound a bit of a silly thing to say, but so much of the world is living without that knowledge or with as if that knowledge isn't there because it's forgotten.

And so I think there is just something really important here that if we are aware that we have a soul and we are devoted to living in a way that's in alignment with that soul, that in itself just changes how we might choose our orientation. And so I think that's a really important thing. It's like becomes so much more like everything in life can be infused with that. So what occurs to me is, This is slightly a kind of there's two broad stages we could say in life and that will change a kind of in a general way what we might be devoted to. And I'm gonna try and keep this, there's part of me that feels like I really want to kind of whip the Kabbalah Tree of Life out at this point, but I'm not going to, I'm going to, I will be talking from it, but I'm going to do it in hopefully terms that.

Sara J. Sanderson (18:55)

Hahahaha

Lian (19:02)

you won't need to know that to understand. So there is, I guess, really simply put, we could say before and after sovereignty.

Sara J. Sanderson (19:11)

Mmm.

Lian (19:13)

And we'll know when I say after sovereignty, there is definitely a sovereignty as a state and also sovereignty as a stage. And we will know when I say as a stage where this becomes a sustainable consciousness, because it is a consciousness where we feel centered in sovereignty. and able to live our life from that place rather than from a reactive place. So if we notice that we're still being pulled into reactivity, into, you know, big triggers that we're working through, there's nothing wrong with that, but we recognise we're still in the before sovereignty stage, even if we're experiencing, you know, times of being in that state of sovereignty.

So none of this is about kind of judgment or making wrong. It's just about being honest, like this is where I am. And knowing that, it changes what I'm devoted to. So before we have that sense of being centered in ourself and not being tugged this way and that way by world events, by people we're in relationship to, if we're still feeling that sense where we're being tugged out of that place, the devotion simply put, is to sovereignty. It is to making conscious that deep aspect which Jung might call self, we might call, you might call soul, we might call, you know, anything that gives us a sense that is beyond that just sort of being at the mercy of whatever's happening outside of us. And so until we're at that place of being centered on the throne of our life, my deep suggestion to anyone would be what you stand for, what you're devoted to is sovereignty. And using everything that shows up to empower that, to illuminate what's here for you, to show you what's next for you, show you where you still have to alchemize in order to be sovereign.

The after sovereignty part, I'll touch on, but very few people are actually there. you know, there might be some people listening that this applies to, but probably not that many. And what we'll say is we can very much, there is a profound experience when we start to have more and more moments where we do feel sovereign. Again, that's not to dismiss that and say that counts for nothing.

those those experience those states of sovereignty kind of start to join together more and more where more of our life is spent in that place. And that's so valuable. So this is not at all saying, you know, one's lesser than as we become more and more centered on that throne of our life, what we're devoted to then does become much more individual, it becomes something that we recognise, we're very conscious, we came to this earth in this time to do and that is our devotion and again everything is used in service of that.

And that again will be individual. It will have, I guess, hallmarks where, you know, it typically is something that we could say is from love, is in service, does include an understanding of the sacred, but there definitely will be a very much more unique individual aspect to that that is more and more uncovered and more and more we're centered on that throne.

Sara J. Sanderson (23:08)

Mm.

Before we move on from that, what is coming up for me there is someone listening who might feel that they're not necessarily at that state of sovereignty, but feel a real sense of what their soul's purpose is, what they're being called to. So is there a little bit of a dance of both that you could know?

what you're about, but you're still working on that alchemy at the same time. So can they sort of go together?

Lian (23:50)

Yes, absolutely. It's a great question. So I definitely made it sound far more kind of like it's either here or here. And really, we are getting experiences of what we could say our soul self. I mean, the very awareness that there is a choice to live from soul, there is a choice to become sovereign, is our starting to become awake, to become aware of what we're here for.

So again, although I talked about it into two stages, because this is, it starts to become a conversation, you could say, your soul and your ego. And so it isn't anywhere near as two binary places as I made it sound. Although they do exist, they start to speak to each other. And so, and again, it's, this in some ways is the, it is like the art of magic in itself.

Sara J. Sanderson (24:34)

Mm.

Lian (24:48)

Because as we start to become aware that we are here for something, and it may take time for that to become clearer and clearer and clearer, more and more to be revealed. I'll just give an example here. Say, for example, we have this awareness, we still have much work to do, much to outcomeize before we are truly centered and sovereign. However, we have woken up to the fact that we came here to embody the priestess archetype. much of this, is a real, again, the reason I said I may just answer archetypes every question is there is something so powerful in us having that conscious relationship with the archetypes. So say we recognise we are here to embody the priestess archetype. That won't be possible in a true sense until we have become sovereign.

However, as we start to wake up to, that is what I'm here to do, that kind of calls us forth. It's almost like it shows us the path. It shows us what's needed. It provides that mirror and that lens on ourself and life. So we can say, okay,

if I'm here to embody the priestess archetype, I can see that the ways that I am.

I am not able to have an experience of the divine. The ways that I dismiss the sacred, the ways that I don't honour the divine, they are the places that I need to bring awareness and healing to in order to embody the priestess, which is also in order to become sovereign.

Sara J. Sanderson (26:43)

It's interesting that we did start here because I'm actually hearing in what you've been sharing that this sovereignty stage and state is the sort of true life hack.

Lian (27:06)

Sadly, sadly it's not something that can be hacked but yes it is. It's like it's the master hack perhaps.

Sara J. Sanderson (27:12)

The master hack, the master hack. Because I'm hearing that...

In a state of sovereignty, it's unlikely, and I'm not saying that you'd never have moments of it, but it's unlikely that you would see life as a daily grind. It's unlikely that the mundane would be perceived as something negative or a battle, something to get through.

Lian (27:48)

Hmm.

Sara J. Sanderson (27:48)

is what I'm hearing and what you're sharing there.

Lian (27:51)

Yes, yes, you're quite right. Coming back to your original question.

this is overly simply put, but from sovereignty, we are aware and responsible of our projections. It just part because of the position you could say, because of the elevation of consciousness, we're able to see down into our ego consciousness, which is the place of reflections and projections. And so we become aware of what's happening from that place.

Sara J. Sanderson (28:29)

Okay, so whilst we are journeying with sovereignty and becoming more sovereign and noticing what triggers us and alchemizing and all of that great stuff, I'm wondering what practical things we can do in support of that. So one question I have from your personal experiences, is there something, is there like one simple practice or habit, even if you want to use the kind of like mainstream words for things, that's had the biggest impact on your daily life in terms of this kind of, in sort of support of being more sovereign.

Lian (29:21)

Hmm.

Sara J. Sanderson (29:22)

note I said simple, is it one simple?

Lian (29:26)

It's funny because it's so, I was recognising as I went to speak that there's definitely something of a sort of chicken and egg nature to this where from my perspective certain things become just obvious and natural and yet there are practices that helps that consciousness to arise. So I was just pondering like, huh, whatever I say, I'm kind of missing this part out. I was attempting to answer your question simply. So this is certainly, I wouldn't say this is the whole truth, but it's the best I've got in this moment. You know how there's in those circles that often do talk about things like morning routines and life hacks, there is this sort of notion of like, start your morning and set it up in a way that kind of starts your day off well. And so there might be, I don't know, journal and I don't know, coffee with something rather in. And if we take that and I think there's, I'm not saying that I sound like I'm making fun of it. I'm not. I mean, I think there is a lot there. There's a lot of wisdom there and we can take that and go deeper.

And so this links really nicely to the conversation we're just in. The only way that we can take that deeper is if we have a sense of what it is that we're devoted to. And so again, say for example, I'm devoted to embodying the priestess archetype as an example. Again, it could be anything. If we have that awareness, that will inform how we want to begin our day. The rituals.

aka habits that we might want to begin our day with. And so speaking personally, the really simple things I begin my day with, the way that I will wash, the way that I will have different oil rituals, applying different oils to my skin in different ways. All of those are, they could just seem as though I'm moisturising my face, for example, is a practical thing that women in the world overdo, men too actually. However, what I'm doing, how I'm doing it, the reason I'm doing it is coming from a place that is in devotion to something much deeper. It isn't just, you know, how can I use, and as I was saying to you, as I'm preparing to open beauty potion,

I will very much be guiding women through this way of relating to beauty where it has an inner and outer aspect and they can be brought together as one. And so that could look like what we apply to our skin and how we apply it. And that conscious intention to create these habits that ultimately are, it's a reminder, it is an activator.

It is something that catalyzes further consciousness, like something as simple as, as I say, just putting something to moisturise your face can be this devotional ritual. And it takes no extra time. Like there's a hack for you. It takes no extra time,

Sara J. Sanderson (33:06)

would say that there's the thought that it does take extra time. So follow on question from that is, for you, what is your personal way of balancing work, family and self care? I'm using self care as that sort of what you were just describing there, but the sort of time to...

Lian (33:11)

Mmm.

Sara J. Sanderson (33:34)

be with yourself, be in devotion, do that inner work, but how do you, there's that aspect, there's working, there's family life, how can we have it all? How can we do it all?

Lian (33:54)

I just thinking this is almost like a level of question of defining consciousness, isn't it?

Sara J. Sanderson (33:59)

Well, yeah, there's I mean, there's there must be thousands of self-help books on You know work-life balance and Clearly we haven't found the answer But I'm getting the sense that the answer is in what what we're talking about here If we're willing to see it

Lian (34:11)

Hmm Yeah, I think that's partly why I was pausing. So it's like the it doesn't I don't have this. Yeah, it doesn't feel to me there is a hack for this because it is just an orientation to life. It's a relationship to life. And going back to this month's UnioQuest, it is relating to life itself as sacred, as a miracle. And recognising that there's places that some of us will be able to see that more easily and other places where it is more challenging. I gave the example in the UnioCeremony for me wiping the crumbs off the kitchen surface that everyone's left after they've eaten their breakfast, that is a conscious place, you know, it has to be done, it takes time, it's a conscious choice to do that in a way where it feels as though it is sacred. and it's not, going back to your point, it's not like, this is, if I'm doing this, this is taking me away from the important work, the inner work. Like, no, this is the inner work, right here is the inner work.

Sara J. Sanderson (35:41)

Mmm.

Yes, yes, so it's it's not seeing things as separate, that's not to say, you know, there's no place for certain boundaries around when we work, when we, you know, do various things, but I get what you mean, that it's, that it's not sort of separating the magical, the spiritual, the inner work from our day-to-day relationship with life, with being here on earth doing the day-to-day, day-to-day things. Yeah, that makes sense.

so when you were saying how we can be in relationship with life what I'm wanting to know is how we develop that relationship. What does that look like practically?

Lian (36:51)

You know it occurs to me that that's a question that isn't often asked, which is interesting in itself.

And I was thinking about if you were asking that question, but you were talking about relationships to another human being, the answers would be quite clear, wouldn't they? Because they would include things like prioritizing that relationship, spending time in the cultivation of that relationship.

it'd be things of that nature that would be just so obvious. And it just occurred to me as you asked that. And a lot of this, of course, we have been so tugged up from our roots that we're just deeply immersed in a relationship with life that was so honouring, so gorgeous, so full of like an understanding of the miracle of it all. And

from that place, it does need to be a conscious cultivation of a relationship that has largely kind of become forgotten, become something that we're not even aware could do with some cultivation. And so this is, I think that it starts with as ever a choice.

If that is how we want our relationship with life, which is really, you could say, with the divine, which is really with ourselves, because, you know, all roads lead back there. That's something that firstly, we need to make the choice where that is something that we hold as a priority. And we'll need to spend time on. We'll need, and that can look different for each person. That could be...

starting the day with meditation, it could be, as you know, we make so many invitations of this kind, whether that be going to spend time at your special tree or a sit spot, making offerings, all of these things are really that. And to create a life where we have those moments in each day and each week,that bring us back. It's not that the relationship magically gets created in that ritual, but even having that orientation where it is important to us to have that ritual changes our awareness, changes how we're relating in and of itself. Like just like we might say, I've agreed with my daughter that we're going to go for afternoon tea and that's held as sacred. And I would say to anyone else, if they asked me if I wanted to do something, I'm afraid I can't, I'm taking my daughter to afternoon tea. In the same way, having that relationship to life, to honoring it as sacred, where if we have a certain thing that we do every day, we hold it as sacred and we would...

I don't mean rigidly grasp to that, but you know, like, I can't do it until this time because first thing in the morning I meditate, for example. And it's probably not the sexiest of answers, but I think that's the honest one. There isn't a magic bullet for the magic. It is something we are going to again need to devote to.

Sara J. Sanderson (40:23)

Yeah

Okay, but it seems to be something that many people find challenging to make a priority and I can speak for myself in that. Like I know that going to my tree is beneficial. I know, you know, lots of different things would be really serving and yet they don't happen as much as I would like them to. And I'm wondering whether sometimes in...

when you were talking about, if we use an example of being in a relationship with a person, I'm just wondering whether within that, there's sort of like tension or say if it's sort of like talking about a man and a woman, there can be that polarity. And I'm wondering, do we get the same type of thing with our relationship with life? How do we kind of...

I suppose get more excited about it. Does that make sense? You know what mean? It's like there can be something about something kind of being set not against, but there's almost like a charge between people. Yeah, I'm just wondering.

What is it between ourselves and life if ultimately we are one in the same? How do we get that polarity? How do we get that sort of push-pull, reciprocal relationship? Yeah, am I going somewhere with this, Lian?

Lian (42:07)

Mm, yeah, I love that. I don't know you had a chance to see or listen to the Gene Key that I shared, I think it was yesterday. It's my Gene Key SQ and it goes from dullness to fluorescence by the way of magnetism. And of course, magnetism is literally, you know, it is a result of polarity.

And so it's talking about that. And so it's so apt for this whole conversation and for the quest in that we can relate to either relate to life as dull or be reaction to life, but as dull, so sort of thrill seeking and bypassing all things we can do. And as we move into that magnetism is actually sort of experiencing the polarity of life.

And then fluorescence is that next, it's just exploding with life. Life is just creating and moving and making love to itself all the time, all the way through us. And so I think your question is a fabulous one. And I think in some ways it is, I think that is at the heart of so much of what we do or don't do as humans is so easy to be tugged by the much more sort of primal pull of, you know, whether it be that pull towards sex or pull towards survival, there is a kind of like innate primal polarity that we just feel the charge so obviously is not like we're having to sort of slow down and pay attention. So it's certainly sometimes a more subtle polarity for sure.

And so I think the example you gave is easier, not always, not easier in terms of like it actually feels easier, but it is easier to see perhaps you should say the polarity between you and another person, less so when it's kind of in some ways you and you. that is really like, talking about, might see me share an image yesterday.

There's an image of it, it's an iconic archetypal image that has been painted and drawn and, you know, all etched from time immemorial of the alchemical marriage, the inner union, which is really the polarity we're talking about. The heart of life is the polarity between the masculine and feminine that make up all of creation.

there is an inherent polarity in life. Life is polarity. It is polarity. so, but the challenge is we are so tugged by the kind of like, let's say lower level. I don't mean that in a demeaning way, but the lower level of like more obvious polarity, we miss the grand polarity that's just constantly moving between each other, making love to itself and therefore to life.

So that doesn't, again, is almost like the life's, one of life's most challenging questions. So it's not like I can therefore say to you, here's a way of experiencing that polarity. But I think to even be in the inquiry of recognising there is an inherent, like if that isn't clear, that's first of all, I'd start there. You don't take my word for it that there's an inherent polarity to life. That's perhaps the quest to go on first.

as we become aware, like, no, there is an inherent polarity. Like there is, that is playing out within me every single moment, every single moment, whether I'm aware or not, that polarity is there. And I'm constantly, and again, that's one of the reasons I love the Kabbalah Tree of Life, because we see, is made of polarity all the way up and down the tree.

and noticing when we're here, one side versus the other side, and that's polarity. And it could be polarity between reward and punishment. It could be a polarity between what we think is good and what we think is right. And of course we've got this happening like hugely at the moment in the world and particularly in America. We are in polarity to what we perceive is going on out there.

and what that creates within us. So there is no shortage of polarity to life. It's just that we tend to be grabbed by certain kinds of polarity and less by others, but even having that orientation, that devotion to recognising that this is a play and using that in service.

I'm realising like, I don't think there's been like one simple answer throughout this whole show and we are almost out of time. We should have known, maybe we need a part two where we'll do our best to build on what we've set here and actually start to get into some kind of simpler ones if that's at all possible. And again, I don't even know if it is, but.

Does that help for now? And is there anything you feel you would like to add or ask in response?

Sara J. Sanderson (47:31)

think everything that we've covered just shows the importance of knowing and exploring this context of what we've been talking about. Because then what happens after that in terms of the things we might do to help us with, how could I have more time in my day or how can I stay 

motivated and inspired or how can I improve my relationship? How do I get to stick to habits and rituals? It's almost like those questions are more likely to be answered when we're sitting in, resting in the place that we've been talking about. Without

Lian (48:26)

Hmm.

Sara J. Sanderson (48:30)

everything we've been talking about. 

it's going to seem like an uphill struggle and grasping for the answers rather than...

Lian (48:39)

Mmm.

Sara J. Sanderson (48:44)

almost like it sort of changes those questions to inquiries rather than grasping for an answer it's almost like I'm experiencing this what is that telling me? I don't know it just seems to alter

Lian (49:02)

Mmm.

Sara J. Sanderson (49:06)

why I might be experiencing them in the first place when I look at it from the perspective of what we've been talking about.

Lian (49:10)

Yes.Yes, and I've just thought a kind of hopefully final or practical tip here, you know how sometimes one of the ways that people talk about kind of sort of habit forming and efficiency is to group, there's probably a name for this and I can't think of it in this moment, but like sort of grouping habits or linking habits together.

Sara J. Sanderson (49:39)

There's the stacking one from, yeah.

Lian (49:40)

stacking. Yes, I think that's probably what I'm thinking of, where for example, if you easily know to brush your teeth every day, that's a kind of place to start and then stack things on top of that. And what I'm about to suggest is a kind of, guess a bit more of a metaphysical version of that where, and I'll give the example and there's a little bit of a kind of, I suppose, a plug for the forthcoming beauty potion.

Sara J. Sanderson (50:08)

You

Lian (50:09)

I'm trying to say this quickly. So if my kind of like deeper devotion is to archetypes like the sacred prostitute and to live into that archetype fully and then part of that might include the way I look, the way I adorn myself and then so downstream for that there might be certain things I'm like okay

what I'm really wanting to turn my attention to now is this aspect of how I look. And so personally at the moment, in a similar vein, I've had a focus over the last few months on my hair, really wanting to, it's, if you can probably tell, it's longer than it's ever been. This is the longest you've ever known my hair to be, Sara. And so my focus has been on growing my hair.

healthier and longer and fuller and shinier than it's ever been. And this isn't just a kind of like random thing, is deeply intrinsically aligned with my embodiment of certain archetypes. And so from that place, I may well be looking for and actually more open to even seeing and receiving very practical ways to do that. Like really simple, like practical, use a different kind of brush as an example, or have a different kind of like wash day routine. Really straightforward, like this is a question, this is the answer to it. But it's come from going back to that stacking idea. It isn't like a just thing I'm doing on its own. It's stacked within this much deeper context of something I'm in devotion to. And

The real magic here is it works like magic, like miracles can occur, both in terms of what we get shown, what that leads us to, but in terms of genuine practical results, like the difference I've been able to make, for example, in my hair in three months is almost like, it is like on the level of miracles. It's actually ridiculous, the difference, the measurable difference I've made in that time. But again, it isn't really about my hair.

It's about doing what's aligned, even if it comes from that practical thing. And then those very simple, how do I do X, have something that is coming from a much deeper place that is really, again, our orientation to all of life.

Sara J. Sanderson (52:50)

Yeah, that's a good ending.

Lian (52:59)

Wonderful. Thank you so much, Sara. As ever, you have been an absolutely fabulous interviewer. yeah, maybe we do need a part two, but I think for the moment, I'm really happy with what we covered. Thank you so much.

Sara J. Sanderson (53:14)

Thank you. I'd love to come back for a part two.

Lian (53:17)

I very much hope you enjoyed watching that and if you did and you're not already subscribed then do hit that bell thingy and subscribe to automatically get each fresh new episode as it's released each week. If you'd like to find out more about the work we do at Be Mythical to guide and support old souls in this new world to live their own unique myth…

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Lots of love for now.

See you again next week.

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