The first modern, comprehensive resource on spiritual awakenings, this pragmatic, clear guide covers everything from the first step on a spiritual journey to enlightenment, and the different types of spiritual awakenings, from mild to dramatic, we may go through. Using the concept of the twelve layers that cover an awakened state Mary Mueller Shutan addresses every step of the spiritual journey, starting with the Self and showing how family, ancestral, past lives, karmic, archetypal, and other larger layers such as societal, cultural, global, and cosmic energies condition us to sleep and obscure our realization of an awakened state. Instructions for how to navigate through each of these layers and how to recognize where we are in our spiritual journey are included each step of the way along with common physical, emotional, and spiritual symptoms that may be experienced. By addressing post-awakening states, oneness, dark nights of the soul, ego death, near-death and severe illness, psychic abilities, addictions, dietary changes, the God self, personal and collective shadow, and psychosis vs. awakening we understand the experiences we may go through while struggling with spiritual awakenings. This practical book opens new understandings of how to live in the world while going through an awakening process, and offers the revolutionary idea that we are meant to be humans, to have a physical body with physical, sensate experiences and emotions. We are meant to live in the world and be a part of it even as fully awakened individuals. This guide proposes a look at the possibility of leading a grounded, earth-bound life of work, family, friends, and other experiences in an awakened state.

Introduction

Part I: Awakening and the Twelve Layers of Conditioned Reality

- The Awakening Process
- The Sleeper
- The Somewhat Awakened
- False and Ego Awakening
- Between Awake and Asleep
- The First Stage of Awakening
- Twelfth Layer: Releasing The Self
- Eleventh Layer: Past Lives
- Tenth Layer: Immediate Family Systems
- Ninth Layer: Ancestral Patterns
- Eighth Layer: Societal and Collective Conditioning
- Seventh Layer: Karmic Patterns
- Sixth Layer: World, Global, and Cosmic Patterns
- Fifth Layer: Ego Death
- Fourth Layer: Understanding and Releasing Thoughtforms
- Cosmic Consciousness
- Third Layer: Archetypal Influences
- Second Layer: Mythic Influences
- First Layer: The Destroyer
- The Void
- After the Void/Post-Layers
- Cosmic Understanding
- Illumination
- Awakening
- After Awakening

Part II: Types of Awakenings

- The Gradual Awakening
- The Sudden Awakening
- Shaktipat, Attunement, and Energetic Transmission
- Awakening through Place or Event
- Pranic and Subtle Energy Awakenings
- Meridian and Channel Awakenings
- Individual Chakra Awakenings

Part III: Sudden Awakenings

- Top Down Awakenings
- Psychic Awakenings
- Kundalini Awakening
- Shamanic Awakening
- Occult Awakening
- Religious Awakening
- Walk-Ins
- Possession/Entity Awakening
- Non-Human Origin Awakening
- Indigo/Always Awake

Part IV: Common Experiences of Awakening

- Physical Sensations
- Spontaneous Movements
- Spontaneous Vocalizations
- Chills
- Spiritual Depression and Cognition Issues
- Chronic Fatigue and Fluctuations in Energy
- Digestive Issues and Diet
- Headaches
- Dreams and Sleep
- Sleep Paralysis
- Astral Projection
- Emotional Fluctuations
- Alterations of Belief Systems
- Release of Behaviors
- Time
- Drug Abuse and Numbing
- Initiations
- Mental Illness vs. Spiritual Awakening

Epilogue
About the Author