Yew tree on the banks of Loch Lomand.

There are many practices that bring spirituality into your life. If you are trying them but they are not helping, one reason might be that you aren’t giving them the life force they need to become real. Let’s look at how to solve that issue.

The most important aspect of any practice is to bring in enough life force — made up of energy and inspiration — to do the practice effectively. We can’t get this life force from the world around us. With all the problems in the world, there just isn’t enough life force here. And what is here is full of negativity. What we need to do is reach deep into the shamanic lower world to find clean energy. Then we reach high into the upper world to find inspiration.

Here’s a quick description of how to do that using the regions of your soul.

Wish: Find the wish that needs life force. To increase your spirituality, it needs to be a wish for the highest and best good of yourself and others. Wishes that cause harm to others damage you, too.

Will: Find the will to accomplish the search for life force to power the wish.

Heart: Connect to others to be sure what you are wishing is for the highest and best good.

Voice: Speak your wish out loud to make it real.

Mind: Find the best words to describe your wish. Be open to the inspiration you will be receiving to make the wish clearer.

These preliminary steps make sure that all the regions of your soul are completely focused on your wish and that they agree that this is a wish that you want to make real. Don’t go on with trying to find life force until all of your soul agrees.

I think it’s best to stand for the rest of this ceremony, but sitting tall can work, too. Make your intention totally clear that you are working for the highest and best good. This protects you from harm and guides you to sources of powerful energy and inspiration that will help you accomplish your wish. Do not assume you are going to totally safe places. You are not.

The images I describe work best for me, but you can use anything that lets you reach very deeply into what shamans call the lower world and very high into the upper world. In both directions you are reaching beyond the place where beings exist to a place of pure energy and inspiration.

Reach into the earth with roots that grow down from your legs. Go as deep as you can. Then go deeper, and deeper again. It helps to imagine the world you are on is flat and there are no limitations to how deep you can go. Getting stuck when you hit the center of the planet is a problem. You need to go deeper than that. What I see is a place of shiny black with no form. From that place, let your roots find the energy you need. Have them collect it. Bring it up with you as you come back into this world and take it up through yourself into your Wish, your Will, and your Heart.

Reach up into the sky like branches of a tree searching for the clearest light of inspiration. When you have gone as high as you can, jump up off the top leaf of the top branch and find the pure light that is even higher. Gather up the parts of that inspirational light that are related to your wish and hold them tightly. Bring them into your Mind and process them as best you can. You will probably not keep all of the inspiration, because there is usually too much for human Minds to handle. Use your Voice to speak out loud what you have found to lock it in place and take it into your Heart.

Mix the inspiration and energy in your Heart and send it out into the world by doing what you need to do to accomplish your wish. Your wish becomes reality and you’ve increased the energy and inspiration available in the world.

I think that’s what bringing spirituality into your life — and into the world — is all about. And it takes a lot of life force to make it happen.