The 6 Stages of a Spiritual Awakening
Do you feel like you’re going through a spiritual awakening and you’re wondering what this journey has in store for you next?
Embarking on a spiritual awakening is a profound and transformative journey that allows individuals to deepen their connection with themselves and the world around them. It transcends religious and cultural boundaries, guiding individuals toward a higher state of consciousness and personal growth. While each person’s experience may vary, there are generally six stages that you navigate during a spiritual awakening. I will take you through each stage so you can find out where you are on your spiritual journey and what to expect next, as well as give you some tips on how to move through each stage faster until you reach enlightenment.
Waking Up - The Call
The first stage of a spiritual awakening begins with a subtle inner calling or a deep sense of dissatisfaction. This is where you start to question your daily life. Maybe things you’ve always done are no longer fulfilling. You may feel like something is missing and you don’t know what it is, like a deeper purpose waiting to be discovered. You might move through depression or a lack of motivation and generally long for something more meaningful.
You will also start to notice synchronicities or coincidences – like repeating numbers – which are communication from your spirit guides trying to guide you in the right direction and give confirmation that you are on the right path.
It’s important to pay attention to these and not write them off. The signs are there to help you as you seek out a connection with something greater than yourself.
The Dark Night of the Soul
This second stage is where a profound shift in consciousness occurs. Where you experience a heightened sense of awareness and expanded perception of reality. You become curious and open to new ideas, along with having a deep desire to explore the mysteries of life.
It is during this phase where you may experience what some call the Dark Night of the Soul, where you hit rock bottom in some way. You feel isolated and you’re tired of pretending to be something you’re not. You start to question your life.
Which masks are you tired of wearing? What can you let go of? What is no longer serving you? What beliefs are limiting your growth?
This dark and isolating stage will pass. It’s only temporary. Keep going – because when you come out on the other side, your sense of self will be restored at an even deeper level than before and you will realize this was a very important step in your journey. Having gone through something painful can reveal what you don’t want to experience in your life and lead to a shift in perspective where you awaken to the reality of what you do want.
The Hermit
Once you have passed through all of the darkness and isolation, you will still feel alone and isolated, but this Hermit stage is necessary for inner reflection and healing after the intensity of the last stage. This is where you really start to do your shadow work, releasing insecurities and outdated beliefs, and other things that don’t serve you.
In this phase, a thirst for knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual experiences intensifies. You may delve into various spiritual traditions, philosophies, and practices, along with reading spiritual texts and seeking guidance as you look for answers to your existential questions.
You will turn inward for self-reflection and healing. It is a time of profound self-examination, where you will confront your fears, insecurities, and past traumas. Inner healing takes place as you release emotional baggage, forgive yourself and others, and cultivate self-love and compassion. This stage requires courage and a willingness to face the shadows within, leading to advanced emotional, psychological, and spiritual growth.
The key here is one of our favorite buzz words: Self-care. Do the things that fill your cup; take a hot bath with Epsom salts and essential oils, dance in your living room, go see a movie, get a massage, take a yoga class, make your favorite meal, take a long walk in nature. The point is to start releasing old and stagnant energies to make room for something new.
When you start feeling more social and energetic, you’re ready for the next stage.
Stepping Into Alignment
By shedding what doesn’t serve you you’ve increased your vibration so much that what doesn’t serve you can’t stay in your life anymore. Maybe you’ve been aware of what you needed to let go of for a long time, but now is the time where its all falling away. Friends may change, you may start eating differently, or desire a different career.
The new insights and wisdom gained during the previous stages begin to integrate in your daily life. The focus shifts from seeking external knowledge to embodying the spiritual teachings and principles. This integration involves aligning your actions, relationships, and values with your awakened consciousness. This can be very difficult because our ego likes to feel safe and sees this change or loss of “comfort” as a threat.
You will also start to find new hobbies and interests that are more in alignment, meet new people, and start experiencing new things and activities. You might start experimenting with spiritual practices like meditation, looking for a spiritual teacher, reading books, and trying different healing modalities like yoga, reiki, and working with energies.
Try to pay close attention to what drains you – your job, people in your life, certain foods. If these don’t feel aligned it may be time to consider making some changes in these areas as well.
This stage is a time of conscious living, mindfulness, and the application of spiritual principles to create positive change in yourself and the world around you.
Surrender and Trust
The fifth stage is a tough stage. Your higher self has a plan for your life, but your ego thinks it is in control and will not like surrendering that control because its job is to keep you safe. To the ego, change and stepping into the unknown is dangerous. A saber-tooth tiger could be just around the corner, ready to devour you. If you don’t go over there, no tiger will eat you. This is where everything you have learned and started practicing will be tested and you will be asked to trust in the flow of life, to surrender to the “Great Mystery”, or to have faith in something bigger than yourself.
Once you fully surrender and let go, you will start to see synchronicities pop up everywhere in your life. Insights and downloads will flood your life. You’ll know you’ve reached this stage when you can listen to the synchronicities and act on them. Signs, people, and opportunities start showing up. Maybe the same message or song lyric or sign on a billboard keeps coming into your field. Repeating numbers become a normal, everyday thing in your life. Surrender and go with the flow. Trust yourself, your intuition, and those little nudges. Letting the ego go and learning to trust can be very difficult, but once you start making this a habit, you will see positive changes and know that you are being led in the direction that is best for your life. Each day will become a new adventure.
Presence and Service
In this final stage your soul is in the front seat and your ego, having merged with your own true nature, is riding in the passenger seat. You have come into alignment with Source. Now that you’ve come so far and worked on yourself so much, you now feel the urge to help other people on their path. When you are enlightened, you are living in the present moment. You rarely obsess over the past or worry about the future, because the present is the only thing that’s real. You know joy, excitement, and bliss. You feel a deep sense of interconnectedness and unity with the world and everything in it, but you are attached to nothing. Be in the world, but not of it. You source your own happiness from within, rather than looking to the outside world to provide it.
At this stage, you may feel called to start looking for ways you can use your unique talents and gifts to be of service. You will look at what you desire, where your passion lies, and you will naturally want to follow what you love to do because that will lead you into your purpose.
Embarking on a spiritual journey requires patience, self-reflection, and an open heart. As you progress through these various stages, you will discover your true essence and awaken to the fact that you are already spiritually awakened, you just had to do the work to align with that higher version of you. It will now be easier to embrace your divine potential and find meaning and purpose in your life. A spiritual journey is an ongoing process of expanding into higher states of consciousness, and most people will have many spiritual awakenings throughout their lives as their soul continues to evolve and transform. I hope this knowledge will empower and inspire you as you progress on your journey of awakening and self-discovery. Trust it, and go with the flow.
What stage of spiritual awakening are you on? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear from you.
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Lots of love + light…thank you for reading.