?? Five: Intention and Word ??

Hello, my friends!

Today, I share with you a piece from a short course in numerology.

This lecture explores the vibration of the number 5 and the many ways that we can make use of it in our lives.

I hope you enjoy!

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"Five: Intention and Word

Ok, we’ve come to a special point in our journey.

Up to 4, we’ve been working off of numbers that have distinct meanings due to their relation to the circle.

From 5 on, the structures become more complex. They are compound structures which combine earlier forms.

So, for example, the energy of 5 is the energy of 4, focused and directed through the center-point, 1. (4+1)

The four elements shaped and directed by intention.

So 5 is the number of man, and the vibration of intention.

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Five fingers on the hand, the most distinct aspect of the human.

(Four fingers and a thumb)

Four elements and Spirit.

Intention leads to purposeful action, which leads to specific consequence.

So, the vibration of 5 is also the principle of consequence, of cause and effect.

And humans shape the unfoldment of cause and effect to our will as we create in the world.

Intention and consequence, ideally chosen with open eyes and an understanding of these consequences.

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If you remember from our last lecture, 3 is action. Motion. Engagement.

It’s similar to 5 in that it is active, but 3 describes general motion and unfoldment, whereas the energy of 5 is more focused.

5 is shaping. Creating.

Gathering the 4 elements into a specific configuration that reflects the purpose for which they were gathered.

Wielding earth and water, fire and air to shape and create in the world.

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And, because 5 operates from the context of 4 and then takes it in a specific direction, 5 means change.

Change is loss. Change is the death of one thing to make way for the new.

People have a hard time with change.

But change is also transformation, and growth, and learning, and birth and development.

And, while we can’t keep things from changing, we can take action with open eyes, inviting the kind of change that we would like.

Taking action with clear intention and an understanding of the consequences.

Using those consequences to build and develop within the course of our lives.

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Now, intention is a process of crystallization.

Out of the infinite possible intentions we could have had, we align with this one.

We crystallize this specific configuration of thought and emotion. And it forms a template for an aspect of our experience.

This is the Power of the Word.

The Word crystallizes our thought into distinct things, clearly defined from one another, and allows us to work sensibly with these things.

The Word shapes the infinite into something sensible. Always losing something in the translation, but still conveying an incredible depth and vision.

Words share dreams, and dreams shape the world, one action at a time.

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Now, there aren’t many frameworks I’ve encountered which divide the One into five steps. (Rather than 4+1)

But there is one with which I am familiar, and which is incredibly valuable.

The Chinese elements, the Taoist elements, are metal, water, wood, fire, and earth.

And the thing about these elements is that they are describing something different than the 4 elements we just discussed.

The 4 elements can be associated with levels of density. From earth, the densest, to water, to air, and then to fire, each layer reflecting the previous.

Each of the five Taoist elements is a style of motion, a specific style of change. (5 phases, 5 transformations, 5 orbs [of influence])

And I find that amazingly beautiful, that the base meaning of 5 is focused change, and the Taoist elements describe five different types of change.

Metal penetrates, water rolls over, wood grows through, fire lashes out, and earth stands firm.

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These five elements are used in martial arts and qigong, in different ways.

And they also play an important role in TCM, traditional Chinese medicine.

Each element is linked to an organ system, and with these maps you can realign the body and subtle energies and support our natural healing function.

These elements all interact with one another in distinct ways, through both a creative cycle and destructive cycle.

When we have a balanced expression of all five elements, we are healthy. And when we are too imbalanced, this can create challenges in health and life.

Each of the 5 elements is related to a pair of organs, one yin and one yang. And each is related to one of the five fingers of a hand.

With an understanding of the related organs and emotions, we can evaluate the balance of the 5 elements, and offer practices or remedies to bring them back into balance.

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The Five Element system shows up in various ways within qigong practice.

One simple, powerful practice is to direct our attention (using the "Inner Smile" technique) into the yin organs, in a sequence which follows the Five-Element supporting cycle:

Kidney to Liver to Heart to Spleen to Lung, then back to Kidney again.

So it’s pretty simple, as a practice, but it requires a bit of research to understand the nature and mechanism of the practice

Just becoming familiar with the Five Element Correspondences is a great way to begin exploring it, if you want to learn more about this system.

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So, the five elements are just one way of understanding the 5 vibration.

The vibration of 5 is the art of transformation, one act of intention at the time.

Intention. Word. Creation. Transformation.

It is the number of the human. Five fingers, or four limbs and a head.

It’s the point at the center of the 4 directions.

A point of agency. A point of will.

With words and deeds, inspired by vision and moved by emotion, we take action in the world and create.

We cause, and the cause creates the effect.

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Now, as you can probably imagine, there are many practices that operate in the vibration of 5.

We’ve got loads to work with here. The Word. Intention. Change and transformation. Consequence.

So I’ll try to briefly share a wide range of different practices which address this vibration from different angles.

First of all, let’s touch on single-point focus.

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I know I mentioned this in Part 1, but it bears touching upon again.

Single-point focus is the magical mindset.

It’s the inner state which best serves prayer, energy work, and setting intentions.

And it’s pretty self-explanatory from the name.

It is a practice of focusing absolutely and completely every bit of our attention, mind, Being, on a particular intention or image.

In the yogic sciences, this is dharana, the sixth limb of yoga: concentration.

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Single-point focus is the point at the center of the medicine wheel.

The point of agency and will that wields action and emotion, thought and body into a force to create focused change.

Now, single-point focus can be challenging to practice inwardly, as in the practice of dharana.

Despite the challenge, it’s definitely worth the practice, as this inner state is the core of all ritual, all sacred ceremony, and energy work.

Single-point focus and clear intentions are the keys that make ritual work.

One way you can practice single-point focus is to set clear intentions regularly, and with focused (but relaxed) intensity.

For your day, your week. For your conversation, or for an event.

Get clear, form aligned intentions, and view them inwardly with single-point focus.

And then reflect afterwards how the intention influenced the situation.

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To work with this in the early stages, or to work with group intentions, that’s when ritual or sacred ceremony is ideal.

A ritual is a symbolic action. An action that is the outward expression of a particular intention.

Ceremony is the same, an action with meaning.

In taking this action, and bringing our single-point focus to it, keeping the meaning in focus and linked to the action…

We bring the sacredness to it.

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And it could be anything. You can take the smallest action as an expression of healing and a ritual of blessing. Weeding the garden. Washing the dishes.

So long as the intention is set clearly and maintained throughout the action, doing it with complete focus.

We make this action a form of art.

Creation in connection with the One at the core of our being, which is the creative power behind all things.

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Now, there are many practices linked to the vibration of 5 in respect to the Word.

You may have heard the first of the 4 Agreements: Be impeccable with your word.

Another approach to this exact same practice is the Buddhist practice of right speech.

Word is powerful. Words create consequences.

So, there is the practice of integrity, being responsible for our use of power, and for our use of the word.

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And this applies, not only in our use of words with one another, but also in the words we use in speaking to ourselves.

Our inner dialogue or monologue.

Even the words we carry silently within ourselves as stories of self, stories of world.

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With the practice of right speech, we pay attention to the words we use.

We ask, is it true, is it helpful, is it kind?

We ask ourselves, before speaking, whether we truly know this, or if we are repeating something we heard, and if so, where we heard it.

We begin to cultivate consciousness around our use of one of our greatest powers as human beings.

Intention. Word. Crystallizing the infinite possibilities into a single actual expression, by engaging with it.

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It’s a simple practice.

But we speak often. And often unconsciously.

So this is not an easy practice.

It requires that we become the inner witness, observing our thoughts before they erupt into words.

Having more awareness and more conscious choice over when and how those words come through.

This refines our relationship with thought, but it does require intentional training.

Slowing down and fine-tuning as you go.

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I do this with everything, all the time. Fine-tuning and developing something in the background.

Those around me have gotten used to it. I just slide my inner training into all the cracks and let it permeate the daily mundane tasks.

If you go through a period of choosing your thoughts more carefully, people will probably look at you funny for a bit, because it is a distinct change.

You will speak differently, and you will show up differently.

But you will adjust to the new mode, and others will adjust to seeing you show up in a subtly different way.

And your clarity will improve dramatically, inwardly and in your communications with others.

All from the practice of being impeccable with your word.

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One mastery practice linked to the 5 vibration is storytelling.

The world is made of stories.

We have the I Am. And around it, we each have a bubble of actual Now, the stuff that we can see and hear and feel and all that.

And then we have stories, linking us to the context of past and future, of the world “out there”, and “how it really is” in the world.

Stories.

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Humans learn from stories.

And we create stories, crystallizing the kaleidoscope of sensory experience into distinct images, recognizing patterns and working with those patterns to create.

And we remember and layer stories atop one another, and we call this culture.

It forms a whole dream of the world.

And storytellers engage with this dream itself.

And through it, into the personal dream of the listener.

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Stories shape the world and show us how we can show up in it.

And one who knows how to craft meaning in healthy ways, aligned to the needs of those who hear them, this person works in the realm of the subtle vibrations.

The storyteller works on the level of the energetic template, shaping the ideas that call the world into a specific shape.

A specific way of unfolding into the Actual.

They create from upstream.

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We can practice being a storyteller in our own lives by exploring, when appropriate, the stories we have about our past, about ourselves, about the world.

While these stories are unexplored, we unconsciously follow their script.

We act like the character in the story.

But, when we can see the story, we come to find out that we’ve written it.

We’re not just the character. We’re also the storyteller! Which means we can write it however we want.

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If you’d like to work with this, you can go back over the stories you have about yourself and the world.

Explore how the challenges have trained you and offered gifts.

Find the joy in the pain, and the blessings in the hardships.

Review your personal history, first feeling and processing everything there on an emotional level.

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Then reminding yourself that no stories are true. They’re all relative. Constructed.

A view of the world from one tree in our inner forest.

Stories are written from one point of view, and we always have the power to change our point of view.

So next, we renegotiate our relationship with ourselves and the world, placing ourselves at the power axis.

From victimhood to empowerment.

Seeing how each experience helped us to grow.

Becoming stronger by choosing and valuing our own history, rather than trying to run from the story we’ve written.

Which leads to: Accountability. Responsibility. And showing up in every way we can..."

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If you've liked this and want to explore further, I have a short course on numerology which explores the number vibrations from 1-12.

Drop a line in the comments if you'd like the link.

Thanks and blessings, beautiful beings!