THE ENCHANTED WAY

Enchantment is the return to the knowing of the Real — the knowing of you beyond the spell of the separate, personal sense of self that keeps you bound. When the separate self is the centre of your life, there can be no enchantment. The intellect alone cannot guide you there. There is no “happily ever after” when everything revolves around a personal “me.”

Enchantment arises as a paradox. The less there is of you, the more enchanted you become. This is the invitation to live the life you are created to live. Most people in this world of time and space live under a spell of disenchantment. The heart has forgotten its birthright of wonder.

We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
—Joseph Campbell

The word enchantment comes from the Latin incantare — to cast a spell — and the Old French enchanter, combining in- (“into, upon”) and cantare (“to sing”). It originally meant to place someone under a spell through chant or song, and over time came to mean a state of deep delight or fascination.

“To put someone under a spell; to delight deeply; to fill with wonder.”

If you listen closely to the word enchantment, you hear the root chant. This is your clue. In reality, you are a unique sound of the universe, a unique resonance, a unique vibration. This vibration is always happening, but it cannot be felt when it is smothered by the belief that you live your life as a separate self disconnected from Source.

Enchantment is joy in oneself — the deeper meaning of en-joy-ment. It is expressed as an emanation, a resonance of the Divine. This is what I call embodied spirituality. This is what you experience when you step out of the endless voice in your head and begin to live from the embodied Presence you are intended to express in this world of time and space.

Enchantment is living as Presence rather than personality. Personality — from persona, meaning mask — is not your essence. It is the idea of yourself that you offer to the world. In Christian mysticism this is the false self. It is not wrong, but it is a spell. It binds us away from the radiance we are meant to express.

Fairy tales of enchantment were never meant for children, who naturally live in wonder. They were written for adults who have forgotten the flavour of enchantment because they learned to live life from the head — expressing everything in concepts and words rather than through the immediacy of being. When you live from the never-ending voice in your head, there is no presence. Life is lived from the neck up. The body ceases to be the temple of Spirit and becomes something traded in the marketplace of relationship.

What is Enchantment – Inviting Magnificence

Why not explore the invitation to live the Enchanted Way — to awaken the Sleeping Beauty within you? Why not step into the revelation symbolised by the ugly duckling who discovers he is a swan? These are not children’s tales. They are maps for the adult soul.

If you sense resistance to this invitation, know that this is natural. You have been encouraged to accept that it is normal to live a disenchanted life. “Who are you,” the conditioned mind asks, “to be magnificent? Who are you to shine? Who are you to express a success that is beyond any idea of failure?”

But then again —
who are you not to be magnificent?

The real question is this: Are you willing to go on the quest to become a living revelation of enchantment? This is the great service you can offer the world. Your awakening from the spell of the separate personal self allows you to become enchanting — a presence of blessing. This is the meaning of the enigmatic instruction from the Master:

“Unless you become as a little child, you shall not enter the Kingdom.”

The Kingdom is not a place but a state of awareness — the source of enchantment. It is the outpouring that flows through you when the mask of personality becomes a servant and you return to the recognition of your true sovereign nature.

Enchantment is not a technique. It is not something you acquire. It is a revelation you live, provided you loosen your grip on the lesser treasures of life and uncover the treasure you are here to pour into the world.

Oh, didn’t I come to bring you a sense of wonder?
Oh, didn’t I come to lift your fiery vision bright?
Didn’t I come to bring you a sense of wonder in the flame?
—Van Morrison, Sense of Wonder

The world needs more enchanters — those who live fully in the visible world yet are rooted beyond the world of time and space. From this deeper ground arise solutions the personal self could never conceive. This is the revolution of the Enchanted Way.

If you feel called to walk this path, stay connected. The invitation is ongoing. The unfolding continues.