In writing about 3D and 5D and this shift that is taking place on the planet, it is also helpful to define what is actually happening in this process of ascension. Ascension or awakening does not necessarily have anything to do with “religion,” or even “spirituality.”

If we remember from earlier posts that everything that exists is in a relationship between energy and awareness. Together, they co-create your reality. A state of awareness exists in relation to frequencies, or levels of energy. Your level of awareness can be viewed as “perceiving” or “being” from a particular frequency or plane of energy. If the frequency is maintained, then the state of awareness is maintained. If the vibration decreases, your awareness is decreased as well. Your experience or observation will reflect your dominant energetic vibration.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I tend to flow in and out of higher and lower levels of awareness (by being in 3D or 5D). There are some days where I see everything clearly, and other days or weeks where it feels like I have sunken back into lower vibrational patterns of perception. It can feel like I have lost my ability to “see” this reality, but it actually doesn’t leave or go anywhere. It is always there for you to tap into, you are just are not tuned into it at that time. It is like choosing a radio station. When you are listening to one radio station, all of the others still exist even though you don’t hear them. They have not “disappeared” — you can always adjust the dial and experience the higher frequency channel again.

Below are excerpts taken from this article, which from my research does a nice job of explaining what is happening during ascension. “To understand the ascension process, we can take the “tuning the radio” metaphor a step further. From a particular physical place, certain radio stations are “available.” Likewise, from a particular place of awareness, some frequencies are available and others are not. As you evolve in your awareness, more and more frequencies become available. They appear “new” just as when you suddenly come into range of a radio station that you couldn’t pick up 10 miles ago.

In one respect, reality is a totality — everything exists everywhere all of the time. However, we do not tend to experience everything-everywhere-all-of-the-time. When you are focused into a physical body, your experience is naturally focused into the most immediate and physical relevant surroundings. However, what you are able and willing to perceive, in a given moment, should not be confused with what is possible to perceive. In actuality, there’s a vastness out there, if you are willing to train your mind, elevate your energy, and open yourself to worlds beyond your imagination.

That vastness of experience can be understood, energetically speaking, in terms of a multi-dimensional reality.  In short, energy organizes itself into bands of frequencies, like layers in a cake.  Inside that band of frequencies is a distinct “world.”  Like a chocolate icing world and a sponge cake world.  Very different.  The farther apart the layers (vibrations), the more different those worlds are.  This results from what I discussed earlier: awareness reflects energy.  If the energy is very different, then the awareness, and hence reality that is created, is very different.  Just consider how different your life and world “feel” if you are angry or at peace.

Ascension is the process of elevating your energy and awareness into new worlds of perception, experience, and creation.  Going from one layer to the next, so to speak.  You can ascend within a dimensional reality (energy plane or “world”) as well as between dimensions.  The latter is what most people probably mean or expect when they talk about “ascension,” but the process and outcome are similar.  You elevate your energy, awaken your awareness, and experience a new world.  That new world is both what you experience (inside), and the reality that you share with others.

The process of elevating your energy into the higher dimensions, or “ascension,” is the continual process of increasing and sustaining higher and higher frequencies of energy (in your energy system, physical body, mental body). It is a process and practice for most people, just like training for a marathon. When you start, it takes effort to run five miles. Then five miles is easy and 10 miles is the challenge point. And so on. Every time you raise to a higher frequency, the path is extended and deepened a bit more. It’s like the prow of a boat breaking through a wave — now the rest of vessel can follow.

One of the most amazing — and to some, challenging — aspects of the soul ascension process is that you cannot see the next step until you are there.  Each new “place” of awareness is a new vantage point of understanding, feeling, realization, and creation. I discussed this in my baby steps post, with the analogy of perceiving from different levels or floors of a building. This new vantage point is marked by the “awakening” experience — suddenly you see, feel, or experience something that you never did before.  With open eyes, the previous moment (or years) seems distant and unreal in a way.

To make the “awakening” experience more concrete, it is much like the revelation that comes during a burst of creativity.  You suddenly see your project or creation in a totally new way.  Everything that led you to that point doesn’t matter anymore.  You go forward with this new idea, insight, or vision.  Life is filled with such “awakenings.”  I distinguish these “personal” or “creative” awakenings from “spiritual awakening.”   Spiritual awakening, in contrast, has quality to it that goes beyond any temporal or physical object or experience.  You come into connection with your Source, the eternal Divine, and/or a heart-centered knowing of your true essence.

Spiritual awakening comes forth in many ways. But it is not random or accidental, even though the pathway leading to a moment of awakening is inexplicable or unexpected. As said above, awakening reflects a shift in your awareness. And such shifts are usually “triggered” by an elevation of energetic frequencies in your soul-level energetics. Sometimes it is difficult to explain why a being crosses over a threshold, but many times, it is a direct result of an energetic activation. The “soul activation” turns on the “ignition” of your deeper awareness and your ability to receive particular frequencies of energy and information. I’ve mentioned my dark night of the soul several times, which served as a springboard or catalyst for my own spiritual activation or awakening.

As you experience spiritual awakening, and “ascend” in energy and awareness, you learn and adjust the compass bearing for your journey.  I like to call it “next-step spirituality.”  When you open into embracing what is beyond your imagination, then you give up, to a large extent, the strategy or road-map that got you to that step.  Because more is now possible than before.  Why would you limit yourself with an outdated map?  It is like looking in the rear view mirror at the highway exit that you just passed to decide where to pull off for dinner in 30 minutes.  Not much help.

The enlightening or soul ascension process keeps you looking, paradoxically, simultaneously into the present and future.  If not, then you stagnate, thrash, and generally become frustrated and stuck.  I suggest balancing your practice and intention between 1) reaching for new awareness, and 2) sustaining or integrating an increasingly higher dominant energy frequency in ALL that you perceive, think, and do. There is no end to enlighten-ing, that is, evolving your frequency and awareness. The question is whether and how you embrace it. There are endless possibilities of how to create your soul’s journey and path, depending upon your preferences, intentions, and where you are at this moment.

Some people go through their ascension process with lots of resistance — holding onto energies, beliefs, and patterns — and they work out the resolution of those with a good bit of drama and difficulty. Others do it with reflection and keep the process more within themselves. Neither is inherently better or worse, except to the extent that you experience the effects of dramatic energy releases and shifts (yours or others).

In many ways, the “how” and approach to enlightenment and soul ascension is a question of personal (soul) style. I’ve seen two skiers, one with great muscle, power, and effort charge down a slope. Right beside is another skier, far less physically robust, who whips over the snow with a clean edge, skill, and effortless grace. Both get to the bottom of the hill at about the same time. One is pumped up and sweaty, the other is nonchalant and looking for where to eat his lunch. As I said, same destination, just a question of preference in your “style” of how to get there.”

-A’na Sa’tara

I have documented much of my own personal process so that you can see what resonates with you. As I was connecting dots and cross-referencing my data points, I realized that there were some common denominators for each person and experience they shared. All had some catalyst or point in their life where they “awoken” or a light switch was turned on that there is even a possibility that there is something else out there. This refers back to the audacious curiosity that I wrote about last year. Once you are able to hold that truth and frequency, much more is unlocked.