The Alchemy of Spiritual Contracts

From Guest Blogger Emily Smith.

What are Spiritual Contracts?

Through Caroline Myss’s pioneering work several years ago, I discovered her innovative concept of having sacred contracts, which is how I now view many my relationships. She describes them as “soul documents” in her widely popular book, SACRED CONTRACTS: Awakening to Your Divine Potential (2001). “We co-create our Contract with divine guidance, and it includes many individual agreements — or subcontracts – to meet and work with certain people, in certain places, at certain times…the earthly commitments, the tasks you have been assigned, and the lessons you agreed to learn in this incarnation in order to fulfill your divine potential.” (p.p. 16 -17) By looking at your relationships as Spiritual Contracts, you can go beyond your immediate emotional reactions and ask “What is the spiritual purpose of this relationship? What is my role in this Contract?”

In this blog, I’ll share insights about these spiritually infused, contractual agreements and share practical applications for enhancing all your significant relationships, strategies for navigating these relationships, and ideas of how to discover your “life assignments” with key people in your life.

Utilizing this key relational alchemic tool will increase your capacity for building more agility, resiliency and transformative change in exchanges in your noteworthy contracts. I have been angry, frustrated, hurt, clueless or excited about certain people until I understood their unique purpose and the gifts my contract with them brought me. I now know I have had spiritual contracts with many individuals throughout my life – some I realized at the time, and some in retrospect. It was through being aware of having such contracts that I could then appreciate our times and experiences together. The need to feel and express frustration or anger no longer had any purpose or energetic attachment, opening doors to forgive and be grateful.

For example, a long-time friend of mine used to get angry with me for what I felt were minor misunderstandings on a frequent basis. My “people pleasing” approach at the time was to assume I was “guilty” of something so I didn’t challenge her negative barbs. But I wasn’t happy with this interaction. One day I was inspired to address it, to examine the dynamics of the unconscious “contract” between us. I asked her why she always picked on me. She was surprised enough that she told me the truth. She felt she was not free to be angry with anyone else in her life and felt it was safe enough to take out her frustrations with others on me. I told her that I didn’t want to be treated this way. This singular exchange changed how we interact with each other. Reflecting back on this exchange, it gave me the opportunity to grow spiritually by standing my ground and thereby build up my self-esteem and self-respect. I now realize that a covenant of the contract with her was to help me become more aware of how I deserved to be treated by others. This covenant has been met and resolved.

The Collective Wisdom Team shares their wisdom on how spiritual contacts work and their relevance in our lives:

Each spiritual contract is uniquely designed for each soul’s progression and awakening process in each lifetime. Contracts between two individuals are divinely inspired and can be powerfully transformative for both individuals involved. This is true especially if both are aware of the contractual potential and are mutually willing to work together toward its intended potential. The journey to seek and know each other and all related experiences are considered to be part of a larger sacred framework – for each to answer their inner calling, which reveals their life purpose

There are few true missed opportunities in these sacred contractual agreements. If necessary, one is given multiple times to experience with another person sacredly calibrated opportunities. They will discover each other again and again until their ultimate unique contracts with each other are complete.

When in a spiritual contract, there can be great joy in the journey of self-discovery, self-mastery and self-realization. Especially now, there is a great wonderment of being here at this time in this new world of shifting into higher dimensional consciousness – and it can be mutually shared.

Consciously choosing to become aware of each person with whom you have a spiritual contract and exploring the mystery of what might be the true nature of your being together at specific times in each other’s lives is a worthwhile, inspiring exploration. This is especially true if they are willing to join you in navigating this divinely designed discovery together.

The most sacred of all contracts is your contract with yourself and your soul, and your soul’s contract with Source/God Consciousness. This commitment needs to be viewed with the utmost respect. It manifests itself in practical ways as you answer an inner calling to sustain your spiritual path and as you affirm the commitment on your part to continue to grow and progress.

The greatest journey you will ever embark on is the journey within to discover your own divine contract with yourself – the true essence of who you are, why you are here now, what has the highest growth potential and what are the lessons to be learned. Much love is aligned to support the fulfillment of your Awakening to Essence process!

Why Is It Important to be Aware of Spiritual Contracts?

Caroline Myss states “…I have come to believe this absence of spiritual and emotional orientation has become an epidemic. Besides being a personal problem for many people, it is a global concern…what good is it to the universe to have a planet filled with souls who have no idea whatsoever why they are here or what they are supposed to be doing?” (p.p. 2-3)

Benefits of utilizing this unique relational alchemic tool includes:

providing clarity concerning one’s life purpose and navigating their personal awakening transformation,
increasing one’s capacity for having a positive outlook on life personally and professionally,
multiple options, choices and opportunities to fulfill life lessons and related contractual agreements,
capacity to upshift negative situations and exchanges into positive outcomes, filled with insights and potential life course corrections,
co-creating win-win outcomes
no paperwork is necessary
honoring sacred agreements
increasing opportunities for transforming negative stress into positive actions and outcomes (eustress).

Caroline’s list includes the following additional benefits mentioned in her blog on October 2, 2019 “What Exactly is a Sacred Contract.” Her blog site is www.myss.com.

Aids in expanding ways to know yourself in more profound ways.
Supports you in becoming increasingly authentic in your exchanges with others.

How Do You Know You Are in a Spiritual Contract with Someone?

When you are in a spiritual contract with someone, you may experience:

a sense of familiarity or recognition you can’t explain
an inner sense of knowing and resonance
feeling drawn to them, yet not knowing why
a special and sometimes unforgettable impression
a sense that this person is someone you want to get to know better or spend more time with, along with a sense of excitement and somewhat mystical
or to the contrary, at first contact you sense this person is one you instinctively want to have as little direct contact with as possible
a strong prompting to go within and seek more wisdom as to the higher purpose for the connection.

Higher Realm Spiritual Contracts

Spiritual contracts not only exist with other people but also with yourself, your Higher Self, and with universal realms of consciousness. My co-writing team reminded me that we have a mutual long-standing spiritual contract with a special mission – to anchor and broadcast, as widely as possible, this unique body of collective wisdom related to discovering what shifts you need to broaden your sense of who you really are to actualize your full potential as a multi-dimensional individual. In addition, with a unique purpose and divinely inherited gifts, utilizing the process of relational alchemy. They encouraged me to also share that I consciously chose to fulfill our potential for being brought together at this time – spirit and flesh serving as one unified voice. To this day, I am still learning new nuances of our contract.

The most profound experience I had regarding spiritual contracts happened a few years ago. I had been studying with a local esoteric teacher and was given a homework assignment to aid me in understanding the alchemic principle of forgiveness. The process is called Ho’oponopono—a Hawaiian word for an ancient practice of reconciliation and forgiveness. I was asked to list all the jobs I had ever had, all the roles I had ever played and all the significant people in my life. Once the lists were complete, I was to use the following statement, “I forgive myself for______ (some examples include believing, expecting, trying to control, avoiding) and forgive myself for judging myself about that.”

It took three full days to go through each item on each list. At the end of the last statement of forgiveness on the third day, I heard an inner voice whisper, “You didn’t understand your contracts with these people, roles and jobs!” I sat in the silence for several minutes, awestruck not only by what I had just heard, but also how deeply I resonated with the truth of that singular statement. That moment was a pivotal relational turning point in my life. As a result of this experience any anger, frustration or misunderstandings related to these individuals melted away. They were replaced with gratitude, love and appreciation – which before I would have never guessed were conceivably possible!

How to Increase Your Understanding of Your Spiritual Contracts

The following relational alchemic strategies and their practical applications will increase your capacity for understanding your contracts with others:

Have faith and trust in wisdom emanating from within during your self-discovery inquiry process.
Approach your spiritual contract with another with the upmost respect for it is sacred in its own unique way.
When in a spiritual contract with another, be deliciously curious!
Be openly receptive when seeking clarity, along with being self-compassionate and focused on other self-care practices, when undertaking this process.
Not all contracts are comfortable, easy or fun. They can be quite challenging and frustrating. Some can be painful physically, emotionally and mentally. However, when the call for transformative change is heard and responded to, profound growth is possible. Surrender to this aspect of the journey and fasten your seat belt just in case!
Be willing to move out of your comfort zones and be open to the potential gifts from challenging exchanges. Embrace being vulnerable, or not knowing or not in control.
When a spiritual contract has served its purpose, let it go and walk away with ease and Grace.
When you experience anger with one or more of your contracts, seek to harvest its gifts. Push the pause button on the survival part of your brain and shift into your emotional and spiritual intelligences to access its wisdom.
Pivotal turning points that many spiritual contracts can bring into your life are uniquely calibrated to upshift you into a more expansive aspect of yourself. They may appear disguised at first. Be openly receptive to the mystery.
Reframing is an important relational alchemic tool for upshifting your relationships with yourself and others into more constructive, loving and uplifting experiences.

When working with another requires unique transformational skills, such as being fully present as often as you can, fully engaged as an active listener, speak your inner truths from a compassionate heat-centered space and be authentic in your communications. Take the high road in an all such exchanges when possible.

Summary

Working with spiritual contracts with myself, my co-writing team, my higher self, a universal consciousness (God/Source) and many others throughout my life has been life affirming and life enhancing. I used to run away from such difficult situations with others. I now realize they offer transformational opportunities to work through and have the potential to heal core psycho-emotional wounds. I now clearly understand the profound nature, breadth and depth of such contractual relationships and welcome the gifts of their true purpose in my life.

Sequestering throughout most of 2020 and 2021 provided many of us with opportunities to grow closer to some, healing old relational wounds with a few, or with others to realize a spiritual contract is over. Reflection on such experiences may reveal insights and “ahas” missed in all the confusion during that time.

Self-Inquiry Questions:

The following questions are designed to support you in creating a solid foundation to anchor your insights, to savor pearls of wisdom and to create productive strategies and purposeful actions in realizing the full potential of spiritual contracts with self and others. Capture what first emerges in your journal.

What are the most important insights you had about having spiritual contracts with yourself and others after reading this blog? What impact will this new awareness have on expanding your own self-awareness and self-empowerment, and working on issues with others in the future?
What surprised you the most about having such a transformative tool? What particular benefits do you hope to gain or have already received from the most significant people in your life?
If you have sensed that you have had a contract with another, did this expand your self-awareness and shift your relationship with that person? If so, how? What gifts did you receive from this awareness?
What are three-to-five most important contracts you have had with others in the last 5 years? With whom were they with? Why do you believe they were so consequential? What were the most uplifting pearls of wisdom you gained?
Reflecting back on your time during the national sequestering protocol, what were the most insightful spiritual contracts you experienced and what gifts did you receive from these exchanges? What changes have you implemented already?

About Emily

it is my pleasure to introduce my friend, and true spiritual guide, Emily Smith. Emily lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she channels practical spiritual messages and guidance in the form of these lovely blogs. Look forward to her coming book THE GRAND MYSTICAL SHIFT: Chemistry of the Ego Evolving into Alchemy of the Soul – every day practical spirituality for consciously living a fulfilling, purposeful and meaningful life.
Welcome Emily to our family. I hope everyone enjoys the post.
Annie

Your comments and feedback are welcomed. Simply comment below or contact Emily at emilymsmith@centurylink.net. Please feel free to share this blog.