Thank Your Souls
David Choe’s art videos on YouTube are utter shitposts and yet I still find them seriously helpful. This exercise was inspired by a video in which he advised us all to thank our soul:
As a Heathen, I believe that the soul is not some sort of singular black box, it’s made up of parts that have to work together. Like Jaeger pilots, if that analogy helps. I’m still learning about the concept of soul parts in the Old Custom from which Heathenry derives, but in the meantime I often view things through the lens of the color magic system I created for myself. And that’s what this exercise uses as its base.
For me:
Red represents Fire, passion, motivation, and vitality.
Green represents Air, intellect, and thoughts.
Blue represents Water, emotions, and sensation.
Yellow represents Earth, the body, the material world, and tangible things.
Purple represents the past, wisdom, and intuition.
Orange represents the future and creativity.
White, as the color of light that contains all other colors of light, represents your Higher Self/Best Self.
You don't have to use the colors, and you can swap them around if you have different associations.
To start:
Greet and thank your Higher Self/Best Self/souls as a group.
The main exercise:
Greet and thank your passions. Spend a moment (or more) reflecting on what you want, how you think and feel about that, and whether you want to implement them. Acknowledge and dismiss for now any that you don't want to.
Greet and thank your thoughts. Spent a moment reflecting on how you feel and are motivated by them, and whether you want to keep them. Acknowledge and dismiss for now any you don't want to.
Greet and thank your emotions. Spend a moment reflecting on how you think and are motivated by them, and whether they are helping you grow. Acknowledge the ones that are not, or are not helpful in this moment, and dismiss them for now.
Greet and thank your body, your belongings, your resources. Spend a moment reflecting on how they make you feel and think, and how you're motivated by them. Observe any discomfort or pain you feel in your body and if you can, move or relax to alleviate it. Acknowledge anything that's left that you find burdensome, and set them aside for now if you can without harm. (Of course, if pain or other body sensations become too much while creating, return to doing what you can in the moment and stop if it's not possible to alleviate them. Same with overwhelming sensations in any of the other categories that don't serve you in the moment.) Acknowledge and appreciate what belongs to you that is helpful, and set aside for the moment that which burdens you or causes you stress.
Greet and thank your past for helping to make you what you are. Reflect on the experiences and the sensations they bring up, If there's anything you no longer want in your life, tell it you're saying goodbye and let it go as best you can.
Greet and thank your future for existing. Share your hopes and fears for it.
Then dedicate to the Universe/the Powers something you want, something you think, something you feel, something you are/have, something you love, something you were, and the hope of something you will be. Preferably related to the work of creation that is about to happen/continue. It can be things that bring you joy that you want to share, or it can be burdens that you wish the Universe/the Powers to help carry.
You’re ready to create.
If you need to stop early because of pain, difficult feelings coming up, or anything of that nature:
Try not to view it as failure. Thank your future, your past, your body, your emotions, your thoughts, your passions, and your soul/Higher Self/Best Self in brief. You may consider beginning or ending with the one(s) that stopped you or that you decided you needed to stop in order to address. If you really need to stop quickly, just address a quick thought to the part(s) that need care, saying you’re going to give it that care. Then take care of yourself.
If you reach the end of your session naturally, whether you finish the work or not:
Thank everything in the same order, reflecting on them each and whether anything has changed. (But if you know reflecting would be harmful in the moment, skip it. You can possibly do it later when you have more emotional distance, if that's helpful.)
You may modify this exercise in any way you like so that it works for you. If you want to share it or your version of it, I ask that you please link to this page and credit me for the original version.