Guidelines: Shift in Perspective

Blog Post #97

“When you write something down, you begin to define what you know and therefore what you want. You can’t have what you want until you know what it is. Writing clarifies what it is that you are asking for. God can give you what want — but you have to be clear on what that is.”

— Henriette Anne Klauser, PhD, Write it Down, Make it Happen

These guidelines begin with the familiar — writing a circular line that divides the egg in half horizontally and then two vertically to create eight sections. But follow along and these guidelines will help you to make a perceptional shift away from the mundane to the spiritual.

The image above shows a circular line written around the middle of the egg with a vertical circular line intersecting it. Another vertical circle, written perpendicular to the first and seemingly hidden, hugs the outer edge of the egg.

(Inset: Top view of the two vertical circles.)

This is a fairly common pysanka division with eight triangular sections.

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Circle

Symbol for Eternity, the Eternal.

Beloved God,

Be with me now, and evermore.

The shift away from the ordinary begins by placing an X on each of the four top vertical lines. Then divide each of the four upper triangles in half.

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Cross ~ Intersecting lines

Symbolizes Help, Guidance, Direction.

Beloved God,

Help me to see things differently.

Erase just the upper portion of the four lines that have been marked with an X.

(Inset shows a top view before the lines are erased.)

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Triangle

Symbolizes Consciousness, Perception, Perspective.

Beloved God,

Remove the confining thoughts that keeps my focus on this mundane world.

The foundational guidelines are complete.

The upper triangles are no longer aligned with the lower ones.

Prayer writing’s intention is to develop a personal, tangible relationship with God.

Pysanka prayer-writers use this foundation to help shift their perception from the ordinary to the extraordinary, from the mundane to the spiritual.

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The egg

Symbolizes the Soul, God’s Image and Likeness Within.

To be continued…. in Blog Post #98

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

(A perspective shifting prayer.)

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

Ukrainian folklore characterizes pysanky as a symbolic, talismanic writing that invokes a higher Universal Power for help, while believing with faithful certainty that It will. The contemporary version of this characterization is a paper-and-pen journaling practice called prayer writing that develops a personal relationship with God.