When we are in a holding pattern, it is because we know exactly what we should do next, but we are terrified to act on it. - Caroline Myss

healing. I now equate faith with self-esteem and personal power, because low self-esteem reflects one’s lack of faith in oneself as well as in the powers of the unseen world.

The grace of Endurance is often required to cope with ourselves. Sometimes the most challenging obstacle we have to deal with is our own nature, including our contradictory behavior, our weaknesses, and the dilemmas they lead to. We would like to blame others for our faults. But at the end of the day, we are the only inhabitants of our body. We are the only ones making our choices. We are far too old to blame our parents for our adult behavior. The grace of Endurance brings a big sigh. It fills us with the sense of relaxation and the knowledge that we will “get through” the difficulty we are in. Endurance communicates that there are challenges in life that we simply must, well, endure. And yet, at the same time, that all troubles eventually and inevitably pass.

The chakra system is an archetypal depiction of individual maturation through seven distinct stages. The chakras are vertically aligned, running from the base of the spine to the crown of the head, suggesting that we ascend toward the Divine by gradually mastering the seductive pull of the physical world. At each stage we gain a more refined understanding of personal and spiritual power, since each chakra represents a spiritual life-lesson or challenge common to all human beings.