When the student is ready...

In a 1927 publication, Steps to Self-Mastery, S. R. Parchment says:

“When the pupil is ready, the Master appears” is an old Theosophical statement, and I have been able on several occasions to prove its truthfulness.

 

 



 

On an overcast, cool day last summer, I was busy working in my office when B walked in.  I was already feeling stressed so I had been sucking on Rescue Remedy Pastilles (chewable lozenge) for most of the morning.  He wanted to void something in the system and asked for instructions.  I felt fear and desperation.  I thought it was coming from me and had no idea why, which triggered my fight or flight panic mode.  As I tried to calmly list the steps to fix the problem B would angrily second guess my answers.  This wasn't like him at all.  My heart was racing and my chest hurt. 

 

I had had this pain happen before. It always turned out to be a panic attack but I still feared that it could be something wrong with my heart.  It's amazing what runs through your head at a moment like that.  I had lousy health insurance with a hugh deductible.  I had already been to the emergency room three times with the same symptoms.  The hospital probably had a poster of me in admitting.  Warning!  She's really not as bad off as she thinks she is.  I hate causing scenes and there was no way that I intended to perish in that stuffy, windowless office of mine. 

 

What did I do in this perdicament, you ask?  I did what any self-respecting person would do.  I went home sick.  Better to die in my apartment surrounded by familar, charished possessions.  Too bad everyone I loved was either busy, at work or on a play date.  It would have been nice to have someone to share my disquiet with.

 

As I drove toward home, I remembered that Terri, my acupuncturist, had mentioned the calming benefits of lavender essential oil.  This led to a quandary.  Where would I find this oil?  It occurred to me that there was a shop in Chester that might actually have it.  I continued to take calming breaths as I accelerated.

 

When I walked into The Art of the Heart (Here) that afternoon, there was a kind looking woman standing behind the counter, clearly feeling the ill effects of the high pollen count.  I proceeded to tell her what I was looking for and why without taking a breath.  Somewhere in the middle of my little speech it occurred to me that my heart was no longer racing.  The anxiety was slowly starting to dissipate.  I was mortified.   She must have thought I was nuts.

 

I took a long nap when I got home with a bag filled with dried lavender next to me on the pillow.  Panic attacks have always left me exhausted for hours afterwards.

 

I later learned, that the woman who helped me that day was Susan Freeman, owner of The Art of the Heart.  After thoroughly absorbing Sue's entire website, I called her for a reading.

 

And that's how the whole thing got started!