On Friday, I sat in Current for much of the day. Sitting in Current means that you sit on a bench that seats four people total, with your arms and legs uncrossed, feet touching the floor and eyes closed. This is to help the current of energy flow more freely between all of us. If you cross your legs or open your eyes, for example, it breaks the current and the energy level in the room falls.
The room holds about 120-150 people. It has an open feeling and there are fans to circulate the air, so the room itself is not uncomfortable.
While we sit there, the line of people either going to spiritual surgery or seeing John of God passes in front of you, and you send energy to them and to John of God. One way to do this to inhale deeply while you draw celestial energy in through your crown chakra and draw earth energy up through your feet. As you exhale, swirl all that energy in your heart and then send it out through your heart to all those passing in front of you.
This whole process is simultaneously really calming and really tiring. One of the adjustments for someone like me is not knowing exactly how long Current will be. That translates to not knowing exactly how long I will be sitting with my feet on the floor and eyes closed. The day before, Current ran for 4 1/2 hours in the morning and 5 hours in the afternoon. That’s a long time, but each session varies.
We begin Current about one hour before the line begins passing through. After we politely jockey for our ideal seat (some of us like the front vs the back, end vs middle, near vs away from a fan, etc.), the room leader lays out the protocols (head uncovered, feet on the floor, etc.), then asks everyone to close their eyes and start sending energy. This raises the energy in the room and “opens the veil” for the entities to come through. (I think I got that right.)
As we sit there, the room leader will periodically offer verbal encouragement or say a prayer, like the Prayer of St. Francis. For me, this both breaks up the time and enables me to recenter myself so that it doesn’t feel like an unbroken block of some unknown number of hours. Also, she (the room leader) will let us know as the various lines come through. For example, “The line for spiritual surgery is about to come through.” By now, I know the rough order of the lines so I can gauge how far along in the process we might be.
Once everyone has passed through, there is a process by which we wind down and “close the veil” so to speak. This part includes thanking all the saints and entities who have helped us, and saying the Our Father and Hail Mary. They lead it in Portuguese but it isn’t hard to follow along. Then we open our eyes, stand and stretch, and drink a cup of blessed water as we head out.
My Current sessions were only three hours in the morning and three in the afternoon, relatively short ones. Sitting in Current is like running: Before I start, it feels like it might be interminable, but then once I get going, it isn’t too bad and then, when I am done, I am really glad that I did it.
That morning, I opened Glenda Green’s book Love Without End to a random page, where the topic was Jesus’s crucifixion and the power of surrendering your heart. Then in Current, the room leader kept talking about surrendering. And when I got home, a friend sent something to me about surrendering to divinity. So I guess one theme of my day was “Surrender.”
Thank you for your patience as you travel along with me. I’m hoping this doesn’t feel as long as Current might sound!
I love our group (more on that another time) but I do appreciate your company.
Love and blessings to you.
Marie
Adventures in Spiritual Living 
So glad you are participating in this, Marie, and sharing it with us so beautifully! Fascinating and inspiring! Love and continued prayers to you!
Thanks Mary!
Being taken on your journey with photos and descriptions and reflections is a real gift to me today….and gives me wonderful hope.
Current sounds difficult but a real labor of love.
My continued prayer goes with you, Marie.
Marie,
This concept of current sounds so powerful to me. I think taking the opportunity to send energy to someone else even when — and perhaps *especially *when — I am in a period of asking for energy can be particularly powerful and is a true gift. While not nearly as intense or sustained as Sitting in Current, when we light our shabbat candles every Friday, we ‘take in the light’ of the candles and send it to people or places who we think might especially need it. As I read your description of Current I wondered how I can make a minute semblance of that energy sending more a part of my day-to-day practice. I am so grateful that you have reminded me of this power through your sharing of your experience … at John of God, but also your every day.
Blessings and gratitude to you,
Tania
Marie – thanks so much for your gift of the pics and your story. You’ve just provided a powerful Sunday reflection, and in return here are two further reflections:
“The Guest House”
by Jelaluddin Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
And from my pilot friend Antoine de St Exupery:
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Marie- you continue to teach beautifully and inspire deeply. HUGS
In our Retreat in Daily Life meetings Stephanie would about crack your knuckles (like a good old nun ought to) about ‘both feed on the floor, sitting up straight, hands in your lap…” It drives me crazy that the prayer position I most naturally assume is with my left leg crossed over my right. I flinch from the ruler that is not there and get both feet on the floor.