The Enchanted Cottage

Decades ago, I saw a metaphysical movie that wonderfully illustrates the alchemical power of love. In "The Enchanted Cottage," a homely, self-effacing maid and a blind, crippled war hero fall in love. She blossoms into an attractive, self-confident woman and he into a charming, handsome country gentleman, both happier than ever before.

Oliver and Laura ascribe their transformation to the legendary enchanted cottage, but one day, its spell is broken by the pitying comments of people who see them as ugly and broken. The magic disappears until a magnificent tone poem played on piano by a composer friend opens their eyes to the true alchemy in every life: the beauty and music of love.

Sounds like a fairy tale, doesn't it? Yet this is exactly what happens in romantic love. The world is suddenly beautiful, and we laugh open-heartedly in joy, walking on air. In Buddhist psychology, this is a state of "attraction." Its opposite, "aversion," disenchants us from love.

Life is precisely what we make of it, isn't it? Love resides within each heart, waiting to be recognized as the transformer that it is: an infinitely powerful vibrational expression of the One Word, literally the "uni-verse." This transcendent viewpoint, with its singular quality of attraction, makes it easy to love without conditions or expectations, and to forgive and forget what is said and done by others, if we so choose. Love, a tone poem, makes life beautiful and harmonious.

My still, small voice has always claimed this, so I am delighted to share with you some recent proof of it. According to the HeartMath Institute, the higher frequency and shorter wavelength of love spirals through the strands of our DNA and, by interlacing more amino acid "coding" sites, awakens us to who we are meant to be and really are. Not only does love raise our frequencies of vibration, by resonance it attracts to us more light. We are healed and made whole by the musical vibrations of love, which transport us into the divine and draw the divine into us.

To me, the secret of the "en-chanted" cottage is that each of us is building one of our own with the quantum energies of thought, word and deed.

So, what is the house of your soul like? What motto is written on your front door, and does it need to be rephrased? Have you swept the cobwebs from each nook and cranny? Perhaps it's time to clear away what does not belong and to place fresh flowers on each table, bringing joy to yourself and all others who enter in.

But what do we do when a guest is unkind and leaves us feeling angry or hurt? Finding myself in just this position recently, I asked the still, small voice of my soul for insight and was told that no matter what the cause, discord's only healer is sympathy and love; giving these to everyone disentangles us from the anger, misperception and separation that confuse our minds and blur the truth.

Within two weeks, this is exactly what happened. Once again, my relationship was healed by steadfast love, faith and a willingness to be present to anyone who is lost (including myself!).

Just as in "The Enchanted Cottage," keeping the doors to your heart open and clear will allow the love in the Light to heal and transform you with its magic. None of us can run or hide from the mirrors in our houses, as they exist for our benefit. Rather, let us be receptive to everything, excluding nothing and pulling every experience into our "core star," or soul, as energy healer and atmospheric scientist Barbara Brennan advises.

This is how to "walk between the worlds," teaches spiritual leader Gregg Braden: by integrating All That Is, we transcend duality and become whole through the union of opposites.

Let us all "enchant" our cottages with love to create a bright new world on Earth. What better plan for peace, already settling so deeply across our love-resonant planet! nn©2003, Eagle Life Communications. All rights in all media reserved.