A Sekhem Reflection on Power, Presence, and the Spiritual Path of Becoming
There’s a truth that has continued to echo through my recent reflections:
Deep curiosity and fear cannot coexist at the same time.
It may seem simple at first, but it’s a sacred key, especially as we walk through Door 7: Sekhem of the Mystery School, the threshold of embodied soul power, creative life force, and spiritual leadership.
Because Sekhem isn’t about control or knowing everything. It’s about learning how to stay present, curious, right in the center of the unknown.
🌀 Sekhem: Power Without Force
Sekhem is the frequency of power reclaimed. Not power over, but power within.
It is the spiritual power that arises when we align with truth, surrender to the Mystery, and embody our deepest presence.
And here’s what I’ve witnessed time and time again in myself and those I guide:
You can’t be fully in fear and fully in your power. But you can be in deep curiosity and that changes everything.
✨ The Spirituality of Fear and Curiosity
🌑 Fear is the Threshold
Spiritually, fear is not a failure, it’s a signal.
It tells us we’re on the edge of change, growth, or deeper initiation. Fear often appears when we’re standing between the identity we’ve outgrown and the truth that’s trying to emerge.
In this way, fear is a gatekeeper.
But it is not the guide.
When we follow fear, we stay in separation. We try to control, shrink, or avoid. We cling to the past. When we meet fear with curiosity, we step into the path of the mystic.
Curiosity is the soul’s way of saying:
“You are safe to explore what lies beyond the edge.”
It is a sacred choice to remain open when the old self wants to close.
🧬 The Physiology of Curiosity vs. Fear
Fear activates the sympathetic nervous system, the state of fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.
In this space:
The breath becomes shallow
The muscles tighten
The body contracts
Awareness narrows
You are wired to protect, not perceive.
But curiosity engages the ventral vagal branch of the parasympathetic nervous system, the place of connection, compassion, and openness. In this state:
Your breath slows
Your awareness expands
You begin to feel safe enough to stay present
This shift is embodied spiritual work.
🧠 The Neurology of Mutual Exclusivity
Fear and curiosity activate different neurological systems:
Fear triggers the amygdala, placing the brain on high alert. It deactivates your ability to reason, dream, or connect spiritually.
Curiosity engages the dopaminergic reward pathways, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex, inviting exploration, meaning-making, and intuitive insight.
When the brain is in fear, it is bracing.
When it is in curiosity, it is receiving.
These two states are neurologically opposed, meaning you can’t fully be in both at the same time.
🧠 The Psychology of Inner Permission
Psychologically, fear is the language of avoidance, while curiosity is the path of approach.
| Fear says: | Curiosity says: |
|---|---|
| “What if I fail?” | “What might I learn?” |
| “I need to be certain first.” | “Let’s find out together.” |
| “It’s too late.” | “What’s possible now?” |
Fear clings. Curiosity expands.
Fear restricts identity. Curiosity reshapes it.
This is why curiosity is a spiritual strategy, not just a mindset shift. It moves the soul forward.
🌬️ Curiosity as Devotion
In the Mystery School, we speak of devotion not as rigidity, but as the daily act of showing up to the unknown with reverence.
Curiosity is devotional presence.
It says, “I don’t need to know everything to be here fully.”
It says, “Even in uncertainty, I trust the unfolding.”
This is the true teaching of Sekhem:
Your power doesn’t come from knowing.
It comes from being open, grounded, and deeply aligned in the face of what you don’t yet know.
🕯️ Ritual Prompt for Sekhem
Try this simple practice to activate that deep inner knowing – Sekhem
Sekhem Curiosity Ritual
Place one hand on your heart, the other on your lower belly.
Breathe deeply.
Close your eyes.
Ask softly:
✨ What am I curious about right now?
✨ Where is my power asking to flow, not force?
✨ What fear can I meet with wonder instead of resistance?
Let your body respond before your mind does. Let this moment become your anchor.
💫 Final Invitation: Walking with the Mystery
Fear is often the mind’s reaction to what it cannot control.
Curiosity is the soul’s response to what it’s ready to remember.
And in the Mystery, where the sacred and the unseen meet, something powerful happens: We begin to see what was always there but hidden.
The Mystery doesn’t just hold secrets, it reveals unconscious biases, inherited patterns, and outdated identities.
It brings us face to face with ourselves.
And that is the work of Sekhem.
Not to escape fear, but to bring it into the light, so we can meet it with curiosity, dissolve it with truth, and reclaim our power with reverence.
This is the path of conscious evolution.
✨ Awareness is the key
✨ Transformation is the gift
✨ And conscious evolution is the result
You don’t need to have it all figured out.
You don’t need to wait until the fear is gone.
You only need to be curious enough to take the next aligned step.
Let the Mystery do the rest.
With devotion,
Maria Davis
Founder, Sacred Mystery School
