Joseph Alexander wrote, “The secret of fairy-tales longevity and continuing interest lays in their spiritual foundation, not their entertainment value.”

We’ve been studying fairy tales all month here at our Center on Kaua’i. This week, I’ve been contemplating on the tale of Rumpelstiltskin. At first, I spent a lot of time, surfing the net to see what others had to say about this tale, but finally I realized it was more important to me, what I thought about it.

If you are not familiar with the story, it is about a poor Miller who gives up his daughter to the King, promising the King that she can weave straw to gold. The King locks up the Miller’s Daughter in a room full of straw and demands that she weave gold or die.

On three separate nights, she goes through the torment of wondering if she will be able to do what the King has demanded. On all three nights, just when she’s given up in tears, a little man (imp) appears and does the task for her. Of course, he wants something in return each night, and the price gets higher and higher.

On the third night when she has nothing else to give the little man, he asks for her first-born. The Miller’s Daughter agrees, and the little man spins a third room filled with gold, The elated King decides to take her as his bride. When she finally has a baby and Rumpelstiltskin comes to claim it, she doesn’t want to give it up. Rumpelstiltskin makes one last deal with her. “Figure out my name and I will release you from this deal.” Through a series of events, she finds out his name is Rumpelstiltskin. He is so upset about losing his own deal, that he stamps his feet so fiercely that he tears himself apart.

I love the symbol of weaving straw to gold because to me it means transforming our lives from something mundane to something greater and ever more joyful. To me the changing of straw to gold is about lifting our vibrational rate higher. We are not creators of energy; we are dispensers and directors. If we want our lives to grow  larger,  the only thing we have to grow them from is our own consciousness. It is only when we move from a high vibrational rate that we can create high vibrational lives.

What must we give up or trade to have what we want – We must give up living at a low vibrational rate.  A low vibrational rate equals a low vibrational life. We can do this by giving up petty grievances.  We can give up little irritations. We don’t have time for them.

I am reminded of a story of a woman who had a short time to live who went shopping with one of her best friends. The friend was looking in the mirror, asking if the dying woman thought the pair of pants she was trying on made her hips look too big. The woman only said, “You don’t have time for that.” We don’t have time to live in the mundane if we want the golden life. This woman got that because of her limited time on earth. We don’t know how much time we have here. We can do it now.  The highest vibrational rate is one of love and gratitude. We can spin straw into gold when we live from a place of gratitude, instead of one of lack and limitation.

The fairy tales have taught me that pumpkins can be turned into golden carriages that take us to magnificent experiences, or that beautiful apples can be turned into poisoned ones that kill us. It’s all about our own consciousness.

The metaphysical teacher and writer, Florence Shinn once counseled a woman who had food poisoning from what the woman called a “bad oyster.” Florence told her there was nothing wrong with that oyster, “you poisoned it with your resentments and ill feelings toward others and toward yourself.” Can we become responsible for the poisons in our own life and transform them with love?

Everything comes at a price. That is my metaphor behind the story of Rumpelstiltskin. What are you willing to trade in order to have a golden life. The Kingdom of Heaven is our own Divine self. The highest use of our consciousness. It comes at a high price; it is one of giving it all and receiving all in return. We are both the giver and the receiver. We cannot live in two worlds. We must choose. Remember the Bible Quote: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” I think it is worth it.