Monthly Archives: November 2008

Chuck's Blog

#400 Chuck’s Place: America Chooses the Black Doll

Welcome to Chuck’s Place, where Chuck Ketchel expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences!

Jeanne and I fantasized that one day we’d open a club called, “Chuck’s Place,” since I always seemed to be a DJ who could set the mood with the right next song in the mix. The reggae sirens had drawn us to Jamaica for the better part of 1979, initiated by a thundering speech delivered by then Prime Minister Michael Manley who sought to bypass the colonial intent of the IMF, achieving financial independence for his struggling Jamaica. The deep spiritual energy and rhythms of the Rastafari religion, seeking and calling for one world, so deeply resonated with our own spirits, already awoken in the 1960s by John Lennon and Carlos Castaneda.

As the movie Life and Debt documents, Michael Manley’s efforts were ultimately squelched by the financial recolonization of Jamaica by the IMF, imposing such requirements as free zones. Nonetheless, the Rastafari, like the mature hippies and civil rights activists in other parts of the world, continued to patiently tend the flame of unity, hidden and protected, through the darkest of times.

When Jeanne and I returned from Jamaica she worked for Dr. Kenneth B. Clarke, whose seminal research on the choice of white dolls by black children was the compelling argument in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision which led to desegregation. What would Dr. Clarke think today, that America, including a huge percentage of white America, has chosen the “black doll,” Barack Obama, to lead the country, in effect, to lead the world? Is this not the true realization, the maturation of the dream for one world?

Early in my career, while working in the addiction field, I tried to share my discovery of Carl Jung’s concept of the shadow with a black colleague. He pointed out to me that Jung’s description of the shadow, as the darkest part of the soul, was always identified as black. He felt this contributed to a distorted and dangerous world view perspective, since it reinforced white fears and prejudice, as well as contributed to a negative black self concept. Take one look at the prison population, the ratio of incarcerated blacks to whites, as well as how and where people live, and you see the consequences of the projection of evil onto blackness. Though his observations were enlightening, the symbology of the collective unconscious is impervious to sociological tinkering or wisdom. That which is unknown, unaccepted, and perhaps most frightening lurks hidden in the darkness of night. Dreams universally reflect this symbolism. The challenge, however, is to discover and engage one’s inner hidden truths, rather than avoid, deny, and hatefully project them onto outer reflections of darkness. Furthermore, that which approaches in the darkness holds the seeds of tomorrow, our evolutionary destiny. Do we decide to seek unity within the rejected and unknown self, or do we remain segregated from our own deepest truths and potential?

Barack Obama is the symbol of our destiny, a united self, one world, the union of black and white, focused on right action. He is the realization of many world dreams. But let us not project the messiah onto this man, as between one to two hundred thousand Rastafari did to the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, whom they considered to be God, upon his arrival in Kingston Airport, Jamaica, in 1966. “I and I” are all the messiah, but the work lies within each of us to achieve true union of our white and black selves, all truths revealed, embraced, and integrated into evolutionary beings bent on right action. Let us truly mine the black gold of our souls.

From a synchronistic point of view, the coincidence of this message being number 400, is meaningfully reflected in the song, 400 Years, written by Peter Tosh, the reggae artist. Note the significance of the lyrics to now.

400 years (400 years, 400 years. Wo-o-o-o)
And it’s the same
The same (wo-o-o-o) philosophy
I’ve said it’s four hundred years;
(400 years, 400 years. Wo-o-o-o, wo-o-o-o)
Look, how long (wo-o-o-o)
And the people they (wo-o-o-o) still can’t see.
Why do they fight against the poor youth of today?
And without these youths, they would be gone
All gone astray

Come on, let’s make a move:
(make a move, make a move. Wo-o-o-o, wo-o-o-o)
I can (wo-o-o-o) see time (wo-o-o-o) – time has come,
And if-a fools don’t see
(fools don’t see, fools don’t see. Wo-o-o-o)
I can’t save the youth:
The youth (wo-o-o-o) is gonna be strong.
So, won’t you come with me;
I’ll take you to a land of liberty
Where we can live – live a good, good life
And be free.

Look how long: 400 years, (400 years, 400 years)
Way too long! (wo-o-o-o)
That’s the reason my people (wo-o-o-o) – my people
can’t see.
Said, it’s four hundred long years – (400 years, 400 years.
Wo-o-o-o)
Give me patience (wo-o-o-o) – same philosophy.

It’s been 400 years, (400 years, 400 years)
Wait so long! Wo-o-o-o, wo-o-o-o.
How long? 400 long, long years.

On many levels, it is time now to enter the promised land, the land of liberty. Recapitulate, lift all the veils, embrace all the truths, and be free!
-Chuck

Messages from Jeanne

#399 Choose to Flow; Make the Shift; There is No Other Option

Today, Jan asks Jeanne for guidance.

Dear Jeanne,
Today is Friday, the end of a very intensely emotional week. Each day seemed to carry energy extremes followed by exhaustion. All of that up and down energy has been experientially interesting, but I’m wondering if we have something a little calmer to look forward to. Can you speak about the energy of the next few days, and offer guidance, now that we seem to have really achieved a place of shift?

Energetically speaking, have you been experiencing a rarity. A mass shift in awareness has taken place. Even if your own awareness is not keen to this outside of you, so will you begin to realize it inside you as the next few days unfold in a continuation of such energy that causes shift of such cataclysmic proportions. I do not mean this in the normal sense of bursting or abrupt shift, noticeable, and in-your-face-obvious. But I mean this on a very deep, almost cellular level, a very subtle, but undeniable shifting of energy in each one of you.

Your direction now is carved out quite clearly. Do you see it before you? Do you have a good picture of your place now upon that earth and what you must do in order to evolve? Do you instinctively feel the direction you must proceed in now?

Though you may attempt to deny that truths have been revealed, and though you may wish to remain in a state of lazy complacency, so do I suggest that you flow with the waves of change, for they are mighty and powerful, but they are also present for personal growth and gain.

I do not like to prod. I prefer that you choose to flow; that you accept the necessity of change; that you decide that there is no other choice to make, all on your own. But this time, with this great flow of positive and revealing energy now so readily available and so deeply penetrating, do I ask that you make the shift. I dare to ask you to read and interpret your life now as not only needing change, but that there is no other option.

I do not often make such a definite request. More often than not do I prefer to ask you to consider making change, to process the idea, and then to choose how you want to proceed. But now, My Dear Readers, do I suggest most heartily, and with love and compassion for you and your journeys, that you take the leap forward, for it is not only necessary, but it is about time. If you are going to remain on the path of growth, I urge you not to miss this opportunity, for it will not return for a long time to come. I do not like to hear regrets, or moans of, “I should have.” Now is your time, My Dear Ones.

Now during this time of energetic alignment and joining of powerful forces are you being offered the acceptance of your true path, your next step, your future to discovering your own power, your own potential, and your means of being able to continue at a rapid pace forward.

Complacency or shift? What do you choose? For though I urge, is it still your choice to make. Do you not see the signs of change all around you? Do you not see that you are privileged to live during this time of not only historic proportions, but also spiritual awakening, which is personal, but also collective? Why are you alive now? Why have you been offered the opportunity to live in such times? Why have you been awakened? Why are you reading these messages I offer? Why are you there?

I’m sure you think about those things often enough. Do not get caught in the questions, but use them to shift your self to your inner truths. That is what this is all about, you know; truths exposed, revealed, spoken, delivered, and accepted. Accept your truths. Speak your truths. But also hold them before your self, and ask your self to be accountable to the new discoveries that you have made about your self; that have been revealed; as the energy aids you in pulling back the veils, forcing open the doors, and swiping aside the covers, revealing the truths that will set you on your true path.

Okay, so have I pontificated enough? The next few days and even the next few weeks will maintain an aire of importance and explosive energy that will continue to guide you. I warn, first of all, that you do not trust everything you hear. For this energy is available for negative as well as positive progress. Just because you are on a path of good, does not mean that all others are too. This energy is available to whomever desires it and discovers how to utilize it. So keep that in mind. You may be ready to accept your truths and use the energy to move forward, but others in your life may feel the opposite and use the energy to dig themselves deeper into their pits of darkness and despair. So watch out where you place your focus, and be smart as you utilize the energy.

Do not push others aside without stating your truths, but also revealing the love and compassion that is stirring inside you. You are being presented with insights into the struggles that all encounter as they go through life. So do not dismiss or judge the details of conflict belonging to others as any less important and meaningful than your own. This is a most important factor and the second big awareness to maintain during this time of profound change and opportunity. Do not push aside the problems and dilemmas of others simply to gain progress for your self. If appropriate, offer what you know in order to aid them to reach a place of shift too, or for them to reach a place of concerted choice; choice for them selves, without your participation, without your making it for them, but being available to urge them to face their truths, and grab on to this opportunity to shift in their own direction. For that is the third option you have available, and that is clarity. You are all being clearly shown a new vision, a new way of life, a new direction. And as I have already said, this is the direction that must be taken for shift and change to affect all mankind, in all aspects of life upon that earth.

You are not alone in your struggles right now. No matter how simple or how complicated they may seem, so is everyone struggling with some aspect of growth. Everyone is being urged to do something to move forward now, to opt for the energy of change that will lead you all in a new direction.

So, I end this message of guidance with these words: Go innerly. Go deeply calm and quiet, and really listen to your inner voice of truth and reason. And then, dare your self to walk your new path and become a part of this energy of change that is monumentally drastic in its power, but is also full of love and compassion for you as you take your journey. And that means that it is powerfully offered, topped off with plenty of guidance. How much more inspiration, incentive, and words of safety do you need? You will be safe. You will be guided. You will be offered all the energy you need, for the energy now is universal. And that means that it expands beyond just you.

There are great forces at work to bring about this monumental shift. I urge you all to accept your appointment with your own agent of change, your self. You are your own agent of change. You have every ability and every quality to move forward now. I’m looking forward to hearing how you all do, as I wait for you down the road. Be truthful. Be loving. Be aware. Read the signs that now are so clear.

NOTE: We will be starting a new blog, Chuck’s Place, with the first message coming on Saturday, titled, “America Chooses the Black Doll.” So look for that. This will be Chuck’s forum for expression, focusing on the synchronicities in Jeanne’s messages with life in general, but also encompassing his own deep process of unifying everything we experience and have experienced.

Messages from Jeanne

#398 All Worlds are One World

Today I asked Jeanne to comment on the election of Barack Obama in this post. There is also another message for today posted below, Message #397, regarding the recapitulation process.

Dear Jeanne,
Can you offer us some insight into the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States?

Desire for change is strong and this energy of now reveals this truth in your election process results. Notice this as not only an election for change, but as a new trend in politics, in life, but also in the world. For the world is no longer strange. It is no longer black and white. It is no longer rich and poor. Though you still see those divides, have the barriers been breaking, the walls falling, the gates springing open for many years. The world is fusing, My Dears, into one world. Just as I often speak of all worlds being one world, so are you experiencing this in your reality now.

You are all one. You are all energy. You are all spirit. You do not need to fear, to barricade your selves from each other. For, in truth, are you indeed all one. The world is dissolving into a new homogeneous society of no differences, no distraction, no disputes. It will continue to take some time, but a new world has begun, as it should. For, in truth, are you all one; free energy beings. Time to learn more fully what that means. Allow this man, who walks now upon the stage, to show you what it means to dissolve differences, not only in your country, but worldwide. I salute your American daring!

Messages from Jeanne, Questions for Jeanne

#397 Your Inner Child Asks for a Platform

Today, a Reader asks Jeanne a question about recapitulation.

Dear Jeanne,
I was wondering if you would continue clarifying the recapitulation process. I recently watched the film, “The Ripple Effect,” which was recommended by Jan and Chuck, and found that it very much reminded me of my own feelings of being stuck in certain areas of my life, which I can clearly connect to a situation that I have repeatedly faced, involving a relationship over several years. Each time that I have been drawn back to this relationship I have been able to recognize and acknowledge insights into childhood events and past family and other relationships, which I feel have shed a great deal of light for my self understanding. Since learning about recapitulation, I identify this as a recapitulation process. Each time I have a new insight, I think that perhaps this new understanding will assist me in learning balance around this situation and losing the emotional charge that is attached to it, and thus “free me” to be become “unstuck”. I always tell myself that my response will be different when, inevitably, the situation resurfaces months or even years later. However, so far, in reviewing how the pattern has played out over the years, each time is not that different, although my insights seem deeper. Could you please help me understand “resistance” at being drawn into a situation that I intellectually understand as destructive vs. “acquiescence” to my journey? I must say that often your messages describing the general weather of upcoming recapitulation energy frequently coincides with the re-emergence of the situation.

Thank you so much for your very helpful guidance.

My Dearest Reader, the condition you describe is circumstantially present in many different situations, not only relationships, but in addictions, habits, behaviors, and overall in areas of stuckness. Often are these circumstances deeply rooted in the body, the physical body, but also the mental body, rather than in the spirit self.

How often do you need to play out certain habits of behavior and patterns of being stuck? How many times do you need to abuse your sensitive self? How many times must you confront your issues before you relinquish them? All of these wonderings may be quite individual as well as universal. The answers may pertain to your own circumstances and your own process, but I can tell you this: that you must not be done with some aspects of recapitulation and/or you may not have fully woken up to the truths of the self if you are repeatedly confronted and drawn in to a situation.

Why DO you continue to find your self sleepwalking the same path? Why DO you meet the same faces over and over again? Are you indeed acquiescing to your journey as you walk in circles? Or have you gotten into a rut, the walls of which just climb higher and higher as you trudge along in waking sleep?

Have you indeed no resistance to this situation that you describe? Perhaps there remain instances of past self that still must be recapitulated as you confront this prospect over and over again. I find that often when one is stuck, so is there something being shown repeatedly, yet are you not quite getting it, noticing it, or ready to accept it.

I suggest that you take a look at the bare truths that are revealed to you in this relationship that you speak of. Your intellectual prowess is fully attuned and capable of processing what you have learned thus far. Then I suggest that you determine what draws you back. Find what in the relationship repeatedly draws you back, and then turn those determinants upon the self. Where are you, My Dear Reader, missing these aspects of self? Where do they hide in you? Why do you not allow them to become apparent, revealed, and accepted in the self?

Your recapitulation process is not simply done once and then forgotten. As you see in this situation, are you offered the opportunity to recapitulate over and over again, throughout your life, and often with the same issue, as you describe here. This may be your ultimate issue in this lifetime, My Dear Reader, to understand and work out the considerable aspects of relationship, not only in your love life, but also in your evolutionary life. For you hold within you old hopes, perhaps for many lives, that are not conducive to evolving in a changing world.

Your question is more a question about acceptance of truths being revealed and truths awakening within. Why do you really continue to be drawn to this relationship? Why do you lose your grasp on reality as you get drawn in? What happens to your centered, balanced self as you confront this prospect of relationship?

Look at your child self. Who is that child yearning for as this person appears before you? That is where your answer may lie. For until the child self is totally reconciled with and accepted as perfectly capable of taking the journey with you, so must you revisit and reacquaint your self with the buried needs of that child. You must visit the child self quite often during recapitulation. That is where you must go with your magnetic attraction at the prospect of renewed connection within this relationship that does not fulfill you, as has been shown, but simply confuses you.

Turn the mirror upon the self, but also turn the magnet to your self as well. Allow its strong pull to tug out of you your deepest issues, your deepest wounds, and your deepest desires that wish to cling to this relationship. You do want so much more in life than to simply repeat what has already been done, that I can see. But you must, My Dear, determine why you carry still remnants and filaments of connection to a relationship that does not reflect true maturity of relationship, but only your inner child’s deepest desire for growth and expression. Your inner child asks for a platform of acknowledgment and expression during each recapitulation cycle.

You have already acquiesced to your journey. You do the work of the self quite nicely. But you must not be afraid to wake up the child self and allow truths to be spoken. These truths may hurt, but they will not harm you. These truths may surprise you, but they will not overwhelm you. These truths may alert you to aspects of the self that you find intolerable, shameful, or even despicable, but they will not destroy your love of self. For underneath all the veils, the covers, the remnants and filaments of experiences, of memories, and of destructive habits and behaviors lies your purity, your innocence, and your own abilities to not only forgive, but to accept your life process as totally right and necessary for you, and for you to evolve.

Turn always your mirror on the self, My Dear One, until there is nothing left to see in it. Then will you understand fully the process of recapitulation, forgiveness, acquiescence to your journey. But you will also understand the depths of the self and what you are capable of, including true love of the self, in all aspects.

Perhaps this answer may aid you as you journey on. Perhaps you may still wonder why, why, why. But I guarantee that if you continually turn the mirror to the self you will discover the meaning for every experience in your life. And it will be a day of glorious understanding of self when you do. It will not be an intellectual understanding, but a full body, full spirit understanding, and that is what you now must seek. Turn inward to your body, to your inner child self. There lie all truths, all reasons, all experiences. There lies your recapitulation, your acquiescence to the evolutionary journey, waiting to be spoken, revealed, accepted, and let free, so that you may carry on in this life with a new outlook, with eyes on the future, rather than the past, with open heart, eager for the new light to come, as each new person who enters your life reveals a new truth to you.

Look forward to recapitulation as a process of growth into light, rather than as a place of darkness. Accept it as awe-inspiring, as a new direction, rather than turning back in an old direction. Turn to the light now, even as you find your self drawn back. The energy is really asking you to go innerly with a new flashlight, rather than the old dark ideas of the self. Turn your self inside out, if you have to. That may be the way to reveal what you carry inside you. Shine that new light into every crevice and pocket for the final answers in those old hiding places, those old relationships, and those old pockets of self. Good Luck!

Messages from Jeanne

#396 A Place of Gracious Detachment

Today, a Reader asks Jeanne a question about a relationship.

Hi Jeanne,
I have a question about relationship. I thought I was doing OK at letting go of my ex, the father of my 10 year-old girl. But recently all my sadness and anger about our unsuccessful relationship, and particularly my unfulfilled desire to raise our daughter together, has been coming to the surface.

He lives on the other side of the country and wants to come visit over the Christmas holiday with his new girlfriend and is asking me to accommodate them in the guestroom of the co-housing community where I live, which is basically an extension of my home. I am considering instead seeing if they can stay at a neighbor’s who will be gone for the holiday so I do not have to interact much and at the same time allow my daughter to spend time with them in their own space.

Bottom line, I am experiencing turmoil, jealousy, and self-doubt at the choices I have been making and as a result I feel stuck and have not been moving forward in many ways: romantically, financially, and professionally.

This man has many wonderful qualities, but I did not feel treated with respect as a loving partner. I felt he was always pushing me away and having conditions set upon how to be together. I too recognize that I could have let down my pride and tried harder to meet some of his needs.

Part of me knows there are lessons to be learned and having this new situation is an opportunity for growth. But these base feelings keep coming up, like he’s on his best behavior with his girlfriend because he doesn’t have to work out the kind of challenges that came up with me.

It feels like he’s been resentful towards me since I was pregnant, and the only thing that could have changed that would have been if I’d had or made a lot of money to quell his financial fears.

I love being a mom, and I also know that my daughter needs her Dad. I can’t just bail, and I don’t really want to, but this is uncomfortable. How can I see the higher truth in all of this?
Thanks,
Virginia

My Dearest Virginia, this is a very sticky situation and I see that you are faced with much turmoil regarding your own feelings and the respect you have for the father of your daughter. It is not quite clear that he sees you in quite the same light that you see him. I detect a slight arrogance that underlies his usual presentation and this aspect is the grit that causes you to reject his presence in your life. Does that ring true?

Underneath your respect is also a request for him to grow up and be an adult, equally respectful of you, as you raise your daughter much of the time alone. How can you resolve within your self your own issues of feeling abandoned by this man who now seeks to parade in front of you? You must side with your daughter on this in order to maintain your adult self, your adult behavior, and your adult presence.

You are clearly being shown that, as you say, your desire to raise your child together with this man will go unfulfilled. Can you accept that is how it will be, for all three of you, not just you? Such is the truth and it is true not only for you, but for him and your child as well. It cannot be denied. I do not say, “Make the best of it,” for that is an old adage, but what I do suggest is that you turn to your daughter and ask her how she feels about this. What would she like to do with the situation that is now being presented? Ask her if she does indeed want to spend time alone with her Dad, or does she wish you to also be present?

I pose the possibility for the sake of the authenticity of her feelings. Then I ask that you have a conversation with your inner child and ask her if she can handle whatever answer your daughter requests. It is my contention that you may not fully appreciate the position that your daughter is putting your inner child in, until you go deeply to that inner child and find out what she is feeling. Does that make sense to you?

I find that no matter what the resolution of your difficulty may be, so will you be faced with feelings of guilt, sadness, and fear that no matter what you want will go unfulfilled. Reject not the position you are placed in now. Reserve time for inner work in order to find balance in this tricky situation. Your calm and centered self, with an ear to your little girl, both your young daughter and your inner girl, will offer you the truths you need in order to more fully accept, but also understand your situation.

What then do you do with all of the answers you receive? For they will at first appear to simply add to the dilemma, but I suggest that if you release control of the situation so will it resolve as it should. Your attempts to figure it all out ahead of time, to control the placement of all the players in the field, does not allow for progress to be made. And progress is what you must look forward to in order for this situation to evolve.

This is a good time to let the pieces fall where they will, to throw them into the air, relinquishing your desire to manipulate all the feelings that are emerging as you plan this event. Remind your self often that you are doing this for your daughter’s sake. You are not doing this for a get-together with your ex, as you call him. Nor are you doing this under false pretenses to bring you together as a family. It is clearly shown that there is no prospect for such a future, and this truth must you accept, though it hurts you deeply and bothers you no end that your daughter must live apart from this father who feels his duty, but not to your standards.

Release him from your expectations, My Dear, and see what happens. But you must do some inner work on your self in order to reach a place of gracious detachment, a detachment free of judgment, resentment, and jealously. This is not an easy thing to do, but you have some time to throw up your arms, releasing all the pieces of the puzzle to fall where they may. Then focus on the wants and desires of your daughter, for her sake alone, without your own agenda or need to push away your own feelings.

In order to reach a place of gracious detachment must you allow your self to be vulnerable, to experience the little girl in your self, in order to better understand the feelings your own stoic little daughter must also deal with. You must own your own feelings; not as regards your ex, but as regards your own process of recapitulation. Only in confronting the self will you be able to release your issues regarding this man who so obviously needs and wants connection with his daughter.

Your place must be one of calm reserve, resolution, and quiet, as you allow the two of them to experience time together. But you must not send them off to each other burdened with a package that belongs to you alone. Remove your feelings about this man from their meeting. I realize this is quite a challenge, as you have spelled our quite clearly what your expectations have been. And you do truly desire, as you state, for them to spend time in their own space. This space may not be a literal space, but a space cleaned of the issues you and this man carry together.

If you, on your part, sweep out your turmoil, your jealousy, and your self-doubt regarding this man; achieving a place of resolution that involves gracious and mature detachment; so will you eventually find that the debris, the grit that has formed into quite a big chunk of resentment between you, will break apart into quite a lot of tiny dust particles that will simply blow away on the wind as you make the choice to clean house.

You ask for the higher truth in this situation, but really what you must find is the inner truth of your little girl self, who asks you to resolve issues of the past still causing trouble and turmoil in your life. It is too easy to simply say, “Get over it,” or “Move on,” My Dear One. This is a process that will indeed require quite a lot of house cleaning, inner housework, so to speak. I know you will have quite a time releasing all that you hold inside you, for you think of your self as strong, capable, and powerful, as you have had to take charge and live a life with your daughter that did not fulfill your dreams. But in releasing old dreams, in allowing your self to release your inner child to feel what she must and truly desires to feel, so will you find your true power. And it will not be a firmly controlled power, or a well thought out ahead of time power, but it will be a soft yet mighty strength, a beautifully gracious caring that will allow your inner child to accept her true energetic self, anointing the grown up Virginia with the truth of who she really is and needs to be in the future.

I hope that I have offered you some good advice as you allow your self to go forward without fear into this holiday time. I do recommend that you listen quite closely to what is being spoken by your inner child and by your young daughter. Listen with your heart. Release it from your firm grasp so that it is not squeezed and held back from expression of truth. Your little inner girl would like you to let your heart be free to really feel and hear what she has to say, but this will not happen until you release your fist and all that you hold so tightly packaged in it. Let it all fly free, My Dear One.

Open your fist and fling free your clutter and turmoil, allowing the little ones to speak their truths. You may not know at all what they truly feel, though you think you do. But those are just old ideas that have clearly proven too old-fashioned to work in this new and changing world. It is time to transform, My Dear Virginia, and allow your truths to be released, freed, and changed into a new you.