#440 Chuck’s Place: Possession

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

So what does it really mean to be possessed? Remember the Greek myths, with all the Gods playing chess with mortal lives? Why so necessary to manipulate, impregnate, and have adventures with mere mortals? Those Gods, sitting upon their thrones, are absolutely dependent upon human life for their own experience of adventure and life. Otherwise, they remain dormant, eternally waiting for the opportunity to partake in, and find living expression in, human life. Furthermore, each of the Gods has its own personality, with its own distinct interest. Hence, the Gods compete with each other for their own unique dramas to be experienced and lived in human life. Let us define possession as one of the Olympian Gods seizing a human life, forcing upon it the energy and drama that this God seeks to live. From the human side, an individual experiences a taste of the divine while possessed, which can take the form of numinousity, an intense spiritual experience, or overwhelmingly powerful feelings of love, rage, ecstasy, etc. Today, we will explore possession by Eros, the God of romantic love.

Eros enters human life by piercing the heart with his arrow, invited or uninvited. I speak of falling in love, “the thunderbolt,” as demonstrated in The Godfather when Michael Corleone retreats to Sicily and, with one glance, is struck by the arrow of Eros. When Eros strikes there is no need to communicate in words nor, as in Michael’s case, even share a common language. A simple glance, a meeting of eyes, and it’s over, Eros takes total possession. No longer mere mortals, we are energetically transported to Olympus to partake in divine romantic love. This is communion, union with God, the heart of the Christian Eucharist, which, for some, opens the door to divine connection.

Once Eros strikes, a divine play unfolds, a play so played out that most onlookers smile and knowingly laugh at the hackneyed old drama of almost comedic proportions. But, for the humans possessed, the experience is utterly personal and unique. The energetic fullness, calm, and union experienced become the deepest, most meaningful reasons for being alive. Onlookers will recognize this divine possession. There is no point in commenting. No amount of mortal reason can break the spell of this divine play. Those more experienced with Eros’ “visitations” know that as quickly as Eros enters, he will leave, as the details of human reality, such as snoring and morning breath, gradually intrude upon the playing field of romantic love. When Eros leaves, mortals are abandoned, alienated by their God, thrust into bewilderment, depression, and left with an unquenchable thirst for another sip of immorality.

How can ordinary life ever be enough once we have partaken of the divine elixir? Relationships are cast aside, marriages ended, as some go in search of another to recast in the role of the beloved in the romantic play written, directed, and produced by Eros. After all, they reason, are we not entitled to “true love?” Others shut down to any possible return of Eros, so great is the pain of loss and the shame of having been so vulnerable, allowing themselves to be so deeply, fooled, taken, or had, by a God. Ironically, this wall, constructed to keep love at bay, becomes its own state of possession, as one becomes miserably reasonable and controlling, shutting down all possibility for joy.

Jung understood the interdependence of the Gods and mortals. In fact, he brought the Gods down from Olympus and installed them deeply within the psyche of each individual, in a region he called the collective unconscious, in the form of the archetypes. The Gods, the archetypes, then, are part of who we are and, yet, are utterly impersonal and universal. Human life requires a reconciliation of this paradox; on the one hand we must establish our individuality and, on the other, partake in the divine dramas that lend power, depth, and meaning to our human lives. If we allow ourselves to become too intoxicated by the energy of the Gods, and identify with them, we sacrifice our individuality, and our human life is consumed by the Gods, living out their dramas. If we shun the Gods, for the sake of our precious egos, we anoint the ego with the status of God and are subjected to the wrath of the Gods in the forms of psychosis, or deep depression, a veritable barren wasteland of existence, a loveless life.

The challenge is for the ego to find the correct relationship to the archetypes, or, put another way, for the ego to be in the correct relationship with spirit. That relationship requires balance, humility, and awareness. The ego must have the strength to withstand the energy of archetypal encounters, learning to not weaken itself or expose itself to energies that it cannot mediate or funnel safely into human life. For example, the ego must be able to confront an archetype, such as the nanny goat, which seeks to dominate life in a negative way. The nanny goat is an archetypal energy, which might have value in a human life, but the ego, as hero, must first defeat the controlling dominance of its influence. After this encounter, the nanny goat may transform into a nurturing, loving support to the personality in the process of individuation. With respect to the archetypal encounter with Eros, how can we ever find our way to completion, which is another form of individuation, without experiencing the fullness of love? This condition would indeed warrant reincarnation in order to attain completion.

In human life, the experience of Eros is a gateway to the potential for real love. When Eros possesses, our humanness merely acquiesces to a pre-programmed drama; there is nothing individual or truly related about it. We experience our partner as a God or Goddess, yet we truly know nothing about their human form. We are blinded by the glowing golden light of the divine. That is not true love, despite its overwhelming energetic experience of oneness. True human love can only happen with knowledge of, and connection to, all the details of the real human being sitting before you. Taking up the long journey of truly knowing and accepting another is the pathway to love and, yes, Eros can be a vital part of that relationship. The challenge is to integrate both the divine and the human in the proper balance. If Eros is allowed to take possession of the relationship, human relatedness ends and real love stagnates. If Eros is denied entry into the relationship, the relationship may drift into a stale mechanical habit. Once again, our challenge is to use our awareness to accept and integrate the fullness of who we are, both human and divine. Perhaps the term conscious possession might best capture the resolution of the paradox of human/divine, ego/archetype, leading to individuation and completion.

Until we meet again, I send you off with my love,
Chuck

#439 You are Many Layered Beings

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
What message of guidance do you offer us today?

Undertake your next step on your journey with calm propriety, owning all that you have done and experienced in the past, and accepting all that you now must face. Your time upon that earth is meant to be fully embraced as a time of growth, awareness, and potential. I know that each day do you seek enlightenment of some sort, yet do you often feel neglected or left out of the cycle. You may feel that others around you find enlightenment in the simplest of activities and in the most common of episodes. You may feel that life is just too worrisome and difficult, too complicated and confusing to hold any enlightenment. You may feel burdened and saddened with too much to bear for enlightenment to find any room in your life.

Well, My Dear Ones, perhaps your quest has not been allowed to be a part of your life. Perhaps you are so taken with the world you live in that you have not, in fact, allowed anything else to occupy your time upon that earth. Perhaps you find your self wrapped up in your problems and your misery because you need to be there, caught in a vicious battle with your evolving self who asks you each day to reconsider your approach to life. Do you not weep and say: Why does my life have to be like this? Why must I have such problems and such misery? Why me?

Why me, indeed. Do you not realize that your spirit is requesting that you look at your self in a different manner, as each daily question is posed? Do you not hear the underlying truth of those questions you ask your self? Your inner you is asking for inner contemplation, seeking answers to your questions, not by asking those questions out loud, but by asking them innerly.

I know that you do, in essence, ask them of your inner self. I know that you find it such a difficult task to face the deeper self, yet must I request that it is necessary to ask again and again, and each time to go deeper and deeper inside the self. This is the greatest challenge to undertake as you look into your mirror of the self. It is time to look past the reflection of the self, beyond just the outer person you see looking back at you, the one who smiles and thinks you look okay, that you are presentable, clean and neat, and ready to take on the world.

But what about the self who sits just below that layer? What if you were to peel away that outer self and expose the next layer, revealing the more tender, fearful self who you have been protecting with that outer facade? What if you went even further and peeled away that very tender layer and discovered the next layer of self, even more tender, more frightened, perhaps a very vulnerable self, and asked that self to talk to you? Do you see what I am saying? You are many layered beings. You are complicated and intricately built, with many layers, many issues, many emotions, feelings and, most of all, many closely bound selves waiting to be exposed, so that you may grow.

I do not mean that it is appropriate to expose these tender selves to the world, but I do urge you to expose them to your self. For only in discovering your multi-layered self will you be able to fulfill your potential in that life, as well as in your spiritual life. As you peel away your layers, you will indeed begin to ache, to feel more deeply, perhaps to be in such pain that it may become unbearable. But I would like to remind you of my interest in your growth and of my suggestion to not allow the pain to consume you, for then will you be caught. I urge you, instead, to use the pain to ask your self why.

Why am I in such pain? What is it that I am using my pain to shield myself from? What am I hiding from? What is it that is so painful that I would rather wallow in the pain than discover the truth of?

If you feel loneliness, you must ask your self the same questions. Why do I hide behind my loneliness? If you are sad: Why do I hide behind my sadness? Peel away your outer layer of present ego self, your spiffed up self, and ask the self who waits, painfully, lonely, and sad behind that facade, for you to come and ask the questions that will begin to lead to real growth.

In order to have real growth must you be able to allow your self to be real with your self, real with your questions and, most importantly, real with your answers. Now is the time to finally get real. It is time to put aside your old patterns, your old behaviors, your old props and costumes that you have indeed made good use of. Your spirit is asking you to look deeper now, to push aside the old ways and means, and look at what your physical self has been trying to tell you. For if you begin first with your physical self, so shall you begin with that which is most apparent and most pressing.

Begin by asking your self: Who am I? When you receive your true answer, write it down. Then ask that true self another question that seems appropriate. Perhaps you will ask that self to speak to you about a feeling or emotion. You might say: Okay, so why are you so sad? Or: Why are you so angry? Or: Why are you so confused? Write down the answers you get.

Can you allow the truth to not only be spoken, but also listened to? Can you peel away the layers of self by really accepting the truths as they are revealed? They may be thin, almost transparent and easily acceptable truths at first, already known truths. Do not dismiss these truths, but really accept them, and then go deeper into them. Find your way into your tenderness, My Dear Ones, for that is where you will discover things about your self that you may not even be aware of, or that you have forgotten about, or been too scared to experience.

This is the process that must go on inside each one of you. This is the process of deep self-examination that you see going on in the world around you too. Do you not see the political, economical, and sociological questioning that is permeating your outer realities? Do you not see the environmental, as well as spiritual and natural phenomena that require such deep introspection, in order for change to happen? Do you not see that negativity, evil, and warring and disturbing truths must also become a part of your confrontation in order for growth to happen, both inside you and in the world around you?

I am asking you to go into your shadows, into your deepest selves, and rediscover your darker sides, but also your hidden treasures. I say rediscover, because that is what life is about, you know. It truly involves a deep excavation of the issues of the self, of issues already lived, that have been a part of your life all these many years.

Many of those issues have been your companions on your journey, even though they have felt like burdens. You know them very well. You will recognize them as you rediscover them, and you will know that, yes, you have carried them with you for a long, long time. You will rediscover aspects of the self that may have been buried for centuries, waiting to be dug out, released to a fresh new life, a companion aspect of self that is ready now to participate and evolve.

So, as I close my message for today, I ask you all to resolve to allow your inner selves, multi-layered though they may be, to speak to you, one at a time, with your hearts open and accepting of the tender truths these inner selves bravely dare to speak to you about. They trust you, you see? They feel safe with you. Your inner self, each layer, is asking you to accept that fact, with gracious humility, and to make them feel welcome, like a small child in your arms, as they whisper to you of their fears, their sadness, their pain, their sorrows, their questions, but also as they express their hopes and joys and desires for a new future with you, on your journey.

Meet your self today, your mature adult self, who is truly ready to hear, accept, and process the truths of the tender inner self, and to proceed on your journey. Good Luck!

#438 Dream of Now

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Do you have a message for humanity today? Your recent messages have been very helpful, as you ask us all to assume mature responsibility for our selves during this time of change and to accept our pasts as meaningful and necessary, without regret, but to continue our process of self discovery with reflection constantly turned inward. Where are you taking us today?

[This channeling session begins with a visual perception of being on a country road. Just ahead there is a wide sweeping curve to the left and although I can’t see beyond it I know that a wide sweeping curve to the right comes next, then another to the left, and so on. The shoulder alongside the road is gravelly and there are empty fields on either side, with trees in the distance. Here is Jeanne’s answer to the question:]

Today, I suggest that you keep your wits about you, your eyes open, and your hearing tuned to what is happening outside of you, as you approach what you cannot see. Your future is just around the bend, yet you cannot imagine it, for you are blinded by today. I suggest slowing down. For if you take the process too quickly, so may you skid your vehicle upon the road of life, slipping off the road upon the gravelled edge, finding your self stuck in the weeds.

Your future is upon you at all times, and though you may wish to rush ahead to meet it, so must you walk or ride the path slowly, in order to learn what you must about your self before you can partake of what waits ahead. Just as you must work hard to earn your paycheck, or your rewards in life, so must you allow your self equal time to earn your spiritual rewards. But you must also keep in mind that you are offered spiritual gifts at every step of the way. Are you aware of this, that your spirit knows and recognizes them, sees them sweeping past the window as you drive too speedily through your life? You say, “I want to hurry up and get there!” But, as I have said, it is not the getting there that is important, but every slow step of the journey that is meaningful.

You must feel your pain, but you must not get lost in it. You must experience your disappointments and your losses, yet must you not allow them to swallow you down in their bitterness. You must not dismiss your challenges in place of electing some other option, for your challenges will find you, no matter how far you seek to run.

Your journey is laid out for you, already planned, already offering everything you need in order to evolve and to “get there.” Getting there, as I have said, is not what you think it means. At this point in your life, it is but an empty coffer. And I am pleased to tell you that it will always be an empty coffer! And you know what? That is the way it should be. Do not be disappointed, for an empty coffer is infinity, and possibility, and continued evolution. An empty coffer is acquiescing to true life, to the nothingness that means you will always find another golden door to step through.

Your rewards are presented to you every day of the week, in your daily lives, in your simplest gifts, in your smallest challenges, as well as in your greatest gifts and your wildest dreams. Do you dream of something? Some future outlook, where you imagine your self in a certain place, with certain abilities, feelings, ideas, well-planted and utilized?

Well, I suggest that you give your self those gifts now. Give your self the gift of your future now. Allow your self to accept the perfect you. Take on the challenge that your spirit offers you. Become who you wish to be, by allowing your self to acquiesce to that which is most resonant now, at this moment.

Do you wish to access your creative spirit self? Or do you wish to access your gently loving self? Do you wish to access your compassionate interconnected self? Or do you wish to access your outgoing external self more fully in the world? Do you wish to access your tender child self? Or do you wish to access your mature adult self? Do you wish to access your confident student of the world self? Or do you wish to access your introspective student of the inner self?

Whatever you wish, at this moment, allow that aspect of self to come into your day, into your consciousness, and into your presence. Greet the self you wish to become; ask and allow that self to join you now. Why wait? Why speed ahead and risk crashing? All you have to do is slow down and discover that, as you take your eyes off the road ahead and look beside you, that person is sitting right next to you. You may be most comfortable stopping for a while by the side of the road, taking in the presence of this self, allowing a conversation to flow, a meeting of selves to take place.

Perhaps you would like to get to know this self a lot better. This is the self you should be spending time with, this gift buried inside you, who has been waiting for you to slow down, so that you can see that it is not in the seeking that you find your treasure, but in the calm flow of everyday life, if you take the time to slow down and walk your path with awareness and attention to the desires of your spirit self.

I know that many of you, My Dear Ones, are finding your connections to your selves and to others in your lives who are meaningful companions, lovers, and fellow seekers. I know that you desire many things, seeking fulfillment, and always that little bit extra. But I ask you, today, to feel contentment in your place of residence, in your inner and outer place upon that earth, in your place of self now. For only in the stopping, or the slowing down, will you discover that you are exactly where you should be, where you need to be, and that you are learning all that you need to learn at this moment.

Can you ride with me beside you, as well? Can you accept my reasoning and my suggestions? Can you acquiesce to the security of knowing that what I say is true, that you are not stuck or truly frustrated, but that you are really where you need to be? Can you slow down and sit awhile in calmness, in heart-centered, self-centered, balanced calmness, and feel your own energy, your resident energy resonating with the truth of my words?

You may even find this suggestion to be too frustrating at first, too challenging to do, as you speed ahead in your busy lives. But if you take the time to slow down, or come to an abrupt stop, look at what you will see. Look at what is available to you. Listen to what will now become clearly heard, spoken, and conversed upon.

Listen. Look. Accept. Allow. Acquiesce. Your journey is now. Your work is now. Your reward is now. Your life is now. Your love is now. Your maturity is now. Your innocence is now. Whatever you need, want, desire, dream, or seek is present now, in your life of now.

Slow down and wait for your spirit to speak to you, to show you, to point out the direction, the speed, and the energetic connection you need in order to proceed on your journey with clarity, awareness, and knowing; the resident qualities of a journeyer. You have what you need!

Did You Catch the Weekend Postings?

Dear Readers and Journeyers,

If you haven’t checked the website since last week you may have missed some postings over the weekend. On Saturday, we added a new Chuck’s Place essay. On Sunday we posted an audio recording we made on Friday afternoon, channeling Jeanne as The Prophetess, asking her to speak about Love, the first chapter topic in Kahlil Gibran’s, The Prophet. It was a lot of fun, so we hope you’ll have some time to listen. The recording is 23 minutes long. We hope to ask Jeanne for her perspective on the remaining topics in The Prophet as well. We also updated the Store page with a new category, Spirituality. We’ll be adding new items to the Store categories when it seems appropriate.

Have a great week!
Jan and Chuck

#437 Wait and See What Happens!

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Your messages of last week guided us through some tricky energy and have been of great help in staying balanced and aware. What guidance do you offer us today?

Now is a time of acceptance, and thus acquiescence, as you follow your nose, leading you through the energy into greater awareness of your journey. Have you not also felt the shift upon the earth itself? The fact that everyone and everything around you has shifted focus now; have you felt this? Within your self and within your own lives, are you not, My Dear Ones, aware that the time has come to move forward now, as new doors open and old ones ask to be closed, after full resolution and recapitulation? This shift that I speak of carries with it the energy to do this, to accept the facts and to move both backward and forward simultaneously, using your mirror that I spoke of last week to guide you.

There is plenty of time to do what you must. You do not need to rush the process, but you must find the means to accept it, to understand the way the process works, and to acquiesce to it. Your individual journeys may be reflected in others around you, but, ultimately, it is a solo journey, one you must take alone, as you confront your issues, past and present, learning to accept that they are your challenges, and that they must be dealt with, in order to move on.

If you feel stuck, do not worry, for something will come along to move you forward. This time now will ask you to resolve old issues as it brings them forward over and over again, placing them in your mirror where you must confront them every time you look into it. Your past will be revealed in this manner, staying with your present self, until you deal with it. This is the unrelenting act of recapitulation, with its own energy that knows the right time, the right place, and the right method to induce you to acceptance of it, and acquiescence to learning the process, but also allowance to move into it more fully.

This is now your challenge: to fully accept your own process, allowing your self to take the journey as it is presented, and finally to fully acquiesce to its unfolding. The unfolding part have we not talked too much about yet, because I have tended to focus on your awareness of the self in the energy of now, and maintaining balance. Those two things must be cognitively attained in order for acquiescence to occur. Once you accept your world, your part in it, and your truths, so will you enable your self to move into total acquiescence.

I know this is easier said than done. I know that fear lurks in your mirror along with your past, as yet unresolved, and your future, as yet unrevealed. But fear is nothing more than an enigma that must be dissolved by your confrontations with it. As you confront your fears, dismantling your attachments to them, one layer or part at a time, so will you find that your fears belong to an old self, the old self in the mirror, who you are asking to smile at you now, to break through the haze, the maze of craziness that has been your life, and to look back at you with clear insight, asking for companionship on this journey you are on.

You can do it, you say. You can take this journey with me. You are strong and worthy, oh my self. You are free and unattached. You are present and accepting, aware and acceptable. You are present self, past self, and future self on this journey together.

Acceptance of self allows new doors, which are opening all around you, to be stepped through. Acceptance of journey leads to finally acquiescing to where it would like to lead you. Acquiescence allows self to be open, unafraid, trusting that not only the journey will lead you on the right path, but that the self will allow for the unfolding to now begin.

Trust is the blessing you need and desire for acquiescence. It is a gift that you can only achieve by allowing the self to take each step of the journey by shedding fears, shedding attachments, and shedding the ways of old, accepting new thoughts, ideas, and perspectives, as you allow the journey to show you what comes next.

Today, I advise quiet awareness. Do not push too hard to achieve anything. Keep calm and balanced awareness in your center today. Await the presentation of the facts of your journey and use your awareness of the process to allow your self to go onward now, one step at a time, one challenge at a time, one day at a time. Ask the self to wait and see, wait and see what unfolds to lead you where you need to go. You will get it right because it will take you to the right places of inner and outer work. Can you acquiesce to that, to letting the journey take you on its unfolding course, as your see what happens next?