Monthly Archives: January 2009

Messages from Jeanne

#428 Feeling Self/Energetic Self

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Today we start a new week. What message do you have for us?

My Dear Ones, on this day, do not ponder or think too much about what is going on in your lives, as a conjunction of sorts now presents you with questions, dilemmas, challenges, and many opportunities for growth. I suggest that you get your selves into a good state of calm balance and that you attune your selves to the outer energy so that you may be able to read, by feeling, what it is offering you.

This time now upon that earth is certainly potent and fulfilling. You are being granted, quite succinctly and easily, the possibility that you have long awaited. Your challenge, however, is to recognize the gifts being presented to you as gifts and not as disturbing episodes or distasteful confrontations. This is a time when inner resonance and the ability to place your self in calm balance is most helpful, so that you feel and understand your inner resonance, the most useful and proper method of utilizing, acknowledging, and acquiescing to your gifts of possibility and progress.

Remember, gifts do not come in pretty packages. More often, the most useful and progressive gifts are wrapped in ordinary brown paper. Your daily lives may at first appear to be routine, but if you allow your selves to go to inner quiet, many secrets may be revealed to you now, during this time of transition.

Transition involves change, and change involves being confronted with something new or different, or having to do something you are not familiar with or wanting to do or confront. Change means standing before your familiar everyday self and understanding that the old way of doing, acting, and processing your life is no longer adequate, helpful, or desirable.

Much energy will now be felt in a restless manner. But do not use this restless energy in a dismissive or over exuberant manner. Do not simply run it off, or use it up with trivialities, or in a wasteful manner. Instead, harness it for your inner process and find out why you are being confronted with this restless energy of change. I ask you to feel it, rather than think about it. This is a time when your feeling self, your energetic self is your best processor of the energy.

In order to best utilize the energy, remind your selves often to go calm and innerly feeling of your own energy. Use this inner energy to guide you in the outer energy that may at first appear abruptly harsh, or challenging. In reality, is it just in need of taming by hooking it up with resonant energy such as you have.

Imagine your self on a busy highway, driving along with barely enough space to maneuver between cars, bumper to bumper traffic that at first appears quite problematic and stressful. But as you adjust to the proper speed, as you calm your self to acceptance of the place you are in, and as you temper your inner stress level to a calm steady flow, you realize that the traffic is moving quite well, people around you are in the same state of steady progress, and there is little reason to exaggerate in thought, feeling, or movement. You have acquiesced to the flow.

Then you realize you now have time to look around, to feel the energy you are flowing in, and you find it quite peaceful and perhaps even invigorating in a subtle way. You begin to feel quite happy, peacefully part of the energy that exists!

You discover that, as you take your energy down to this calmer level, you actually feel happier, more at peace with your situation, even though in reality you are stuck in traffic. You discover that it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is your inner energy, in sync with the outer energy that underlies the traffic jam outside of you.

Who has created that traffic jam? Does it really exist? In your new place of personal calm it may no longer appear to be a crowded highway, but instead a calm stream of energy, flowing quite peacefully, allowing for something new to happen as a result of this state of flux.

This is the position you are in right now. The energy upon that earth is ratcheted up to the intensity of a traffic jam on the freeway. Can you accept that fact, knowing that you are stuck in the middle of it and the only possibility of escape is to slow your own energy down to connect with the true underlying energy of change?

Once you have done that, then will you discover what is being offered to you. For during this energetic confluence many opportunities and possibilities are half buried, half hidden in the folds of your own personal energy system. Only you will notice them. Only you will perceive their significance, and only you will know what to do with them.

So for today, I advise a feeling approach to the energy, an adjustment in your traveling lane so you may feel what is sitting beside you, resonant with your truths, your inner flow of energy, awaiting your discovery. Remember last week, I mentioned that golden door of opportunity? You will only perceive it from your inner seat of gold, your own glowing spirit. This is good for today!

Chuck's Blog

#427 Chuck’s Place: Neutralizing Archaic Structures

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

This week Jeanne introduced the “Nanny Goat,” who holds in check the evolving spirit, leaving the self feeling like an inferior worthless child, destined to life imprisonment. Who is this nanny goat, and how do we loosen her grip so that we might obtain our rightful pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

The alchemists undertook this process quite concretely, attempting to purify matter through a series of complex chemical operations to arrive at gold. They knew, however, that the adept, who performed these operations, needed to be in spiritual resonance with the chemical process. In other words, they had to do the inner work to free their spirit from the clutches of the nanny goat. Furthermore, they had to submit to a lengthy process; they knew there were no shortcuts.

Jung recognized that the alchemists were projecting the contents of their own psyche onto matter, thereby clarifying, differentiating, and transforming their inner experiences. Jung proposed a psychology that identified psychic structures, or inner players. These structures competed and interacted with an individual’s emerging consciousness, seeking to be included in experiences of life. He called these players, archetypes, and they could be both positive and negative forces. Jung would identify the nanny goat as the dark side of a parental archetype, hovering over the struggling child who is seeking to emerge as a confident being, to stand on its own, and find its rightful place in the world. For Jung, it is the challenge of the ego to become the hero who can separate itself from the powerful grip of the nanny goat, individuating into a solid, separate being. Jung, like the alchemists, saw this as a long-term process, requiring patience and perseverance; a process he called psychotherapy.

Another school of psychotherapists, the object relationists, focused more on the child’s internalization of parental relationships. Melanie Klein went so far as to suggest it all began with the breast. There were two, the good breast and the bad breast. In other words, sometimes needs were met, sometimes they were frustrated. The balance of met and unmet needs, or which aspect dominated, determines the quality of parental introjects (internalized parental structures). Is one dominated by the critical, rejecting, controlling, undermining nanny goat, or the benevolent parent who supports and gently urges toward independence; cheering on one’s unfolding powers? Like Jung, the object relationists require a lengthy psychotherapeutic process to free oneself of the dominance of the nanny goat.

The shamans approach this dilemma through another metaphor. In the shaman’s description, we human beings are subjected to onslaughts from energetic entities, seeking to feed off our energy. To achieve this they utilize our minds, keeping us obsessed with self-doubt and fears of annihilation, leading to endless energetic spikes in our emotionality, which they find positively delectable. Here the nanny goat is an entity, parasitically attached to our human form, sucking our blood, feasting off our many varieties of depressions, phobias, obsessions, and desires. Shamans have their own set of practices, called the warrior’s way, which they use to free their energy from alien entities. The major focus of the warrior’s way is physical. When practiced regularly these physical movements and intentions succeed in neutralizing the machinations of the mind, releasing the nanny goat.

The Buddhists are equally untrusting of the mind. They prescribe their own set of “alchemical processes” for purifying the mind of the influences of illusion by practicing years of meditation, leading to detachment. Deep Buddhist practice incorporates three to ten year meditative retreats to free one from the clutches of the nanny goat.

All of these paths, and many more, are valid interpretations of our energetic reality. The path itself does not matter. After all, everything is energy and there are many ways to define the same energetic reality and to find the inner pot of gold. It remains for the individual to choose the path that personally resonates. However, all of these approaches have common features:

1. There are no shortcuts. If we expect a quick defeat of the nanny goat, we remain in its grasp.

2. The adept, ego, child, apprentice, hero, etc. must solve the challenge. Although there is support and guidance, freedom must be individually achieved.

3. The nanny goat is not personal. As Jeanne suggests, it is a boring, repetitive other, which needs to be disengaged from.

Investing in our adult self, finding calm, and choosing the practices that gradually fortify this adult position will eventually lead to the nanny goat moving on to new pastures, no longer finding sustenance in our evolving energy field. But beware, the nanny goat may return, when you least expect it. Don’t get caught in thinking you have failed. It’s only a test. Don’t attach!

Messages from Jeanne

#426 Into the Land of Opportunity

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Today I am leaving the platform open for you to discuss whatever you wish. Okay?

Thank you, but don’t you know I always discuss what I want anyway?

Yes, I realize that no matter what I ask, the replies are always in your unique style, with your unusual perspective. Where are you going to take us today?

Into The Land of Opportunity, My Dear, that is where we are going, for the doors are about to burst open! The light is about to shine through, and clarity of purpose is about to be revealed, if you are ready to recognize it and receive it. That is always the caveat, you know. Opportunities abound at all times, though at certain times are they more forcefully presented and pushed upon you, but your participation is what is required and being asked for, and only you can decide to become involved in such energy.

So today, I anticipate that this conversation will go down this road, leading to those golden doors of opportunity, soon upon you, as you make your way forward through life. Anticipate their presence, each one of you, in your life. Each one of you will find your self facing those golden doors of opportunity soon enough. What they entail, what they signify, will have very personal meaning and you alone must determine what that is. You alone must decide how you will approach what they offer, beyond their glittering presentation, and you alone must determine your course of action.

This time now upon the earth signifies a grand shift. This has been discussed by me quite often, but this is also, excitedly, being discussed all around you, not only in the spiritual realm, but in all realms, especially on the practical, economical, and political fronts.

Keep your awareness open and alert now for the signs in your own lives, My Dear Readers, so that you do not only place your energetic intent upon the functions going on in your outer world. Important and exciting as they may be, so is this time in your life also extremely important, exciting, and meaningful for you personally.

What can it be that is approaching you now to change, shift, and present you with a new opportunity? You must place your self in a good position now to capture your present as it is offered to you, your gift of opportunity. You must prepare your self, even as the world around you has been preparing, in many ways, for this transition. Do not just stumble forward upon your old path now, but make a concerted effort to place your self in a position of confidence and impeccability, so that you are ready to understand what lies ahead. Ready your selves, My Dear Ones, to walk through those golden doors of opportunity into the land of opportunity. As they say, opportunity knocks but once. But I say, opportunity knocks this loudly quite often, but it is up to you to have your ears open, your head on straight, and your energy in alignment with it, in order to grasp the fullness of its meaning.

Are you ready to move forward now? Are you ready to free your self from your old world, your old patterns of behavior, even your old way of thinking? Are you ready to accept that, beyond those doors, things may not be clearly laid out or spelled out? No, that is not the way things will go now. You must be ready to acquiesce now, if you are going to be able to flow with the energy that is ready to sweep you up and carry you forward. (See NOTE below.)

Be aware though, that even as this golden energy is available and waiting for your entry into its light and potential, so will you be drawn back by the old, as it very powerfully attempts to keep you available to its hungry appetite. Even the old may appear to be much stronger now, as its desire to survive intensifies. So be aware that yes, opportunity of an unusual and daring sort is upon you now, asking for recognition and participation on so many levels, but the old means of living life is equally interested in your energy, but for its own purposes.

Awareness of your place in life is now extremely important to you. Are you ready, after all this preparation, to fully embrace your potential? Are you available to accept the possibilities that lie ahead? Are you ready to acquiesce to the fullness of your journey? Can you allow your spirit self to be freed of the old, so that you may allow it to flow forward? Afraid or unafraid, excited or calm, eager or timid, it does not matter.

What you must now focus on is remaining aware. Use this time as a test for your future test of awareness when you will transition from that world, die in your body, and energetically move into another world. This time is the perfect opportunity to train your awareness. You have consciousness now, and you are being offered this guidance and knowledge of the energy that is upon you shortly, offering you the opportunity to jump into a new and greater awareness, much like shifting into new life. Use this time to continue your work in training your self to be alert, to seek clarity of vision, resonance of spirit and purpose, and allowance of spirit self to lead you in accepting your true journey.

I do not mean to throw you into a quandary of wondering what will happen and how it will come upon you. Do not attach to worry or discussion now, but utilize your awareness and your energy to guide you through this time of transition. You can see it happening outside of you quite clearly. Now shift your focus to what is happening inside. What is happening with you, personally, as you go through the next few days of energetic shift? Focus on you now. That’s all you need to remember.

And don’t forget that what matters most is that you evolve. So allow your self to come up to that golden door, feel the energy, and walk right into it. You won’t regret a minute of it. Welcome, My Dears, to The Land of Opportunity! It is being placed before you like never before. Do you see it? It is not an illusion, but it is an invitation to shatter old illusions and enter a new world.

NOTE: During this portion of the channeling, I had a clear visual experience of walking through two very tall and ornately decorated golden doors, as they swung wide open. There was nothing beyond them except light. I felt myself stepping out into nothingness. I think what Jeanne is saying here, is that we are going to be entering a new and unfamiliar world, both in our own inner experiences and in our outer world as well. She is suggesting that we don’t look to the familiar to guide us anymore, because it won’t work in a changing world. She is challenging us to acquiesce to this process, to not even look for the old ways of doing things to get our bearings, but to allow ourselves to learn a new way of being in the world. Good Luck!

Messages from Jeanne, Questions for Jeanne

#425 Ancient Nanny Goat Inside and Outside

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Today, a Reader asks a question regarding the struggle between old inner voices and the emerging spirit self.

Dear Jeanne,
My question may seem trite, but it seems so necessary for me to find the answer to move on and get the things in my life that I want. How do I stop the negative messages in my head that tell me “I’m Not Good Enough?” They come in whispers and in screaming, passive aggressively and straightforwardly. I notice that my internal message is very negative about myself. It is always an underlying “you’re not good enough; it will never happen; you will never get it; it’s too hard; give up; what’s the use.” I have done a lot of work on myself, uncovered, healed, dug deep. I take care of myself. I understand that we are all spirit, and yet I am always undercutting myself, always feeling just shy of what I can accomplish and who I really am. It’s like I am scared to be the greatness I know I am meant to be. How do I start living my life the way I want? I feel I have this race against time and it’s running out or something. Sometimes, I wish to die, not in a suicidal way, but to feel the lightness of my being, and yet I know I am not really ready. I know there is still so much that needs to be accomplished on this plane. I want so many things for my life and they all feel out of reach, like dreams. How do I change my thinking, my mind?

Thank you for your loving support,
D

My Dearest One, your struggles to assert your self as a spirit driven and spirit lived being are universal, while at the same time they are deeply personal issues and truly meant for you. Your evolution depends upon your recognition of these aspects of self, which have remained buried under your negative thinking cap that has a very big mouth as well! I must say, I do not find your problems insurmountable, nor do I find your negative self expression any more frightening than the fear that holds you back from reaching your true spirit self, allowing it to become active, overriding the passive aggressive speak that comes over you like a shroud.

Your process now is one of learning to disown the negative, to detach from the voices that have spoken for far too long, guiding you along a path not truly your own, but deeply sculpted by conventions and a process of confrontation with your petty tyrants inside of you and outside of you. We all struggle at such a point in life; when it becomes clear that we are not living in truth; when we discover that who we truly are has hunched down inside of us, afraid to be seen, and afraid to express our beauty, our wisdom, and our ancient knowledge of connection and purpose.

It is very simple, too simple, to say to you: “Throw off the shroud!” This is not easy, but it can be done, if you are first made aware of your shroud. You spell out, quite concisely, how your shroud comes sneaking over you, draping and wrapping you in its dark negativity. This is the first and boldest step, My Dear, to actually acknowledge, feel, and anticipate this dark energy, to be aware that it waits for you at every turn, and every corner of your life.

Once you have awareness of it, so can you prepare your self to do battle against it. As you find your self rethinking your negatives (such as: I am not good enough), rather than repeating the old mantras of darkness, your new tactics will be to combat with your own questions. Forcefully ask: “Who says so? How do you know?” Then say: “You know nothing of who I am! You are nothing to me, except an old goat bleating away, an old nanny goat standing on your four skinny legs, repeating something that is not true about me!“

Then, your next step is to answer your own questions about your self. You may have many more than even I could pose. Answer your questions about who you are, with the underlying truth based on that spirit self that you long to connect with. The more often you connect with that self, the more often you talk with that self, the more often you encourage that self to be present in your life, the more that old nanny goat begins to look like a stiff old cardboard cutout, with nothing of value to say or do. Then, it is simply a matter of pushing past it as it props itself before you. You can even kick it down, or walk right over it, if you feel so inclined because, in reality, it is nothing more than a big empty fear that once taught you, but now has no place in your life.

This process of confrontation may take a long time. It may involve recapitulating many events and people in your life. It may mean that you must transition from those in your life who do not feed you with good energy, but continue to spew negatives upon you, and continue to carry the shroud that does not belong to you. It means learning to detach your self from an old way of thinking, but also an old way of responding and acting in return. It means that you will be remaking your self, with a totally new template, designed by you, with your spirit self fully participating. It means that you will have to say goodbye to your old self too, perhaps gladly, and even perhaps with a modicum of sadness. For that old self has been your teacher for quite a long time. Even the old petty tyrants will be missed when they are gone. The new struggle will be when you yearn for their familiar techniques and habits, their comforts that have served you so well, for they will be very strong. They do not like to be replaced with your spirit self.

An old nanny goat is a tough character to go to battle against. Remain aware of all that you feel, your underlying truths, even as your emotions and your physical self wish to erupt or react as you go through this time of transition. You underlying feelings, based on that inner spirit self who wishes to rush ahead and burst forth, must become known to you, fully understood, and allowed to become present in your life. They must be a part of your recapitulation, as you ask your self who you truly are. You may already have an inkling, for as you say, you know you are not really ready to become pure energy. But you must give your self time to explore who that energy self is, in this lifetime, and nurture your true abilities, driven and lived as a person who is aware of this spirit self, allowing, trusting, and acquiescing to the unfolding journey.

So, your first lesson in disenfranchising your self from your old voices is to speak up and talk back. Maybe you were not allowed to talk back in your past? Maybe that is a no-no that the old nanny goat scolded you for doing? Well, give your adult self permission to talk back as much as you want. But remember, it is not your angry child self who is going to talk back, but your mature, calm, inner self.

You may have to do a lot of calming meditation, getting your self into impeccable shape, strong inner self strength, before you speak your truths. This will most likely be challenging as you encounter your nanny goat, your petty tyrants, inside and outside of you. But, if you stay connected to your awareness of your adult reactions compared to your big baby reactions, you will eventually be able to shift right to your adult self.

Do not become angry at your self during this process. Allow your self to encounter whatever you must encounter. There are no slip-ups or failures. There are only recognitions of the process. See how your own process unfolds. See how many old nanny goats really exist. There may be one, or there may be many. It doesn’t really matter. Remain focused on the fact that the process of transitioning to your calm adult self, and knowing spirit self is the same, no matter how many petty tyrants come to test you. Your calmness, your awareness, your new assertiveness, and your rightful place upon your rightful, truthful path are your underlying guideposts. Remember them as you take your first steps in a new direction.

As you utter your first words of changing self, don’t forget to feel your inner joy, your inner confidence rising, your inner warmth returning. You will recognize it, your ancient self, truly well known to you. Once you reacquaint your self with its strong voice, you will discover that it will begin to guide you more often, without your prompting it or struggling with the old voices. It’s all part of the process of transition.

Thank you for your question, My Dear One. I may, perhaps, have more to say upon the subject, but it is time to go now, and to release my scribe from her trance. Good Luck. Oh, and don’t forget, you are already that energy being you long to be.

News and Notes

Welcome Back!

Dear Readers,

We enjoyed a nice little break but are happy to be back to this connection with all of you. If you didn’t check into the website over the holidays you might have missed our special New Year’s Eve audio channeling session, posted below, Message #423. It’s rather long, about 45 minutes, so give your selves some time to sit quietly, do some heart centered breathing, and enjoy the conversation. Our intent is to produce more of these audio sessions in the future. In this first one, we worked out some of the technical kinks in the recording and uploading process, which could be a lot smoother. Over the next few weeks we will be working on getting that up to snuff, streamlining the amount of time we spend on getting it to you, and thus making it a bit more feasible for us to do more often.

We hope you are all well as we enter this new time of energetic potential and excitement. Hang onto your seats! It feels like we are in for quite a ride as Barack Obama really steps onto the world stage in a few weeks.

Be safe, healthy, and balanced, and know that you are surrounded by guidance and love,

Jan and Chuck