Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
I’ve been feeling a hopeful, bright energy while at the same time we are heading into the darkest time of the year for those of us who live in the northern hemisphere. I feel that darkness encroaching on the horizon, a kind of pulling-in, comfortable darkness though, rather than a negative darkness. The winter has turned cold now as we await the advent of the holiday season and family gatherings. What message do you have for us today as we prepare for this season?

Whether is it dark and cold or light and warm, so is the energy of the earth universal. Tap into the calmness of the season more fully now as you go into a time when traditionally there is much spending and attachment to that which is outside of you. Turn inward to granting the self and others the peace and calmness of inner energy that is so useful and beneficial, and that is also free. Turn inward to the truths that all of you hold within: the power to calm yourselves, the power to stop yourselves from exploitation of your energy, and the power to heal yourselves. Turn inward at this time of extroversion and allow for exploration of a new and deeper inner process that does not cost a penny and that will leave you quite peacefully steady, balanced, and calm.

I speak today of the power that resides inside the self to smooth ruffled feathers, soothe frantic energy, and calm desperate nerves. I speak of the innate ability to find inner balance and to find a means of tapping into the innate well of utter calm energy that resides inside you.

Each one of you, My Dear Ones, will fare well in life if you can turn inward and find your place of peacefulness. Developing a relationship with this calm inner and knowing self allows for greater contact with this self and with those who are present in your lives to guide and support you. Beginning a process of inner calming, inner acknowledgment, inner listening, and inner speaking will, as you practice these things, bring you closer to this inner self more easily each time you turn inward.

This is not a selfish thing to do but a deeply necessary practice, especially now in the waning time when energy is indeed asking you to turn introspective, to protect this aspect of self from the cold winds of winter. Is not winter best dealt with by making preparations that provide for warmth and protection, for nurturance and conservation of energy for the cold and darkness ahead?

Even as you speak of winter, so must you think upon the season as an energetic time, traditionally a time of hibernation and inner rest, a time of rejuvenation of energies before a new spring arrives in a couple of months. Observe the world of nature during this time in order to learn a new practice of inner work. It is not unusual that the home becomes a center, family is sought, and warmth, in all manner of speaking, is desired.

Whether you are a family oriented person or not, the time calls you to go innerly to your own warmth, to sit by your inner fires of energy and read your truths by the light of your own hearth. This is a turning in time, most definitely, though your commercial world has you believing that it is an outward turning time. In truth, there can be little effect of outward expression at this time, except perhaps as a perfunctory nod to traditions long exhausted and over done. The deeper tradition, the most necessary, lies inside each of you, in your own nature, as it calls you to acknowledge the inner self, even as the outer world grabs your attention.

As adults in a world that has gotten out of synch, and out of all proportion with nature, it is up to each of you to more firmly establish a new tradition based in the oldest tradition of the natural world itself: to turn inward. Use this time of darkening of the light to change the way you relate to the world, to each other and, most importantly, to the self.

A practice of natural calming, seeking inner connection, and allowing the self to remain aware of the outer natural environment will aid you in developing a new inner tradition during this time of change. It is time to break the old traditions, reconnect with the natural energy of the time of year and the energy of the universe and delve into your souls, My Dear Ones. Give yourselves the gift of connection with the self. For only in connecting with the true innocent self will you have anything to offer of meaning to anyone else.

Be calm. Be real. Be silent, and perhaps you will hear the true sounds of the season as you open your door to the true visitor who is knocking.