Here is today’s channeled message. May you all feel safe enough to be open-hearted today, if only a little. Let in what comes. It might be just what you need! Thanks for listening!
If your mother were not your mother, would she be a person you’d find resonance with, that you’d seek to spend time with? This is not a knock on mother. The same could be asked of mother. If you were not her child, would she find your company companionable? In many cases the answer to both questions is no. What then is the energy that binds non-companionable people together?
The answer is the binding archetypal impact—in this case, of the archetype of Mother—on people who objectively may have very little in common.
Archetypes are the inborn programs that organize the lives of a given species. They exert a magnetic draw on relationships that supersedes actual compatibility or consciousness. People who might under ordinary circumstances have no interest in each other are suddenly bound together by an energy that pays little heed to compatibility or choice.
Archetypes overlay most human relationships. If one finds resonance with another on a dating site, the soul mate archetype is activated and suddenly this mysterious other is imbued with the archetypal energy of radiant promise. In the actual human encounter during the ensuing date, the archetypal balloon may quickly puncture, as she/he, who moments before shined with such promise, may be the last person you’d want to spend the evening with!
Archetypal energy is the binding energy of our world. Like bees who organize as a collective, building their hives and collecting their pollen, our own archetypal patterns ensure the continuation of our species along definite lines.
The Shamans of Ancient Mexico call this act of generating a world, a magical act. Generating patterns that magnetically organize our lives into a human form is sheer magic! It’s magical to have intense relationships with people whom we may share no compatibility with, simply to ensure the continuance of our world. The soul mate archetype brings many children into the world who might never have been born. Nature wants children; it’s not concerned with compatibility of partners. Children need powerful adults to socialize them into the patterns of this world. Nature doesn’t care if there’s true compatibility between parent and child. It simply creates a power differential, through the archetype, that creates optimal conditions for socialization.
The Shamans of Ancient Mexico call this specific use of archetypal energy INTENT. Humans unconsciously use their ability to intend to mold archetypal energy into a cohesive world. And that is magic! It’s a magical act of illusion to “fall in love,” or to be bound to someone we have no real interest in. These are the spells of the magician that so frequently lead to strife, as true connection rarely matches up with the blinding forces of archetypal attraction.
The Shamans of Ancient Mexico point out that it is humanly possible to journey and live in worlds beyond the archetypal trappings of this world. While acknowledging the magnetic draw of archetypal energy, it is also possible to not automatically or compulsively act upon it. If we step outside the field of our archetypal pulls and examine objectively whether the needs, expectations and obligations we experience in a relationship align with a genuine connection or need, we might discover that most of the relationship is being defined by the illusory magic of the magician.
Carlos Castaneda said, “individual relationships are based in emotional investments, and the moment the practitioner (a shamanic practitioner) really practices what she or he learns, the relationship crumbles. In the everyday world, emotional investments are not normally examined, and we live an entire lifetime waiting to be reciprocated.” *
Through examination we can then choose to stop participating in the obligations of the archetype and instead store the energy that would have been spent there for other use. We are then freed to discover whole new worlds—if we so choose—that are accessible within what the Shamans of Ancient Mexico call “the band of man.” These are other possible worlds for us to live in that are rarely explored. They include a world of relationship outside the draw of capitalistic emotional investment that is caught in the trappings of profit and loss.
Archetypal energy is the energy of emotional investment, i.e.: “What’s in it for me? What am I getting out of this? I deserve more. My needs aren’t being met.” Perhaps these are all valid reflections, but they still remain caught in the narrowly defined world of me and need. Of course unmet developmental needs of early childhood must be addressed within the parameters of our archetypal heritage but, once addressed, needn’t overshadow our greater evolutionary potential.
We might step beyond that world and discover a whole new world of compassion and genuine affection outside of the old archetypal bindings and investments. We might discover a world of deeper discovery and fulfillment, even within the world we are born into. We might intend a whole new world of truth and affection outside an old world of archetypal slavery. We might discover that we are soul mates with everyone! This is indeed our evolutionary challenge now; to transition into a cohesive world of truth and genuine affection for all, outside the old blind compulsory bindings of archetypally-routed relationship that has so far controlled our destinies.
Let’s intend a new world together,
Chuck
* From Navigating Into the Unknown: An interview with Carlos Castaneda found HERE.
I lived in Sweden in the 1970s. One day there was a knock at the apartment door. I answered it and saw three little girls standing there.
Dressed in long skirts, with kerchiefs around their heads and brightly painted red cheeks, they held out copper kettles, singing something indecipherable in lilting voices. It looked a lot like Halloween to me, but it was Pink Thursday, the day before Good Friday.
Luckily, I was baking cookies for the guests who would be arriving the next day. I couldn’t speak Swedish very well at the time, so I held up a finger—wait a sec—and went into the kitchen to grab a handful of warm chocolate chip cookies, a rarity in Sweden at the time. (I’d had the chocolate chips sent to me by my parents as they were not available there.)
“Kakor?” I asked, reappearing with cookies in hand.
“Ja!” they replied, quite happily.
Grabbing the cookies they gobbled them down, making pleasing sounds while I smiled at them and nodded, saying, “Ja, ja,” or something like that. We waved goodbye as they turned to knock on my neighbor’s door. I shut the door and ran back into the kitchen, just in time to rescue the next batch of cookies from being burned in the oven.
Those little girls were enacting a tradition, playing the witches who supposedly cavorted with the devil on that day; all part of the springtime rituals, I was to learn. Usually coins were placed in the tea kettles but, as I told my husband, those little girls didn’t mind the cookies at all!
A few weeks later, at the end of April, another spring ritual was enacted. We’d traveled to spend a few days with my in-laws at their summer house on the West coast of Sweden. A bonfire ensued, the natural consequences of doing winter cleanup of the yard, but this too had significance. It was Walpurgis Night, the annual ritual to greet spring’s arrival. Many bonfires were lit that night along the coast, songs were sung and a lot of alcohol, another part of the tradition, was consumed.
It was the first time I was being exposed to ancient traditions outside of those of my Catholic upbringing. I found them intriguing. It was an eyeopener that nature itself was not only leading the way, but was actually being celebrated as the most significant guide in breaking through to new life. It made perfect sense to me, but I’d never encountered it before. Everyone knew the ritual, and everyone participated. Without judgment, it was a tradition that just was, nature allowed its place in a celebratory, honest, and most practical manner. As that Walpurgis Night fire burned, the ritual of the witches cavorting with Satan made perfect sense too. All of a sudden, I understood that nature was a real and powerful ally and entity, and it needed to be paid attention to, honored, and reckoned with.
I’m ready for my own bonfire now. It’s been on my mind that we should have a fire soon in our outdoor pit. The idea has been stirring for weeks, as we’ve waited for the snow to melt so that we could actually see the fire pit! It’s time to intentionally enact the ancient ritual of shedding and burning that which we no longer need. It’s time to begin anew.
Last night I dreamed. My skin was cracking and peeling away. Not like skin that has been sunburned and peels in thin layers. No, this skin was about an inch or two thick. It was old crusty skin. I knew, as I dreamed, that it symbolized that which is no longer necessary, a protective layer that no longer has any use. I was wearing it for no good reason, only out of habit. Beneath the thick old skin lies new pink skin, the tender, innocent and true self. It’s time to fully expose her, to let her live all the time, not just when it feels safe or appropriate, because I suddenly understood that it is always appropriate to live from the tender and real self.
My dream reminded me of a dream I’d had when doing my recapitulation. At that time I’d dreamed of removing a layer of the same kind of thick crusty skin from the soles of my feet. I still cringe as I recall peeling it off only to find beautiful pink soles underneath. In that dream, I put the crusty soles back on because I still had a lot of recapitulation work to do. But it was enough to know what lay in store for me, the innocent and pure self revealed by those tender pink soles. I wasn’t ready at the time to do more than hold the secret of this true self, but last night’s dream tells me that I’m more than ready now. I’ve been walking on the soles of that tender self for a long time now, but as my dream tells me, it’s time to shed everything else I’ve used to keep her protected and let her fully live!
And so, in celebration of spring, I intend to shed the trappings and ideas of an old self. I intend to set upon the altar that which is no longer necessary or desirable. In lighting the pyre, I intend to sacrifice that which oppresses and keeps me from experiencing my fuller self, all the thoughts and ideas that no longer belong in my life. I also set the intent to no longer hide the pure tender soul of who I am. I will be burning that crusty old coat of skin that I no longer need to wear!
I will allow nature to be my guide, both through this ritual burning and in the next steps. I have no idea where I’m going, but in this shedding and burning process I declare that I am open, willing, and ready for new life.
We’ve all come so far in our lives and in our work. Let us not be held back. Let us light the fire on the altar and raise a glass to nature and to spring, to renewal of the true self, and many happy new beginnings.
As I light the fire and raise a glass to spring, I hope you will too,
Jan
Here is today’s channeled message brought to you by Jan.
We are beings filled to the brim with conflicting tendencies. St. Paul said it succinctly: “That which I would I do not, that which I would not, that I do.” Confronted with the opposition of his own carnal sexuality and his deep spirituality, St. Paul went the way of many a monastic tradition and chose celibacy. The challenge of truly reconciling this polarity within the self by rejecting that which is outside of the self is daunting and often misses the mark. The failure of this resolution couldn’t be more apparent than in the modern Catholic Church,* tarnished worldwide with deep involvement in sexual abuse. Clearly, merely shunning or splitting off sexuality does not make it go away—it must be reckoned with.
Carl Jung pointed out that for a tree’s branches to reach heaven its roots have to reach hell. True reconciliation of inherent human oppositions must integrate all sides of human nature into a cohesive whole. A one-sided solution to our problems inevitably sets the stage for a backlash or a breakthrough of the forsaken other—the rejected shadow self.
Times of breakthrough are exceptional times, like the breakthrough of a swollen river over its dikes. In hexagram #43, Breakthrough, the I Ching counsels resolute action in such exceptional circumstances. First, resolution must be based on a union of strengths and friendliness. The adult self must hold its own and not be taken over by the opposing tendency. On the other hand, it needs to greet it with friendliness, lend an objective ear to its point of view.
Second, a compromise with evil is not possible. If the dissociated tendency insists on taking over the personality on its own terms, it must be openly discredited. There can be no compromise with a one-sided truth. On the other hand, the passions and one-sided motives of the ego self must equally be brought into the light and openly examined.
Third, the struggle must not be carried out directly by force. If an opposing tendency has taken on a compulsive habit in the personality, labeling it evil or denigrating the self for its presence in the personality only empowers it as it weakens the adult self charged with shifting the habitual state of affairs, such as with some kinds of addictions.
Finally, the best way to advance is to make energetic progress in new behaviors that serve the true needs of the overall personality. A dysfunctional habit may actually be holding the place of a deeper need for fulfillment. Rather than brand the habit as bad, make use of it to turn in a new direction and engage in behaviors that fulfill the deeper needs of the self. For instance, challenge the self to go into the world and interact versus retreating and soothing the self with lulling talk and substance. Or rather than seeking excessive fulfillment in the outer world, retreat into the deep vibrational experience of transcendent oneness in meditation.
Breakthrough encounters are part and parcel of the individuation process. Breakthrough encounters are necessary guideposts in recapitulation as well. Through these encounters we are afforded the opportunity to integrate our opposing tendencies into a holistic being, truly capable of a new mantra: “That which I would, I do;” the ultimate conscious breakthrough, in consummate wholeness.
Breaking through,
Chuck
* It is interesting to note that an ancient papyrus has broken through the sands of time and been validated by modern scientific method to challenge this one-sided position of the Catholic Church. At least some early Christian communities documented that Christ spoke of having a wife. Here is an excerpt from the NYT regarding the words that have fanned some controversy: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife…’ ” Too convenient for some, it also contained the words “she will be able to be my disciple,” a clause that inflamed the debate in some churches over whether women should be allowed to be priests.
Read the entire report in The New York Times.