All posts by Jan

Today’s Message from Jeanne

Today, I am posting below two separate messages from Jeanne. The first one, #710, is a general question about the energy and guidance for the week. The second one, #711, refers to some guidance I requested regarding an incident in our yard—nature doing its thing again—but I wanted to know what the significance was for us personally. So I thought I would share that message with you, because it seems appropriate to our times.

Be well, and I’ll be back again on Wednesday with another blog about recapitulation or some other theme that arises between now and then. Have a good week!
Jan

#711 The Groundhog is Dead!

Jan Ketchel channeling Jeanne Marie Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Thank you for those words of insight regarding my first question for today. Sometimes I feel that I get caught up in feeling the energy of shift but then I fall back into complacency, almost there before I know it. The other evening, Chuck and I were sitting in our yard talking and enjoying the breezes, unwinding after a busy day. I kept smelling something rotten, and in fact pretty soon it was so overwhelming that I said: “We have to go inside; I just can’t stand the smell anymore!”

I was determined to find out where the stench was coming from, certain that a dead animal lay nearby. The next morning I looked all over the yard but found nothing. Even Spunky the dog, sniffing and restless as all heck, could not locate the animal. Every time she went too far her old legs gave out and I had to lift her back up and lead her into the house, for I could not leave her outside to sit calmly, as is her habit, for she was too restless. Later that morning, my son called to me, he had found the culprit! “A half of a rotting groundhog is lying next to my car, the top half!” he exclaimed. And there it lay, just where Spunky had been heading every time she stumbled and fell, a dead top half of a groundhog, neatly severed mid-torso, its arms and head lying in a pile of pine needles. It was quite a strange sight. I shoveled it up and tossed into the woods in the backyard and then called Chuck to tell him I had found the smell, a dead groundhog! “The groundhog is dead?!” he asked in wonderment, for he has written extensively about “groundhog day” habits. “Half of the groundhog is dead,” I specified, for I had no idea where the other half was and though I searched and sniffed around the yard, it was not to be found.

We surmised that this was still a very good sign, that something meaningful was being presented to us, and that we are indeed evolving if even half of the groundhog is dead! Jeanne, can you shed some light on this most intriguing sign?

Yes, My Dear One, I can certainly expound upon your summary, for it is indeed a precipitous sign, if you take it personally, as you do, and not just as an annoying stench.

First, you must note that it is the top half, or front half, of the groundhog, the consuming end: the mouth, eyes, nose, ears, and the digging paws with their sharp claws. It is the end that sniffs out life, but that incessantly digs in and wallows in the ground, for it cannot help itself. It must burrow into the earth. It is the desirous senses, the busy ego self, who digs so diligently to set up a life that is safe, secure, and patterned after the familiar. All groundhogs act this way. No groundhog has ever done otherwise. This is the truth of this creature: it is a creature of nature and it will do what it does until it dies. It is only when it dies that it changes, otherwise it follows its nose and its digging compulsions. It can do nothing else.

Humans, on the other hand, may look upon such a creature as cumbersome, unenlightened, rather boring. However, this is a perfect reflection of the ego in the world, for, in truth, it only does so much before it has utilized all its skills and it can go no further. The bigger the ego, the bigger the burrow, but it is still a burrow.

Look now on the fact that the ego aspect of self, the front half of the groundhog, is dead and rotting in your yard, next to a vehicle of travel no less, its stench so overwhelming that you could not rest in its presence! The habits of the ego—doing what it does so naturally—are now compromised, because the truth is, that in your world, the time of the ego in compulsion is dead. It is a time now of spirit, that which has been missing. But note, it is not likely that spirit has been totally absent from even the life of the groundhog, for its energy did exist in its very life force, though it was unconscious energy. Humans, however, have conscious awareness in every moment of life, yet do you push it away in the same manner that you attempt to push away the stench of decay.

In conclusion, I suggest that half an ego is enough, enough to navigate the world, using it to digest what you must, while at the same time accepting your most necessary inner awareness as your main guide in life. Can you allow your burrowing to become energetic exploration now, going deeper into new habits, while you allow the old ones to remain as compost upon the past, nurturing your future? Can you, My Dear Ones, use your spiritual drive and awareness to continue your digging toward fulfillment?

This is a time of great shift from the old to the new, from old habits to new means of growth. This is always what life is about, but as usual the choice is yours. However, it is very clear that, for all of you, over the past few weeks some old part of you has been creating quite a stench, and you all know that it is time to let it go. It is time to find a new method of digging and tending your gardens, My Dears. All of you have the tools within and that is where you must look.

Remain aware of what comes into your world to show you the means of growth. Life is all about growing and evolving and it will guide you energetically in signs and by all means available in nature and otherwise, so be alert. Take the signs to heart and ask to be shown your new path. Ask to be freed of your fears by facing them. Even as your fears lead you in the direction your life must take, even as they may force you to turn from the decaying remains of an old self, so are they your greatest guides.

We have no idea where the other half of the groundhog is, but I gather that it is not important. I see that enough has been presented to us and I accept the challenge to keep growing, even though I may have to do it differently.

Yes, that is what you are being presented with now: to keep going, using new tools, doing life differently on all fronts, without fear of the old catching up. For, after all, the groundhog is showing you that it is dead. The other half of the process is up to you.

Is the groundhog half dead, or half alive? Which way do you see it? And which half do you elect to use as your catalyst? Still need some groundhog in your life?

#710 Remain in Renewal

Jan Ketchel channeling Jeanne Marie Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
I feel as if I’m reclaiming some lost energy after many weeks of foggy discontent. Can you offer us a note of guidance as to how to handle our challenges over the next week?

This is indeed a time of renewal and power, for the fruits of your hard labors are coming to fullness. It is harvest time and, yet, is it also a time of picking through all that you have sown and deciding which fruits to consume and which to save as seedlings for future growth.

With the clarity that has been gained regarding the self over the past few weeks, it is time to determine more fully what you would like your future self to look like, deciding how you want to live but also how you want your life to unfold. You may elect that the unfolding of your life remain in its present process, though you all have the ability to change how you live, by how you perceive your life.

My advice for today centers around setting a new intent based on what you have learned about the self. You may have also learned a lot about the others in your life, especially those who are closest, but I suggest that you turn what you have learned about others toward the self, seeking always the deeper reflection of self in all you meet.

For instance, rather than wallow in your discoveries of self, truly learn from them. If you are bound in repetitive behaviors and you have learned this truth of self, then fully embrace that this is true. Look upon this self with compassion and understanding, as you might have for another, and then do something with this truth.

Electing to change will bring you to a new life. Electing to accept the self as you truly are is the catalyst to change, for if you cannot accept your truths you are bound to repeat them until you do. Now note, I do not call your truths by negative terminology, such as faults or downfalls, and neither should you, but only what they are: truths of the self.

Can you allow yourself to be truthful? Can you be brutally honest with yourself? Can you allow for the facts of the self to be fully revealed to the self? With your truths made known, you will set yourself free to change, to move on, to utilize all the energy you now feel coursing through you, that is asking you to turn inward and continue your deep inner work. It is the only place to go.

Nothing outside of you can compare to what you hold within. This is true for each and every one of you. It does not matter where you are in your spiritual process; you are all equal because you must all face the self, the biggest challenge in a lifetime.

Allow your energy that is feeling renewal to remain in renewal. Even as you harvest your fruits plant new seeds, tending your gardens with future growth in mind. Prepare always for the next planting, for its sprouting time will come.

Set your intent as you set your seeds aside, as you bury the bulbs of spring bloom, and as you determine that you do indeed wish to continue growing, blooming, and developing creatively, spiritually, and personally, in the real world, but most deeply in your inner world.

A Day in a Life: Recapitulation & Active Imagination

As Chuck and I write about and work with people who are in the process of recapitulation, many wonder if they are indeed recapitulating, if they are doing it right. Many also wonder simply how to start. In our experience, once the journey begins, everything that follows is part of the process, including our dreams and visions, our incessant thoughts and feelings, and the challenges we are presented with each day. The recapitulation journey continues as one becomes aware of and allows for deeper exploration of the synchronicities in life, the calls of the body to remember, the calls of the psyche to pay attention to certain things, and the experiences in our inner worlds and outer worlds that will not let us rest.

So, when does the recapitulation journey really start? The following quote from The Active Side of Infinity, highlights the moment when you know what it really means, when there is no doubt that you have begun your recapitulation journey.

Sorcerers believe,” don Juan went on, “that as we recapitulate our lives, all the debris, as I told you, comes to the surface. We realize our inconsistencies, our repetitions, but something in us puts up a tremendous resistance to recapitulating. Sorcerers say that the road is free only after a gigantic upheaval, after the appearance on our screen of the memory of an event that shakes our foundations with its terrifying clarity of detail. It’s the event that drags us to the actual moment when we lived it. Sorcerers call that event the usher, because from then on every event we touch on is relived, not merely remembered.” (p. 148-149)

I clearly remember the day when Chuck said to me: “This is the usher, come to take you on your journey.” At the time I had no idea what he meant, but at the same time I knew exactly what he meant because I literally felt that I was being swept into another world, ushered through a door into familiar and yet totally unfamiliar territory. There was no doubt, when my body took over and began reliving a long suppressed event, while I writhed in pain on the floor, gagging and gasping for air, that I was indeed recapitulating. That first recapitulation did not last more than a few moments, but it opened wide my awareness that something inside me needed to live, or relive, or I would not survive in this world. At that moment, I knew, without a doubt, that I was going on a new kind of journey and that I could not stop it. I also knew that I had been preparing my whole life for it and that I was ready for it.

Something will lead you to remember the event that will serve you as your usher,” don Juan says to Carlos after taking him on a long walk, because, as he explained to Carlos: “The sorcerers of ancient Mexico believed that everything we live we store as a sensation on the backs of the legs. They consider the backs of the legs to be the warehouse of man’s personal history.” (The Active Side of Infinity p. 149) Instructing Carlos to “do your best” he leaves him alone to experience his own moment of the usher. Within a few moments Carlos falls headlong into a vivid forgotten event from his childhood.

Each person’s experience of the usher will be different, but it will be strikingly apparent that a shift has taken place, a shift that will not let you rest or revert to an old way of perceiving reality or yourself in reality. Carl Jung, in The Red Book recounts his own experiences of encountering the usher. In the section entitled Refinding the Soul he speaks of a vision that would not let him rest.

The vision of the flood seized me and I felt the spirit of the depths, but I did not understand him. Yet he drove me on with unbearable inner longing and I said:

My soul, where are you? Do you hear me? I speak, I call you—are you there? I have returned, I am here again. I have shaken the dust of all the lands from my feet and I have come to you. I am with you. After long years of wandering, I have come to you again. Should I tell you everything I have seen, experienced, and drunk in? Or do you want to hear about all the noise of life and the world? But one thing you must know: the one thing I have learned is that one must live this life.

This life is the way, the long sought-after way to the unfathomable, which we call divine. There is no other way, all other ways are false paths. I found the right way, it led me to you, to my soul.” (pp. 231-232)

By using what he termed active imagination Jung probed deeply into his inner world, confronting his soul, his “I”, all of his inner demons, his projections, his anima, actually doing a thorough recapitulation as the sorcerers of ancient Mexico define it.

These two overlapping worlds, that of the sorcerers of ancient Mexico and the psychological world as explored and practiced by Jung, give us sound guidelines and processes by which to do our inner work. Undertaking the recapitulation journey, in whatever way we are ushered into it, supported by allowing ourselves to do active imagination enables us to fully experience this life. As don Juan explains to Carlos:

To recount events is magical for sorcerers,” he said. “It isn’t just telling stories. It is seeing the underlying fabric of events. This is the reason recounting is so important and vast.” (The Active Side of Infinity p. 158)

By “seeing the underlying fabric of events” in our lives we begin to understand that, as Jung notes, this life is what we seek, for inside of us is contained everything we need. As we go deeper into our recapitulation, as we return to and explore our soul, everything about us changes. We not only perceive the world differently, but we become different in how we act and think, how we treat ourselves and others, how we engage in life, both our outer life and our inner life. As we gain clarity on who we personally are, as we dare to confront ourselves with the challenges of this life, we offer ourselves the opportunity to experience the magic that don Juan speaks of and the divine that Jung writes about.

May you greet your usher with open arms and may you discover the means of dialogue with your soul, even though your fear may overwhelm you and your body resist. May you allow yourself to go into recapitulation and active imagination, even though it may mean confronting the unimaginable and experiencing the unfathomable. May you allow yourself to take the only journey that matters, into the self, even though you may have to face both the trivial self and the inflated self and all the angels and demons that roam in your inner world.

If you wish, feel free to share or comment in the Post Comment section below.

Sending you all love and good wishes,
Jan

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Re: Today’s Message From Jeanne

I thought this article by Len Wallick at Planet Waves might be helpful as regards the recent messages from Jeanne, the energy of late, our writings about recapitulation and the shadow, and current astrological and planetary movements and alignments. I am not too up on the language of astrology and often find it difficult to follow which planet is where, but the essence of what is happening in connection to what we are experiencing now in our lives is easily extrapolated from the excellent writing on Planet Waves. This is indeed a time of transition and transformation, and if we choose to remain conscious and aware we are in for some long lasting changes. Good Luck with your inner work, and see what happens as the new moon arrives! -Jan