All posts by Jan

#645 Patience: You are Dream & Dreamer

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
What is the single most important consideration for us to keep in mind for today, and in the weekend ahead, as we do our inner work?

The single most important consideration while you engage in inner work is PATIENCE. Everything takes time to unfold, to show direction, to become clear in purpose, meaning, and pertinence. You, each one of you, are an unfolding dream. Each one of you, each day, lives out another part of the dream of your life. Each day, another segment of who you are, where you are going, and what you most need to do to evolve is dreamed.

You are an unfolding dream, moving forward in your lives, and that takes patience. Patience asks that you notice. It asks that you pause to consider the events in your life and the effects they have on your inner life. It asks that you fully understand that you are the dream and that, as such, you are an unfolding process in itself.

Accept the self as dream and dreamer and you may more fully understand the holistic nature of life upon that earth and your own life in particular. Dream patiently today and tomorrow and the next day, My Dreamers. Dream patiently.

#644 Mirrors to Boulders

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Yesterday, in my blog, I wrote about being bored with the mirrors theme. I think it’s a great visual to work projection from but, personally, I want to move onto another part of the inner work process. When you ask us to do our inner work it’s nice to have a variety of visual tools, at least that’s what I think. As I wrote about yesterday, in a dream, Jung presented me with a huge stone, a big gray boulder, and for some reason I don’t find that as boring as a mirror. Do you have some advice or guidance around enacting a shift in our inner work, which is really all that I was desiring?

My Dear One, you asked for a shift and you got a rock! Now that is quite funny! But seriously, in order to do inner work one must accept what comes to guide you and this is what you must remain open and alert to. It is not in the act of peering into the mirror or studying the boulder that you will grow but in taking what you find into your inner world and using it in a new manner that will aid you.

In spite of what is outside of you, all inner work requires an investigation of how you operate both inside and outside. In comparing these two selves you may arrive at what you need to do each day in order to shift in your progress.

I do not mean to bore you by suggesting that a mirror is appropriate to use at all times, but you cannot get away from the fact that mirrors exist whether you like them or not. Your own big boulder is also quite a mirror, for in some manner will you find your self in it, your diligent and curious self to begin with. I have no doubt that you will find your boulder as boring as mirrors after a while, and then what will you need in order to shift?

You see, the shift you desire is for deeper work and, yes, the challenge is to take the next step into a new part of the self, but how will you know where to go if that self is not yet revealed? In her dream, Jan has been shown the next part of herself. But in order to find it she had to be ready, and to ask for it. This is the process I suggest that you all attend to when you are ready to move beyond your current position. Just remember the following two things:

1. You must progress at your own rate.

2. You must learn to read the signs in your own life, for they will arrive to guide you in the most individually pertinent way, for you alone.

Look not for what someone else receives as guidance, but wait patiently for your personally meaningful gift. It will arrive in a most particular way to show you what to do next. And you may not understand it at first, but just wait, eventually you will, and it will hit you over the head with a big AHAAAA!

NOTE: When I had finished with this channeling Chuck decided, since today is his thirty-sixth wedding anniversary with Jeanne, to “pull a card for our anniversary,” as he put it, referring to the satin bag from their wedding day, in which Jeanne had stored many of the cards they had given to each other and received from others over their years together. Hoping to receive a “special” anniversary message from Jeanne, Chuck instead pulled a card with a picture of the Peanuts dog Snoopy on the front, wearing a sad expression, saying, “You’re leaving!” It was a good-bye card from the people Jeanne had worked with at Kenneth Clark’s research foundation as she prepared to go on to grad school. So, I guess, in keeping with Jeanne’s message of today she is giving Chuck just the message that is right for him to receive on this day. She is saying that, once again, she has left to go on to new learning and that you can’t go back to old familiar nostalgic places. It’s not where new life is. And you know what, it is exactly where he himself is; ready to move on to new learning! AHAAAA!

A Day in a Life: Mirrors Again!

I must say, when Jeanne began talking about mirrors again yesterday, in Message #643, I was disappointed, to say the least. To put it bluntly: I am sick and tired of mirrors; totally bored with them. When she replied to Soul Trecker in Message #640 that she did not need mirrors anymore, I thought: Yahoo! No more mirrors! Because no matter who Jeanne is addressing, the message always pertains to me. (I know many of you also feel the same way.) But then I was left with the dilemma of what would replace the mirrors if, in fact, I did not need to keep using them as a means of doing my inner work. So last night, before going to sleep, I sent out a dream intent, asking to be shown what to do now that I am bored with mirrors, projection, and reflection. This is what I got in dreaming:

I am in a room talking with C. G. Jung. I am telling him that I do not want to work with mirrors anymore, that I am bored with them. Suddenly, a large, gray, oval shaped boulder appears between us, hovering in the air a foot or so off the floor. “What?” I say, “A boulder! What is the significance of that?” Jung says: “Man and his Symbols!” referring to his book of the same name. I am clearly disappointed by this enormous and ugly rock and Jung, seeing my disappointment, says: “It may not be what it appears to be!” I reply: “What does that mean?” I peer closely at the stone and in the upper right quadrant I see a tiny white shell embedded in a slight indentation in the boulder. I wake up.

Clearly I am being shown something. At first, I thought of the boulder as a symbol of some insurmountable blockage or issue, or perhaps representative of something that I perceive as ugly or disturbing in my life. Then, I thought that perhaps it represented the archetypes and I found this more to my liking, feeling that I was being given the answer to my dilemma around working with the mirrors theme. Jung was telling me to look into his book for the deeper symbolism and meaning of the stone, but I also thought that he might be suggesting that I now turn to studying my archetypes more deeply. I also thought, as Chuck mentioned when I told him this dream, that perhaps there is a diamond inside the stone, but that remains to be seen.

Fortunately, we have a copy of Man and his Symbols, which is written by Jung and several collaborators. The chapter in which I found the symbolism of the stone discussed is written by Marie-Louise von Franz. The stone, she states, coming from many different sources, can symbolize the SELF, the experience of something eternal at man’s innermost center, something that can never be lost or dissolved, and the psyche of man, among other things. There is the alchemical stone, the Philosopher’s Stone, the Blarney Stone, to name a few, and, personally, I have always been a collector of stones, special stones with special meanings. Basically, in my dream, I was given an undeniably direct answer to my quest for something to work on: The Self! Of course, this is the same thing that Jeanne constantly guides us on as well, and I am always grateful for her guidance, but I have felt a need to shift away from the mirrors, but I wasn’t sure what else I was looking for. Now I know what I have before me.

I can still see Jung chuckling at the sight of the giant boulder he had conjured up, laughing at his cleverness. I know that he didn’t really give me anything new to work on. It’s still the same work, and I know I still have to deal with mirrors, but for a while I can take a closer look at the tiny shell embedded in the stone and I can find out what else the boulder holds. Is there more on the surface to discover, before I chip away at what is possibly inside? Or is it going to be my job to polish the surface of that boulder, until I can see my face reflected there, the self revealed, once again, in a mirror?

It will be interesting to see what Jeanne has to say tomorrow, because I am going to confront her on the mirror thing. In the meantime, I’m going to see what else my dream is trying to tell me.
Until tomorrow!
Jan

#643 Working with Mirrors

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Do you have a message for us today?

Seek your balance within. When I suggest working with mirrors, I infer that you are looking at your self in reflection. The first step to consider is to give a vote of thanks to those who offer you the reflections in your life. And remember, everyone in your life is a mirror. Those thanks must be purely extended, without blame and attachment, simply stated. You must achieve the inner knowing that will allow you to release those who pose in your mirror and freely accept the lessons of self they present.

Are your mirrors facing you squarely? Are they turning and walking away? Are they stubbornly turning their eyes away or their backs on you? Are they smashed by you, or another, shattered in bits and pieces, for you no longer wish to be presented with what they show you about the self?

In inner work the most important step is understanding the true meaning of the people in your life. The true meaning may not be to your liking, but until you are ready to accept the aspects of self they represent your mirrors will continue to test you.

Today’s inner work will require much outer work, for that is the energy that is appearing to teach you now. Ask the self to look in the mirror from a new perspective. Ask the self to suspend all judgments regarding the mirror image. Ask the self to be gentle and fair, knowing full well that everyone struggles as deeply as you do, though neither you nor the other may be aware of just how deeply, for all approach issues of deep pain, sorrow, and fear in many ways.

Your trick to play on the self today is to ask the self to pretend to be another, to look closely at this other as you peer into the mirror. You have been missing something about this other self. You are not seeing what others see. What is it you are not noticing?

Be gentle, non-judgmental, and fair as you look at this other self. Step out of your body momentarily and take a good look. You will hear a word or phrase that describes what you see and feel as you quietly and lovingly take in the person you see. Look with loving compassion on the other self today and give your self a gift. Ask the self for no more trickery, no more pretend. “Let’s be real in all aspects of life. Let’s be together on this journey, neither for or against the self or others, but journeying companions.” Kiss the face in the mirror. Wrap your arms around the person you see. Merge the two selves a little bit more today and, with a truthful pact, begin the next step in your process of growth and change.

It is good energy for change. Look for it in your life. Even though you may not find it there, it truly is present. Tilt the mirror slightly for that new perspective on the self. That’s all you need in order to find the catalyst. Accept your truth of self and take the next step with it firmly, truthfully in your grasp, and work it.

#641 You Are Liquid Energy

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Today, Chuck asks a question.

Dear Jeanne,
Yesterday, a reader, Pat, commented on having an experience of your presence as she struggled with her responses to Message #640 regarding a relationship. Her description, in the comments section of that posting, of your energetic presence was unmistakable. Jan and I have felt you in exactly the same way. I wonder if you can explain what your own experience is, Jeanne, as you respond to those of us in dire need, in the midst of deep torment, tumult, or disaster. By describing your experiences you may provide a link for someone here to find that place of utter calm and love within themselves. If we can feel it so intensely in our bodies as it comes from you, from without, can we not conjure it up ourselves, from within?

Right now there are many people struggling with so many financial and economic issues around money, job loss, illness, etc., unable to cope, as our world is in such a state of deterioration and conflict. It feels like a lot of people are just coldly unresponsive to the true nature of the human condition and unable to feel love and compassion for others. At the same time that many are suffering with very basic needs to survive from day to day, others, in Haiti for instance, are suffering with the loss of thousands of lives due to a horrific earthquake and its aftermath. Compared to being here on earth, in the midst of calamities of all sorts, what is your experience of our situation, from your far greater energetic reality?

My energy, My Dears, is totally detached from the world you live in, detached from the troubles and the concerns of that world. As energy unattached, it finds no hold in that which so deeply holds you bound to that earth. This is the energy that I impart in making myself known upon that earth, pure, unattached energy of love and compassion. This is certainly the state of energetic self that you seek as you learn what it means to be an energy being. If you consider that your training is to understand energy and the self as energy, then you will also understand that you are all fully capable of producing a state of utterly calm energy from within. Although I say “from within,” I also add that it is achieved through knowledge of all energy, without as well as within, an understanding of energy of good as unattached and free, as evolutionary, as all loving and compassionate.

If you can find this description of energy to be understood within your mind and body, by accepting your experiences of it, you will have achieved the intuitive first step in knowing that energy exists as a pure state, which you are fully capable of accessing, now, upon that earth. In fact, this is the whole point of becoming spiritually awakened and evolved.

In channeling experiences, and in many other forms of spiritual encounters and experiences, in out of body and dream exploration, for instance, you gain access to the energetic self. These processes are your training. They have been training you your whole life. To realize and acknowledge this and allow such experiences to grow, accepting them as more than just coincidences but true wake up calls, is a true deepening of your energy process.

To find the self in a place of utter detachment allows for a greater understanding of pain and disaster. I see your world from that different perspective of utter detachment and, not only that, I also experience it from the energetic standpoint where nothing truly exists as you know it. You see, all that you perceive and experience visually, emotionally, and physically, etc., only exists in your reality and only for the time that you exist in it. As you are given experiences of other realities, energetically, as you describe with Pat and yourselves, you are offered true knowledge of the unreality of your present reality. You see?

In such moments, you are shown the truth of energy as pure experience, unattached to what you perceive right before your eyes. Your reality melts before you as you access experiences of pure energy. And, if you can allow the self to hold onto the reality of energy, as Pat did, you are offered enlightenment related to the energy that truly exists for you, in you, and all around you. It is an experience of the interconnectedness of all things, as liquid energy, rather than the solid world you normally perceive and experience.

When I enter your energetic fields and unite with your liquid energy, I offer you access to experiencing interconnectedness. You may experience it as utter calm, as loving energy like nothing you have experienced before, but, if you think about it, you will recognize it as utterly familiar. In accepting its utter familiarity you will reconnect with your own ability to access it more fully, knowing that you are also it, that you are liquid energy, at all times.

I know this is not quite as plausible when you are fully immersed in the cold reality of economic and social upheaval, war, disaster, and the natural calamities such as that which now exists on the island of Haiti. I know that life as you experience it is rarely liquid, but once having felt it you will understand the truth of it as another reality. It may not be easy, but if you can accept it as true fact, it will become more accessible. Your interactions with energy will broaden as your own experiences show you the melting point, the moment of disappearing into pure energy.

At such moments, your challenge is to consciously state, so that you track your experience, that: “I am going into the liquid energy field now. I am experiencing the interconnectedness of all things. I am energy.”

In such a state, you will have a glimpse, or longer, of what it means to be unattached energy. You will have clarity of your world. You will understand the greater interconnectedness, the meaning and purpose of all life, all experience, all disaster, pain, and death. You will simply know. And it will be as utterly familiar knowledge, even as your experiences of my energy have been, as interconnected energy. In recognizing this familiarity you will gain in energetic experience and you will become more fearless in your pursuit of it.

I ask that you open yourselves to such energy, liquid or otherwise, by asking for it, by requesting help, by trusting that you are fully acceptable to those of us who are waiting for you, by accessing your innocent self, as Pat does, as your trusting readers do, trusting that you will receive energy in return.

In death, liquid energy is accessed, all is known, and release from that which so holds you and confuses you is achieved. This is what you are describing and experiencing now in life, and to have such experiences, while in that reality, is your ultimate spiritual goal and achievement. It allows for greater growth as a human being. To access liquid energy, true loving compassion, and the utter detachment of such energy, is a gift showing you what you truly seek in that life, leading you to the true self, the utterly familiar energy self. Ultimately, it is leading you to knowledge of how to utilize that self more fully in your life. Eventually, you will discover, as Chuck asks, that this energy self is fully within your grasp. You just have to allow your self to trust that this is the self you seek, even though it may require that you detach from so many beliefs and perceptions of the world you live in, difficult and disintegrating as that detachment may be.

In life, as in death, you have access to liquid energy. You have access to clarity, to knowledge, to complete understanding, to love and compassion, in the broadest sense imaginable. And that is what you must remain open to, a new idea of your entire world, both without and within, now, in order to access that which my energetic companions and I so readily offer: pure energy, interconnected and fully available. But this is so only if you can believe it, and that is only achievable if you allow for experiences. Experience is your true test of everything, as it is mine.

In conclusion, I offer that in collusion with you upon that earth I too am allowed expression of my current state and I thank you for being open and asking for me. I will come to you; to all who ask. How I come will be right for each one of you.

Trust your experiences. Trust you own energy, and then experiment with it, without fear, for there is nothing to fear. But you already know that!