Tag Archives: awareness

#727 Awareness is Life

Jan Ketchel channeling Jeanne Marie Ketchel

Today Chuck asks a question.

Dear Jeanne,
The new seers of don Juan’s lineage determined that all sentient beings are granted life and awareness for the purpose of enhancing that awareness. With death they see a return or merger of that enhanced awareness with the source that originally sent it into life. How does this interpretation of life and death square with your experience?

What is key here in your question is awareness, for this is the essence of all existence, so I must state first of all that awareness is life, and as such there is no death. That must be established or there will be no understanding of passage from one world to another. Life itself exists in many forms and in many worlds, each life formulated to fit the needs and desires of the individual prescribed to mark a journey.

In other words, awareness/life fits many realms and individual beings for many reasons, but the most important is indeed to gain awareness so that further growth may happen. Personally, I have been on a journey of evolutionary growth, meaning that I no longer have desire or need to become human again, to embody that form. The world of human beings is one world, but there are other worlds. The last life I had upon that earth, though a deep struggle ensued, did result in my gaining enough presence/awareness to advance.

As you know, reincarnation is utilized for the purpose of enhancing awareness—or perhaps you did not know this—but in my experience the reason for life is indeed to gain new life, though this is not necessarily determined while in that world. But I will say that all life beyond that world is quite unusual!

In order to fully answer your question I must remain attached to simple facts, as follows:

1. Awareness is life, that which you cannot see but which you experience beyond the physical self and physical reality.

2. Death is not an end but a transformation leading to opportunity for new life.

3. Awareness, as individual life, does indeed merge with the greater awareness that is not individual but is all knowing. Yet does the essence of that individual (self) awareness remain cohesive forever. This is not to say that it does not change. An individual’s awareness must remain individual in order to garner enough information to grow.

4. The return of awareness to the greater source is but momentary, for with true growth there is no end of such awareness, no end of life.

To recap, I answer your question in the affirmative, yet do I also state that the experiences of each individual’s awareness will be personally relevant. The determination of progress will be personally necessary and challenging. Although the overall structure of a process may be similar, all individuals experience life and death most certainly for their own journey in the way that is most meaningful for them alone.

I do not like to speculate on an individual’s process or journey, except to promote learning of awareness, discovering the meaning of just that life, and preparation for that which is to come. Ignorance of or refusal of death is often attempted, but it is just not possible. Each individual is upon that earth for a set time and set reasons. Opportunities abound for growth, but choices must be activated and life’s vicissitudes addressed.

I realize I digress.

You do not mention the seers?

I do not ascribe to any group, as you know, except my own soul group. However, the seers had learned what all must eventually learn and their teachings are worthy of exploration. Learn wherever awareness waits for discovery. Find personal meaning, resonance, and direction. Face life without fear and learn, in so doing, to face death without fear, for they are but the same. Enhanced awareness, in carrying forth to evolutionary growth, will indeed find new direction upon death; that is certain.

A source exists for rejuvenation of purpose that will lead always to new life.

Please feel free to post comments or respond to this message from Jeanne in the post/read comments section below.

Fondly and most humbly offered.

A Day in a Life: Recapitulation & The “Not I”

Once again I take up the subject of inorganic beings. Last week, in Recapitulation & Inorganic Beings I stressed the importance of familiarizing ourselves with our own energy and being able to recognize the good inorganic energy that is present in our lives, such as my own connection to Jeanne, an inorganic being on a mission of aiding those of us who are seeking to evolve, whom I am energetically compatible with. I also stressed the importance of recognizing the incessant chatter of the mind as inorganic energy. Today, I write about another type of inorganic being from the seers’ world of ancient Mexico, energy that wants something from us. Though it also wants to teach us something, its main intent is first and foremost to find a means of attaching to us, the ultimate goal being to siphon our awareness, our energy, for its own survival. However, our ultimate challenge, in all of these cases, is to train our awareness so that we may be in a position that is energetically strong, grounded, utterly sober and pragmatic, so that we may be able to navigate all worlds.

In The Active Side of Infinity and The Art of Dreaming don Juan teaches Carlos Castaneda about the power of inorganic beings. He tells him that they exist as outside forces, predatory beings that seek control of human awareness. He calls them scouts, probes from the universe looking for awareness. They are always present in some form. As I wrote about last week even our thoughts are considered, by the seers of ancient Mexico, to be inorganic beings, which they call Flyers and when they are busy chomping away at us, our thoughts swirling and driving us crazy, they refer to us as being in the throes of the Flyer’s Mind. The only recourse we have is to learn how to manipulate them to our best advantage, but this takes work in strengthening our awareness. On page 217 in The Active Side of Infinity don Juan says:

“There are scores of outside forces controlling you at this moment,” he says. “The control that I am referring to is something outside the domain of language. It is your control and at the same time it is not. It cannot be classified, but it can certainly be experienced. And above all, it can certainly be manipulated. Remember this: It can be manipulated, to your total advantage, of course, which again is not your advantage, but the energy body’s advantage. However, the energy body is you, so we could go on forever like dogs biting their own tails, trying to describe this. Language is inadequate. All these experiences are beyond syntax.”

During recapitulation we are given the opportunity to train our awareness through re-experiencing our pasts. This is the ultimate gift of doing a thorough and fearless recapitulation; our awareness not only grows, but eventually becomes a seamless and natural accompanist as we navigate our lives. During my own recapitulation I often met inorganic beings in dreams, often frighteningly odd creatures that captivated my attention. One day when I mentioned them to Chuck he told me not to focus on them. “They are the scouts in the universe looking to grab your awareness,” he said, “and take you back to an old place, attempting to usurp your energy for their own use.” I took this very seriously. Don Juan basically tells Carlos the same thing in The Art of Dreaming. On page 28 he says:

“…Dreaming has to be a very sober affair. No false movement can be afforded. Dreaming is a process of awakening, of gaining control. Our dreaming attention must be systematically exercised…”

Lately, perhaps because I have been reading and writing about them, inorganic beings have been appearing in my dreams. In one dream, Chuck and I travel to a Mexican desert town by car. Upon arrival at a crowded bus station we come upon two strange men covered from head to toe with yellow dirt. I know that they have been fighting and that we are in the midst of drug-related gang territory, that everyone at the bus station is somehow connected to a drug cartel. Chuck tosses them a towel from the car so they can wipe the sand off. At this point my awareness kicks in and I am immediately cautious. It is then that I begin to notice that everyone in this town is odd in some way and many of the people have large pumpkin shaped heads on skinny bodies. I thwart my gaze so that I do not look at anyone directly. The dream goes on, but the point I am making is that my awareness took note of the oddness of the situation and without hesitation took appropriate action to protect my energy. As opposed to earlier dreaming during my recapitulation when my awareness would speak to me, saying, “Don’t look!” at such times (essentially warning me, as Chuck had, to not get caught), now my awareness and I are in synch.

In a second dream, a tiny naked man, about a foot tall, appears several times, crossing slowly and suggestively back and forth in front of me, obviously trying to get my attention. He looks like a tiny skinny naked Waldo from the Where’s Waldo series of books. Once again my awareness takes note and without hesitation, my guard kicks in and I shift my gaze. I do not focus on him, though at an earlier stage in my awareness training I might have been very drawn to his comical appearance.

In a third dream, my mother appears, looking very odd, her head large, her features distorted, acting in an uncharacteristic manner. I immediately know that the inorganic beings are trying to trick me. They know that we are drawn to attach to those who are most familiar, yet my awareness is immediately aroused by this strange version of my mother. I do not fall for the attempted trickery. Again, I turned my gaze downward and watch sideways through my eyelashes as this odd being does some exceedingly strange things, not at all like my mother in her true form. Eventually she meets up with two strange looking men whom she links arms with and the three of them go wildly dancing and skipping down the street, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz prancing down the yellow brick road with the lion and the scarecrow. Without attachment I turn away and go back into the dream that had been unfolding before I was interrupted.

In these examples, I stress the importance of being aware, of training our awareness. And how do we do that? The first thing is to understand the “Not I” of our dreams. Jung suggests that everything in our dreams is us, but he also cautions that we must learn about archetypal energy so that we do not get caught by it. In essence, he warns us to not engage the collective unconscious, inorganic beings, until we are ready, even though archetypal energy seeks us out all the time. As don Juan suggests to Carlos regarding inorganic beings: they exist all the time and they are trying to control us; which is equally true for the archetypes that exist in the collective unconscious.

So, by questioning what is “Not I” we begin a process of inner work that eventually will lead to recognizing the scouts, the inorganic beings that come to us in whatever shape or form they may use. Their attempts may be very personal, they may come in the form of our biggest fears or they may be comical, clownish attempts to attract our attention. We can begin training this aspect of recognition by intending this step before we dream or even before we begin our day. Perhaps a simple mantra will do: Please help me to recognize and be aware of that which is “Not I” in my dreams and in my life, or something like that.

The next step is to decide what to do about these inorganic beings once we do recognize them as “Not I.” Don Juan says that it is always an individual’s choice what to do with them, but he also cautions not to engage them until we have enough energy and awareness or we risk getting into trouble. As Jung suggests, engaging the collective unconscious without doing our homework can lead to psychosis. The dangers are that we might get fascinated by them, that we might get inflated and think we can handle them, or that we might underestimate them, seeing them as harmless and funny. It is equally important to not get frightened by them and run away. If we are indeed to gain awareness, we must learn to stand our ground. Here are some practical precautions, as inorganic beings approach in dreaming and perhaps in real time as well:

Don’t play with them.

Don’t stare at them.

Don’t draw them to you.

Don’t engage or speak to them.

Don’t throw yourself at something you don’t understand.

Be suspicious and cautious.

Protect your energy.

Learn to use the inorganic beings that appear in dreaming and in life to strengthen awareness. In strengthening our dreaming awareness we eventually arrive at a place where we can begin to engage what appears so strange and mysterious in our dreams, but from a place of power, just as we train our awareness to recognize the Flyer’s Mind in our everyday reality. This training leads to appropriate detachment and new stores of energy that we can then use for ourselves alone.

When we get to this place of strength, with enough personal power to navigate the world of the inorganic beings and the collective unconscious, when we are naturally more aware, acting from instinct and knowledge, our journey becomes fascinating rather than frightening. When we have worked with our personal energy, successfully contained and trained it, then are we ready to find out why the inorganic beings are present and what they are trying to tell us. For they do in fact have something to teach us, they come to challenge us, but they also want payback. They give, but they also take. There is always an exchange and until we are prepared and strong enough, we may get ourselves into trouble, caught in energy draining unawareness.

I have been aware of the inorganic beings in both my dreaming world and my everyday world for a long time now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get caught by them. Again and again we fall for their trickery, we let them entertain us, and we get caught in old habits of repetitive behavior that keep us stuck. There is always the opportunity to learn from them, but the first challenge is always the same, and it resides in the choices we make. For even though we may have learned to recognize the inorganic beings in our lives, we are still apt to engage them, inflatedly thinking that we can outwit them this time. Or even, as I have been doing in my dreams, avoiding them, perhaps because of an underlying fear of what they might have to tell us about ourselves, or because we fear they may take us into unknown territory.

Fortunately, being the seekers that we are, we eventually get the message that it’s time to confront our nemeses and take our awareness to a new level. And that is what I intend to do next in my dreams. At least I think I might do that, but of course I may decide at the last minute that I’m not ready yet, and that’s okay too!

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

Sending you all love and good wishes; and watch out for those inorganic beings!
Jan

NOTE: Books mentioned in this blog are available in our Store under the Shamanism category.

#694 Don’t Hold Back

Jan Ketchel channeling Jeanne Marie Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Today’s weekly message falls on what was once a special day for you, your birthday. I extend birthday wishes, though I know you are far from this world in that sense.

Several people have forwarded us channeled messages regarding what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico, to our earth, to the animals, to ourselves, to life itself. All of them contain the same messages that you have been sending out for all the years that I have channeled you, the messages that we humans have come far from our true energetic roots and lost our connection to nature, earth, and spirit. At the same time that such messages are traveling around the globe, and the messages for all of us to awaken are stressed, I detect a new sensitivity and desire for truth, realness, and for connection to what really matters. I, personally, have always felt that most people, behind their fears and facades, are spiritually hungry and driven, but it has not been conventionally acceptable to be so. As the world became more technologically advanced and plastic we have further neglected our inner worlds.

I also feel that there is a big shift taking place, and whether it is intentionally set by our deeper yearning for connection to nature and spirit or not, it is happening anyway. This is the message that is being spread: change is being forced upon you, so are you going to take up the challenge and change as well?

We have conversed on this topic many times. Chuck has also written extensively about it in his blog. Is there anything new you would like to say on the subject? Or is there some other special message you would like to express on this once special day? Happy Birthday, Jeanne!

The messages of change and alarm must continue to spread, for although you may intuit a slow demise of earth’s resources over the past century, so must you now all take note: this disaster is of far greater consequence than you can imagine. Your time upon that earth must now become an era of full consciousness, your masses awoken with bitter truths, as the blood of Mother Earth does spill upon the shores. But of far more consequence is the impact upon the balance of nature that has thus far been heavily compromised and contaminated, left far too long. Balance no longer knows its own definition for it has long tilted into decay. The resulting heaviness of such poor attention to the balance of nature shows how powerfully mankind effects his environment.

This is an environmental disaster that has long been pending so do not make it into what it is not. Nor is this a spiritual disaster alone, but a far-reaching reality of your world. Your world is utterly compromised in that region, in the Gulf of Mexico, where there is, as of yet, no true knowledge to either describe it or to halt it. The fact is that greed is destroying the very earth. Earth, in its far superior mode of reaction to cause and effect, will not cease to spill its contents upon the waters and the land.

The biggest truth is that shift has already happened. Do you not see that it is no longer pending? Do you not see that the time of waiting for something to happen has passed? The thing that once seemed so far off and remote has already taken place. You are all living in a new world now. That is what you must wake up to. The world is different now.

Did you miss the moment of shift? On this day that I once celebrated as my own moment of shift, I suggest that you, each one of you, look at where shift has occurred in your own life; for something has changed now, and you are forced into acting and reacting differently in all aspects of life as a result. Notice that you have been pushed to change for a long time now. Accept that this is true for you, but also accept that this is true for all human beings.

Begin now to speak of this shift, of this push to change and awaken to the inner self. Your comments will be fully reciprocated, for there is a new language of intent spreading like wildfire upon that earth. It is the fire of new energy boiling up out of the Gulf of Mexico, burning back the times of greed and exploitation to reveal the utter truth of what life upon that earth is really all about: growth, transformation, evolution, respect for all living beings, love and compassion, and, above all, a time of shift to a level of higher awareness and to knowledge of that which lies beyond.

Take into consideration the gifts you are now being offered to truly shift your own awareness, to see what you could not clearly see before, to seriously consider that your time there is more meaningful than you have allowed yourself to believe, and that now you are being forcefully urged to embrace it to the fullest.

Do not hold back. I urge all of you to fully express your spiritual energetic selves. The earth itself is showing you how, without attachment to the resisters or the pretenders or the fearful ones. Go for it. Be one with the energy of your new times. Energy is abundant, but it must now come from within. The answers lie within.

#692 Choice Matters

Jan Ketchel channeling Jeanne Marie Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Personally, I have noticed an increase in experiences of energy. About a week ago I had a profound out of body experience (OBE). I have also noticed that energetically speaking, in the outer world, there has been a lot of activity. There have been days when everyone seems to be angry. Other days everyone we meet seems caught in an old place, and other days everyone seems flowing and full of awareness. It feels as if this particular time in our lives, and in the history of the world, is offering us such power to change, to do things differently, and yet we hesitate. I am speaking of personal issues that arise to remind me to keep changing, but also of the issues of our own country and the signs of change that all of us are constantly facing. The main realization that I experience, energetically speaking and otherwise, is that we are not in charge, that a far greater force is asking us to acquiesce and flow with the true awareness that we are all energy beings. I believe this force is inside each one of us. When we slow down and experience it, as I did in my OBE, we feel enlightened, but then we go back to our daily lives, seeking to join that world of energy with the state of our crumbling world and we come up against so many impenetrable walls, walls of self-doubt, of judgment, of the need to be human, as well as the visceral memory of the experience and wonder of it all, of the magic.

I understand that acquiescence to energetic reality takes time. But I also wonder, are people really understanding that our energy experiences, such as an OBE, are the true reality that we seek and must turn to now? I don’t think I am making an uninformed assumption. I fully feel that not enough people are getting what it means to be energy beings, that which you speak of so often, what don Juan, Carlos and the women seers teach about, what quantum physics is about, and what the religions of the world sprang from: the fact that we are all energy beings caught in a fixed reality and that it is up to us to dismantle that fixation, whether by fault or on purpose, in order to “see” better. I believe we are now in the midst of that process of dismantling and it does not matter to God, or Mother Earth, or the energy of intent how we go about that. Our awareness must now shift so that we do not lose this opportunity to evolve, to flow with the earth itself, as change is more fully brought upon us. It is now imperative that we all make some drastic changes in our personal lives.

Can you comment on my feelings that, each day, we are being confronted with powerful energy alerts? Some days, we are asked to fight through them, to express our anger and discontent. Other days we are asked to gently flow, but, at all times, we are being asked to be aware of the energy around us and how it affects and guides us to evolve. We are, I believe, being shown, each day, what we must change about ourselves, whether those things are inner aspects such as judgments, prejudices, fears or denials, or whether they are how we choose to live in the world. I feel that it is time for all of us to face what we have created, both inside us and outside us. Can you offer your comments and guidance as to what we have become and where we should go now?

My Dear One, the world you inhabit, the world of everyday life, is but one reality, yet it is the playing field for your evolving self. I do not like to speculate because, as you know, choice matters and that is really the crux of everything that you speak of today.

Each one of you must choose how you will live. Is this lifetime dedicated to building a nice ego, to engaging in self-important behaviors of inflation, bullying, self-aggrandizing—all necessary aspects of learning what it means to be human? Is this lifetime dedicated to victimhood, to eternal big-babyhood, to sucking off the lives and energies of others? Is this lifetime a predatory life or a simple life of deflation and self-loss, or are those aspects simply building blocks to an evolving self in this lifetime? Have you presented your self with challenges that require you to take abrupt and mighty steps out of an old world and into a new one?

You see, you must first address your personal challenge. What is your personal challenge? Where are you caught? Then the next challenge is to discover the means of taking that giant step to a new level of self and awareness. You see, your assumption, My Dear Jan, that you and the world are one, on a similar journey, is correct. You would not be living at this time if the world did not reflect the challenges that you each, as individuals, face. Your world outside of you is your inner world vividly reflected, staunchly produced and accessible. It can be so easy to see how to solve the issues of that world and how everything is being done wrong, going too slowly or quickly, in the opposite direction from what you know is right, and, yet, can you turn your frustrations with that world innerly and accept the energetic consequences of the decisions you personally make each day?

Energy is energy. You are, each one of you, energy. What flows outside of you has the ability to flow inside of you and affect you greatly. You are in control of your own energy and everything about you is set up for you to learn this fact. You may not feel or admit that you are, though you so easily may see that the world outside of you is all set for change, and perhaps for total collapse. Energetically speaking, whatever happens to your outer world is good for it. Energetically speaking, the flow of life is being directed by the choices that have been made in that world. Your own life is flowing according to the choices you make.

I do not judge or hold attachment to that world or the choices of individuals, except to point out your teaching tools and your learning process. Abide by the laws of energy and you will learn about awareness, awareness as clear-seeing. Perhaps this may come to you in intuitive knowing so that your choices may be clearly shown to you. Perhaps your awareness may come in the form of puzzling experiences that you must need in order to better understand what you need in life. Perhaps you will only have full understanding by incremental learning, rather than bursts of knowledge too big to hold onto and fathom. Most humans need to learn in this incremental manner, for true energetic reality is too much to take in.

In answer to your queries about the energy around you in your world and the intensities you now feel, I suggest that you attempt a new measure of attention to what is happening around you, because it is indeed a significant time to be alive. But in your personal world, what are you supposed to be learning? What is your personal growth challenge at this moment? How can you change with the changing world?

Change is inevitable. Are you going to flow with it, or are you going to perish in the vast sea of darkness? Really, the choice is simple. You must ask yourself: What do I fear most, the energetic unknown or the old familiar darkness? In order to change, one must enter the darkness, but you must elect to take the journey. Oh, and by the way, no matter how you answer that question, the journey will be the same. You must face your fears and learn that they too are but energetic realities to be confronted and passed through on the way to the next level of awareness.

You must confront everything you need to confront, whether you elect to go willingly or kicking and screaming. Don’t you know that you are all going anyway? What else is there? You are all beings who are going to die. How do you elect to experience death? That is the next question to ponder. And don’t wait too long to decide. Get right on it; there is no time to waste!

#686: The Way of the Truthful Warrior: I wish to live! I wish to grow! I wish to be a fully functioning, aware, changing being!

Jan Ketchel channeling Jeanne Marie Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Today is Monday, the day I ask you for guidance for all your readers, those who have found you via the Internet or through other connections, and those who once knew you in this world. What would you like to talk about today?

I am inclined to discuss the world situation. Though I know many of you seek personal guidance, do not turn from what I say, for it will be personally relevant, that I guarantee!

In this time upon that earth great forces are at work. You may already be aware of many such forces, for you know and see much that is happening around you, but be assured that there are other unseen forces that partake in “the world of change” that is now where you reside.

It is not by happenstance or coincidence that you are there upon that earth at this time. That is what you must always strive to discover about the self. Why am I here? What is my purpose? Each one of you has a meaningful existence. At times, you may feel full of despair, full of sorrow or sadness, full of depression and even self-pity, but I ask that you always stay connected to the fact that you belong there for a reason. So, that being said, what is your reason for being there?

I turn again to the conditions that exist in that world, your world. I ask that each one of you take full responsibility for the current climactic, economic, and global political situations. I ask that you each decide that you, being an important member of the world community, resolve to also have an active part in changing that world. Those of you who are of like mind, like inner mind, use your energy now for greater change. You can change the world.

This is not an inflated statement meant to perk you up in an idealized fashion. This is the truth of what I speak of today. As far gone as you may think your world is, as I have said, there are other forces at work to correct it. These forces of good are the ones you must now energetically seek. Once you understand what they are and how they operate, you will find yourself more fully in tune with them. Once you distinguish what it means to be truthful, to be utterly aware of truth as it is spoken and utilized, you will find that your own connections to it will be more open.

The way of the truthful warrior must now become your own. This will lead you to greater self-discovery and greater attunement with the forces of good energy that abound, seeking to reconnect such energy upon that earth. With a simple shift and twist of awareness, of how you elect to view the world — your outer environment and your inner environment — you may begin to prepare yourself for this new path of connection. In asking the self to partake in life more fully, as an aware being of spirit and connection to energy, you will allow yourself to be ready for understanding and finding out what it means to be connected on an energetic level. The more you allow for such connection, the greater the flow of such energy toward you.

I ask that you do not despair at the conditions of the world you live in, My Dears, but that you commit to energetic responsibility and responsiveness to them, and to all that arises as a result of your personal life.

There are many forces that seek to hold the veils over your eyes, to keep your status closed and unaware, to keep you complacent and dark. Those forces are always present. You will not make them disappear, but you can push them aside. You can find the voice of self, within the self, and allow it to say: Enough of this darkness and confusion! I wish to live! I wish to grow! I wish to be a fully functioning, aware, changing being!

Those are words of enlightenment and hope to your inner spirit self. They may be the first words that allow you to shift, so that your personal view of the world broaden and opens up to the horizon where all possibility lies. Do you dare to part the veils that keep you from really seeing what you must? Do you dare to give the self its true purpose, allowing it to come forth? Do you dare to keep going forward, breaking through the barriers, no matter what? That is how you will change the self, and the world.

The world will not disappear, but it will change. Do you want it to change with you in greater despair? Or do you want it to change with you in greater truth, enlightening awareness, and in energetic discoveries that are now but like small buds upon the trees, waiting to be forced open by the energy of the light? Are you ready for that energy, too? It really is your decision.

In conclusion, I suggest that you keep in mind that life and energy are always present. Sometimes they just need a little boost. A little light shining through the darkness may be enough to get them shifting and moving out of the place that holds them still. Is this all that you need? Think about it, but better yet, shift a little.

Do something differently today. And then see what happens!