Jan Ketchel channeling Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Dear Jeanne,
The signs of autumn are early upon us this year in the Northeast. The leaves are changing their colors and dropping to the ground, the grass has mostly stopped growing and after a dry summer the spiders are coming into the house looking for warm crevices to winter over in. Our personal activities, conscious or unconscious, reflect this time as we prepare for the darkness that now comes earlier and earlier each day. Perhaps we notice this incremental change in season more strikingly this year due to its early arrival. Perhaps we are at an age of appreciation for the chance to draw inward once again after the warm and largely external lives we have led during the summer months. As Chuck wrote about, this is the time of Po, of breaking down and dissolution, yet it does not carry sadness with it, only the looking forward to what comes next as we enter a time of turning inward with the prospect of deep reflection and study ahead.
The moon, recently shining so brightly at night, stresses that this time of death and dissolution is also brightly lit, that there is indeed light in the darkness, and if we allow ourselves to wake up during the night we see that everything we experience in the day is still there at night, though illuminated by a different light, thus allowing us to see it differently too. In the night and in the darkness we have the opportunity to explore differently if we choose to wake from our slumber and look into that darkness. This is all metaphor for doing inner work, of course.
I can’t help but notice that nature is setting everything up for us, perhaps a little earlier this year because nature itself requires that we human beings become more innerly focused and reflective over all. It is telling us that it is time once again to face our personal darkness and resolve our inner issues so that when the spring comes we will be in synch with the new life all around us. No matter what happens to us or to the world over the next few months new life is certain. That too is the insight of the time of Po.
With all of that in mind, Jeanne, what message do you offer us human beings at this time of preparation for turning inward, as we enter a new phase? Whether we like it or not we must go inward now. I feel this strongly on a personal level, but also perhaps even more strongly on a universal scale. Great change in the human race feels pressingly required and exceedingly important. I feel we are truly being confronted to do the work of transforming ourselves. Within each of our inner worlds we have the opportunity to do this work. Then the challenge becomes bringing it into our outer worlds. This is a long monologue leading up to asking for your guidance, specific to this time, which is both personal and universal. What guidance do you offer us today and in the weeks ahead?
Metaphor, My Dear, is a fine vehicle for teaching, yet at this time it is most important that practical and pragmatic decisions be made or your inward turning will have dire consequences. It is a time of staying in reality. Even though, as you state, it is of utmost importance to accept the darkness that comes creeping into your awareness, so is it equally important, if not more so, to accept the fact that you cannot go into that darkness unprepared.
What do you mean by “dire consequences?”
To be unprepared for the onslaughts of the inner world could lead to shutting down, to fear, to disaster. Be always conscious that the outer world reflects the inner world, but be also conscious that beneath the cold earth the seeds of spring wait patiently, holding in the energy of new life. However, one must prepare for that which is present at each moment until that time of birth. One must guard one’s energy in a healthy manner and go forth, not haphazardly, flippantly, or inflatedly, but soberly, with focus on the moment in hand, at all times.
You must, each one of you, prepare for what lies ahead. You already know what that means. You cannot have lived even a few years upon that earth without recognizing the change of seasons. Now however, as adults, you are more aware that you must be responsible for the self. You must be as the animals in nature that have been busily preparing for this certainty of darkness, of cold shutting down and hibernation; their entire lives revolve around this activity. They are conditioned to this moment, for it is as important as the fact that they do live. Without this instinct to survive there would be no new life.
As adults, your natural instincts must now be brought forth. Where is your own instinct to not only survive but to do so with impunity, impeccably, but also with desire to be your natural self?
As you prepare for the time ahead, as the season changes once again, remain aware, alert to the behaviors of the self that have become so natural to you but are not in fact nature at its core inside you. Inspect your process for habitual tendencies that do not actually have anything to do with the true desires of the self, with survival, or with inner work. Inspect your inner nature for what it truly needs to be doing to prepare for the time of inward turning. Your true nature, your spirit self, absent of society, of ego, and of attachment to the things of that world, might actually surprise you with what it truly wants. I can guarantee that it wishes for expression in some manner.
Do not “think” about this expression, do not give it tools, but allow it access to life simply by intending, by opening the doors of your mind and your physical self without judgments, without old ideas or behaviors, but simply allowing the self to “know” that this spirit self exists. And the other thing is, do not think that you know this side of the self, because you don’t. You may have inklings, you may hear it calling, but you do not fully know this self, because it has not yet fully lived. In order to live fully it must be released and that is a high order.
In order to prepare for your inward months of spirit work, you must balance that time in practicalities. You must prepare for the winter ahead. Do what you must in your own world and environment to set yourself up for this time. In all matters be pragmatic. At the same time, question your automatic reactions, responses, and habits. Do things differently now, by allowing your conscious mind to disseminate that which has not been working for you so that you may be open to the guidance that will come from your new acquaintance, your spirit self. Allow yourself to flow naturally during this time, by both accepting the changes in your outer world, without sorrow and attachment, but also by acquiescing to the quiet stirrings of your inner process.
Do not reach for the normal comforts of the darkness. Reach instead for the discipline to stay present with what your spirit shines its light upon. And do not pretend that you are safe in your world, because that is too complacent. Instead, challenge yourself to be constantly alert and aware of the fact that nothing ever stops challenging you. Be as aware as the animals that predators lurk all around you. They may be as familiar as your own habits, or they may be as foreign as disaster striking, but do not for a moment pretend they do not seek you out. You are not special.
This is a time of closing down, yet is it also a time of confrontation with what comes next. This is where your adult self and your spirit self must remain alert and cognizant as they confront each other in the darkening light and challenge each other to lay down their arms and sit at the conference table for a long conversation about the truth of the self. This is the meeting that must convene in order for change to become acceptable, for this time to be productive, and for each one of you to offer the self transformative work.
Come to your meeting fully prepared by being open and nonjudgmental. Allow each part of the self to speak. But, the number one rule at this conference is that only the truth be spoken. It may take a while to reveal that truth, but it lies at the center of your world, waiting to be discovered like the seed in the ground.
Autumn is inward turning time. Begin your preparation for a long winter’s meeting. Consciously or unconsciously you are all headed there. It is your choice in how you approach this time. I wish you the best of luck. I wish you openness, but above all, I wish that you may face your truths fearlessly, honestly, kindly, and lovingly toward the self.
Please feel free to post comments or respond to this message from Jeanne in the post/read comments section below.
Offered humbly, in service.