It’s a new day! Why wait for something or someone else to come along and wake you up, carry you forward, or present you with what you desire? Why not wake yourself up, move forward, and pursue your dreams? What do you have to lose? It’s your life. Own it. Experience it. Be it. You will soon discover that there’s nothing like being you and living the life you are in. You’ll discover that you had so much in you all along, untapped, unused, unexpressed and unexplored. It’s never too late to get a life! And how do you begin? Within. Decide within and act without. It’s that simple!
We must begin by assuming personal responsibility for the world’s current dream. Last week, I proposed that we are in the Time of the Usher, the dream changer. That lead role mysteriously fell upon Donald Trump.
Our very own Petty Tyrant! – Art by Jan Ketchel
If we face the deeper truth that our world is spinning out of balance and requires a radical shift to survive, perhaps we can appreciate why we have called upon such a ruthless sorcerer from the dark side to usher in change. This sorcerer fits the bill of what the Shamans of Ancient Mexico call the petty tyrant.
Petty tyrants rank as extreme narcissists and psychopaths who wield the power of life and death over others. For shamans, encounters with petty tyrants are fundamental to their training. Most importantly, since tyrants lack any capacity for empathy for the cruelty they perpetrate upon their victims, shamans are offered a golden opportunity to lose their self-importance when dealing with them. Those indulging in self-pity under the reign of the petty tyrant exhaust their energy quickly and unwisely, as the petty tyrant has absolutely no concern for their needs.
Instead, shamans learn how to hone and revamp their energy, wasting none in seeking sympathy or validation for the hardships and cruelty directed at them by their petty tyrants. This energy saving training has the secondary benefit of preparing them to face future onslaughts from the unknown.
In this time of changing dreams that we are now experiencing, we are all at a distinct advantage, as it is very clear who the petty tyrant is. We can choose to stand up to him, by deciding to have all our energy available to meet the unexpected challenges and shifts that are occurring daily, with a minimum of energy expense.
Shamans ultimately seek the defeat of the petty tyrant but realize that getting caught in the traps of indignance and being offended both exhaust energy and cloud the ability to observe and plan strategically. The bigger the tyrant the greater the challenge to preserve one’s energy and stay centered on the task. This is the position of the assemblage point that the shamans call the place of nopity. This position requires extreme mindful presence without ego attachment. The only question to ask oneself is, what is the appropriate action now, all personal attachment removed from view.
Since January 21st of this year I have limited myself to one minute per day of taking in the news. I came to this practice after observing the energetic impact that one hour of news was having on my energy as I went through the day.
Donald Trump, our news tyrant, seduces with outrageous antics and threats, which literally suck the energetic life out of a person. The emotional volatility evoked, and the attention given, literally feed the tyrant entity, who clearly has an insatiable hunger for attention.
I observe a tremendous energy savings with my one minute per day limitation. Each morning, I quickly receive the bullet points of necessary information, intentionally avoiding the trappings of emotional reactivity and seduction to track, think about, react to , and talk about the stories that are circulating in the news throughout the day—all energy-zapping practices. As a result I am free to decide if I need to do something or if I can just move on.
I don’t spend my energy on worry, fear, or rage. It simply depletes too much energy. Being offended by Trump is a waste of energy! Refusing to give him the attention he feeds off of, starves him of my energy and I get to keep it for myself. Having detachment from his outrageousness allows me to see clearly and to strategically navigate now.
Thus, I see Trump’s role as the usher, who has disrupted the familiarity and security of our world, as the role of the petty tyrant as well. He offers himself as the one to help us hone our energy and prepare for the real changes that we will invariably face as the world changes dreams again.
It’s a dangerous situation! – Photo by Jan Ketchel
Please don’t misconstrue my perspective as a benevolent casting of Donald Trump. He is a tyrant and he is dangerous. Many people will be and have been crushed by his ruthlessness. However, the world must evolve now into a new dream in order to survive, and the silver lining in Trump is that, though he appears the antithesis of survival, he has had the ability to interrupt the status quo of the world. This interruption of energy flow is a move of a sorcerer and it allows us all an opportunity to hone our own energy and prepare for the challenges on the horizon. These challenges may be hastened by Trump, but they hardly originate with him.
The deeper dream we are leaving is the self-centered dream where it’s all about “me” and “us” (U. S.)! Trump’s embodiment of that dream is the catalyst for the new dream, the one centered at the heart level: the real truth, transparency, and all-inclusiveness.
For us to prepare for this new dream, we must learn the economics of saving our energy resources by losing the self-importance of being offended and raising our consciousness to the truth of the heart.
The heart stays in alignment with the soul/energy body—spirit—call it what you will, but it is that divine center within us all that tells us the truth, the real truth, and whose guidance will lead us forward into a truly sustainable dream, the dream we are really preparing for, a heart-centered world dream.
Things are happening! This is the time of change you have been waiting for. Keep up with it. In your own way support it and supplement it with your own changes. Even incremental change matters. Just look around you at the way nature is changing every day, the hint of spring in the air, the buds that dare to form, the nesting birds, the return of that which was so deeply asleep waking up now. Wake up too, for these are the changing times. Plant a seed of change within the self and nurture it through all the phases of growth. That’s how to change, one small step at a time. And put some energy into it too! The whole universe is supporting you!
Stay contained within the self. No matter what happens outside of you, in your own world or in the greater world, maintain your own center. Chaos does not deserve your attention nor can it be controlled. The only control you can exert is within the self. Hold onto the certainty of the self as autonomous. Hold onto the certainty of the power of the self to bear any tension and be the calm eye in the center of the storm. Stay focused on your ultimate goal. And what is that? To evolve, of course! Remind yourself often that this is life’s true challenge, to evolve with awareness and to do it every day in some way!
We are very pleased to announce the publication of Volume 4 of The Recapitulation Diaries.
A book rich in psychological and shamanic content, Place of No Pity takes the reader in vivo into the experience of disentangling sexual abuse from one’s identity and true sense of self. Additional themes include familial relationships, mothers, fathers, detachment, dreams, and shamanic experiences, as well as the strange and fascinating course that recapitulation can take as it unfolds in everyday life. Intimate and revealing, Jan does not hold back but takes you into her life, her psyche, her dreams, and her deepest struggles. It is a powerful book, rich in offerings whether one is doing a recapitulation, helping someone through the turmoil of trauma, or simply interested in the workings of the psyche, the body, and the spirit.
As a friend who read it during its editing stage said to Jan, “As usual, you grab me with the first sentence!”
All of Jan’s books offer validation and insight to those who suffer, especially those who have been traumatized by childhood sexual abuse, but most importantly they document a process that has the potential to lead to a complete revamping of the self. For Jan this meant, in clinical terms, a complete healing from complex PTSD resulting from sixteen years of childhood sexual abuse.
Given the raw nature of the experiences described in her books, we advise caution, as the contents of the books can serve as triggers to memories or experiences that may not be consciously available. Perhaps this may be the time to read Jan’s books, but it may just as well not be appropriate at this time, so reader discretion advised. This is not a book for children and even adults must proceed with caution.
Published under our own imprint, Riverwalker Press, all of Jan’s books are available in both paperback and e-book format through Amazon. A complete list can be viewed on her author page, J. E. Ketchel. Please don’t hesitate to “look inside this book” on the Amazon pages.
Though we ask for nothing personally, if you feel so inclined as to write reviews of our books at Amazon you may directly impact the life of another being. We personally know that comments made by you, our readers, have indeed led people to find recapitulation after many years of searching for a means of healing from life’s deepest woundings. So, we thank you on behalf of the many who have benefited from your insight and reflection!
