This is a little late getting out due to storm damage in our neighborhood. Finally found some internet! The November Witch’s wind came through last night with a vengeance, just as news of the attacks in France were coming through. Jan’s brother in France reports that he is safe, but in the meantime there is a lot of tornadic energy still out there.
On Thursday night, Jan had a numinous dream in which a huge energetic force sucked all energy from the earth, destroying all of nature, revealing what lay buried in the depths of the earth, a large coiled cobra. Then a giant tidal wave came and washed over everything, bringing a new order. Jan stood calmly as all of this took place around her. After the tidal wave she calmly walked away, followed by the cobra, to higher ground, but all that had been was transformed. The valley that had been a river was now the ocean, transformed from the personal to the universal. This is what Jan understood as important now, the new world order is universal love and compassion.
Today’s Soulbyte is twofold, urging deep reflection and a change of attitude.
Universal Guidance:
It is time for all beings to be who they truly are: loving, compassionate beings, to not go to the side of fear, anger, or despair but to remain solidly on the side of good. There is no other path if mankind is to resolve and solve the dilemmas of the world. Hatred breeds hatred. Fear needs fear in order to relish victory. Good will bring good, compassion more compassion. Love is needed. Let it begin with you. Now.
Personal Guidance:
Notice how the body wants its pleasures in spite of what else is going on. It asks to be taken care of in the usual manner. It wants. The ego tries to take over and set things right, to assert itself to gain balance and remain practical. But where is your spirit and what does it want? It knows there is a higher calling for all beings and there is no time like now to align with that.
Want your life to change? It’s up to you. Change can’t hurt you. The only thing that will hurt you is ignoring it and the passage of time. Your time is important. Do something with it. Don’t waste it. Make the most of it. Educate yourself. Learn about yourself. One person’s change is another’s gain. This is the truth of the energetic essence of life. Now and forever, you are energetic essence too. Everyone is. Discover what that means. And then live it.
This is your time. You are there upon the earth now for a reason. Otherwise you would not exist in that realm. Find your reason, but more importantly find yourself, your greater wholeness, who you are beyond your physical body. You are so much more.
Your time is now. Use it wisely and well. It’s important that you do. You are important. All beings are important. The time you spend in that life is important. Find out why. There is no other greater challenge, except to find your wholeness, who you really are. Who are you and why are you there? That’s what your life is all about!
At a certain level of reality, I and We become One. Growth might be defined as an ever-expanding realization of our essential Oneness. In the meantime, we grapple with the discovery, ownership, and coordination of our many parts.
Who is really in charge here? – Photo by Jan Ketchel
Within the self of every “individual” are many parts: some known, many unknown, and still others disowned. Psychology has coined the terms conscious and unconscious to differentiate between those parts that we know about from those that we don’t know about but also are.
At the center of the known self—the seat of consciousness—is the ego. The ego has many “parts,” including the “face” it shows the world, called the persona, as well as a younger child state, and an adult state. Each of these parts has its own ambitions, needs, and motives. Being conscious “parts” allows each of these centers to have relative accessibility to awareness. That is, we are basically familiar with these states of being. They may, and often do, squabble among themselves.
For instance, the persona—the actor that we present to the world—often sees itself as the true self. The fact that I am a psychotherapist is indeed a real part of me, however, it is not the whole of who I am.
In another example, the adult ego, with its capacity to plan, organize, and make things happen, may trump the needs and desires of its child part, who wants to play.
The permutation of struggles at the ego level alone are staggering, particularly when the parts become tricksters in their maneuvering.
Trickster is a character who has an ulterior motive, a secret ambition or intention that powers its behavior. Trickster has little interest in fairness, cooperation, or consciousness. It’s goal is to get what it wants.
Trickster may be intelligent and cunning, or foolish and obvious, but trickster definitely does not play by the rules. Nonetheless, if we are willing to slow down the action and reflect, the trickster in all our conscious parts can be identified and a resolution to contradictory motives becomes possible.
However, when we approach the depths of the unconscious mind the plot thickens, as trickster can allude all but a very determined introspection.
The unconscious mind, all that we don’t know of who we are, is composed of countless layers. The uppermost region houses all that once was conscious but for a myriad of reasons has been erased from conscious awareness. Here we find many traumatic experiences, as well as parts of the ego-potential deemed unworthy of development.
Traumatic parts have a life of their own and often function as tricksters bent on being discovered by the conscious mind. For instance, a news item on TV might trigger an intense emotional overreaction, brought on by a traumatic memory insisting on being consciously redeemed.
Similarly, rejected ego parts—forming what Jung called the shadow—may function as tricksters by projecting a compelling but distorted perception onto the motives of a friend or foe that actually reflects the true feelings of the rejected inner part but completely distorts outer reality.
As we go deeper into the unconscious mind we encounter what Jung called the anima/animus parts, the contrasexual components of the psyche, unrealized at a conscious level. These parts have their trickster ability to project themselves in powerful attractions to people in the world that distort completely who they really are. These trickster entrapments form the core of many troubled relationships.
At the center of the unconscious mind is the Self, the CEO of the entire psyche. The role of the Self is to establish balance in the entire psyche—conscious and unconscious. The Self is the higher power of the psyche. Ideally, the ego center of the conscious personality will subordinate itself to the dictates of the Self, which has the interests of the greater whole in mind.
Unfortunately, the ego often takes on its own trickster side, subverting the true needs of the Self, using all its power for decision and free will to accomplish its own aims.
If the imbalance thereby generated is too extreme, the Self counters with its own trickster side and generates symptoms of fear in the ego, such as an agoraphobia, where the ego can’t leave the house. To rein the ego in, the Self can also create psychosomatic symptoms, such as panic attacks or physical illness, to interfere with the ego’s willfulness.
The Self might also generate dreams that preempt the ego’s control through a terrifying nightmare that restores the waking ego to humility.
Yup, that says it all! – Photo by Jan Ketchel
The difference between Self as trickster and all the other personality parts as trickster is its selfless intentions. The Self seeks unity and balance as its aim. When the other parts of the personality employ the trickster, it generally reflects a power play to meet individual needs, often at the expense of the greater needs of the overall Self.
The Self is only forced to become the trickster when the ego refuses to listen to its guidance. When the ego, like a good General, looks to the Self as Ruler, the Self responds with supportive guidance, energy, and freedom from symptoms.
So, trickster to trickster, stay in alignment with the Self, a much smoother ride to wholeness!
Good or bad, light or dark, that which you refuse will always find you. What you ignore will one day come knocking, asking you to take care of it. Sooner or later, that which you choose to bury will dig itself up and come after you. That which you fear will appear and have to be dealt with in the end. If you do not take care of the things that life drops in your lap now, you will have to come back and do it all again, with the same things needing to be faced. How many times do you want to do it? Some would say that it’s “now or never.” How about you? What do you choose? Now? Or in another life?
