#569 Chuck’s Place: Ultimate Health Care

September 12, 2009 Chuck Leave a comment

Welcome to Chuck’s Place, where Chuck Ketchel expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences! Many of the shamanic and psychological terms used in Chuck’s essays are defined in Tools & Definitions on our Psychotherapy website.

This morning, as I pondered my topic for this blog, I struggled to find a clear focus. I opened Castaneda’s Wheel of Time to page 165 and the following: “The human form is a conglomerate of energy fields which exist in the universe, and which is related exclusively to human beings. Shamans call it the human form because those energy fields have been bent and contorted by a lifetime of habits and misuse.”

What is the relevance of this quote to now?

The shamans contend that we generate our world by contorting energy into habitual patterns which then encapsulate our lives. In so doing we lose access to possibilities beyond those habitual patterns. As I observed the health care debacle this week, with its enactment of good and evil energies, which I previously wrote about in Darkening of the Light…, I pondered the habitual category health care, a major component of the human form.

When Jeanne and I first confronted her diagnosis of breast cancer, we were seized by the conventional wisdom of health care that demanded immediate surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, etc. Due to a fated pause, having to wait for an appointment, we were able to step outside this powerful habit and examine its energetic consequences from a place of calm sobriety. As a consequence we chose to by-pass the conventional habit, as its energetic contortions were simply unappealing. The components of the conventional habit consisted of submitting to accepted procedures and treatments that debilitated, poisoned, and weakened; rendered the individual powerless; appeared at root to be driven by greed as it carefully and thoroughly discredited and shut down possibilities for cure outside its rigid categories; and defined cure with an illusory cloak: five years of survival. Obviously, many people take this route with success. However, for us it was not energetically viable.

We chose instead to be guided by the intent to heal, synchronicity, and the conviction that everything is possible. Our journey is well documented in The Book of Us, but the end result was both magic and death. We are beings who are going to die, yet we spend the lion’s share of our energy preserving our bodies through obsession with the habit of health care in a very narrow sense. Meanwhile, we miss the real show: our inevitable energetic transformation into infinity. What is the state of our energetic health care? Are we prepared for this transition? Have we discovered the true purpose of our life? Have we accomplished it? Have we achieved completion? Are we ready to evolve beyond the human form, or must we return due to incompletion?

Jeanne’s transition was sheer magic. She not only achieved completion, but was able to forge a channel of connection to those who reside in human form. This she accomplished through her healing efforts in this world as she stepped outside the poppy field of conventional health care. I am reminded of the sage comment made by Dr. Incao, an anthroposophist who we met early in our journey, that sometimes real healing requires death.

Many look at Jeanne’s outcome and see failure, after all, they observe, she died! I myself have been judged by some as delusional, the product of pathological mourning because I communicate with the dead. These judgments are the guardians of the conventional human form, encased in its wall of rationality. After all, the dead don’t continue to communicate to the living, that must be the product of some form of delusional wish fulfillment! Sometimes my own rationality can emerge strong enough to entrap me in a mood of doubt, with its tempting invitation to return to the comfort of the tried and true human form. I had such a moment earlier this week when I questioned everything that has happened over the past eight years. That night I had the following dream.

I am with Jeanne. We have met a couple with a teenaged daughter. We walk about, freely sharing our unconventional journey through the cancer world. This young daughter suddenly stops and states: “I don’t agree with what you’ve done, and you should be careful, not talk so freely.” The dream progresses. Jeanne and I are to be married. We are older. We go to a doctor who lightheartedly asks if there will be witnesses at the wedding. He is considering foregoing the required medical exam before marriage when he realizes that there has been illness, hence an exam is required. I am immediately frightened. Once he examines Jeanne we will be discovered; all our unconventional treatments will be exposed. Then I realize, the whole time we have been out and about Jeanne has exposed her neck. Her collarbone on the left side has two deep holes in it, shaped like a double-barreled shotgun. Apparently, I had forged those holes as part of her treatments, and they were deep. Jeanne had been exposing them the whole time, quite carefree, without embarrassment, no concern for infection; in fact, she displayed them almost like ornamental jewelry. I thought maybe we should fill the holes. As the doctor started to undress Jeanne, I suddenly became aware, with great amusement, that she is dead! It didn’t matter, the examination was immaterial. With that I awoke.

Is she really dead? Am I too uncomfortable standing behind the energetic facts of our journey? Does my rationality prefer that I fill up the channel we achieved? I believe the dream was a course correction for me, Jeanne reminding me of all our truths, most importantly the two-way channel we have forged between worlds. The guidance that flows through this channel from Jeanne in infinity has opened up the possibility of an expanded configuration of the human form, which corrects its limited habits and misuses. What’s more, she raises the focus on health care to a new level, that of energetic health care, with its practices supporting the successful completion of life in the human form and continued evolution in infinity. This would be the passage of the ultimate health care reform bill, which is completely in the hands of each individual.

As usual, should anyone wish to write, I can be reached at: chuck@riverwalkerpress.com or feel free to post a comment.

Until we meet again,
Chuck

Messages from Jeanne

#568 Take Out Your Magnifying Glass

September 11, 2009 Jan Leave a comment

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
In the last message you reminded us that we are energy beings seeking evolution through our human experience and you urged us to REMEMBER this at all times. Many people who we work with remarked that this was a very good message for them to receive on that day. Today is the eighth anniversary of the fall of the World Trade Towers and other acts of destruction in America, a day when you still resided in your human form. As we try to hold onto our awareness of ourselves as energy, we continue to be confronted with very real and challenging experiences here on earth, such as you battling breast cancer eight years ago and the attacks on America. From an evolutionary perspective, what should we remember and learn about our human condition, physical and otherwise, as the anniversary of this day is once again noted?

Take a magnifying glass to the self today. Look closely, and then more closely, at the evolution of the self over the past eight years. I myself, Jeanne Ketchel, have evolved since that great day of transformation. Many suffered on that day as many suffer each day. Do not take it out of context, for it was a most propitious and dreadful day in America and New York City and it continues to hold both mystery and sorrow, but turn away from the engineered sorrow and look more closely at the feelings and issues of the self as related to the time span of eight years.

In my own time I lived upon that earth but a few more months, already aware and noting that I was on a journey that would move me beyond the human experience. Although I fought until the very end, with my loving husband, My Chuck, at my side, I did not turn one moment from knowing that I was a being who was going to die. And did I die? My human form did die, and had already begun a process of decay, but my energy form did not die at all. The shamans whom I learned from reminded us always to retain awareness of our deaths, that yes, we are going to die. As you look upon your selves on this day, today, look for significance of the self as an evolving being. Look for what you have learned about the self as an energy being. Look for what you now have learned about death, evolution, awareness, and the understanding you have gained about life upon that earth as well.

You are a being who is going to die. I died. Yet did I also pass on to new life, as did all those who died upon that momentous day eight years ago. I urge you to treasure the life you live, but do not lose sight of your moment of transformation, whether it comes quickly and abruptly or slowly and ploddingly. Your moment of death is your moment of transformation, release from human form and the issues and problems of that human form, but it does not mean that you are done with life, for life continues.

Today I pose these ideas:

1. Remind your self, each day, that you are an energy being. This will aid you as you experience the unexplainable and the mysterious happenings in your life.

2. Remind your self that you are a human being who is now living upon that earth in order to learn certain things that you alone must learn. Your job is to learn what those lessons are and to resolve them.

3. Remind your self that you are a being who is going to die. In so doing may your awareness be captivated by this thought in order to turn your focus back to your physical form and the life you are living, refocusing you on your tasks.

4. Each day, ask your self: Am I learning my lessons, seeking the answers that I alone must discover for my own evolution?

5. Remind your self, each day, that the people in your life are necessary for your growth. Look around at who you have closest to you. What are they teaching you? Who else is present in your life who is your teacher, your guide, your protagonist, your catalyst to deeper understanding of the issues of the self?

6. Remind your self that although your journey is very important to you so are you very important to the journeys that others are taking beside you. Are you a good partner to those who travel through life with you? Are you learning what it means to be loving and compassionate to others, as well as the self?

7. I also urge you all, My Dear Ones, to never forget that you are upon that earth for other reasons besides growth of the self. Each one of you has other tasks. Each one of you has something to offer humanity. This may be something quite simple and beautiful, such as joy and light-hearted vigor, or it may be a serious and quite distinctly darker task, though equally beautiful in its necessity. Each of you is asked to evolve the self in human form, seeking always to discover what more you can do upon that earth to change it, so that evolution may take place. I do not mean to charge you with a task that you are not ready for, or to push you to do something for the sake of doing. No, you are each charged with discovering the true task that is yours alone, done without ego attachment, but purely for the evolution of others. Many of you are already doing what you should be doing.

8. This is the final thought that I offer you today: Are you truly fulfilling your destiny, the destiny of your spirit in human form? Do you dare to accept it, flow with it, and allow it to show you your true purpose in life?

Once again, I urge you to take out your magnifying glass and upon closer examination of the self as energy, physicality, ego and non-ego alike, ask the self: Who am I?

Messages from Jeanne

#567 Two Things to Remember

September 9, 2009 Jan Leave a comment

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Today, I leave the door open for you to speak about what you will. Where are you?

I am right here, for the asking.

What do you offer us today?

Today, I speak of the past and of its treasures and symbols, its signs and meanings, and of its desire to become known so that it may eventually become integrated and spent, no longer a place of regret or sorrow, but a place of former passion and understanding, a place fully reconciled and brought forth into who you are now, an evolving being.

To become more fully integrated in your life now, and to fully accept your self as an energy being, it is of vital importance that you resolve the issues of your past that still cling to you, keeping you weighed down. The past may be your present life’s issues, yet to be recalled or dealt with, or they may be issues from past lives held over for resolution in your present life. First, you must find out who you are now, gaining a fuller picture of your true self and your true desires for growth. Once you have found the truth of the self as an energy being and accepted that you are more than just blood and bones, so will you be ready to venture further within the self, discovering that your life has indeed been one of learning how to function as an energetic being, even while you have been learning to function as a human being.

The charge you give your self with each lifetime upon that earth is to integrate these two selves, so that you may attain a balance and complete a lifetime in full awareness of the self as an energy being upon a journey of meaning and awareness, integrating your many lives in order to complete your cycles upon that earth as a mature spiritual entity. Do you not look around you in wonder? Do you not seek something greater than the daily life you live so diligently? Do you not feel your energy stirring inside you, asking for you to allow it to express itself more fully each day?

The energy of the self does not reside in the human body alone, but utilizes the human body as vehicle into many situations where it may explore its capabilities. While you sleep and dream, your energy is exploring. While your mind is busy conjuring, your energy may be elsewhere occupied, without your knowing. While you are looking for something to occupy your self with, so is your energy also on a quest.

My purpose in returning to the two themes of the past and your personal energy is that these two items are of utmost importance to an evolving being. Awareness of the self as having lived many lives for the purpose of spiritual evolution must be attained and retained. Awareness of the self as energy must also be attained and retained. Gaining a clear picture of the self as an energetic being, having lived many lives in order to learn these two things, may be quite challenging to grasp for some, while for others it is, and always has been, quite apparent. It does not matter which category you find your self in. The main issue is to allow the self to gain this clarity but, beyond that, to recognize it as true. The greatest challenge then becomes to hold onto this clear picture, at all times, to remember: I am an energy being who has lived many lives!

To remember this at all times throughout your life is the challenge of each lifetime. For if you can hold onto this clarity of self as an energetic being, living a life in order to learn to evolve, then your opportunities for advancement will be presented with greater clarity and your issues needing resolution will appear with greater clarity as well, leading you to the means of integration of human self with spirit self.

I suggest that there are many ways of seeking integration of self, but without fully accepting the self as an energy being, who is on a journey of evolution, all of your seeking will have little consequence. All of your seeking, without clarity of what you are truly attempting to achieve in that lifetime, will get you nowhere.

I do not mean to imply that the work you do as a human being will not advance you, for in each lifetime, as I have said, you do advance. But I do contend that without clearly understanding why you are advancing, and what you are advancing to, your journey will remain a mystery and life upon that earth will be repeated. Clarity of the self as an energetic evolving being must be achieved. It must be clearly stated and remembered in order for a truthful journey of awareness to become an evolutionary journey.

I intend to challenge you all with my messages to seek not only clarity of the self, but also greater clarity of life around you. Do not close your eyes to what is happening around you, nor shut your self off in some temple, or church, or remote self-serving place of withdrawal, for then you do not challenge the self to fully live the life you now have upon you. Understand that the times you choose to live in are as much your own challenge as any one else’s. Become clear on why you are there upon that earth at this time. Find your way to trusting the reason you have elected to live the life you live and, with that trust in the self as an evolving being, find the truths of the self for now that will lead you to your deeper meaning and purpose.

Why are you there? What must you learn? What must you give to others to help them grow and evolve? What must you remember, and what must you never forget, about the self? What deeper secret will lead you to clarity of the self?

It is necessary for each one of you to provide the self with the intention of maintaining clarity of the two main points I stress today:

1. you are a human being living upon that earth for a reason, and
2. you are an energy being who desires evolutionary growth.

Maintain your clarity of the self, and the world around you, though the outer energy may seek to override your good intentions and test your ability to remember that clarity is key. I ask you once again: Who are you?

News and Notes

No Message Today

September 7, 2009 Jan Leave a comment

Dear Readers,

We are taking a day off today, Labor Day in the US. The next message will be posted by noon EDT on Wednesday, September 9, 2009. Last week’s messages and Chuck’s blog were pretty full of interesting info and ideas, so we know there is a lot to read and ponder.

Until we meet again,
Jan and Chuck

Chuck's Blog

#566 Chuck’s Place: Jung, Alchemy & Transformation

September 5, 2009 Chuck Leave a comment

I wrote this blog on Friday morning as Jan sat next to me and channeled Jeanne’s Message #565. Jan and I are always struck by the magic of synchronicity, as Jeanne’s themes are reflected in my own flow of thoughts. Perhaps calling my thoughts my own is a bit presumptuous!

It’s hard for me to sink into Jung’s works without becoming completely enchanted with the depths of his discoveries. Suddenly, everywhere I look I see with clarity (I think!), the pearls of wisdom he illuminated. I have encountered critiques of Jung from well-established authorities in the field of psychology who consider his exhaustive studies of alchemy of little contribution to the needs of modern life, in fact, a complete waste of time.

As I see it, the major problem of our modern psychology is the focus, in one form or another, on ego psychology. Rationality has become the one true God of our time. Connection with that God means the ability to actualize our goals, satisfy our needs, and find fulfillment in love, career, and family in this life. Modern psychology researches the brain, seeking techniques and drugs to manipulate and maximize its beneficial functioning to serve the fulfillment of the ego’s reasonable goals. Isn’t that, after all, the meaning of life?!

Jung, on the other hand, was a deeply spiritual man. Though the son of generations of Protestant preachers, he experienced no value in dogma or Christianity as it was espoused and practiced. For Jung, Christianity’s handling of the dark side of God left mankind helpless in reconciling the dark side of his own nature and left him constantly at war, projecting evil upon, and seeking to eradicate it from, his neighbor. Jung explored the depths of what it means to be human, taking on the challenge of becoming conscious, and reconciling the oppositions within human nature.

In one of Jung’s early dreams he saw the heavens opening up, dropping excrement upon the towering spires of the church. This dream represented both God’s attitude toward the one-sidedness of the church as well as offered the missing ingredient to its wholeness, the dark side. This dream was the foreshadowing of his life’s work and its parallel to alchemy. Jung’s opus, like the alchemist’s, was to begin with the black substance, the nigredo, which, buried deep within, contains the jewel. Jung termed this transformational process, individuation: the individual’s journey to claim his or her true, real, whole self and, in that process, union with God within.

Jung’s psychology is a far cry from ego psychology with its limited aims. For Jung the purpose of life is to fully discover and embrace the totality of the self, to find completion in wholeness. In his own encounters with his own guides, who were ancient alchemists, in a process he called active imagination, Jung was led into the laboratories of those ancient masters and shown the secret practices of the adepts as they subjected the nigredo to a series of chemical processes to arrive at their gold. Jung realized that through the psychological function of projection these alchemists were undergoing the processes of individuation that led to wholeness. He studied these processes, with their deep transformational qualities, and recognized their relevance to depth psychological treatment. This was his gift to us: resurrecting the spiritual wisdom and transformational practices of the alchemists for our modern times.

I am struck by the parallel contributions of Carl Jung and Carlos Castaneda in this respect, as both have left us the benefits of ancient wisdom and practices in a format applicable and usable in our time. However, as don Juan cautioned, pursuing sorcery (or alchemy or individuation) requires guts of steel. It is not an intellectual road or one to be pursued out of curiosity, though they can lead you to the doorstep. Herein lies the reason for the secrecy of the alchemists: only the worthy may enter the laboratory. Worthiness, not in terms of ego achievements, but in a readiness to leave behind the world of judgments, that both torture us yet comfort us, by keeping us securely nestled in the womb of a known life, a world we can function in, however wounded and insecure we are.

The adept knows he is inadequate. It is a fact. The adept knows that no amount of ego psychology or brain manipulation will change that fact. Inadequacy, incompleteness, is the reason to take the journey into the unknown. We all begin as nigredo. We cannot evolve to enlightenment if we can’t embrace the truth of where we are and what we are, at every stage.

Furthermore, we cannot experience true transformation without a genuine experience of God, magic, infinity, etc… Call it what you will. This isn’t about belief; it’s about experience. Depth psychology subjects the ego to a series of processes to prepare it for its experience of transformation, in communion with God within. Ego psychology can only prepare the ego to commune with the limits of the God of reason; no transformation here, merely inflation supported by constructs and chemicals.

Which path do we choose to follow, the path of power (the ego) or the path of spirit? Jung gave us dreams, active imagination, and a humble ego seeking wholeness. Carlos gave us Tensegrity, with its own dreams and recapitulation. Jeanne gives us guides, signs, and energy. All of these practices are practices, if practiced, that offer the possibility of completion, wholeness, and infinity, now!