Jan's Blog

A Day in a Life: Dreaming with Jung

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Speaking of dreams, as Jeanne does in her message today, I had a second dream encounter with C. G. Jung. Once again we were sitting opposite each other with the enormous gray boulder hovering between us, about five feet tall and oval in shape, that I wrote about in my blog the other day. I have been puzzling over the meaning of the boulder, in waking and dreaming life, since I first dreamed about it and I have a pretty good idea of what it might mean.

In this second dream, I am asking Jung if I got it right: “Have I figured out the meaning of the boulder?” He suggests that, yes, it might mean that, or it might mean something else, it could mean many things. He repeats what he said in the first dream: “It may not be what it appears to be!” He does not give me a straight answer and I am slightly frustrated, but curious at the same time.

“Look again,” he suggests, and as I peer closely at the boulder it turns into a gray balloon, equally as huge and imposing as the boulder. I instinctively know that it is filled with liquid emotion. “I get it!” I say, but then the balloon turns into a gigantic papier-mache pinata and I instinctively know that it is filled with trinkets of meaning, symbolizing many things in my life, past, present, and future.

“You see,” Jung says, “it can be anything that you need. Each day it may be something different, depending on what you need.” And again he suggests: “Look closely. What is it?”

At this point I wake up and I understand that the boulder is indeed no different than the mirrors, reflecting exactly what I need, and that, yes, as Jeanne suggests in today’s message, patience is a most necessary component of inner work, taking each dream, each day, as it comes, with whatever it offers.

Have a great weekend! Look for Chuck’s blog tomorrow. I am sure he will offer something interesting to add to our dreams.
Jan

Messages from Jeanne

#645 Patience: You are Dream & Dreamer

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Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
What is the single most important consideration for us to keep in mind for today, and in the weekend ahead, as we do our inner work?

The single most important consideration while you engage in inner work is PATIENCE. Everything takes time to unfold, to show direction, to become clear in purpose, meaning, and pertinence. You, each one of you, are an unfolding dream. Each one of you, each day, lives out another part of the dream of your life. Each day, another segment of who you are, where you are going, and what you most need to do to evolve is dreamed.

You are an unfolding dream, moving forward in your lives, and that takes patience. Patience asks that you notice. It asks that you pause to consider the events in your life and the effects they have on your inner life. It asks that you fully understand that you are the dream and that, as such, you are an unfolding process in itself.

Accept the self as dream and dreamer and you may more fully understand the holistic nature of life upon that earth and your own life in particular. Dream patiently today and tomorrow and the next day, My Dreamers. Dream patiently.

Messages from Jeanne

#644 Mirrors to Boulders

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Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Yesterday, in my blog, I wrote about being bored with the mirrors theme. I think it’s a great visual to work projection from but, personally, I want to move onto another part of the inner work process. When you ask us to do our inner work it’s nice to have a variety of visual tools, at least that’s what I think. As I wrote about yesterday, in a dream, Jung presented me with a huge stone, a big gray boulder, and for some reason I don’t find that as boring as a mirror. Do you have some advice or guidance around enacting a shift in our inner work, which is really all that I was desiring?

My Dear One, you asked for a shift and you got a rock! Now that is quite funny! But seriously, in order to do inner work one must accept what comes to guide you and this is what you must remain open and alert to. It is not in the act of peering into the mirror or studying the boulder that you will grow but in taking what you find into your inner world and using it in a new manner that will aid you.

In spite of what is outside of you, all inner work requires an investigation of how you operate both inside and outside. In comparing these two selves you may arrive at what you need to do each day in order to shift in your progress.

I do not mean to bore you by suggesting that a mirror is appropriate to use at all times, but you cannot get away from the fact that mirrors exist whether you like them or not. Your own big boulder is also quite a mirror, for in some manner will you find your self in it, your diligent and curious self to begin with. I have no doubt that you will find your boulder as boring as mirrors after a while, and then what will you need in order to shift?

You see, the shift you desire is for deeper work and, yes, the challenge is to take the next step into a new part of the self, but how will you know where to go if that self is not yet revealed? In her dream, Jan has been shown the next part of herself. But in order to find it she had to be ready, and to ask for it. This is the process I suggest that you all attend to when you are ready to move beyond your current position. Just remember the following two things:

1. You must progress at your own rate.

2. You must learn to read the signs in your own life, for they will arrive to guide you in the most individually pertinent way, for you alone.

Look not for what someone else receives as guidance, but wait patiently for your personally meaningful gift. It will arrive in a most particular way to show you what to do next. And you may not understand it at first, but just wait, eventually you will, and it will hit you over the head with a big AHAAAA!

NOTE: When I had finished with this channeling Chuck decided, since today is his thirty-sixth wedding anniversary with Jeanne, to “pull a card for our anniversary,” as he put it, referring to the satin bag from their wedding day, in which Jeanne had stored many of the cards they had given to each other and received from others over their years together. Hoping to receive a “special” anniversary message from Jeanne, Chuck instead pulled a card with a picture of the Peanuts dog Snoopy on the front, wearing a sad expression, saying, “You’re leaving!” It was a good-bye card from the people Jeanne had worked with at Kenneth Clark’s research foundation as she prepared to go on to grad school. So, I guess, in keeping with Jeanne’s message of today she is giving Chuck just the message that is right for him to receive on this day. She is saying that, once again, she has left to go on to new learning and that you can’t go back to old familiar nostalgic places. It’s not where new life is. And you know what, it is exactly where he himself is; ready to move on to new learning! AHAAAA!

Jan's Blog

A Day in a Life: Mirrors Again!

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I must say, when Jeanne began talking about mirrors again yesterday, in Message #643, I was disappointed, to say the least. To put it bluntly: I am sick and tired of mirrors; totally bored with them. When she replied to Soul Trecker in Message #640 that she did not need mirrors anymore, I thought: Yahoo! No more mirrors! Because no matter who Jeanne is addressing, the message always pertains to me. (I know many of you also feel the same way.) But then I was left with the dilemma of what would replace the mirrors if, in fact, I did not need to keep using them as a means of doing my inner work. So last night, before going to sleep, I sent out a dream intent, asking to be shown what to do now that I am bored with mirrors, projection, and reflection. This is what I got in dreaming:

I am in a room talking with C. G. Jung. I am telling him that I do not want to work with mirrors anymore, that I am bored with them. Suddenly, a large, gray, oval shaped boulder appears between us, hovering in the air a foot or so off the floor. “What?” I say, “A boulder! What is the significance of that?” Jung says: “Man and his Symbols!” referring to his book of the same name. I am clearly disappointed by this enormous and ugly rock and Jung, seeing my disappointment, says: “It may not be what it appears to be!” I reply: “What does that mean?” I peer closely at the stone and in the upper right quadrant I see a tiny white shell embedded in a slight indentation in the boulder. I wake up.

Clearly I am being shown something. At first, I thought of the boulder as a symbol of some insurmountable blockage or issue, or perhaps representative of something that I perceive as ugly or disturbing in my life. Then, I thought that perhaps it represented the archetypes and I found this more to my liking, feeling that I was being given the answer to my dilemma around working with the mirrors theme. Jung was telling me to look into his book for the deeper symbolism and meaning of the stone, but I also thought that he might be suggesting that I now turn to studying my archetypes more deeply. I also thought, as Chuck mentioned when I told him this dream, that perhaps there is a diamond inside the stone, but that remains to be seen.

Fortunately, we have a copy of Man and his Symbols, which is written by Jung and several collaborators. The chapter in which I found the symbolism of the stone discussed is written by Marie-Louise von Franz. The stone, she states, coming from many different sources, can symbolize the SELF, the experience of something eternal at man’s innermost center, something that can never be lost or dissolved, and the psyche of man, among other things. There is the alchemical stone, the Philosopher’s Stone, the Blarney Stone, to name a few, and, personally, I have always been a collector of stones, special stones with special meanings. Basically, in my dream, I was given an undeniably direct answer to my quest for something to work on: The Self! Of course, this is the same thing that Jeanne constantly guides us on as well, and I am always grateful for her guidance, but I have felt a need to shift away from the mirrors, but I wasn’t sure what else I was looking for. Now I know what I have before me.

I can still see Jung chuckling at the sight of the giant boulder he had conjured up, laughing at his cleverness. I know that he didn’t really give me anything new to work on. It’s still the same work, and I know I still have to deal with mirrors, but for a while I can take a closer look at the tiny shell embedded in the stone and I can find out what else the boulder holds. Is there more on the surface to discover, before I chip away at what is possibly inside? Or is it going to be my job to polish the surface of that boulder, until I can see my face reflected there, the self revealed, once again, in a mirror?

It will be interesting to see what Jeanne has to say tomorrow, because I am going to confront her on the mirror thing. In the meantime, I’m going to see what else my dream is trying to tell me.
Until tomorrow!
Jan

Messages from Jeanne

#643 Working with Mirrors

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Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Do you have a message for us today?

Seek your balance within. When I suggest working with mirrors, I infer that you are looking at your self in reflection. The first step to consider is to give a vote of thanks to those who offer you the reflections in your life. And remember, everyone in your life is a mirror. Those thanks must be purely extended, without blame and attachment, simply stated. You must achieve the inner knowing that will allow you to release those who pose in your mirror and freely accept the lessons of self they present.

Are your mirrors facing you squarely? Are they turning and walking away? Are they stubbornly turning their eyes away or their backs on you? Are they smashed by you, or another, shattered in bits and pieces, for you no longer wish to be presented with what they show you about the self?

In inner work the most important step is understanding the true meaning of the people in your life. The true meaning may not be to your liking, but until you are ready to accept the aspects of self they represent your mirrors will continue to test you.

Today’s inner work will require much outer work, for that is the energy that is appearing to teach you now. Ask the self to look in the mirror from a new perspective. Ask the self to suspend all judgments regarding the mirror image. Ask the self to be gentle and fair, knowing full well that everyone struggles as deeply as you do, though neither you nor the other may be aware of just how deeply, for all approach issues of deep pain, sorrow, and fear in many ways.

Your trick to play on the self today is to ask the self to pretend to be another, to look closely at this other as you peer into the mirror. You have been missing something about this other self. You are not seeing what others see. What is it you are not noticing?

Be gentle, non-judgmental, and fair as you look at this other self. Step out of your body momentarily and take a good look. You will hear a word or phrase that describes what you see and feel as you quietly and lovingly take in the person you see. Look with loving compassion on the other self today and give your self a gift. Ask the self for no more trickery, no more pretend. “Let’s be real in all aspects of life. Let’s be together on this journey, neither for or against the self or others, but journeying companions.” Kiss the face in the mirror. Wrap your arms around the person you see. Merge the two selves a little bit more today and, with a truthful pact, begin the next step in your process of growth and change.

It is good energy for change. Look for it in your life. Even though you may not find it there, it truly is present. Tilt the mirror slightly for that new perspective on the self. That’s all you need in order to find the catalyst. Accept your truth of self and take the next step with it firmly, truthfully in your grasp, and work it.

Chuck Ketchel, LCSWR