Respite

Dear Readers and Fellow Journeyers,

As much as we have enjoyed our schedule, and the ability to send you messages from Jeanne three times a week, we are looking forward to having a little break over the next week or so. We will return with a new message on Monday January 5, 2009, or perhaps before, depending on the energy.

As the year ends, and a new year begins, we extend our thanks to all of you for the past year of messages, questions, and contact, energetic and otherwise. May we find you well, as we shift into 2009, into a changing America, into a new world of possibilities.

Much love from both of us,
Jan and Chuck

#422 Who is Your Ancient Self?

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Do you have a message for humanity?

My Dear Ones, hold your selves accountable for your own journeys at this time and at all times. As you go into holiday time, take your complacency and activate it, so that your energy becomes like a compact vial of energy, available for you over time, as you learn new traditions, new rituals, and new processes of fulfillment. Do not expect the world to follow your example, but be a good example to the world of new habits, actions, and awareness.

Confide in your selves now your deepest truths so that your progress may not end as the year ends, but that it be allowed to flow. As I have spoken of often, so are you responsible beings who are learning detachment. Each one of you is being prodded to move forward, learning detachment from the old ways that no longer work, moving into new ways of acting, seeing, and trusting, in order to grow.

This process of newness must continually birth, in order for progress to be made. Do not lose your self in your old angers, your old patterns of behavior, or your nearly forgotten vicissitudes. Hold your self accountable for taking your journey along a new path. Idle not too long at the intersections. Avoid getting caught at the fork in the road. Do you see your old way? Well, simply choose the other way now, and your progress will be certain. Can’t quite recognize the old way, you say? Oh yes, you can! It will be so unrelentingly familiar and boring that there will be no doubt!

Keep these thoughts uppermost in your mind, in both your head mind and your body mind: I am committed to thinking, acting, and seeing differently now. I am in a new world, where everything is constantly changing. I invite myself into new life each and every day, as I wake up, as I move through my actions with purpose, contentment, and awareness of my abilities. I accept my new self as being perfectly capable of guiding me to accept my new paths. The choice is mine alone. I offer my new self as a gift to my changing being. The way before me is open and light. I am a changing being on a path of light, and that is all there is to it.

Find your equilibrium, your direction, your acceptance of your self as a new person each day. Allow your guidance to come from your deeply knowing inner self, as you see where the unfolding of life takes you next. I advise calm trust in this new self. See where you take your self as you allow this new person to lead you where you must go. Look at everything as a lesson, and then you will better understand what you must do. Do not accept your lessons as burdensome homework, but as intriguing research into detachment and growth in a new world created by and for you.

Each one of you is presented with a journey. Each one of you is being shown what that journey entails, each day, as you are presented with your choices. Allow your self to feel good about your life, as a true journey, full of challenges that are embedded in you from your ancient self who is pushing you to evolve. Your ancient self is just trying to get you to recognize this ancient side and to take the journey with it to fulfillment.

Who is your ancient self? That is the gift to give your self, as you continue your journey upon the road of life. When you give your self this gift of accepting and knowing of ancient self, so do you offer others in your life the same awareness that resides inside them. By your actions do you teach and learn. Be active; be aware of your power to change your own life and the lives around you. Accept your ancient self as your knowing companion, your guide who clearly sees the road ahead, who makes the right choices as you allow this side of the self to have a voice now.

Await your journey with wonderment, proceeding with confidence, taking full responsibility for your feelings, your choices, your decisions that will affect you and others. Give the gift of awareness. That is all you need to do. I love you all. You are doing very well!

#421 Free-Flowing Energetic Giving

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
The winter solstice has occurred. We now enter a period of deep winter in the northeast. This is, perhaps, a time of inner manifestation, after all our hard work. Do you have guidance for us, as we begin a new cycle?

My Dear Ones, look upon your life as always flowing. Even as you mark your calendars and celebrate the change of seasons, so is it important to note that life itself does not run on a calendar, but on its own fluid, fueling you daily as you encounter your challenges.

Continue acknowledging your own energy. By this I mean, no matter what is occurring outside of you, always check into your inner self. Whether in a time of celebration, reflection, or conflict, find always your inner anchoring self, and allow this self to speak true words of place upon that earth.

Your place is not really determined by the time of year, nor are your problems resolved, or your dreams manifested, by outer energy and circumstances. It is only through deep inner work that you will achieve growth, calmness, and the fluidity that makes for a life well done. Your attachment to the energy outside of you is beneficial, if you use it for your inner work.

I do not think I contradict myself when I say, that attachment to even spiritual wonders does not make you a more spiritual person. The only thing that will provide you with spiritual growth is your attachment to your inner self, your truth speaking and knowing self. This is where your attention must be placed, even as you energetically participate in good tidings for all.

You will stay bound to ritual and processes outside of you, rather than turn inward, if you refuse to look at your inner book of truth. Your time spent in quiet reverie, flowing with your outer joy at what life brings to your door, is far more useful than your perpetual desire to celebrate life outside of you.

Do you eschew ritual and celebration? That doesn’t sound like you.

No, I do not eschew the process of ritual, nor the celebratory days that lie ahead, but I do advise you to participate with your own meaning uppermost in your thoughts, as you proceed. Why do you wish to participate? Because it is fun, joyous, a moment of collective enjoyment and bounty? Those are all good reasons. But if you are not also taking responsibility for your own spiritual growth process, at the same time, then does such ritual and participation become meaningless and your energetic intent of little consequence. You see, your energetic spirit intent will only be powerfully affective when you have cleared the channel, so that it rides freely, without attachment to the ego, or to the ritual, but simply flows from you, easily, at all times, even without thought or preparation, because you have already spent your lifetime preparing.

Free-flowing energetic giving is what you seek, My Dears. You do not want to receive, but you do want to give in the most flowing of manners. This is your ultimate egoless process and achievement.

Even as you look upon your world differently today, aware of shift, of change, of a new season, question your inner self. What are you doing differently? What choices are you making to really shift and present your self with acceptance of truths you have elected to keep buried under the sands of time, the ice-coated mountains, concealing what you must some day accept about your self?

During this time of winter, I do agree that inner manifestation is possible. But in order for such progress, and acceptance of such inner truths, must you take your eyes off what and who is outside of you and allow them to turn to the problems of the self. It is a time for quiet now. It is a time for inner reflection. It is a time for deep digging in the caverns of your psyche. It is a time of pulling back the blankets, the veils, the layers you have coated your self with, in order to access your quiet inner self. Allow this aspect of self to guide you on its own terms now, unafraid, excavating your ancient ruins, finding your books of truth waiting to be pored over, as you sit in your warm homes.

Light your inner fire today, your inner lantern, and make a promise to enter the deeper places of self, still frozen in time, still difficult to access, still waiting to be discovered, thawed out, and explored. Do you wish to remain blocked by your frozen doors and windows; your ice caves? Or do you truly wish to know your self fully?

Now is the time to ask your self to turn your back to the cold, to point your light in a new direction of self discovery, recalling the rituals and the processes that have gotten you to this point. But now it is up to you to do something with the energy you have borrowed and with the energy you have cultivated.

Seek to sweep through your inner house now with light, with warmth for the self, with compassion, and understanding for the self too. Turn this time of giving and celebration inward, even as you give outwardly, so that you may truly achieve a state of total love, compassion, and giving, without attachment to wanting in return. Such a state of fluidity is only possible with deep inner work. As you begin to detach your self from all your previous agendas, ideas, and commitments, apply new ideas, changing with the times, learning just how little you really need in order to flow through life, totally giving.

#420 Chuck’s Place: Death, Impermanence & Evolution

Welcome to Chuck’s Place, where Chuck Ketchel expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences!

My name is Chuck Ketchel, and I am a being who is going to die. In the shamanic world of Carlos Castaneda, practitioners introduce themselves in this manner, reminding themselves, each day, of their limited time in this world. With awareness fixed on the reality of death, shamans approach each moment knowing full well it might be their last. This gaze opens the door to heightened awareness, seeing beyond the veils of illusion. Shamans constantly condition their energy bodies for their definitive journey into infinity, transcending reincarnation.

Buddha spoke of impermanence in much the same way that the shamans speak of death. For Buddha, our greatest challenge in this world is to free ourselves of attachment to illusions. What he meant by this is our incessant wish for things to stay the same, our grasping to hold onto permanence in our lives. We cherish our families, our homes, our loved ones, our possessions. We cherish youth. We don’t want anything to change. We desperately seek to hold onto life in this world. Our obsessions with health, disease, and cures, reflect our deepest wish to cling to life in our bodies in an unchanging world. For Buddha, this is why we suffer. We cling to an illusion of permanence, which shields us from entry into the greater reality of enlightenment. Hence, we must reincarnate until fully prepared to let go of our illusory props.

In her messages, Jeanne focuses on evolution. In fact, death, impermanence, and evolution are all equivalents. She has us focus on the subtle, as well as the dramatic events in our current lives. Whether it be an ice storm, a snow storm, a change of season, the collapse of a financial system, or entry into a new stage of life, we are constantly being prompted to awaken to change, and to evolve with full awareness.

Each day, we are challenged by changes that offer us the opportunity to let go, to detach, to die of an old way, and enter a new world. This is how we condition our energetic beings to develop fluidity, the ability to travel in infinity, without attachment to illusions. With fluidity, detachment becomes the ultimate expression of love. To allow oneself to be fully open to another, but equally willing to flow with the changes, unburdened of needy requirements, is living in free-flowing truth.

When Jeanne left this world, she invited me to continue to travel with her, in infinity. Since that time, I have entered and left several worlds. My capacity to experience deeper love has required me, and continues to challenge me, to let go of everything familiar, with an unattached heart, completely open.

If we allow ourselves to evolve in this world, we are already in alignment with the flow of infinity, flowing with death, into new life, each day.

#419 As You Await Your Winter Weather

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Do you have advice for us today? We have another winter storm approaching our area today and are expecting quite a lot of snow. What can we learn from our environment, as it changes again so drastically?

Be aware, by your weather related phenomena, that change continually makes attempts to shift your world. Each day are you given an opportunity to view your world differently as significant or subtle changes take place. Do you notice only the big ones? Are you not aware that each day is a new opportunity to awaken and accept a shift?

See your approaching snowstorm as impacting not only your outer world with new potential, but also your inner world. Do not sit upon your throne and think that you are safe, for always will there be something new to shift you from your stance or your secure place. You cannot sit upon your throne for very long, no matter how evolved or practiced you are in the art of inner work. I suggest that you allow your self to accept the process of life, the unfolding of life, the ungrounding of life, that occurs daily, in some manner.

What is going to unground you today? What is going to unseat you from your inner throne of secrecy and stubbornness? What is going to present itself to you, today, to further you along on your journey? There is something each day, and this is what you must be aware of. Each day is there a phenomenon, not only on your stormy weather days.

Your world is constantly shifting, changing, and growing. Your outer world shows you, in its quarterly cycles, in its constant birth and rebirth, that things change, and your expectation should always be aware of this impermanency. Nothing is sacred. Nothing is permanent. Nothing lasts forever, unchanging. Even the staunchest of human beings is forced to change, in some manner. Even the mightiest of mountains shift and displace. Even the subtlest of flowers lose their petals, eventually. The grass at your feet becomes covered with snow and ice, forced into dormancy, where subtle changes are still taking place.

As you await your winter weather, as you accept the inevitability of this process being forced upon you, contemplate your self as part of the process, not just put upon by it, but actually a factor in the process of change. You are no more or less significant than the frozen ground at your feet, forced into change by the very air. Are you not also forced into change by the very air you breathe? Are you not placed in a position, each day, to do something differently, as the unpredictability of life approaches you?

Do you refuse to participate in life? Well, life won’t let you sit too long on your throne, ignoring the fact that things change. Nothing stays the same. Even you who refuse to accept your journey, your process, and your unfolding, are, over time, subtly, slowly, changing. If you fight change, so do you drain your energy, fighting against an undefeatable enemy. Would you rather not retain that energy for your growth and acquiesce to the unfolding of your life, so that you may grow with energy, with enthusiasm, for your evolutionary plan?

It is impossible to predict your future. It is possible to decide to stay stagnant, upon your throne, no inner growth allowed to approach, no growth acceptable. But if you decide to do that, then will you suffer greatly in this life, falsely presenting your self as rich upon your finely placed throne. But in reality, your journey will be limited, boring, predictable. Eventually, your reentry into that life, that world, will be a certainty.

On the other hand, if you accept the impossibility of predicting and laying out every detail of your life, so do you open the door to real life, real growth, and lasting change. Yes, you are all going to eventually die. That I can attest to! But will you die an unchanged being, or will you die an evolving being? It is your choice to make.

On a day such as you describe, with the unpredictability of weather offering you a new perspective, shaking you up, so that complacency cannot be your decision, the very energy of such a storm is knocking some ancient instinct into your body, offering you insight into the process, the unfolding of life’s journey. Are you going to stay sitting upon your determined throne? Or are you going to accept the fact that, mighty and strong as you may be, so are you susceptible to change?

Why not invite change to you, rather than wait for it to shake you up? Why not speed the process by accepting the inevitable? You see it approaching, as you see this storm approaching. Why not allow your self to invite an inner storm to shake up your life, offering you something new? Invite a new perspective, a new feeling, a new possibility that beyond this moment, this day, this storm, are there many more days to come that desire to be lived differently.

So, to answer your question, I would repeat that it is advisable to keep in mind that nothing stays the same. Even as you see your outer world inevitably forced to change and evolve, do you not also wish your inner self to progress and change, as well? You can fight it, but why?

Use your fighting energy for change. Flow with life’s inevitable changes as they are presented to you, offering you the answers to your questions, offering the opportunity to use your energy differently. You are being offered a grand shift. You are being asked to stand up to your usual process and look upon the inevitability of change. Then accept your part in it, delight in your part in it, and love your self for your part in it.

I offer you also this caveat: if you allow your self to accept your process of change, your energy will lighten as you release your burdens placed upon you by your expectation that things can never change. As you allow your self to accept that of course things can change, if only I will accept change, your life will become an adventure, rather than one storm after another to fight against. Now, that may be all you need to see it differently. You see?

Chuck Ketchel, LCSWR