Category Archives: Chuck’s Blog

Welcome to Chuck’s Place! This is where Chuck Ketchel, LCSW-R, expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences! Currently, Chuck posts an essay once a week, currently on Tuesdays, along the lines of inner work, psychotherapy, Jungian thought and analysis, shamanism, alchemy, politics, or any theme that makes itself known to him as the most important topic of the week. Many of the shamanic and psychological terms used in Chuck’s essays are defined in Tools & Definitions on our Psychotherapy page.

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: How To Be Empowered Now

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Begin the empowerment process within…
-Artwork © 2025 Jan Ketchel

The ancient Hermetic principle, as within, so without, is the formula to access the power of the subconscious mind. The thoughts, feelings, beliefs and psychological complexes we house and incubate, through our mental preoccupation, become our as within. The subconscious mind is the creative matrix that then molds and materializes this inner state into the so without of our physical lives.

Could it be that simple? Yes! The utter simplicity of this powerful ancient formula is largely responsible for its underutilization, at least with conscious awareness and intent.  The subconscious mind has actually been running the show for all of life on earth, since its inception, under the direction of the instincts and archetypes of the collective unconscious.

It took the evolutionary advance of the birth of ego consciousness for humanity to become willfully capable of overriding instinct, thereby becoming empowered to take charge of its own destiny. With this advance, humans accessed their potential to direct the subconscious mind. The old powerhouses of instinct and archetype still exert a mighty influence upon the subconscious mind, but the ego can intentionally override these laws, even if it’s not in its best interest.

The subconscious mind engages that which most impresses it. To impress the subconscious mind, the conscious mind must truly believe in the power of the subconscious mind to manifest its suggestions. Thus, the subconscious must be approached with firm confidence.

Without this level of conviction, the ego’s desires are too watered down, mixed with too many thoughts and feelings that weaken its attractive power. When this happens, the subconscious becomes far more attracted to select the established, habitual patterns it keeps in storage, as opposed to going with a novel new suggestion that may, as of yet, lack the potency of the old.

For centuries, this latent ability to direct the subconscious mind through conscious intent has remained largely hidden from the masses of humanity. Arguably, the power of the subconscious mind in the hands of an immature or unscrupulous person could spell catastrophe for that individual, as well as the world at large.

Religious institutions have barred their flock from owning this divine power by socializing their congregants to live and judge themselves by strict moral dogma, with a stern warning to remain obedient to divine law rather than thinking independently for themselves.

All religious traditions place a premium on modesty, with folk traditions instructing one to knock on wood to placate the evil eye, or ken ayn hora, the wrath of an Almighty toward one who assumes Its power.  But what if we are actually the arm of that power, living and expanding the full experience of all that is?

Economic and political powers scooped up the discoveries of modern psychological science and autosuggestion to control people’s beliefs and behaviors through the advertising industry. This major outer influencer has largely taken over the direction of modern life, as its suggestions are internalized as one’s own, becoming the stuff of one’s incessant internal dialogue, or default autosuggestions.

The current state of the human mind has also been dominated by rational thinking, which actually parted ways with spiritual traditions a long time ago and installed reason as its sole godhead, casting a huge shadow of doubt over supposed mystical powers.

Even the thought of truly being able to manifest one’s life through suggestion to the subconscious mind is largely doubted and dismissed by the vast majority of humanity. Such has been the hegemony of pure reason.

State of the art modern neuroscience informed treatment of mental illness, for all its contributions, has anchored the mind in the materialism of the brain and the central nervous system. Science dismisses the energetic world of the soul,  and with it the power of the subconscious mind to manifest dramatic change. “Just a placebo effect” is its assessment of that which it can’t materially pin down.

The current state of the world is the true backdrop for the coming of age of one’s latent power to intentionally and mindfully create both one’s inner and outer world. The mind’s domineering fixation upon rationality is rapidly devolving into a chaos of near collective madness, bringing sanity itself to the brink of dissolution.

Frightful as this existential reality is, it’s the price for the pushing upward of new life. The pushing up of new life from beneath the earth is driven by its yearning for the sun, but does require a powerful effort of the will to prevail. The sun is the light of consciousness.  If we employ our energy in the direction of higher consciousness, we can discover our power to create our personal and collective worlds. Create within, create without.

First, we must make the monumental effort to discover and befriend our psychological complexes. Carl Jung coined this term to represent clusters of emotionally charged ideas, feelings, and memories that can operate outside of conscious awareness and significantly impact a person’s behavior. When unresolved, these hidden complexes keep us stuck in the automatic repetition of our habitual thoughts, behaviors and beliefs.

To begin the process of resolution of these hidden complexes, ask, with passion, that your subconscious mind connect you to the guidance of your High Self. Ask it to lead you through a journey of self-discovery that uncovers fully the complexes you harbor.

Such a recapitulation journey reveals these hidden parts of the self and asks you to bring them into unity with the personality, through the total knowing and accepting of their existence and experiences. This inner discovery process follows its own unique yellow brick road, as every day a magical dream or synchronicity of some kind reaches out to your conscious awareness and asks for exploration.

We must trust the way of the subconscious mind as we are led through this journey. This unification, or individuation, of personality results ultimately in the conscious mind being able to make a decisive suggestion to the subconscious mind, freed of the sabotaging effect of old, hidden parts.

With this new unification of personality and conscious intent, the ego is freed to fully and passionately imagine its wildest fantasies fulfilled, often in movies it generates in the mind. The subconscious then utilizes the substance of the energetic, subtle dimension of life to create the prototype that will gather in energy and density as it moves the dream forward to full physical realization.

Thus, at the subtle dimension is a new substantial reality that invites us to be patient as the next stage is realized, and as we express gratitude to the infinite intelligence of the subconscious mind for the realization of our dream. Once we have envisioned it, that dream is already a reality at the subtle level. For this reason we may state its completion as fact, even before its full physical manifestation.

As often as is right, dream your dream. Feel the joy and gratitude of its completion. State, clearly, your intention, with unbending intent. Relax. It is done. This is how to be empowered now.

Go discover the magical gift waiting for you today!
Chuck 

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: The Caldron Of The New

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Please Note: My next weekly blog will be published on July 8th, as I am taking time off from my writing schedule. Jan’s Soulbytes, however, will continue to be posted daily.

Do the good work of the caldron…
-Artwork © 2025 Jan Ketchel

Recently, I consulted the I Ching to provide clarity and guidance for my readers as they navigate the next couple of weeks of these uncertain times. I was presented with hexagram #50, The Caldron, with a moving line in the second place. The future of this configuration is hexagram #56, The Wanderer, or the state of being in transition.

A caldron is a cooking vessel used to prepare food over an open fire. In ancient China, huge metal or ceramic caldrons were used in temples to prepare food offerings to honor the ancestors, as well as heads of state and those of wisdom, who contributed their guidance on such an important occasion as the birth of a new dynasty. This huge cooking vessel served the spiritual transformation of a nation, a metaphor quite apropos for our time.

The Caldron is also an alchemical vessel that contains and transforms a volatile mix of opposing energies into a delicate balance. The elements that build the pictogram of The Caldron are fire beneath water. Fire is the active, heated masculine energy that is absorbed and tempered by the calm, receptive feminine energy of water. This artful womblike handling of polarity gives birth to new life in the form of steam.

Steam is the resultant transformation of water into a new state of energy that can  power an engine or provide cleansing in purification practices. Psychologically and spiritually, the water of the subconscious mind, heated by the fire of suggestion—coming from the masculine ego of the conscious mind—provides the energy and construction materials for new life.

The Caldron is an apt symbol for the subconscious mind. All knowledge and wisdom is contained in the subconscious with its additional ability to divinely manifest into the flesh any suggestion it absorbs. The collective caldron of now is manifesting extreme volatility, at the behest of the dominating masculine ego, whose powerful suggestions it absorbs and dutifully produces.

But these manifestations cannot cancel the karma they generate. Regardless of how things play out on the surface, the karma of now is irrevocably to become the greater good for all, the absolute consequence of the unbounded narcissism and one-sidedness of now.

The existence of this karmic shift is fully formed at the subtle, purely energetic dimension of reality. Physical reality is always preceded by mental activity that, when fully complete, delivers its dictum to the subconscious mind for physical manifestation. The transient revolutions and chaos of now are simply the later stages fueling the coming karmic shift.

The moving line that presents in the second place of The Caldron, as well as its resultant hexagram of The Wanderer, contains powerful guidance for now: While we are in a fine position for good and necessary change, we must exercise caution and avoid arrogance. Humility and proper conduct cannot be overstressed.

The Wanderer depicts the state of a journeyer who arrives as a stranger in a strange land. Firstly, the journeyer should maintain integrity and clarity in interactions with others. Humility and modesty dissuade distrust and aggression. The journeyer does well to suggest to the subconscious mind that it be provided signs to direct right action, which enables the journeyer to be adaptive and go with the flow.

The journeyer has clear thoughts and the resilience to patiently wait for the world to transform for the greater good. The journeyer is nourished by the wisdom provided by The Caldron, and submits willingly to the containment and refinement of heated transformational processes that must be endured for transformation to complete. The Wanderer maintains loving compassion for all as the world is born anew.

In summary, take solace in knowing that the stupendous change toward the greater good is but a step away. Of course, cosmic time is a bit more relative than our earthly clocks! Be patient, humble and full of gratitude. Believe, believe, believe! Throw your intent daily behind the absolutely inevitable karmic shift to the greater good destined to befall us all.

Let go and know,
Chuck

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Chuck’s Place: Karma Is The Active Side Of Infinity

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Shift the wheel of Karma toward the greater good….
-Artwork © 2025 Jan Ketchel

“Only on the wheel of karma is there inequality; within eternity we are all the same, all One.”*

Karma is a term that depicts the universal law of cause and effect. All actions cause definite effects. The underlying principle that governs all consequences for actions taken, is balance. That imperative of balance is expressed through Newton’s Third Law of Motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

When we enter the active side of infinity we take a ride on the wheel of karma. When a soul separates itself from the inert state of oneness with everything, in infinity, it loads itself upon the wheel of karma and is delivered to a specific identity, which will unfold in a specific way, as contrasted with its former state of identity with the utter wholeness and oneness of everything.

When we are born we go from a state of oneness with mother into the powerful perinatal stages of birth trauma. This violent disruption of total care and containment eventuates in a state of total dependence and relative powerlessness, as a small separate being in a huge, unfathomable world.

This action of separation alone defines the primary karma for all life: to find its way back to its original wholeness. The wheel of karma is that journey homeward. The wheel depicts the cycles of actions and reactions we live through as we accrue the knowledge to ultimately find our way home.

Karma forces us to attach to a specific identity, which influences our actions and their consequences. For instance, if I am born with dyslexia, I may learn to compensate for my difficulty with writing, spelling and reading with enhanced intuition and explanations of written works provided by ChatGPT. I might learn to hide my spelling challenges with an eccentric handwriting that no one can read.

If I am dealt the hand of poverty, I might compensate with envy, a life of crime, or a powerful intent for an abundant life. Each of these options are equal energetic options to bring balance to the action of poverty. The wheel of karma might have me explore countless compensations in my journey with poverty before I find my way back to wholeness.

The key to my ultimate release from my impoverished karma is detachment, detachment from my identity as an impoverished being who must take action to feel better about his lowly self. Total acceptance of the experience of an impoverished state, without identifying as a poor being, restores my wholeness. I am now a being with intimate knowledge of a facet of all of wholeness, that of poverty.

Detachment does not deny the full experience of an impoverished life. To the contrary, the suffering attendant to a life of poverty is fully explored with all its karmic consequences. Detachment does, however, allow one to lift the veil to one’s greater wholeness, of which poverty was the chosen facet to be explored in the taking on of a human life.

Thus, the reality of inequality, injustice and victimhood are valid descriptions of the experience we enter when we enter the active side of infinity, in physical form, to explore a facet of the jewel of all that is and all that we are. To fully know the self we must fully explore and know our shadow. To know our infinite self fully there are infinite adventures to be taken, many of which include journeys into the karmic dark side of infinity.

Growth is the imperative of the active side of infinity. To grow we must fully know every facet of all that we are. Ultimately we must experience everything. That’s our infinite destiny.

Fear not and judge not the fullness or unfairness of the life you are in. All lives are equal and valid facets of all that is. Our differences are merely the current seat we occupy on the karmic wheel of existence. It’s a relative, not a permanent, seat.

No matter what life circumstance you are currently in, free yourself from total identification with it. See it as a necessary stop in your infinite journey of exploration of all that is. Furthermore, wakeup to the power  of suggestion in your subconscious mind. You can direct the energy of karma into materializing consequences for your greater good.

The thoughts you most often entertain will be compulsively manifested by the power of your subconscious mind. Take control of your thoughts and enjoy their resulting karma. The equal and opposite reaction of a thought is its manifestation in physical form. From the spirit of thought comes its opposite, its physical birth in matter. Spend your karmic thought wisely, for the greater good of self and other.

Beneath it all, we are all one,
Chuck

* Sam Reifler, I Ching: A New Interpretation for Modern Times, p. 238.

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Chuck’s Place: The Inexhaustible Wealth Of The Subconscious Mind

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We reap what we sow, so watch the words you put into your head…
-Artwork © 2025 Jan Ketchel

I have been a serious student of the psyche for the past 50 years. By my early 20’s I had amassed a substantial portion of Jung’s Collected Works, some of which I’ve yet to fully read!

I’ve spent an equivalent amount of time immersed in the shamanic world of Carlos Castaneda, which provided me the tools and knowhow to explore the energy body, what religious traditions have called the Soul.

Both Freud and Jung explored the therapeutic utility of hypnosis, which accesses the power of the subconscious mind. Ultimately, they both abandoned hypnosis in favor of more reliable outcomes obtainable through their new discipline of psychotherapy.

Ancient knowledge of the power of trance and suggestion can be found in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Hindu literature is filled with warnings about the power of suggestion to control and manipulate human behavior. One is coached to choose one’s guru wisely.

Beyond these concerns about the potential limitations or abuses raised about hypnosis, the more fundamental truth that hypnosis reveals is that the human mind operates largely through the power of suggestion. What we tell ourselves and truly believe is what we become. Our lives are run by autosuggestions that we deliver, or take in from others, to our subconscious minds

Joe Dispenza’s book, You Are The Placebo, is a testament to the power of belief and autosuggestion to heal. The placebo effect is what truly heals. If you truly believe something can happen, it will. Mainstream scientific experiment emphasizes placebo as evidence that something didn’t work, rather than absolutely marveling at, and delving into, the power of the mind to make something happen.

Healers and philosophers of  the 19th and 20th century New Thought Movement in America believed that Christ was a teacher who emphasized the divine in all individuals versus a divinity unique to himself. They culled the secret to his healing power in biblical stories: an individual must believe within themselves that they can be healed, and only then shall it come to pass. The secret: the placebo effect.

As surmised by New Thought practitioners, the power of this simple truth so threatened religious institutions that they withdrew the notion of divine power from humans and instituted the reigning power of dogma, with dependence upon institutions outside the self being the only way to be guided in wisdom and healing.

We are currently living through a time of unraveling, where core beliefs that have sustained the human race for centuries are being replaced with new beliefs, suggesting a whole new world. The role of the thought police, in controlling what can be stated, written and talked about, is increasingly evident. Suspending all judgment, it is truly a remarkable example of how suggestion and belief create a world.

The subconscious mind has the absolute power to manifest a physical reality, for better or for worse. Although it is largely suggested to by the accumulated wisdom of the instincts and the archetypes, the subconscious is powerfully impressed upon by the beliefs and desires of the conscious mind. Thus, the inexhaustible wealth of the subconscious mind is best accessed through a mature conscious mind.

The ultimate check on how we exercise our power of suggestion is karma. The divine power of the subconscious mind will acquiesce to any belief impressed upon it, but it does not control the outcomes of these effects. We reap what we sow, for better or for worse.

The subconscious mind records and stores every bit of experience we have had in this life, as well as in past lives, and, at the deepest levels, the entire history of the universe and beyond. Edgar Cayce provided diagnoses and healing prescriptions for thousands of  unknown patients while in trance. Everything is accessible if one believes it to be possible.

In shamanic recapitulation one can access all the details of a forgotten life, as one intends a healing journey and trusts the guidance and promptings of the subconscious mind.

The subconscious mind is our greatest means of invisible support. If we approach it with faith and gratitude for all that it does for our physical and mental bodies, we are surely to be supported in the changes we seek.

Never to be underestimated is the power of the conscious mind, which is solely responsible for the life it suggests and manifests through its suggestions to the subconscious mind.

Please note that my affirming always the suggestion of the greater good is hardly the shallowness levied at positive affirmations somewhat in vogue now as expressed in the phrase toxic positivity. What I have outlined here is a paradigm shift in the understanding of the structure and dynamics of the psyche which highlights the power of divine action taken by the subconscious mind in response to human desire and true belief. That action is undeniably real and with it comes the divine responsibility to be in alignment with the truth.

Intend always the greater good, for self and other,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: The Real War Of Now Is Within

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Let the reconciliation begin…
-Artwork © 2025 Jan Ketchel

Opposition within our human mind is being reflected, and physically enacted, in all the destructive events currently unfolding on the human playing field. Thought is the prime cause of physical reality. What we believe is what comes to be.

This opposition in mind is rooted in two rival attitudes within the conscious mind. In one corner is the rational mind that holds that seeing is believing. Logic is law, and observable reality is the only fundamental truth.

In the other corner is a conscious attitude that believes in supernatural powers inherent and programmable in the subconscious mind. This attitude does not dismiss the value of the rational mind but broadens it to include a conscious relationship with the spiritual dimension of the subconscious mind.

A conscious attitude that embraces the existence and power of a subconscious mind is the enemy of rationality. Nietzsche expressed simply the truest belief of the rational mind: “God is dead.” Reason has no place for unseen powers and spirituality. Reason lives in a material world—period. Beyond physical life is lights out.

Everyone is challenged with these two attitudes. Who doesn’t turn to material solution when confronted with a physical issue? Who can state, with certainty, that unseen spiritual forces exist and can change physical life? These conflicting attitudes are in a war without compromise. As reflected outwardly, we see no war on the current human stage  amenable to compromise.

Perhaps the greatest institution of rational thought and scientific discovery in the modern world is Harvard University. Look at the current full-throttle attack on Harvard, as well as all similarly established institutions of higher learning.

Of course, we can point to actual personalities causing this standoff, but at the deepest level this struggle is the physical expression of the battle raging within the human psyche for control and exercise of the human mind. The irrational is deeply challenging the rational at the university level.

Pure reason’s arch rival is called the power of suggestion, which holds that through the employment of conscious suggestion to the subconscious mind, physical reality is impacted. In this paradigm, the subconscious mind is imbued with divine power and is in divine obligation to manifest the word, or intent, impressed upon it by the conscious mind.

This warring backdrop of mind is actually an evolutionary struggle in a developmental process of maturity of our collective mind. At the early stages of human evolution the subconscious mind was the only mind that directed life, through manifesting instinctive suggestions impressed upon it. This level of control still largely runs the systems of the human body.

With the advent of consciousness came the rational mind with its ability to override the automatic instincts lodged in the subconscious mind. Reason gradually took dominance over decision making, which, through its unknown power of suggestion upon the subconscious mind, generated our current world of dominant rational belief. This dominance of the world’s mind by reason is now flagrantly being challenged upon the world stage, and we are all experiencing it.

The developmental stage we are currently embroiled in insists that the power of reason and spiritual potential be reconciled. Many a journeyer into the deeper realms of the collective unconscious has been overwhelmed by encounters with non-ordinary reality at the subtle energy dimensions of our being.

I personally, as a young boy, was terrified nightly by the disintegrative impact of such encounters. Had I not my rational mind’s ability to create a structure that allowed me to navigate the vastness of infinity, my fragile ego would have surely disintegrated into nothingness.

Paranoid schizophrenics are telling the truth when they say that television characters are speaking directly to them, as they are experiencing the synchronous interconnectedness of all things. Unfortunately, the impact of such a broader view overwhelms their narrow ego foothold upon reality and they succumb to psychosis, flitting about in infinity without a captain at the wheel of their floundering ship.

Without reason we are severely handicapped at the spiritual dimensions of our being. With only reason, we can never know and experience the fullness of all that we are.

We also need conscious reasoning to assume responsible control for the suggestions we submit to our subconscious mind. The world at present is experiencing the effect of impulsive suggestions controlling the world’s subconscious mind, manifesting incessant changing realities on a minute-to-minute basis. The power of the subconscious mind is available to deliver both balance or chaos.

The developmental challenge at the moment is for the rational mind to choose right action in its directives to the subconscious mind. This is bringing truth to power. We are all challenged to choose the greater good over the equal potential of choosing all for self-interest only.

Be empowered to realize that the outer state of things has its roots in the inner state of things. We all have the ability to solve the state of the outer world by solving the state of the world within. And as you explore your inner powers be like a true alchemist, share your findings with no-one. When we share our beliefs and experiences we invite the thought police.

Just as the world of journalism is losing its ability to express free speech, when we share our experiences we invite the reactionary beliefs of someone else’s conscious and subconscious minds, which then impacts our own subconscious. We are then barraged telepathically, as well as outright verbally, with beliefs that instill doubt or burden us with the hostility of others.

When engaging the power of your own subconscious mind, tell your rational mind to suspend judgment. Allow that mind to release its grip as you relax the body and become groggy. Then state your suggestion and allow your imagination and emotion to impress your subconscious with its desire.

Note your results privately over time. As you discover the validity of the process via your results, your rational mind will step up to the plate and embrace the greater truth of its former rival attitude. This is how these two attitudes are reconciled. Ask your growingly confident rational mind to stay suggestive only to the intent for the greater good for all.

This reconciliation of warring attitudes within will ultimately reflect in a changed world without, as we evolve consciousness to further include all that we truly are.

To reason and beyond,
Chuck