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: When Is It Time To Act?

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Time of Waiting,..
-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

Hexagram #29, The Abysmal, has become one of my most instructive hexagrams from the I Ching. How odd to be drawn to the abysmal!

The image is water on top of water. I imagine being stuck at the bottom of a deep well. The water level is low but slowly rising, fed from below.

Instinctively, the hero attempts to climb up the steep walls of the well. Perhaps a couple of attempts are made, but they result in slippage back into the water below. Resurfacing from the unwelcome dive, the hero sees that there’s a place on the wall to hold onto and stay afloat, buoyed by the pressure of the rising water from below.

The realization comes forth to rise with the water as it reaches new levels, finding new places to nestle, in awkward balance with the water pressure from below. Acquiescing to the Tao of water, going with its flow, rather than climbing without support, is the true staircase to eventual freedom.

The water, in its own time, will rise, filling the vacant space in its container of well walls and ultimately move on when it reaches level ground. And when it reaches ground level it is indeed time to act, time to move on.

The Tao is a combination of waiting and acting, yin and yang. When we act we are subject to the karma of our action. Climbing up the well walls resulted in falls into the water and the struggle to get the head back above the water; cause and effect.

Decisions to act are at the level of ego consciousness, which holds the power of choice. Erroneous decisions at this level result in necessary consequences. The question for ego is: What truly is right action?

Often, ego acts precipitously, based upon fear, or opinion, lacking alignment with truth and right action. Even so, these are necessary actions, as one must learn the art of surrender to right action; action in accordance with the truth of the circumstance one is in.

Learning the patience of waiting, which is being receptive to the higher power of the truth of the Tao, conserves ego’s energy to act decisively at the right moment when action is truly required.

Likewise, we may be seized with the impulse to act for what we perceive as a greater good, and act we do, only to discover that it was not the right time nor the right action to take. Ultimately, as mentioned, no action is wrong action, as all actions lead to necessary experience and knowledge.

However, with experience, we begin to realize that there is a deeper dimension of wholeness in motion at all times, with actions best exercised from the perspective of this broader view.

Taking in this broader view, we open to the necessary times of patient waiting, which sometimes means bearing tension until things become clearer, as in my image of the hero waiting patiently in the well. This is alchemy taking place in a sealed container, where necessary actions, sometimes powerfully destructive, must be completed before things can advance to a new level.

Such is the state of the world now, where we are being challenged to bear the tension and to not act precipitously. Have faith in the rising water in the well, that it will eventually rise to the level of freedom, to nourish us all.

In the waiting time, despite all the tension, remain in the calm of knowing that the right time to act will show itself, and when it does, we will act rightly and with precision.

Calm in the knowing,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Artemis In Our Midst

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Cosmic Mandala…
-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

In Greek mythology, Apollo and Artemis are fraternal twins, born to Leto and Zeus.

Apollo becomes the masculine deity identified with strength, intelligence, the sun and civilization.

Artemis becomes the feminine goddess of the moon and nature. She is the fierce huntress who protects young women, wild animals and the process of childbirth.

Together, Apollo and Artemis form a balanced wholeness of masculine and feminine energies. The actual Apollo space program was the first to land on the moon. The current Artemis program is the dominant space mission program of now, scheduled to land on the moon in 2028.

In the actuality of our time, the spaceship, Artemis II, just completed her mission to the far side of the moon, providing the greatest perspective of Earth ever witnessed by humankind.

The myths of Artemis and Apollo come to life in this time as the feminine rising, which the rising of Artemis II captures. The masculine Apollo element is represented cooperatively on board the Artemis II.

The crew aboard Artemis II was a balanced quaternity, which included a white man, a black man, a woman and an interconnected neighbor, a Canadian man. This imbalance of masculine to one feminine was compensated for by the spaceship itself, representing the womb of Artemis, that safely brought the crew to the heart of her domain, the moon.

This quaternity, circling the moon, formed a perfect circle and square, a cosmic mandala, the new wholeness we are moving toward.

The perspective from outer space reveals truths that only such a perspective can provide; that the deep subconscious truths rocking the Earth we stand upon, as well as the Wisdom to be acted upon as we make our evolutionary leap to create a new civilization, must be based upon wisdom, truth and the greater good for all.

The perspective from above reveals an unstable planet, failing, due to its materialistic errors, whose only karma can be one of self-destruction. Despite the breadth of the current breakdown upon our planet and within our society, it is merely the culmination of the need for the human race to be completely freed of ruling materialist ideas that deny humankind access to their true spiritual potential.

Artemis rising foreshadows a New Age that obliterates the obvious non-inclusion of feminine wisdom in the worldview that currently governs humankind.

Artemis, the warrior, rising, puts an end to the unchecked abuse of women and girls.

Artemis rising restores sustainability and protection to all of nature.

The quaternity in Artemis II rising shows the interconnectedness and equanimity possible, for all beings.

Fixate not on the mist of madness everywhere before us now. Be assured instead of the presence of Artemis in our midst, protecting and leading us to the greater good for all.

Focus, at the subtle level of the imagination and intent, upon positive thoughts and ideas that reach out to the subconscious mind to manifest loving dreams for the whole world. And finally, rest assured that Artemis is shepherding that birth.

From a broader view,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Journey To The New Mind

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Belief through experience…
-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

Notably, a mirror on the world of now reflects a vast difference of opinion, between a pope and a politician, as to Jesus Christ’s judgment about the use of war.

The real war of now is the evolutionary shift of the human mind away from its materialistic underpinnings into assuming spiritual responsibility for the greater good of all.

Jesus was a teacher and a healer, who introduced a technology for that evolutionary shift in human consciousness that we are currently growing into, as we travel deeper into the New Mind of our Aquarian Age.

This technology highlights the divine power of the human mind—through the relationship between conscious and subconscious minds—to create and heal, with abilities previously ascribed only to an outside deity.

Actually, these abilities have always been present and exercised by the human mind. The difference now is in the actual knowing that what one thinks and believes creates physical reality. The challenge is to use these abilities for the greater good of all.

Beliefs are the core agents of suggestions, which literally construct our physical lives through the power of the subconscious mind. Assuming responsible use of this power is at the heart of the challenge of now.

 Belief is the key ingredient to activate the divine power of spiritual healing. Absent the belief that we can be healed by the power of our subconscious mind creates a blocking belief that nullifies healing through autosuggestion or the outer suggestion of a healer. The power to heal rests within the power of our own inner belief.

Belief, in this context, is not about religion. It’s actually about a powerful certainty, built upon the science of an inner knowing, gained through personal experience.

Carl Jung was asked, point blank, if he believed in God. His response: “I don’t believe—I know.”  (Here’s the YouTube link to his response.) This is a belief that comes from the inner knowing of direct experience. This is not a belief that harbors doubt. This is the optimal belief, needed to approach, and successfully attract, the power of the subconscious mind. 

The subconscious mind never questions the verity of the suggestions it receives. However, if the conscious mind says one thing but believes another, the subconscious mind will act upon the more powerful autosuggestion.

The confidence that leads to a knowing belief can be accrued. I have, in various blogs, described my own experience of using a repetitive phrase, such as, “I am healing, I am healed”, when confronting a physical circumstance where one might expect an experience of discomfort or pain.

Each time one gets a positive result from such an exercise, the conscious rational mind starts to value the utility and fact of its experience. Over time, rationality expands itself to incorporate the wisdom and legitimacy of this spiritual power. Here, confidence leads to belief, based upon genuine knowing.

People are advised to not share these personal successes, as they invite overt, or telepathic, counter-suggestions from non-believing others, which subsequently might undo the healing achieved.

The subconscious mind is constantly subjected to an ocean of suggestions, both from the conscious mind as well as suggestions from the collective subconscious of the human race—particularly the thoughts of others focused upon one’s self.

The shamans of ancient Mexico were particularly schooled in this fact, which is why they typically kept an anonymous profile that shielded them from the impact of the thoughts of others upon their own subconscious minds.

The phenomenon of distance healing is a positive instance of sending a healing intention to another person, through a suggestion to the subconscious mind of that person. Of course, the subconscious mind of that person remains in control as to whether it will take in that suggestion.

The highest level of distance healing is to send healing intention to another without their knowledge, and without attachment to the outcome. Here, one avoids all negative counter-suggestions, as well as the interference of self-importance on the part of the healer.

The journey to the New Mind, with all its latent powers to serve the greater good, for self and the world, is deeply coming online in this time of destruction and transformation. The phoenix rising from the fire of destruction is indeed the spirit of Aquarius rising with the collective New Mind.

Keep the faith,
Chuck

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Chuck’s Place: Growth During Life In A Blackout

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Find Truth & Wisdom within…
-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

Mirror, mirror, on the world,
what is the truth, of it all?
Darkness, darkness,
a blackout, over all.

The darkness reflects a world blackened and misled by delusion and error, absent the light of truth and wisdom.

The sage parents of our world, Truth and Wisdom, though always present, wait in silence. They know that their willful yet immature child must suffer the impact of its actions to truly grow.

Much pain and misery are meted out, and much pain and misery must equally be suffered. These are the natural consequences of cause and effect. Such is the state of our blackout world, as it cavalierly pursues its erroneous intentions.

Truth and Wisdom are always available for consultation, but their answers can never take sides. All of humanity are their children. Their purview is wholeness, all-inclusive, and for the greater good of all.

The willful child is not ready to share. It certainly does not want to hear the unbiased truth from its parents. And so it must play out its desires, until its lonely selfishness is ready and wanting and needing of greater inclusion. Timeouts from parents, however wise, never achieve this depth of growth.

The world is flush with deception, opinions and errors whose actions shake the roots of safety and stability and generate primal anxiety. The Earth itself mirrors these effects in the extremes of its weather patterns, threatening the survival of all.

The saving grace of this pervasive breakdown is its eventual clearing of the grave errors that black out our view and access to necessary changes. In its place is the coming of the Age of Aquarius, the rising of greater truth and wisdom to lead our worldly dream into greater wonderment, the next stage of our evolutionary path.

For humanity to reach this level of heartfelt desire, it must first fully play out its obsession with narcissism, with all its repercussions. Then it will be fully primed to experience love beyond its self, love for the greater good of all.

What is our role individually in this time of blackout? Well, as always: as without, so within.

We are both parent and child within ourselves. The inner child is the main character in this life. The inner parent occupies the place of the High Self, replete with divine truth and wisdom. The parent’s goal is that the child mature and find its way to happiness and fulfillment.

The parent freely offers guidance, particularly when genuinely consulted, however also knows that real growth is an inside job. Every child, at whatever stage of life, must live and learn from its own errors before it can become settled within itself, ready to serve the real truth.

In general, the child operates on the pleasure principle. Pleasure includes sensual pleasure but also refers to achieving happiness, contentment and fulfillment in all areas of life. The child is endowed with innocence, a purity driven by the pleasure of curiosity and discovery, unsullied by shame and fear.

Unfortunately, the craving for lost innocence is so great that it is a fundamental driver in child sexual abuse, where the abuser seeks to steal innocence from the child.

However, innocence is also lost in many other ways during childhood, including the impact of socialization upon the purely innocent child, who’s blank slate is immediately filled with the rules and regulations and beliefs of life in this world, as well as through the side effects of normal developmental lines, including encounters with inner narcissism and the vicissitudes of love and attachment.

The child state, whether in actual childhood or in adulthood, is on a mission to regain and achieve its innate state of happiness. The vast majority of dreams I have ever looked at, as a clinician, reference the child element in some form. The child is always depicting our growth potential or our growing challenges.

Often, the child, or ego in the personality, harbors false stories and beliefs, which defend against the truth and sensitivity of its lost innocence and the pursuit of its genuine desire for happiness. Operating thus, in a blackout state, it must live out its illusions until it is ready for the truth.

These are the inner errors we also see being committed upon the outer world stage, which black out the light of truth. The child, or ego, might turn to its inner wise parent for guidance, but, if the ego is still prejudiced—wanting to hate or desire what isn’t best for it—the parent must remain silent.

Growth can only come when the ego grows beyond attachment to the negative gratification derived from a self-destructive behavior. Ego must live out its illusions to truly grow to this new place. And when it has grown to experience pleasure beyond its unproductive fixation, it will find itself in greater alignment with Truth and Wisdom, the wise parents within.

The greatest guidance for growth now, in this time of blackout, is to ignite the light of honesty within the self. We can stop ourselves, like good parents, from doing what we shouldn’t do, but it will be defeated if we don’t arrive at real pleasure on a more truthful level.

Be honest with your participation in your illusions. Question if that’s really where you need to be at this moment. Perhaps it’s time to move on now. Perhaps it’s time for a real change. Open to change in alignment with truth and wisdom—when you are truly ready.

Shedding light, hopefully,
Chuck

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Chuck’s Place: Life In The Unfamiliar

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Waiting to be discovered…
-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

A mirror to the outside world now reflects a  world we can no longer count on in a familiar way. All is unfamiliar. How does this reflect life in our changing inner world? Welcome to life in the unfamiliar.

The root of the word familiar is family, that powerfully impressive network we were all born into, archetypally designed to help us achieve some core sense of self that has a consistency of feeling, perceiving and knowing, and provides us with feelings of security and confidence as we navigate life.

The imprints of these primary relationships and experiences create formidable beliefs about ourselves, and our world, which sink into the subconscious mind and govern our lives and form habits that largely define ourselves to ourselves.

This habitual self becomes our greatest place of safety, for better or for worse. Although the subconscious mind is indeed the center of our divine creativity, it is often limited by ancient internalized beliefs about ourselves that deny us access to our true creative potential.

The divine subconscious mind cannot solve this contradiction of old suggestions versus new possibilities, since its function is to create, not to analyze.

For change to happen, the divine conscious mind must reconcile these opposing beliefs by identifying and destroying old errors of belief, by aligning with truth, and by delivering wise and powerful suggestions to the subconscious mind, inviting it to open doors to new rooms of living within the personality of self. And these rooms are often quite unfamiliar.

A myriad of dream homes—both my own and my clients’—flow through my mind as I contemplate the theme of unknown rooms, newly discovered, in a present or past home.

Sometimes these rooms are occupied by old monsters; the familiar shadows of yesteryear, with all their limiting beliefs and habits. But often they are openings to a golden shadow, the innate potential within the self waiting to be discovered, nurtured and freed to blossom.

To fully live in the unfamiliarity of now in a new way is to relax the persona, the familiar face of everyday habit, and adopt a new habit of daily gratitude. The practice of gratitude upon awakening strikes down the old tried and true grimace, which typically grounds the new day in familiar disappointment, in favor of joy and lightness of being.

The practice of gratitude confirms that you are the master of your life. It is your thoughts, new or old, that generate how you feel. When you are fully in charge of thinking thoughts that positively raise the vibration of your energetic life, the key that opens a new door in the subconscious mind,  a new positive feeling of being is manifested which is impervious to outer events.

Invite the self to open the doors and walk through the past horrors. They are only ghosts holding the space of what needs to be fully owned, mastered and surpassed. Beyond those rooms are the doors to total fulfillment, but, to enter, they do require a willingness to become a being completely unfamiliar with itself.

Let gratitude alone become your guiding light. With constant gratitude you will never be the same. Let that life in the unfamiliar become your new familiar.

With gratitude,
Chuck