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: Beyond Archetypal Slavery

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Just because we look alike does not mean we are like each other... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Just because we look alike does not mean we are like each other…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

If your mother were not your mother, would she be a person you’d find resonance with, that you’d seek to spend time with? This is not a knock on mother. The same could be asked of mother. If you were not her child, would she find your company companionable? In many cases the answer to both questions is no. What then is the energy that binds non-companionable people together?

The answer is the binding archetypal impact—in this case, of the archetype of Mother—on people who objectively may have very little in common.

Archetypes are the inborn programs that organize the lives of a given species. They exert a magnetic draw on relationships that supersedes actual compatibility or consciousness. People who might under ordinary circumstances have no interest in each other are suddenly bound together by an energy that pays little heed to compatibility or choice.

Archetypes overlay most human relationships. If one finds resonance with another on a dating site, the soul mate archetype is activated and suddenly this mysterious other is imbued with the archetypal energy of radiant promise. In the actual human encounter during the ensuing date, the archetypal balloon may quickly puncture, as she/he, who moments before shined with such promise, may be the last person you’d want to spend the evening with!

Archetypal energy is the binding energy of our world. Like bees who organize as a collective, building their hives and collecting their pollen, our own archetypal patterns ensure the continuation of our species along definite lines.

The Shamans of Ancient Mexico call this act of generating a world, a magical act. Generating patterns that magnetically organize our lives into a human form is sheer magic! It’s magical to have intense relationships with people whom we may share no compatibility with, simply to ensure the continuance of our world. The soul mate archetype brings many children into the world who might never have been born. Nature wants children; it’s not concerned with compatibility of partners. Children need powerful adults to socialize them into the patterns of this world. Nature doesn’t care if there’s true compatibility between parent and child. It simply creates a power differential, through the archetype, that creates optimal conditions for socialization.

It all depends on how you choose to view the world... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
It all depends on how you choose to view the world…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

The Shamans of Ancient Mexico call this specific use of archetypal energy INTENT. Humans unconsciously use their ability to intend to mold archetypal energy into a cohesive world. And that is magic! It’s a magical act of illusion to “fall in love,” or to be bound to someone we have no real interest in. These are the spells of the magician that so frequently lead to strife, as true connection rarely matches up with the blinding forces of archetypal attraction.

The Shamans of Ancient Mexico point out that it is humanly possible to journey and live in worlds beyond the archetypal trappings of this world. While acknowledging the magnetic draw of archetypal energy, it is also possible to not automatically or compulsively act upon it. If we step outside the field of our archetypal pulls and examine objectively whether the needs, expectations and obligations we experience in a relationship align with a genuine connection or need, we might discover that most of the relationship is being defined by the illusory magic of the magician.

Carlos Castaneda said, “individual relationships are based in emotional investments, and the moment the practitioner (a shamanic practitioner) really practices what she or he learns, the relationship crumbles. In the everyday world, emotional investments are not normally examined, and we live an entire lifetime waiting to be reciprocated.” *

Through examination we can then choose to stop participating in the obligations of the archetype and instead store the energy that would have been spent there for other use. We are then freed to discover whole new worlds—if we so choose—that are accessible within what the Shamans of Ancient Mexico call “the band of man.” These are other possible worlds for us to live in that are rarely explored. They include a world of relationship outside the draw of capitalistic emotional investment that is caught in the trappings of profit and loss.

Archetypal energy is the energy of emotional investment, i.e.: “What’s in it for me? What am I getting out of this? I deserve more. My needs aren’t being met.” Perhaps these are all valid reflections, but they still remain caught in the narrowly defined world of me and need. Of course unmet developmental needs of early childhood must be addressed within the parameters of our archetypal heritage but, once addressed, needn’t overshadow our greater evolutionary potential.

Just another perspective! - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Just another perspective!
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

We might step beyond that world and discover a whole new world of compassion and genuine affection outside of the old archetypal bindings and investments. We might discover a world of deeper discovery and fulfillment, even within the world we are born into. We might intend a whole new world of truth and affection outside an old world of archetypal slavery. We might discover that we are soul mates with everyone! This is indeed our evolutionary challenge now; to transition into a cohesive world of truth and genuine affection for all, outside the old blind compulsory bindings of archetypally-routed relationship that has so far controlled our destinies.

Let’s intend a new world together,
Chuck

* From Navigating Into the Unknown: An interview with Carlos Castaneda found HERE.

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Breakthrough To Wholeness

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The magnolia buds have survived the winter and are ready now for breakthrough... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
The magnolia buds have survived the winter and are ready now for breakthrough…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

We are beings filled to the brim with conflicting tendencies. St. Paul said it succinctly: “That which I would I do not, that which I would not, that I do.” Confronted with the opposition of his own carnal sexuality and his deep spirituality, St. Paul went the way of many a monastic tradition and chose celibacy. The challenge of truly reconciling this polarity within the self by rejecting that which is outside of the self is daunting and often misses the mark. The failure of this resolution couldn’t be more apparent than in the modern Catholic Church,* tarnished worldwide with deep involvement in sexual abuse. Clearly, merely shunning or splitting off sexuality does not make it go away—it must be reckoned with.

Carl Jung pointed out that for a tree’s branches to reach heaven its roots have to reach hell. True reconciliation of inherent human oppositions must integrate all sides of human nature into a cohesive whole. A one-sided solution to our problems inevitably sets the stage for a backlash or a breakthrough of the forsaken other—the rejected shadow self.

Times of breakthrough are exceptional times, like the breakthrough of a swollen river over its dikes. In hexagram #43, Breakthrough, the I Ching counsels resolute action in such exceptional circumstances. First, resolution must be based on a union of strengths and friendliness. The adult self must hold its own and not be taken over by the opposing tendency. On the other hand, it needs to greet it with friendliness, lend an objective ear to its point of view.

Second, a compromise with evil is not possible. If the dissociated tendency insists on taking over the personality on its own terms, it must be openly discredited. There can be no compromise with a one-sided truth. On the other hand, the passions and one-sided motives of the ego self must equally be brought into the light and openly examined.

Third, the struggle must not be carried out directly by force. If an opposing tendency has taken on a compulsive habit in the personality, labeling it evil or denigrating the self for its presence in the personality only empowers it as it weakens the adult self charged with shifting the habitual state of affairs, such as with some kinds of addictions.

It's surprising just how much nature shows us how to break through. When the time is right...Just do it! - Photo by Jan Ketchel
It’s surprising just how much nature shows us how to break through.
When the time is right…Just do it!
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Finally, the best way to advance is to make energetic progress in new behaviors that serve the true needs of the overall personality. A dysfunctional habit may actually be holding the place of a deeper need for fulfillment. Rather than brand the habit as bad, make use of it to turn in a new direction and engage in behaviors that fulfill the deeper needs of the self. For instance, challenge the self to go into the world and interact versus retreating and soothing the self with lulling talk and substance. Or rather than seeking excessive fulfillment in the outer world, retreat into the deep vibrational experience of transcendent oneness in meditation.

Breakthrough encounters are part and parcel of the individuation process. Breakthrough encounters are necessary guideposts in recapitulation as well. Through these encounters we are afforded the opportunity to integrate our opposing tendencies into a holistic being, truly capable of a new mantra: “That which I would, I do;” the ultimate conscious breakthrough, in consummate wholeness.

Breaking through,
Chuck

* It is interesting to note that an ancient papyrus has broken through the sands of time and been validated by modern scientific method to challenge this one-sided position of the Catholic Church. At least some early Christian communities documented that Christ spoke of having a wife. Here is an excerpt from the NYT regarding the words that have fanned some controversy: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife…’ ” Too convenient for some, it also contained the words “she will be able to be my disciple,” a clause that inflamed the debate in some churches over whether women should be allowed to be priests.

Read the entire report in The New York Times.

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Contentment

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Who is your real jailer? - Art by Jan Ketchel
Who is your real jailer?
– Art by Jan Ketchel

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison. His ability to find contentment and meaning throughout those years prepared him to come to power in his seventies and transform a nation.

We are all in our private prison, contained within the four walls of our private karma, the central meaning of our life. The limitations imposed by our deepest challenges may prevent us from experiencing joy, safety, freedom and love. Our private prison, like Mandela’s prison, may severely limit our fulfillment through the most fruitful years of our lives.

We may find ourselves caught in swirls of sorrow, doubt, depression and deep self-pity. These are all necessary encounters, reminders of the transpersonal spirit that seeks to fly freely beyond the prison walls of our discontent. Our deepest sorrow is the song of the bird of freedom that beckons us to sing its tune.

When we recapitulate, we squarely face our karmic fixation. What happened in life that separated us from our spirit, that sent us into the desert of our discontent? Reliving, recollecting, and reprocessing the experiences of our lives ultimately releases us to the freedom of our spirit’s fulfillment. And this process, like Mandela’s, might take decades; no easy road to freedom.

But we needn’t attach to the outcome of our recapitulation process. Instead, we can focus on contentment in this moment, in every moment, through the breath. Buddhist meditation uses the breath. Yogic meditation uses the breath. Shamanic recapitulation uses the breath.

Simply focus awareness on the breath in this moment. Passively observe it without interference. Direct it at will. Gently deepen it. Focus it on the throat, on the solar plexus, on the perineum, on the big toe!

Count, to rhythmically align with the breath. Hold the breath; release it. Bring it to the tensest part of the body and allow it to gently penetrate and soften. Breathe rapidly if that feels right, fully releasing energy that has long been held in. Or breathe ever so softly, with loving tenderness.

Emancipation is but a breath away! - Art by Jan Ketchel
Emancipation is but a breath away!
– Art by Jan Ketchel

Placing awareness on the in-breath, on the inhalation of air—prana/life force/spirit—allows it to fill the body with its energy and vibration. Releasing the old stuck energies deeply stored in the body as we exhale brings contentment to each moment of our lives. The more we breathe with awareness, the deeper we breathe with awareness, the more we realize our deepest intent—to advance our spirit beyond its karmic containment into new life, full of contentment!

Simply breathing,
Chuck

As Bob Marley sings in Redemption Song: “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds.

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Dominion

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At some point, we are all advised to leave the triangle... - Art by Jan Ketchel
At some point, we are all advised to leave the triangle…
– Art by Jan Ketchel

How do we establish our domain? How do we achieve dominion over our domain? I refer here to the domain of self, a room with four strong walls, the square of self.

We are beings of the circle, the infinite. We arrive at the gateway to this world through a triangle, the offspring of two, as two become three at our birth. From the circle of infinity we become finite. Born into a triangle, we are challenged next to carve out the four walls of our domain of self, as beings separate from the triangle of our birth.

If we are to fully mature into our four-walled self, we must all experience the disbanding of the original triangle. Freud spent his career focusing on the original triangle and its dominion over us. Only with the phallic power of the sword, male or female, are we afforded the clarity and power to cut through that triangle—with its myths of the nursery, the residual failures, broken promises, and legacy of expectations of those gods who bore us—and establish a new domain of self. Incredible clouds of sorrow hover over our lives as we experience the abandonment of and disconnect from those primal energies that conceived us, themselves tricked by the blissful myths of the garden or the raging energies of power and lust.

So powerful are the energies of the triangle that the ancient world literally used the sword to circumcise the self from the triangle and free it to new fraternity in the greater tribe. The sword of the modern world shines largely in the penetrating impact of awakening consciousness that can cut through the dated myths of attachment that cloud our true selves.

Sorrow is the underlying, overriding emotion that we must bear yet transmute. Sorrow pulls us backward into the deep abyss of what was or wasn’t, as we seek to forever hold onto that which once was, or finally find that which never was. Sorrow is an endless whirlpool that draws us deeper into a morass of bottomless emptiness. It may be necessary to traverse that journey, but beware, there is no bottom, and sorrow renews itself with equal potency at each visitation.

The transmutation of sorrow is the willingness to sit in the aloneness of the room of the four-walled self, to breathe, to feel the integrity of self without censoring thoughts or feelings, but indulging none as well. In this space of the four-walled room of the self we accept that we are participants in an unfathomable mystery. We accept that we have no control over the changes nor the inevitable losses and gains in our lives. We discover that we’re travelers with invitations to participate in this world, but never to stay.

Can we allow ourselves the opportunity to blossom, knowing full well that our time is as limited as a blossom's? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Can we allow ourselves the opportunity to blossom,
knowing full well that our time is as limited as a blossom’s?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Can we grant ourselves the dominion to show up and fully participate, knowing full well that it will all change and that our one true traveling companion is the self in the four-walled room?

Can we allow ourselves to release even that self when it’s time to once again journey in the circle of infinity? Can we step into that circle of infinity now, while we still ride the chariot of our four-wheeled self? Can we live in both worlds now? Freely? Ah, what will we see!

When sitting alone within the four-walled self, it’s beneficial to establish a reliable practice to support the sword-cutting process of separation, individuation, and exploration. As we face our four-walled self what sharper technique is there than meditation to cut through the sorrows that are sure to plague us?

Here is a link to a simple and direct meditation practice, offering first steps, as well as deepening techniques dedicated to the process of sitting within the four-walled self: Son Meditation. I encourage you to give it a try as you seek to establish your domain of self.

From within my domain,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Mythbusters—The Rites Of Spring

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We must all sit upon the immovable spot if we are to achieve new life... - Photo by Chuck Ketchel
We must all sit upon the immovable spot if we are to achieve new life…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

An eager workshop attendee once asked the Nagual, Carlos Castaneda, “Should we recapitulate what’s happening right now?” Carlos hesitated, then said softly, “Not yet,” with no further explanation. I knew in that moment that Carlos was saying that the luster of the myth we were all participating in would fade once recapitulated. He wanted us to enjoy the energy we were in for just a while longer. Isn’t that what we all seek when we fall in love, to enjoy the energy of it just a little while longer?

The truth is that once we have sat upon the immovable spot, as we sit beneath the Bodhi tree of our recapitulation, the energy and allure of the old illusions are released from our newly enlightened selves. We are freed from the terror, longing, and both negative and positive beliefs of old energetic attachments. We are able to walk out of the myths that once governed our lives into whole new worlds of possibility, real worlds of possibility.

Carl Jung recognized that all lives embody a core myth. If we look around to the cast of characters we were born into and the formative events of our lives, we can begin to identify the myth we were born into. Perhaps it’s our karmic challenge to solve a problem that has held us in check for eons. How could it be possible to be freed to new life if we have not cracked the nut of an old problem—our mythical nemesis? There is no escape from an unsolved problem; we continue to meet it everywhere. If we are convinced that we are unlovable, no amount of attention will convince us otherwise. If we are to be loved, we must first free ourselves of our attachment to the myth of the ugly duckling.

This requires recapitulation. We must be able to be present to all the truths to free ourselves from the myth we have been captivated by. Those truths might include that the mythic giants who conceived of us in this life were, indeed, quite flawed mortals without a clue. We’re all equals now, outside the myth of familial promise in the nursery; equal beings who are going to die; equal beings trying to crack the mystery of our myths, seeking new—real—adult life.

The violent, unrefined destructive energies of new life are boiling beneath the surface of spring. Birth is an aggressive, violent process—let’s bust any romantic myth to the contrary right now. The energies of earth quake beneath the surface, the intensities of storm surround us. Right now, at spring’s awakening, we all sit upon the immovable spot.

There really is new life beneath the hardened surface! - Photo by Jan Ketchel
There really is new life beneath the hardened surface!
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

If there is to be new life, the rigid ground of myths that no longer channel life must be cracked. New life promises Abundance, the 3 of Cups, the first Tarot card that I pulled on the first day of spring as I contemplated writing this blog. However, the rigid structures, the myths we have clung to, must be sacrificed, the Hanged Man, the second card I pulled. We must allow our ego attachments, the myths we cling to, to be busted by the living waters rushing beneath the surface. Like a crucified being, we must sit upon the immovable spot of recapitulation that will allow the truths to set us free to new life. To achieve this we must allow for clear and truthful communication, The Magus, the third card I pulled, the winged messenger of Mercury, to deliver the truth clearly, to allow the Rites of Spring to be performed, busting through the old myths, bringing new life in abundance.

Mythbusting,
Chuck