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: The Power In The Mirror

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Find heart in the mirror…
-Artwork © 2024 Jan Ketchel

The shamans of ancient Mexico emphatically prohibited the use of a mirror, literally fearing the trapping of a Narcissus-like obsession with self-reflection and self-importance. That trapping is reflected in current world leadership and governance, which strongly favors the needs of the self at the expense of the other.

The “Mirror, mirror on the wall” of the evil queen in Snow White speaks to the possibility of discovering the truth of oneself, if one looks beyond the outer persona and false beliefs, and faces the self in deep, soulful self-reflection.

The human brain and central nervous system (CNS) is full of nerve cells called mirror neurons that are proven to fire in imitation of what we see and imagine. Our behavior, and the behavior of others, forms neural networks in the brains of those who observe us. The influence of these impressions upon the brain creates the foundation for echoing or imitating these same behaviors, for better or worse.

The United States, as the world’s leading superpower, has had a powerful mirroring effect on the behaviors of many nations. The policies, fashions, and values of the United States have greatly influenced world behaviors, in their effort to become fulfilled, like a Hollywood version of America. America’s current emphasis upon self-interest and entitlement is indeed being powerfully mirrored in wars and collapsing governments around the world.

On an intrapsychic level, the power of autosuggestion is greatly enhanced by the use of the imagination to mirror to the subconscious a subtle version, or building plan, of the changes one seeks to substantially manifest in one’s life.

When we imagine something, the brain treats our thoughts and images the same way it reacts to observing outer events. These imaginings are mirrored by firing neurons that replicate and encode these behaviors into neuronal circuits. These circuits prepare the subconscious mind and brain to advance in creating these very changes in physical reality.

If our intentions in our autosuggestions embrace the greater good of the self, and the world, we will manifest healthy changes within the self and the environment. Additionally, our attitudes and behaviors will activate the mirror neurons in others, which will create similar potentials in the thoughts and behaviors of others.

This responsible use of autosuggestion can powerfully evolve the self, and powerfully influence the world, through mirroring. This is a powerful tool for those who are feeling disempowered by the current status and direction of the world.

The key here is not to try to convince or manipulate anyone, but instead to become a more evolved self that mirrors a different possibility, by simply, truly being it. In other words, become the change you seek.

Be empowered to imagine the health and evolution you seek.
Be respectful of the power of the imagination to generate what you think.
Thoughts matter. Thoughts become matter.
Matter in motion is mirrored to all.
Make your loving thoughts matter.
That’s the power in the mirror.

Imagine,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: How Splendid Is The Adventure!

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Thoth Tarot Moon Card

Now is the time for honest reflection. The disavowed shadow of America  has come home to roost. The shadow is transparent now, and has knowingly been chosen to rule. Such is the inevitable karma for a high-minded nation’s persona that denies its self-serving underbelly. To truly arrive at the place of equanimous love we must first square with the needs and demands of our shadow.

The I Ching portended to me, just prior to the election, that the time of stagnation was ending and that the right ruler would be chosen. Indeed, the sweeping, one-sided victories of the election will end the stagnation that has plagued governance for decades. However, true success requires leadership that addresses the true needs of the whole.

We are in the time of the waning moon. DuQuette states, “The moonlight of Atu XVIII (Tarot Moon major arcana card) is that which illuminates the phantasmagoric nightmares of all of us who cannot acknowledge the dark horrors of our own fears. The Moon card shows a path through and beyond this nightmare, but it is not an easy path, and the myths of all ages and cultures prove that this journey through “the poisoned darkness” is an obligatory chapter in every hero’s quest.” (Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot, p. 147)

DuQuette quotes Aleister Crowley’s suggested correct attitude in such a time as ours: “Whatever horrors may afflict the soul, whatever abominations may excite the loathing of the heart, whatever terrors may assail the mind, the answer is the same at every stage: “How splendid is the Adventure!” (ibid p.147) That is true equanimity.

The journey, so seemingly outer, actually reflects the inner fixation upon survival that currently plagues the human species. Survival threats, real or imagined, cause the subconscious to select the instinctual operating system that outwardly blames and attacks rather than inwardly assuming responsibility.

The hero’s journey requires a consciousness that seeks only the truth, regardless of how tainted it renders the soul. Christianity may have stalked altruistic love, but the human race has hardly budged beyond the reach of narcissism. The hero cannot skip over the needs of self, but is easily defeated if motivated by the needs of self alone. The keys to the kingdom are generally awarded to random acts of kindness.

The hero expands their vision by owning their nightmares. The culprit may be reflected outwardly but resides within. The hero calms the central nervous system with gratitude for all the truth that has been revealed. The hero programs the subconscious to override old unnecessary survival programs. The hero finds joy in the equanimity of the adventure, at every stage of its never-ending story.

The truth of now is that we are individually, and collectively, upon the journey of the dark night of the soul. That journey traverses the span between the solar plexus and the heart, from the narcissism of the ego to the refined love of the altruistic self.

The waning moon takes us through the shadow of our hidden truths. Beyond that necessary stage is the waxing toward wholeness, that which is to come.

How splendid is the Adventure!
Chuck

Chuck's Blog, News and Notes, Soulbytes

Meditations for Thanksgiving

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Jan’s Quartz Crystal Labyrinth

Here are some useful practices to engage in for the coming week. We wish everyone, and our entire world, a beautiful peaceful Thanksgiving and beyond. We will return to our normal weekly postings on Monday December 2, 2024.

First, take a calming walk (12 mins.) around Jan’s Quartz Crystal Labyrinth in the woods on our property. Turn the volume up so you can hear nature in all its glory. Walk the Labyrinth Note: If you want to watch the video on your phone you will have to get the Dropbox App. Once you sign in just skip through all the prompts and then come back to this page and click the link and it should open in Dropbox. If you watch on a computer or tablet it should open immediately in Dropbox.

Listen to some healing handpan meditation music. Definitely soothing! Healing Frequency (1111 Hz) by Malte Marten & Lynxk

Wake up to each new day (or at anytime) with an enlivening 35 minute Morning Meditation with Joe Dispenza

Listen to a playlist from the Monroe Institute of Meditation Music.

Practice Jack Schwarz’s Autogenic Breathing practices to achieve different brainwave states and control your central nervous system by breath alone:
*Beta: Breath in and out normally.  Do not hold air.
**Alpha: Inhale for 8, hold for 8, exhale for 8, hold for 4.
***Alpha-Theta: Inhale for 4, hold for 8, exhale for 8, hold for 4.
****Theta: Inhale for 4, hold for 8, exhale for 16, hold for 4.
*****Delta: Inhale for 4, hold for 8, exhale for 32, hold for 4.

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Navigating Now With Fluidity & Resilience

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Don’t feed the flyers!
-Artwork © 2024 Jan Ketchel

In his usual mischievous way, Carlos Castaneda would come into the gym every few hours and assess the energetic status of the thousand or so Tensegrity practitioners who’d been rigorously practicing the physical forms, called Magical Passes, we’d been taught. He’d then announce, “Not yet!” According to him we had yet to accrue enough energy to handle the impact of the special knowledge he was waiting to deliver.

Ultimately, having fully captivated our attention, he introduced a special topic, which the shamans labeled, the flyers. The flyers are inorganic beings; meaning, beings who have an energy body but lack a physical form. He stated that we are their prey, the food source for this species of being.

Flyers feed off the energy generated by impassioned human emotion, particularly the incoherent energy produced by intense anger, hate and sadness. Furthermore, flyers infiltrate our minds. They commandeer the thoughts of our internal dialogue, creating stories of us being offended, disregarded, and considered unworthy in our daily interactions. This intensifies the negative emotions that season our energy.

Of course, this is quite a grotesque characterization. Years later, I had the pleasure of a moment with Reni Murez, one of Carlos’s apprentices. She assured me that much in the shaman’s world was metaphor, not to be taken too literally. I pass this guidance along. Nonetheless, metaphor is used to illustrate  energetic facts.

The energetic fact is that thoughts, generated from within, or from an outside source, trigger powerful emotions that deplete our energy and weaken our spirit. It is also an energetic fact that some entities, human or otherwise, feed off the tortured emotional energy of others. Such is the heightened energetic reality of our time.

Clinically, the collective diagnosis of now is Acute Stress Disorder (ASD), reflecting the incessant traumatic bombardment of bombs and words that inflame and terrify the world daily. ASD rapidly turns into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the overriding diagnosis for our traumatized modern world.

In response to these diagnoses, the central nervous system, for the bulk of humanity, is fixated at the fight-flight-freeze mode. In this threatened survival state, the body floods with cortisol and adrenaline to cope with the ravages of overwhelming stress.

The side effect of this constant state of arousal is addiction to the very chemicals the body releases internally to cope with threat. This hyper alert state has become the desired state to feel safe, which results in a continuous cycle of generating fearful thoughts that trigger heightened emotions, which in turn release stress hormones to be prepared for largely imagined catastrophes.

Behaviorally, this leads to a strong attraction to activating news, outer events, and interactions that maintain a steady flow of the stress hormones we have become addicted to. The physical exhaustion of this constant state of arousal is overridden by the defensive energy released by the stress hormones that then weaken the immune system, making one more prone to disease. In addition, despite exhaustion, one is often riddled with poor sleep, as the mind is wary of releasing the defense of alert presence and relaxing instead into rejuvenating sleep.

The first step to energetic recovery is to acknowledge our chemical dependency upon stress hormones. With that, we must take responsibility for our own behaviors that ensure the delivery of our chemical fix. If we truly want the sobriety of calmness, we must be willing to change our thoughts and behaviors.

“I am safe in this moment,” is most likely an energetic fact. State it often, while allowing for a relaxing breath.

“I choose not to engage in confrontative interaction on social media, and that includes just reading it!” Why and how often do I seek out the current news? What is its impact upon my Central Nervous System?

“Am I willing to ask for help from the divine love and intelligence located in my subconscious mind?”

“Am I willing to imagine the calm I seek and allow myself to release to the joy of receiving it?”

“Am I willing to let go of control, trusting the higher power within myself to guide me to equanimity?”

“Am I willing to meditate?” When I meditate, I change my brainwaves, which allows me to sink my awareness into the limbic system of my brain, the touchpoint of the subtle body of my subconscious mind. With this direct access I can rewrite the ingrained habits and illnesses imprinted in my autonomic nervous system, turning off the embedded flyers, healing myself in a fundamental way.

“Am I willing to refuse to not be positive?” An internal dialogue of positive self-statements exchanges the release of stress hormones for the release of the emotionally regulating happy hormones of dopamine and serotonin. To be bathed in the calm of loving compassion is not addiction, it’s the ticket for navigating now with fluidity and resilience.

Thanks for everything,
Chuck

I offer a link to another meditation, this one only 35  minutes long! It’s a very powerful meditation to begin the day with, but can be listened to at any time. Enjoy!

Dr. Joe Dispenza’s Most Powerful Morning Meditation

Chuck's Blog

Chuck:s Place: Being In The New Wholeness With Equanimity

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Establish equanimity with heart…
-Artwork © 2024 Jan Ketchel

The vast majority have chosen.  The energetic wave of competition has settled upon a new state of physical reality, a new configuration of All That Is. Victory and defeat are equal parts of life. When we can greet either outcome with equal serenity, we practice equanimity.

The Four Fold Way of native traditions counsels us to be open to outcome without attachment. If we linger too long in attachment, we are absent to the nuance and opportunity of oncoming time. If we linger too long in attachment, we bind our vital energy and resist union.

I am grateful that the outcome of the election is so definitive. At a collective level we cannot advance beyond the choice of the majority, it’s the law of democracy. We clearly must be where we are. We must live through the changes that will become manifest through the mandate given. The challenge is to suspend judgment and see what happens. The challenge is to meet each day with love and equanimity.

I referenced, in my last blog, the I Ching reading I threw before the election. I present it here in the spirit of equanimity. Hexagram #12, Standstill and Stagnation, depicts heaven and earth pulling away from each other  in complete opposite directions, with no possibility of union.

The ruler of this hexagram, the 9 in the 5th place, was highlighted in this reading. Wilhelm comments, “The time undergoes a change. The right man, able to restore order, has arrived. Hence “Good Fortune.” But such periods of transition are the very times in which we must fear and tremble. Success is assured only through greatest caution…” (I Ching, Wilhelm edition, p.55). The future, Hexagram #35, depicts a coming time of rapid, easy progress.

To acquiesce to the majority’s choice does not mean that one should surrender one’s values nor inner truth. All should tend the flame of their inner spirit as it speaks to them in their hearts. “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” (Mark 12:17) When we are in that alignment, our being will radiate right discernment and manifest necessary action.

The lesson of this election is Lincoln’s proverbial wisdom, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Many of us seek change in our lives but are haunted by blocking beliefs that make us a divided inner house. The subconscious mind requires a determined suggestion, empowered with strong emotion, to manifest the changes one seeks.

Just as at a collective level a majority is required to set the course, we are tasked inwardly with consciously arriving at a majority intention to engage the services of the subconscious mind. This will require some shadow work. We must discover and reconcile with our deeply hidden divided house within.

This might involve some soul retrieval work via recapitulation of past trauma that has given rise to energetic defenses that have created divisions within the self. The freed up energy from this release and reconciliation then becomes available to join in the call for unified change.

The golden rule for manifestation is ultimately inner unity upon what one emphasizes. What we emphasize, by way of thought, feeling and habit, will become our manifested reality. If we have cleared ourselves of the divisiveness of the repressed within, we do well to observe the thoughts, inner dialogue and mood states we habitually reinforce.

With awareness and intention we can release these energetic fixations to All That Is with the intention that the energy from these beliefs be recycled for the greater good. Furthermore, we can lay emphasis upon our truly desired intentions through conscious positive inner dialogue rather than continuing the undermining drone of habitually negative self statements.

With these efforts we will accrue the inner majority to influence the divine intelligence in our subconscious mind to manifest the changes we seek. May all arrive at this new wholeness with gratitude and AWE.

With gratitude and AWE,
Chuck

NOTE: After Jan edited and illustrated this blog, she spontaneously opened Activation of Energy by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, to page 61, and read me this quote, which we found to be particularly meaningful for our times: “…the true cause of what is happening in the world today is to be found not in some collapse of former values but in the eruption, within mankind, of a flood of new being which, precisely because it is new, comes initially as something foreign and hostile to what we ourselves represent. What takes us by surprise in today’s events, what so upsets us and terrifies us—but what in fact we must look straight in the face of so that we can analyze its mechanism and its phases, and distinguish what good effects it has side by side with what evil effects—is, in my view, the implacable cosmic tide: it is this that, having first raised each one of us up to its own level, is now at work, beating in a new rhythm, to expel us from our own selves: it is the eternal ‘rise of the other’ within the human mass.”