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: Energetic Life Comes of Age

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The sky’s the limit!
Photo by Jan Ketchel

The world has “Zoomed” into a virtual habitat of connection. With the physical world on lockdown the human spirit has found its way to energetic community and heart-centered connection.

The technological infrastructure is well advanced to support our necessary journey into virtual reality. However, it has the physical limitation of requiring electricity and machinery to maintain connection.

The ideal energetic connection would shed this physical dependence through the medium of the energy body.

In his out-of-body journeys into the future, Robert Monroe experienced a future time on Earth where human beings lived dominantly in their energy bodies. Their physical bodies were kept securely safe, to be worn like costumes, only occasionally, like we now do at a halloween celebration.

This evolutionary transition into energetic life is our human Spirit’s manifest destiny. Spirit prefers the largesse of infinity to the confinement of limits. The human Spirit is at the gateway to expanded possibility.

Actually, this is likely the same for the Spirit in all beings, human or otherwise. In a dreamscape the other night, I encountered a bug that had invaded my living space. Not wanting to kill the intruder I sought to return it to its natural habitat. I discovered there to be a shallow pond where others of its kind were swimming about.

After returning to its home it immediately climbed out, letting me know that it was moving on to new adventures, beyond the comfort of its known world. Spirit likes comfort but ultimately tires of the familiar. The heart of all addiction is Spirit seeking more, whether it be through substance, materialism, or daring leaps of faith.

Our planet Earth has given herself freely to the insatiable human Spirit. The resources of her body have been the building blocks of our Spirit’s expansive hunger. Her body can no longer surrender itself to our excessive demands, and she knows it’s time for us to let go of our dependence upon her physical bounty and move on to discover our energetic potential.

The basics of this energetic transition begin with dreaming. Dreaming is where the energy body is fully active. The task is to bring waking awareness into the dream space. Though there are many techniques to achieve this, the simplest is through intent.

Don Juan Matus said we reach intent through intending.

State: I intend to remember my dreams. I intend to remain aware when I dream. I intend to journey out-of-body. I intend to meet such-and-such in dreaming. I intend to explore the moon in dreaming. The possibilities are endless. The key here is gentle, patient persistence.

Know that your intent will be realized because we all have an energy body awaiting waking consciousness for direction. Keep your intention free of the heaviness of pressure and judgment. The subtle world of energy requires a much lighter touch than the physical world.

Take full advantage of the physical pause of now to begin the energetic discovery of self. It all begins with intent. Intend, and see what happens!

Intent,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Forget not Your Physical Body

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Take a walk, you never know what Mother Nature might present…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Mother Nature is pushing us deeper into our own energetic nature now, as our access to physical travel, physical objects, and physical contact is greatly restricted. This, however, does not exempt us from taking deep care of the physical body, as it is the source of our energetic potential while alive in this world.

Consider trauma. Frequently, when an individual is confronted with a trauma they are automatically sent into their energy body for safe refuge. In this defensive state of dissociation the physical body embodies and stores the experience. The body as storage unit is burdened with the limitations and physical symptoms of this unprocessed trauma.

Generally, an individual thus burdened experiences life mainly on the mental plane, defending against encounters with the issues tucked away in the body. In such a state, the body might present any number of physical symptoms to the mental plane, seeking to awaken it to its hidden mysteries. Unfortunately, rather than see the concrete missives from the body as keys to access trapped energy, we often find ourselves in the emergency room, seeking relief.

Recapitulation is frequently initiated by body symptoms impervious to medical diagnosis and treatment. Once an event is recapitulated the body is freed of its burden, and energy is released both to the physical body and the energy body. On the physical plane the body moves more freely, perhaps gaining or losing weight according to its needs. Life in the body becomes an experience of sensual delight. The energy body is also freed to journey with awareness, not held in check by the defensive constraints of the mental body.

Although many psychics have great access to the subtle planes of the energy body, they are not necessarily themselves fully in their physical bodies. To be fully in body, without restriction, is the foundation for the greatest freedom in the exploration of life beyond the physical body.

As Mother Earth pushes us inward as she progresses with her own grand healing crisis, let us first attend to the strength and well being of our own physical bodies. To be in peak performance in body, we must nourish ourselves well and utilize our body, actively, throughout the day. Equally important is that we address the issues the body may be carrying, as it embodies our acute and longterm conflicts, the stuff of psychosomatic medicine.

A note of caution here: to be in peak physical condition through a discipline that ignores or overrides the issues stored in body, can be as dissociative as giving no attention to the body at all. Here the body is not seen and experienced as the traveling companion that it is, but as an object to be controlled and mastered. Love thy body, treat it with respect.

Greater access to life in the energy body while still in physical form is our evolutionary thrust  now. The human spirit, with its hunger for adventure, is only beginning to discover its unlimited potential in energetic life. However, to fully equip ourselves for these fantastic voyages we must attend to the matrix of our energy body here on earth, the physical body.

In this respect, all of us, men and women, are mothers to our own energy bodies. Be good mothers to your physical bodies, that you might cultivate your energy body, to have all your dreams come true.

Let the dreams begin,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: In the Midst of Transformation

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The mists of transformation…
– Photo © 2020 by Jan Ketchel

I have always viewed trauma as an unsolicited invitation into a shamanic journey. The traumatic impact of Covid-19 is the world’s usher into our current collective shamanic journey.

Shamanic journeys lead us to discover our greater energetic  potential, beyond the familiarity of everyday life, life currently on world pause. We have been launched into Mother Earth’s healing crisis. We are all from her and of her, in physical form. How could we not be in a healing crisis as well?

The world as we knew it was simply not sustainable. It was time for an intervention, a course correction. The world will survive this crisis, but it will never be the same, nor will we ever be the same. Let us ride this healing intent with courage and love, for all!

For most infected by the virus their journeys through fever and breath may take them through challenging encounters with fear and uncertainty. Stay calm, with the full intent of healing, as you prepare to land on the safe shores of renewed physical life.

For some, this will be their definitive journey into life beyond the physical body. For those on that final leg of their physical sojourn, keep your awareness keen and facing forward, as  you launch into a whole new realm of possibility. No need to look back; we are all right behind you in our inter-dimensional energetic connectedness. How could we all not meet again?

We are being asked to take this journey as solitary beings, remaining connected virtually. This is a form of energetic connection, a gateway to the energy body we journey with in our dreams.

Carlos Castaneda once commented that true poverty was being too attached to wanting objects. We are in a time when our collective object hunger is being asked to turn to energetic connection. This is great training to evolve beyond object dependence.

That dependence has depleted Mother Earth, and so, she leads us now to evolve into greater fulfillment in our energetic connectedness. This is the shamanic journey of transformation we are all currently living. Embrace your solitary being in energetic solidarity with all other beings. We are all in this magical world together.

Energetically connected,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Ego Without Ego

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Little ego over big Ego…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

With no ego whatsoever we would simply be pure energy, without a cohesive identity.

Ego is the stamp of our individual personality that marks our unique journey in this life.

Because of ego’s access to awareness, it knows it is a being who must someday die as a human being. How obvious the natural reaction to this fact being ego’s rush to embrace its importance and value, while in this life. This is how ego acquires its negative connotation as ego preoccupied with Ego.

Primary narcissism, Freud’s postulate that ego’s first obsession is with its own self, is ego’s enduring challenge to transcend in this life. For ego to pass through this developmental stage and take in a world greater than itself is a formidable task. Yet, only from this greater perspective can ego grasp the true interconnected reality of the world and position itself appropriately to this broader Self.

Decision making is an ego function. We are beings who must take responsibility for our decisions. It has been my experience that only decisions which align with the truth of Spirit come to manifestation. Actually, I have been aligning with this intent my entire life. Even when the ego has reasonably convinced me of the rightness of an action, it gains no traction in the field of manifestation if it is truly not aligned with Spirit.

“Let go and let God” does not absolve us from actively tracking the design of Spirit and assuming personal responsibility for right action. Right action is ego acting without Ego; ego discerning the synchronicities, the language of Spirit, and acting in consort with the intent of these messages.

Our world is currently on a dramatic pregnant pause. Nature is truly in charge now, though ego clearly has its necessary role. Decisions must be made both by world leaders as well as by individuals. Every individual has the personal responsibility to wash their own hands and face the truth of their own potential contagion.

World leaders are challenged to rise above the local fixation of self-importance and address the true needs of the whole planet. Nature is grooming the ego to take the next developmental step beyond primary narcissism: ego without Ego.

A vast sum of human energy is being stockpiled now, like the current glut of oil, usually spent motorizing the world. This undeployed energy is the currency of our energetic potential. The world’s forced pause is asking ego to ponder its truths.

With our habitual daily behaviors greatly checked, our energetic reserves are growing. For shamans it is energy, and energy alone, that is the key to discovering our energetic potential. Attention withdrawn from a world of objects stirs kundalini, the energy of outer attachment, to awaken to its inner potential.

Take full advantage of this time of solitariness to intend greater access to your fuller energetic potential. Intend your energy body to strengthen its dreaming attention to explore infinity with awareness.

Intend, in dreaming, to travel the world in an instant, flying and discovering in the energy body. Intend the greater good in all worlds, especially the solid world we live in, currently on pregnant pause.

In the outer world of energy consumption, reliance upon fossil fuels is far more of a threat to world survival than a virus. Is our world ego ready to align itself with this truth? What more will the Spirit of Nature need to do to have us act in alignment with this truth?

Pointless to point fingers. Always return to the hologram of self. Take it as a valid hypothesis that those whom you hate the most are mirroring the subterfuge of your own ego’s struggle with Spirit’s intent.

Own your own shadow and reckon with it. It’s not about being good or bad; we all are both, and all must live both. No solace or reconciliation to be found in one-sidedness.

Perfection is incomplete wholeness. Perfection is ego with Ego. Ego in its humbleness can laugh at its own imperfections. Ego that can love can be in full acceptance of everything, yet intend to be impeccable. To be impeccable is to track the designs of Spirit as the overarching intent of a mature ego, an ego without Ego.

Embrace this amazing opportunity we are all being gifted by nature at this time, for ego, without Ego, to discover and journey with Spirit as we manifest a brave new world.

Humbly,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Parallel Impact

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The collision of parallel worlds…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

I told Jan that the next time we head up North, I’d like us to see Girl from the North Country, the new Broadway musical that juxtaposes Bob Dylan classics with Depression-era Duluth, MN in 1934. What is the impact of these two parallel worlds intersecting? Is their synchronistic value in their collision?

We are currently experiencing the intersection of parallel species in the worldwide human encounter with coronavirus. Beyond the obvious war humans must wage to neutralize this virulent microbe, we might study the impact and possible meaning of this encounter, beyond mere coincidence.

Thus far, this tiniest of microbes has nearly shut down our expected way of life, imposing massive quarantines on the world’s favored group activities. The future of cruise ships clearly hangs in the balance. Sporting events, even the Olympics, may be played to empty stadiums.

Travel, particularly in the closed space of airplanes, is severely restricted. Though clearly not as deadly as a plague, this virus has caused us to stay local, to rely more heavily upon local resources, as well as to engage in solitary activity.

The world’s financial systems are experiencing a dramatic impact, particularly in the decreased demand for fossil fuel, a major bulwark of the stock market. Our financial stability may require a major revamping, with the positive side-effect of reducing the carbon load that currently threatens environmental survival.

Human communication is favoring more remote connectedness in this time of high contagiousness. The rush to physical contact, even a mere handshake, is discouraged. Our ultimate human resource, as beings of energetic connectedness, is an avenue of exciting possibility, as our attachment to physical objects and physical contact between people must be approached with great caution.

Reluctant as countries might be to cooperate with each other as they address their national concerns, the truth is that the entire planet is in this together. No policies or walls can fully insulate anyone from the possibility of infection. It’s a worldwide, borderless concern.

The actual necessity of the world’s many component parts—all countries—to come together to address the crisis is a fundamental shift from isolationist policies that tend to obscure the interconnected needs of the whole. The nature of the crisis might demand such a shift.

Whether Bernie Sanders becomes the ultimate Democratic nominee may become a moot point, as the needs of the world in this crisis might result in the necessity of certain social policies that address the basic needs of all, with equanimity. No one in the human hierarchy is immune from this virus, and all of us could potentially be a carrier of it. All must be cared for, for the good of all. No ‘left wing’ social agenda here but merely medical necessity.

As we live our way through this greatest of challenges to our normal human way of life, may we incorporate the changes that truly shift our world onto more solid footing.

Be safe, loving, and resourceful in these most awesome of times. Try deepening your dreaming awareness, for remote energetic contact with all you hold dear.

These times are indeed a-changin’….

To the greatest common good,

Chuck