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.

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Chuck’s Place: Genuine Transformation

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What is real change? It may feel good to escape the heat of an uncomfortable situation, but that hardly guarantees we won’t be triggered again or that we won’t repeat the same fateful drama with a new cast of characters. The ego might try, with all of its cognitive might, to identify and rationally put to rest its fears and anxieties, but despite all its heroic intentions it might still find itself blindsided and seized by a passionate emotion of anger, terror, or attraction, or be swallowed up in a pool of sadness.

That white light of illumination... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
That white light of illumination…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

The simple truth is that the ego fortress alone, despite all its mighty defenses, is unlikely to permanently change or transform the deeper issues of the psyche housed in the depths of the unconscious and triggered by the outer circumstances of everyday life.

Permanent change is very simple to recognize: the person or situation that once triggered us, as measured by a strong activation of the central nervous system in powerful emotion, is now experienced as neutral; no activation of the central nervous system, no powerful emotion.

Energetically, we can say that the inner electrical charge of the triggering object has been completely depleted of its electrical charge. Psychically, we could say that the energy of the unconscious content behind the trigger has been transferred from the unconscious to the ego in the form of deep understanding, acceptance, and resolution. The ego becomes stronger, not in its defenses but more in its reduced need for defenses, the energy formerly spent in defenses now available for a more fulfilling experience of life.

The symbol that often emerges to represent this enlightened state of consciousness is white light, or whiteness in some form. This form of illuminated whiteness in spiritual terms is awareness that transcends maya, the veil of illusion that entraps us in the triggered situation, projected onto everyday life.

The bright light of whiteness lays bare all the truths, like the bright sun at its midday zenith. But this transformation also requires that the ego withstand the intense heat of both the blinding light of truth and the full heat of emotions that are sure to arise during any encounter with truth.

Rather than discharge that emotion in defensive spurts of blame and rage, the ego contains this cauldron of volatile emotion without action. As the truth is laid bare, the ego pours its deep well of tears into the cauldron as well, allowing both the heat of the fire and the dissolution of water to break down its intense attachment to the illusion it has held onto in an attempt to medicate itself from the full impact of the truth.

Finally, the fire of contained passion, the solution of sadness and depression, and the consciousness of the full reality of what is, eventuates in a genuine transformation. We are released into freedom from a formerly binding attachment. We can then stare into the truth of our lives with the detachment of reading a benign history book, no triggers, only genuine transformation.

Holding steady in the fire within... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Holding steady in the fire within…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

In her new book, to be published later this year, Jan offers an account of an experience of this cauldron of transformation, of bright white light followed by an intensity of emotions. She was at a family gathering, usually an emotionally triggering situation: “I feel myself move slightly, not my body, for my physical body remains stationary, but something inside me shifts and suddenly I see everything differently. One second I am my usual self, thinking my thoughts, and in the next second everything goes quiet. I go quiet too, utterly calm and still, and I see that everything and everyone is highlighted in white light. Crystal clear and luminous energy flows from everyone and everything. I am almost afraid to blink; I don’t want to disturb the beautiful, numinous vision. Then, just as suddenly, I am flooded with emotions. Feelings of sadness and loneliness envelop me…”

And that is followed by this: “…and then I know that it’s all true, that everything is true, that this experience in this moment is true and all I have recapitulated is true too.”

In the end, Jan states: “I was able to maintain a sense of continuity in the midst of the shift,”  underscoring that the ego was ready to encounter what was being proposed as the means to transformation. Now that is real change!

In the cauldron,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Raccoon Medicine

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It’s a calm, dark early morning, the sun’s light completely obscured by dense clouds. The rain will arrive soon. Jan and I are reading the Visions seminars, March 2, 1932, as Jung discusses sealing up the projection-making factor of the psyche, the animus for women, the anima for men.

In containment... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
In containment…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Having just completed the final touches on my previous blog, The Heart of Habit, Jung’s discussion clearly points to the next level of methodology to achieve self-knowledge, the step beyond avidya, the repetitive pattern of habit. Jung points to the science of alchemy, where the animus or anima is sealed tightly into a cauldron or retort, its energy and influence separated from actual reality, whereby freeing us to see the true nature of things devoid of the filters of opinions and moods that the projective-making factor normally shrouds the objective world with.

Jungs allusion here to alchemy actually mirrors psychotherapy, where the patient learns to not be controlled by the opinions and moods that generally overtake conscious perception and action. In therapy, the ego learns to differentiate itself from these automatic reactions and in that restraining process ultimately achieves release from the hold these deeper anima and animus entities generally exert upon daily life.

As Jan and I ponder the pragmatics of this transformative process, we suddenly notice a hunched up raccoon scamper across our yard and then climb up a pine tree. This is startling because although many animals find their way to our little sanctuary this is the first sighting of a raccoon on the grounds. Of course, we immediately seek the meaning of this synchronicity. What is the relationship between the alchemical retort holding the energized projection-making character in the psyche and the raccoon? Could the behavior of the raccoon be nature’s practical guide to this transformation?

What is going on behind the mask? - Child's artwork
What is going on behind the mask?
– Child’s artwork

The most striking feature of a raccoon is its mask. When we put on a mask we create secrecy, we hide a part of ourselves from public view and in turn we stalk a different personality. The Shamans of Ancient Mexico considered the art of stalking, the ability to fully embody another personality, a critical exercise in fluidity, a necessary skill to achieve freedom in the ever-changing worlds of infinity. In addition, when we outwardly live the mask we wear, we completely seal the container of the projective-making factor within our personality; we remove if from active influence over our lives.

This sealed alchemical retort, containing a powerful energetic part of ourselves, is then allowed its own transformative milieu within the sensory deprivation container of the self. Deprived of outside involvement and influence it loses its compulsive outwardly-directed fixation and crystalizes into a character that can take us deeper into the inner recesses of our being directly, as opposed to its former function of projecting those inner contents onto the outer world and drawing us into compulsive outwardly-seeking behaviors. This opens the door to direct inner relationship with the unconscious, largely removing its obscured projections from being acted upon in the outside world.

The key to raccoon’s success is its secrecy. The key to release from compulsion via raccoon medicine is to bottle up the compulsion and keep it completely secret from the rest of the self. The outer mask we then stalk life with completely avoids any contact with thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related to the desired object. They are not indulged in in any way, as all attention and energy is focused on stalking another being, another way of being.

Eventually there is new life... - Art by Jan Ketchel
Eventually there is new life…
– Art by Jan Ketchel

Eventually—and raccoon medicine requires a lengthy time period of at least 5 months—the energetics of the compulsion in the sealed retort will begin to crystalize into an inner guide, an inner helper that will take one to the deeper riches within the self.

Thank you, “Rocky Raccoon” for imparting the wisdom of your medicine for those ready for the inner secrecy and outer mask of transformation and self-knowledge.

Chuck

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Chuck’s Place: The Heart of Habit

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Habits are precious stones that reflect the jewels of our unknown selves. Like moths to a flame we are drawn to the daily ritual enactment of our precious habits.

In the golden light of a new day... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
In the golden light of a new day…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

The unconscious draws us with compulsive fervor to realize its contents as it reflects itself upon the objects of this world. Specific objects glow with the mana of transcendence, of wholeness, of completion. Whether we are directed to obtain or avoid these magical objects is irrelevant, our daily lives are consumed with and defined by the mystical dance with these reflections of god anyway.

This habitual state of possession easily defies reason. As St. Paul abundantly made clear: that which I would, I do not; that which I would not, that I do. Had we the birthright of the East, that this material world is but maya, perhaps we wouldn’t find ourselves so easily entrapped by the spell of projective illusion. But, as Westerners, the solid world is our playing field, the waking dream of the unconscious and habits are our paths of heart.

At the heart of habit is that which we do not know about ourselves but must discover in the gold rush of our daily lives. This knowing transcends reason, which is simply inadequate at grasping our greater wholeness. How reasonable for instance is passionate love? And, in all honesty, in one form or another, is not the habitual seeking of passionate love at the heart of much of life?

The pot at the end of the rainbow of habit is as illusive as the gold it reflects. Inevitably, even the successful scoring of the habit, the magical substance or pulsating being we obtain, is but a fleeting glimmer of the true gold we seek. And so, each day we awaken with renewed vigor and resolve, reset to go off once again prospecting for that gold.

The Buddhists call this repetitive seeking avidya. It is at the root of all suffering, and yet its repetition leads eventually to knowledge, as repetition itself leads to burnout; the flame of desire simply exhausts itself in completion. The habit ends as the jewel of self-knowledge is realized: the object of my desire has simply lost its shine, the compulsion disappears; I am freed to move in a new direction. How deeply I grow from this new possibility, how daring I will be to change my life is still a function of consciousness and conscience, but it’s no longer governed by compulsion; the path for growth and change is cleared.

It could be argued, a la the Christian viewpoint, that sacrifice is a more efficient methodology to bottle up and transform the habit, but you cannot throw your habit into the fire of sacrifice if you are truly not done with it. One need only examine the notion of turning one’s cheek or immediately embracing forgiveness, which frequently only generates a shadow of lifelong resentment. If the fire of anger is not allowed its full course it will smolder and flame up anew. You are not ready for sacrifice if you have not fully mined your habit. In such a case, your habit still holds meaning for you.

Our habits eat away at us... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Not fully mined yet?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

In repetition, I give myself full liberty to reenact the experiment to prove the hypothesis that my unconscious has proposed to me: that thing, that being, obtained or avoided, is the key to the kingdom. Having obtained that key over and over again, having lived it fully, having examined it in totality, finally reveals its treasure.  That treasure comes in many forms.

Sometimes it reveals the obsessive power of a mighty defense that promises to protect me from death. Sometimes the trail it leads me on forces me to discover a precious unknown part of myself. Sometimes it is the very thing that breaks my narcissistic shell and reveals the world beyond myself and my place in it. Sometimes it reveals the caged, domesticated animal of my physical self seeking the redemption of freely living its instinctual life. Frequently it is the trail of recapitulation itself, the journey to recover and discover who and all that I really am, what jewel I’ve come here to obtain.

Habits can be life threatening, but no journey of heart is without its dangers. And no one can truly be rescued from a habit, for habit is the habitat of humanity. We may be protected from our destructive habits, and often we must be, but until we discover the real jewel that lurks behind the habits we are drawn to our lives will continue to wrap around the heart of the habit.

Habits, gotta love ’em!

Chuck

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Chuck’s Place: Twilight Of The Gods

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The aspiring goddess, Hillary Clinton, states: “I believe in science. I believe that climate change is real and that we can save our planet…”

This is a very different “witch,” as she is currently cast as, than those once burned at the stake for evoking the beauty and instinctual power of nature, simply because they were women.

How high is enough? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
How high is enough?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Once upon a time the great religions had to tear themselves away from the dominance of instinctual nature to achieve spiritual heights. Women, the feminine, and the Earth, were the scapegoats of this developing spirit mind, an ego striving to rise above and separate itself from its lowly animal nature.

By the age of the Enlightenment, for all practical purposes, that rising spirit of reason abandoned the God of the heavens. The masculine ego of reason could no longer believe in a power beyond itself and secretly crowned itself God Almighty instead. As Almighty God, the masculine ego claimed complete domination over its heavenly entitlement, Earth, which it divided up and from which it extracted its riches, the true material signs of its godliness: money, power, and control.

With the recent dawning of the Age of Aquarius a radical shift ushered in, the New Age, with its valuing of both spirit and matter, consciousness and the interconnected wholeness of the feminine placed on equal terms. The time we live in, right now, is the most dramatic demonstration of this evolutionary transition from the dominance of the Kingly Ego to the inclusion of the Queen, the rebalancing of yin and yang that restores the Tao of our Earth.

This transition has been long in the making. Hitler was the first modern Ego King who sought to consolidate the total dominance of masculine power over the world. His social alchemical ethnic purification efforts were geared to arrive at Nietzsche’s Superman in the form of the blond beast. This was a dramatic expression and foreshadowing of where we have finally come to, masculinity’s last stand to rule the world in the person of Donald Trump.

What goes up must come down! - Photo by Jan Ketchel
What goes up must come down!
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

The difference between our current election and Hitler’s rise to power was that Hitler was democratically defeated in Germany in the 1932 elections. When von Hindenburg died in 1934 Hitler declared himself head of state. Hitler mesmerized and tapped into the latent collective undercurrent of unrest and desire for change in Germany at the time, which he then materialized in his Nazi regime with its resultant holocaust.

In our time, evolution has insisted that we, the populace, face the energies before us and consciously choose who will lead the country and, ostensibly, the world. Trump has emerged as an extremely worthy representative of one-sided masculine dominance and control. Like Hitler before him, Trump has his scapegoats, currently people of color, people of the Muslim religion, Mexicans, and women. His ethnic cleansing strategy is remarkably similar to Hitler’s; eliminate in one form or another the blackness of the Earth.

Blackness is the darkness of the night, the color of the rich earth. Blackness is the color of yin, the eternal feminine. Like Hitler, purification and cleansing, a restoration of pure whiteness is Trump’s recipe to make America great again. Evolution absolutely insists, however, that consciousness, the hallmark of the New Age, squarely face off with the old age of total masculine control and this time choose to advance itself.

This is the election we are currently in. Hillary, for her part, is the aspiring Goddess who looks at the sun and sees it rising rather than setting. She mirrors an integration of the value of the feminine, an interconnected world and saving the Earth, with the spirit of science. She includes, powerfully, the mind and its virtues, science, with the feminine perspective, love. Though cast as a witch, she is a worthy representative of an evolutionary transition.

I am so appreciative of both Hillary and Donald’s willingness to completely play and be their parts in this Twilight of the Gods contest. And we, the people, are not simply a vicarious audience; we are part and parcel of this divine play. And it must play out, with all its twists of comedy and tragedy. And in the final scene we must cast our deciding vote. Consciousness must fully participate in this ultimate reality show.

Love... from the Earth - Photo by Chuck Ketchel
Love… from the Earth
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

If consciousness chooses Hillary, it marks another milestone in the settling in of the Age of Aquarius where the feminine is granted its equal position next to its masculine half. If Trump wins, it means we are simply not ready for this great transition, that we need another chapter of Earth life for the all-powerful masculine to rigorously live out its power and control before consciousness may be ready to reconcile with the feminine in all her godly manifestations: Blackness, Woman, and Earth.

What an extraordinary time to be alive and participating in this world!

CK

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Chuck’s Place: Programmed For Love

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We arrive in this world fully programed to receive the love, attention, and nurturance that will support the unfolding and maturation of our human selves. We are preprogrammed to bond with our primary caretakers, the parents entrusted and programmed to respond with loving nurturance to our deepest needs for safety, food, and emotional affirmations.

Those archetypes... about as solid as stone... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Those archetypes… about as solid as stone…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

These preexistent programs are what Jung called archetypes, nature’s tried and true wisdom encoded in instinctual patterns to ensure the survival and thriving of a human life. Despite the robustness of nature’s guiding archetypal programs, something has to happen to turn them on. With infants, a simply smile is often sufficient enough to trigger deep emotional bonding with adults. Humans, however, are fallible. We left the archetypal Garden long ago and often find ourselves deeply estranged from reading the environmental clues that activate nature’s bonding program. Winnicott, the English psychiatrist/pediatrician, softened the blow of this reality by stating that parents only had to be “good enough” for these innate growth programs to be activated in children.

The important detail to be gleaned from this powerful interaction between parents and children is its impersonal nature. Innate programs are not personal, they are the same for our entire species. We are all born with them. When caretakers respond to our archetypal programs we attach and love them. This has nothing to do with who personally our parents are, it has to do with how well our programs line up with each other.

When they align we experience deep love, but again, that love is impersonal. It’s the running of nature’s program and the powerful energetic and emotional response we have to it. Again, this powerful emotional response is not because of who the parent is, but only because of their ability to engage in an archetypal drama being activated between child and parent, a drama in which they both have starring roles.

The same kind of impersonal archetypal “love” ignites in adult romantic relationships. Nowadays, with the advent of instant connection between romantically inclined adults through internet dating sites, we can observe the rapid activation of innate mating programs running full cycle over the course of just one day.

Saying the right words, paying attention at the right moment can activate the most powerful feelings of ultimate soulmate through cyberspace. A hit on a dating site in the morning could result in a phone call at noon, a shared evening dinner, and a night of ecstasy. Of course, by the next morning, the personal reality of who this other being is begins to appear under the brightening light of the rising sun. One begins to face the power of having been swept away by an instinctual archetypal pattern to merge and mate. The being before us is truly a personal mystery, the depth of our emotional and ecstatic experience the result of having performed in an archetypal drama, of having participated in a deep mystery of nature, summoned from the hidden depths of our being.

However, if we are completely honest with ourselves, there is nothing personal in the relationship. In fact, we’d be hard pressed to call it a relationship at all if we define relationship as being truly consciously related to another. To be truly connected to another we must truly know them as people beyond the archetypal projections that ruled the night. However instinctually satisfying the encounter may have been, we can hardly call it a real relationship.

Conscious relationships require time and true knowing and acceptance of another as they truly are. Though our archetypal blueprint predisposes and pressures us to partake in powerful dramas to truly feel alive, needed, and loved, the paradox remains: deep, instinctual bonding and love is not in the least bit personal love.

It is our human challenge to reconcile instinctual and personal love. Our evolutionary trajectory is pressuring us to find instinctual satisfaction in a consciously related personal relationship.

All too frequently, that which draws us instinctively is completely opposite to what we feel consciously companionable to. That is our current cross to bear as a species. At present, we are a civilization struggling with the old archetypal patterns of blind tribalism and loyalty of blood and action vs a consciously related world that puts the true needs of the world over the self interest of the archetypally bound tribe.

In our most basic relationships, where impersonal love and obligation bind us, we must ask ourselves whether the actual relationships we are in, even with our most intimates, are in fact personal relationships at all. Sometimes primal relationships must end. They may have served their primal need, nature’s imperative, but they may never have taken root in a personal way, which is the only way we can grow and fulfill our modern evolutionary imperative: the reconciliation of nature and consciousness, animal and spirit, the full truth of who we are.

We are programmed for love, but are we truly able to advance that program with consciousness?

Personally,

Chuck