• Category Archives Creative Mythology

  • Working with Qualities of Soul: Cyclical

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies Comment

    Blogging is the way I begin my day. It has become a cycle. Honouring the events of the previous day using the blog as a journal. As I write I connect with insights to carry me forward. What I am feeling in that moment. What are the textures, the sensations that are urging me forward, following the cycle of personal evolution.

    Is this cycle only a single circle that I’m stuck on or is it a spiral, an ever upward evolution of my Soul. As I ponder this I return to the Hero’s Journey and the work of Carol Pearson who developed a system of 12 archetypes that assist the path of evolution for our soul.

    The journey evolves through 3 stages – the preparation, the initiation, and the return. Within those 3 stages there are 4 archetypes encountered as we assimilate the rememberings required to move to the next stage. The archetypes of preparation are the innocent, the orphan, the warrior, the caregiver. In the initiatory stage we have the seeker, lover, destroyer, and the creator. Finally on our return we are governed by the ruler, the magician, the sage and the fool.

    In her book Awakening the Heroes Within: 12 Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Transform the World she describes the path as a spiral. It may be informing different areas of our lives and in each area we may be in a different stage. Another complexity alongside those we spoke of yesterday. Our career may involve one Hero’s Journey and our relationships another.

    picture1a
    Spiral Path of the Hero's Journey

    As I was pondering this a few years ago I wondered what it would look like and came up with this rendering. It seemed as though this described both the entirety of a life and also different excursions within that life. What was named then as the Fool, Pearson now refers to as the Jester.

    And all this had to do with what yesterday? On the day of the cyclical, I cycled. Back to Bottle Lake Forest Park via the place where I am working my temping assignment so that I can get the lay of the land. After discussion with the Sous Chef it seemed pretty straight forward, with some more instruction today and there’ll be others around to assist. It’s been probably 12 years since I worked as a temp and at that time I had some mixed experiences from nurturing, to mundane, to almost absolute disaster. I guess there may be a demon to confront here. Have I evolved since that time? I was honest that my skills were rusty when it came to restaurant style fare and was assured by the chef that it was pretty basic and simple. Onwards.

    Onwards to the forest from there, and full of energy, the tyres were pumped and everything was running smoothly. I was aware of the place I came off last time I was out there and successfully negotiated that. I detoured from usual circuit to take in another track I hadn’t taken for a while. The forest had grown around it and it appeared totally different to how I’d experienced before. They seemed to have made some additions to the track that created extra challenges. I was so energized when I got to the end I turned around and took in some more of the trails. Magic. Again I’m reminded of the labyrinth as I consider the trails weaving through the forest.

    Labyrinths describe a circuitous route inward and in medieval times was used as a substitute for the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. It was also believed to be symbolic of the journey from Life to Death and may have been a calendar or astronomical device. My preference would be to consider it as symbolic. How do I want to be on that journey?

    The Labyrinth
    The Labyrinth

    For me I see life as working towards a defining moment that is symbolised by reaching the centre of the labyrinth.  We have collected many experiences along the way and have come to the centre. It’s from here that we turn outwards taking the path until we are completed by death. The turning outwards is about sharing the path of self knowledge with the wider community.

    Each of us walks our own internal labyrinth. Our mind. Our feelings. There is an almost never ending cycle of thought. And beyond that the universal cycle of time both linear and eternal. And even further still the Circle of Life. The Completeness of all manifestations of experience.

    Another of the symbols that represent this cyclical nature is the Ouroboros. This is depicted as a serpent devouring its own tail. It is nature in a constant cycle recreating itself anew through eternity. It is evolution.

    When I returned from the ride I was able to catch up my blog. I was a day behind from earlier in the week.

    Later I had to pick up some money that I was owed. I found it quite difficult to be positive about it. It seemed that it was all going to be gone in a instant. That it was just going to slip through my hands. I noticed a lot of frustration around that. I was still feeling that when i got home. Checked my account in case Winz had put some money in. No such luck. I feel now the downward spiral this created for me. It was only momentary and will pass.

    Overall it was a good day.

    Blessings

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  • Working with Aspects of the Soul: Serenity

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies Comment

    I’ve been sleeping well. As I consider the struggles of my past – the ones that have kept insomnia barking at my door – mainly when relationships didn’t appear to be working any more, this current struggle is not keeping me up at night worried out of my head. Seems like a good thing.

    It has certainly been keeping a knot of something in my stomach at different times of the day. Fear probably, as I make this transition from one reality to another. I really had to remind myself often of yesterday’s intention. Serenity. I needed to breathe that into my awareness.

    And yet in the middle of it all there are gifts. Seeing and listening to others at peace with themselves was a gift to me while that knot seemed to be tightening. Sitting there under the Chinese Silk tree. If ever there was a tree helpful in evoking serenity that’s the one. It’s beautiful.

    There was an interesting moment when I looked for my previous post on another computer and it wasn’t there. I was kicking myself that maybe I’d mistakenly deleted it and was going over what I’d written in my mind and hoping I could get it all back. I asked myself in that moment what serenity was all about and the answer was seeing everything as perfect. I thought that having an empty space under the heading was perfect detachment. And was imagining fielding a couple of comments. When I got home and logged on to my computer there it was as if it had never disappeared. It was perfect.

    Coming home and clearing email. Seeing one from Joe Vitale in which he was offering a free download to his subscribers. I opened the file and found a bonus pdf which turned out to be an e-book version of what he believed to be one of the most powerful books on manifestation written . It’s called Attaining Your Desires By Letting Your Subconscious Mind Work for You by GENEVIEVE BEHREND. If you’re unable to get a copy from him you can get one at scribd.com.

    I understand the process of manifestation and yet here was a text that thoroughly elucidated what to do when it seemed that whatever you were endeavouring to manifest wasn’t working. Whether you were struggling with disappointment, fear, sensitivity or other manner of upset most of the remedies outlined consisted of breathing, walking, affirmation.

    All methods for coming back to serenity.

    I found myself moved to work on my vision board and become clearer on what I really wanted my life to be about. I look forward to it unfolding.

    Blessings.

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  • Living in Soul: Aspects – Part Two

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies 1 Comment

    Aspects of the Soul

    Sharing, Loneliness, Neutrality, Impersonality, Detachment

    This is week two of the process. Like last week I’ll be posting as I form a daily intention based on the each of these five aspects.

    Sharing
    The characteristic of sharing is a principle which covers all realms; the physical (food, shelter, goods); the mental (information, learning) and the spiritual (things that nurture our soul, beliefs around the sacred, ideas that fill us with enthusiasm for life). Whatever we possess can be shared. And when shared graciously will nuture all souls that have been touched by the act. Sharing is the synthesis of giving and taking it touches both parties. It increases the power of that which is shared. If one has discovered what they imagine to be some sort of elixir, something with life enhancing properties why would one not want to share it. The act of keeping it for himself and holding tightly onto it would have him withering and eventually dying.

    Loneliness
    The following is in snippets from The Soul The Quality of Life.
    Bailey’s words better illuminate loneliness from a spiritual perspective. The understanding for me was more meaningful and I didn’t want to dilute the power of her words. The first comes from the chapter “Relationships of the Soul” the second from “Characteristics of the Soul”.

    (a) One of the primary conditions that a disciple has to cultivate, in order to sense the Plan and be used by the Master, is solitude. In solitude the rose of the soul flourishes; in solitude the divine self can speak; in solitude the faculties and the graces of the higher self can take root and blossom in the personality. In solitude also the Master can approach and impress upon the quiescent soul the knowledge that he seeks to impart, the lesson that must be learnt, the method and plan for work that the disciple must grasp. In solitude the sound is heard. The Great Ones have to work through human instruments, and the Plan and the vision are much handicapped by failure on the part of these instruments.

    (b) …..Loneliness comes when the disciple steps out of a life of physical plane concentration and finds himself in the midway place between the world of outer affairs and the inner world of meaning…..from the tangible world to which he is accustomed must, he knows, be superseded by the intangible world of values and new responsibilities…… He is breaking loose from the mass consciousness with which he has been merged, but has not yet found his group, into which he will eventually be consciously absorbed….. Be not afraid of loneliness. The soul that cannot stand alone has naught to give…… In this solitude there is no morbidness, there is no harsh withdrawing and there is no aspect of separateness. There is only the place where the disciple stands, detached and unafraid and in that place of utter quiet the Master comes and solitude is not.

    Neutrality
    Neutrality is one of the suggestions I found useful in the HeartMath Solution. The authors propose that when you’re unable to find anything to appreciate about a situation imagine feeling neutral toward it. The Bailey material referred to this as Spiritual Indifference. It involves not getting caught up or attached to feelings or moods that stimulate pain, distress and also excitement within our bodies. While our bodies are our vehicles for this earthly experience and need to be nurtured, constant negative feelings can be unhealthy. From a soul perspective, while their shade provides a richness in the colour of life, the negative needs to recognized as a pointer without getting caught up in or attached to it.

    Confusing mood, feeling and sensation within our bodies as spiritual reality can lead first to illusion and then addiction. Though addiction prevents the soul from making itself known in our lives it can be a signpost to soul consciousness.

    I think about addiction as habitual behaviour embedded in our personality. We may be conscious of it but it has become a trap. A trap in that we imagine it is needed so that our lives may continue as normal. Addictions to drugs, alcohol, cigarettes can be life-threatening and there are also what Judith Wright calls soft addictions which may include moodiness, surfing the internet, gossip, cellphone usage, television, overeating, procrastination.

    When I catch myself sinking into a soft addiction adopting an attitude of neutrality is useful to ease my way out of it. By introducing a more positive attitude, focusing on purpose or vision for my life, the addiction gradually loses it hold.

    Impersonality
    When a man is beginning to live as a soul, and when his consciousness has shifted away from the world of illusion, then he can be useful……. The true picture of the world’s need releases you from your own ambition and sets you free to work with no thought of self or of spiritual happiness and with no desire for any self appointed task; with no longing for glittering promises of future success and with no demanding ache for the tender touch and contact with those greater in consciousness than ourselves……. You need to learn the lessons of accepting guidance from your own soul and of learning to work with harmony and impersonality on the physical plane with the group or groups to which your destiny impels you.

    The idea that comes to mind as I read this is presence. During my Holistic Life Coach training one of the catch phrases we heard often was…. Your presence is enough. To be present with the client without wanting to fix them, without feeling you need to do something. Within that presence I am connected to soul and if I hear my heart calling that is the time to offer myself to the process.

    The other idea that comes to mind is from Don Miguel Ruiz’s book, The Four Agreements. One of the Agreements he encourages readers to cultivate is taking nothing personally. Each of us is doing the best with what life has gifted them. If we are experiencing something challenging it is about our own internal processes rather what anyone may be doing or saying to us.

    Detachment
    One of the processes of meditation is that of witnessing. Becoming the watcher of what is happening within as I endeavour to quiet the mind. I become a trainspotter following the train of thought, though not being attached to it. The carriages of thought can contain a cargo of emotion and this observational attitude is useful so I don’t get hooked into the feelings thought may generate.

    When I bring this witness with me into everyday life I don’t get caught up in other people’s stuff. I am able to allow their process to unfold and just be with them in that and as before let presence show the way.

    By standing serene there is no more waste motion, no more mistaken moves, and no more false interpretations, no wandering down the bypaths of daily living, no seeing others through distorted and prejudiced vision and – above all – no more misuse of force.

    Resources:

    D.K. through Alice A. Bailey:
    The Soul The Quality of Life

    Doc Childre & Howard Martin:
    The HeartMath Solution

    Judith Wright:
    There Must Be More Than This:Finding More Life, Love and Meaning by Overcoming Your Soft Addictions

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  • Working with Aspects of the Soul: Humility

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies 1 Comment

    It didn’t seem much of a day for humility. Frustration. Projection. Anger. Fear. Even though I began it by doing something I love. Early morning bike ride to a forest by the sea. I had hoped to ride it in the dark. Was loving my bed too much.

    At that particular place, doing that activity I am at peace with myself. Sure there’s physical exertion. But my inner self is in love with it all. Even falling off. Now that’s definitely a way to experience humility. That’s what happens when I ride a new track. One I’m unfamiliar with. Not all the time. Yesterday though. Lucky the soft sand. I rode a couple of new tracks yesterday. The one I fell off on and another. On that one riding felt quite sluggish and bumpy. I didn’t like it.

    The forest’s grown up since I was away. It’d have to be a few months now since I was there. I don’t like it when things change and I do like it as well. Biking around yesterday you wouldn’t believe there’d been a huge fire a couple or three years ago. Nature had reclaimed what was taken away by the folly of humans.

    The scent of lupins, of the native broom, of pine filled the air. I hadn’t seen that much broom since I was a child. (I think the council decided it was a noxious weed and sprayed it to death). What does that say about them? I loved it back then. It was great to fall in love again. Its easy to feel humility in the face of nature’s splendour.

    After the new stretch of track on which I felt sluggish, I rode into a piece that seemed unfamiliar, although I knew I was close to the end. I picked up speed even though it could have been a little messy if I’d come off. I felt for a few moments that it wasn’t me that wanted to go faster but the bike itself. As if it was more familiar with the track than me.

    I always write after I’ve been to the forest on my bike. Somehow I see the ride as having significance to the soul’s journey to consciousness. There’s a humility within that. That while life may seem complex, the simple things experienced fully evoke blessing and awaken our soul.

    The track is the track even though it has new additions here and there. Life gifts us with wonder when we take a new path. I didn’t take the route home that I’d taken there. Wish I’d had my camera with me. Could have photographed the big black mother duck with the three black ducklings, and the three yellow ducklings. It was beautiful. Two of the ducklings, one of each colour were struggling to keep up with the others I stayed and watched their journey to the water. Fascinating to watch. They made it!

    I got home and of course you understand how that went from my previous post.

    Humility in the face of the power of nature. Humility in the face of the power of our own internal processes. Awareness of the moment. Bless it. However it manifests.

    There is a sense of eternal peace in humility. The presence of perfection in all that is.

    Working with Creative Mythology what are the elements of our stories that point towards our perfection? In sharing them do we evoke love, laughter and a sense of beauty. The counterpoint between our inner voices of perfection and imperfection creates the harmony and balance of our lives. How can it be otherwise than to fully feel both dark and light without being seduced by their glamour.

    Blessings for today.

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  • Working with Aspects of the Soul: Responsibility

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies 1 Comment

    Responsibility. I’m just looking at the mess my desk has become and feeling the need to take care of that. To make my work space clearer. To make me clearer. Responsibility. I’m so responsible I can’t even commit to my blog. I said to myself I’d do it in the morning. It’s now the afternoon of my day of humility and I haven’t even written up responsibility.

    I stink. No I literally stink. I went for a ride on my mountain bike this morning and am still in those clothes. I need to get clean. I got distracted. I did honour a commitment to a friend which came right on the end of cleaning my desk. Helped him set up a blog. I guess I was committed to blogging.

    I saw the way he seemed to be distracted from his purpose. My projection. There were times I felt myself being angry. I know that’s my stuff. Because I’m not being responsible for what I need in my life right now.

    I’m home and back to the blog. My desk is tidy, I’m clean. Beads of water running out of my beard and down my neck.

    Yesterday I felt I was taking responsibility for others and their needs. My need was to have money coming in. That didn’t happen. And yet around all that I was able to be present.

    Being 100% responsible. For everything. Anything that we are or become conscious of. Those ideas were with me yesterday. The book Zero Limits written by Joe Vitale and Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len tells Dr Len’s story of how he helped heal an entire ward of mentally ill criminals without seeing any of them in a therapeutic setting!

    Beautiful story of seeing what is inside of you. Dr Len while reading the patients files would work on himself. Taking responsibility as he connected the patient’s story to what he was feeling within he would offer the following to the divine, “I’m sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love”. Over time conditions in the ward began to change. Staff turnover tailed off, patients began to change, and in the end the ward was closed. Powerful. The term he used for the process was cleaning.

    I’m feeling cleaner now, more at home within myself. My head isn’t spinning with doubts about how responsible I am. I needed to blog to become clear. My awareness isn’t in my head but is encompassing my whole being. I’m at peace And hoping that these words will somehow touch another. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

    And what does it mean for a Creative Mythologer? What is the vision you wish to create for yourself from this point on. What life experience is calling you to take 100% responsibility? Are there areas of your life that need cleaning? The physical – house, office, the yard, your body. The psyche – your thoughts, emotions, soul. Do you have a clear and positive connection with spirit?

    By committing to clean in the physical we change our nonphysical reality.
    By taking responsibility for being clear in our nonphysical, how we view material reality changes.

    Responsibility is an expression of love. Love it all.

    Later today, maybe tomorrow: Humility

    Blessings

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  • Living in Soul: Aspects – Part One

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    From the writings of Alice A. Bailey we have the features of what a life infused by the soul might hold. Ain’t life fascinating! A little research for some background of Alice A. Bailey and I discover that she was a cook in the American Theosophical headquarters café. A association with my own work as a chef! It was there that she connected with the Master Djwal Khul who she credits with telepathically dictating the works she would produce from 1919 ’til her death in 1949.

    She had some very interesting ideas on a multitude of subjects and it is from The Soul: The Quality of Life that I derived the following material. The italicized sections are quoted from the book. I’ve broken it into three posts and it may be interesting for you to follow the practice I outlined in the previous post.

    Aspects of the Soul

    Love, Responsibility, Humility, Inclusiveness, Joy and Happiness

    Love
    Love is the nature of the soul and therefore I make it the first of its characteristics. This isn’t the love of affection, emotion, or sentiment. It is soul love and flows from the inner self. Rather than needing to be projected outwards by one willing it, it radiates touching those that come in contact with it, even on a subtle level. It brings order to chaos and changes pity to compassion.
    There are some affirmations from the work of Alice A. Bailey as regards soul love:
    a. May that soul of mine, whose nature is love and wisdom, direct events, impel to action, and guide my every word and deed.
    b. Let the love of the soul attract, and the light of the soul, direct all whom I seek to help.
    c. Right attachment releases the love of the soul, and only love, consciously, intelligently and deliberately applied, can make for successful work.

    Responsibility
    For me responsibility is foremost after love. It brings me into solid connection with my physical existence. By taking responsibility I take ownership of my ‘I AM PRESENCE’ in the here and now. I am 100% responsible for anything that is manifest in my life. My words, my actions, all my thoughts from which I create my life. And if there is negativity manifest in my life then I take responsibility for it. I do not attach blame to anyone or anything exterior to me, but attempt to discover what the thought is that evokes the manifestation of the negativity.

    Humility
    I went through a series of humbling experiences on my journey to connect with my soul. The Alice A. Bailey writings speak of the concept of Glamour and when I was humbled by life, I was seduced by the glamour of an idea.
    Even though it felt like I had the best of intentions I noticed that in some ways I was stroking my ego. I wasn’t anchored in a soul-based consciousness. I was attracted to working as a therapist but not out of a sense of service to others, but rather the glamour of working in the field.
    It was a reality check. In Overcoming Emotional Chaos authors Doc Childre and Deborah Rozman of HeartMath refer to something similar and call it vanity. Once seduced by this vanity or glamour I was not in a state of being fully present to all my life. These experiences evoked the humility required to exist in a more soul conscious state.
    I had discovered HeartMath a year or so earlier and had committed to their training and a seminar in Australia. Their teachings on heart intelligence are powerful. I was possibly the first person in New Zealand to do their training and excited by the prospect it held. When opportunities didn’t unfold though I marketed the program I sensed the vanity and also the possibility there was more of me to be uncovered. Rather than pushing me to look further outwards for answers these humblings prompted a turning within. Was I denying parts of myself that needed expression? A visit to a person channeling a Persian Mystic invited the idea that I might look at soul retrieval. For some time I had been reading material around the soul, never imagining that I might be missing part of it. Once the shamanic practitioner had taken me through the rite of retrieval and time had been taken to integrate the part there was a greater feeling of unity within. The journey was not yet over but there was a sense that somehow I was more of me. I had less of a feeling of separation from the rest of those in my circles. A previous sense of difference and isolation was being replaced by a feeling that whoever we are we’re all looking to evolve our humanness in our own unique way.

    Inclusiveness
    Bailey describes inclusiveness as…. the outstanding characteristic of the soul, or self, whether it is the soul of man, the sensitive nature of the cosmic Christ, or the anima mundi, the soul of the world. This inclusiveness tends to synthesis.

    Synthesis can be thought of as fusion and for me involves creating the space within my mind and heart to acknowledge that I’m part of all that is. That by virtue of being a guest on Planet Earth I’m intimately connected with all that entails – the rest of humanity, the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, the mineral world, and in even a wider sense the rest of the universe. I live with a sense of sacred relationship to all these facets of life I honour each for the gifts they bring.

    Joy and Happiness
    The Bailey work says that happiness is based on the confidence of the God within. I’m not sure I’d describe myself as being a happy person, and acknowledge there have been times in my life when I thought of myself as being depressed but unsure whether it was anything that was affecting my life detrimentally. At times it became a good excuse if things didn’t appear to be going to well. Following the soul retrieval, I came to notice within, not a happiness, rather a feeling of profound contentment.
    The work of Alice Bailey speaks of happiness as a personality reaction and to endeavour to demonstate it. She says joy is a soul quality that is experienced in the mind and advises us to be joyful as it is joy that allows light to bless us. Bliss is described as a nature of the spirit and can only truly be encountered once unity, the ultimate beingness, is realised through the soul.

    ….work not for joy, but towards it; not for reward, but from an inner disposition to serve; not for gratitude but from the urge that comes from having seen the vision and realization of the part you have to play in bringing the vision down to earth.

    May the Blessings of the New Year touch you. Gratitude to all.

    Resources:

    D.K. through Alice A. Bailey
    The Soul The Quality of Life

    Wikipedia: Alice A. Bailey, Dwhal Khul, Anima Mundi

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  • Design, Mine, Refine

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies Comment

    I have been struggling for a few days now with the next post for my blog. I realized what I was trying to do was paraphrase what some else had written. While their headings were universal themes, the experience written of was unique to them.  I was wasting my time trying to restate what was said. Instead, I began to use the headings to stimulate musings based on my personal experience. Also it became clear I needed to write and add this post before continuing.

    In the previous post I had given a series of headings about the soul on which I had offered my thoughts. Headings are great starting points as you begin to explore your inner self through journaling 

    A previous experience I had with journaling was quite illuminating. I was following the writings of Judith Wright in her book The One Decision. By following the different themes and journaling as prescribed I arrived at a better understanding of myself in regards to living my One Decision which was to live more soulfully.

    From this it became clear that the process could not only be used for Judith’s themes but also for other themes I thought worthwhile. In my experience of shamanic journeying there was a similar process at work. Prior to journeying I’d create an intention then enter the meditative state for the journey. I’d meet with guides who in some way would fulfil my intention. Judith’s themes were also intentions for each day. Intention evolves into inspiration. What am I inspired to experience? This is the Design.

    The journaling process becomes a morning meditation after which I write down my inspiration for the day. I allow the day to unfold allowing myself to just be, however it plays out. I then journal again in the evening. As I write down my current reality, you may sense negativity in the days experience. (Over the holiday period I’m encountering a financial slow down and I feel fear when I’m unsure how my bills are going to be paid). I continue to write knowing that writing is a peaceful activity for me.

    I am inspired to write at this time. At the end of the day I look back at how my day evolved. I Mine the day. What are my experiences? What emotion was brought up during the day? 

    Then I Refine. Is how the day played out in accord with my inspiration? Where is the Gold? Were there things I could have done better? Are there bits I’d prefer to leave behind tomorrow (the tailings)? 

    You needn’t meditate to come up with an inspiration or intention. The inspiration may come as you read, or listen to a piece of music, as you take a walk or while you ponder, or maybe create, a piece of art.

    Journaling is a creative process. Writing is just one starting point. Painting or drawing your experience is just as valuable. You might even choose to dance if you’re familiar with that expression. In the shamanic tradition when Creator gifted you a power animal one of the ways of honouring that would be to dance it.

    In matters of the soul allow your heart to be your guide. The Way of the Creative Mythologer may be evoked through inspiration. Inspiration speaks to the heart, the home of the soul in the body. If you aspire to become more soul conscious pay exquisite attention to your heart. Read mythology while being heart-centred. If you are inspired by what you read, journal the theme or themes and work with them.

    The next post is Characteristics of the Soul and lends itself to using a journaling practice with it.

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  • The Soul: Part Two

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies Comment

    What follows are ideas from the Soul Life audio retreat of Thomas Moore. A peaceful resting place on the journey to discover what a soul-connected and soul-centred existence might feel like. The qualities Thomas Moore speaks of regarding the Soul outline an internal rather than external reality.

    Qualities of the Soul

    Individual – He describes the soul as being individual. For me this idea asks that when I engage my soul consciously I may have to form my own values rather than those I inherited from my parents, my peers, teachers, politicians and others to whom I may feel beholden. I make my own choices of how my life will unfold, of how I imagine my identity in this world. This is a concept of having freewill. And in this I may have to be eccentric. What is it that is eccentric about your life? What is it you do that makes you different? Are you celebrating that difference?

    Vast – The soul is vast as the words of Heraclitus expressed in the previous post. I see from my bodily perspective the physical universe, our solar system, the galaxies far beyond our reach and yet I may have something similar going on in my spiritual self. A vast potentiality within. A universe of possibilities to explore as a human. Logos, Moore explains as being the “mysterious, unfathomable nature of soul”. I was drawn to the word as it is used in English to describe the study of different areas (geo-logy, astro-logy). In a way this soulpath is a way to discover the mystery of who I might become in this physical existence. My Creative Mythology for this lifetime. From this vast potentiality within, what will I become?

    Madness – Plato says the soul may require me to do something that to others will appear crazy. This mad act may be, by all appearances, detrimental to the life I’m living at the time. If, as has been suggested, that we have a sacred contract to fulfil in this lifetime then this madness may precipitate learning experiences for us or move us on towards the very things we have contracted to do. Or maybe open us up to a new way of being and give us a fuller experience of life itself.

    Complex – Moore says the soul is also complicated. I wanted the explanations for the way my life unfolded to be simple so that I could just put it behind me and get on with living. Moore suggests that there are many influences woven together that make up our lives. And some of those influences come from the way our extended families functioned. I imagined that if I could lay the blame for what appeared to be my dysfunction in this life to parents or grandparents then all my problems would be solved. Not so. These threads that I inherit and spin together with the threads I have been given are part of the weaving of the larger tapestry that is life. I may not know how some random act of kindness I perform will affect the beauty of that larger tapestry. So I embrace the threads I am given and acknowledge those who played their parts in my creation.

    Cyclic – The wheels of soul turn eternally in the grand scheme of things. And as I spiral upwards I may require in the interests of the divine evolution, a downward slide. And it maybe one step forward and six steps backwards with the soul. The same themes may come up. Sex, money, relationships. Why the difficulties with these universal themes? Have I not got it yet? Have I not yet understood the difficulty. And there maybe only one theme behind it all. The soul crying out for me to be conscious of it. Difficulties are the soul calling to me. What does it want? And as the soul engages the difficulty may fall away. I breathe a sigh of relief and with the next revolution my tyre is punctured in another way. Life is never boring with the soul engaged. An extra gear that clicks in when Life might be at its lowest, or perhaps I’m racing ahead and getting out of touch with what is important.

    Shadowy – Another reason why I felt these ideas may hold a key to what I’d been going through was based on some of the ideas of Carl Jung. He spoke of the animus & anima. The animus being the male aspect within the female; and the anima, the female aspect within the male. And both being integral to the nature of the soul. Why are they shadowy? In today’s world these aspects are little understood and what is not understood can lend shadow to our world especially if these aspects are making their presence felt in the unconscious. Because they want to be acknowledged. They are part of the archetypal realm. In that, they are a part of the shadow world, they are formless, even though on a subtle level they have a certain power. They are abstractions, and enable us to form experience around them. They engender emotion as they present themselves. Jung’s description of archetypes include the images of them being; “active living dispositions, ideas in the Platonic sense, that preform and continually influence our thoughts and feelings and actions”; and he also calls them “inherited possibilities of ideas.” The ‘idea’ being an image that holds the deepest or greatest potentiality, in the grand scheme of things. And those potentialities remain in shadow until they come to the fore in the ebb and flow of life. As they come into our consciousness the light of our awareness shines upon them.

    Jung also protrayed the anima as having four stages in it’s development.

    First Stage: Purely instinctual and biological relationship.
    Second Stage: Romantic and aesthetic level still with sexual characteristics.
    Third Stage: Love with the aspect of spiritual devotion.
    Fourth Stage: Wisdom going beyond even the most holy and most pure.

    I can understand the first three stages from my own experience and also the fourth. My imagining is that a wisdom that goes beyond what is most holy and most pure would not be easily understood by everyone. My understanding is that all experience even that which does not appear outwardly to be holy or to be pure is honoured in the Godhead. And so a sense of detachment is required. Honouring the pain, and the darkness of our existence while acknowledging that it will in time pass.

    Also the shadowy nature of the soul can manifest through those experiences that we envision as having dark overtones in our lives. Those times when we go through a passage of suffering, when the only friend we imagine having is our misery, when we’ve sunk into a blackhole and are unable to find a way out, the list goes on. And yet it is through these experiences, if we can allow ourselves to feel fully the emotions which arise, and to embrace the darkness that we begin to see the beauty of this shadowy place.

    Other – When I mention the anima/animus aspect of the soul I’m drawn to Moore speaking about an otherness quality to the experience of our individual soul and also his ideas about the daimon, which he translates sometimes as angel or guardian. He talks about living in tune with the daimon. Honouring what the daimon requires of us in this lifetime. Being in accordance with what the daimon wishes to evoke within us he refers to as “eudaimonic living”. “Eu” in Greek meaning good. To the Greeks the daimon was a personal intermediary between god and human. They make possible the birth of the soul into the physical body. In some ways we both possess and are possessed by the daimon. The path to be able to fully express through our daimon is blocked on occasion by experience of the demons of our nature.

    Sandra Lee Dennis has written of her experiences in “Embrace of the Daimon” and for her the imagery was what might be termed demonic until she allowed herself fully accept it in all its montrous nature. When this happened the imagery transformed into something beautiful. What seemed most figural in her stories were snakes, either singly or as groups and there were other manifestations, human and animal. And this seems to tie in with Moore’s ideas that this other may present not only in one manifestation but also as a multiplicity of images.

    Resources:

    Thomas Moore
    Soul Life:How to Nourish and Deepen your Everyday World. Available here
    Thomas Moore’s site:Care of the Soul

    Sandra Lee Dennis
    Sandra Lee Dennis – Embrace of the Daimon

    Carl Jung – http://www.cgjungpage.org/

    Anthony Stevens – Archetype: A Natural History of the Self

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  • The Soul: Part One

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies 3 Comments

    The Soul is undiscovered, though explored forever to a depth beyond report
    Heraclitus

    I will never discover fully what the soul is. No matter what I do. It is limitless. It goes beyond even what I imagine the universe might be as it is said that the universe is finite; that if I was to shine a torch out into the depths of space that eventually after eons and eons of time it would come back and hit me in the back of the head. This earthly existence doesn’t give me the time.

    I am unable to wait, for life changes from moment to moment, cells are dying in my body as I type and new ones are taking their place. I embrace change as a part of life. All I have is the precious now for what was, is now gone and what will be is yet to come. All I have to do is engage my soul and trust that whatever I need in this moment I will receive. And to receive without judgment.

    How do I engage my soul? Where is my soul?

    I see the soul as being our connection to the Life Essence and through that to each other entity from the denser energy of the stones, through plants, insects, birds, and animals. All are affected by what I am broadcasting to the world.

    If I’d been in that engaged soulful space since birth I wouldn’t know what it was like to be out of it. In this earth-bound existence I can only experience one state when I have experienced its opposite. And so rather than judging my negative experiences as bad I now see them as a way to embrace and appreciate more fully the positive.

    Jung said once that the soul does not reside within us, but that our bodies exist within the soul. Sort of like an egg where the yolk is the physical body and the white is the soul that surrounds it.

    The place of the soul in my earthly vehicle is my heart. The heart provides a rhythm for life and as it beats, pulses the energy it is experiencing out into the world. It’s no surprise that we are able to discern a person’s disposition though they may be silent. Whether they are happy, sad, joyous, jealous or angry they are broadcasting it to the world each time the heart beats. When I look into my heart, when I connect with others from a heart-centred attitude, then my soul is engaged.

    Finding pleasure is considered the foremost quality of soul. When I find soulful pleasure in whatever I do I am increasing the vitality of this temple I call my body. It may take me a while to get into that zone and as life changes I may easily slip out of it again. So why wouldn’t I want to be in that state constantly?

    From the stand point of Creative Mythology I look at our traditional mythologies and the stories they tell. Most of them can tell us how to connect to this soulfulness, if we look at them in a metaphorical sense rather than a literal telling of a story. Rereading my post on Chaos may give you some insight into this.

    Or consider the mythology of the Birth of Adonis.

    The Mother of Adonis, Smyrna, was concerned about her incestuous feelings toward her father and tried to take her life to avoid what seemed to be the inevitable result. Her nurse discovered and saved her from this fate, colluding with her to bring this relationship to fruition which she did while the King, Smyrna’s father was drunk when her mother was away.

    This continued until the King became suspicious of who the young girl was. Smyrna left and began to journey through several countries, praying to the gods along the way, unsure whether she wanted to live or die. In time the gods answered her prayers turning her into the tree bearing the name Myrrh.

    After several Months the tree split open and Adonis was born.

    When we look at the image of incest as a symbol we find that in ancient cultures it was sometimes considered incestuous for not only family members to have a sexual relationship but also for members of the same tribe or clan. While it doesn’t necessarily take the curse away from the act it may not be as taboo as incest within immediate family. It may be that it caused unpleasant dynamics within the power structure of the tribal community which then forced Smyrna to leave the tribe and wander searching.

    There may have been a cult around the myrrh tree. A tribe which tended to and traded in Myrrh to which Smyrna was drawn and in that community she was to give birth to Adonis.

    I’m reminded of how soulful I feel when I’m in nature. How nature can speak to those deeper places of connection within me. A feeling of coming home. I imagine that Smyrna may have had those same feelings as she may have connected with these people who were the stewards of the Myrrh.

    This is obviously a construct of my imagination based on the symbolism contained within the story and the concepts you construct around the myth may or will be different to mine. And this will be absolutely perfect for you and what you’re needing in the present moment.

    Resources:

    For more on the power of the Heart see HeartMath

    Incest: Rape Crisis Online Encyclopaedia

    Greek Myth: GML

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  • The Wasteland

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies 2 Comments

    Depleted Azeri Oilfield

    One of the ways a Creative Mythologer works is by acknowledging and working with what is in the foreground of his life at any moment. What am I attracted to? What is calling to me? I’d been looking at lending the OilCrash Movie “A Crude Awakening” for a few weeks. The video store had it on a shelf of staff picks so I imagined it would be interesting.

    In the movie I was struck by the images of oilfields and the ugliness that goes along with them. There is a busyness and excitement when they’re productive and when the resource runs out there is an emptiness, a wasteland. How can we devastate what is beautiful and then leave it ugly without repairing what we’ve done?

    The narrator called our attachment to the possibilities of petroleum an addiction. Alcoholism on wheels. Its not only ourselves we are damaging with this addiction. We are affecting our landscapes. Climate change is another affect. One of the people interviewed in the movie referred to oil as a magnet for war. The movie is a sobering reminder. A reminder that any addiction sucks away our spirit.

    I look at the ways I’m addicted. I look at my uses of power and control. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. I see the slavery to substance, to feeling, to mood, the habit of thought, the habit of devotion. I see them and understand them because I have experienced them first hand. And when a narrator in a movie refers to our oil usage as an addiction also, I wonder how much am I addicted to the lifestyle I am living at the moment.

    I notice when I am without work I begin to have withdrawal symptoms even though I’ve told myself that it’s a lifestyle choice. Fear comes up and I lose a sense of being supported, until I finally get some news that there is work, or that I have a client. I have debts to service and these can also create a sense of being enslaved. That somehow this addiction to certain standard of lifestyle wrought a financial commitment that I don’t have the freedom to walk away from. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing as I need to see even debt in a different light.

    The images of the wasteland have me looking again at the Grail Mythology. In the search for the Holy Grail the knights needed to quest with pure heart in order to heal the king and find the Grail. The Grail symbolizes the principle of wholeness and is the source of everything we ask for. What am I not Being in order to feel Whole. If I don’t ask the question “to whom does the grail serve” I remain in the wasteland. If in my life I’m not lead by a pure heart I continue struggling in the wasteland.

    It seems that the questions I pose to life itself create the results that materialize for me. If I don’t feel whole I need to understand and clarify my questioning process. Are the questions I’m asking coming from my unconscious habitual ways of thinking or are they lucid questions emanating from an awakened consciousness. As my life changes I need to perhaps change the questions I’m posing.

    Resources:
    Grail Myths: http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/student_orgs/arthurian_legend/grail/fisher/

    http://www.oilcrashmovie.com/

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