Archetypal Alchemy

Carl Jung’s recognition of the value of encountering unconscious archetypical aspects of Self through active imagination leads to his understanding that this is a process leading to the “integration” of archetypal energies within the overall, individual identity of one’s Self. James Hillman further recognized that there is value in experiencing the dynamic vitality of usually submerged unconscious archetypal persona aspects, not necessarily to ‘raise them to conscious’ habitation but to explore the dynamics of their own field of influence within the Depth levels of Self.

Each archetypical mode or energy complex within our overall human consciousness formation has Its own nature and can be a staunch Ally in Its most positive (Strength, to me) mode— or an impediment if repressed or in Shadow. To me, as with Jung, Hillman, and Jean Houston, the forming of an Archetype Council— what I like to call your Ensemble Cast of Mystic Archetype Characters— is an important process that facilitates the integration and mobilization of your dynamic archetypal energies in the most positive way. I think in terms of Archetype Pairings and Archetype Constellations within your Total Self System.

Allying with your Warrior nature can be a good opportunity to forge an Archetypal Constellation in working toward a specific life goal or addressing a situation in your life that seems to call for your Warrior— at least in one aspect— to step forward. By Itself in full force, Warrior can lead the charge, when needed, to bring about a major shift in a situation. But Warrior also combines well with any of the other 11 universal archetypes (and/or their sub-modal, individualized forms), especially when you desire to establish a more tempered, balanced approach to a situation.

Combining archetypal modes or ‘guises’ normally happens unconsciously, but as an “alchemical” practice, the individual can choose consciously to enlist and combine specific archetypal elements in order to facilitate a specific objective. By the way, if this is not done, and as Joseph Campbell has reminded us, in some situations you might feel ‘dissociated’ or ‘split’: one part of you thinking or acting in one manner, another feeling or speaking from a very different ‘location’ within your Self. This is represented by the classic “angel on one shoulder, devil on the other” motif.

One technique I offer to you for forging an archetypal Constellation to explore how best to approach a specific goal or deal with a difficult situation, is what I’ll call the Roundtable Room technique (based on the symbol of King Arthur’s Roundtable):

1. FRAME a question or a situation;
2. State your goal in relation to this situation or decision;
3. On the picture below, circle those persona archetype characters you feel might be helpful to enlist to help you realize your goal or arrive at your decision:

 

4. Enter into an Active Imagination (imaginative contemplation) session and Descend to the Roundtable Room where these selected Archetype characters have been assembled. Now invite each of these Archetypical personas to offer how they can help your overall Self with the situation or decision. Have an open conversation with these parts of your Self, seeking their input and asking to draw upon each of their Strengths in a team-based, collaborative manner.

5. Emerge from your Active Imagination contemplation and write down all that transpired (you can also journal this conversation as it occurs if that works better for you).

Below are some spaces where you may print this post and  record which archetype modes you have invited to help you work with the situation you have focused on with your active imagination.

 

SITUATION:

Ensemble Cast Allies/Strengths to Draw Upon:

Warrior  /  (e.g. resolve)

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

 

So, choose a situation for which your inner Warrior would be one ‘part’ of your Self that it feels appropriate for you to recruit in the Roundtable Room. What does your Warrior want for you and of you in the situation? How can he/she help you to deal with the situation and achieve your goal? What other parts of your Self have something to add to this? What Strengths can these Archetype Allies each contribute to help you implement this plan and manifest your goal?

images from pixabay.com

I welcome your comments and stories!

 

Archetypal Synergy

For this last week of April’s focus combining the WARRIOR archetype with the metaphor Life Is an Ensemble Cast of Mythic Archetype Allies I’d like to share about how aligning archetypal energies into synergistic combinations can function like alchemy to create effective, productive approaches to any situation or challenge. Already this past week we have looked at the Mystic-Warrior and at the Peaceful-Warrior: two archetypal Ally pairings that can foster strong, distinctive character modes.

Allow me to suggest below then some possible ‘alchemical’ sorts of archetype combinations utilizing the 12 Universal Archetypes I am putting forward here and in my forthcoming book, Life Paths, based on ideas originated by Dr. Charles and Nin Bebeau and Debra Breazzano, M.A., LPC.

This notion of combining archetypal strengths/ traits, can be useful not only for the individual seeking to marshal their internal archetypal ally ‘assembly’ or synergy, but the concept can also be fruitfully applied to composing organizational teams or to designing fictional character types.

Some Archetype Ally conjunctions:

Binary archetype pairings  — polarized archetype energies combining to bring balance or deeper understanding to a conflictual situation. Example: DESCENDER and MYSTIC. Mystic traits can help alleviate depressive tendencies by illuminating meaningful lessons.

Archetype clusters – one identity mode or kind of situation constructively drawing upon two or more archetype forms. Example: ELDER LEADER, NOURISHER, and IDEALIST traits being associated with a Parent or Mentor figure.

Archetype constellations – three or more archetype energies brought together to forge a creative approach to manifesting a goal or to performing artistically or intellectually. Example: ARTIST/TEACHER/COMMUNICATOR/MYSTIC combining to present an interactive workshop or a motivational seminar (e.g. Deepak Chopra  or Wayne Dyer’s approaches).

Archetypal clouds – This one came through for me in a dream the other night; it involves archetypal traits permeating a situation or affecting a decision or life experience in a non-distinct, blended manner. Example: Thoughts from several of one’s archetype-cast energies encouraging a certain decision or action. “Spreading a net widely” in terms of the conception of a new approach or idea can lead to an innovative solution.

 I welcome your insights and stories!

[I trust you will honor, dear readers, that publishing these ideas in this blog legally establishes copyright. With that said, the idea of Archetype Allies is not new; I believe Jean Houston may have first coined the term; she uses the idea frequently in her writings.]

Alchemical Pairing: Metaphor Plus Archetype

Life is a Golden Opportunity, as an envisioning metaphor, reminds me of the concept of Emptiness expressed in the Tao Te Ching:

Chapter 11 of the Tao Te Ching:  

  Thirty spokes unite at one hub to make a wheel, But what is missing makes it useful.

Clay is shaped into a bowl,
But it is the empty space that makes it useful.

Cut out doors and windows make a room,
But its empty space makes it useful.

So, what is there is beneficial –
But what is not there makes things useful.

From the unknown the known emerges; from an appreciation of infinite potential, all is possible.

So allow me to explain further what this new year at Life Paths for Better Endings aims to provide for you. Week One of every month I will present a positive Life Path Metaphor which we will explore and that you can contemplate in relation to your own life.  Week Two presents a relevant monthly Archetypal character image based on Dr. Charles Bebeau’s approach to archetypal psychology which he derived from Sumerian mythology and astrology.  Week Three–beginning in December–will invite you to combine the monthly Life Metaphor with the monthly archetype in such fashion as to consider how you can harness the character Strengths of this Archetypal Ally in realizing the positive potentials of the monthly Life Metaphor. At this stage you will be combining two “elements,” one conceptual/schematic (the affirmative Life Metaphor) and the other personal, based on the ‘personal unconscious’ architecture of your own Psyche in Carl Jung’s or James Hillman’s terms. Then, in Week Four every month, this blog will explore results from combining these elements, both in our own lives and in popular stories, mythology, or in the universe at large.

 

In other words, each month I will be inviting you to engage an alchemical sort of psychological pairing process, bringing positively oriented Life Metaphors into conjunction with Archetypal Ally energies to help you develop understandings about your own Better Endings potentials. So then, Life is a Golden Opportunity; it offers the opportunity to fashion something “golden” out of the raw materials of present conditions in relation to your goals and Dreams.

  

This monthly process was made more clear to me last Sunday night, while I was contemplating by using Life is a Golden Opportunity as a mantra in relation to my own life. Knowing that the November archetype I will be presenting for you next week is The Descender, I asked inwardly of my own inner guidance to be shown how my own Descender energy might align with this month’s Golden Opportunity metaphor. In my dreaming that night I was shown how the most deeply challenging situations and relationships in my life have offered the greatest opportunities for learning and for personal growth or development. Rather than avoiding those situations that tend to bring out ‘the worst’ in myself or in others I am placed in association with, if I embrace the opportunity for growth and new awareness, I can change how I deal with such situations and TRANSFORM the conditions underlying that situation altogether.

To be clearer with you about what my dream revealed, it showed me seated between two people who are so different in outlook and personality from me that we have generally irritated one another to such an extent that for over 15-20 years we have chosen to simply avoid one another altogether, “giving space.” No overt problem due to our avoidance, but in my dream I came to understand that these few uncomfortable relationships are spiritually neither accidental nor meaningless. Being positioned in relation to people with extremely opposing philosophical or theoretical outlooks on life offers me a tremendously “golden opportunity.” If I can transform these relationships, by expressing an authentic, genuine interest in these persons’ outlooks and sharing openly from my own for them, we could all potentially reach a higher state of ‘balance;’ see?  By combining disparate elements–viewpoints in this case–in new ways, the opportunity for genuine growth in my own outlook is possible. I can free myself from an attachment to a narrower outlook by opening to the ‘antithetical’ expression of a counter-perspective, arriving at a new order of Synthesis.  This can induce a metaphorically alchemical sort of psychological transformation! My Descender is a part of me that avoids conflicting relationships, rather than confronting or embracing them.  But now, I can be more open to changing these relations, to ACCEPTING the golden opportunities they offer.

 

Next then, this Sunday, I will introduce The Descender to you! Meanwhile, I invite you to continue to ponder about how Life is YOUR Golden Opportunity, day by day, moment by moment, with every situation and relationship you encounter.

I invite and will share each of your insights, comments, and stories.

 

Are You a Dreamer? (Your Dream Laboratory)

I have always thought that cultures should recognize and nurture Dreamers and give them a valued role. I’ve written a science fiction novel (which sits on my shelf and in computer files) which is Book I of a trilogy I call The Dawnbreakers, all about this. On the remote, terraformed planetoid of Guvral, Dream Arhat (Teacher) Benath trains young people who show an aptitude for becoming Dreamers. He teaches the Art of Dreaming. The Dreamers develop their gifts of prophecy, of inner sight for healing and for manifesting creative ideas, and of telepathic communication.   Separated from their home Grand Spiral federation for over 60 years, the majority of people on Guvral have given up on their dreams, however, and the Dream Temple Benath operates is in jeopardy. Mogren, a Science & Technology consul, aims to dismantle all remnants of the spiritually founded Grand Spiral ideology and its dream-based theocratic governance. One young Dreamer, Jenu, tells his best friend and fellow Dream student Kairn about dreams he is having about an Inner Dream Guide who accompanies Jenu as he visits another remote planetary colony of their federation, hitherto unknown to Guvraleans.  Kairn develops a plan for a cadre of Benath’s Dream Temple students to launch a mission to the stars to find this planet so they can revitalize and reconstitute their Grand Spiral ways.

At the end of Book I, the Dawnbreakers cadre barely escapes capture as Mogren’s forces try to prevent Kairn and Jenu’s mission to the stars. Book II transpires mainly in the Void of interstellar space as the cadre hops from planet to planet (by means of “photosonic transduction”), seeking the prophesied sister colony.  Jenu begins doubting his visions, the crew nearly mutinees, and the technology begins to fail so that it appears the Dreamers will become stranded in space, when suddenly they do find the orange-white banded planet of Jenu’s dreams . There on Sadhan, a colony of Grand Spiral refugees has developed a Dream Temple centered around teaching telepathic communication and teleportation skills. They had contacted Dreamers on remote colonies telepathically to draw only those worthy of training to join their cause. In Book III Jenu stays at Sadhan to train, while Kairn and most of the rest of the original Dawnbreakers along with some representatives from Sadhan return to Guvral, where a quasi-religious millenarian group awaits their return as an underground movement opposing Mogren’s harsh new regime.  Kairn’s crew, however, is intercepted immediately upon landing on Guvral by Mogren’s forces, so that most of Book III involves Kairn’s group aiming to escape the harsh imprisonment and “Reeducation” program that Mogren imposes. I won’t share the ending; suffice to say it involves Jenu appearing in his Light Body from Sadhan to help deliver Kairn’s group from imprisonment so that all of Guvral can celebrate the return of the Dawnbreakers and the rise of a new cycle of growth and spiritual unfoldment on Guvral; okay, so there it is then!

Some day I aim to complete the writing and to publish this trilogy. For now, though, I share the story just to ask you: Are You a Dreamer? For those of you who answer Yes, what does this mean to you? How have you learned to rely on your dreams for Inner Guidance, prophecy, healing, or inner communication? What dream techniques have you developed for lucid dreaming and how have you come to use dreaming as an inner laboratory to help you understand and apply your insights to any outward situation and to your own deepest life mission and spiritual Quest?

Now I want to add: we/you can ALL be Dreamers! Sometimes “lucid dreaming” is held up as some sort of secret, arcane, privileged ability. Often this approach sees lucid dreaming as a way of controlling one’s own reality—and sometimes that of others. This latter is the darker potential shade of ‘lucid dreaming’ depicted in some science fiction stories—like the recent Invictus and somewhat in Ursula Le Guin’s earlier and masterful The Lathe of Heaven.

Give yourself more faith and credit than ever before! You do not need to rely on others when it comes to dreaming. You can learn to unlock the secrets of your own unconscious wealth of inner awareness. It is your right and your divine heritage to unfold your Inner Awareness to unlimited heights.

Last time I shared about a series of Bear dreams wherein I learned to re-own my Strengths instead of foisting them upon others. Well, in the final dream of this series the whole mechanics of dreaming revealed itself! I had climbed a pine tree (axis mundi linking the Above with the Below) to evade a graceful Mother Bear and her cub who were chasing after me. When I reached the top of the pine tree, I stepped across into a LABORATORY space. A female scientist was working with chemistry tubes there (Alchemical!). She handed me a beaker that I drank a potion from, and suddenly I knew just what to do. I stepped back into the tree and looked down at the ascending cub and her Mother. Easily and gently, I removed a few strips of bark from the tree and dropped them toward the Bears. The cub dropped off to the ground immediately and then the Mother Bear also released her grip on the tree and she dropped gracefully down to the ground, not to return. This was the last dream of this theme I have had, from a few years ago.  It showed me that I can always find answers inwardly to the questions I have about how to proceed in life! The value of lucid dreaming—which ANYONE can learn to develop on their own—is that if you can ‘control’ what happens in a nightly dream, then you can also change or better manage this OUTER DREAM, as well!

I welcome YOUR stories , your own best Dream Practices, and Comments!

“The Prologue to Compassion”, by Joshua Bertetta

Best contributed Story of the Week (for A Month of the Best of Better Endings)

March 22, 2014

 

It commenced with an inconsiderable light, an untinged light

It was perhaps part of what was, and what was was only black.

The light was with the black you see, and the light was the black.

And through this light that was the black and with the black, things came to be.

A light breeze scattered flecks of this light. A brief pause let the flecks settle and the wind returned to the inconsiderable light, only to pause again and again go forth to scatter flecks of light. And bit by bit this helpful little laawan broadcasted the light across the black. Bit by bit, the specks sprouted and in spouting, grew a little more with each breeze and each breeze, bit by little bit, continued depositing the little specks of light. Back and forth, back and forth, the busy little wind worked tirelessly, without haste, never whining, though it seemed its task would never cease.

Now as this little wind busied itself, “things” took “shape.” It wasn’t so much that things themselves were made per se, but something more akin to the idea of things took shape, for still, these “things” remained unlit. Until, that is, the wind draped color over the ideas, thus bestowing upon them their shapes. These were not your ordinary run of the mill colors, however, for the breeze did not bother itself with the blues and the reds and the yellows and the greens: no, it beheld the illuminateds and the lucents, the prismatics and iridiants, the opaques and the opalines.

Such provided the environment for the makings of things and things thus did form. First the dragonfly, then the flowers for the dragonfly, the grasses for the flowers, and the ground for the grasses. The water and the air. All pouring their colors and their shapes in tandem with the swashing wind. Hills unrolled in the distance, and trees.

Everything created in and by the light that was the dark and was with the dark.

Flowers giggled diamonds; the diamonds sirulated into butterflies and those butterflies, those luxuriant and splashy butterflies, dripped polygonal pollens and gave lines to birds.

Soften its features did the wind with its gentle comings and goings. This wind, this breath, this breath, just breathe, just breathe, just breathe.

And in that just-breathing did the breath find life; in finding life did the breath find flesh and in finding flesh the breath found itself, fulgurating, reflected in and by the light itself—the light that was the water, that was the ground, the dragonflies and butterflies, the fish, and all the flowers—all of it, every single little speck of it, the light that was the black and was with the black.

What it was it just was and in being was, it kept on being. Being what it was…what it was…it was is. It is what is. Being. Am. What was was was. What is is. What am.

The wind: Be.

The light: Am.

Being and am-ing, am-ing and being; so the wind, the breath, the breath moving in, the breath moving out, passing in, passing out, the breath that am the flowers and the fish, the butterflies and the dragonflies, the ground, the water, the light itself finding itself in the flesh finding itself in the breath, in am.

And thus began the knowing and with the knowing the naming and the first name was the wind’s name:

Rahim.

Bio: An aspiring novelist, Joshua Bertetta holds a Ph.D. in Mythological Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute and teaches in the Religious Studies Department at St. Edward’s University. He lives in Austin, TX with his wife and three boys, and he has a facebook group dedicated to his work at http://www.facebook.com/storyofthefour. Contact info: joshuabertetta8306@gmail.com

(There were 14 Likes for the first publication of this story on Better Endings!)

Mentors, Masters, and Friends: Alchemical Conversation

Who brings out the best in you? Today’s Best of Better Endings invites you to remember those “alchemical conversations” that can transform our consciousness, often with Mentors, Masters, or Friends!

March 2, 2014

Continuing this week’s theme of exploring mindful communication, and as an emerging life mapping tool, today I’d like to explore and invite a review of how mentors, Masters, family and friends have helped us learn important Life Lessons.  I invite you to do this for your own life history.  As we’ve also been a mentor, a teacher, family and friend in turn, we can also reflect some on lessons others may have gained from their conversations with us. Of course, it is always reciprocal.

I believe in synchronicity. Every relation opens a unique window on another’s world. Every Lesson is a stepping stone along our individual spiritual Quests. When I reflect about the gifts I have received from Mentors and Friends, I find their gifts of insight and understanding have often come through what I have been looking at this week as “alchemical conversation”.  By this I mean a kind of conversation that may start as mundane or ordinary, but develops to a level of profound sharing. You walk into your mentor’s space with a question, or your friend asks how you are feeling that day. What follows in your conversation probes a topic deeply, wending like a spiral to deeper and deeper and then higher and higher levels of insight or empathetic understanding. Time seems to disappear.  Space may seem to expand within the bubble that frames you and your mentor or friend.  At some point you, together with your friend, achieve an epiphany, a realization of clarity that goes further than your original question. This is the Gold forged from the refined lead of shared experience.

I’ll share a brief summary from my own life mapping review:

Early Childhood (7-12): Karen/ Friend:

Life Lessons: Sharing imaginary playworlds, creativity unfolds in tandem with unlimited potential. Be flexible, listen, share. Friendship is Golden.

Teen Years (13-18): Barbara, Friend:

Art holds many answers and opens mysteries; it exposes elements of the Inner as well as the Outer. Adventure and Freedom require self-responsibility. Friendship is Golden.

High School: Mr. Scelsa/ English Teacher:

Teaching requires humility; if a student 30 years later acts on something you helped him learn, without remembering who he learned it from, being a teacher matters and is worthwhile.

Late Teen Years, College and beyond: Diane M./ Mentor and Friend:

Everything is possible. Hone your talents to realize your potentials. Never lose the Innocence of being a Seeker of Truth. Friendship is eternally Golden.

Undergrad College years (Buffalo, NY, 18-22): Toni P./ Mentor, Philosopher:

Be amazed by the depths of Life; “Bathe in the Ocean, daily.”

College Fencing Coach and teammate/Friend, Ro (19-22):

Teamwork and individual practice allow your abilities to shine. Reach for a Star! Explore life deeply.

Late college through Grad School years:

Zee (Master): Explore other dimensions, practice dreamwork and contemplation. Find your own answers inwardly; surrender Ego.

Pattie (Friend): “Drop, Kick!”

Chela/ Ariel (Feline Friends): Unconditional Love remains in the Heart wherever you might travel.

Colorado (38-59):

Zee and Friends: In service is your Reward.

KC/ GM (Partner/ Friend): Love is forever; Unconditional Love.

Luisa (Mentor): Excellence grows from within!

Denise (Friend): There is No Box!

***

What really IS Alchemical Conversation? Socratic dialogue is a well-known variety. DIALECTICAL conversation would be another name used, because a dialectical conversation moves from one pole of contrasting principles to the other and achieves a Synthesis which is greater than either polarity. Archetypal dialogue, which I employ with the Life Maps Process, can also facilitate Better Endings. But now I like the idea of Alchemical Conversation, which has just come through for me via the blog posts and responses this week! What I am trying to refer you to are those sorts of connections which engage you so deeply that you reach beyond where you have been, reciprocally in conversation, or it could also result from reading, listening deeply to music, immersing in Art, playing with a pet, or “taking in” the beauty of a landscape! I would never be where I am now in life (and won’t otherwise get to where I’m yet aiming to arrive!) except for these sorts of engagement. I was fortunate from a young age to connect Soul-to-Soul with Friends who have opened Doors for me that have led to unlimited exploration!  You, too? Let’s celebrate our Connections then!

I invite your Comments and Stories!

“The Prologue to Compassion”, by Joshua Bertetta

Story of the Week on Habitual Better Endings:

 

It commenced with an inconsiderable light, an untinged light

It was perhaps part of what was, and what was was only black.

The light was with the black you see, and the light was the black.

And through this light that was the black and with the black, things came to be.

A light breeze scattered flecks of this light. A brief pause let the flecks settle and the wind returned to the inconsiderable light, only to pause again and again go forth to scatter flecks of light. And bit by bit this helpful little laawan broadcasted the light across the black. Bit by bit, the specks sprouted and in spouting, grew a little more with each breeze and each breeze, bit by little bit, continued depositing the little specks of light. Back and forth, back and forth, the busy little wind worked tirelessly, without haste, never whining, though it seemed its task would never cease.

Now as this little wind busied itself, “things” took “shape.” It wasn’t so much that things themselves were made per se, but something more akin to the idea of things took shape, for still, these “things” remained unlit. Until, that is, the wind draped color over the ideas, thus bestowing upon them their shapes. These were not your ordinary run of the mill colors, however, for the breeze did not bother itself with the blues and the reds and the yellows and the greens: no, it beheld the illuminateds and the lucents, the prismatics and iridiants, the opaques and the opalines.

Such provided the environment for the makings of things and things thus did form. First the dragonfly, then the flowers for the dragonfly, the grasses for the flowers, and the ground for the grasses. The water and the air. All pouring their colors and their shapes in tandem with the swashing wind. Hills unrolled in the distance, and trees.

Everything created in and by the light that was the dark and was with the dark.

Flowers giggled diamonds; the diamonds sirulated into butterflies and those butterflies, those luxuriant and splashy butterflies, dripped polygonal pollens and gave lines to birds.

Soften its features did the wind with its gentle comings and goings. This wind, this breath, this breath, just breathe, just breathe, just breathe.

And in that just-breathing did the breath find life; in finding life did the breath find flesh and in finding flesh the breath found itself, fulgurating, reflected in and by the light itself—the light that was the water, that was the ground, the dragonflies and butterflies, the fish, and all the flowers—all of it, every single little speck of it, the light that was the black and was with the black.

What it was it just was and in being was, it kept on being. Being what it was…what it was…it was is. It is what is. Being. Am. What was was was. What is is. What am.

The wind: Be.

The light: Am.

Being and am-ing, am-ing and being; so the wind, the breath, the breath moving in, the breath moving out, passing in, passing out, the breath that am the flowers and the fish, the butterflies and the dragonflies, the ground, the water, the light itself finding itself in the flesh finding itself in the breath, in am.

And thus began the knowing and with the knowing the naming and the first name was the wind’s name:

Rahim.

Bio: An aspiring novelist, Joshua Bertetta holds a Ph.D. in Mythological Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute and teaches in the Religious Studies Department at St. Edward’s University. He lives in Austin, TX with his wife and three boys, His blog website is: http://storyofthefour.wordpress.com and he has a facebook group dedicated to his work at http://www.facebook.com/storyofthefour. Contact info: joshuabertetta8306@gmail.com

Just Listen (Doo-Da-DO!)

Saturday is First Principles day at Better Endings. We focus on a principle that fosters ‘better endings’ with regard to our weekly topic. All this week we have been emphasizing “mindful communication” or mindfulness as a Better Endings principle. The underlying behavior associated with mindfulness is: Just Listen. That can mean both listening deeply to another as well as listening deeply within.

We cannot HEAR if we are not in a LISTENING mode. WE cannot LISTEN while we are talking in our head.

So, how can we become better listeners in order to be better communicators or to engage effectively in “Alchemical conversation”?

Perhaps you might say–now I am listening inwardly–that it begins with setting a proper INTENTION.

Ah, yes. Well spoken. And how can I or we set a positive intention to communicate deeply and well?

Be open and direct about your intention; seek to establish common grounds.

But intention is not always explicit in the moment of exchange.

Then LISTEN so you may HEAR your friend’s intention, rather than swiftly react.

Does Listening need to be mutual for alchemical conversation to ensue?

Yes. “Your state of consciousness is your level of acceptance.” So is the other’s.

What can be HEARD when I/WE Listen deeply?

What can be SEEN is HEARD with the HEART.

So mindfulness is being Heartful.

Heartfulness is being Mindful.

Words fade in significance. Unconditional Love is All.

******   ******

Can you tell in the ‘conversation’ above Who is conversing with Whom? Alchemy is Archetypal!

Better Endings to You!

******

The universe is always speaking to us.
… Sending us little messages,
causing coincidences and serendipities,
reminding us to stop, to look around,
to believe in something else,
something more.

~ Nancy Thayer ~

Reblogged from Soul Gatherings 

I welcome your Comments below, or you may send your insights for a Guest Blog, or your Story to be posted!