If This Archetype Chooses You – You have a legal issue. Is there some illegality in your secret life? Are you stepping over lines in public or private? Remember, lawbreakers break themselves.
Do You Dream of Judges? Lawyers? Court? Are you obsessed with TV programs about justice? When justice is delayed or denied, do you obsess about that? Are you feeling unjustly punished? Do you envy or rage against those who have “gotten away with something”?
Creative’s Desire for Justice is Hardwired – Do you envy or rage against those who have “gotten away with something”? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” In my view, the mere concept of Complete Justice is heaven enough. We are repeatedly warned that it won’t ever match our earthly ideologies, that we are children scrapping in a sandbox who haven’t noticed, much less comprehended, the real issues.
What Is Our Armor? – What laws resonate with you? Do you believe in karma? How would you define it? What laws make you angry? Which laws would you modify? What is your attitude towards the police – protectors of order or agents of mayhem? Dick Nixon was famous for talking endlessly about “restoring law and order” until just before he was forced to resign because of his multiple crimes. Many Trump followers insist everything Trump has done is “justified because Democrats are worse.” Is this a race to the bottom? Where’s the off-ramp?
Creative Danger – “Judge not lest ye be judged” is a scary proposition. How would we come off if our standards were used against us? Come to think of it, what are our standards? Are they fluid? Flexible? Jesus also said the “letter” i.e. “written rule” KILLS. That it’s the “spirit that gives life.”
Law Is Our Armor – Creatives dream of a “spirit-filled” Law. Maybe you wanted to go to Law School but life intervened. It’s never too late to study any subject that’s close to our heart. We become creatives because we wish for heroes; I think that’s the sole reason for the wild popularity of the Marvel movie series.
Do You Admire Heroes Because They Break the Rules, or because they uphold them? We acknowledge the need for rules, but how can we make sure they’re “spirit-filled”? In what areas of your life are you too rigid? In which are you too flexible? Imagine yourself speaking in court, making a case for yourself. What arguments would you give? Ask your dreams to start imagining a Justice World. How would it look?
Models & Mentors – “Law is not law if it violates the principles of eternal justice” – Lydia Maria Child
“The only stable state is one where all are equal before the law” – Aristotle
“Law is the public conscience” – Thomas Hobbes
‘Able in argument, accurate in analysis, strict in study, candid with clients and honest with adversaries, today I shall not, to win a point, lose my soul” – St. Thomas More
“If we desire respect for the law, we must make law respectable” – Louis D. Brandeis
#Haiku: Karma
Come round – Go round. Love reaps love Law reaps Justice Violence reaps Whirlwind.
If This Archetype Chooses You –Because you require an experienced hostage negotiator to help free you it is time to make peace with your elders. Have you been dreaming of old people? Funerals? Aging in general? Dreaming of gurus atop mountains? Buddhas, caves, palaces of wisdom? Or are you fixating on a specific elder who had an influence – bad or good – on your young life?
Creatives’ Effort Is Sacred – Failure is when you don’t try. Experience is the great teacher. Bad Judgment leads to Experience which leads to Wisdom which leads to Good Judgment.
You Are Wiser Than You Know –– Contrast elders you admire with those you avoid. Aren’t the latter complainers who stress to everyone they meet what a bad hand life has dealt them? They complain about their health, politics, the weather, other people – whatever crosses the windscreen of their increasingly tightening minds. In their world children never call, doctors don’t help, media is lying, weather’s getting worse, food is adulterated and we are all going to hell. This person is clamoring ever more loudly for ego strokes without apparently noticing the discomfort and distaste of those around them. Rather than trying a new strategy, they step up their whingeing.
Read the Room! Is what you want to scream at them but you realize they can no longer “learn.” This is the opposite of wisdom. This is senility. A brain is shutting down, a personality is beggared and no one wants to be around it.
Think of an Elder you Admire. Nelson Mandela, Joe Biden, St. Joan, Desmond Tutu, The Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra, Oprah Winfrey, Pema Chodron, the Pope? These persons are Ego-Less. Someone who talks about others, not themselves. They authentically care for others. They discuss ideas rather than gossip and have a long memory of problems, solutions, trial and error. They keep themselves “young” in all the ways that matter. People flock to them.
There’s an Old Cherokee Story about how each of us is born with a good wolf and a bad wolf inside of us. The one that gets stronger and takes control is the one you feed. Your challenge is to figure out how to practice your increasing wisdom every day. Accepting your dreams and encouraging their deepening understanding is the beginning of wisdom.
The Pursuit of Gurus is Inherently Dangerous because there are a lot of con artists out there seeking hostages and slaves. Avoid dominance/submission games and people who use any of the following interpersonal techniques:
They’re never “wrong.” Nothing is ever their fault. Only they know what is fashionable, appropriate and right. You are always wrong.
Circular conversations, ad hominem arguments, projection and gaslighting – They are the gate-keepers of reason and you the thirsty aspirant who will never succeed without their help.
People only capable of hierarchical – vertical, not horizontal relationships. Someone needs to be “on top.” It will never be “your turn.” You will always be dragooned into doing their bidding.
Blanket statements and generalizations – Thick layers of protective blather will keep you from getting through to discuss any task at hand.
Misrepresenting your thoughts and feelings to the point of absurdity – You are a poorly educated simplistic thinker and a deficient reasoner and they are in on all the secrets and are the source of all wisdom. There’s no “cooperating” with these people.
Nitpicking and moving the goal posts – Different rules for everyone and every day.
Changing the subject to evade accountability – “This is your fault – You shouldn’t have given me that job to begin with.”
Covert and overt threats –“If people know what you REALLY are, say, do, no one would be your friend.”
Name-calling , stigmatizing, limiting– “Identity politics.” “You are a _” Fill in the blank. And that’s all you’ll ever be in this guy’s eyes.
Destructive conditioning – Abuse, frustration and disrespect are this person’s calling archetypes but it’s never their fault that they live in a cloud of toxicity. They want you in there, too. Decline.
Smear campaigns and stalking – Endless power struggles. “Office politics.” Need I say more?
Playing the Martyr – “Everyone’s lying about me. I have so many enemies!”
Demands Immediate Unthinking Fealty – When someone stresses the fact that they are a “nice guy” or girl, that you should “trust them” right away or emphasizes their credibility without any provocation from you whatsoever, WALK AWAY.
Baits and badgers you – testing your limits. Can you be made to lose control?
Boundary testing – “You owe me” – “You’re committed” – “Everyone does it” to drag you into unethical enterprise
Aggressive jabs disguised as jokes – “Can’t you laugh about yourself? Everyone else is laughing.”
Condescending sarcasm and patronizing tone – Know-It-Alls
No One Using the Above Techniques has your best interests at heart.
Our Scars Define Beauty – You can see this is all about Control. Avoid those who seek to control or dominate you. Revered Elders such as those mentioned above would not do that. Treat others with respect and expect respect yourself.
Creatives Know Their Allies – Creatives don’t fear becoming experienced. We seek it. People come and go, but the right ones stay. Time shows you the difference between the strength and honor of another’s heart. Creatives share their knowledge.
Creatives Can Read the Signs – If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will. Train yourself to trust yourself. You can read and write maps, you can interpret Nature, you see Red Flags before they wave for others.
Creatives Earn Peace – Random acts of kindness make everyone feel better. Creatives’ “can do” attitude spreads peace. Creatives welcome other peaceful spirits. We challenge the troubled to take their drama elsewhere.
Models & Mentors – “You can’t control the wind but you can learn to adjust your sails.” – Jimmy Dean
“It always seems impossible till it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
“Knowledge speaks but wisdom listens” – Jimi Hendrix
“I am thankful to those who said No. Because of them, I did it myself.” – Albert Einstein
“Experience is not what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you.” – Aldous Huxley
“It is never too late to be who you might have been” – George Eliot
‘Wisdom is the journey no one can take for us” – Marcel Proust
#Haiku: Noble Heart
Sit In peace Regift The rubble of your life: Wreckage Belongs to All.
If This Archetype Chooses You – Decisions are being made. About you. What will they be? What are your fears? Are you dreaming of courts? Prison? Are you haunted by religious fears of hell and condemnation? Are you confused about innocence in general and your virtues in particular? Some people say we can’t break God’s laws, we can only break ourselves against them. That’s certainly true of the laws of Science!
Who Judges the Creative? We know other people are looking. We know we are always being assessed, ranked, possibly dismissed. We defensively assess, dismiss and gossip about each other. All of us wish to be judged by our intent, by the content of our hearts, rather than by results, which owe so much to Fate.
Creatives Cultivate Discernment – We are familiar with what it feels like to dislike some experience until a friend teaches us “how” to like it. We treasure the interesting adventure of seeing the world through another’s eyes, feeling with their hands, tasting with their tongue and remembering through their memory. An out of body experience for sure, as well as a bonding exercise. Seeing ourselves through another’s eyes can also be very uncomfortable. How about history’s eyes? What will be said about us? How will we be remembered?
Creative Challenge – Youth produces Bad Experiences and Bad Experiences develop Sophisticated – i.e. “Good” Judgment. Seriously, you need to be able to see some of these Bad Experiences coming because in our competitive capitalistic society these can become “extinction” events. How many decades of your life do you have to devote to unethical corporations, scammy multi-level marketing schemes, bad marriages, unreliable friends and “secret” investments? Our time, youth, energy and assets are limited. Respect your limits.
Creative Danger – Fear and Regret are potent forces. Sometimes it is possible to be too cautious. But can you just “dip a toe?” The principle of “dollar cost averaging” suggests that you must keep “paying yourself back” for investments that seem to be accumulating big-time, so if they suddenly plunge, you will never have actually lost money. In other words, study your progress as you go. This requires that we not get swept up in the experience with a mind affected by inebriating substances. Ask yourself honestly, is that possible for me?
Creative Opportunity – Now’s the time for you to develop yourself outside “the group.” How often do you do things because “the group” is doing them? How smart is your group? Who controls it? How close to the cliff ARE you? Think about the nature of leadership. Of models. Once you start evincing discernment you will be challenged but respected. Sometimes you lose your taste for the group, or you find a new group that suits you better. Creatives evolve. Fearlessly.
Models & Mentors – “Good judgment comes from bad experience” – Will Rogers
“At the end of the day, you need someone who listens to you without judgment” – Payal Rohatgi
“A rush to judgment makes a fair trial hard to get” – John Grisham
“When you judge another you define yourself” – Wayne Dyer
‘It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but hard to dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities” – Josiah Stamp
#Haiku: Dear Jane Austen
Formalized play Mines nature’s Riot; Edit Emote: Judge Love- Rewrite
If This Archetype Chooses You – You need a re-set. Your operating instructions are faulty. But where did they go wrong? That is what we must figure out. Do you find yourself frequently fantasizing about some magic dissolution of “the rules”? The problem with mirages – especially those we long to believe in – is that they become illusions. Falsehoods. We need so desperately to cling to an obvious fantasy we willingly surrender our ability to discern fact from fiction.
Illusions are Powerful – The seventeenth century Dutch needed a desirable luxury exchange item the privileged could trade back and forth for status reasons. Yes, that was the tulip bulb. It was a bubble – of course– the bottom fell out – of course – and left a whole lot of previously comfortable people bankrupt. We don’t have anything like that, these days, do we? Or do we? People are rushing to invest in crypto because of its complete lack of regulation. But without rules, it’s laughably easy to steal people’s money.
We’re All Rubes Here – Some people are investing in admittedly worthless “tokens” – just in case they go up in value. Does anyone remember the Beanie Baby craze? I had a friend who stored Mrs. Butterworth bottles in her basement – she had a basement FULL of Mrs. Butterworth bottles – because they were just BOUND to be worth something – someday. Have you seen what happens when everyone runs to the same side of the ferryboat? It tips them into the water! Successful investing involves being where the crowd isn’t – before they get there. Luck – chance – and the deliberate manipulation of the credulous – is often involved.
Some Illusions Are Life Strengthening – Others are Life-Depleting. I can’t stress this strongly enough: Creatives Need to Avoid Fantasy Thinking. Of all people, Creatives must traffic in reality. We create worthwhile magic, the kind that protects and enhances – so we can’t be deceived by the “magic” that punishes and stigmatizes. Your map must represent actual ground, not pie in the sky, or you won’t be able to maneuver across it. We understand the attraction of The Mirage. The problem with mirages – especially those we long to believe in – is that they evolve into illusions which create delusions.
Illusions Become Delusions – The Buddhists say life itself is an illusion. But they mean that metaphorically, to keep you from become “attached” to the “ephemeral.” The physics, gravity, chemistry and hydraulics of everyday life are hardly illusive. Above all, we should avoid clinging to fake food and pushing away nutrition. When creatives end up battling FOR falsity – it’s the worst of all possible situations.
Creative Challenge – Let’s face facts. Learn to enjoy reality as a bracing polar dip. Are you trapped by an illusion that you used to need but now is killing you? You can identify this by your increasing suffering over an increasingly problematic life and your diminishing pleasure over things that used to be reliable joys. Is it a relationship? An activity? A belief? Look at the problem honestly. Find others going through the same experience and generate frank discussion.
Flying Monkeys Abound – If any group member rushes in defensively to shame and discourage you, to convince you you’re not feeling or understanding what you KNOW you ARE feeling and understanding then realize you’re being gaslighted. What you’re trying to exit is a “cult” that is NOT devoted to the health of its members but to their diminishment and co-option. Stop communicating with those flying monkeys and find somebody who supports the truth of your actual experience AND your desire to feel better.
Creative Danger – The path to re-making yourself is fraught with danger and you will require all sorts of help. Don’t be discouraged if your feelings are volatile and transitory and you are confused about their reality. Move slowly, consulting Models & Mentors – kind others who respect your autonomy, individuality and with whom you feel safe.
Creative Opportunity – Relax! Creatives will become adept at shifting vision from night vision to day vision, forward and backwards through time, manifesting others’ auras until we can all see possibility and love.
We Transform Illusion Through Skill – The impossible takes longer, because language is not as flexible as reality. You are embarked on an exciting growth challenge where you leave a constricting carapace behind. Sometimes the “shell” was protective and served for a time to keep you safe while you matured. You don’t need to disparage the old you, or the old relationship; it served its purpose. Often people who have been through a trauma say afterwards they wouldn’t change the past, because they treasure and embrace the person they’ve become.
Models & Mentors – “Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they’re yours” – Richard Bach
“The world is an illusion we must take seriously.” – Aldous Huxley
“The light at the end of the tunnel is not an illusion – the tunnel’s the illusion” – Alysse Aallyn
“Separation from each other is an optical illusion of reality” – Albert Einstein
‘Limit, like fear, is often an illusion” – Michael Jordan
#Haiku: Coach Don’t Play
When you learn the game Rise above the game; Insight Renders you Magic
If This Archetype Chooses You – You are getting closer. You are on the cusp of a major discovery that will explain much. Are you dreaming of books, reading, classes, school? Do you often feel you are on a pursuit and the prey is within view?
Creatives Seek the Light – We are all born in a condition of yearning. As children, we try desperately to understand the world we find ourselves in. The truth is we are all creatives on a quest for enlightenment. We know there is a message out there for us, we know we have the capacity to understand it, but we are waiting for the lightning strike of “enlightenment” to put it all together and offer our unique, informed perspective.
The Truth Is Simple – Jesus said we have to become children again to enter the kingdom of heaven. This certainly implies that “enlightenment” is more a state of mind than any received wisdom. The dandelion, that simple fresh flower that is the harbinger of spring, is Creative Oracle’s symbol of the mystical understanding and lightning universal comprehension we call “enlightenment.” It naturally spreads itself everywhere, even on the rockiest, inhospitable terrain.
Creative Challenge – Enlightenment literature recommend two things: a good teacher and time alone. Every night when we go to sleep we enter the alone-time of our own mind. We can prep ourselves in advance with some “good teaching”; Socrates, Plato, Montaigne, Eckhart Tolle, Pema Chodron, Deepak Chopra, Stephen Batchelor, the Dalai Lama – savor these models until you get a sense which one speaks especially to you. Then set aside twenty-minutes or a half an hour for reading (or listening) right before sleep.
Creative Danger – Zen teachers say that if anyone represents themselves as a Zen teacher they are cannot be. Gnostic gospels say prophets asking for money are false prophets. Search for a guru is fraught with landmines. This is why I mention specific names of teachers available at any library who will not be trying to gain any ascendance or dominance over you personally.
Be Wary of Giving Your Spirit into Another’s Care. If they have demanded submission they will be cruel. The sin against the Holy Ghost is the only sin that cannot be forgiven, and it is the sin of running roughshod over our spiritual receptors. Once trust and faith are destroyed, it is difficult to “become a child again” because of the terrible things we have known and seen.
Creative Opportunity – Broken places let in the light and healing is always available. Even when scarred by false prophets we feel there is a magic of universal love and resilience available to us. A variety of healing ceremonials – my favorite is the “miracle bath” and the “laying on of hands” – will reconnect you to the possibilities of joy, love and the insight leading to enlightenment.
Models & Mentors -. “Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.” – Lao Tzu
“Enlightenment is your felt state of Oneness with Being” – Eckhart Tolle
“The road to enlightenment is long and difficult and you should not forget snacks and magazines” – Anne LaMott
“Suffering is temporary, enlightenment is forever” – Buddha
“Enlightenment does not come from the mind, it comes from just being. You are already enlightened. You have to realize it to allow it into your experience”- Anita Moorjani
If This Archetype Chooses You – You awake trembling. Are you helpless in your dreams? Do you dream of children, of your own childhood? In Creative Oracle, the rose represents the soft evanescence of youth when the merest thumbprint of emphasis can leave eternal impressions. As the emblem of beauty, the Rose warns us that this quivering, temporary vulnerability may be the very definition of eternal loveliness.
Creatives Remain Vulnerable – We are human, and we have no desire to divest ourselves of our humanity. As creatives we defend youth, beauty, humanity, evanescence.
We Remember Where We Came From – You well recollect how you were molded. Is it a pleasant nostalgic vision or a horror story? Do you resent all the other actors in this drama? Remember, resentment is a poison we consume – we are the only ones it harms. Value Your Training – good and bad – as you value your humanity.
Roses Have Thorns – Celebrate Yours – Everyone sees the thorn-stripped rose the florist sells, forgetting that roses were born with protections, just like the rest of us. Contemplate yours.
Creatives Have Many Protections – Our Training, Our Mental Agility, Our Commitments – but most especially our worldview. Others may surrender and fade away, but we know we are designed for eternal beauty, like the idea of stars. It is the essence of life to struggle, to mentally picture the goal and to design and redesign a gorgeous, life-changing map for all who follow.
Creative Challenge – Can we turn the building blocks of our own past into a constructive, hopeful framework for the future? Can you mentally accept and explore the power of a hardening maturity?
Creatives Preserve & Build – We do not destroy. The philosophy of “annihilation” is a psychic snare. Terrible things happen to ordinary people and they are changed forever. We may wish those things hadn’t happened but regret prevents us from focusing on reality. We need to understand the world we’re in and map it for those who follow after. History and literature explore the coping mechanisms around disaster and the strong people it produces.
Creative Opportunity – Resilience is the art we cultivate. We soon realize resilience has its own beauty; this rose may be cut down but the plant is hardly dead, in fact it generously offers an outpouring of constant roses. That is true beauty.
Models & Mentors – “Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity”
Brene Brown
“Being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure” – Bob Marley
“Sometimes you have to drop your guard so your heart can breathe” – Emma Xu
“The strongest love is the love that can demonstrate its fragility” – Paulo Coelho
#Haiku: On the Vulnerability of Poets
Dis – Composing To re-see; Melting to Re-form; Masking to un – Mask.
If This Archetype Chooses You – It’s time to pay attention to your physical well-being. This doesn’t necessitate a doctor visit, it could mean you know perfectly well you’re doing something to threaten your health and it’s time to quit.
But Sometimes a Doctor Visit is Necessary – Do you dream of hospitals? Doctors? Shamen? Magic pills? One of society’s proudest boasts is our seemingly mysterious ability to cure illness, or at least palliate its effects. Your dreams say you yearn for healing, and something in you recognizes you need help.
Do You Trust Your Doctor? Maybe it’s spiritual healing that’s required. Try a naturopath, acupuncture, massage therapy – you are searching for that instinctively helpful healer. Revisit all our advice on managing gurus (See WISDOM) – they must not be greedy and must demonstrate they have your best interests at heart. You should not become their sex toy or support them in an extravagant lifestyle. Seek references from friends. Anyone attempting to isolate you and wall you off from information is not your friend.
The Creative Path Is Exhausting. We need constant support. No shame – it’s part of the calling.
What Makes a Creative’s Heart Race? – Anyone developing their own map is going to get lost frequently. It’s a wilderness out there. How can we find the right path? How can we develop the confidence to choose the “right diagnosis” for what ails us? When should we request a “second” or “third” opinion? How can we stay on the “right” course, or even assess the “rightness” of any course, considering all our past mistakes?
Creatives Need “Heart Strengthening.” “Foxglove” the source of digitalis, (a powerful heart medication) tells us: Listen to your heart. Get out your Training Journal and start making notes. What questions do we wish to ask? Who do we want to be? Where are we trying to go?
Creative Danger – Can we tell the difference between a “fortifying” or a “harming” path? TV pharmaceutical ads list grisly side effects for pills tackling the vaguest malaise. Who can overlook these threats? Perhaps the ultimate “danger” lies in ignoring the warnings our “dis-ease” gives. What does “I want to be young again” really mean? We are all mortal. We have just so much time left to plan. To “become”.
Creative Opportunity – Some people are more confident following an “experts recommend” course, others adapt and customize as they go. Joy is the moment when planets and moments all click into alignment and we feel we accepted as a beloved child of the universe. Let’s unclog our ears, remove the plank from our vision and simplify our world to recapture the moments of joy experienced in childhood. If a loving, guiding force rescued us over and over again, we can summon the confidence to find several human healers to guide us through the healthcare system.
Models & Mentors – “Hugging is good medicine” – Karen Salmansohn
“Medicine is the art of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease” – Voltaire
“Medicines cure diseases, but only doctors can cure patients” – C.J. Jung
“Medicine cures doubt as well as disease” – Karl Marx
“The arts are as essential to everyone’s lives as clean food and fresh air” – Renee Phillips
#Haiku: Overcoming Narcissistic Disappointment
Cuts hurt Scars heal Skin becomes Distinctive; you Become interesting.
If This Archetype Chooses You – You are suffering an entanglement. Do you secretly fear abandonment? Are you afraid of being alone? In Creative Oracle, the Clinging Vine archetype reminds us of all of the unpleasant aspects of needing others’ constant support to function. A clinging vine can’t stand up by itself, it needs an immoveable shoulder to fasten upon. We Americans prefer to live by the fantasy of independence and self-determination. It’s just too threatening to imagine what might happen if the wall we’ve been covertly clinging to, suddenly comes down.
Creatives Require Freedom of Action – We are all dependent on society for basic functions. At what point does mutual dependency become constrictive? Clinging vines can’t stand up by themselves; they need an immoveable shoulder to cling to. Are you locked into a position of support for someone else?
Creatives Must Define Freedom in Their Relationships – Recognize and resist parasitic and exploitive relationships where the benefits are unbalanced. No need to over-react. Start drawing boundaries. Teaching the clinging vine to stand up for itself is doing it a favor.
No One Stands Alone – The truth is, we’re all in this together. Billionaires, leaders, CEO’s, all actually need much more support than we ordinaries. But they insist on maintaining freedom of action – for good reason. Don’t make destructive deals involving your future. Creatives need to Become and their futures are always a Mystery. We are responsive to the fluttering of butterfly wings as well as the shifting of tectonic plates. Divest yourself of pointless, (usually “inherited”) shame (from the collective unconscious) and acknowledge the truth that humans are, for good and ill, social creatures.
Life Is a Negotiation – Make an experiment of listing your dependencies – bank, mail system, social security? Vehicle, gas availability, fuel affordability? Grocery stores, restaurants, our own two ambulatory feet? Weather, peace, law enforcement?
Recognize the Fragility of These Systems. Confronting fear creates ruthlessness but creatives never check their brains at the door. We are strategic, planning, evolving. Our maps will always need an update and a redesign.
Creative Challenge – Are we hanging ourselves in loops of dependency? How can we free ourselves? What could we do to claim more psychic and physical independence? While Mormons may require a “year’s worth” of canned goods in the basement, the rest of us recognize the need for an emergency savings account. We are beginning to understand how a threatened supply chain can snap. Begin imagining some future failure scenarios and hash out the possibilities; if the elevator fail, is it possible to take the stairs? Your dream life will reward you with a lessening of existential anxiety.
Models & Mentors – “Don’t set yourself on fire to keep other people warm” – Alysse Aallyn
“Fear is the memory of pain. Addiction is the memory of pleasure. Freedom is beyond both.” – Anonymous
“Don’t work harder on someone else’s problems than they do” – Ross Rosenberg
“Enjoy togetherness but allow space. Respect differing beliefs. Accept, don’t try to change each other. Appreciate the other, but always be prepared to survive alone” – Darlene Lancer
#Haiku: Dis – Ability
Limitations dissolve Hand in hand we Surmount Mental boundaries
If This Archetype Chooses You – A project of yours nears completion. Harvest approaches. Do you dream of fruit, perfectly ripe? Do you love to cook and entertain? Are you attracted by movies with long family dinner scenes, everyone celebrating outdoors beneath an arbor? Is touring wine country a popular fantasy of yours? You are a person who is propelled forward by imagining smiles on the faces of others as the work of community and you believe that family harmony is to be celebrated and enjoyed. This vision can keep us going through bitter hardships.
Harvest Comes Because Creatives Prepare – You became a creative because you resisted others’ negativity, hopelessness and learned helplessness. Instead you turned your eyes to the inevitable rituals of seed care, the healthy promotion of living things, and now you are granted a front-row seat at the celebration of flourishing.
Creative Challenge – Keeping these visions alive during the training phase is hard, because the growth cycle is long and can be boring and uneventful. That’s why planting occurs in stages, so all your psychic eggs aren’t resting in the same basket. Learn to enjoy all the seasons, without hungering for a single season. This is a good time to contrast group versus individual gratifications and ask ourselves, “What’s that about?”
Creative Danger – Even Creatives can become thirsty for gratification until it takes more and more to satisfy us. “Winning” is a shallow goal if that’s all there is. Creatives seek harmony, blending community resources to make the whole family stronger. The worst outcome is to be locked in an addiction cycle and spiraling downwards; no longer part of the growth process, benefitting from training and spiritual renewal.
Creatives Rest by Dreaming Forward – Sitting around the fire telling stories, modeling “success” as peaceful sharing rather than as an endless party. Luckily sleep and dreams are the best model of fruitful dormancy. We require those periods and we need to look forward to their relief and imaginative nourishment.
Creative Opportunity – Every group celebration of the success and nourishment cycle is different. Are there leftover behaviors that no longer serve you? What fresh, exciting new ideas might you add? Is everyone in the family/community being well-served or are there grumpy holdouts? It’s fruitful to listen to the grumpy holdouts occasionally. How might they do things differently? If all they want is to harsh everyone else’s buzz, maybe they should no longer expect an automatic invitation to the feast.
Models & Mentors – “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you will get but by the seeds you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
“In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter, enjoy” – William Blake
“Every deed sows a seed, though the harvest you may not see” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox
“We are each other’s harvest, we are each other’s business, we are each other’s magnitude and bond” – Gwendolyn Brooks
If This Archetype Chooses You – Do you ever dream of hummingbirds? Of the ‘impossible” flight of the bumblebee? Your soul is speaking. Listen. According to C.S. Lewis, we are not a Body with a Soul, we are a Soul with a Body. Our bodies may be all too mutable, but our souls can be eternal. Do you dream of past lives? See yourself in historical contexts? Do you have dreams of utter bodilessness in which you are totally free, seeming to travel invisibly through the power of your mind?
What Are Creatives Fighting For? Immortality is not a given, but an achievement. Souls are under threat. What is the Sin Against the Holy Spirit that the Bible talks about, the one sin that cannot be forgiven? It is any attempt to slaughter the soul, the stifle your inborne, God-given ability to detect the numinous and to access the sphere of eternality. Creatives therefore fight the greatest battle there is, to protect the power of their own Souls’ immortality and those of everyone else.
Accept Your Immortality – Can we destroy our own immortality through abuse and disbelief? Sadly, yes, and some of us act like we want to! If “heaven” represents eternal bliss and “hell” eternal pain who would ever choose the latter? Those who find life itself such a stacked deck they turn away from the gamble. It’s soul suicide. This is as tragic as battling against one of our talents (“I’m never going near that guitar.”) Who exactly are you trying to harm? The direction we need to travel is in uncovering who we really are and freeing ourselves. To become a Self worth being.
Everyone Has Experienced the “Flow “of Bliss– We have knowledge of eternality in our daily life – actual accessible ecstasy in which Time and Impossibility vanish while we experience full connectedness with the universe. We become Creatives just to master this ability – and to transfer it to others. This skill alone makes merely being ourselves a reliable, eternal pleasure.
Creative Challenge – Obviously, our minds change the same way our bodies do. We grow up! Think about the differences between you now, and you at say, three years old. Imagine the joyous understanding with which you will eventually “get” what seems now incomprehensible. If you just accept that possibility, you can enjoy the Now.
Creative Danger – What Christians call “sin”, Buddhists call “clinging”. We grab on to any passing thing in fear, to halt the frightening mystery of our flight but of course it doesn’t work! The G forces build up as space revolves around us, meanwhile we are clinging to some crappy object, or some person who is experiencing a different trajectory. Let those things go. Don’t be frightened by your feelings, just study them, turn them into huge iridescent bubbles, and spin them away. Learn to enjoy this flight, no matter how wild it gets.
Creative Opportunity – Think about the Biblical parable in which everyone is invited to a glorious feast. These “guests” are so threatened by this invitation, they not only don’t go, they murder the messenger. Watch the glorious film, Groundhog Day. Poor weather forecaster Bill Murray is sentenced to living the same reality over and over and over again, trying everything he can think of to escape, including suicide. Finally he decides to learn how to just enjoy the life he has been granted, and to be as nice as possible to the other frightened, enraged, confused souls around him. Only then is he able to move on to the next level which turns out to be the rewarding love of his dreams. That is the Progress of the Soul which we defend.
Models & Mentors – “the living soul, once conscious of its power, cannot be quelled” – Horace Mann
“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind.” – Carolyne Myss
“Without applied awareness of the soul, happiness can’t arise” – Dada Bhagwan
“The desire to know your own soul ends all other desires” – Rumi
#Haiku: Last Minute
Bone grows Mind crashed Soul merge Skin graft Intervention – Light shaft Angel…? Laughed.
Alysse Aallyn 