The collapse of the twin towers sent a wake up call to my soul. From that moment on I have been faithfully following my soul’s path, not my ego’s wishes.

I’m sure it’s not news to say — We’ve come to the end of the road and find ourselves in Rome, the alpha and the omega of our monotheistic times.

We have played the story all the way to the end and find every aspect of our collective lives near death, i.e., atmosphere, Bible, banking, culture, democracy, diplomacy, energy, economy, ecology, earth, evolution, finances, government, humanity, healthcare, insurance, justice, Koran, life, meaning, medicine, money, Newtonian physics, which is the basis of most of our planetary systems, news, oceans, patriarchy, psychology, quetzalcoatl, regulations, religions, science, society, soul, space, sports, time, universe, vision, weath, xanadu, Yom Kippur, zeitgeist.

One could crumble under these facts, or continue in a collective, pathological, and psychological defense of denial to save ego from the truth of soul’s existence. Why not? Denial and other distortions of reality have gotten us this far. I believe it is time to resuscitate life on earth and reconnect with our soul and the soul of the world, what Jung called the Anima Mundi.

I also believe there is a map to the chaos we find ourselves in.

To understand what’s next for our planet, I turn to the 17th card in the Tarot Deck — The Star (Ray of Hope) which represents the dawning of the age of Aquarius, and follows the Tower card.

Many have said we are moving to a more feminine way of life. This return spirals up from feminine unconsciousness to feminine consciousness.

The Star is a nature priestess who connects heaven and earth following the alchemical text the Emerald Tablet’s doctrine of correspondence, i.e., as above, so below. This is similar to the restart button in Revelation where chapter twenty-one speaks of a new heaven and a new earth.

The Star Woman reveals herself in her nakedness, without a mask, without clothing. She helps unite our outer world with our inner world. Her arrival suggests the end of Patriarchy on this planet, and the beginning of our connection with the dimensional universe, from the narcissistic I to the empathetic we, from logos to eros, from the physical to the subtle, and so on.

The answers to our earthly foibles lie in the subtle realm, not the physical realm. The patriarchal ego must die, giving rise to our eternal soul.

I started writing this post yesterday, last night I dreamed I was anointed a priestess before I sang in a contest to complete my doctoral work. Interestingly, I am an ordained minister but I have, heretofore, not embarked on my ministerial work. I have had several dreams this month (April 2013) suggesting it is time for me to speak up. In every dream I have fallen in the face of my collective task because I was isolated and alone. The transition I am facing requires isolation in the alchemical vessel. This process will give rise to a new aquarian self.

To become the Star Woman is my new task. Wish me luck!

As I wrote these last lines, Jung’s scarab appeared in my window. OMG!
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A few days later, I went to past-life hypnotherapist and learned my relationship to the Star Woman. I am to scribe the universal laws for the new earth coming in now as the aquarian age, however, I must get over my Cassandra Complex. More to Come!!!

There is a cosmic war going on!

I don’t care if you find the coordinates externally or internally.

What I care about is that you awaken to the battle being fought for the survival of your soul.

There is a collusion going on!

I don’t care if you’re religious, political, or scientific all these roads lead to Rome.

What I care about is that you awaken to your soulful potential.

Now, there is no Heaven or Hell, there is only Earth.

Tomorrow, there is no Earth.

So what?

Do we fuck everyone to get a buck only to end dead?

What good is it to own the entire planet Earth when it looks like Mars?

Do we forgo every part of us that separates us from animals only to live like reptiles?

Who wins this game of life …

the religious fundamentalist who killed everyone so his truth could be true?

the man who pushed the red button that destroyed all life on earth?

the lunatic that gave the order?

the scientist who created a plague that killed all mammalian life?

the billionaire that funded the project?

WHO WINS?

When did life become about winning?

Why?

What if the only reason your soul incarnated on this planet was to realize your true self is not destructible?

What if the true meaning of life was pure love?

Please point me in that direction because I want to get there now.

I started reading Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path by Mariana Caplan and I just had to share a synopsis of the second chapter called “Spiritually Transmitted Diseases.”

She compares concepts, perceptions and egoic confusion to bodily fluids as the infecting agent to the immune system. I often compare dreams to the white blood cells of the immune system. Both are meant to bring us back into harmony and wholeness.

Because spiritual diseases are diseases of ego, and therefore subtle, they can go undetected for years in ourselves and in our communities. That which is invisible is by its nature hard to detect, and nothing is as invisible as the human ego, where spiritually transmitted diseases reside. (Kindle Location 596-598)

She identifies three primary mediums of transmission:

1. through cultural influences
2. from the teacher to the student
3. from within one’s ego structure.

Cultural diseases of the spirit are so subtle and pervasive that often we don’t even know we have been infected by them until we find ourselves spiritually ill from their influence. An example is the way that Judeo-Christian beliefs have permeated the Western psyche. The fundamentally sinful nature of mankind, its polarization of flesh and spirit, and its negation of women and dismissal of feminine wisdom have insinuated themselves into the collective Western psyche so effectively that even our most radical spiritual movements contain subtle Judeo-Christian underpinnings. (Kindle Locations 615-624).

About the infection from teacher to student she writes,

Many spiritual teachers, even if not outright corrupt, are immature in their knowledge and unintegrated in their psychological development—and they are teaching at a level beyond their understanding. (Kindle Locations 627-628)

She identifies ten spiritually transmitted diseases.

1) Fast-Food Spirituality

The need for instant gratification does not translate to spiritual enlightenment. You have to do the work, and you can’t fake it cause if you do you are only fooling yourself. While Christianity professes two paths to heaven: by faith and by work, in spirituality there is only work. There is, however, two paths via work, by head or by heart.

2) Faux Spirituality

Faux spirituality is the tendency to talk, dress, and act as we imagine a spiritual person would. It is a kind of imitation spirituality that mimics spiritual realization in the way that leopard-skin fabric imitates the genuine skin of a leopard. This disease is most likely to be found in new age culture…. They attend spiritual events and assume they have accessed the perennial wisdom taught by mystics throughout all time—without being willing to do the actual work required to initiate a profound and authentic process of internal transformation. (Kindle Location 650-657)

3) Confused Motivations

The question to ponder here is … what is the motivation behind your spiritual quest? Is it to be loved, to belong, to fill an emptiness, to end suffering, or the wish to be special?

4) Identifying with Spiritual Experiences

This is a disease of ego inflation. There is a world of difference between having a mystical experience and integrating that experience into the structure of your psyche. While we may be able to reach the nondual state in our meditation, this does not translate into everyday functioning in the Western world. “For most of us, mystical experiences fade in spite of every effort to cling to and sustain them. Combine this with the humbling realities of the body, disease, and human relationships, and eventually we discover that mystical experiences are, in essence, simply experiences” (Kindle Locations 674-676).

5) The Spiritualized Ego

This is an extension of Faux Spirituality into a complete identification with spiritual concepts and ideas, the example being “Zen boyfriends” and “Zen girlfriends.” These people have fallen into a rigid belief system not unlike the dogma of Christianity. In all cases, the opening to the mystery of life is shut down.

6) Mass Production of Spiritual Teacher

Both the western and eastern worlds are overpopulated with mediocre teachers who instruct sincere spiritual aspirants at a less than optimal level. This disease functions like a spiritual conveyor belt: put on this glow, get that insight, and—bam!—you’re enlightened and ready to enlighten others in similar fashion. (Kindle Locations 683-685)

7) Spiritual Pride

This describes the teacher or practitioner who believes they have reached the end of the spiritual path. A feeling of “spiritual superiority” is another symptom of this disease. “Prideful spiritual practitioners must find the courage and integrity to expose themselves to individuals who can and will push and test them” (Kindle Locations 692-693).

8) Group Mind

Also described as groupthink, cultic mentality, or ashram disease, group mind is an insidious virus that contains many elements of traditional codependence. A spiritual group makes subtle and unconscious agreements regarding the correct ways to think, talk, dress, and act. (Kindle Locations 700-701)

In the 21st century we are called to find our individual path to spirit. We are called to come out of the group think of religions and engage with spirit individually and regularly. If it looks and feels like a cult, e.g. Christianity, then it probably is faux spirituality.

9) The Chosen-People Complex

Related to the disease of group mind but with an added aspect of spiritual pride, the chosen people complex is pervasive among spiritual groups. It is the belief that “our group is more spiritually evolved, powerful, enlightened, and simply put, better than any other group.” (Kindle Locations 714-716).

This problem pervades the desert religions such that the very existence of human beings on earth is threatened. It is a sad state of affairs scapegoating others with the shadow of your god.

10) Survival of Ego Based on the Illusion of Separation

One of the most subtle and pervasive spiritually transmitted diseases—one that affects the vast majority of the world population of spiritual aspirants—is the belief that spirituality is about me: I am studying, doing practices, service, and whatever other efforts I might make so that I can feel better, be happier, or become a better person. (Kindle Locations 725-728).

Finally, The Deadly Virus: “I Have Arrived!”

Our spiritual progress ends at the point where this belief becomes crystallized in our psyche; for the moment we begin to believe that we have reached the end of the path, further growth ceases—and if we are not going forward, we are going backward. (Kindle Locations 739-740)

On my 2012 holiday vacation break I began a new soul / meditation practice that inspires me each morning.

Using Aleister Crowley / Lady Frieda Harris’s Thoth Tarot Deck I choose my SOUL, MIND and BODY cards.

Then using The Tarot Handbook by Angeles Arrien I read the spiritual interpretations.

Next I take these cards into my meditation using this great little meditation app called Insight Timer Meditation. I allow them to infuse their meaning deeply into my soul. As a result, I am reaching new levels of joy in my life.

There are three other books about the Thoth Tarot Deck worth mentioning:

• The Book of Thoth by Aliester Crowley
• Tarot: Mirror of the Soul by Gerd Ziegler
• Understanding Aliester Croweley’s Thoth Tarot by Lon Milo DuQuette

Here are other depth psychological books on the Tarot:

• Jung and the Tarot: An Archetypal Journey by Sallie Nichols
• Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism
• The Fool’s Pilgrimage: Kabbalistic Meditations on the Tarot by Stephan Hoeller

Chapter 11 in A PATH WITH HEART speaks about the importance of finding your own spiritual path.

When we are faced with a variety of spiritual teachings and practices, we must keep a geniune sense of inquiry. What is the effect of these teachings and practices on myself and others? In his last words, the Buddha said we must be a lamp unto ourselves.

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) philosopher, esotericist, one-time Theosophist, and founder of the Waldorf School and Anthroposophy suggests a more western style of meditation. For him, meditation is a communion with your higher self, to become a witness of one’s life. “Consciousness by its nature witnesses and bears witness.” Thus, the purpose of his meditation is to access the wisdom of the higher self. He writes:

We enter as deeply within ourselves as we can. Sense impressions, memories, associations, thoughts, hopes and dreams, all fade away. In the inner silence, peace descends upon the soul. It become receptive, opening to and receiving what spirit gives.

The Steiner Meditation*

Steiner recommended that we start our meditation by selecting a verse from a sacred text or use a sacred image, anything that interests you that you would like to explore deeper.

As in the eastern meditation practice, choose the right time and place to quiet the ego mind. Find a comfortable chair, place a pen and notebook beside you.

Besides that there are no rules. Be experimental by seeing what works best for you.

Once seated, take a few deep breaths to relax. Slowly and methodically relax your whole body. Then think to yourself, now I am going to begin my meditation.

Fill yourself with a mood of reverence and devotion by orienting to your higher self. Then carefully place the text or image in the center of your consciousness; ponder, associate and amplify, exhausting all possibilities.

Then collapse it to a single word or image and concentrate. Keep your attention as focused as possible. If you wander off, simply return to your theme and refocus.

When it feels right release the theme so that your mind is empty. Try to keep it is empty for as long as possible. See what happens, what comes down.

If images occur, follow them and let them unfold.

At some point the meditation will naturally end.

This meditative style has a long history in western culture from the alchemists to the lectio divina of the mystics; it even shares a little of the wisdom of Jung’s active imagination technique. I used this method of meditation to write my dissertation.

* Taken from START NOW! a book of soul and spiritual exercises

As you continue your soul work you will eventually discover the repeated patterns of thought, feelings and sensations what Jack Kornfield called the “Insistent Visitors.” In this video/audio blog post I take you through four basic principles for dealing with these difficult and repeating problems.

The four principles are: Expand the Field of Awareness, Come to a Full Awareness of the Feelings, Discover what is Asking for Acceptance, and Open through the Center.

I’ve been asked many times about the differences between what Carl Jung taught and the lessons in Deepak Chopra’s 21-Day Meditation Challenge. So I thought I would get out a quick blog post explaining the differences as I see it.

Perhaps the most important difference concerns the development of ego in the west as rugged individual versus in the east as one part of a greater whole, be it family, society, or universe.

This difference is why Jung said almost a century ago that westerners cannot slap eastern spirituality on top of a western ego and expect enlightenment.

I make a strong distinction in my teachings about the ego and the soul as two distinct and different entities in the psyche. (See previous blog post about Ego and Soul.)

In the east transcending the ego is part and parcel of their cultural development; in the west we are our egos. Therefore, it makes sense to heal the ego and bring it into relationship with our souls; this is the path of Jungian individuation. As earthlings we need both, ego which is responsible for our physical being and soul which is responsible for our spiritual being.

In Jungian circles we call this dialectic relationship the ego-soul axis. Everything Chopra is talking about refers to the soul part of this equation.

As I’m sure you have experienced in your meditation ego is bouncing around all over the place with plans for the future, or ruminating on past events. Your experience of the eternal soul and its connection to Source occurs in those fleeting spaces between ego’s obsessions.

Meditation is a practice to increase the spaces in your psyche where soul can enter your life.

There is one last distinction between Jungian thought and Chopra’s teachings related to Source. In Jungian Psychology the Self or Source has intentions for our soul on earth which becomes our purpose in life to fulfill. Chopra’s teachings has ego intentions asking Source for fulfillment. I believe the truth lies between these two extremes. We have a distinct purpose to fulfill on earth, and if our intentions align with this purpose then Source will fulfill wishes.

Inquiry is a powerful soul practice, a path to self-realization or what Jung called individuation. While, ego wants the answers now, and well, most of the time it thinks it has all the answers, soul is activated in the inquiry practice. Soul lives questions, where ego lives answers. (From a quantum physics perspective, think of ego as a particle and soul as a wave.) In fact, we need ego to live answers, for it focuses mostly on our physical survival and operates reflexively, most of the time. However, ego’s life is lived mostly unconsciously, responding to stimulus faster than the speed of light.

Consciousness is a soulful affair. Until we have chosen each and every one of our responses to stimulus we are living a mostly unconscious life, from an ego that was developed in childhood. What was feared in childhood is not as scary as an adult, but until we have the capacity to stop our reflexive responses we have not truly grown up.

An inquiry practice begins with true curiosity into the functioning of ego. The key components of an inquiry practice are: experience, observation and distinctions.

Experience is composed of three parts: the event, your perception, and your judgment. For example, your boyfriend comes home and slams the front door. You believe he is angry and think it is about this morning’s argument. The event is your boyfriend coming home from work. You perceive that he is angry because the door slammed and you judge that it is about this morning’s argument. If you don’t separate your experience into these components, then you are apt to react as if the morning’s argument is still going on and fore go a new experience with your boyfriend.

Observation is composed of two parts: the observer and the observed. The work of consciousness is to continually improve the observers skills to see what is there in great depth, tone and color. However, observation is only one of our six perceptual organs. By far it is the most used. We see, we hear, we smell, we feel, and less so taste the world. And for some we intuit the world. It is important to make distinctions between these six perceptual ways of becoming aware of the observed.

And finally, distinctions give depth and breadth to what is observed. This is where knowledge comes in. The more you know about your psyche and the world, the better you are at sensing and judging what you are experiencing and choosing the appropriate response in the moment, not from your canned patterns of responses.

The mystery of life reveals itself when you stay in the inquiry as long as you can without foreclosing with answers. Too often we get trapped in the questions starting with why and never venture into asking questions beginning with who, what, where, when, and how. Challenge yourself to learn the distinctions of inquiry practice, and then challenge yourself with asking better questions about your psyche and the world.

This chapter discusses the process of dealing with the difficulties that arise during your meditation. It is called naming the demons and it recognizes what the Buddha called the five hindrances to awareness and clarity: grasping and anger, sleepiness and restlessness, and doubt.

This audio blog is broken down into two parts:

Part 1

Part 2