Messages from the Divine
What if everyone we meet and every thing that crosses our path has a message for us from the divine?
Recently, l saw two beautiful ceramic turtles in a clock shop and then the same week, two more turtles crossed my path but these two were alive! In Jungian dream work, that symbolically represents a doubling. When a symbol repeats like that in our dreams and/or in our waking every day life which we can look at the same way we look at our dreams, this is the Universe connecting with us and saying pay attention. There was also a message not only in that it repeated but that there were two of them, each different sizes both times. It was clear for me to slow down. Well, I definitely listened. Carl Jung taught that every thing has meaning. It truly is a numinous experience when synchronicities like this occur.
We also each interact with and meet people on a daily basis and these too are bringing us messages from the divine. Sometimes these experiences with others can be rather painful and difficult. We may feel victimized by events or circumstances that take place, but if we can shift our worldview to knowing we are not alone inside ourselves ever, it makes all of life more intriguing and soul satisfying. I encourage people to become curious and ask their inner Self with a capital “S.” (Carl Jung’s term for God within, the transpersonal center that resides inside of us), “What does this mean? What am I needing to understand for my well being by this experience or person?” We are either teaching them something or they are teaching us something. It’s a two-way street and it will not stop repeating until we pay attention. Beating ourselves for up for patterns is not the point. The point is to embrace life as a dance between ourselves and the divine. It is the most important relationship we will ever have and it takes place in our inner world.
Not all of you, but many of you know, I lost my left eye in 2013 due to two PRK surgeries that went wrong. Trust me, like everyone else who goes through a life challenge, I was depressed and went into a deep, dark hole for several years. I could not wrap my mind around the pain and the grief I felt. Finally, I decided to get on a Mega Bus and go see my mentor/teacher Episcopalian priest and Jungian analyst, J. Pittman McGehee, who retired in Austin, Texas. He listened to me with complete empathy and then he said, “Let’s see what the unconscious wants from you.” With that statement, I was snapped back to myself and what I knew to be true. I had studied Jung with him for many years and by this time, I had also written The Shadow Dance Workbook. Sitting in the bus on the way home, I was filled with thoughts that helped me get clear and understand what losing my eye meant. There was a relationship I had stubbornly refused to open my eyes and see clearly. Losing my eye was quite symbolic. In Mysterium Conuinctionis, Jung says, “An experience of the Self is always a defeat for the ego.” To this day, ten years later, I will tell you as painful as it was, I would go through it all over again. I had refused to change because I was stubbornly stuck. I needed to change to go on with my individuation and fulfill my purpose in life.
Have you ever been stuck? Yes, well everyone has.
In an Interview in Good Housekeeping Magazine, December 1961, Jung is quoted as saying,
“God is the name by which I designate all things which cross my willful path violently and recklessly, all things which upset my subjective views, plans and intentions and change the course of my life for better or worse.”
There is no gain without pain especially when it comes to relationships. Awakening to a path of liberation takes committed, consistent and devoted Shadow Work on our own or with a partner. Our transpersonal center which is much greater than our egos is guiding us to become whole. As we become more conscious of our wholeness, we are each contributing to the evolution of the whole planet. This worldview makes what we go through all worthwhile.
We are all one with the divine, connected to each other, to the animals, the trees and the earth herself.
Isn't this the most beautiful, exquisite Hibiscus you have ever seen? (photo above) I love growing flowers and have pink, red, orange and yellow ones but I had never seen anything like this one. It is orange and hot pink and gold on the outer rim. Hibiscus flowers only live for one day so, to be able to see it and photograph it while I was out walking was a beautiful experience for me. Orange is my favorite color but this one has gold on the edges. GOLD is symbolic of the alchemical Gold that in in us all.
