Page 52 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - October / November 2018

52 New Stories Of Our Souls

The New Stories of Our objective ontological truth of these archetypes, (as absolutely essential as that is), you begin to
as someone with a prerational magical or feel into the pulse of the sap that rises through
Souls mythic perspective would, we can still your body and soul. You wait to hear a new,

Continued from Page 51 “believe” and inhabit them in powerful ways. deeper, previously hidden voice. You ask, and
Taking up the archetype organizes and liberates then you fall silent and faithfully keep a vigil of
our gross, subtle, and causal capacities – listening, until you are able to discern the still-
At this point in time, it is critical that we
particularly the subtle – which in turn affects small voice of your soul.
discern archetypal stories that can be true for us
our bodies. You open your feeling further, to learn
individually and also culturally. Luckily, the
Living a new story is unavoidable, in what is being said to you by the DNA of the
great transition stories we’ve mentioned above
any case, now that we have entered an era when protoplasmic informational energy that surges,
weave together organically. On one level, we
our world drama has flashed its apocalyptic nurtures, and replenishes your very
seem to be asked to grow into our true identities
teeth and stopped making sense. The absurdity consciousness, the actual nerve spark in your
as sovereign protectors of our Mother Earth. On
and existential danger of the world crisis that is cerebrospinal fluid. Your soul or daemon is
another, as I said earlier in this book, we are also
gaining momentum gives us leave to take risks, recognizable because it speaks in chorus with
addicts, called now to finally break our
to take theatrical poses, to assume the mantles your heart and blood. Life wants to live. That
collective addiction to our comfortable but
of our archetypes, and to lovingly and playfully which has always animated evolutionary
degraded lives of bourgeois consumption. We
unleash their power through a kind of ceremony emergence is still alive in you and wants to keep
can support each other as brothers and sisters in
of transformation, a magical dance, whose evolving. And it has a particular way it wants to
the good work of addiction recovery – like a
intent is to conjure forth a better story for all of more fully express this right now through your
twelve-step program run by the whole living
us. To the degree that our larger human world is body, your emotions, your mind, your
planet. But we also perhaps feel like peaceful
in crisis, facing new challenges that require new imagination, your relationships, and your
revolutionaries. That archetype resonates in me
responses, this is expressed not just in gross creativity. Metaphors that make vivid the
– after all, I was raised in an intentional
physical ways but also in subtle energetic and journey from your “current way of being” to
community, and mentored by my co-op aunts
psychic ways. your “new way of being” are part of the
and uncles to be a nonviolent revolutionary. And
There are larger subtle dynamics, even transformational process as it is taught by New
some of us feel called to serve as a doula,
an impulse in the soul of the world that is trying Ventures West and by Integral Coaching
supporting Mother Earth in her difficult birth of
to express a new level of intelligence through Canada.
a new civilization. All of us are awakening,
each of us. Recognizing this, soul work opens The new metaphor provides the
perhaps going through a process of dissolution
up a political practice, a form of subtle activism vibrational signature through which we can
in the chrysalis, and subsequent metamorphosis
that complements the gross. We are each artists, attune to, resonate with, and embody our next
into a human butterfly.
showing up face-to-face with the soul of a world higher possibilities. In coaching, new
To quote Michael Meade’s The Genius
that has summoned each of our souls to its “capacities” are methodically cultivated. But the
Myth: “The answers to the overwhelming
unique destiny. We are all in play with other work derives a great deal of its efficacy from the
problems and daunting global issues we all face
souls, tasked with becoming new human beings ease with which the body and imagination can
cannot simply come from the limited
in a new kind of human culture, one that feel and inhabit a clear role in a story. This is
consciousness of abstract reasoning and
naturally co-creates a healthy future for one why inhabiting a metaphor or an archetype is a
scientific attitudes that currently dominate the
another and for our children, our species, and all skillful way to elicit our best capacities. Such
world. The problems run deeper than the simple
our other relations on this planet. profound transformation ripens over time, and
facts of the matter. The answers must be found
It is clear to climate activists that our deeply. As Carl Jung wrote, “I ask myself what
in deeper places as well. The loss of a felt
governments and industry are responding far is the myth that you are living and I found that I
connection to the divine spark hidden within
too slowly to the reality of global warming. But did not know. So I took it upon myself to get to
each person may be the greatest curse of
the physical trends leading to disaster don’t tell know my myth and I regarded this as the task of
modern mass societies. When the dark times
the whole story. Subtle and other nonlinear tasks. I simply had to know what unconscious or
come around and great changes are afoot, it
dynamics are also at play, and they open space preconscious myth was forming me.”
becomes more important that awake people
for additional hope. Too often, we forget that Likewise, in the “Integral Soul Work”
remain awake and that more individuals awake
collective ceremonies and rituals and other that I teach, we ask: What is really going on?
into the nature of the spark they carry within.
communal psychophysical enactments of What archetypal stories am I enacting in my
And the great drama of life, the human soul
archetypal metaphors and narratives can be life?” Generally, we come to realize that we
becomes the extra quantity and distinct living
valid dimensions of activism – ones that have been living out some pretty unproductive
quality needed to tip the balance of the world
perform the vital function of restoring gross, stories, stories that limit us, based on limiting
toward creation.”
subtle, and causal harmony and wholeness to beliefs we hold about ourselves and the world
When we begin to participate in the
both individual activists and their whole we are in. And we make new choices. As Rumi
subtle field, an enormous range of potential
community. said, “Don’t be satisfied with stories of how
opens up. We discover that we are conducting a
things have gone with others. Unfold your own
whole symphony of animating poetic energies
DISCOVERING AND TRANSFORMING myth.” So, at this stage, we tune in to the
through our bodies and psyches. We can metaphors and archetypes, these deeply familiar
become lightning rods to the greater energies of YOUR ARCHETYPE
story lines that we have been living, in order to
the anima mundi or World Soul. This is the
How can you come to know the enable our particular transitional stories to come
domain of practices that teach our gross life to
narrative thrust and arc of your own life? You alive. As we practice accessing an archetype for
honor the subtle, opening a new dimension of
begin by awakening beyond your narrow a new way of being, we access something clear
creativity. We can learn to let in the bigger
preoccupation with petty egoic concerns. But and fresh and full of possibility – a clean,
forces that want to enact a particular archetypal
that is just the first step. What follows is a blessed energy of grace that washes us and
story through us – the warrior, the magician, the
visioning process in which you allow your soul, opens us.
tragic hero, the lover, the mother, the king, or
or daemon, to assert its dominion over your Likewise, in the “Integral Soul Work”
the queen. destiny, and to connect you with your collective that I teach, we ask: What is really going on?
Human beings are structured to
soul destiny. What archetypal stories am I enacting in my
experience all of this bodily. We feel it. Like an
You begin this process by dropping life?” Generally, we come to realize that we
actor inhabiting a character, we feel our way
down into whatever it is that glows in your bone have been living out some pretty unproductive
into our role in the archetypal story we are
marrow, and asking from the heart, and from the stories, stories that limit us, based on limiting
actually living. This resonates within us at
very depth of your being, for help with aligning beliefs we hold about ourselves and the world
multiple levels. It draws on a wide range of
you to your soul, to help you learn to hear its we are in. And we make new choices. As Rumi
hidden abilities by reverse-engineering the
voice. Knowing that you cannot come to know said, “Don’t be satisfied with stories of how
neurological cues that trigger higher capacities
its unique contours simply via awakening as things have gone with others. Unfold your own
of the brain, the nervous system, and our wholeness or the aliveness of pure awareness myth.” (Continued on Page 53)
biochemistry. Without naively believing in the