Journaling Through Time
“It’s time”, she whispered in my ear. “It’s time to bring the messages forward into the present by perusing notes from the past”.
What? I squinted my skeptical, scrunched eyes at the veiled woman in my usual judging-mind fashion, while nodding my head in spatial-mind/intuitive agreement.
“OK, whatever you say, oh, Wise One!”
Fatima was let out of the bag today, so to speak, appearing to me during an exercise at a Jungian workshop on “Using Messages from the Unconscious”. We were asked to identify a life decision that we would like guidance on and engage in a dialogue with an ensuing figure. Hello, Fatima, my personal genie! In researching her and watching the hairs on my arms stand up, it looks like I’ve conjured up Muhammad’s daughter, who is referred to by the Shi’i as “The Virgin” and “The Mother of the two Jesuses!” And then there is Fatima, Portugal, where three children in 1917 began having visions of the Virgin Mary and where Christian pilgrims have flocked to ever since! So, we have Fatima in Mecca and the Virgin Mary in Fatima!
Oh, sweet grace, this is a wonderful example of Jung’s concept of ‘synchronicity’ “being the experience of two or more occurrences (beyond coincidence) in a manner that is logically meaningful, but inexplicable, to the person or persons experiencing them. Such events would also have to suggest an underlying pattern in order to satisfy the definition of synchronicity as developed by Jung.”
The pattern for me would be receiving assistance from and connecting more intimately with the feminine spirit, and who better to arise than two revered virgins from two major religious groups. My first image of Fatima was more of the belly-dancing, genie-out-of-the-bottle magician type. Now we’ve got the virgin-seductress-magician. What a fabulous trinity!
Having recovered from getting my mind blown, my quest and request of Fatima is how to deepen my creative life, which certainly coincides with my spiritual life, and to be open to something not yet visible. The veiled feminine that appeared is a rich, numinous image for my bringing forth years of private journal writings and essentially unveiling the pearls of the greater Self. Jung refers to the “big” Self, as opposed to the little “ego self”, as “the instigator in the process of individuation, embracing the whole of psychic totality, incorporating conscious and unconscious, the archetype of wholeness.”
As for archetypes, here are some interpreations that I gleaned from the web:
"The word 'archetype' was coined by Carl Jung, who theorized that humans have a collective unconscious, deposits of the constantly repeated experiences of humanity.... a kind of readiness to reproduce over and over again the same or similar mythical ideas.... This shared memory of experiences has resulted in a resonance of the concepts of hero and heroine that transcends time, place and culture. Jung called these recurring personalities archetypes, from the Greek word archetypes, meaning 'first of its kind'."
"Where do the archetypes come from? In his earlier work, Jung tried to link the archetypes to heredity and regarded them as instinctual. We are born with these patterns which structure our imagination and make it distinctly human. Archetypes are thus very closely linked to our bodies. In his later work, Jung was convinced that the archetypes are psychoid, that is, 'they shape matter (nature) as well as mind (psyche)' (Houston Smith, Forgotten Truth, 40). In other words, archetypes are elemental forces which play a vital role in the creation of the world and of the human mind itself."
In another exercise we were asked to select the life role or persona/archetype that we highly identify with. As a practitioner of Chinese medicine, I identify with the role of Healer/Guide. In my mind this persona/archetype is flexible, accepting, compassionate, passionate, a good listener, an animated teacher, sharer and space-holder of intimacies, finds comfort in paradox, encourages and empowers others in lightening their burdens and finding humor and empathy with the inevitable human condition of suffering.
I also identify with the Rebel/Sage who is a wise rascal, funny, philosophical, inquiring, imaginative, independent, introverted but can work the crowd, advocate of peace, questions authority, abhors status quo and injustice.
The shadow side of the above, and maybe more in line with the Rebel, is that I can be critical, cynical, inflexible, righteous, judgmental, intolerant of intolerance, unforgiving of stupidity, suspicious of any organization, and a general snob.
Ain't being human fun?
On the webpage where I found “Fatima—Miracles and Prophecy”, I was captivated by this quote:
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is".
—Albert Einstein
Thank you, Albert! I’ll take the latter.
Another synchroncity was that three people named 'Stone' came together in the workshop today. So here begins (or continues) the everyday miraculous life and dreamscape of Linda Joy Stone whose last name is derived from "Stenberg" and the Swedish translation—“One who comes from Stone Mountain”.
Stay tuned for "Journaling Through Time's" first installment: I. Seven Years in the Desert and Introduction to the Notebook.
What? I squinted my skeptical, scrunched eyes at the veiled woman in my usual judging-mind fashion, while nodding my head in spatial-mind/intuitive agreement.
“OK, whatever you say, oh, Wise One!”
Fatima was let out of the bag today, so to speak, appearing to me during an exercise at a Jungian workshop on “Using Messages from the Unconscious”. We were asked to identify a life decision that we would like guidance on and engage in a dialogue with an ensuing figure. Hello, Fatima, my personal genie! In researching her and watching the hairs on my arms stand up, it looks like I’ve conjured up Muhammad’s daughter, who is referred to by the Shi’i as “The Virgin” and “The Mother of the two Jesuses!” And then there is Fatima, Portugal, where three children in 1917 began having visions of the Virgin Mary and where Christian pilgrims have flocked to ever since! So, we have Fatima in Mecca and the Virgin Mary in Fatima!
Oh, sweet grace, this is a wonderful example of Jung’s concept of ‘synchronicity’ “being the experience of two or more occurrences (beyond coincidence) in a manner that is logically meaningful, but inexplicable, to the person or persons experiencing them. Such events would also have to suggest an underlying pattern in order to satisfy the definition of synchronicity as developed by Jung.”
The pattern for me would be receiving assistance from and connecting more intimately with the feminine spirit, and who better to arise than two revered virgins from two major religious groups. My first image of Fatima was more of the belly-dancing, genie-out-of-the-bottle magician type. Now we’ve got the virgin-seductress-magician. What a fabulous trinity!
Having recovered from getting my mind blown, my quest and request of Fatima is how to deepen my creative life, which certainly coincides with my spiritual life, and to be open to something not yet visible. The veiled feminine that appeared is a rich, numinous image for my bringing forth years of private journal writings and essentially unveiling the pearls of the greater Self. Jung refers to the “big” Self, as opposed to the little “ego self”, as “the instigator in the process of individuation, embracing the whole of psychic totality, incorporating conscious and unconscious, the archetype of wholeness.”
As for archetypes, here are some interpreations that I gleaned from the web:
"The word 'archetype' was coined by Carl Jung, who theorized that humans have a collective unconscious, deposits of the constantly repeated experiences of humanity.... a kind of readiness to reproduce over and over again the same or similar mythical ideas.... This shared memory of experiences has resulted in a resonance of the concepts of hero and heroine that transcends time, place and culture. Jung called these recurring personalities archetypes, from the Greek word archetypes, meaning 'first of its kind'."
"Where do the archetypes come from? In his earlier work, Jung tried to link the archetypes to heredity and regarded them as instinctual. We are born with these patterns which structure our imagination and make it distinctly human. Archetypes are thus very closely linked to our bodies. In his later work, Jung was convinced that the archetypes are psychoid, that is, 'they shape matter (nature) as well as mind (psyche)' (Houston Smith, Forgotten Truth, 40). In other words, archetypes are elemental forces which play a vital role in the creation of the world and of the human mind itself."
In another exercise we were asked to select the life role or persona/archetype that we highly identify with. As a practitioner of Chinese medicine, I identify with the role of Healer/Guide. In my mind this persona/archetype is flexible, accepting, compassionate, passionate, a good listener, an animated teacher, sharer and space-holder of intimacies, finds comfort in paradox, encourages and empowers others in lightening their burdens and finding humor and empathy with the inevitable human condition of suffering.
I also identify with the Rebel/Sage who is a wise rascal, funny, philosophical, inquiring, imaginative, independent, introverted but can work the crowd, advocate of peace, questions authority, abhors status quo and injustice.
The shadow side of the above, and maybe more in line with the Rebel, is that I can be critical, cynical, inflexible, righteous, judgmental, intolerant of intolerance, unforgiving of stupidity, suspicious of any organization, and a general snob.
Ain't being human fun?
On the webpage where I found “Fatima—Miracles and Prophecy”, I was captivated by this quote:
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is".
—Albert Einstein
Thank you, Albert! I’ll take the latter.
Another synchroncity was that three people named 'Stone' came together in the workshop today. So here begins (or continues) the everyday miraculous life and dreamscape of Linda Joy Stone whose last name is derived from "Stenberg" and the Swedish translation—“One who comes from Stone Mountain”.
Stay tuned for "Journaling Through Time's" first installment: I. Seven Years in the Desert and Introduction to the Notebook.
Comments