THE MYTHIC BODY Activate the Power of Your Authentic Self by Jamie Rosanna Dorig
Copyright 2012 by Jamie Rosanna Dorig This excerpt of The Mythic Body is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please forward a link to TheMythicBody.com. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Table Of Contents Acknowledgement Preface Introduction PART ONE. AN ENCOUNTER WITH SOUL CHAPTER 1: INDIVIDUATION - A Soul Inspired Journey CHAPTER 2: QUALITY OF DIALOGUE - Embracing the Heart of the Matter CHAPTER 3: EXPANSION OF IDENTITY - Our Potential for Transformation CHAPTER 4: EXPERIENCE OF MEANING - An Intuitive Sense of Knowing PART TWO. AN ARCHETYPICAL JOURNEY CHAPTER 5: ARCHETYPES - The Soul's DNA CHAPTER 6: THE CHILD - Connecting to Our External Power CHAPTER 7: THE HERO - A Leap of Faith CHAPTER 8: THE SAGE - Holding Sacred Ground Conclusion Recommended Reading About the Author Contact Information TRUE SURRENDER
For the bears who did not eat me when I was four, laying on flat rocks off the shores of Lake Superior.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Since we first met in 1984, my husband, John, has stood by my side and contributed, supported, toiled, laughed, and cried with me while we engaged in the process of honouring soul. To say that I could not have written The Mythic Body without him is an understatement. I am happy to express my gratitude for his invaluable contributions to this project. His organizing, text polishing, editing, proof-reading, and book design skills were essential to the completion of The Mythic Body . This book honours the work of Carl Gustav Jung. It was his deep insight into the world of the psyche that confirmed my own soul intuitions when I was a young adult in need of inner guidance and support. I would also like to acknowledge Marie Louise von Franz, James Hillman, Marion Woodman, Robert Bly, Michael Meade, Christiane Northrup, and Caroline Myss. Their influence has encouraged me to activate the power of my authentic self. ~~~
PREFACE
Standing at the edge of a canyon, a four-year-old girl looks to the other side and sees a tall man wearing flowing red robes. He is bigger than life, and his arms are outstretched reaching toward her, beckoning her to jump! The gap is so wide, the distance so great that she cannot believe he wants her to jump. She hesitates. No, she will not jump! He looks at her with soft eyes, and in that look, lets her know that he will always be there. He will wait for her, ready to receive her with open arms should she change her mind. A Gossamer Thread of Destiny A gossamer thread of destiny connects this dream to The Mythic Body – Activate the Power of Your Authentic Self. This thread of destiny extends back from present time to the time of this dream, and it extends forward to the writing of this book. The dream came to me in the middle of the night in 1957, and the thread began to unfold that very morning when, as a fouryear-old child, I found it within myself to commit it to memory. Though I was very young, I remember realizing that the dream was somehow important, and I was determined that I would never forget it. Now, after so many years, I am still in awe of the fact that the content of the dream symbolically captured many of the themes I wish to explore within the pages of this book. After that morning, the thread of destiny continued to unfold through various life events that have always connected me to the world from which dreams originate, the inner world of soul. While I have lived my life since then with relative success, accomplishing the tasks demanded by the external world, it has always been the internal world of the soul that has captivated my interest, my imagination, and my passion. I have always preferred to turn inward when seeking the direction needed to govern my course through life. For more than half a century and as far back as I can remember, I have walked this inner journey and believe it to be of prime importance. Connection to Soul The ancient Greeks used the word psyche when referring to the soul. This book uses both words interchangeably. The Mythic Body is the outcome of a passionate curiosity and a vocational calling that my psyche has impressed upon me since I was very young. It reflects many years spent in trying to unravel the enigmatic ways in which the psyche has manifested itself, both in my life and in the lives of those around me. The Mythic Body is a manifestation of twenty-eight years of working with clients seeking assistance and guidance on their life’s journey. I have tried to meet their needs by helping them establish and grow an essential, necessary connection to soul. In tribal societies, there are people known as shamans or wounded healers, who walk back and forth between worlds. Since engaging in this work of guidance and mentoring for my clients, I have always found it difficult to adopt a label that would be appropriate in describing my calling. I have cringed at times when clients have referred to me as a healer. I find this label to be loaded with misleading implications, especially when considering where true healing originates. After careful consideration, I have reluctantly accepted the label of mentor as a more accurate representation of my work. However, the “canyon dream” previously mentioned did take place in the context of a family environment that was precarious and dangerous for me as a child. Therefore, I sometimes wonder if the term wounded healer may not be a more appropriate label as it does encompass both the sexual wounds I experienced in early childhood, and the ongoing transformational healing that has taken place since then.
~~~ INTRODUCTION You were conceived in a flash of white light. Your amazing entry into this world was marked by an explosion of nitric oxide, ignited when sperm and egg became one. This was the birth of your mythic body. This conception initiated a primeval and mysterious journey that will never be fully unveiled. Your soul’s code was inscribed within the fertilized ovum from which you originated. This code is a destiny still proclaimed within every cell of your body. Psyche’s Story The Mythic Body is an exploration of this journey toward your destiny. It is the telling of the psyche’s story, a metaphorical narrative that uncovers the path that the psyche takes from conception to the full unfolding of an individual’s life. All the twists and turns taken along this path are encoded within the body as a kind of psychic memory. The body and the psyche are one. The purpose of this book is to map the territory of the psyche and to approach the myth or the story of the psyche as told by the body. The Mythic Body is soul remembered. It is a proposed sacred ritual for reconnecting body to soul. It is soul embodied and body impregnated with soul. Exploring the territory of soul is a process that is accessible to everyone. The human body, heart, and mind are wired for such experiences. Since the dawn of human history, our ancestors knew this territory and moved fluently in and out of this realm from a place of instinct, intuition, and imagination. They were comfortable with this sacred process, as it enveloped and assimilated them into the harmony of the natural world. Anyone who has had the experience of standing in awe of the power and beauty of nature or has spent extended periods of time communing with the natural world, understands the ease with which soul can make its presence known in such a pristine environment. Rapport with Soul Surrounded by the peaceful bliss of nature, many of us can sense a soul connection with our ancestors who walked this planet for more than two hundred thousand years. We can intuitively sense how they might have easily drifted in and out of this world of the psyche. It is unlikely, however, that anyone will experience this connection with soul by turning the pages of yet another Psychology 101 textbook. The vision and intention of The Mythic Body is not to report on soul but rather to encourage rapport with soul. It is an invitation to make room for soul, to allow soul to have presence, and to allow soul’s voice to be heard. How does soul manifest itself in your life? What does your mythic body display? What is the myth you are living? We all have a story, a unique personal myth that is perpetually unfolding. The Mythic Body asks that you consider what this unique mythological story might be. It addresses the universal, multi-layered tale expressed in the soul language of imagery and symbol. The Mythic Body is an exploration of your inner life, the life of the psyche. Symbolic Thinking We approach The Mythic Body mostly through symbolic rather than literal thinking. Symbolic thinking is an activity of the mind connected with the right hemisphere of the brain, whereas literal thinking takes place in the left hemisphere. The distinction between the two is important in that we can never hope to fully understand the psyche by way of literal thinking alone, since the psyche’s preferred mode of expression is symbolic imagery. The psyche’s inherent tendency to remain somewhat elusive and ambiguous is a nearly impossible obstacle for the literal-minded to overcome. Through intuition, imagination, and the capacity for symbolic perception, the psyche pulls us into an ocean of imagination and makes itself known.
In order to receive direction from the psyche, we will learn to imagine what the psyche is communicating. We will be encouraged to access the realm of intuitive metaphors by way of myth. This book honours myth as an ancient approach to uncovering and experiencing the deeper mysteries of life. Humanity has relied on this soul practice for most of its existence. It is only in recent history that we have scorned and discarded the way of myth as a viable source of wisdom and knowledge. Science and Religion There was a time not so long ago when people in our Western culture could turn to the dual institutions of science and religion as the main pillars of support in understanding the nature of reality. Modern science now finds little value in the world of myth and symbolic thinking. Likewise, in a quest to appease the scientific obsession with literal truths, many of our older established religions have now stripped their mythologies of symbolic value. With its emphasis on literal interpretations of sacred scriptures, the rise of fundamentalism in many of our world’s religions is an example of this turning away from myth as a passageway to truth. This loss leaves many of us feeling that neither science nor religion can provide us with the spark of mystery necessary to activate our imagination and sustain us with a sacred vision of life. We stand psychically exposed and vulnerable, out in the open in a mundane, materialistic world, unable to find the kind of soul refuge we need in order to face the terrible difficulties of modern life. The demons we thought we had chased away with the power of the rational mind have resurfaced and they have come back to haunt us with a vengeance. We have given them fancy new clinical names like anorexia, paranoia, chronic fatigue, attention deficit disorder, and manic depression. yet tragically, the comprehension of these inner demons still remains elusive to the modern mind. In the meantime, the psyche will not wait for us to acknowledge its presence. one way or another, the psyche’s voice will be heard. It will get our attention either gently through intuitive prompts or with more intensity through disturbances of heart, body, and mind. Symbolic thinking can be a difficult concept for the modern mind to comprehend as we are more comfortable with the world of the literal left-brain. Nevertheless, it is from this deep well of symbolic thinking that we draw the thirst-quenching waters of soul. This change of perceptual thinking must unfold if we are to generate a more expanded vision of life, a vision we intend to explore fully within The Mythic Body. ~~~