I wanted to commemorate ten years of counseling as of tomorrow (December 1, 2021), this comprised of leading groups for adults with severe and persistent illnesses for three years, one year combined of helping others in internship and practicum at universities, as well as six years now of private practice work, helping adults of all identities with their concerns.

What do I do, are my specialties, where am I at in terms of my evolution as a counselor?

I sometimes in fun say I follow the theory of the two Carls: Carl Rogers and Carl Jung.

I am first and foremost an empathetic counselor, putting my energy into understanding whomever I am helping in a way that simply desires the best for that person, however that may look, whatever that may be, knowing this may change over time and take different pathways to arrive there.

For Carl Jung, the above being the cornerstone of Carl Rogers' approach, called Rogerian counseling--Carl Jung believed in the healing ability of the psyche, as do I, as it helps us to know what we need to for being more whole as a person, bringing to our attention those areas we have neglected, allowing them to come to the surface of our awareness when we least expect them, so we can work on this material, however unpleasant the process or these areas may be at times.

For helping others with trauma I make use of the very Rogerian Narrative Exposure Therapy.  Making a more complete memory of what happened through this approach helps us to make sense of what transpired, providing more understanding and peace as well, in the context of our entire life.  This approach becomes an intense but powerful experience of reliving memories in a more understanding way, with more peace resulting as well.

It just works.

I enjoy leading others in meditation also, giving them access to that place underneath any moment, which becomes an experience of peace and well-being, available more and more as we continue to go there and do this on a regular basis.

That sums up my main and what could be considered more traditional approaches to helping others.  Adding to this now I would say are the evolutionary extensions of these approaches.

When I speak about the sacred feminine in person or on this site, I am in some ways talking about the cultural material and area and related areas I feel we all are needing to or do finally look at, what the collective sense of ourselves needs to be aware of to be more whole, the balance to the learned and ingrained ways of production and success and goals, the driving treadmill of life that never seems to stop or allow ourselves our humanity.

When I first expressed the sacred feminine on the site, the emphasis was and still is in some ways on the just being with this love, this love within, the love of the universe, which I truly feel awaits us all, past our conditioning and our concerns.

To actively be with this love, this sense of a universe that loves, as a fundamental way of being, this became the next area to evolve into--how does one live and still abide in this love?

Downtime away from it all, these are moments to find inspiration and guidance in, an opportunity to be with the sacred feminine, the energy represented there.

To do past this, however, once the inspiration is found, this I never want to fall back into the treadmill of life, into any imprisoning ways of being.  As a result, magick, magick becomes an active way of knowing, of gaining the answers, and perhaps, as implied in my approach and messages on here, this becomes a way of actively changing and shaping reality, for our better selves, or in whichever ways one feels led.

Magick, if in no other way, represents the sacred feminine as a more balanced and empowered way of actively living, of actively being and doing in the world, one which does not forsake the wisdom of intuition, that does not forgo our humanity, or lessen ourselves for anyone.

These are the recent additions to my practice, as I continue to enjoy evolving and helping others.

We are the dream, dreaming the dream, and I simply want to help you enjoy yours.

Getting up for the day cannot always be easy, he thought.  After an unknown period of time he was awakening once again, in obvious ways and in ways he had missed for quite some time.

Long stretching of long bones, a big yawn, a ... well, a need to do something about a dry mouth, and a not-too-friendly breath.

Dragon's breath, he thought, absently, banging into this pile, then that pile of books, some toppling.

Opening the curtain--blinding!

Closing them again to be just a chink, just a crack.

In the armour of Smaug? he chuckled within.

Now why am I thinking so much about dragons?

Being a wizard had its pluses, and certainly many minuses, one of them occurring right now: sleeping for Goddess knows how long, then waking up to a largely unknown world, for getting back into the regular every day.

How long had it been, he didn't know.

Squishing and squiggling of somewhat clean water around, blinding again to be spittooning it out into the daylight of the tower window.

Closing the curtain again, sitting down.

Taking stock now of what had occurred, what had he known, what were the lessons to pass on before dying.

Oh, yes, that cannot be fun: to die and sleep and awake again, a new world each time, but, if only for a short life time, it kept up the variety, with centuries in between.

A wizard had its momentary glimpses of infinity, being one.

What lessons can be learned from what I know?

"Lesson One," he wrote in plumed and not-too-ancient ink, having sat down.

On this vellum parchment--cracking of his hip and neck, slight adjustments from side to side--I will begin with myself, what I know for myself, lest I forget my identity after such a long sleep.

"Way of the Wizard

I am a wizard and have F.O.R.C.E.S at my disposal ...

Friend of death
Open to love
Resilient, resonating, responsive

With my staff I have/am

Center of the universe
Entry into mystery
Strength in repose"

The ink blotting a bit and making the bolded letters not as tidy as he would have liked.

Well, should we go into each entry now, these FORCES at my disposal? he wondered, smirking and laughing a bit with this.

Well, no.

I think I shall await this for another day.

Perhaps just a short nap, not too long, then I'll have some mid-morning or perhaps mid-afternoon breakfast.

Yawning.

Then falling gracefully to sleep, folded hands around the parchment, with face, unfortunately, centered firmly on the drying ink.

Oh, to be a wizard.

Copyright © 2021 Mark Newlon. All rights reserved.

(Continued in Darkness and light.)

This post completes the third of three on the topic of an untraceable memory of truth I find to be inside of all of us, as described by Vedanta and as supported by modern science as being possible to be passed down from generation to generation, since time immemorial, and one expression of this ultimate truth we are trying to remember can be called an archetype, those symbolic bits of wisdom, of stories and their characters, as expressed from the beginning of our existence as a human species, universally resonating with all of us, in varying degrees, beacons of knowledge along the way as we remember the ultimate truth, that we are both an expression of the universe and the very universe itself.

Both Vedanta and Carl Jung say we are going towards this larger sense of ourselves as the universe, described by both as the Self but conceived by Jung as more of a guiding ideal of wholeness.

Part one and part two of these posts are linked here:

A memory of truth (part one).

A memory of truth (part two).

If we are trying to remember, whether knowingly or not, that we are the universe itself, and some of our purest expressions as begun and passed down from our beginnings as a species are known as archetypes, and they contain wisdom for us to know and act upon to be whole and more truly ourselves, reclaiming our understanding of ourselves as the universe along the way, then how do we pull all of this together, make this work for us in the modern world, living our lives on this earth?

Briefly, archetypes in a loose sense are to be found in any of the literature, movies, or dramas we can see today, whether made just yesterday or from times of long ago.  When we become inspired by movies, literature, or any play we may be watching, experiencing any of the dramatic arts, or arts in general for that matter, we are potentially being touched by these universal themes, which have had meaning for us since the beginning of our species.  Without being pedantic or teacherly in their ways, they can give us instruction, inspire us, each one of us on our own individual path.  Certainly, there are specific ones which speak to us more than others.  Whether they be about love, dramatic tragedies, or simple but meaningful subjects of escapism playing out before us, archetypes as contained in these expressions do not ever lose their meaning.  Instead I believe, depending on who we are, and what times we are living in, some of these messages may be more relevant for different ones of us individually than others, even carrying more of a message for us as a culture, a continent, or as a global community as a whole, depending on who we are and what we may have been longing to hear collectively, what message we may have forgotten from long ago.

Archetypes, a vast subject, I like to think of them as just symbols that touch each one of us deeply.  Depending on who we are and our particular need at the time, they can provide just that bit of wisdom we are looking for, for guidance, for inspiration, for remembering who we are.

(Not incidentally, dreams are a fervent ground for archetypes to emerge in, and perhaps using the term loosely again, with a related understanding, archetypes as the symbolism of dreams hold true to their sometimes obscure meanings, providing us with the current status of our psyche, an understanding of our deepest thoughts and our truest feelings.)

When we talk about archetypes as guiding us to remember ourselves as whole, and nothing less than an expression of the universe, as the universe itself, we are talking about a pure expression of ourselves from when we first emerged on this earth, back to a time when we were less removed from the source of it all, when our expressions and understandings were closer to this nature, certainly closer than we have been.

Nature, this is what I want to emphasize now, realizing this third and final post in the series may not capture all I want to say, but I want to finish with what is important to share and with what will perhaps do nicely as introductory words to further posts.

When I relate that archetypes are a pure expression of our original nature as human beings, closer to that source we came from, that we are trying to recall as ourselves, as an act of healing, specific archetypes come to mind, as does the very nature of ourselves before and after a glimpse of that ultimate understanding, of ourselves as the very universe.

Magick as a symbol, I have gravitated towards all my life, with its mystery, and of course its magic, the full potential it may hold, and the reality it may unveil--all of this, even more, carries a potent charge in the word "magick," and I have been glad to allow myself to use it here on this site, making it more available in my work.

(For more on this, please feel free to click on the category Magic found on the side of this page or at the bottom of it if you are viewing the mobile device version of this blog.)

Closely related to the idea of magick as an archetype or symbol follows a term which I may lose a few with here, but I had this chiefly in mind when I said archetypes are a pure expression of our original nature:

Pagan.

The history of this word comes from its Latin origins, described as meaning a division of land in the country and those who dwell there also, inferred as being "of the countryside" as well.

Let me be clear in saying this comes to the forefront of my mind when I use the term "pagan," but I also embrace the truth of those practices which people today call Paganism, some expression of which people certainly followed in their original forms back when we first emerged on the earth.

You have an honoring of mystery, of the unknown, you have a way of instructing through story and myth, if you will, in their practices; you have an honoring of the cycles of nature, of life and death, of the cycles of human life on this earth.

What more can we claim both uniquely and fundamentally as a species than our own way of living which honors these cycles of life, of the earth itself and our own precious seasons, practices best described perhaps as those of the country, or pagan?

I know there may be a lot to wade through to get to what I call the truth of Paganism, but I would simply point to overarching myths and stories that come up around it, which are found within it, for the archetypal contents they contain, which may speak to each one of us, including yourself, quite sincerely.

Do stories as a child or dreams from then, for idyllic pastures or sun-drenched meadows, for woodland creatures or faery folk who are friendly, do these bring to mind any feelings or emotional bonds remembered, from when you were younger, perhaps touching deeply similar feelings in you now?

I am speaking of wizards, and of witches, of magic, and of knights of round tables--these could easily be traded for genies and for desert plains, for sun-beaten sands and magic lanterns.

Choose a memory of stories you treasured from when you were younger, of lands you wished you had seen or maybe have since, and these are the powerful contents of archetypes, with their stories and their characters.  I feel strongly that ours of the West (being not opposed to those of distant lands either) hold the keys to unlocking how it feels to live and implement a life of how we perhaps first did, as a pure expression of ourselves more complete and whole, as we climb the stairs and peek in the tower, as we ascend aloft in our dreams of nightly flying, as we reach the end of our winding maze or staircase, and we find the center of a secret garden, a paradise awaiting us, with everything we could possibly imagine--and yet, it is unlike anything we have experienced before.

It is our very Self.

Ineffable, a Mystery.

At least right now it is.

When we touch on these moments, when we get a glimpse of our very Self, we are changed--time stops and does not exist for us; our sense of self becomes thinned and distant.

​But there is bliss.

​(For more on this, please see the post: Mysticism, sacrifice, and power.)

I do think modern Paganism becomes rich in its guiding archetypal contents, as we try and remember and know the way, back to ourselves at the beginning of our universe: a pure expression of us from a land we had once forgotten.

After this post I plan to share one more to complete this set of three, on the topic of the memory of truth I feel, and understand from Vedanta, as being within all of us.  Please see the first post in this series for more on this, or please click here to see this post: A memory of truth (part one).

I ended last time with sharing how I felt as a human species there is an untraceable memory of truth within us, as shared by Vedanta and as implied as being possible from modern science's understanding of how memory can be passed from one generation to the next through one's genes or DNA, this truth being that we are nothing less than the universe itself, as an expression of it.

Vedanta does prescribe methods for reaching this understanding, for bringing back to mind this recollection of our ultimate sense of Self, which ties in with Carl Jung's idea of what we are trying to do psychologically and wholly as humans, which I will reference again shortly.  We are trying, whether consciously or not, to bring back our ultimate understanding, that we are not each of us a smaller sense of self but Self, another designation for that ultimate understanding, which could be given a name or label of any kind, whatever feels appropriate and designates the meaning for you.

Vedanta prescribes four methods for reaching this understanding, really a combination, depending on your temperament and your sense of self.  Without going into them here, I will relate how many major religions have these approaches within them.  (Please feel free to see the local Vedanta Society's website for more information: Vedanta Society of Kansas City.)

Carl Jung, the psychologist who pioneered many ideas of the psyche or mind which we still use today, put forth his theory of archetypes, variably defined or explained in his works as being templates for action or knowledge, wisdom we can make use of, or ignore at our own expense.  He said they were universal symbols, of stories and their characters essentially, and they were instructive and resonated for us as a human species, being passed down from time immemorial.

Because they are found within us, in our psyches, it does not become hard to link Jung's theories of archetypes, these universal symbols of stories and their characters, to the modern theory of passing down memories genetically from generation to generation.  Conceivably, if you take time as a linear concept, and here is where I think Jung may not speak too much of this, the first creations, the first fruits of them, if you will, back whenever one may conceive of humans as first existing, closer to the dawn of creation, period, whenever or however close to that time period these first humans lived, these stories of theirs, their theories and principles, their artistic creations and expressions--I do believe Jung argued that this is when these universal symbols first developed and emerged, back at the dawn of humankind's creation, or whenever we first emerged from evolution--my theory is that due to the time period in which these stories and their characters emerged, with a universal sense of them stemming from then, this allows archetypes to be conceived of as being closer to a pure representation of and from that dawn of creation and its source, certainly a time period when the universe itself began.

If you want to believe in archetypes and believe in them as another method or way to reach that memory of truth, of who we are as put forth by Vedanta, nothing less than an expression of and the very universe itself, then I think archetypes, if conceived of as being a purer expression of that source, with the accompanying strength of resonance for us that they have, by their very proximity to when humans first emerged, being closer to when the universe itself began, certainly closer than we are today, these archetypes, or universal symbols of stories and their characters, hold the key to unlocking the memory of who we are, where we came from, and where we are going.

How could they not resonate within us at a deeper level, calling to mind a time when we first knew and walked and learned?  How could they not hold deeper truths within them that may be buried beneath the thoughts of today, removed so far from when we were perhaps more ourselves and more natural, more closer to the source, in time and in our own pureness of creation?

Jung designated our understanding of wholeness as "Self," perhaps knowingly borrowing from Vedanta in this case, his perceived goal towards which we are all going.

If archetypes are a way to resonate with a deeper level of knowledge, of knowing, which can guide us with wisdom, provide us with instruction that we have always needed and known, then adding to this would be the needed understanding of how archetypes may arise within us or speak to us from outside of ourselves.  Depending on who we are and where we are on our path in life, different symbols or depictions of archetypes may be needed for us to know.

They all lead to that ultimate knowledge of understanding--by their very nature, they are closer to when we more purely knew what was known, back when we first emerged, closer to when time itself began, and the universe began to unfold.

If I were to bring together all of my knowledge and understanding as a person and as someone who helps others in their healing, what may emerge may just be beginning to be glimpsed in this post.

No more than science can prove the existence or non-existence of any universal beginning to all things, neither can anyone ever hope to achieve this.

I will trust when I share understandings I learned, dated from thousands of years ago, trust that what I have felt and resonated with as true from this knowledge, that this knowledge does speak the truth of what it shares, and trust it may resonate with you as it has for me.

I know there has been talk of generationally passing down knowledge through one's genes and DNA.  I think there is validity to this.

Likewise, this knowledge of truth from thousands of years ago, from India, I believe as well.  It helps lead to a conclusion I find to be a culmination of what I know.

Vedanta as put forth by the Ramakrishna Order or the Vedanta Societies as they are known here in the West, this knowledge, dated to be thousands of years old, I believe with everything I know to be at the heart of any ultimate understanding, or understanding of beginnings or endings, even what meaning we are searching for as we walk this earth.

Vedanta shares how we are really trying to remember who we are, and in the ultimate sense Vedanta says we are that which we are seeking, this meaning, this ultimate understanding--call it God or Goddess, the universe, any name or label or designation that could be thought of as appropriate--as Vedanta says: "Tat Tvam Asi."  That thou art.

When you add to this the understanding from Vedanta that we are all moving towards this recollection or understanding, and all that it implies, you may give a nod to modern science in the idea that we have as a species passed on a knowledge of this, this ultimate understanding, and it takes the right environment, grace, or circumstance (or happenstance), what have you, to help bring about this recollection.

We have an untraceable memory of truth within us, and all healing, all things, derive from this truth, as we are trying to remember, as we are living our lives on this earth.