After this post, I will move on to other subjects. But to end this particular series of posts on Sacred Contracts, I will list the archetypes in my natal chart, and the houses they are in:
1. Saboteur
2. Magical Child
3. Seeker
4. Dilettante
5. Mediator
6. Healer
7. Warrior
8. Victim
9. Prostitute
10. Lover
11. Hermit
12. Writer
Each house is associated with the same themes as the astrological houses. So, for example, the seventh house is associated with relationships. This is where my Warrior archetype landed. At first this bothered me, then it greatly intrigued me. I needed to consider how this Warrior energy plays out in my relationships, and I needed to look beyond the first association that came to mind: "Love is a Battlefield"!
There has certainly been plenty of that in my relationships, but there is more to all of the archetypes than the literal meanings. They are, by definition, symbols, and need to be understood symbolically (although a certain amount of obvious literal energy does manifest). In this case, the Warrior is the archetype in my chart with the most "male" energy. That is certainly welcome in my relationship house. The Warrior requires me to fulfill the active principle in my relationships, meaning that I frequently must be the initiator in my relationship dynamics. Also, the Warrior is committed to his cause and has a huge amount of loyalty. Perfect for a committed partnership!
These are just some of the meanings I can read into this configuration, and there are eleven other archetype-house energies to integrate in the same way. Furthermore, as in astrology, the energy in each of the houses interacts with the energy in other houses. I am awed by the enormity of the Sacred Contracts natal chart, and the huge themes it highlights in each persons life.
Showing posts with label Sacred Contracts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sacred Contracts. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
More on Sacred Contracts
I have been writing about my personal experience with Sacred Contracts, a system developed by Caroline Myss. Yesterday I wrote about how I selected my archetypes, and how the Sacred Contracts Consultant I was working with then affirmed those selections by using a pendulum. We actually went back and forth several times with ideas and suggestions, and did not finalize all of them until we met face-to-face.
When we met and settled on the 12th and final archetype for my chart, we then used Caroline's process for determining which archetypes go into which of the 12 houses on the chart. This amounts to clearing your mind, setting your intent that the archetypes go to their true houses, then sorting them in a seemingly random way with cards designated 1 through 12. When I first read about this process several years ago in Sacred Contracts, I had a lot of resistance to the notion that this could truly lead to one's precise natal chart of archetypes. I felt rather disillusioned with the whole process, and more or less walked away from it. I have now reconsidered that position, based on Caroline's explanation that doing this critical process in what seems to be an irrational way is precisely the point - we need to bypass our conscious ego mind, which would interfere with the process and arrange these sacred assignments in a way that would feel rational and safe.
The results were surprising, but also surprisingly sensible. I wrote yesterday about one of the archetypes I chose, The Warrior. I was initially reluctant to choose this archetype because I could not see how it applied to my life, but eventually acknowledged that it should be one of the twelve. Well, this archetype landed in my 7th house, which is the house of relationships and partnerships. I immediately realized why I had some resistance to choosing this archetype, since I had not considered that The Warrior might be active in my relationships - especially so since my relationship could really use more Warrior energy.
When we met and settled on the 12th and final archetype for my chart, we then used Caroline's process for determining which archetypes go into which of the 12 houses on the chart. This amounts to clearing your mind, setting your intent that the archetypes go to their true houses, then sorting them in a seemingly random way with cards designated 1 through 12. When I first read about this process several years ago in Sacred Contracts, I had a lot of resistance to the notion that this could truly lead to one's precise natal chart of archetypes. I felt rather disillusioned with the whole process, and more or less walked away from it. I have now reconsidered that position, based on Caroline's explanation that doing this critical process in what seems to be an irrational way is precisely the point - we need to bypass our conscious ego mind, which would interfere with the process and arrange these sacred assignments in a way that would feel rational and safe.
The results were surprising, but also surprisingly sensible. I wrote yesterday about one of the archetypes I chose, The Warrior. I was initially reluctant to choose this archetype because I could not see how it applied to my life, but eventually acknowledged that it should be one of the twelve. Well, this archetype landed in my 7th house, which is the house of relationships and partnerships. I immediately realized why I had some resistance to choosing this archetype, since I had not considered that The Warrior might be active in my relationships - especially so since my relationship could really use more Warrior energy.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Sacred Contracts - Choosing Archetypes
Yesterday I wrote about the basic concepts behind the Sacred Contracts system authored by Caroline Myss. Today I'll write a little bit about my own experience selecting my archetypes. To do this, I followed the guidelines in the book and on the website. Although some of my archetypes were immediately obvious, it was difficult to come up with eight (in addition to the basic four that everyone has). It took several passes through the descriptions of the archetypes, and a lot of contemplation on which ones might apply to my life, and why.
When I started this process, I decided I wanted to work with one of the "Sacred Contract Consultants" that are listed on Caroline's website. These people have undertaken an extensive program of study at Caroline's CMED Institute, and I liked the idea of working with an expert on this project. I was already familiar with the book, and my first thought was that I would cast my own archetype chart, and then meet with the consultant to help me with insights on my particular combination of archetypes and houses. When I discussed this with her, however, she recommended that we work together even on the selection of archetypes, because often we have archetypes in our Contract that we don't really want to see or deal with. This immediately made sense to me, since I was already having difficulty coming up with eight.
What happened next may be a turn-off to some people, but I thought it was exciting. I emailed my list of archetypes, along with a few possible alternatives, to the consultant. She analyzed all of them, using a pendulum to determine their energy level in association with me. I didn't know she was going to do this, and at first I bristled at the archetypes that she rejected from my list based on her work with the pendulum. However, I decided to go with it.
What was also interesting is that she suggested an archetype back to me (The Warrior) that I had not considered. The pendulum showed a lot of energy with me and this archetype. At first I resisted the suggestion, but it is actually one I really like. I just didn't see how it applied to my own life pattern. Later, I unexpectedly came across some notes I had written 6 years ago when I first read Sacred Contracts, and I found that I had chosen The Warrior for myself back then! I had even written out my thoughts on why. It was a striking synchronicity. There were several other synchronous moments during the process, which I will continue to write about.
When I started this process, I decided I wanted to work with one of the "Sacred Contract Consultants" that are listed on Caroline's website. These people have undertaken an extensive program of study at Caroline's CMED Institute, and I liked the idea of working with an expert on this project. I was already familiar with the book, and my first thought was that I would cast my own archetype chart, and then meet with the consultant to help me with insights on my particular combination of archetypes and houses. When I discussed this with her, however, she recommended that we work together even on the selection of archetypes, because often we have archetypes in our Contract that we don't really want to see or deal with. This immediately made sense to me, since I was already having difficulty coming up with eight.
What happened next may be a turn-off to some people, but I thought it was exciting. I emailed my list of archetypes, along with a few possible alternatives, to the consultant. She analyzed all of them, using a pendulum to determine their energy level in association with me. I didn't know she was going to do this, and at first I bristled at the archetypes that she rejected from my list based on her work with the pendulum. However, I decided to go with it.
What was also interesting is that she suggested an archetype back to me (The Warrior) that I had not considered. The pendulum showed a lot of energy with me and this archetype. At first I resisted the suggestion, but it is actually one I really like. I just didn't see how it applied to my own life pattern. Later, I unexpectedly came across some notes I had written 6 years ago when I first read Sacred Contracts, and I found that I had chosen The Warrior for myself back then! I had even written out my thoughts on why. It was a striking synchronicity. There were several other synchronous moments during the process, which I will continue to write about.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Sacred Contracts
As I've mentioned previously, I am a huge fan of Caroline Myss. For the past few months I have been working with her most recent book, Entering The Castle, and it has been an incredible experience. But a few weeks ago I took a detour back into her Sacred Contracts program, which I started working with 5 years ago but then put it aside before I had completed it. This too is a phenomenal system.The focus of Sacred Contracts is on establishing your own personal archetypal wheel, which is based on agreements you made before you were born. According to Caroline, nothing in life is random - including the moment of your birth. This shares a similar philosophy with astrology, and indeed the wheel that Caroline uses as the template for the archetype chart is the same 12 house wheel used in an astrological chart. However, with the archetype wheel, each house is populated by an archetype rather than astrological signs and planets.
According to Caroline, every person has four fundamental archetypes in their chart: The Child, The Victim, The Prostitute, and The Saboteur. To complete the chart, a person must study and evaluate any number of other possible archetypes, based on their own life experience. To help with this, in the book Caroline has outlined descriptions of many archetypes, and these descriptions also appear on her website. She has also created a deck of archetype cards that are useful during the process of selecting your archetypes.Once you have figured out your 8 archetypes, in addition to the basic 4, you are ready to cast your archetype chart. All of this is explained both in the book and on the website. When you have completed your chart, you are then able to analyze it to gain incredible insights on your life path. I'll be writing more about my experience with this process.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Caroline Myss and the Shadow
Although I'm a huge fan of Caroline Myss (see yesterday's post), like everyone else she too has an apparent shadow side. I first observed this a few weeks ago at the conference I attended to hear her speak (I Can Do It! - Tampa). I was fascinated by what she was saying, but her lecture had a definite edge to it. For example, she said to the group, "Your mother and father didn't love you? So what? I don't care that your mother and father didn't love you!" Her point was that people need to get themselves out of their self-pity and self-focus, but she can come across as a bit harsh despite this important message.
Immediately following the lecture, I heard two women talking outside. One had attended the lecture, and the other hadn't. The woman who attended was telling her friend that she "felt like she was in church" and noted the fire-and-brimstone flavor of the talk. I chuckled to myself because I could relate, yet still I found Caroline's message to be ultimately important and affirming. When I later described the workshop to my partner, I said it had an SM quality to it. At times, Caroline seemed angry and punishing, but then she would soften the tone and say the most exquisitely loving things to the audience.
Later that evening, I attended Doreen Virtue's keynote workshop, open to the entire conference. She is a warm, delightful speaker with a great sense of humor (you can hear her on her internet radio show at Hay House Radio). Like Caroline, she is an intuitive, but Doreen works with the angel realm. Caroline is a medical intuitive, and also senses the archetypal patterns in people, so you would expect a reading given by these two women to take rather different approaches.
Well, these approaches completely clashed later in the evening. There were hundreds of people in the audience, most of whom wanted Doreen to do a reading for them. It is fascinating to see Doreen do a reading, because with little or no information she is able to talk to a randomly chosen audience member with complete ease and accuracy. One of the last people to be chosen for a reading was a woman from Brazil. She was a massage therapist, and said that she had a life-long dream of being a healer. Immediately Doreen confirmed that the angels supported her in that path, and that she was meant to be a healer. The woman looked relieved, yet also frustrated. She said that earlier in the day she had told Caroline Myss about her desire to be a healer, and Caroline bluntly replied that she did not see the healer archetype in her "at all." Direct contradiction between two great intuitives! Perhaps there is a way to reconcile these two readings, but nevertheless the incident was rather jarring.
When I returned home from the conference, I told my partner how much I had enjoyed hearing Caroline Myss speak. He dug out the Sacred Contracts 5 CD set he bought several years ago, and I listened to them for the first time. It is an excellent set, and I highly recommend it along with the book Sacred Contracts. Since I enjoyed the CDs so much, I looked at the Amazon reviews for her Entering the Castle 9 CD set. I was somewhat surprised to see that several Amazon reviewers rated the set with only 1 star out of a possible 5. However, when I started reading the reviews, I realized that many of the reviewers were complaining about the same harsh tone I had a taste of at the conference (although from the reviews, it sounds like the CDs are worse).
Regardless, I still plan to listen to the Entering the Castle CDs after I've worked with the book for a while longer. If her tone on the CDs is anything like her tone at the conference, it is clear to me that many people are far too quick to take offense. What I witnessed at Caroline's lecture was a woman who is an incredible visionary. She speaks with tremendous passion, and a conviction that what she is saying is useful, relevant, and important to every person in the audience. She is not trying to get people to like her, or even to buy her products. She is saying what she believes, and she is not sugar-coating anything. I found her candor and honesty impressive. And what she is talking about is far beyond programs like "The Secret" or other programs designed for getting what you want (or what you think you want). She addresses the very highest levels of spiritual practice and possibility, and she pushes her audiences to meet her at that level. I love her for that.
Immediately following the lecture, I heard two women talking outside. One had attended the lecture, and the other hadn't. The woman who attended was telling her friend that she "felt like she was in church" and noted the fire-and-brimstone flavor of the talk. I chuckled to myself because I could relate, yet still I found Caroline's message to be ultimately important and affirming. When I later described the workshop to my partner, I said it had an SM quality to it. At times, Caroline seemed angry and punishing, but then she would soften the tone and say the most exquisitely loving things to the audience.
Later that evening, I attended Doreen Virtue's keynote workshop, open to the entire conference. She is a warm, delightful speaker with a great sense of humor (you can hear her on her internet radio show at Hay House Radio). Like Caroline, she is an intuitive, but Doreen works with the angel realm. Caroline is a medical intuitive, and also senses the archetypal patterns in people, so you would expect a reading given by these two women to take rather different approaches.
Well, these approaches completely clashed later in the evening. There were hundreds of people in the audience, most of whom wanted Doreen to do a reading for them. It is fascinating to see Doreen do a reading, because with little or no information she is able to talk to a randomly chosen audience member with complete ease and accuracy. One of the last people to be chosen for a reading was a woman from Brazil. She was a massage therapist, and said that she had a life-long dream of being a healer. Immediately Doreen confirmed that the angels supported her in that path, and that she was meant to be a healer. The woman looked relieved, yet also frustrated. She said that earlier in the day she had told Caroline Myss about her desire to be a healer, and Caroline bluntly replied that she did not see the healer archetype in her "at all." Direct contradiction between two great intuitives! Perhaps there is a way to reconcile these two readings, but nevertheless the incident was rather jarring.
When I returned home from the conference, I told my partner how much I had enjoyed hearing Caroline Myss speak. He dug out the Sacred Contracts 5 CD set he bought several years ago, and I listened to them for the first time. It is an excellent set, and I highly recommend it along with the book Sacred Contracts. Since I enjoyed the CDs so much, I looked at the Amazon reviews for her Entering the Castle 9 CD set. I was somewhat surprised to see that several Amazon reviewers rated the set with only 1 star out of a possible 5. However, when I started reading the reviews, I realized that many of the reviewers were complaining about the same harsh tone I had a taste of at the conference (although from the reviews, it sounds like the CDs are worse).Regardless, I still plan to listen to the Entering the Castle CDs after I've worked with the book for a while longer. If her tone on the CDs is anything like her tone at the conference, it is clear to me that many people are far too quick to take offense. What I witnessed at Caroline's lecture was a woman who is an incredible visionary. She speaks with tremendous passion, and a conviction that what she is saying is useful, relevant, and important to every person in the audience. She is not trying to get people to like her, or even to buy her products. She is saying what she believes, and she is not sugar-coating anything. I found her candor and honesty impressive. And what she is talking about is far beyond programs like "The Secret" or other programs designed for getting what you want (or what you think you want). She addresses the very highest levels of spiritual practice and possibility, and she pushes her audiences to meet her at that level. I love her for that.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Caroline Myss
Caroline Myss is exceptionally gifted. She is a medical intuitive, author of several excellent books, and a captivating speaker. I first heard her speak over 20 years ago, when I was a freshman at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst). I was taking a class called Biology of Cancer (soon to be called Biology of Cancer and AIDS) with Professor Albey Reiner, a life-changing class for me. Professor Reiner presented both the scientific underpinnings of cancer, its causes, and its treatment, as well as perspectives from alternative health (a little more about him and the class here). One of the speakers he invited to the class was Caroline Myss, who at that point had only co-written a book called The Creation of Health. The day she spoke to the class I was spellbound, and immediately became a life-long fan. At the time I obviously had no idea how big she was to become in the New Age world.
Almost 15 years after I first heard her speak, I was in New York on a business trip. I was feeling dissatisfied with my job and my life, and was browsing in a small bookstore in SoHo, when I picked up her book Anatomy of the Spirit. I went back to my hotel room and started reading, and it blew my mind. The next day I finished the book on the plane, and the following day I walked into my boss's office and quit. A few months later I moved to Los Angeles, and for the next two years steered my life in an infinitely better direction. I am so grateful to Caroline for the inspiration this book gave me.
Since then I read two more of her books, Why People Don't Heal and How They Can, and Sacred Contracts. I couldn't get through all of Sacred Contracts, and put Caroline out of my mind for a few years. Then, about 3 months ago, I was again browsing through a book store and this time I picked up her latest book, Entering the Castle. After reading the first few pages, I decided to approach this book as a workbook, doing all of the exercises she recommends without reading ahead. Again, as a result of this woman's influence, my life is undergoing a huge shift.
I'll write more about Caroline Myss and my experiences with her books. In the meantime, I highly recommend any of her books, audio, video, and/or workshops. She also has a great website with lots of free content.
Almost 15 years after I first heard her speak, I was in New York on a business trip. I was feeling dissatisfied with my job and my life, and was browsing in a small bookstore in SoHo, when I picked up her book Anatomy of the Spirit. I went back to my hotel room and started reading, and it blew my mind. The next day I finished the book on the plane, and the following day I walked into my boss's office and quit. A few months later I moved to Los Angeles, and for the next two years steered my life in an infinitely better direction. I am so grateful to Caroline for the inspiration this book gave me.
Since then I read two more of her books, Why People Don't Heal and How They Can, and Sacred Contracts. I couldn't get through all of Sacred Contracts, and put Caroline out of my mind for a few years. Then, about 3 months ago, I was again browsing through a book store and this time I picked up her latest book, Entering the Castle. After reading the first few pages, I decided to approach this book as a workbook, doing all of the exercises she recommends without reading ahead. Again, as a result of this woman's influence, my life is undergoing a huge shift.I'll write more about Caroline Myss and my experiences with her books. In the meantime, I highly recommend any of her books, audio, video, and/or workshops. She also has a great website with lots of free content.
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