The Way of Inner Light

Self-knowing - the Unconscious

‘It is enlightenment to know one's self‘    (Lao Tzu)   

"When one understands self, and self's relation to its Maker, the duty to its neighbor, its own duty to self, it cannot, it will not be false to man, or to its Maker." (Edgar Cayce Reading 3744-5)

Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside awakes.”  (C.G. Jung Letters, Vol. I, p. 33)

(Self portrait, Rembrandt van Rijn)

Most people consider themselves to be very self-aware, and don't give much importance to introspection (examining their thoughts) or self-observation. Nor do they place much store in what others think of them, or try to learn from them.

But really, how well do we know ourselves and why we act as we do? The truth is, not much. Research has repeatedly shown that most of us have only a vague idea, if any, at given time about how we feel, what we really think, or why we act as we do. 

Psychologist Carl Jung confirmed beyond doubt that the human psyche is much more than the ego consciousness that we usually take to be ourselves. The ego consciousness, in fact, is only a small part of the psyche, and most times, it functions automatically: most of our thinking and behaviour is not consciously directed at all, but the result of childhood and social conditioning.

Even deeper is another level of consciousness that exerts an even more powerful influence on our behaviour. Jung called this layer the collective unconscious which carries the biological imprints of our humanity and knowledge of our ancient ancestors. One usually needs some help to access this layer.

Without some understanding of these unconscious influences, the ego personality can be like a small boat on a large sea, tossed, pushed and pulled by forces far beneath the waves, or like a child trying to navigate a world that it hasn't even begun to understand. 

(Art by Ina Szabó at  inaszaboartdesign.com)

Unless we make a conscious effort to know ourselves and why we what we do, we cannot function as autonomous beings in the world. We may think we do, but without the broader perspective and insight of the inner personality, we are tossed in the waves, praying for calm , or we shuffle along thinking and behaving as we have been conditioned to do, stuck in old habits that we hardly even recognise, much less question.

Even when things go wrong and we begin to see that our ‘usual way of being’ doesn’t really work, many just muddle through, doing and thinking the same old things because with the arrogance of the small ego, we think we know ourselves when we don't. 

And overwhelmingly, we are out of touch with our feelings, and what the spirit teacher, Seth, calls our basic feeling-tone and which determines how we see and respond emotionally to our inner and outer experiences.

We do not realise that not only our perceptions but also our emotions are distorted by layers of self-delusion, conditioning and unquestioned beliefs and attitudes. With all that interference, trying to 'hear' the small inner voice of soul is like trying to hear whispers through several thick walls. If we  hear them at all, the messages come through all muffled and distorted. 

For example, I might want love, but through my learned filters of mistrust, resentment, unworthiness or fear, I consciously register suspicion and doubt about love, which can seriously limit my ability to recognise love, give or receive it.

We have to dig deep to know what we're really feeling. But the psyche itself will try to tell us through dreams, intuition, or those soft inner voices. Start by paying attention to these messages from the unconscious. Do not ignore them. Listen to them, acknowledge them somehow, and take note of them. Eventually, you will start to see  a pattern ... 

(image: from aconsciousrethink.com)

Self-knowing takes time, it takes effort and patience, and it requires that very difficult letting go of your self-illusions. You must be willing to know who you are. It might seem intimidating at first, or damn uncomfortable, but be assured, it is worth it. Consciousness that knows Itself is the only thing with the power to change the world. 

 

 

The symbolism of ordinary things

... like my mechanical pencil.

I bought it at a stationary store because I like the fine lines it can produce, and that unlike pencils, which become blunt, it consistently has a fine point. I also like very much that it is not a disposable object - though some might use it that way - only needing lead replacement now and then. I share many good memories with it - capturing spontaneous images and those that emerge in response to certain ideas and thoughts, writing parts of stories that may be - or maybe not - later developed in pen; underlining passages that I want to come back to, marking certain parts with little stars to indicate something I want to try out or do, or doodling little designs, shapes or mandalas as I think or let my mind wander. Over time, we have developed a little system of signs and musings we are very comfortable with each other now.

Lying among books on my table, the pencil reminds me of the pleasures of paper, how a new clean notebook feels achingly beautiful to me, like fresh fallen snow or undisturbed sand, and that exquisite moment when I finally muster the courage to make my first mark. It reminds of me the thousands of notebooks that I have marked that way, with a mix of regret for the purity of the untouched paper and of delight of making those markings, which in themselves mean nothing, lines and curves strung together, yet for me, and those who can read their code, deeply meaningful. Every time, for just a moment, there is a sense of magic, of sacred ritual in laying down those marks on clean paper, and a momentary thought of that paper as waterside grasses and reeds.

Is it any wonder, faced with so much presence, that I find writing those first words in a new notebook or on a clean sheet of paper so difficult?? But I do it, again and again, because holding that pencil, I also remember the joy and satisfaction of putting thoughts on paper, and of feeling a story, a scene, a person take form on the page … not always the form I had anticipated, either, for there are times when the pencil and my unconscious mind secretly conspire to override my conscious intentions. Like now, when I was writing about my mechanical pencil, and it drew me into daydreams and fantasies.

Dreams of writing the great novel, of lighting up the world with great ideas and inspiration? Yes. I once had those. But that was before my mechanical pencil, when I wrote solely in ink - real ink, with a real nib, because I thought that was the way true poets and authors should write. In a way, I could say, this object, this simple object represents a hard-won but ultimately very satisfying acceptance of ordinariness, of no longer striving to be Special. It symbolises for me the slow and sometimes painful, humbling of an overweening ego, and the beauty and simplicity of life without it. 

As a student of Jung, I ask myself what missing or neglected aspect of me this pencil represent? Perhaps I have already answered that, for there is a small voice that tells me that I have wasted opportunities, that I gave up my early dreams of being ‘A Writer’ because I was too lazy, too impatient, too undisciplined, because I told myself that the world doesn’t need another Writer and all those other excuses that people give themselves for lack ambition. All true. I am not ambitious. Even though I had big dreams, I never was.

But somewhere in middle age, in the middle of growing an academic career and discussing with students so many books, I had an awakening that I don’t need to explain here, but that took me in a complete different direction, and led me to understand that I am not made for the limelight. It would corrupt me. My role is in the background, a supporter, a source of strength to others, a flint from which the eternal flame may be struck, not a star but an atom of stuff behind its brilliance. Yes, I do sometimes feel a sense of loss, but that’s my ego, not me. I am like the pencil, the one that lies unnoticed on my desk by all except for me, useful, in it own small way as itself, being itself, serving the infinite creativity of Being.

A world of damaged egos

Carl Jung famously said that that the greatest danger to mankind is the psyche. The proof is all around us, every day, for example, rampant violence committed against human beings and nature by individuals, groups, and nations. All kind of justifications and reasons are put forward for such destructive behaviour, but at the heart of it ... aside from the obvious demon of Greed ... are maladjustments of the psyche.

Egoism is often blamed for difficult, conflictive, nasty behaviour. Actually, as Jungian professor Stein explains in this talk, a weak, insecure, undeveloped ego is a major cause of aggressiveness and violence - mental or physical. Knowing that can help you understand your own negative emotions, or the hostility and hypersensitivity of others.

 

 

Living in times of great change

 

 

The energies for awakening and spiritual growth are growing.  So why does everything seem to be going downhill? Why does the world seem more insane than ever? Why do I feel so anxious? Why does the world, or my life, perhaps, feel as though it's skidding towards disaster? 

 

Because thing often get Worse before they get better.

 

You may be trying to look on the bright side of things, to set positive intentions only to find that nothing improves. If anything, you might feel worse than you did before. But something's happening. Old stuff is rising to the top like scum, a sure sign that something is cooking, something good, you hope, though it doesn't feel that way.

 

You might have felt the energies of awakening, felt them stirring and moving through your body and mind, and not recognised their promise, for the effects of awakening are not always pleasant or easy. In fact, they can be dreadful: the painful, humiliating emergence of suppressed or ignored memories and emotions; eruption of sudden and seemingly inexplicable conflicts; stomach, bowel or lung problems related to elimination and clearing of toxic or accumulated matter; a deep sense that something needs to be done but you have no idea what it is.

 

The cosmos itself is part of these disturbances: flare after flare from the sun; hurricane after hurricane; earthquakes; extreme weather, all of which are affecting your inner and outer environments.

 

(The Snowstorm by William Turner)

 

Hold fast:

 

Some things get a lot worse before they finally start to heal. It's called a healing crisis. So if you are feeling jangled by strong emotions, memories and negativity; or you are experiencing diarrhea, vomiting, nausea for no apparent cause, or excessive coughing, again for no apparent cause, or simply feeling energetically depleted, relax. If you know you don't have a medical condition, your body probably is trying to purge itself of waste and toxins that can accumulate in your joints, organs and tissues due to stress, anxiety, fear, anger, and other kinds of negativity.

 

So is your mind. And so is earth, trying to shake off enough of the sticky negativity and pollution that we have so thoughtlessly generated.

 

Start with Acceptance.

 

It sounds counterproductive to accept what feels so wrong, but it is a necessary first step. Learn to be at peace with yourself, others and the world as it is. Start noticing and appreciating all that is right in your world, no matter how small - the love of your pet, the parts of your body that work well, small kindnesses, flowers in the garden, time to do nothing but daydream, being able to afford a little treat, an ice cream, a lipstick ... everything. Develop an attitude of appreciation and gratitude, and express it out loud several times every day.

 

Trust in the support of the invisible world. 

 

Powers of goodness and light - your guiding spirits, your ancestors and other invisible allies - are continually working to ameliorate, soften, protect and heal where they can. And they need, want, ask over and over for your help. You, every one of us, are essential to healing. Every letting go of negativity, every effort to understand others with compassion, every prayer for your and their awakening and healing, every hopeful thought and utterance even when things seem hopeless supports and strengthens the powers of goodness and light.

 

Trust your own Inner Light

 

In even your darkest hours, you have within you the inner radiance and power of spirit, what some have called your Inner Gold. Learn to love your shadows and weaknesses as you love your strengths, for they contain necessary learnings for you, if you will pay attention to them. Instead of judging yourself for your faults or errors - or just as bad, taking foolish pride in them - learn to sit with them humbly and ask what they have to teach you. Patiently observe your thoughts and feelings when things are going wrong, and let them reveal their lessons - their gold - to you.  Do this sincerely and often enough, and you will see that you will gain valuable insights that you can then use to choose to think or act differently.

 

Work with what you have

 

With an attitude of acceptance and trust in your own inner light, no matter how little of it you see, you can become more like the person you want to be, and you can be a force for good in the world. As imperfect as you may be, with the right attitude and a desire to do good, you can relate more constructively to those around you; you can be kinder to your family and work colleagues; you can be source of encouragement and support to someone who really needs it; you can do some good in the world.

 

Go forth bravely into the world every day, not as a hero to rescue maidens, or a guru, or as a bright perfect light to shed your perfection on others. You are none of those, and should not try to be. That's what Jung called inflation - a puffed up ego. Go forth as a decent, compassionate human being with human weaknesses, who truly desires the best for all, and is prepared to sculpt and polish the inner self into the best it can be. That is a life's work right there ... good work, brave work, noble.

 

Amidst the Troubled World

Part of me has always wanted to become a monk, to live away from the world, a reclusive life that would allow my mind to soar to great heights. But I know, I just know that we are here to learn to uncover our inner light and share it with the world, not as a saint but as just another human being.

"Make of yourself a light." (said Gautama Buddha just before his death)

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (said Jesus. Matthew 5:16)

Awakening is not about tuning away from the world, shutting it out; it’s about tuning into the world recognising that you are part of it, biologically, psychologically, and spiritually.  Cutting yourself off from the world is shutting off part of your own being.

Yet that is exactly what most people do, trying to ignore problems right under our nose, to numb ourselves from our own pain and pain of others.

We don't allow ourselves to see or feel the pain of the world because it terrifies us, and we feel helpless before it.

But as long as we close our eyes and our hearts, we will never heal. The world cannot heal, and it will not change. The forms of misery might change over time, but the sickness, the suffering will remain.

How, then, do we live and grow in a world whose societies perpetuate human suffering, societies run by handfuls of powerful and wealthy who benefit from the misery of the millions and human despair?

First. Do what aeons of sages, prophets and masters have told us: Look within. Know Thyself.  Recognise the pain, trauma and denial on which you have built your own psychological patterns and perception of the world. Give yourself the acceptance and love that your heart needs to open up and feel.

Then bit by bit, consciously (and as slowly as it requires), acknowledge the suffering of others, and allow your heart to respond with compassion and love.

 Your heart aches when you hear of refugees drowning in wild seas. Don’t pretend it doesn’t.

You are horrified by pictures of starving or bombed children on your television. Don’t be ashamed of your pain.

You suppress the wave of compassion that arises when you pass by a homeless person. Don't. Allow yourself to feel that compassion, and to act on it.

We are not asked to bear the pain of the world, to suffer with it, or feel guilty. No one is asked to be a martyr. But we are asked to witness what is, both within and without. For only then can we feel the heart's urge to comfort, to be kind, to give what comfort we can, to help heal this world. 

Learn and practice daily to treat others respectfully, truthfully but without moral judgement, regardless of your emotional reaction to their words or action. 

Don’t give up on yourself. Don't give up on the world.

Transformation begins in you. In me. In your neighbour. In millions of people refusing to be numb and blind to the unacceptable costs of their social order, in those millions and millions of kindnesses that people show to each other and to other living things.

(Image from The Little Prince Movie — http://www.TheLittlePrinceMovie.com )

 

 

 

Crossing into the 4th Dimension

In the 1970's, a man named Ingo Swann 'saw' the planet Jupiter, and described features there that were not yet known to astrologers or astrophysicists, and only confirmed later.

"In 1973, Stanford Research Institute (SRI) conducted a research project called “The Jupiter Probe.” The idea was to have earthbound humans attempt to view Jupiter before NASA’s Pioneer 10 spacecraft flew by with its cameras. The participants put their 3D bodies in a state of rest and, with their 4D minds, viewed Jupiter with their inner eyes. Among them was the now celebrated remote viewer, Ingo Swann. He was able to describe Jupiter as the spacecraft cameras were to see it a few weeks later." (excerpt from Edgar Cayce org magazine)

 

Here are sketches and notes Ingo made during his 'visit'.  

As part of his top secret work, he also 'viewed' the dark side of the moon and other places, and later wrote about them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journeying to other dimensions

Did you know that you have probably visited other planets by crossing into the Fourth Dimension, maybe even more dimensions, and had experiences there? Most likely in the dream state, when your consciousness often travels to other places, other dimensions for its own purposes ... though if you remember any of it on waking, it is so heavily filtered and encoded by ordinary 3D consciousness according to its concerns that you can go a whole lifetime without realising the extent of your nightly travels.

Ingo Swann travelled across space and time, across dimensions via a practice called Remote viewing (RV), a form of clairvoyance by which a person can collect data about a distant, and typically unknown object, place or person.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clairvoyant and artist, Ingo Swann, and one of his paintings, The Light Bringer.

 

 

 

 

Read more about Ingo, a truly remarkable individual, at: http://aetherforce.com/ingo-swann-the-grandfather-of-remote-viewing/

 

According to most successful remote viewers, anyone can learn remote viewing - well, almost anyone. Russell Targ, who learned from Ingo Swann, was able to successfully train military men with no known psychic abilities to remote view, which delighted the CIA in the 1970's so much that they funded project Star Gate, a remote viewing project used to gain mostly military and technological secrets from Russia.

Russell Targ' banned TedX talk about this at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBl0cwyn5GY

(TedX bans most talk about psychic matters, despite overwhelming evidence of psychic abilities. So does Wikipedia, by the way, either bans or tries to debunk it. Some would rather not know!)

 

Other known ways to move between dimensions are mystical or ecstatic experiences, out of body experiences, near death experiences and other exceptional kinds of experience that can occur out of the blue for only a moment or continue to days. I have had a few of those, and no doubt some of you have as well, maybe without realising what is happening, and later explaining it away in terms that you are more comfortable with. It can be disconcerting to shift between dimensions, for sure!

If such things interest you, here's a link to a post on the subject by John Van Auken of the Edgar Cayce organization:  Remote viewing - The Fourth Dimension—A Higher Reality

http://www.edgarcayce.org/about-us/blog/blog-posts/the-fourth-dimension%E2%80%94a-higher-reality

 

Remote Viewing Test

Do you think you have the makings of a remote viewer? You probably do, though it takes practice to develop the knack. Here are some tests of latent ability to try out, from Greater Reality.com:

http://www.greaterreality.com/rv/instruct.htm

The secret is to not try. Relax, let go, and accept whatever happens, even if it's nothing. It took me several weeks to stop getting in my own way!

Let me know how it turns out for you.

Tosca

Millenium, by Ingo Swann, in his study.

Being Authentic / more fully Yourself

We all wear personas out in the world to conform to others' expectations, to be accepted, or simply to hide our true personalities or feelings. 

The problem is that very often, we get stuck in certain personas that we have presented to the world for various reasons: to keep up the deception; because it brings us approval or respect or sympathy; to avoid being our real selves. Or we might start to believe that we really are that person.

Carl Jung gave the example of a doctor whose doctor persona is caring, sympathetic, with a terrific bedside manner, who at home is actually inconsiderate, cold, unsympathetic and critical. He becomes like two different people, but he himself is not even aware of it, and thinks of himself as caring and kind.  

Sooner or later, though, personas fail. Under stress, the doctor's caring persona might unexpectedly collapse and his true cold, uncaring nature comes through, shocking his patients. A woman's cheerful, easy-going, sociable persona might suddenly fail, exposing her hidden needy, fearful, melancholy nature, surprising those around her and causing her great embarrassment and shame.

Authenticity is strength. If you don't know who you really are, that is, your true self, you are not living as an authentic, coherent being. 

The task, then, which we all must undertake, is to find out who we really are. We may change, we may grow and cultivate different qualities, but we must learn who we really are now, and what is really important to us.

Here are some suggestions to help you know your Real self:

1. As you go about your day, stop now and then, and ask yourself :

    Is what I am doing right now, or intend to do really ME?

    Is this feeling that I am expressing or think I feel what I really feel?

    Am I saying what I truly think and believe? 

2. If your answer is No, ask yourself-  Why not?

    (Sometime, you may do not want to express or say what you think or feel, which is fine. You have the right to say nothing ... or mumble. But don't lie.

3. Then ask yourself, How I can be more truly Myself in each circumstance?

 

Aligning with the Universal Plan

Spiritual evolution means different things to different people, and we might all go about it differently. Yet how much more power we could create if we worked together, not necessarily in the same group or organisation, but with a common vision, shared intentions that we work towards with other like-minded people.

One young man from Argentina, Matías de Stefan, was born on earth to help us remember what we are, and our part in the Divine Plan of Earth's evolution, and the evolution of humankind. I believe him, or more truthfully, I know that in a world of would-be gurus and teachers, he is the real thing.

Watch, and if you feel a connection to what he is saying, look up some of his talks and decide for yourself whether you might like to be part of his journey or not. Or let him inspire you to find a way to share with others your highest vision for humankind, and act on it. <3

 

Go deeper with the videos at: https://consciousociety.org/partners/?fbclid=IwAR2deC1rD3tnq0R0-ykzvAK2iKvxfLODiPvedMQRAplgeLBGU2k1CtIjI1M

 

 

 

Seeing Differently

Judging from how many of us go to books, classes and teachers to learn spiritual truths, we should expect to be well acquainted with Truth and Wisdom, and know how to recognise them. We should find enlightened souls all around us. But we do not. Nor are most of us - no matter how deep our spiritual practice - intimate with the spiritual dimensions of being. Heaven knows, it's not for want of trying.

It's not that we cannot find Truth, but that our usual ways of looking and experiencing do not allow us to see it.

"It is high time we realized that it is pointless to praise the light and preach it if nobody can see it. It is much more needful to teach people the art of seeing." – Carl Jung"   (The Basic Writings of C.G. Jung).

“Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand" (Matthew 13:11)

 

Wanting and intending to know, and accepting the ideas of the Divine and Oneness might point us to the path of transformation, but they are not enough. We must experience for ourselves, viscerally and intimately, the profound and inner shift to a new level of awareness that transforms our consciousness, and if we are to continue to grow, we must experience it over and over as consciousness becomes more and more refined, more expansive and awake.

"He who has eyes to see, let him see, and he who has ears to hear, let him hear."   Matthew 13:13

What are these “eyes to see” and “ears to hear”?

They are metaphors for spiritual awareness: both the willingness and ability to recognise the Truth before us....not just the daily truths that are honestly spoken, but the fundamental Truth of our spiritual nature, which is Divine. 

We like to think we know this Truth, but the majority of us do not. We try to see it, and some of us may even catch a brief glimpse of it, but too often, we fall back into old ways of seeing and thinking ... because we are not transformed. The Truth is right here before us, we are told, but for all our efforts, most of us do not really see it....nor will we until we are change our ways of seeing.

Most of us are like the boy in the Grimm brothers' story of the Goose Girl. In this story, a misused princess disguised as a goose girl speaks daily with the head of her dead horse, who laments her suffering. Every
day she combs out her hair which shines as brightly as the sun (symbol of higher or awakened consciousness), and every day when the boy tries to pluck a hair, she summons the wind to blow off his hat and carry it over the fields.

He knows this is strange, yet all he sees is an irritating goose girl. Like all of us who do not know the language of soul, he remains blind to the mystery being revealed to him, and to its invitation to step into greater awareness. 

Fortunately for the princess, the king (symbol of the Self) recognises the truth and marries her. 

 

“You cannot see Me with your present eyes," Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita,"Therefore I give you divine eyes.”

Just as those who do science must learn to see and experience the world in new ways –that is, scientifically - those who would be awakened must learn to see with more spiritual eyes.

Ordinary mind, the mind of the material self, is perfectly attuned to outer reality. Used properly, it enables us to function according to the laws of this reality at a much higher level than we presently do. To experience spiritual reality, however, we must engage spiritual dimensions of mind, with their unique attributes and processes.

We do it unconsciously in dreams, intuition, inspiration, sudden insights, and those unexpected moments when we feel totally connected to nature, others and the world - but we can learn to do it consciously. And that requires opening our inner gates of perception, and accepting what enters.

Most of us, though, are easily frightened or angered by anything that doesn't fit our beliefs about what is possible or real, that doesn't come through ordinary channels. Instead of opening itself to the unfamiliar and allowing itself to experience the mystery of the unknown, the conscious mind blocks it out, shunts it into our unconscious to remain hidden.

But eventually, even the most rational, materialistic seeker of Truth might come to a door where sensory perception and reason fail. Often, this occurs in times of crisis, or in those dark nights of the soul when we feel terribly lost.

 

 

(We come to a door that can only be entered by those willing to leave familiar ways of knowing behind).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When this happens, we might try to climb back onto familiar ground where things used to make sense, and refuse the opportunity to see things more truly. But some brave or desperate souls will accept this sacred invitation to accept not-knowing, walk through the wide open gate newly humbled, and surrender mind to the deep mystery of Self, of Being ... asking Who am I? What is this?

Eventually, if we keep asking, answers will come. And what do we do meanwhile?

Nature Spirits and other Earth Dwellers

Years ago, I had an encounter with nature spirits. My friend and I were walking with our six small children across a wild field towards a woods, and the children ran ahead laughing. Soon, when we realised that we could no longer hear them, we called out, but no reply, so I began to walk faster, calling out anxiously. I was coming close to tears when I heard a calm voice ask, "Why are you afraid?" and noticed three tall slender women in long light dresses to our far left, moving gracefully through the grasses. "Don't you know that we are watching over them?" asked the voice." Suddenly, I felt completely reassured, and moments later, the children came out of the edge of the woods towards us, still laughing and playing.

My friend seemed totally unaware of these nature spirits, and when I later asked her about them, she said that she had noticed nothing except that I had suddenly become calm. The children had seen no one.

Others have told of encounters with nature spirits or elementals, some, as with the Scottish scientist Robert Ogilvie Crombie, over many years. Crombie formed a long close relationship with the mythical Spirit of Nature, Pan, overlord of nature entities.

We so-called civilised westerners like to dismiss nature spirits, elves, faerie and other unseen creatures as fantasies of the primitive mind, products of an unsophisticated though enchanting way of thinking about the world.

“The primal human being" writes Richard Tarnas, "perceives the surrounding natural world as permeated with meaning, meaning whose significance is at once human and cosmic. Spirits are seen in the forest, presences are felt in the wind and the ocean, the river, the mountains. Meaning is recognized in the flight of two eagles across the horizon, in the conjunction of two planets in the heavens, in the unfolding cycles of the Moon and Sun. The primal world is ensouled.” (in Cosmos and Psyche).

Fairies looking through a Gothic arch. by John Anster Fitzgerald

Yet even today, some people do see these presences, and animals do sometimes give meaningful signs that may be understood. I have made my around the South Island of New Zealand without getting lost once by following hawks that appeared at every single intersection or fork in the road to guide me, and in the valley near where I live, a hawk taught me a valuable lesson on focus and intent by circling three times  over my head with a fish in its mouth. (I always ask for my messages in threes to dismiss the possibility of coincidence). (https://mythologos.typepad.com/blog/2015/07/hawks-lesson-on-heart.html)

In Iceland, belief in elves who often dwell in or beneath large rocks is still very much alive (love those Icelanders!), so much so that the Icelandic parliament ordered roadworks to be rerouted to avoid disturbing a site believed to be inhabited by elves. Almost half of Icelanders, it seems, believe in elves, and elf 'experts' are often consulted prior to roadworks and other constructions to determine whether elves live in that area and what to do about it.

 

    Elf habitat protected by Iceland parliament

 

 

 

"There are many splendid dwellings. One is there called Alfheim. There dwell the folk that are called light-elves; but the dark-elves dwell down in the earth, and they are unlike the light-elves in appearance, but much more so in deeds. The light-elves are fairer than the sun to look upon, but the dark-elves are blacker than pitch." (softpedia.com).

Then there is Bigfoot, or what the Australian Aborigines call the Yowie. Yes. They have been seen, and in my area as well, and Bigfoots have even been recorded. (https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2017/08/the-eerie-world-of-bigfoot-sound-recordings/)

I was, however, surprised to find that Seth, the entity who spoke through Jane Roberts, spoke of Bigfoot-like creatures on Earth.

"There are indeed two different kinds of upward-walking mammals, much like your own species, but much larger and with infinitely keener senses. They are indeed amazingly swift creatures and through scent alone they are aware of the presence of man when any member of your species is at all in the immediate area - standing, say, several miles away. Vegetable matter is a main diet, though often supplemented by insects, which are considered a delicacy. …… With some territorial variation, such creatures reside in many of the world areas on your planet, though their overall population is very small - altogether, perhaps several thousand. …….Language is not developed to any great degree, of their sensual ordinary equipment is so pure and swift that it almost becomes a language of its own. (Jane Roberts. Seth: The Way Toward Health).

Some might not like the idea of unseen intelligent beings around us, large or small, but I find it very reassuring that despite our astoundingly ignorant behaviour toward nature and other species, some beings have had the wisdom to avoid us and our bungling, violent ways. As I potter around the wild parts of my garden, I like to know that someone might be watching, and that in return for the untouched corner of wilderness where it is safe from harm, it is probably helping my garden to grow. If I run into a Yowie, though, I'd rather not be alone.