Subconscious Teachings
This is the Second steppingstone of the Third pathway in our journey towards awareness as we continue to learn how to unravel the depths of our dreams and discover their impactful nature.
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10 MINUTE READ
As we move closer to the delineation of our dream worlds and all that exists therein, we do well to set aside time to introduce ourselves to the affluent depths of the subconscious mind. Think of the dream world as a castle and the subconscious realm as its moat. The moat being what surrounds and from which it rises up. The action of the draw bridge represents our ability to master the moat so as to finally reach the castle. What allows for the draw bridge to be lowered? How do we gain access to the gifts and realizations our dreams have to offer? The draw bridge descends once we understand the role that the subconscious has to play.
Our subconscious is multifaceted, and it is easier to decipher if we first think of it as a cathedral or church or temple, not in terms of worship or religion, but rather in terms of a sanctuary or safe haven. In today’s world, there is no longer such a thing as seeking ‘legal’ refuge inside such walls. However, in times long past those sanctuaries were where the ‘misunderstood’ or the ‘different’ or the ‘castaways’ traveled to find refuge. A sanctuary was observed as a place set apart from the ‘ordinary’ world.
Everything is about perspective. Whatever light you shine on something is how you will come to understand its meaning. For our purposes, let’s assume the ordinary world is our conscious state of being or more tangibly that which is held in favor by society. Consider the depths of the ancient definition of sanctuary. Then, open up to the many perspectives gathered by and belonging to those seeking sanctuary, those outside looking in, those resisting or condemning it, and those offering and encouraging it. This brings us much closer to understanding the depths of our subconscious. Juggling and balancing all the facets of our subconscious is as difficult as finding our way in the darkness.
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To make a way we must stumble upon our sources of light, wherever we can find them. The 12th house in astrology is symbolic of the subconscious state of being and considered by many to be the ‘house of dreams’. This astrological house is ruled by Pisces and Neptune. Neptune being the namesake for the Roman god that is better known as Poseidon to those more familiar with Greek mythology. This is all about what lay ‘underneath’. Our watery depths can be nothing more than a graveyard, dark and eerie and silent, or they can lead to newness via opportunistic transformation from the perspective of life-giving water for growth, healing, and self-reflection.
We do not have to drown our shadowed parts. We can nurture them instead, until we discover their waiting light and their ‘medicinal properties’. The scars and curses we become saddled with have a great deal to teach. They offer perspectives that guide us to benefit ourselves and others in ways we never would have been privy to if not for their existence. It is difficult, but necessary, to use what we learn from our hardships to stand in the sun as we otherwise never could in quite the same way.
An important aspect of the 12th house is that it harbors our hidden wounds of self from all our past experiences. Chiron is known as the wounded healer in Greek mythology and is representative of our deepest emotional and soulful wounds. Chiron carried with him the never-ending pain of a non-healing wound inflicted by another. No matter what, he could never get that wound to heal completely and disappear. In his story, the wounding he endured never truly goes away. Instead, it follows him on his journeys and influences his every action as it is a forever part of him that will not be ignored.
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We always take our pains and burdens along with us. Some have more to carry than others, but our subconscious remains the sanctuary that we can enter to be able to lay them down now and again. A place to find relief, knowing that inside is acceptance. Think about the joy of having all our ‘parts’ accepted. A place where the truth of who we really are is recognized and authenticity is favored.
Do you feel like what you have in your depths would not fit into the expected “normalcy” of society?
Will you sit on the sidelines because you feel that the authentic you would not be offered a comfortable place in the ‘game of life’?
Sometimes small steps are more manageable for us when attempting taking part in the outside world. We might, at first, take our inner world along when ‘stepping out’ by adorning a mask so as to get used to things while still controlling what we express of ourselves out into the world. There is nobody who has not done this and in reality, we all constantly wear masks anyway. Each mask is how we choose to represent ourselves in daily life. Our masks will change depending on whether we are acting as parent or a teacher or a son/daughter or a friend or a neighbor or a spouse or a professional as it pertains to our specific occupation, or even when we pursue our own individual desires or hobbies or decided purpose.
I am sure almost everybody has heard of the phrase fake it until you make it.
How far do you take that idea in your life?
How far should you take that before the mask becomes a weakness rather than a strength or an opportunity?
If we fall down the rabbit hole, we can end up developing a very misshapen sense of self at times, whether we admit it or not.
Do we acknowledge, from circumstance to circumstance, the separations and connections between our own ‘monster’ we keep locked away and the man or woman we allow to be observed by all?
Our depths of expression really should be contemplated in the right forums and with the right people. This would also be a very good topic to breakdown via an independent journaling exercise.
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Shunning and ridicule is not uncommon in today’s world. However, if we continue to stand in our own light, we can also expect that those who will matter and be worthy of impacting our lives and being a part of our futures, will come to realize that differences and uniqueness and vulnerability are not in fact bad.
Do we see corruption everywhere except within ourselves? This is also another excellent journaling topic to consider.
We need to accept our weaknesses and embrace responsibility so as to be able to own our own truths and stay in a place where there’s a healthy balance between both our worlds above and below. Such a balance is necessary, so that their impact on one another is not lost to us by the scales tipping too much in one direction.
It is important to remember that in the face of judgement, pain can feel like a blanket enveloping us. This can cause us to become lost and to fall backwards into the areas of our subconscious where fantasy, illusion, and story reside. We do this because it feels comforting and wonderous. Once overtaken with such inviting delusion, people often shift blame in regard to their own decisions, actions, and thoughts to something or someone else. Especially, if that something or someone else brings out in them, shall we say, less than desired qualities.
It is so much easier and more habitual for us to run inside ourselves for safety purposes so as to avoid experiencing the pain of the negative over and over. Perhaps fight that urge and decide to try again, to go another round, rather than choose to hide in some way because things did not work out the first time around. Alright, maybe they will not work out the second time or even the third time, but without us even realizing it all these tries and times ended up moving us forward and further away from our own gates of seclusion.
Personal success is found here, and nothing is better at opening doors to new possibilities. Even more so, the inevitable development of courage, strength and resilience along the way will serve us well in being able to accumulate the best of everything we would wish for ourselves in this life, no matter what that happens to mean for each of us.
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame is an age-old story that has been told to us many times over and in many ways. It is probably one of the best archetypal ideologies to help us resonate with all that we have been discussing here in regard to the subconscious mind’s meaningful story. Considering Quasimodo and noticing whatever it is we notice when we see him both inside and outside the ‘safety’ of the cathedral can help us to then clearly see the subconscious realm as a hiding place, a place of secrets, of sorrows, of shadows. A place where the ‘monster’ that belongs to all of us resides.
We are fortunate if we can go deeper still and understand from this tale that it is a place that we may call home when no other is available or offered. A place of retreat and respite from where in time we can emerge with more strength, wisdom, and knowledge than we had before. A place of defense and justice. A place of seclusion and peace. A shrine of hope. A place where uniqueness and change are welcomed. It is a world of duality that encourages our own power through the bonds of obscuring and revealing, separating and connecting, captivity and freedom, as well as deception and clarity.
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Dreamwork –
Our depths are a place where our wishes exist, and our dreams reside. when we can see our dreams for what they are and understand their weight and their realism, we then have the ability to imagine and make possible so many opportunities.
How often do we wonder beyond the tangible and the visible in daily life?
When do we decide to move past what we perceive as certainty and see all the possibilities?
What if we contemplate how all broken pieces of history can only be repaired after first being uncovered?
To be able to get the most out of the opportunities our dreams hold we have to offer them a place in our conscious state of being. Otherwise, the potential impacts are diminished, and lessons may be wasted.
Our subconscious is the north star that waits without judgement and with a never-ending patience for its opportunity to guide us on our journeys.
Through purposeful threads our dreams can bring secrets and knowledge to our conscious awareness and help us to find things we did not even realize we had lost or were even in search of.
Our subconscious whispers to us. It knows our depths. Those depths we have forgotten, misplaced, ignored, or failed to understand. It knows what we hide even from ourselves.
Poetry is often dream-like, indirectly bringing things to the surface for acceptance and subsequent healing under an obscure canopy. Keeping with this sentiment, my poem, Unfolding Depths, is the perfect supplemental read to re-enforce the ideas presented in this article using a different language, so to speak. Sometimes simply saying something in a different way opens the flood gates in ways not yet realized or in ways that we never dreamed possible.
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The next steppingstone in the Courageous Choice Pathway is discovering the light in the shadows, and it will become available on my blog, Dawning Descent, in due course.
If you were moved by anything that I had to contribute here please contact me regarding your experience. I am excited to travel this path and learn along with you. I look forward to our communications.
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