Strange Awakenings: Integrating “Non- Ordinary” States.

There is a stage in the integration of the self where things become quite strange. I see this in people I work with and recall a time in my own life when magical synchronicities, encounters, and unexplainable events occurred. It’s as if the boundary between the world of matter and the world of spirit merge, the veil lifts, and the archetypal realm enters our life in intense ways. Being opened like this can feel awesome but also unsettling and disturbing. If we add psychoactives, magical or other powerful practices, or an over-identification with these forces into the mix, things can become even weirder, and even dangerous.

In this state, the ground beneath our feet becomes fragile and we are sometimes pulled into the abyss. I’ve been wondering about the purpose of these experiences and why they happen, especially for people “on the path” whose identity is dismantled, or at least shakes, and whose ego structures, or persona, once fixed (or gave the illusion of being fixed), gives way to chaos. It also seems that if a person can move through this stage- and some don’t- they are taken to the depths of themselves. After the magic, the shadow work!

This part of the journey is not quite so exciting, not so pleasant, and very real. It is the nitty gritty of facing what we have not previously been able to face without escaping physical reality and the feeling body. The emotional energy of the unconscious creates a correlation in the psychic or astral spheres, as an image, an entity, or a paranormal experience.

While there is value and wisdom to be gained through these times, there are also distortions and scary monsters. If you’ve ever lived in a community where multiple people uphold a delusional belief, you will know the power that such psychic forces wield. We see it collectively in times of stress and insatiability where groups of people lose themselves in mass hysteria.

On an individual level, this may be what Jung calls the “daimon”- a disembodied guiding spirit that is a psychic manifestation of the psyche, imbued with both creative and destructive possibilities. 

It is this manifestation of the psyche that interests me.

Recently I was talking with someone who felt that dark psychic forces were interacting with him. I thought of the archons of the Gnostics, and the jinn of Islamic theology- entities that humans have been aware of for thousands of years. Do these forces exist independently of human consciousness or is it only through interplay with human consciousness that they come into existence?  As well as projecting unconscious material into the physical world, or onto other people, we also project psychic energy into the astral or emotional planes.

What is interesting is why we manifest the images, energies, and forces that we do and what they mean for us personally. Are the magical or paranormal happenings we experience information and signposts unique to our soul’s path and purpose?

 Once the unconscious energy has been projected, the work is to bring it back to the self and translate the images into real-lived experiences. Trauma that a person has endured that remains in the unconscious, too overwhelming to remember, takes on psychic potency, creating activity in the astral and physical planes. Not recognised as something that exists within, these experiences appear to be happening outside of ourselves. We may also sense that something is being done to us, as was the case in the original event.

Shadow work that happens after the psychic opening is the process of integrating fragmented energy. Decoding “non-ordinary” experiences can facilitate new awareness as previously unconscious material takes on new meaning and finds its place within the psyche. Shamans refer to this process as soul retrieval. Delusions of so called “crazy people” are not without meaning, they are attempts to make sense of strong psychic content that the conscious mind cannot yet process. Shadow work may be the work of strengthening our psychic container so that the soul has a home to dwell in.