Depth Psychology

In the interest of self understanding, it is useful to have several models of the psyche to draw from. This article will introduce and explore the model of Depth Psychology.

The basic concept of depth psychology is that the psyche is like a body of water which stratifies as one moves from surface to the depths. When I was a boy my grandparents lived at a lake about 30 miles out of town. Most every week-end the family would tool out to their house and we would spend hours swimming. This lake was a cold spring fed lake and makes for a great example of stratification. In August when the temperatures were high and the Sun was still strong, the water at the top of the lake would be as warm as bath water. As my body grew, I eventually could feel with my toes, while treading water, a layer of water about 5 feet down that was definitely colder. My older brothers and I would often dive all the way to the bottom of the lake, grab a handful of muck to prove to each other that we had made it, and then return to the surface to show off a bit. Well the water all the way at the bottom, near the outlets of the springs was really cold. This is an example of stratification, where the water would separate into bands of water that were different temperatures, even though it was one body of water.

Our consciousness does a similar thing. As the life force of Spirit enters the crown chakra at the top of the head, it circulates down the front of the body to the root chakra. There, reinforced by the prana we bring into the body through the breath, it rises up the spinal cord, through each of the chakras and is distributed to all the cells of the body through the nerves in the body and nadis in the astral body. Each cell is thereby energized with life force and creates an energy field according to the cell’s capacity to store and use energy. This capacity varies according to pH balance and the presence of the proper minerals called electrolytes, both factors being influenced by diet and the efficiency of eliminative organs.

The energy fields of the individual cells coalesce to create the energy field of the body as a whole which is commonly refered to as the aura. The aura is a multi-functional energy system which powers the senses, motor functions, feelings and access to memory, mental functions, intelligence, imagination, and the power of the psyche to manipulate reality.

The aura not only runs the bodily functions, it also transmits energy into the external world, connects with objects of interaction which are generally people, places, things, situations or circumstances, which then modify the energy according to their nature, and finally transmit or reflect the energy back to us to experience. This occurs on the gross physical level through the use of motor functions and senses, and on the subtle level through the expressive and receptive function of the imagination. Additionally, the feelings and mental functions process experience to coordinate self with other and expression with receptivity.

While the aura functions as a singularity, it also stratifies into various layers where different processes are at work. The nature of consciousness, our true nature and identity, is creative - it causes change. This property of consciousness is most apparent at the level of awareness or focused attention, but it is true about the entire spectrum of consciousness.

The functions of consciousness in the human being include:

1) The Unconscious
2) Deep Sub-conscious functioning
3) Sub-conscious functioning
4) Semi-conscious functioning
5) Conscious functioning
6) Super-conscious functioning
7) The Divine Presence

Let’s take these one at a time.

The unconscious is where our creative impulses are stored in a dormant state. These energies are not actively circulating in the world and not contributing to the life we are creating and experiencing at present. These energies are potential rather than kinetic. There are 2 aspects of the unconscious; the collective unconscious and the personal unconscious.

The collective unconscious stores all those creative potentials that await for our culture to evolve to a point where the expression of these creative impulses becomes possible and meaningful. Ye’shua, commonly known as Jesus the Christ, is quoted as having once said “All these things I have done, you shall do, and greater things than these you shall do also.” The thought that we could do things greater than such a master is perplexing until one realizes that His life had to be lived within the social context of the times. The energies of the collective unconscious are unconditioned by past experience and expression except to the extent that the collective inhibits their expression.

In this way, the unconscious is associated with the root chakra, as our survival as individuals is dependant upon our connection to the collective of all humanity. Survival instincts and the need to conform spring from this level. The root chakra is associated with the planets Saturn, Pluto, and in some traditions Mars.

The personal unconscious also keeps creative impulses in storage isolating them from the external world. These energies are also in a dormant state. However these energies do have a history. The personal unconsciousness includes those energies that at some point in the past have been badly hurt - damaged so badly the cannot function. The personal unconscious opens up to accept these energies so that they can heal, safely isolated from the external reality. This is sort of like putting a broken bone in a cast after it has been set. The cast isolates the injury while it knits back together. Once the bone is healed the cast is removed. When we first start to use it, it hurts a bit, in spite of the fact that the break is now the strongest part of the bone. In time the hurt goes away and we are fully functional again, though we have to rebuild some atrophied muscles on the way. The personal unconscious opens to receive hurt aspects of self, and opens to release healed aspects of self into the deep sub-conscious for redevelopment. This is not an easy process as the rest of the consciousness has been evolving since the injury and the previously hurt energies must take up their development right where it left off and have some catching up to do. Its a common experience to be embarrassed or self-chastising when we apparently regress or recreate errors of the past we thought we had outgrown.

Deep sub-conscious functioning relates to all those energies that have not yet developed psychological resources for self expression of which we can be proud or approving. Sometimes this is called the Shadow of the psyche. Unlike the unconscious, these energies are actively circulating through the external world contributing to the life we live and experience. They generally do so without our awareness until the results they produce manifest for our experience.

Before going any further we must explore these psychological resources. What are they? They are the four steps we use to give our creative impulses form in the world. They are:

1) Choosing an object of interaction
2) Generating an attitude in the feelings that describes the nature of our connection and relationship with the object of interaction
3) Developing those attitudes further in the mind in the form of ideas, which when repeated gradually crystalize into beliefs, which in turn form the basis of plans and strategies
4) Expressing our ideas beliefs and plans by behavior expression using combinations of the 5 motor functions

The psychological resources are like the information encoded on a radio signal. The same radio signal can broadcast jazz or pop or news or talk, depending upon the choices made by the dj and programming director. The radio signal is the creative impulses which drive our lives. The question is, are our choices of how to express ourselves coming from the deeper layers which can only draw from memory, or more conscious expression where we can learn and grow? The further down within the spectrum of consciousness a creative process is taking place, the older the memories that are giving it shape - the older its karmic roots.

The deep sub-conscious relates to the 2nd chakra, and our connection and dependance upon family. In this way it is the basis of our sexuality and other obsessive and compulsive qualities. It is not by nature particularly rational, nor easy to understand, explain, or direct. Disfunctional that are related to family of origin and resources or gifts that come naturally to us, gifts we share with family members flow at this level of the mind-body. This chakra is associated with the energies of Jupiter and to a lesser degree, Mercury and the Moon. The sexual organs produce the hormones that regulate these energies.

Energies at work in the upper sub-conscious support the conscious life. All sorts of habits, life style, and constitutional characteristics are at work here. These energies function automatically needing no permission from the conscious self to operate. One might say they have standing orders. This is where the self-image has its roots. One important trait of these energies is momentum and inertia. That is the resistance to movement and change. It takes the power of the will to get these energies into motion when they have been at rest or to change the form of their expression once a habit has been formed.

The sub-conscious is the foundation of our personal identity, our sense of self as an individual being. Through this function we feel the need to distinguish ourselves from our family and the collective as a whole. Doing so depends upon a strong and healthy self-image, strong self-esteem, and a willingness to take some risks, against the backdrop of the need for security.

At this level of expression, the habits often play the role of pressure relief valve for energies that have not yet found effective and satisfying forms of self-expression. Habits cannot make us happy. They can help us feel safe and secure, but fulfillment comes from learning and growing. Sometimes we have to interrupt a habitual behavior pattern before the creative impulse will emerge from its mask so that we can restart the process of developing joyous forms of self-expression.

The sub-conscious is associated with the third chakra and is connected to the symbolism of the planet Mars and the Moon. The adrenal glands and pancreas help to regulate these energies.

Energies at this level are a blend of conscious and sub-conscious. At this level we are aware of the creative impulses at work, but choose psychological resources from memory and habit for expressing them. Many of our activities are done from this level. All developed skills run at this level. We walk and talk at this level. The semi-conscious can do more than one thing at a time. Driving and carrying on a conversation with a passenger is a good example of semi-conscious functioning. It is spontaneous and heart felt expression of our intention and is used to fulfill the will.

The semi-conscious is the threshold of awareness. Semi-conscious functioning is connected with the 4th chakra. This chakra is the bridge between the animal nature and the spiritual nature of the human being and can be associated with the planet Venus and the Sun. These energies manifest through the thymus and gland.

It is at this level that we are actively learning and growing. We are in touch with the creative impulses motivating us and are choosing psychological resources for self-expression consciously. We can do it differently than we ever have before. Here our potential is actively being developed, and believe me, that feels good. When energies are actively learning, when we are becoming more than we were just a moment ago, then life is joyous, fulfilling, and definitely worth the bother.

Conscious functioning is the focus of attention in the now. It is the brightest and most dynamic aspect of the psyche. Everything we connect with consciously changes as a result and contributes to the ways we are changing as well. Conscious functioning is what we definitely know we are doing and it is where the will flows most strongly. There is nothing more important to our spiritual lives and self-development than cultivating a strong and creative will. This developmental process is related to vision, purpose in living, courage, creativity, enthusiasm and charisma.

Conscious functioning, the focused attention in the now which is directed towards the future, is on a quest - the quest for conscious wholeness which is integral consciousness. All of the energies of the psyche which have ready access to conscious functioning have already developed or are in the process of developing psychological resources - attitudes, beliefs and behaviors - which work and play together harmoniously. That is what creates integrity. All the energy above the threshold of awareness acts in union, as a singularity.

There are two important differences between energies operating above the threshold of awareness and those functioning below. One of them is that the conscious mind is integral and functions as a unit. Sub-conscious energies are fragmented. There can be unlimited fragments operating within the sub-conscious and deep sub-conscious, each with its own sense of identity, its own preferred objects of interaction, its own attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Where the conscious function naturally dwells in the now, the sub-conscious has access to all of space and time. This allows the sub-conscious to house all these fragmented aspects of self safely, and it gives the sub-conscious the power to answer questions and fulfill needs that are beyond the range of the conscious mind. The conscious mind can and must learn to harness this aspect of the sub-conscious.

Secondly, energies operating at the sub-conscious level tend to see things as black or white, in terms of yes or now. In contrast the conscious mind can see things in full vivid color, with and infinite variety of gradations between black and white. The conscious mind can create without limit.

Conscious functioning relates to the throat chakra and is associated with Mercury and Uranus. These energies make use of the thyroid and parathyroid to manifest.

Under specific conditions the conscious mind can gain access to the super conscious and perform miraculous feats of awareness and expression. These conditions include electrical patterns, (such as theta waves and beyond) and brain chemistry through secretions of the pituitary and pineal glands and of course every other factor which affects brain chemistry. These conditions also include psychological conditions such as balance between the rational and intuitive functions of the brain. These two forms of intelligent awareness which are natural to our brain are most often out of balance with one dominating consciously and the other dominating the sub-conscious. At this point in cultural development most often it is the rational that dominates conscious functioning and the non-linear intuitive intelligence that dominates the sub-conscious. Achieving balance between the rational and intuitive intelligences makes it easier for the super-conscious to manifest. Occasionally, under extreme stress, these conditions are met accidentally and the conscious awareness is flooded with super-conscious functioning.

Transcendant awareness becomes natural under these conditions even though those to whom these functions are foreign tend to describe the effects as supernatural. The systems which produce higher powers of awareness and self-expression are built into the psychic mechanism if we can only learn to use them consciously. The sub-conscious knows how to use them, but it is most often confined by restricting attitudes and beliefs.

The super-conscious relates to the sixth chakra and is associated with the Moon and Neptune. These energies are facilitated through the workings of the pituitary gland.

The divine energies manifest fully through grace at the crown chakra which is associated with the Sun and Pluto. These unspeakable, undescribable energies manifest by the operations of the pineal gland.

Human beings are walking, talking miracle machines. The very resources that could be used to solve problems, heal wounds and injuries are busy producing the conflicts and limitations we commonly experience because those resources are busy being directed by conflicting limiting attitudes, beliefs and patterns of behavior.

The spiritual path then, must be seen as one of wakening creative impulses which are trapped in memory, in patterns of expression which have been conditioned by disfunctional experiences, to the level of conscious expression. The fragmented aspects of the psyche - unrecognised and unloved aspects of the self - must be understood and accepted by the self to be liberated from the confines of the deep sub-conscious to the developmental processes of conscious functioning so that progressively we can become more consciously integrated.

Paul Reeder

Ah, the moon, the mysterious moon. Lady of the Night, Nanna, Astarte, Hecete, Luna, Chandra, Demeter and Persephone, Mother Nature: she is Changing Woman. She is child, maiden, matron and crone. Even to a woman with deep understanding of the feminine, the moon remains a mystery.

As a practicing astrologer, I find it disappointing that most columns written about astrology in the popular media are about the sun’s position. The sun represents what we came to “earth school” to learn and develop, to become; but the moon represents what we already are. Our will, represented archetypally as the sun, may choose what to do but our personality, represented by the moon, carries it out. The moon is our self-image, our automatic reactions and responses, our need for security. If I were allowed to know the position of only one point in a given person’s astrological chart, I would choose the moon in order to understand the most about that person. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you really know how to pray? Or, more to the point, do you know how to pray with intention? Most of us don’t. So, let’s look at a few ideas about prayer.

We are always praying…

Every desire, thought, feeling, and action, every vibrational nuance of our psyche and body interact with Creation in a way that is absolutely creative. The designed nature of the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies is magical, such that we all create every last detail of our lives. Some of the creative force of the psyche is expressed consciously. That is the part we are in touch with. Some of the creative force of the psyche is semi-conscious. Using that part, we are aware of our motivation, but release creative force according to conditioning, inevitably duplicating the past. Some of the creativity of the psyche is expressed subconsciously, meaning we release our creative force changing reality without much awareness at all. In this way, we can only duplicate the past. Finally some of the energies we release comes form the shadowy portion of the subconscious, energies which are definitely part of ourselves, but energies we do not own up to. Those energies always create situations and relationships that are trouble to the ego. Shadowy energies within the psyche need more attention to evolve to a level of expression we can accept and integrate into our sense of self. Until this occurs, we reject those energies. We don’t consider them to be a part of ourselves, but they are. Read the rest of this entry »

The fuse is lit and the clock is ticking on what should prove to be the most interesting 2½ years in recent history. Saturn has entered Leo.

Basic Principals of the Saturn Archetype

Saturn is the principle of karma, reality, time and change of season, crystalization, potential taking form, contraction, morality, natural consequences, social convention, judgment and discernment, responsibility, duty and expectation. Saturn tests things by applying stress to a system, which draws attention to weak points as they degrade in performance or break down altogether. Saturn demonstrates the natural results of actions and consciousness or ignorance. It calls for and rewards maturity, clarity of purpose, good planning, and disciplined execution of plans.

The areas affected by Saturn are in need of attention. They need development , investment, and repair in order to offset a spiral of decay. With hard work, due diligence and needed investment, these areas can enjoy real improvement. Read the rest of this entry »

So, you want to learn astrology! Good for you, good for everybody. There are many benefits that come from learning astrology. Astrology is essentially an intuitive language. It gives symbolic or representative form to an abstract perception. The intuitive half of natural intelligence is, for most folks, trapped in sub-conscious functioning. Language gives feelings and thoughts form, and that form facilitates access to conscious experience and expression. Learning astrology will help you bring your intuitive awareness to the conscious level, and give you tools for developing a working relationship with it. Learning to translate astrology, an intuitive language, into English, a rational linear language develops a coordinated exchange between intuitive and rational functions within the psyche, in much the same way swimming or walking or other cross-crawl exercise develops neuro-muscular coordination in the body. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday I finished my Ayyappa Sadhana. What is Ayyappa Sadhana? Its a 48 day intensive of spiritual practice for householders. The practice requires a minimum of one hour of daily sadhana for 48 straight days, no exceptions, no excuses. Its the no exceptions, no excuses part that is at all a challenge for me. I routinely do the hour daily, but can become inconsistent when my life becomes too full of activities, which it does. Read the rest of this entry »

At approximately 10 AM Mountain Standard Time, (-7 hours form Greenwich) on the 16th of December, Venus leaves the sign of Scorpio and enters Sagittarius. In so doing, she leaves the deep, darkness of a sign of her detriment, and enters the fiery freedom loving sign of Sagittarius. She also enters orb of the up coming square to Uranus in Pisces. That square comes on the 19th of December at 4:40 AM MST and leaves 3º orb on the 21st. Read the rest of this entry »

Outside the framework of human consciousness, astrology does not exist. Astrology is a human construct. The only place astrology can be found is in human culture as a product of the human mind.

At its core astrology is a language. Like all other languages astrology renders abstract human perception into a more concrete form. Ideas made concrete through language can do two things abstract perceptions cannot:

1) Ideas in linguistic form can serve as a platform allowing the abstract mind a point to push off from penetrating more deeply into experience than previously possible. In this way, language is a catalyst to learning, opening up the innate intelligence to development and expression.

2) Ideas expressed in language can be shared with others who know the language as well, allowing the ideas to grow through the synergy of interaction. Read the rest of this entry »

As this new moon is forming it is good to contemplate the month to come. At the time of the new moon, set aside some time for internal work, just as a seed sprouts hidden from view covered in lush soil, so it is good to nurture one’s creative impulses in the dark, quiet spaces of the heart and home. This is a time for quiet ritual forming a clear picture of the month to come.

This particular moon has signatures of great passion, starting with the stellium of planets in Sagittarius, the sign of the new moon itself. Sagittarius is a freedom loving sign of curiousity and learning, travel to unkown far away places, and interaction with foreign people and ideas. In a sign of inquiry, this new moon sets into motion an excursion into questions and more questions. Read the rest of this entry »

April 17, 2004

Astrologers can be Hazardous to Your (Spiritual) Health

The study, practice and use of astrology provide several benefits to a spiritual aspirant. Astrology is a language. Like English or mathematics, astrology is a set of representative symbols which stand for various aspects of human experience and can be manipulated in the mind to enhance meaning and understanding. However, where English and elementary mathematics are languages for the rational, linear mind, astrology and other systems of divination are languages that work for and within the non-linear, intuitive mind. The human intelligence naturally has these two opposite modalities. The rational, linear mind works by dividing reality into parts and studying the details. The non-linear, intuitive intelligence, the feelings, works by observing the connections that exist between things and understanding the relationships which make things whole. Astrology is a wholistic language. Read the rest of this entry »