Spirituality

Unmasking Dark Energies: Recognising and Protecting Against Deceptive Power

Introduction

Not all who appear charming, wise, or spiritual act with integrity. Just as there are people who radiate love, loyalty, and compassion, there are others who mask selfishness, jealousy, and manipulation beneath a false exterior. These individuals, energetically parasitic in nature, can have devastating effects on the lives they touch. Recognising them is the first step toward reclaiming personal power and preventing further harm.

Recognising Dark Energies

Deceptive energies often come disguised. They wear masks of charisma, spiritual insight, or generosity. They may seem attractive, popular, or even enlightened. Yet behind the façade lies a pattern of lies, cheating, emotional manipulation, and exploitation. Their tactics include:

  • Using sex disguised as love to drain energy and exert control.
  • Isolating victims from friends and family, much like narcissistic abusers.
  • Running emotionally hot and cold – one moment affectionate, the next distant or cruel.
  • Exploiting projects or causes “for humanity” as a cover for personal gain.

Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, they cloak their true nature beneath charm and apparent kindness, only to exploit those who let down their guard. Others experience this energy as being caught in a spider’s web, where every struggle only strengthens the predator’s grip until the victim is drained of vitality.

These behaviours align with what psychologists describe as manipulative and narcissistic abuse patterns¹. Gaslighting – a deliberate attempt to confuse and destabilise another’s perception of reality – is also common, leaving victims doubting their own memories, intuition, and sanity².

The Spell Effect

Many describe their entanglement with such individuals as being under a spell, a magnetic pull that defies logic. This effect has been compared to “psychic vampirism,” where one feeds off another’s energy³. The victim may notice synchronicities, telepathic impressions, or dream visitations, further confusing the mind and heart. In extreme cases, this energetic exchange resembles possession, leaving victims behaving in uncharacteristic or destructive ways.

Energetically, these dynamics can be understood as “cording”- where psychic hooks are formed through desire, fear, depression, or trauma. Such cords can be consciously cut through ritual, meditation, or sound practices, but often require significant inner work and external support.

Consequences

The aftermath of such relationships can be devastating:

  • Emotional exhaustion, confusion, and despair.
  • Disrupted friendships or family ties.
  • Prolonged grief and “dark night of the soul” experiences⁴.
  • Physical or energetic symptoms such as lethargy, depression, or suicidal ideation.
  • Trauma stored in the body, manifesting as chronic pain, digestive issues, or immune dysfunction⁵.

For many, this period marks a breaking point that requires deep courage, inner work, and sometimes spiritual intervention to overcome. Survivors often describe the experience as “reality altering,” with long-term impacts on self-esteem and trust.

Psychological and Spiritual Dynamics

From a psychological standpoint, these relationships often involve trauma bonding, where cycles of abuse are interspersed with intermittent affection, creating a powerful chemical dependency in the brain. Victims become addicted to the highs and lows, confusing pain with passion and mistaking control for intimacy².

Spiritually, dark energies operate from a state disconnected from higher vibrational sources. Like the “Dementors” in Harry Potter, they survive by draining joy and light from others. Cross-cultural traditions also speak of such forces – beings that feed on fear, suffering, desire, or life force. Dion Fortune’s early writings on psychic self-defense highlight how such entities exploit weaknesses in the aura or energetic field⁶.

Breaking Free and Protection

Escaping the web of dark energies requires both practical and spiritual strategies:

  • Boundaries: Do not allow them into your home, especially your bedroom.
  • Cleansing: Smudge with sage, burn incense, rearrange living spaces, and discard or cleanse any gifts.
  • Salt baths and sunlight: Equal parts salt and bicarbonate baths followed by sun exposure for at least 20 minutes helps cleanse and restore energetic balance.
  • Cord-cutting rituals: Visualisations of severing unhealthy energetic ties can restore autonomy.
  • Sound and movement: Drumming, chanting, or shaking the body can break stagnant energy.
  • Avoid alcohol/drugs: These weaken the energetic field, making one more vulnerable.
  • Ceremony and Support: For some, traditional Indigenous ceremonies or other spiritual practices provide powerful release⁷.
  • Therapeutic support: Trauma-informed counselling, bodywork, or somatic therapies help integrate the psychological aftermath⁵.

Family and friends may notice red flags before the individual does. Listening to trusted voices can help break through the fog of manipulation. Supporting someone entangled in such dynamics requires patience, compassion, and non-judgement, pressuring them often pushes them deeper into the web.

Transformation and Gifts of Survival

Though shattering, these encounters often become profound initiations. Survivors report:

  • Heightened discernment, able to “spot” manipulative energy quickly.
  • Greater empathy for others caught in abusive dynamics.
  • A deeper connection to spiritual guidance and inner strength.
  • A renewed commitment to healthy relationships based on respect, honesty, and integrity.

This is the paradox: dark energies break us open, but in doing so they can also illuminate hidden wounds, pushing us toward healing and awakening. Once you have faced and recognised them, you carry the strength and discernment to never be deceived in the same way again. Awareness becomes protection, and protection becomes freedom.

References

  1. Brown, B. (2016). Disarming the narcissist: Surviving and thriving with the self-absorbed (2nd ed.). New Harbinger Publications.
  2. Forward, S. (1997). Emotional blackmail. HarperCollins.
  3. Masters, J. (2018). Energy vampires: How to deal with emotional vampires and energy drainers. CreateSpace Independent Publishing.
  4. May, G. G. (2004). The dark night of the soul: A psychiatrist explores the connection between darkness and spiritual growth. HarperOne.
  5. van der Kolk, B. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.
  6. Fortune, D. (2001). Psychic self-defense. Weiser Books. (Original work published 1930).
  7. Atkinson, J. (2002). Trauma trails: Recreating song lines. Spinifex Press.

Beyond the “Toxic” Label: Healing the Wounded Masculine and Feminine

For quite some time now I’ve found myself sitting with the word “toxic”, a word that’s everywhere when people talk about behaviour.

In particular the phrase: “toxic masculinity” has been bothering me. As too has the phrase “he/she is toxic”.

I see it spoken of often, but I have never liked it because it feels heavy, final… and wrong because I don’t see toxicity at the root of these behaviours. I see wounds. I see a distortion of a once-sacred energy that has been bent out of shape by fear, silence, and survival. And we all carry it, men and women alike.

When we label a person as being “toxic,” we risk closing the door on that person’s healing. We make it sound as though the essence of the person in and of itself is dangerous, rather than acknowledging that the person and their original energy has been wounded and misdirected. Distorted energy is not beyond repair, it can be realised, the sacred remembered and restored, and brought back into harmony.

The Feminine Energy

The feminine is the receptive, intuitive, and nurturing force. She is the part of us that listens before acting, feels before deciding, and values connection over conquest.

Feminine qualities include:

  • Intuition – sensing beyond logic
  • Receptivity – openness to ideas, emotions, and experiences
  • Creativity – birthing visions, art, or possibilities
  • Compassion – empathy and care for self and others
  • Flow – moving with life rather than forcing it

When the feminine becomes wounded or distorted, it may show up as:

  • Over-giving and self-sacrifice
  • Difficulty setting boundaries
  • Suppressing one’s own needs to keep the peace
  • Emotional manipulation or withdrawal

The Masculine Energy

The masculine is the active, structured, and directional force. He is the part of us that creates plans, builds systems, and protects what matters.

Masculine qualities include:

  • Action – decisive movement towards a goal
  • Structure – healthy boundaries and discipline
  • Focus – clarity of vision and sustained attention
  • Protection – creating safe containers for growth
  • Logic – reasoning and problem-solving

When the masculine becomes wounded or distorted, it may show up as:

  • Control and domination
  • Suppressing emotion or rejecting vulnerability
  • Overwork and constant striving without rest
  • Aggression without cause
  • Seeing relationships or the earth as resources to be used rather than honoured

Why We Need Both

Neither energy is “better” than the other. Too much masculine without feminine can lead to burnout, control, and emotional disconnection. Too much feminine without masculine can leave us ungrounded, directionless, or unable to act on our visions. Healthy integration is the goal, the masculine providing structure for the feminine to flow, and the feminine infusing the masculine with heart and meaning.

Steps Toward Rebalancing

  • If you’re running on overdrive (masculine-heavy):
    Slow down, rest, journal, spend unstructured time in nature, or create without a deadline.
  • If you’re feeling unmoored (feminine-heavy):
    Set a clear, achievable goal, make a plan, and take the first step.

Why Language Matters

The words we use shape the energy of the conversation. When we say “toxic masculinity,” we unintentionally code the entire masculine essence as harmful. But if we speak of wounded or distorted energy, we acknowledge the hurt without erasing the sacred form underneath.

This shift in language invites compassion for Self and others and from compassion, real change becomes possible.

Recommended Reading

  1. “King, Warrior, Magician, Lover” – Robert Moore & Douglas Gillette
    A map of masculine archetypes and how they can be healthy or distorted.
  2. “Women Who Run With the Wolves” – Clarissa Pinkola Estés
    Reclaiming the instinctual feminine through myth and story.
  3. “The Way of the Superior Man” – David Deida
    Masculine purpose, polarity, and presence for all genders.
  4. “The Heroine’s Journey” – Maureen Murdock
    Exploring the feminine quest and the return to self.
  5. “Warrior Goddess Training” – HeatherAsh Amara
    Blending inner strength with self-compassion.
  6. “Sacred Union” – Anaiya Sophia
    The alchemy of divine feminine and masculine energies.

Final Reflection

This conversation isn’t about criticising the masculine or glorifying the feminine, it’s about remembering that both are sacred, both can be wounded, and both are needed. By speaking of distortion instead of toxicity, we leave space for healing, for truth, and for a return to balance.

© Cheryl O’Connor, 2025. All rights reserved.
Please do not reproduce without permission. Sharing with credit and a link is welcome.

Disclaimer: The information shared in this article and chart is for awareness and self-reflection only. It is not intended as psychological, medical, or therapeutic advice. If you are experiencing distress, please seek support from a qualified professional.

Nocturnal Communion:

When the Dream Lover Comes Bearing Fire

“Dreamtime lover comes to me,
helping me to clearly see
all I truly need to know—
your love for me you always show.

Guiding me to do what’s right,
giving me strength and insight.
Physically separate but living as One,
teaching me what needs to be done.

Knowing our love only grows and can never end,
as you assist me gradually to my Self mend.”

Have you ever woken with your body humming, breath quickened, heart strangely full? A dream so vivid, it left you aching—or glowing—with something you couldn’t quite name?

So many whisper it quietly:
“I had the most intense dream last night… but I can’t tell you. It’s too much.”

But I say, tell me everything. Because these dreams? They are sacred. They’re not just about sex. They are about energy. Integration. Memory. Reclamation.

We give this energy so many names: sexual energy, creative energy, Kundalini, God, Goddess, Great Spirit, Divine Union, Reiki, Seichim, Universal Life Force. But they are all rivers feeding the same source – the wild current of life itself. And its most ecstatic, alchemical expression? Orgasm. There’s a reason we cry out “Oh God” in those moments of deep pleasure. It’s not blasphemy. It’s a soul-deep remembering.

In dreams, anything becomes possible. We may find ourselves in the arms of a stranger, a past lover, someone we’ve never touched in waking life, but who feels as familiar as our own breath. Sometimes we merge with spirit beings, ancestors, archetypes. The forms may be surreal, symbolic, or shapeshifting, because dream lovers aren’t always literal, they’re invitations.

Invitations to reunite with soul threads. To embody the Lover, the Serpent, the Priestess, the Healer. To meet ourselves in forms we’ve long silenced or disowned. Often, it’s not about the person at all, but what they represent. Power. Passion. Tenderness. Permission. The dream body remembers what the waking mind forgets.

And let’s name the deeper truth now: soul-level communion is real. These dreams don’t always stay contained in the psyche. Sometimes, they’re shared experiences. If you’re thinking of someone with strong emotion, longing, desire, even grief, that thought becomes energy. It moves. It reaches. And if the other is attuned to you, they may feel it. Not as a conscious thought, but as a subtle frequency. A stirring in the night. A dream they can’t quite shake.

This is the intelligence of the soul field. Where time and space dissolve. Where lovers remember each other through the veil.

These dreams often arrive during times of emotional or energetic opening. When we’re grieving, creatively blocked, repressing desire, or navigating a threshold, these dreams come as messengers. They bring healing. They activate dormant parts of the body. They offer closure, clarity, confirmation. They reignite our connection to joy, to power, to the sacred yes of aliveness.

Even dream-orgasms, yes, they’re real, can be profoundly healing. Especially if touch, pleasure, or intimacy has been absent in waking life. And yet so many carry shame. They wake from these dreams wondering, “What’s wrong with me?” Especially if the imagery was strange, forbidden, or “inappropriate.” But erotic dreams don’t come to shame us, they come to liberate us.

We’ve all dreamt of partners we wouldn’t choose in the light of day, same-sex lovers, celebrities, even people from our past we’d rather forget. But dreams are symbolic. They’re the soul’s poetry. They speak in images, sensations, and metaphor. And they ask us not to judge, but to listen.

What part of me does this represent?
What wants to be felt, healed, or reintegrated?
What am I being invited to remember?

Erotic dreams are not just about sex. They’re about wholeness. They’re about power reclaimed. They’re about love, sometimes for another, often for the self. And sometimes, they are simply about joy. And that, too, is sacred. So next time your dream lover comes bearing fire, welcome them. Feel what wants to be felt. Honour what wants to be healed. And if you wake with tears, a sigh, or a sweet ache that lingers into the day, know this:

It wasn’t just a dream.
It was a remembering.

📚 Further Reading & Exploration

  1. Robert Moss – Conscious Dreaming
    On dream travel, soul connection, and shared dreaming experiences.
  2. Barbara Brennan – Hands of Light
    A classic text on energy fields, cords, and how emotion/thought affects others.
  3. Anodea Judith – Wheels of Life
    A deep dive into chakras, creative/sexual energy, and inner integration.
  4. Toko-pa Turner – Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home
    On the sacred art of dreamwork and returning to the soul’s truth.
  5. Clarissa Pinkola Estés – Women Who Run With the Wolves
    Archetypal stories that explore feminine psyche, longing, and reclamation.
  6. Mantak Chia – The Multi-Orgasmic Man/Woman
    Taoist teachings on sexual energy as sacred and transformative force.
  7. Rupert Sheldrake – Morphic Resonance
    A scientific view of non-local connection and shared fields of experience.

© Cheryl O’Connor, 2014 & 2025. All rights reserved.
Please do not reproduce without permission. Sharing with credit and a link is welcome.

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‪🌿 Explore more of my writing, creations, and soul-guided offerings at:

cheoco.net

📖 Read my book, The Promise: A Story of Love & Transformation
Download here

💫 Connect with me on Facebook:
facebook.com/cheococreates

🌕 Ever had a dream that left your soul stirred and your body buzzing?
I’d love to hear. Drop a note in the comments or share this with someone who dreams in symbols too.

Returning to My Passion After a Long Hiatus: A New Chapter

After seven years away, I’m so pleased to be returning to Dreamwork — a practice that has always held a special place in my heart and soul. While life called me in other directions for a time, the world of dreams, symbolism, and inner landscapes remained a constant, reassuring presence that helped me navigate those years.

During this time, I obtained my Social Work degree, cared for a loved one, and reconnected with my previous career in the legal world. Each of these experiences has continued to shape me, broadened my understanding of human experience, and further deepened my appreciation for the quiet, profound wisdom our dreams offer.

Dreamwork has long been a source of insight, healing, and creative exploration for me and those I’ve worked with. It’s a space where our unconscious speaks in rich images, emotions, and metaphor — and where we can gently unravel meaning, find clarity, and reconnect with parts of ourselves we may have forgotten.

Returning to this practice and sharing dream wisdom feels like coming home. With new skills, fresh perspectives, and a deepened sense of empathy, I am excited to be offering Dreamwork sessions once again, both for those new to exploring their dreams and for those looking to pick up where they may have left off. I am once again available to work with individuals through online consultations via email, phone or Microsoft Teams. Whether you’re looking to explore recurring dreams, uncover deeper meanings, or simply gain clarity from your inner landscape, I would be honoured to assist you in your transformative process.

Thank you for your support, your encouragement, and your presence. I look forward to seeing what this next chapter of Dreamwork holds for all of us.

#Dreamwork #SocialWork #ProfessionalGrowth #Healing #PersonalDevelopment #DreamExploration

ADDICTION FROM A SHAMANIC VIEWPOINT

It is becoming clearer to many that addiction is a disease or illness, not a choice we consciously make that we should be punished for. God knows we punish ourselves and suffer enough in this life without “society” and law makers punishing us further simply because we are not well. A very long time ago I read that all disease could be seen as dis-ease i.e. not being at ease or at peace with ourselves. So is addiction to anything actually really just dis-ease? The roots of which lay in learned behaviour?

Addiction is, from my perception, certainly a symptom of a far deeper cause than that which lays on the behavioural, psychological and physiological surface.  Western medicine primarily always looks at symptoms and what can be seen, attempts to treat that solely usually with chemicals or surgery and rarely does it look for causes that to the naked or microscopic eye are unseen. Yet when we find and heal cause within ourselves of physical symptoms, dis-ease, or behaviour we do not find acceptable, would like to not be experiencing or are subconsciously participating in, the symptoms just simply no longer exist. From birth we are taught to seek outside ourselves for what we need to make us feel good – love, encouragement, nurturing, guidance, cuddles, belief in ourselves etc.

As the child of an alcoholic step-father and cigarette smoking mother their addictions became learned behaviour for me so it stood to reason that as they were the two main ways in which I was shown adults behaved and coped with whatever they were trying to cope with, that I would naturally follow in their footsteps. As a teenager from about 14 onwards after a rape situation occurred I began to consume cigarettes. Not long after when I left home due to the situation I was living in there, I began to consume alcohol and drugs to the point I damn near killed myself. Surviving on little food, drugs, cigarettes, coffee and alcohol was not at all healthy, nor was it a good mix, reducing my weight so dramatically after six months, the only clothes I could wear were size 16 children’s clothing and I was so unwell that not even my own mother recognised me.

I didn’t feel that anyone cared about me, so why should I care? What did it really matter whether I lived or not? All I wanted to do was have a good time and feel better. I did not want, at all, to feel the pain and sadness of not feeling loved, cared for, cared about or understood, of being hit, yelled at, controlled, nor the fear of the alcoholic induced, often physical, arguments and abuse I had been living with since about 6 years of age on a regular and totally unpredictable basis.

To say I, like so many people in this world, grew up in a dysfunctional environment is putting it mildly. My consumption of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes lessened for a short while after another whose love for me quite literally saved my life by showing me they were the only person in my life who did care which gave me the gift of hope and I once again started ingesting regular meals.   I then slid back into copious ingesting of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes whenever I got the opportunity to do so after I was involved in a fatal car accident at 17 in which the young man I had been living with for six months was killed. Back in those days there was no counselling available like there is now.

There was also no funeral and no grave for this young man who lost his life to a drunk driver at only 23 years of age. I was seriously injured and it took a good six months for me to learn how to walk again. The only words I heard at the time from my step-father were “Write down how much pain you are in each day so we can get more money.” The only people in my family who even said they were sorry I had been injured and this young man had died was my mother and one of my step-brothers.   For everyone else in my immediate circle it seemed to me to be a case of suck it up buttercup and just get on with your life.

Drugs, cigarettes and alcohol became my friends, they numbed me from feeling all that was going on inside me. They distracted me and they became my “pain killers”, my “feel good medicine” of choice because I simply had no knowledge of other coping skills I could utilise. The catch being, as all addicts know, is that once we start down this path our brains and our bodies tell us we need more and more “feel good medicine” and “pain killers” to maintain that feel good state of being, to actually cope and survive, to not feel all that pain, anger, grief and sadness living within us that is so very real and raw and it is a very slippery slope we travel until eventually we either kill our bodies or our lives fall apart so badly we hit rock bottom.

We have two choices if we actually do survive and hit rock bottom, continue as we have done and physically die, or trawl the depths and start to bounce back from what feels like the bottomless black hole we have been sucked into that also very much feels like a literal hell or nightmare there often seems to be no escaping from.   Thankfully I was one who chose to trawl the depths and bounce back when in 1992 at 28 I was again faced with my own impending physical death.

What I came to understand as I started to walk the path of the Shaman which was a path that at the time I had no clue I was even walking, was that I, like so many other folk in this world, was actually experiencing what in Shamanic terms is known as Soul loss.

Soul loss can best be described as us becoming like the walking dead, merely surviving, not living and thriving as was intended, simply because who we truly are is not fully present in our bodies.  Parts of us that have not wanted to feel grief, trauma, fear, shock, loss or pain have fragmented off into the subconscious abyss and in very simple terms it is like we are not fully at home in our bodies when we are ingesting substances or distracting ourselves with addictive behaviours or by external means in order to make us feel better or not feel our pain. It is literally like we have huge energetic holes in us, great gaping wounds that we defend, need others to fill, or don’t want to feel the pain of because they are so raw and we are so very vulnerable.

These energetic holes we have, we attempt to fill with external substances or means which consequentially then just make our bodies and our minds very sick indeed. We behave in ways not previously known to us once we start on the road of addiction and it is also not behaviour that those close to us know from us as being “normal”. How many times does the drunken or high person just not seem to be themselves? It is like we become totally different people, often aggressive, angry, totally uncaring and hurtful towards others simply because we are hurting and we just don’t give a damn. We become harmful to ourselves and others and we often have absolutely no memory the next day of our behaviour.

Our behaviour however is NOT us, it is a symptom or cover up if you like hiding whatever we have experienced or been conditioned to believe. How many times does the drunken or drugged person lash out in Jekyll and Hyde fashion?   You never really know what to expect but you just know that who you know that person to be is no longer present in the body in front of you.   This is because we are definitely NOT ourselves at all. Who we truly are is no longer contained in our bodies. What primarily happens with ingesting alcohol and drugs is that when who we truly are checks out of our bodies it’s like an empty house and other “darker” energies with perhaps not so good intentions take over.   This may seem like a very strange and far-fetched concept to many but perhaps for those who have lived it, seen it in others, you will know precisely what I am referring to.

So… how do we heal these gaps and holes we try to fill by external means? How do we stop this happening? How do we change our behaviour? How do we become fully present in our bodies and become whole, well and healthy again?   There is only one way I personally found and that was firstly to make a decision I didn’t want to be that way any longer given that I was so out of control at times, often very re-active, aggressive, defensive, angry, miserable, depressed and more times than not, suicidal.

I did not do the whole re-hab thing, nor did I do AA or have any other types of support in place similar to those, I just said enough when I was faced with my own impending physical death, for the fear of death at 28, which I no longer carry, put the wind up me, literally, and I prayed like I had never prayed in my life prior to be free of it all and to feel nothing but peace, love and acceptance within me.

What ensued was 10 solid years of feeling ever so much grief, trauma, pain, confusion and sadness as I firstly turned to alternative therapies to help heal my body because all the doctors I saw over a six month period all said there was nothing wrong with me – here have some Prozac, meanwhile my body was shutting down more and more each day.   I uncovered and discovered all my physical symptoms were due to constant abuse and unfelt emotions, which I also discovered did not just come from this lifetime but past lifetime experiences as well, all of which had resulted in symptoms associated with having a blocked small intestine and kidneys that were barely working.

I trusted all I was drawn to and underwent attunement to Reiki/Seichim, learnt how to work with my dreams, attended many courses, began walking, meditations and yoga, ate better, studied for two Diplomas in Counselling, one Holistic, one standard that also included some alternative modalities. I read all I could get my hands on, discovering along the way many fragmented parts of me, along with many gifts and skills I never even knew existed within me. Gradually my addictions abated but always there is work to be done.

Physical pains were always linked in with emotional pain, the true cause and source of which came to me either via dreaming or during meditations (which is really the same state of consciousness) and it truly was only in the fully feeling of ALL the emotions that bubbled up from within me and by integrating/re-membering i.e. bringing into being, the fragmented parts of me I re-connected with in The Dreaming, that eventually there was peace. I came to see that time did not exist as we know it to exist, that past definitely has an impact on the present until we heal it by fully feeling it and releasing it (shutting the door on it and just saying past is past, forget it and get on with your life, simply does not work) and that the emotions which came with memories or in the dreaming, meditations etc., were just energy passing through.

Rather than numbing those emotions, once felt and released, with each and every process of integration and release, a strength, love, acceptance, understanding and peace began filling me up like nothing I had ever experienced before. There is an old saying you may have heard of – The cup must be emptied before it can be filled.   This was certainly the case for me and I began to live by the motto which Jamie Sams brought into the world “To feel is to heal.”

Emotional pain is the LAST thing any of us want to feel – we do everything we can to avoid it yet it is only in feeling it, that we truly do heal it and are free of it. Was it easy work?   Definitely not.   Was it lonely work? It certainly was. Was it worth it? Without a doubt. For I learnt the hard way that no matter what I chose to ingest that was external to me, no matter how much I sought love and acceptance externally from others, no matter what I did to feel “better”, and no matter how “strong” I had been to just carry on Columbus and survive it all, the real strength came when I turned fully inward to find, eventually, all I needed was already inside me for me the love, peace, wisdom, knowing and acceptance I was seeking only came when I paid attention to what my dreams and daily life were showing me and what my memories and emotions were telling me about myself and about life. As I uncovered who I truly was I also discovered there would never be a need again for me to re-cover my Self.

To free ourselves from addiction is a huge undertaking as there is so much in this world we can become attached and addicted to. It is however achievable if we have the courage, faith and trust needed to turn inward, face our fears, grief, pain and trauma, feel it all fully and be free of it once and for all. Many of us are so busy telling our stories, which whilst important, does not enable us to actually feel the emotion contained in those stories for our stories come from our heads.

No-one can do this work for us, it is something we all must do for ourselves for it is only in doing for Self that we become more Self-aware, more Self responsible, heal and become more Self empowered. It is not at all selfish to do this work for it brings about self-centeredness, balance, peace, love, acceptance, respect for all life and an awareness of our wholeness with all life, like nothing else we have ever experienced can, all of which is then reflected back to us in the world.

The choice whether we do this work or not is entirely ours to make. We can keep going as we have been or we can quite literally turn our whole world and reality around by coming from the inside out and in doing so move out of the nightmare of externalism, blame, victim mentality, attack, defence and addiction.

Much love and peace to all.

Cheers, Cheryl.

Copyright. C. O’Connor.

Grab your free copy of my Dreamwork Booklet at http://bit.ly/CheocoNews when you sign up for my monthly Newsletter.

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#Cheryl O’Connor.
#Holistic #Counsellor, Author & Writer.

* Cognitive & Body Based Counselling.
* Creative & Artistic Therapies.
* Specialising in #Dream #Analysis/#Conscious #Dreaming & #Shamanic Journeying.
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FROG – CLEANSING

Welcome to the first in a series of articles that will explore the very generalised symbolism associated with certain animals.  Frog is known to call out when rain is needed and is all about cleansing and renewal. A tadpole looks exactly the same as a foetus and like Frog we firstly grow in water, forming in a similar fashion to Frog.Frog has a cycle of growth, not unlike Butterfly and relates to the growth and transformation that occurs when we cleanse our bodies and Souls with our tears. Frog is primarily water “medicine”.Frog can bring a message to slow down and allow yourself to feel your emotions. It may be that you could benefit from a long soak in the tub to clear away the mental or physical muck that has accumulated.There is an ancient practice associated with Frog Medicine where the Shaman or Medicine person would place water in their mouth and spray it over the body of a sick person to clear away accumulated negative energy.

With the rain that Frog calls out for when the Earth is dry, comes renewal, it is no different for us for when we remove the muck and mud through cleansing and releasing, we too are renewed.

If Frog appears it can be about these things but it can also be about our unwillingness to remove the muck, unstick ourselves from the mud we have accumulated. It could also be about allowing ourselves to become so involved with other folks issues, dramas and problems that we have become overwhelmed or are feeling drained or that perhaps we have immersed ourselves in one particular aspect of our life and need to get ourselves out of our dry ruts.

It speaks of obtaining a different viewpoint also and that it would be beneficial to take a break, re-new and re-vitalise yourself.

Like all symbols – what Frog means to you will be based on your own perceptions and experiences – generalised meanings are just helpful starting points for you to explore further if you choose to.

Copyright C. O’Connor 2014.

•*´☾☆☽`*•…

‪#‎Cheryl‬ O’Connor.
‪#‎Holistic‬ ‪#‎Counsellor‬, Author & Writer.

* Cognitive & Body Based Counselling.
* Creative & Artistic Therapies.
* Specialising in ‪#‎Dream‬ ‪#‎Analysis‬/‪#‎Conscious‬ ‪#‎Dreaming‬ & ‪#‎Shamanic‬ Journeying.
* ‪#‎Reiki‬/‪#‎Seichim‬ Treatments & Attunements.
* Isis ‪#‎Meditation‬.

Newsletter Subscription @ bit.ly/CheocoNews – All subscribers will receive a 10% discount on their first initial consultation for any of my services along with 10 pages of awesome tips and tricks to help you start deciphering the language of your Soul, your dreams, as well as the symbolism of what appears to you daily.

Website @ www.cheocoenterprises.com
My book The Promise, Skype & Email Consultations Available – bit.ly/Cheocoshop

FB: https://www.facebook.com/cheocoenterprises
Skype: cheryloconnor333

Twitter: Cheryl O’Connor@Cheoco99
Email: cheoco99@yahoo.com.au

COLOUR ME A RAINBOW

“The farther you enter into the Truth

The deeper it is.”

Zen Master Bankei

 
Colours like everything else that appears in your life, which includes your dreams, for they are not separate to your so called waking reality, do so for a reason.

The colours of the rainbow correspond to the colours of the main seven energy centres within the body known as Chakras.  It can be helpful in understanding what your dreams are telling you to know what specific colours mean for you.

For example you may dream you are wearing yellow clothing/protection for your naked vulnerable body or Self. Clothing can be symbolic of the attitudes we present to the outside world and if that were the case for you – you would therefore know that your present attitude related not only to an issue with the corresponding chakra but also to the symbolism of yellow.  Depending on everything else that occurs in your experience this information would, at the very least, give you some clues to start working with.

Whilst only you can ever know what a specific symbol or colour means for you, as a very basic guideline I present the following for your information and consideration.

Red – Base Chakra – Being grounded, passionate, sensual.  Can symbolise blood – the life force that pumps around our bodies via our intake of oxygen and it can also relate to wounds and anger. It is said that wearing red and black can be a powerful message of assertiveness but it can also unknowingly to many trigger subconsciously another’s wounds creating re-actions.

Orange – Sacral Chakra – The colour of flamboyance, tolerance, change, confidence, emotional balance, striving, happiness and of being social.

Yellow – Solar Plexus – This colour stimulates mental discrimination, discipline, organisation and its’ healing energy works on fear and can symbolise fear.

Green – Heart Chakra – Healing, growth, expansion and harmony.

Blue – Throat Chakra – Communication, truth, compassion, patience, sensitivity and contemplation.  Can sometimes relate to needing to speak your truth.

Purple – Brow Chakra – The colour of inspiration, vision and turning into the inner worlds.

White – Crown Chakra – Spirituality, Spirit, purifying, divine love and wholeness.

Pink – Is said to be associated with love.

Black – Is said to relate to the depths of the Subconscious, which some see as being our own darkness.

So, if for example I were to come across a Red Belly Black Snake as I have many times and also did recently by way of a picture someone put up on Facebook – to me that would indicate that the healing (general symbolism for Snake in its most basic form) of a subconscious wound was on its way.

In relation to the Rainbow there is an old story that the first Rainbow appeared after the great flood that covered the Earth. It was said to be “God’s” message and promise that “he” would never destroy the Earth and its people again.   It is a symbol of hope and often when there has been rain, just as we too go through emotional releasing and storms in our life, we emerge from those with hope and the sun starts to shine again.

Then there are the pot of gold at the end of the Rainbow stories along with the Rainbow Serpent stories belonging to the Indigenous folk of Australia.  There is also the story about Teewah at Fraser Island here in Australia that relates to the Coloured Sands found there.

The Native Americans also have their own stories about the Rainbow as no doubt so too do other Indigenous cultures.

The use of colour can be very therapeutic revealing much to us in relation to blockages of energy that are occurring within our bodies when used either in water colour therapy or by using different coloured cloths to make an abstract picture of what is really going on inside us when words just don’t cut it. Visualisation of breathing in certain colours, when done in a cyclic breathing sequence, can assist clearing out blockages, releasing emotions and pain and bringing life force back into all parts of our bodies.

Advances in technology have shown us that photographs can be taken which clearly show the human aura as consisting of colours also.

There is much more to colour than many of us realise and it pays to pay attention to what colours you are drawn to and what they are really telling you.

Cheers, Cheryl.

Copyright C. O’Connor 2014.

 

•*´☾☆☽`*•…

‪#‎Cheryl‬ O’Connor.
‪#‎Holistic‬ ‪#‎Counsellor‬, Author & Writer.

* Cognitive & Body Based Counselling.
* Creative & Artistic Therapies.
* Specialising in ‪#‎Dream‬ ‪#‎Analysis‬/‪#‎Conscious‬ ‪#‎Dreaming‬ & ‪#‎Shamanic‬ Journeying.
* ‪#‎Reiki‬/‪#‎Seichim‬ Treatments & Attunements.
* Isis ‪#‎Meditation‬.

Newsletter Subscription @ bit.ly/CheocoNews – All subscribers will receive a 10% discount on their first initial consultation for any of my services along with 10 pages of awesome tips and tricks to help you start deciphering the language of your Soul, your dreams, as well as the symbolism of what appears to you daily.

Website @ www.cheocoenterprises.com
My book The Promise, Skype & Email Consultations Available – bit.ly/Cheocoshop

FB: https://www.facebook.com/cheocoenterprises
Skype: cheryloconnor333

Twitter: Cheryl O’Connor@Cheoco99
Email: cheoco99@yahoo.com.au

 

 

THE SYMBOLIC NATURE OF WEATHER

How often do you really notice the weather and its’ reflection of what is going on inside of you at the time?

It never ceases to amaze me how often I hear folk saying what a horrible day it is when it is raining, or it’s not going to be a good weekend due to rain.  Have you ever noticed this?  Does everyone really expect to walk only in the sunshine?

To me many people seem to become thoroughly miserable when it rains and I often wonder why folk choose to run for shelter and protection when it does rain.  Are we all going to melt or something if we get wet? Or… is this running for protection and shelter symbolic of people really not wanting to do the inner work that would bring about cleansing and change by fully feeling their emotions?

If you stop and pay attention to your feelings when it is raining you may just find that you are going through some sort of emotional releasing process yourself.  Frogs always call out in the rain and generally speaking frogs symbolise transformation and also cleansing, as does rain. Sometimes the rain can just be a drizzle, other times a damn good downpour – how does this relate to your emotions?

When the rain stops so too do the frogs.  The Sun then comes out again representing warmth and light and everything on the Earth is fresh and clean again.  Sometimes we may even see a Rainbow – symbolically speaking the colours of the Rainbow are a reflection of the colours of our Chakras – now all shining brightly due to our internal cleansing.

Floods are symbolic of major emotional releasing within human beings – if emotions aren’t released prior to one occurring by all of us being aware of and listening to our inner life then our emotions will certainly be released with the damage a flood causes.

Fog represents emotional cloudiness and many times when fog appears if you look at what is going on for you, you will soon notice that perhaps your mental and emotional faculties are not as crisp as they usually are.  Perhaps you are in a state of confusion over something.

I’ve also noticed that Wind is not only related to “the winds of change” but in some instances anger.  So perhaps cyclones, tornados and hurricanes are symbolic of the collective consciousness needing to release that energy from themselves and the Earth.  The Earth symbolises the physical body.

Lightening and Storms are my favourites because they produce incredible energy and transformation for the Earth and all who live on her.  I like nothing better than to watch a damn good storm.   There is a Native American story I read once where a storm is described in a similar way to what follows:

Mother Earth and Father Sky (being the feminine and masculine aspects of Creation) show their love for each other in a storm.  The Thunder Beings announce the prelude to the love making session between the two, sometimes it’s a slow rumble other times it gets extremely noisy.  The Wind being the element of Spirit and Life Force plays a major part of the foreplay and can start off being gentle, soft and caressing leading up to wild and turbulent as the passion between the energies increases.

As the intensity of this beautiful lovemaking performance gains momentum and reaches a climax the lightening begins to strike the Earth Mother, charging the Earth’s energy grids with new life force – bit like sperm in a sense with the Earth being the ovum I suppose.  Then usually comes the rain which just like sperm impregnates the Earth Mother enabling her to nourish new life and continue growth.

Bet you’ll never think of a storm in the same way again.  I know I don’t.

Hail would therefore, to my way of thinking, represent cold long held onto emotions which need releasing.  Usually when a storm hits, again if you pay attention to what is going on in your life you may just realise that it is a marvellous reflection of what is happening for you.  We often use the terms “The calm before the Storm”, or “A storm in a teacup” when referring to personal circumstances but do we actually realise what we are truly saying?  We all know that with any big storm there is the “eye” – “I” of the Storm where peace and calm exist.  Again a beautiful reflection of our own “I” or centre where no matter what is going on around us externally peace and calm can be obtained by focussing on our breath and centering ourselves.

Whilst in some cultures the Sun represents the feminine, for me it represents the Masculine – “God/Great Spirit shining “his” light on the World.  The Moon again in some cultures represents the Masculine – for me it represents the feminine.

Not only do we hide from the rain but many of us hide from the Sun in fear of sun cancers.  We spend millions if not billions of dollars world-wide buying skin protection creams that are full of chemicals.  We believe we will get burnt by the Sun if we are exposed to it for too long.  We then dump the containers of the protective sunscreens into the Earth.

I have to wonder if perhaps many of the skin cancers that have only been developing in recent times aren’t in fact due to the fact that many of us have become extremely lazy, spending most of our time indoors in artificial environments, or if perhaps, just maybe the skin cancers are occurring due to all the chemicals that go into the production of our food and drinking water which we then ingest.  We also put an endless assortment of chemicals into our bodies in order to try and “heal” it and “protect” it.

Without a balance of rain, sun, wind and storms there would simply be no life on this planet.  So next time it’s raining perhaps instead of complaining about it we could all just actually stop and enjoy it fully whilst giving thanks for the gifts of cleansing, growth and change it actually brings us.

How long has it been since you stood barefoot on Mother Earth and let the gifts of rain wash over you and through you?

Cheers, Cheryl.

Copyright C. O’Connor 2014.

 

•*´☾☆☽`*•…

‪#‎Cheryl‬ O’Connor.
‪#‎Holistic‬ ‪#‎Counsellor‬, Author & Writer.

* Cognitive & Body Based Counselling.
* Creative & Artistic Therapies.
* Specialising in ‪#‎Dream‬ ‪#‎Analysis‬/‪#‎Conscious‬ ‪#‎Dreaming‬ & ‪#‎Shamanic‬ Journeying.
* ‪#‎Reiki‬/‪#‎Seichim‬ Treatments & Attunements.
* Isis ‪#‎Meditation‬.

Newsletter Subscription @ bit.ly/CheocoNews – All subscribers will receive a 10% discount on their first initial consultation for any of my services along with 10 pages of awesome tips and tricks to help you start deciphering the language of your Soul, your dreams, as well as the symbolism of what appears to you daily.

Website @ www.cheocoenterprises.com
My book The Promise, Skype & Email Consultations Available – bit.ly/Cheocoshop

FB: https://www.facebook.com/cheocoenterprises
Skype: cheryloconnor333

Twitter: Cheryl O’Connor@Cheoco99
Email: cheoco99@yahoo.com.au

Re-Membering the Self: Healing What Was Forgotten

Have you ever felt like pieces of you are missing—like you walk through life with invisible gaps you can’t explain?

This is the quiet legacy of trauma. Our cultural conditioning, childhood wounds, and the unspoken energies of fear and abuse cause us to shut parts of ourselves away in order to survive. When the pain feels too much to bear, fragments of our being retreat into the subconscious, creating protective walls that shield us from further harm. These fragments remain hidden, but they continue to shape our lives—surfacing as re-actions instead of conscious responses.¹

We may find ourselves repeating patterns we do not want, pushing people away when we long for closeness, or filling inner holes with addictions, distractions, or relationships that never quite heal the emptiness. This is not because we are broken. It is because parts of us are waiting to come home.

The Body Remembers

Trauma is not just stored in memory—it is stored in the body.² ³ Muscles tighten, breathing shortens, the nervous system learns to expect danger. What could not be felt at the time becomes lodged in the cells of our being. Over the years, these unprocessed fragments may create illness or dis-ease—literally, a body not at ease with itself.

To become whole, we must re-member. This is more than recalling with the mind. It is bringing lost parts back into the membrane of our being, allowing ourselves to feel what was once too terrifying or overwhelming to feel. Only then can the energy move through the body and transform.

The Dreaming as Gateway

The Dreaming is one of the most powerful gateways for this re-membering. Some call it dreaming, astral travel, shamanic journeying, meditation, past life regression, or even moments of drift between sleep and waking.⁴ ⁵ All are expressions of the same expanded field of consciousness, where the boundaries of time dissolve and all is now.

Indigenous wisdom teaches that Dreaming is not confined to the past but is a living reality in which ancestors, land, and spirit continually speak.⁶ ⁷ Western depth psychology echoes this, recognising the dreamworld as the symbolic landscape of the psyche where hidden parts of the self may return.⁸ ⁹

Through The Dreaming, we gain access to the fragments of self split off by trauma. These encounters may appear as dream figures, symbolic landscapes, or re-enactments of old wounds. By engaging with them—through dream journaling, reflection, or guided processes—we can shift the patterns not only of this lifetime but also those carried across generations.¹⁰

Healing Across Time

We cannot change what happened in the past. But we can change how the past lives within us. When we meet a reactive trigger in daily life as if it were a dream symbol, we open the door to healing. Instead of repeating the same re-action, we can respond differently—re-writing the imprint, releasing the body’s grip, and restoring flow to the soul.

Transgenerational trauma research shows that unhealed wounds ripple down through families, shaping the lives of children and grandchildren.¹¹ Yet the reverse is also true: when one person chooses to re-member and transform their pain, the healing radiates outward, offering release to both ancestors and descendants. In this way, personal re-membering becomes collective re-membering.

Returning to Wholeness

As we call these parts home, the walls we built for protection soften. Instead of holes we try to fill, we discover fullness already within us. Instead of patterns that sabotage, we find space for conscious choice.

This is not easy work. It asks us to feel what we once ran from, to sit with grief, pain, fear, and sadness. But on the other side of the feeling lies integration. And with integration comes freedom—the freedom of being wholly ourselves.

We were never truly broken. We were only waiting to be whole again.

Reflection for You

Is there a dream, memory, or reactive moment that has been returning to you? Sit with it gently. Treat it as you would a dream symbol. Ask: What part of me is calling to come home? Then listen—not with the mind alone, but with the body and the heart.

Each fragment re-membered is life-force returned.

© Cheryl O’Connor, 2014 and 2025. All rights reserved.
Please do not reproduce without permission. Sharing with credit and a link is welcome.

References

  1. Herman, J. L. (1992). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence—from domestic abuse to political terror. New York: Basic Books.

  2. Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. New York: Viking.

  3. Ogden, P., & Fisher, J. (2015). Sensorimotor psychotherapy: Interventions for trauma and attachment. New York: W. W. Norton.

  4. Hillman, J. (1979). The dream and the underworld. New York: Harper & Row.

  5. Jung, C. G. (1960). The structure and dynamics of the psyche (Collected Works Vol. 8). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

  6. Rose, D. B. (1996). Nourishing terrains: Australian Aboriginal views of landscape and wilderness. Canberra: Australian Heritage Commission.

  7. Atkinson, J. (2002). Trauma trails, recreating song lines: The transgenerational effects of trauma in Indigenous Australia. North Melbourne: Spinifex Press.

  8. Yunkaporta, T. (2019). Sand talk: How Indigenous thinking can save the world. Melbourne: Text Publishing.

  9. Nakata, M. (2007). Disciplining the savages, savaging the disciplines. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.

  10. Watkins, M., & Shulman, H. (2008). Toward psychologies of liberation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

  11. Danieli, Y. (Ed.). (1998). International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma. New York: Springer.

MENTAL ILLNESS OR… SPIRITUAL CRISIS?

For many years now people everywhere have been and still are “… undergoing a profound personal transformation associated with spiritual opening. Under favourable circumstances, this process results in emotional healing, a radical shift in values, and a profound awareness of the mystical dimension of existence. For some, these changes are gradual and relatively smooth, but for others they can be so rapid and dramatic that they interfere with effective everyday functioning, creating tremendous inner turmoil. Unfortunately, many traditional health-care professionals do not recognise the potential of these crises; they often see them as manifestations of mental disease and respond with stigmatising labels, suppressive drugs and even institutionalisation.”

Personally, I see what is occurring for many as being part of our evolution as human beings. It is like we have all been sleep walking for a very long time and slowly, one by one, we are all starting to be shaken up in order to wake up.

In 1992 I faced life threatening illness and all medical professionals seen for a period of six months kept reiterating that there “is nothing wrong with you”. I was experiencing many physical symptoms that eventually led me to a diagnosis by a naturopath and acupuncturist of “a blocked small intestine and kidneys that were barely functioning”. What accompanied my many physical symptoms of migraines, shortness of breath, constant exhaustion, welts emerging like hives all over my legs, chronic lower back pain, menstrual cramping that put me to bed, fluid retention in my body that created so much pain it brought me to tears when I took my bra off at the end of the day and made walking difficult due to the swelling in my feet, insomnia, a total inability to eat more than one very small meal a day and chronic constipation, were nights and sometimes days full of the most bizarre lucid dreaming experiences and waking reality visions I had ever had.

I was also experiencing major depression, suicidal ideology, was very re-active and angry and I was experiencing waves of enormous grief for no particular reason. Further, I was also experiencing hearing voices. There were many days when I did actually think I was going “insane”.

Now…. for someone whose whole conditioning had been you go to a doctor when you are not well and they will help you it was a huge challenge for me to even consider there may be an alternative but after six months of just hearing from several doctors, most of whom treated me like a bored housewife with nothing better to do than waste their time, “there is nothing wrong with you, here have some Prozac” it was all pretty hard to swallow. It was out of pure desperation, knowing full well something was definitely not right and feeling like I was indeed dying, as my body was shutting down more and more each day that I chose to consider an alternative to western medicine in the form of acupuncture and naturopathy.

That then led me to a huge range of other natural healing modalities over time that worked brilliantly for me as I went through healing process after healing process. Some days during the six months it took for me to find someone who could and did actually help me though, it took all my will just to get up each morning and get my daughter to school, after which I would come home and return to bed as the effects of it all were so very debilitating.

It was also at this time, due to the visions, the voices and the bizarre dreaming experiences that I sought the assistance of a Psychologist. That too proved to be a costly useless exercise that lead me nowhere fast. Several folk claimed I was experiencing “hallucinations” or would ask “what drugs are you on?!”, and the whole deal for me from the western psychological and medical viewpoint was not only was there nothing wrong with me but that I needed anti-depressant medication to “fix” the nothing that was wrong with me. It all didn’t make much sense to me and so an alternative choice, if I was to survive all this, was my only choice. It was also an extremely lonely time as no-one I initially sought help from seemed to have the vaguest idea of what was happening to and for me.

What emerged from it all was what I can only describe as being the wildest ride of my life. The lucid dreaming increased in frequency, as did the waking visions and the voices and I became aware of a far greater and more profound reality than the one I had been conditioned to believe existed. Essentially whilst I had many physical symptoms I had to dig really deep within myself to find cause, not just treat symptoms, for true healing to occur, which did occur over time not just physically, but emotionally, psychologically and spiritually.

It was at this time I came across the only book that shed any light whatsoever on what was truly going on for me, The Stormy Search for the Self – A guide to Personal Growth through Transformational Crisis (Understanding and Coping with Spiritual Emergency). This book has been described as “A valuable tool for therapists and an aid to explorers” by Brain/Mind Bulletin; “A brilliant and practical guide to inner transformation” by Jack Kornfield, Buddhist teacher, author of Seeking the Heart of Wisdom and “A fascinating account of transformational processes. Essential reading for anyone interested in creative personal and social change” by Frances Vaughan, Ph. D. co-editor of Beyond Ego. For me, the wealth of wisdom and knowledge it contains is so very valuable it still sits in my library today.

It was by reading this book that I discovered what I was actually experiencing was what is known as a Shamanic Crisis. It is a crisis indeed because it took every ounce of my will, determination, trust, faith, intellect and courage to come out the other side of it. ” Anthropologists refer to the dramatic episodes of non-ordinary states of consciousness that mark the beginning of the healing career of many shamans as the “shamanic illness”.

“This experience of total annihilation is typically followed by resurrection and rebirth….” “Also characteristic is a rich spectrum of transpersonal experiences that provide profound insights into realms and dimensions of reality that are ordinarily hidden to human perception and intellect. Some of them mediate profound connection with and attunement to the creative energies of the universe, the forces of nature, and the world of animals and plants. Others involve various deities, spirit guides, and particularly power animals – helpers and protectors in animal form.”

The death pull of the crisis and all the processes I was going through were almost overwhelming as I experienced many a “Dark Night of the Soul”. Death was so very real and also very necessary because I, as I had known me to be for 28 years of my life, was indeed dying. All that I had previously been told was real and true about myself and about life wasn’t. It is therefore, in my mind, quite understandable that someone experiencing such a profound transformational crisis as I was experiencing may indeed think that physical death is the only solution they have. For it took every ounce of strength and will I could muster not to succumb to and act on the pull of death physically.

Whilst it is our western mainstream conditioning to deal with depression, suicidal ideology, what we term as hallucinations, hearing voices and awareness of non-ordinary states of reality with drugs or by institutionalising those who are experiencing something like this, if you are experiencing anything like it, or you have a client who mentions any of these types of things to you I strongly urge you to read “The Stormy Search for the Self” if you are not already aware of it, purely because in my opinion and from my perspective of all that I have personally lived through and experienced, masking symptoms with drugs, which just makes these processes take longer and does not treat cause, or by shutting people away who are experiencing “Spiritual crisis” is doing them way more harm than it is good.

© Cheryl O’Connor – Holistic Counsellor 2014.

Quoted excerpts taken from
Christina & Stanislav Grof, M.D – The Stormy Search for the Self -1990
Published by J.P Putnam’s Sons
200 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 100016

© Cheryl O’Connor 2014. #Cheoco

•*´☾☆☽`*•…

‪#‎Cheryl‬ O’Connor.
‪#‎Holistic‬ ‪#‎Counsellor‬, Author & Writer.

* Cognitive & Body Based Counselling.
* Creative & Artistic Therapies.
* Specialising in ‪#‎Dream‬ ‪#‎Analysis‬/‪#‎Conscious‬ ‪#‎Dreaming‬ & ‪#‎Shamanic‬ Journeying.
* ‪#‎Reiki‬/‪#‎Seichim‬ Treatments & Attunements.
* Isis ‪#‎Meditation‬.

Newsletter Subscription @ bit.ly/CheocoNews – All subscribers will receive my Dreamwork booklet to help you re-connect with your dreaming reality, give you practical tips on working with your dreams, as well as the symbolism of what appears to you daily.

Website @ www.cheocoenterprises.com
My book The Promise, Skype & Email Consultations Available – bit.ly/Cheocoshop

FB: https://www.facebook.com/cheocoenterprises
Skype: cheryloconnor333

Twitter: Cheryl O’Connor@Cheoco99
Email: cheoco99@yahoo.com.au