{"id":43071,"date":"2011-08-11T17:30:37","date_gmt":"2011-08-11T21:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=43071"},"modified":"2011-08-11T12:22:06","modified_gmt":"2011-08-11T16:22:06","slug":"waking-up-and-dreaming-in-a-mad-mad-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/psychology\/waking-up-and-dreaming-in-a-mad-mad-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Waking up and dreaming in a mad, mad world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi there Dr.Jan!<\/p>\n

I’ve been wanting to ask something I find hard to put into words, but I’ll try. I’m not sure how much astrological information to give either but here’s what I’d love some help with, if possible.<\/p>\n

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I’ve never really \u2018fit in\u2019 with this culture very well.\u00a0I am extremely sensitive both emotionally and psychically and am a professional artist who lives a quiet, solitary life that is deeply rich and spiritually active.\u00a0I have a packed 12th house in Scorpio (Sun, Venus, Mercury-Rx, Saturn, Pallas, Juno) and an 11th house\u00a0Libra moon exactly conjunct Neptune; Sagittarius rising is conjunct Ceres.<\/p>\n

As I get older (I am now in my mid-50’s) I feel myself retreating even further from what is going on in this culture because it is so exceedingly out of balance and an anathema to everything that I value personally. Is it healthy to choose to disconnect with \u2018the world\u2019 when it seems that most of what is happening \u2018out there\u2019 (in our American culture especially)\u00a0is toxic, dysfunctional and verging on the point of madness? When I was younger\u00a0I used to feel that I could \u2018make a difference\u2019 by contributing my energy and time in various ways. But now it seems as if who I am and what I have cultivated in terms of inner process is not anything that is useful to anyone else except myself. <\/p>\n

I do not mean this in an elitist way, it is just that I see the struggle between the warring factions is reaching a fever pitch out in the outer world, and I refuse to be a part of that war any more. I am not depressed or suicidal, I’m just deeply spiritual and inwardly oriented but living in a culture that seems to have gone mad and is terribly out of balance. I cannot fix that. I can only attend to what is here within me, and in that case, I prefer to minimize my contact with what most people consider is \u2018normal\u2019.<\/p>\n

So my question is: Is it healthy for some people to withdraw from society and \u2018culture\u2019 when it is simply too toxic to be immersed in it any more?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A second question that may spark a good article would be about dreams. How does one know when\u00a0a dream is more of\u00a0a \u2018personal\u2019 type dream or when one is more of a \u2018collective\u2019 type dream? I’ve always been curious to hear how people feel about these different kinds of dreams.<\/p>\n

Thanks so much for this rare and wonderful opportunity! I look forward to any and all of your writings.<\/p>\n

Very Sincerely,
\nSally<\/p>\n

Dear Sally,<\/p>\n

I am not an astrological expert, so I would love to hear what readers with more knowledge than I have to say about your planets. I do know enough to know that you have been on a deeply spiritual journey which seems to have reached a culmination; I\u2019ve also recently been introduced to Hellenistic astrology, which shows how the planets in our natal chart move into new houses at mid-life. Your experience of a significant shift in your being supports that movement.<\/p>\n

I can, however, answer the psychological part of your question, \u201cIs it healthy for some people to withdraw from society and \u2018culture\u2019 when it is simply too toxic to be immersed in it any more?\u201d with a resounding YES! I\u2019m guessing those reading are agreeing with me and thinking it doesn\u2019t take advanced study in psychology to know that you are on the right path. Just for good measure, though, I\u2019ll add that a true measure of psychological health (and remember, psychology has its roots in the word \u2018soul\u2019) is having the self-awareness to understand when an environment is toxic and out of balance, and to have the courage and self-determination to choose another path — even when it means you must walk that path alone. Carl Jung said \u201cWho looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakes.\u201d Your thoughtful insights show that you are awake to the dream that most people consider to be reality.<\/p>\n

And speaking of dreams, \u201dHow does one know when a dream is a more \u2018personal\u2019 type dream or when one is more of a \u2018collective type\u2019 dream?\u201d Great question, and this time, the answer is \u2018both\u2019; dreams are always a consolidation and representation of both the personal and the collective. While this is not to discount those dreams that feel like \u2018big\u2019 dreams, the ones that stay with us for a long time and may even change the course of our conscious lives forever, it is safe to say that every dream contains an element of each.<\/p>\n

A great, fun way to work with our dreams is to see how the symbols that are deeply personal can also represent the collective, and vice versa. An example from the personal archives: my daughter recently had a dream that she went to a doctor, who told her that she had three days to live. This came as a surprise to her, because she was feeling great! But based on the doctor\u2019s prognosis, she got her affairs in order, collected a box of things from myself, her dad, and her grandmother to go with her to the afterlife, died, and was buried. After several days of being buried, she \u2018woke up\u2019 and came back to join us all in the regular world. <\/p>\n

When my daughter awoke from this dream in real life, she asked me to help her to analyze the dream. We discussed how the dream had to do with transitions she is making in her life (her birthday is this week), and how it is natural to feel like you are dying when transitions happen. We also talked about how I sometimes over-worry that she is not on the right track, and then I induce that worry in her. This upsets and confuses her, because in general she feels that she is doing great (which, of course, she is!). We also spoke about the dentist appointment she would be having later that morning, and her anxieties about it. And then my daughter, ever pragmatic, said \u201cYou know, Mom, the real problem is that the doctor I went to (in the dream) was not a very good doctor!\u201d And we agreed that, given a prognosis of only three days to live, you should always get a second opinion.<\/p>\n

What I didn\u2019t mention to her is that in her astrological chart, Hades is conjunct Saturn and she is destined, like Persephone, to be in the underworld part of the time. (I figure I\u2019ll save that for when she\u2019s turning ten.) In this way we see how her very personal concerns mingle with her unconscious awareness of one of the major collective archetypes that will describe her life journey.<\/p>\n

Sally, I hope this was helpful, and thank you<\/em> for the rare and wonderful opportunity to share your journey and answer your questions! It has been my privilege over these past several weeks to engage in a dialogue with so many\u00a0 thoughtful, awake, sensitive, aware individuals. Planet Waves readers rock! Keep your letters coming.<\/p>\n

Blessings,
\nJan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi there Dr.Jan! I’ve been wanting to ask something I find hard to put into words, but I’ll try. I’m not sure how much astrological information to give either but here’s what I’d love some help with, if possible. I’ve never really \u2018fit in\u2019 with this culture very well.\u00a0I am extremely sensitive both emotionally and … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1738],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43071\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}