Musings on ‘Triumph Over Evil’ (film)

“Lead us from the unreal to the real. Lead us from darkness to light. Lead us from death to immortal life. Peace, Peace, Peace”

-Sanskrit prayer

“Get thee Behind me, Satan!”

I began seeing ads for this documentary Triumph Over Evil: Battle of the Exorcists by Fathom Entertainment a few months ago.

The algorithm knows me well :-)

Not only did I plan to see it on the spot, I had a feeling there was a reason it would be in theaters one day only. Given the niche, provocative subject matter, and likely less than mass appeal factor, the filmmakers probably knew it would bomb if they showed it more than once. The fact there were only three other people in the theater besides myself and my wife (who I dragged) for the only showtime, they were obviously correct!

I expected to pop up on Netflix, Prime or You Tube soon.

Anyway…

The theme of Good vs Evil, including the proverbial ‘problem of evil’ has long captivated my interest and imagination. In the context of my ever-unfolding spiritual odyssey and development, it’s of utmost centrality for me. Now more than ever in these last few years of my life and work.

Spoiler Alert: I absolutely believe in the existence of evil. Beyond belief, I know (gnosis) it to be real and true. I acknowledge and respect it, but do not fear it. I also feel strongly that collectively- post 2020- there’s quite a spiritual battle at play. Know it, believe it or not.

GOOD (God+an O) and EVIL (LIVE backwards- the Inversion of Truth, Go(o)dness.

But can evil inhabit us? Infiltrate our being? Possess us?

The exorcist (1973)

“You’re tearing me apart, Lisa!”

One glaring example of the length of my interest with the theme, and my introduction to the concept of direct contact with evil, is this William Peter Blatty film I've seen many dozens of times since the 80’s. And just about every other exorcism film release since, as well as many books on the topic written by legit exorcists and those in the mental health field (usually psychiatry).

The very first time I saw The Exorcsist, a film allegedly based on a true account, much like my first read of Whitley Strieber’s Communion in late high school, I was left with an unambiguous intuitive knowing that such phenomenon (possession and contact with non-human intelligences, respectively) was for reals, as the kids say.

I haven't wavered.

So the Good/Evil duality-polarity and the ‘problem of evil’ has had a philosophical, intellectual and metaphysical hold on me for quite some time.

In these last few years since all that led to the dramatic finale of my dark night of the soul (ego) mid life /spiritual emergency crisis/breakdown-come-awakening and subsequent existential rebirth + rebrand as Therapy Outside the Box, punctuated by an unexpectedly personal and professional partnership with Mother Mary (i.e. Cosmic Mary) and her undefeated adeptness with the presence of anything in the larger wheelhouse of darkness and malevolence broadly, my interest in the traditional Catholic Exorcism ritual spiked.

With the rise of podcasts dedicated to such themes within and outside mainstream religious traditions, I've come across a number of mostly elderly, old guard Rome-trained Catholic exorcists sharing in depth tales of their work over decades. And spilling some of the secrets, as it were.

One particular component of these tales grabbed my attention the moment I began hearing it: The seemingly little known, little discussed, best kept secret of the role of “Our Lady’ as the Catholics refer to her, in these battles with evil in the context of possession.

‘Our Lady’ always makes me chuckle, too. Because Mary wasn’t Catholic. So is she really your Lady, Catholics? :>

Mary once said (and by that I mean downloaded/telepathically transmitted) to a client of mine who humbly questioned why Mary was coming through since she (the client) isn’t Catholic during a Multidimensional Divine Light Transmission® (MDLT) session:

“My dear, there are no religions in heaven. Only love.”

And to another during a Transpersonal Internal Family Systems Therapy (T-IFS) session:

“I’m everyone's mother.”

I’ll say more on this lesser known role referred to above later.

Onto some reflections on the film:

The good + the cringe

GOOD:

With the exception of the famous spiritual warrior Father Gabriele Amorth (1925-2016), author and Italian priest and exorcist for the Diocese of Rome, the other real life characters in the film were unknown to me, though their interview-style, subtitled contributions and viewpoints were all robust, if not about as religiously myopic as one would expect from the institutional Catholic perspective.

Impressively, a few of them have psychology or related degrees, psych training and clinical experience, in addition to their theological education and positions. As such I appreciated the emphasis placed on explaining the ‘differential diagnosis’ protocols—ruling in/out other contributing factors or explanations medically, psychologically and neurologically in persons presenting with symptoms/behaviors consistent with demonic infestation, oppression, manifestation or possession. Possession being considered the final, most dramatic stage of total dominion by ‘The Adversary’ or his minions.

I also appreciated the reiteration of how essential it is for those enlisted to ‘cast out demons’ to maintain rock solid moral integrity, ethical behavior, and robust daily faith and prayer practice. Lest one falters and becomes vulnerable to internalizing the inevitable, psychic sinister moral and character attacks of The Adversary.

Respect. Mad respect.

Foreshadowing: The ultimate good was of course the films finale related to Mary, but I’ll save the cherry on the cake for later.

CRINGE:

The reenactments were lame. Super lame.

I realize this was a documentary in which an informative, serious tone was paramount. They clearly weren’t going for Hollywood-ized, Linda Blair as Reagan-style head spinning, levitations, crawling up walls, backwards/upside down spider walks, spitting up material objects, or projectile vomit phenomenon. ⏪ Believe it or not, with the exception of head spinning 360 degrees as portrayed in The Exorcist, these are all examples of actual, witnessed phenomenon occurring in the most extreme cases of possession.

Seeing what’s purported to be real footage of actual exorcisms, some of which included Father Amorth if I'm not mistaken, floating around the webiverse, unless it were copyright issues or something, I couldn't help but wonder why no actual footage? Especially if that material exists in the public domain? And the exorcists in this film discussed examples of shocking supernatural phenomena similar what’s been captured on camera elsewhere and touched on above. Including classic storied incidents of usually undereducated, non-biligual possessed individuals breaking out into fluent ancient languages like Latin, Aramaic, or Sanskrit mid-exorcism.

Some of that actual, verified, real life footage would've been awfully compelling. Far more so than the lukewarm re-enactments.

Oh well.

spiritual Baby out with the water, as usual

My main unsurprising criticism:

Where the film veered headlong into expectably narrow minded institutional churchaganda was the considerable time spent demonizing (no pun intended) the entire realm of esoteric ‘occult’ spirituality. It throws the whole baby out in classic black/white fashion via cheesy portrayals of gullible, lost souls engaging parlor trick-happy psychics and mediums, ouija boards, candles and incense, spells and rituals, etc., punctuated by a total lack of spiritual understanding or nuance.

The entirety of esoteric traditions/practices are categorically lumped into ‘**New Age,’ (a misnomer if I ever heard one, more below) and portrayed as inherently dark and deceptive, demonic. If not evil/demonic by nature/design (benefit of the doubt) defacto doors to inviting in evil forces via belief, participation or reliance on said practices or rituals.

For anyone reading this I probably need not deconstruct further, but for those sympathetic to the traditional ‘everything/anything outside of centralized JudeoChristian religion and Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is demonic’ view suggested by the filmmakers and summarized above, I offer this:

Let’s start with the pejorative, inaccurate, virtually meaningless term **New Age. The term is a misnomer because the philosophies, wisdom traditions, beliefs systems and related rituals it groups together are not new and not representative of/belonging to a single age. The label arose in the mid 20th century to market a broad collection of perennial ideas – mysticism – astrology – yogic science and philosophy - meditation - reincarnation – sacred geometry – energy healing, etc., that actually draw from ancient spiritual Hermetic, Egyptian, Neoplatonic and Eastern sources. By calling them new, the phrase implies novelty and uniformity, when in truth, it describes a modern revival and synthesis a very old wisdom traditions, each with distinct origins and aims.

In short, the term ‘New Age’ is not new, and it is not an age – it's a catchall shorthand for recycled, recontextualized, perennial philosophy and spirituality.

Within the ancient esoteric spiritual traditions, eastern and western, but more eastern, there’s also the conception of said spiritual traditions being either left-hand path, right hand path, middle path. Without getting too deep as this is complex, nuanced stuff, these paths represent opposing approaches to spirituality and often magic. The left often associated with taboo, malevolent practices (‘black magic’) and the right with benevolence and structure (‘white magic’) while the middle path seeks a balance between these two, integrating elements from both for a more holistic spiritual practice.

Where the rubber meets the road is one's individual orientation (one’s character and level of consciousness, mostly) and intention, i.e. service to other vs service to self (See: Law of One material).

Who and what are we deifying? Serving? And to what ends?

Rather than all esoteric paths or practices being intrinsically GOOD/Light or BAD/Dark-Evil, it’s the confluence of one’s intention, orientation and morality (service to self vs other) with chosen path/tradition/practice and the alignment or misalignment with this and whatever is the true heart of said path, practice or tradition.

“…Does this path have a heart? If it does, it’s good. If not, it’s of no use” - Carlos Casteneda

Point is, many squarely within mainstream, especially Judeo Christian exoteric faith frameworks tend to view [see: mistake, misinterpret, and brand] all esoteric, mystical, so-called ‘occult,’ which operationally simply means hidden wisdom or secret knowledge) non-centralized/institutionalized spiritual traditions and practices as dark/dark occult. In other words, Luciferic, Satanic, or promoting, engaging with or inviting in evil influence or dark, lower dimensional/lower consciousness-inhabiting non-material forces.

In reality, mystical, esoteric or so-called occult philosophies, belief systems, practices, traditions, rituals—the roots of what’s generally termed ’New Age’— run along a continuum. On that continuum from truth to falsehood, the highest, purest good, and the darkest, most vile harm can be done through and in the name of any tradition or practice.

Of course many modern beliefs systems and practices labeled ‘New Age’ are incomplete, watered down, distorted facsimiles of ancient sacred wisdom. And yes, charlatans and frauds abound. Because humans are involved, you’re gonna get that in every domain of life and commerce that involves flawed people.

This is where spiritual discernment, emotional intelligence, education, wisdom and personal integrity becomes paramount. Because for sure, counterfeit beings/energies within the astral realms of ‘false light’ or the ‘second heaven’ masquerade as true guides, highest angelics, or Holy Ones, manipulating the vulnerable, the lost, misguided, and those of low consciousness.

In Triumph Over Evil: Battle of the Exorcists, the entirely of rich cultural esoteric traditions of spiritual initiation and wisdom are written off by implication as ‘New Age’ portals to evil.

Sorry ancient hellenistic and egyptian mystery school traditions. Sorry God-realized rishis of the east, revered Christian mystics of the west. Sorry ancient siberian shamanism, zoroastrianism, neoplatonism, hermeticism, gnosticism, essenes, alchemy, sufism, kabbalah, theosophy, rosicrucianism (to name a few). You’re all intrinsically dark occult.

‘Bitch, please!”

salvage

As the film does rightly point out in my view, those who deny the existence of evil, and conversely, those unhealthily transfixed by it appear to be especially vulnerable. Yet, devout, card-carrying Catholics, as it turns out, are also ripe for demonic dominion. The dark lord and his minions do not appear to discriminate. Any who fail to respect the existence and power of evil, or don't know they have sovereignty over their own mind-body spirit complex, are ripe for inhabitation.

As a saying goes:

‘Demons know you have sovereignty. They just hope you don't know you do.’

Which reminds me of what Lao Tzu:

*“Give evil nothing to oppose and it will disappear by itself”

*(Not sure it's that simple, or universally true, but there’s infinite wisdom to the non-opposition point, highlighting my main gripe with the traditional Catholic battle stance that’s long struck me as wrong headed, being so anti-The Art of War.

There's obviously much much more to it all. Beyond all of our pay grades, I suspect.

Hence, the ‘problem of evil.’

“the power of christ COMPELS you!”

Until…it doesn’t?

For those unfamiliar with the subheading title of this section, in the classic film The Exorcist, at the end of the weeks long effort to free poor Reagan of Pazuzu himself, in the finale, Father Merrin exclaims:“The Power of Christ Compels You!!” over and over while dousing her battle worn, scarred and burned torso with holy water as she levitates above the bed in a somnambulistic trance.

Spoiler Alert: The ritual ultimately takes the life of the exhausted and heart-compromised elderly Father Merrin. And the exorcism itself is ultimately unsuccessful. The younger priest assistant, seeing poor Reagan on the floor, still possessed, The Adversary gleefully laughing about his by-proxy murderous handiwork resulting in the death of the elderly priest, has Father Karras challenging the evil one to leave her and:

“Come into me!” Come into me!”

Mephistopheles happily obliges. The moment Karras becomes aware of his evil red-eyed loss of sovereignty, he dives headlong out the window, tumbling down the now famous steps to his death. Or so the viewer would be led to believe. (Stage set for The Exorcist part 2 and 3 to come).

Set up for sequels aside, why was the exorcism unsuccessful?

After all, Father Merrin was the man. Called in from retirement/seclusion halfway around the world to drive The Beast out of the poor child, given his wealth of knowledge and prior experience said to have nearly killed him on one occasion prior. No one more qualified.

Since actual real life exorcisms are not always successful, it begs the question: If not human fallability or failure…is Christ alone simply not enough sometimes? Is Christ/the invocation of Jesus not powerful enough for reasons unknown sometimes?

Understand, this is no knock at Jesus. Or the power of Christ.

Even though I’m best described as a…ready for this…ecumenical, interfaith, universalistic, vedantic. A quantum panpsychistic monotheistic panentheist (plug all that into ChatGPT :), and though I 100% subscribe to the view world religious scholar Huston Smith proposed that “God is defined by Jesus, but not confined to Jesus,” and resonate on a soul level with the Vedantic adage: “Truth is One, the sages know it by many names,” and the Bagahvad Gita’s “God has a million faces,” I have always been rooted in the Christic/Christos.

Still am, always will be.

The Christ Consciousness. Mystical Christ. Cosmic Christ. Yogi Christ. Christ as Interdimensional Avatar. Prince of Peace. The Great Awakener. Yeshua Ben Josef. Sananda. Issa. Essu. I AM that I Am. Alpha Omega.

(“But who do you say I am?” -Mark 8:29)

The Lord’s Prayer, Prayer of St. Patrick, Saint Michaels Prayer of Protection, The Rosary and assorted other Christos-aligned prayer and decree practices are part of my everyday since coming online as a kind of theurgical instrument of divine will-in action. Especially since beloved Mary came forth in a big way this past March as my right hand woman/co-partner in my personal life and professional work via Therapy Outside the Box.

But I digress.

The question I'm really left with… and this is really to set up for the next section of this diatribe is…why the traditional ‘Rite of Exorcism’ as practiced by conventional Catholic priests invokes Jesus Christ alone as the primary intercessional force for expelling demons?

The rite allows for the intercession of Saints, and sometimes, as I understand it, involves Hail Mary’s at the priest's discretion, but formally does not invoke Mary herself?

Why has Mary historically been the best kept secret? The ‘back door woman’ in the context of this ritual?

forget sandman, Enter Mary

Mother Mary: ‘The Terror of Demons’

Mother Mary: Blessed Virgin Mother, ‘Everyone’s Mother,’ Terror of demons, destroyer of heresies, star of the sea, queen of heaven, queen of angels, queen of the universe, blue ray seraphimic superstar, full of grace, born without sin.

It's this last part – born without sin – that appears to be what makes blessed Mary the true terror of demons.

To circle back to the film, understand, after the laughable demonization (no pun intended again) of all things esoteric, and the cheesy reenactments on repeat, I was truthfully beginning to tire of it. Almost nudged my wife, who was falling asleep by this point, to ask if she was ready to leave.

And just then…the film’s focus shifted unexpectedly to the on the down low, ‘off-label’ role of invoking Beloved Mary in many a Catholic exorcism, echoing what I’d been hearing on podcasts and in other obscure online forums related to Mary as serpent stomping secret exorcist weapon.

In the film, Father Amorth reveals how after so many years and countless exorcisms, his curiosity about the unique power Mary's mere presence has to literally send the fiercest, most powerful demons packing led him to break convention (in more ways than one) and engage the demonic directly: Flat out asking them why Mary's presence was such anathema to them.

The surprisingly candid, honest response on more than one occasion by many a demon was essentially that Mary’s absolute purity and sinlessness – the fact that she had never been tempted, and therefore had not even ‘the faintest shadow of sin cast upon her,’ as one demonic force allegedly put it, makes her presence simply intolerable, their defeat inevitable, and humiliating beyond measure.

So intolerable, and so humiliating, that according to Father Amorth and other exorcists, demons refuses to utter her name, referring to Mary only as ‘her,’ or ‘she,’ when the threat of invoking her presence is suggested or initiated, usually amounting to an anguished, guttural: “No, not HER!”

How about that shit???

I'll wrap this section with this question:

If many an exorcism drags on for hours, days, weeks, even months in some cases, exhausting the exorcists and further taxing the possessed on every level of mind-body and spirit, and if Mary's mere presence is confirmed to have the power to bring even the most extreme possession to a conclusion virtually on a dime, then:

Why does the Rite of Exorcism not begin and end with invoking Mary? !?!

Why put anyone through one more moment of torture if it can be lessened even one iota by invoking the penultimate Divine Feminine Terror of Demons right from the get go?

The film does not address this by the way. And I suspect it has everything to do with the historical marginalization of ‘Our Lady,’ in Catholic tradition as but one illustration of the grand exclusion of the Divine Feminine writ large within the early creation of a centralized, patriarchal Judeo Christian religious institution.

At least Catholicism kept Mary in the fold. More than we can say for Protestantism and exoteric mainstream Christianity itself which excluded her and the Divine Feminine completely. To say nothing of the fallacious slut shame whore-branding and total diminishment of Mary of Magdala.

Talk about heresy. Don’t get me started.

I've asked Mary myself for clarity on all this. No response yet. :>

Parallel lines

ChatGPT encapsulation of who I am/what I do

How this mirrors my own experience as a Transpersonally-focused therapist and theurgical vessel/channel over these last few years is where I’m going next.

In short, Mary steeping forward in this past year as my daily co-partner in all that I do for those open to her presence and loving healing assistance has been the most profound happening of my entire life.

No hyperbole.

Specifically, Mary's loving, powerful, and compassionate interventions have made all the difference in one specific area which parallels the demonic possession experience. An offshoot you could say.

While I have yet to meet anyone that would qualify as being demonically possessed, or affected by the preliminary stages of infestation, oppression or obsession, unlike the traditional Catholic and otherwise exoteric view (either demons or medical/psychological), I have studied up on, and witnessed both personally and professionally now for several years the inhabiting presence of various forms of malevolent foreign energies or entities in people’s systems.

Entities that can and do infiltrate and attach to our mind-body spirit complex. Our field so to speak.

In most cases, in my experience, these appear to be psychic-astral parasitic, trickster type entities or energies. Malevolent in that they do not have positive intentions for the host, exert negative, life-denying influence, and drain energy (life force), but are not legit demonic. Mimics. Minions perhaps. But not demons in and of themselves, and therefore not particularly powerful but in proportion to the degree of fear the host has of it or them.

These hitchhiker energies, which can also be discarnate lost soul, lower astral gobblygook, wounded and unwell ancestral epigenetically carry overs, past life-based thought forms, phantasms, or sundry other types of psychic creature-critters, often find entrance through what in the borderlands of the IFS model and the cross-cultural studies and research on Spirit Possession at large, we call our ‘porous mind.’

In other words, when there are openings—vulnerabilities, weak spots/areas or tears in the surrounding energy field of our mindbodyspirit complex– what in esoteric traditions would be synonymous with the etheric body, causal body, the ‘Ka’, or spiritual twin (Ancient Egyptian Alchemy/Magdalene Manuscripts), especially during times of extreme trauma, loneliness, or abandonment, hospitalizations, or near death experiences, such foreign energies can easily find a home.

As this line of thinking goes, some vulnerable, desperate feeling ‘part’ of us in some way shape or form agrees or consents to allow them in. This may not be the case in each and every case, but it's one theory that I continuously apply and test out when I become aware of the existence of carpetbagger energies in a client's field.

It often checks out. I can often determine how many, at what age, and what life circumstances generated the vulnerability/opening.

Ultimately, it’s getting them gone that matters. Full stop.

‘compassionate extraction’

‘Bye Felisha’

Even before Cosmic blue ray Mary stepped forward in the big way she did early this year, every time over the last few years when I would suspect and confirm through my higher guidance/’holy discernment’ that someone’s system is ‘occupied,’ I would ask first if it is ‘in the highest good’ to have them removed.

If yes, and the timing is right, I then ask who would be coming through to assist?

Guess who it’s always?

Mary. Only ever Mary.

And a few of these have been nasty critters for sure. Snarling, foul mouthed, snake like, intent on remaining no matter what.

Guess how it goes with Mary at the helm each time?

Easy. Easy work.

Mary's powerful but loving, luminous presence- radiant, often in blue light, and with infinite mercy and firm but authentic compassion allows her to easily find and remove whatever it is with no fuss or fanfare. She magically transmutes any fear or perceived threat on the client’s part by transforming the scary little monsters into daisies, jewels, or plumes of pink smoke, for the client to see in their minds eye.

The conclusion is always the same. (She’s batting a thousand).

Once they're removed and transformed, they’re given a choice, as all things have free will, apparently even these things. They either to go to the light to be transformed, healed and forgiven, presumably to a higher universal love-based dimension/higher realm/heavily realm, or, to the darkness/lower realms if they decline the offer.

“You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here”

And my understanding, something my clients often pick up themselves, is that if these energies or entities choose the darkness/void, they are always free to choose again.

Hell realms, or lower darker dimensions of existence, are apparently, from what I'm learning, only a permanent destination if one chooses for it to be.

In other words, the door out of darkness/void and into the realms of light and love remains an ever-available possibility. The key is never tossed away. It is up to each and every being, whatever its nature, to choose, should it find itself in the lower realms or dimensions of creation.

epilogue

I've taken to calling this Mary-driven process, one I set up via my Multidimensional Divine Light Transmission® (MDLT) offering ‘compassionate extraction.’

Because that's exactly what it is.

There's no commanding, no casting out, no waving crosses. Just Divine presence, love, mercy, and compassion. Not even much dialogue except for what Mary deems necessary to impart directly to my client (via inner dialogue/telepathically) as to the nature of these things, occasional confirmations that they’re not trustworthy/well-intended, loving encouragement not to fear, and that they will be sent on to where they belong or choose to go.

It does leave me ever curious about whether or not the Catholic Church and experienced exorcists ever encounter anything like this. Or does their belief system disavow the existence of things that are neither actual demons or alternatively, organic psychological aberrations or symptoms of medical or neurological pathology.

Most cultures across the globe all the way back to ancient and indigenous cultures have a conception of the spiritual realm as being occupied by an infinite range of discarnates, tramp souls, tricksters, egregores, formless energies and entities, wetiko mind viruses, jinn, loosh, and of course, pure demonic or otherwise wholly evil manifestations.

To the Catholic church, and traditional exorcists, it appears to be Demons, only Demons, nothing but demons.

So be it.

My experience with Mary so far is quite different.

We all have our role. I'm blessed to have mine and curious to see where it will go. I’m glad to have the opportunity to do my part, holding the space and the energetic field for Mary (and other Divine Sources/Holy Ones/Masters/Angelics outside of this particular process) to perform her miraculous magic for those afflicted by things that do not belong.

Will the actual true demonic ever show up having possessed someone, in my space? I do not know. I know this. It will be the penultimate test of my faith in the Divine and the power of Mary, the ‘Terror of Demons.’

Maybe I'll start practicing: “THE POWER OF [MARY] COMPELS YOU!!!” :>

____________________________________________________________________

Looking for a spiritually-informed, grounded, metaphysically adventurous Nashville Therapist? A therapist in Franklin, TN. A virtual therapist?

Want more information about my offerings?

Visit me at www.therapyoutsidethebox.com

Or IG: @therapyoutsidethebox

Om Namah Shivaya.

Pax and Godspeed…

Chris Hancock, LCSW

Franklin, TN

615 430-2778

chris@therapyoutsidethebox.com

Beautiful, Complete, Concise Overview of the IFS Process

If you’re new to and/or deeply curious about the wonderful world of Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS), if you wish for a deep dive-crash course in the model and can devote ONE HOUR to it, this video by fellow IFS colleague Christine Dixon of The Ordinary Sacred is hands down where I would begin.

Christine has the heart of teacher + the soul of a healer. You will love her and her approach to the model.

One does not need to learn or understand every nook and cranny of how the sausages are made to benefit from IFS. As I often tell my clients, we learn it best by doing it. Especially since it looks different for everyone. No two IFS sessions are the same, and no IFS journeys are like another’s IFS journey.

However, many of us have ‘managerial’ parts that have that NEED to know (akin to the thrill seekers need for speed:) so this is a great way to honor them :>

If you’re intrigued, feel a resonance with it, and especially if you’re curious about a unique psychospiritual/transpersonal approach to this inherently shamanic-based therapy that by it’s very nature shares much with the core assumptions of many of the world’s metaphysical/mystical religious and spiritual traditions, head over to my page on Transpersonal-Internal Family Systems. There you can learn more about how I bring through extra healing ✨ magic 🪄 to the equation courtesy of various Illumined/Holy/Archangelic Higher Sources of love, light, and pure consciousness.

And, if you’re an intrepid spiritual seeker looking to experience direct, mystical contact with Source/The Divine in a safe, guided setting exclusively designed to faciliate such contact, check out my unique Multidimensional Divine Light Transmission® (MDLT) experience.

If YOU are looking for a spiritually-oriented, holistic, integrative, intuitive, licensed experienced therapist in Franklin TN, Greater Nashville, or the 🌎 over virtually via Telehealth, visit me @ www.therapyoutsidethebox.com or email me directly: chris@therapyoutsidethebox.com

Godspeed seekers of higher truth, wisdom, healing and awakening!

Chris Hancock, LCSW

IG: @therapyoutsidethebox

Franklin, TN

2024 Return to Mystical Mt Shasta--2.0

View of the ‘White God,’ from Castle Lake- 8/24

More Shasta Shenanigans

(Or, why I’m still a ‘possibilist’)

Gathering myself to write this post hence, while clumsily readjusting back to consensus reality, I see this is my first blog entry since last year’s trip to the magic mountain. Just as well since few people read blogs anymore. Or read anymore period, it seems. (I literally hear this from folks all the time and it makes me sad). And most of my sharing these days is on IG, for better or worse. In any case, this is mostly for nostalgic documentation of my goings on in this most mysterious and sacred place that keeps calling me.

If YOU actually are reading this, I hope it inspires a little extra sense of what’s possible if you take a leap into the unknown, with hope, trust and faith.

As usual, this pilgrimage was full of twists and turns. Some beautiful and mysterious. And of course a little requisite WTF??

This will be as short and sweet as I can manage. I don’t have the energy for a four-parter like last year. Yet if you know me, and if brevity is the soul of wit, I am, dear reader, as witless as they come!

So let’s get started…

Day One: Panther Meadows

Mt Shasta being a large ass mountain, I chose like last year to go where my Higher Guidance (‘HG’) suggests each day.

My ‘HG’ is a form of claircognizance/clairgnosis that came online years back in the midst of my near decade-long burnout come atypical mid-life crisis meets Dark Night of the Soul show stopping finale. One that brought me to my proverbial and literal knees. And truthfully, to the edge of what felt like real madness. Followed by an epic surrender experiment of many months where one day I received the first (or second?) of many messages via download. This one being received unexpectedly at the very end of a meditation:

"You are being given a gift of Holy Discernment.”

I didn’t know exactly what that meant, only that I didn’t consciously think or imagine it. I had never heard or put those two primary words together. Yet it came landed in my consciousness clear as a bell.

Wasn’t until weeks later while conducting an energy psychology session with someone using more or less conventional kinesiological muscle testing (finger test) that I noticed my head suddenly involuntarily nodding up/down, or left/right, clearly indicating yes/true, or no/false in accord with the muscle testing results.

Soon occurred to me that this was the practical application of the ‘gift of Holy Discernment.’ A most unexpected blessing.

Yet, no instruction manual!

5 years later I’m trying to figure best practices—how to account for apparent false positives (i.e. ‘paradoxical responses’) and other oddities.

Surely there are some things I/we are just not supposed to know, is one thing. Things that are simply not in our/the highest good to have confirmed or disconfirmed, for they may intrude upon our or others free will, our or their learning and growth.

One thing about it I know and trust: It was gifted by the Holy Spirit itself, dab smack in the midst of horrendously painful and confusing subjective darkness. Forever grateful.

Anyhow…

DOWNHILL we go:

So, day one. I was sent to Panther Meadows, the famed spot of Saint Germain’s (my ‘gateway guide’ from the start of all this) appearance back in the 1930’s to Guy Ballard, resulting in a series of dictations/lessons (‘I Am Discourses’) and what would become two books on the esoteric spiritual tradition that grew out of these encounters.

HG directed me to go waaaay down to nearly the bottom of Panther Spring, which is really not even a trail. You’re just following the twists and turns of the beautiful babbling brook, down, down, down. Over hills, rocks, boulders, fallen tress, and brush for days.

But the time I got to the spot I was told to sit, I noticed my old boxing gym hill sprint-related left knee injury acting up. Probably because I excitedly pounced down parts of the mountain too hard. But as I sat and prepared for meditation, it stopped bothering me, so I forgot about it.

I settled in for two separate mediations, or ‘spirit communions’ as I think of them. In these two I was joined by Tudiah and Adama, respectively. You’ll hear these names a lot in this post.

Tudiah is, apparently, a Fifth Dimensional (5D) feminine Lemurian/*Telos inhabitant who's been working with me in my personal spirit communions for nearly a year, since my first trip to Shasta. Adama is the ‘High Priest’ of Telos. The Mac Daddy. An Ascended Master that many before and currently channel, including someone I know personally.

And *Telos is the ‘Crystal City of Light,’ an advanced, enlightened 5D inner earth civilization located beneath Mt Shasta.

(Out there, I know. Still with me? :>)

Telosians are said to be Lemurians who escaped the cataclysmic fall of the fabled (many say purely mythical) sunken continent of Lemuria long ago, along with Atlantis. Via their higher dimensional consciousness, know-how and abilities, they’re said to have created and colonized an idyllic inner world powered by The Great Central Sun beneath the sacred mountain, often called the root chakra of the earth. One of many inner earth territories said to be part of a globe-wide Agatha Network.

(Whether you believe any of this or not is irrelevant. I’m not making a case for it against it, merely reporting here what I experience).

In any case, two beautiful but otherwise unremarkable meditations/spirit communions commenced, followed by my making my way back up the rugged not-so-much-a-trail to the top of Panther Meadows.

Almost as soon as I began my ascent, my knee started really aching. All the way to the point of literally limping for a good portion of it. Soon as I became aware of fears of having to be airlifted out, and noticed I had no cell signal (and hadn’t seen a soul since my descent), I invoked ‘miraculous emergency spiritual healing of my knee.’ I did so over and over on mantra-repeat while I hobbled up the hill, cursing the foolishness I exhibited on the way down.

Oh, and did I mention it was raining the entire time?

Wouldn’t you know it, I soon noticed the pain subsiding and the strength to make it up emerging. When I asked my HG if I was receiving the requested support, I got a ‘yes.’ When I asked from whom, after running through my mental file o’ fax of the usual suspects, I got a hit on…Archangel Haniel.

Blessed!

It gets better: By dinner that night, then the next morning, I would even more amazed to discover zero pain. Not even the slightest discomfort in that knee. Like it never happened. And I’m not exaggerating when I say, it was bad coming back up the trail. I feared the whole trip might be blown. No such bad luck was to be!

Never hurts to ask.

Day two thru five: Old Ski Bowl Trailhead

Condensing my account of these days through the middle because HG all lead me to this same place, albeit different locations each day. Sometimes to two separate ones each day. And because these four days are already blurred together in my mind and memory. Such is what tends to happen when you spend multiple days in a row in an altered state of consciousness, experiencing the wildly unexpected things I’ll share soon.

Each day took me to new areas somewhat off the beaten trails and into one of the little oasis where there was at least partial tree cover shielding me from the blistering sun rays. (I still managed to get a wicked ass sun burn the first day on this trail).

Following my HG is not always a clear and laser focused activity. There were times where fear crept in. Fears that I was being misdirected, taken for a ride, that I would get lost and have no cell signal, etc. Some of the hikes were more steep and rugged than I bargained for. And each day was fucking hot. (sorry for the cuss, mom). But I kept with it, prayed and asked all my guides, holy ones, angels and masters etc to be with me each day, every moment.

They were.

highlights:

The vast majority of time each day (roughly six hours a day) was spent in meditation/spirit communion, interspersed with breaks, down time, reflection, short walks. Each day my spirit hosts were Tudiah and Adama, while I had Mother Mary, Goddess Sophia, Archangels Haniel and Chamuel, Ascended Master Saint Germain and Portia, and my two personal spirit guides and Guardian Angel supporting, guiding, holding space.

The long and short of day two and three in the spirit communions with Tudiah and Adama was that the work was all about raising my frequency/vibration to reach 100% of a match to 5D frequency/vibration. Ostensibly, so that should a portal open to Telos, the City of Light beneath the Mountain, I would be able to safely enter into and tolerate/withstand the significantly higher frequency/vibration.

Believe it or not, entering a portal to the inner earth underworld of Telos was the much prophesied outcome of this journey, many times over, via various telepathic messages from multiple higher sources over this past year.

In one of those, Tudaih communicated and presented to me an image of the Willy Wonka ‘Golden Ticket,’ seemingly as a way of letting me know I was being invited to visit Telos. or a candidate at least. I tied to hold it loosely, with gratitude and hope, believing it at least possible, because anything is, staying open to this unique privilege should it come to pass. At the same time realizing that while there are individuals past and present who claim to have visited inner earth territories, both astrally-psychically and literally-physically, it might also be a one in a gazillion.

But when I feel led to something, especially something that has potential to be spiritually extraordinary—and extraordinarily rare—as long as I don’t feel it can bring harm, I’ll always throw my hat in the ring.

What I understood as I went (via HG) was that when I arrived in Shasta this year my 5D frequency match was b/w 80-85%—largely the result of the work Tudiah has been doing with me most of the year on achieving the necessary vibration. And after a few days of intensive meditative concentration with Tudiah and Adama’s help, it was increasing.

Now here’s the most unexpected, wildly mystical part of the journey…

Mystical Disco

Have crystals, will travel, ‘in my wife’s gigantic boots’ (she told me to include that :)

“I feel the earth move, under my feet, I feel the sky tumbling down…”

Starting on day two, my first out on Old Ski Bowl (the day I came back with pretty bad facial sunburn) I started to notice a nudge to stand up between sitting meditations. Not walk around, but just stand there. Interesting.

On this first day it followed a meditation with Tudiah, so I was asking her what was happening here, and what I needed to do. What I got was that someone was coming in to work with me. Someone other than her and Adama, someone feminine, and who would be energetically on the surface with me.

“Would I see her,” I asked? ‘No.’

“Would I hear her?” ‘No.”

“Will I feel her?” ‘Yes.’

And feel her I did!

I first felt my body swaying back and forth. Then my hips jetting back and forth. Then round and round in circles. Then in angular shapes, with my arms starting to swing along. Then a kind of hip shaking running in place. Mind you, I’m not doing any of this. I’m not really into dancing, and that was the last thing on my mind!

Following along, in the flow, just letting my body do what it wants to do. Much like in my meditation/spirt communions, and in my role in Multidimensional Divine Light Transmission (MDLT)—a 100% theurgical, Source-guided, quasi-therapeutic modality that’s a direct outgrowth of all this that came online years back—where my head involuntarily sways and rolls around, largely in the infinity symbol formation. A clear indication that some ‘other’ force, energy or being is connecting and working with/through me, and for the recipient.

Over the next four days, each day, there were interludes between sitting meditations of this ever increasingly wild, sometimes bizarre, erratic but never out of control standing movement. Although I did lose balance and fall flat on my arse once but didn’t get hurt. After that I kept my eyes partially open for balance and spatial awareness sake.

At another point I recall an upper body twisting motion starting, which immediately alarmed me due to bulging disc injuries caused by too much twisting motions in my old boxing workout routine. Instead of stopping, I right away said internally: ‘please no twisting because of…” and before I could even finish the request it switched to fluid hula hoop-like circle motions.

I called my main spiritual partner-in-crime one night, herself an emerging channel and fearless trailblazer, and described the phenomenon detail. Among other things she said:

“It sounds a lot like ecstatic dance.”

She was right. I hadn’t thought about it like that.

On day three it reached fever pitch. The movement got increasingly wilder and faster. To the point where I was marveling at the fact that my 54 yr old hips could do what they were being directed to do, as fast as they were. It was like a barefoot-planted version of Sufi whirling devilish ecstasy sped up to 78 rpms that (with brief breaks) went on for two hours or so a day.

Then I noticed the more I accepted and went with it, the more purely joyous it became. Weird as hell, but joyous! I would pray and chant, mantra, sing and shout through it the much of the time. At one point I was laughing out loud feeling like a ridiculous one-man Deep South rural charismatic church member, minus the snake charming, glossolalia, and culturally-embedded patriarchal bullshit :>

My heart opened further and further as I gesticulated the hours away. Bliss, peace, and joy. Ecstatic fo’ sho.

No drugs needed :)

If the devil had taken me over, he was failing miserably at scaring me.

Almost forgot…

On the morning of day two, driving toward the mountain, calling in all my guides and all to be with me, I was asking about the energy/being that was initiating the one man disco madness. I started to get an “A” name, Then “Al…” Shortly later, it comes to me, courtesy of Archangel Chamuel in this case:

“Alunah.”

The other relevant thing I determined was that she had the ability to energetically rise to the surface and initiate this kind of action. Action which was for the sole purpose of imbuing me with Fifth Dimensional light frequency and energy. To such a degree and with such intensity that no one’s physical body could possibly remain still while it was happening.

So, looking like an inappropriately dressed Deney Terrio a la 1970’s Dance Fever was merely by-product.

And here thought I had whole new career was being suggested :>

‘What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?’

After asking the night before to astrally travel to the Great Jade Temple (an intergalactic way station + 5D temple said to sit ethereally atop Mt Shasta) to have the temple healers and masters work with me further on increasing my frequency/vibration. I got that by the next morning it had climbed to 98%. (was b/e 90-95% by the end of day before as per HG.

Then after a most PROFOUND series of meditations/communions the next day with both Tudiah and Adama in which I experienced full-on Unity Consciousness (temporary dissolving of ego/personal “I” identity and merging with The One/All That There Is/The Absolute), as if that alone wasn’t enough—about halfway through the day, I get that we reached 100% 5D frequency match!

After a brief lunch break, I was directed to pack my stuff and head up the mountain further. I couldn’t help but think that with the necessary vibration reached, and moving to a higher elevation and presumably more secluded spot (it was), I might be quite possibly ready to redeem my ‘Golden Ticket.’

So I found the spot, settled in, and proceeded with another sitting meditation/communion with Tudiah, followed by, you guessed it, more Boogie Fever.

It went on, and on, only slower and more methodical as opposed to erratic abandon.

On, and on, and on, it went.

Until it started to slow, and we finally came to what was nearly usually the end of the day, around 4pm-ish.

The movement ultimately came to a stop.

I asked Allunah/my HG if the portal was going to open.

I got a soft, kind of somber feeling ‘no.’ (Tudiah had also literally apologized a few days earlier, forgot to mention, for it not being able to happen by the end of that day in which she apparently thought or herself hoped it definitely was ‘the day.’

The best I could get as to why not on this day, especially with the frequency match being attained and locked in, was that the inner earth conditions were not right, presumably to bring me though safely, along with assurances that I was doing everything- my part- right.

I accepted this, packed up and headed back down the mountain, a little disappointed of course, a little confused, and concerned with there being only one day left.

’And So Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea, Eventually’

Castle Lake (spread my ashes here please)

Day six: My final day. This is where I stared to wax philosophical about all I’d experienced, what I had not and may not get to on this trip. My predominant emotions were at this point, and even more so now, awe and gratitude.

A week alone in pristine nature where guru’s in India send you, meditating and communing with higher evolved energies, no screens, hardly any humans around, having ego identity-dissolving Unitive Consciousness experiences, dancing involuntary like a raging fool that no ones sees while being pumped with heart-expanding fifth dimensional light frequency and energy, rinse and repeat…

What’s not to love? (Except missing my family).

Yet I was also aware that my ‘delightful anticipation’ of walking through a 5D portal into the crystal city was so far alluding me. And today was it. Last chance for at least another year.

My HG directed me to Castle Lake for this last day. I was more than happy for a break from the rocky, sun-pounding, dust cloud that is Old Ski Bowl. No offense OSB!

Castle Lake is expansive, pristine and absolutely gorgeous. Last year I got a clear download about a prior embodiment in ancient Egypt while standing in the lake as my then human guide did crystal blow alchemy which had the curious effect of attracting families of ducks to our side.

HG pointed me up and halfway around the lake, to a high elevation once again, not far off a hiking path, but far enough out of the way.

It was a perfect August day in Mt Shasta, ‘where Heaven and Earth meet,’ as the saying goes. The quiet, the scenery, clear view of mountain and the lake from up there. The skies, the lenticular clouds.

If you can be depressed or cynical up here, you’re not paying attention.

And not to be anticlimactic, but let’s cut to the chase…

In terms of my goings on, today was more of the same—two sitting meditations/communions, followed by a fair amount of slower, more relaxed ecstatic dance interludes. More like a wallflower swaying back and forth on the perimeter than Travolta tearing it up in the center.

I checked multiple times that all conditions were met—both frequency/vibration, that I was as prepared as can be, and otherwise, for the portal to open.

I kept getting a ‘yes.’

Yet as we came to nearly the end of the day, admittedly I’m pretty pooped at this point, all prayed, mantra-ed and meditated out was I, my final request for confirmation/clarity revealed that despite it, all the work on both sides (above and below in this case) it was looking like ‘they’ could simply not open the portal. Couldn’t make it happen. Along with assurances again that I’d done nothing wrong.

I sat for a good while, taking it all in, drinking in the majesty that is Mt Shasta, experiencing a range of emotion and perception.

And so I ended my last day on the mountain slightly conflicted, aware of parts of me that felt elated and amazed, and others with disappointment, feeling foolish, and one protective part lobbing out ‘I told ya so’s,’ and ‘too good to be trues,’ etc. But my parts tend to trust me and let me lead. I took a deep breath, connected to my heart and said inside: ‘I get it. But it’s all good.’ No Telos this time, but so much wild goodness happened. And we all know this path is full of mystery, right?

I got a sense of unanimous agreement with this reframe.

So with that, I made my way back through the picturesque Castle Lake trails and head out for a shower and some chow.

I actually drove out to Mt Shasta Brewing Company in Weed, CA to get one of their kitschy Lemurian Lagers. I figured at this point that’s the closest I would get to a real Lemurian. Wouldn’t you know, they were out of it.

So damn elusive!

Once a Possibilist, Always a Possibilist

In terms of the aforementioned predictions and prophesies in the long lead up to this trip pertaining to physically visiting Telos, I find myself essentially in the same place I was before I left, with some of my pre-existing positions reinforced.

One of them is that while anything’s possible (with God/The Divine), nothing’s guaranteed.

Even if various powerful, benevolent, enlightened higher/holy/angelic sources and your own guides and guardian angel suggest it’s a sure thing, slam dunk, done deal, in the can.

No guarantees. Anything can change on a dime, anytime.

The other, related to the above, is my long-standing view that all prediction/prophesy should be met with more than a healthy dose of healthy skepticism. For many reasons.

As we’ve all seen over time, they rarely come to pass. And if they do, rarely in or at the time/in the time frame predicted. Linear time is illusion, as we now understand from quantum science. And space/timelines apparently can and do shift in ways we’re only beginning to comprehend. Buying too hard into prophesy/prediction without healthy detachment and grounded discernment/skepticism can be dangerous. Even life threatening. Just ask the Haley’s Comet Cult members who unquestionably bought into their crazed and delusional leader’s prophesy that the UFO comet would whisk them away as they mass suicided in conjunction with the fly-over.

Then again, anythings possible. So maybe they made it, right? What do we know? Not shit, about shit, really.

So, dear reader. If you made it this far, I’ll leave you with this for the effort.

Something I’ve not shared with many…

What follows is the most recent (morning of writing this post) communication received from one of many higher sources I connect with, and who work for others through me via my Transpersonal Internal Family Systems (T-IFS) and Multidimensional Divine LightTransmission (MDLT) approaches in my Therapy Outside the Box work.

In what I call my ‘Lake Space Transmissions’ (Telepathically received direct communications) I received this from Archangel Chamuel:

“Blessings! I am aware that things did not go quite as planned on your journey to Mt Shasta. Phrophesies and predictions are made of best intentions in combination with probabilities, subject to timeline variables and conditions that cannot always be guaranteed to be in place. Do not lose faith dear son! Your journey is a long game in-progress. All that you wish to experience, learn and bring forth will come to fruition. Your disappointment is valid given the great expectations of all that was set to occur. Do your best to surrender this too, knowing that the Divine plan always finds a way in time. Your effort was mighty, your mettle was tested. There is nothing more you could or should have done for the unmet expectations to have come to pass. Much more will be understood with time. Continue on spiritual soldier with heart, trust and hope for all that is meant for you and your mission.

With loving support,

Chamuel.”

______________________________________________________________________

With much love and support to you dear reader,

Godspeed, and may all possibilities be open to YOU!

Chris Hancock, LCSW

www.therapyoutsidethebox.com

Franklin, TN

615.430.2778

chris@therapyoutsidethebox.com

2023 Magical Journey to Mt Shasta (PT4)

‘The End is but the beginning’

Welp here it is. The final installment. I’ve enjoyed documenting the journey. I hope you, whoever you are and will become, have enjoyed following along. And I hope you’re inspired by some or all of it. Truth be told, I’m also glad to wrap it up and give my full to focus the integration work. Funny enough, it was communicated to/through me just the other today, in the channeled end portion of a Multidimensional Divine Light Transmission session, that I have “no idea the magnitude of all that took place in Mt Shasta.” Not exactly sure how to feel about that! But I’ve gotten pretty used to the not knowing; to surrendering, allowing things to be revealed in Divine timing.

We could all do worse than that.

In the meantime, enjoy, and thanks for reading!

Day 4: solo destination: panther meadows

It was no question where I was headed this day. Planned on it, felt it, and my higher guidance (Heretofore: ‘HG’) confirmed it. The only thing I didn’t know was where exactly where I’d be taken once there, or what would occur. That’s the fun part.

As mentioned in prior installments, Panther Meadows is famous for being where Saint Germain was said to have appeared to Guy Ballard (sobriquet: Godfre Ray King) in August of 1930-something, reminding him of his prior embodiment soul contracted mission, and initiating a relationship that would become a series of dictations, books, and an entire esoteric ‘I AM’ movement. A movement that spawned many offshoots, and sure as for every ism there’s an eventual schism, each branch over time either quietly or not so quietly claimed to be the only true, official source of the teachings, yada, yada. I could care less about any of that. As many famous mystics, universalistic religious scholars, renegade theologians, talented channels, and NDE-ers have suggested, The Holy Ones find it humorous how we quibble over who has the market on The Truth. As if anyone with a body, or any one does to the exclusion of all others. That is, when they’re not weeping over the unnecessary bloodshed and loss of life that’s flowed out of such ego-based ignorance.

‘Truth is One, Sages know it by many names’ (Rig Veda).

But I digress!

significance

Panther Meadows, for the above described reason, is no doubt at least part of why I felt ‘the call’ to the mountain. Because Saint Germain—the said-to-be-immortal Master of Alchemy, Chohan of the Seventh Ray/Seven Sacred Flames, Purveyor of The Violet Transmuting Flame, and the man who Voltaire famously called ‘The man who never dies and knows everything”— showed up as my Gateway Guide, along with other Illumined Ones, in my rock bottom hour of Dark Night madness.

The identity and presence of Saint Germain was interpreted to me in a reading by seer/channel/author Dr. Norma Milanovich, whom I was synchonistically/Divinely led to for corporeal clarity in that aforementioned internal hell state, roughly five years ago. I was marginally aware of the name Saint Germain and the concept of Ascended Masters at large, specifically from a meditation group I participated in back in 2004 or so. I remember the leader kept telling me that [Ascended Master of the Fourth Ray] Serapis Bey, was ALL around me each week. But I knew little about Saint Germain’s legacy or the other Masters in this tradition.

The other two that Dr. Milanovich [channeling Ascended Master Kuthumi, said to be St Francis of Assissi in a prior embodiment] perceived to be working to help me, alongside Saint Germain, were Melchezidek and Yeshua/Christ. There was more about this involving prior lifetimes that I couldn’t take in at all and I’ve felt out forgotten what all was said about that. I only knew that at the time, the initial interpretation felt right. Perhaps if only because I felt so desperately lost, I was naturally more than open to the idea of receiving powerful assistance from the higher realms. I mean, I was asking for it, so, duh.

Not long after, when the ‘You are being given the Gift of Holy Discernment’ transmission came though clear as a bell, later realizing that this involuntary, ever-available head nod tool was the practical embodiment of this ‘gift’ (via The Holy Spirit), I began applying this to confirm/disconfirm what was interpreted to me, my hunches, and all that I was experiencing, hearing, receiving. (This is how it was determined the gift itself came via Holy Spirit). Wild as this was, and still is to me, it also makes sense. Because in that darkest hour where nothing was clear, where I literally began to feel like I could not trust my own senses outside of touch maybe, the main, really the only thing I was asking for was for clarity. Little did I imagine being bestowed with a built-in ability to discern what from what forevermore.

Fast forward a few years, with the onset of voice channeling, as I’ve now channeled Yeshua, Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, Elohim, Seraphim, Goddesses Sophia and Isis (though not Saint Germain, yet, interestingly), it’s shifted me from wanting all this to be real/true, to believing it to be so, to knowing and trusting. A confirmed knowing. One that’s solidified my faith in The Divine, and trust in my own perception.

So, full circle, to be out at Panther Meadows, the very area where my Gateway Guide purportedly materialized to begin a communication about his role in the Divine Play, and his offering.

How Sweet!

Let’s GO!

fear-be-gone

Unlike the pedestrian fears I probably overemphasized in PT3 about heading out up the mountain alone, getting lost, hurt, abducted by Sascrotch (see: last pic at bottom of PT3 post) or worse, today I felt nothing but pure excitement and joy. Likely because my faith in my HG, in The Illumined Ones, was bolstered another notch by how all played out without a hitch the day before.

After parking, I take a while to bask in the most astounding, what seemed like 500 thousand foot view of the mountain valley, then find my way to the main trailhead entrance. This trail was far clearer than the faint, elusive trail leading me up and out to nowhere yesterday at Bunny Flats. And there were more humans present today, which put me at more ease.

I quickly reach what seemed like the beginning of the actual meadows. I saw a few folks standing, gazing, taking in the energy, so I knew I was in the right place. Unlike the rocky, rough, dusty terrain and dead silent, earthy grey-ish atmosphere of Bunny Flats, Panther Meadows, while having its share of rocky, rough trails, has a different appearance and vibe altogether. More lush in parts, and colorful, with gorgeous sounds of nature, running water, and sunflower covered fields in abundance.

And a distinctly etheric quality.

god compass

I wander through the main meadows area, where there’s Panther Spring with its reputed 100 year old water flowing through (I finish the day with a brief meditation there). I chat up an elderly lady who says she lives nearby. She hones right in on my intention for being out there with “You’re looking for the magic spots, aren’t you?”

I affirm, we laugh, And that was that.

Following a path out of the main meadows that takes me into a labyrinth of rocky trails, I have a sense that unlike the uphill climb yesterday, I’m to head down the mountain today, off one side of the meadows (no idea which direction). HG confirms this, and I follow a trail that takes me to another clearing, not as lush or yellow flower covered, but with trailhead markers, which again, is comforting.

Anyone need a drink?

nature calls, divine answers

I wasn’t going to include this, but by now you know I have a sense of humor. And near zero fucks left to give. I thought this was hilarious, so you might too.

HG points me down this path pictured above. About 10 minutes in, I’m further down the mountain and the trail I’m on is getting narrower, and less clear.

Suddenly, I sense a #2 is brewing. Damn. Thought I got it all over with before I left.

I try on for size whether it’s false alarm. Of course, it’s not. I’m otherwise fully invested in being where I am at this point, deep into Panther Meadows. Climbing back up, getting in the car and having to drive back to Bunny Flats where there’s a facility would really suck. (And I might not even make it, I remember thinking).

I try going on a little further, beginning to entertain utilizing my old Boy Scout training which involves particular kinds of leaves, if necessary. You get the picture.

I shit you not (not pun intended), I soon come upon a trail fork. I ask my HG which way to go. It indicates the right, which looks and feels like it’s taking me away from the direction it had been leading me. But I go with it.

30 seconds down this path, what do I find but a tiny, lone, very old looking one person port-o-potty! (Should have taken a picture for proof, but I had other urgent business).

Can’t fucking make this up!

I walk in there thinking “I’m so grateful…but, ugh, bet it’s gonna be gross and probably have no tp.” Wrong. As far as outhouses go, it was about as clean, pleasant, and stocked as you could ask for.

How good is God? You tell me.

Afterwards, I head back to the fork and ask again for direction. It takes me the way I thought it would have, underscoring that the detour was a Divine misdirection of sorts, for the obvious purposes :>

into the mystic

Relieved, in more ways than one, and knowing I’m on the right path to my mystery destination, I start heading into some tall, old ass tree-laden, deep canyon, super green lush territory. The sounds of babbling brooks gets louder. I can sense I’m close to where I’m being led. I’m starting to really feel the energy of this special place on the mountain.

And just like the day before, I round a slight corner, see this little, non-descript clearing and just know this is it. Ask HG: Confirmed.

can I just live here?

In stark contrast to the atmosphere way up on the Bunny Flats yesterday, with the eerie deafening silence and stark sense of solitude, while no humans were around this area either, this part of the mountain was teeming with beauty. Soothing sounds and vibrant colors. Yesterday had a distinctly more spacious, barren, galactic feel. Fitting in that it was a Venusian vortex, apparently.

This was very different.

I scout the immediate area, wade through the stream a bit, douse my amethyst in the water, and take in the energy for a while. Felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Actually, it didn’t feel like it. I knew it.

Laying out my ground cover, I open my little seat-o-matic, recite some ad lib prayers, do my invocations, and open up to what will be. Before I settle in, I get a last impulse to capture one more snippet of the beauty of the immediate area before I start.

The second one reveals a pleasant little time-stamp synchronicity/confirmation:

11:11!

Meditation #1

Right away it’s clear and I confirm my host/guide for this sit is Saint Germain. There’s a particular subtlety to how my head moves around in that infinity shape when he comes in. A whimsical dancy-ness. It’s his signature I suppose. So I knew it, and it was confirmed that, just as in my first sit yesterday, here he was again.

A minute or so in, my head movement slows, which is not unusual. Starts and stops occur frequently, especially as every guide that works with me seems to be exquisitely sensitive to the toll all the movement takes on my neck and associated muscles. So I get frequent ‘spirit stretches.’ I often feel a lot of tightness and tension up there, partially as a result of all this, the rest probably due to text neck, bad typing form, desk posture, etc). But the spirit stretches keep me out of pain. There’s never pain. Gratitude!

Then I realize, this isn’t a stretch break. My head goes still. I go with it, waiting to see what happens next.

And what does next blows my mind, followed by an onslaught of tears of joy.

A transmission/download came right in, clearer than anything. Not audibly, but a mental impression, a stamp, is the best I can say. And much as I’d like to share it here because it was so incredible, I’m keeping this transmission to myself. Something has to be held sacred, right? I knew right away, this isn’t to be broadcast. HG confirmed this.

Suffice to say, it was a blessing. Literally. Three succinct, descriptive sentences. And absolute confirmation, as if I needed more this point, that it was ordained for me to come out here.

The sit went on from there more or less as usual for another 20 or 30 minutes. And again, I thought if this was it, more than satisfied.

meditation #2

Quan Yin was my host for this sit. She worked with me at The Peace Garden on day two, and here she was again. For the third time this sit had to do again with clairaudience. This must be some kind of process to install or otherwise ready me for the clear hearing function, because its been the focus of many a sit for many weeks in a row now.

Otherwise, this was a beautiful, subtle, reasonably long meditation. No big bells and whistles. Just delightful communion with this Mother of Compassion once again.

Throughout this one I felt more enveloped in the atmosphere than ever. Like a real merging with the sounds, colors, and visceral feel of the atmosphere. I gotta meditate outside more often.

meditation #3

For this final sit, my host/guide was Portia. Portia is considered the Divine Counterpart of Saint Germain. Master Portia’s work is to assist transformation, magic, the dawning of new eons, development of psychic abilities, and manifestation. A powerful Goddess energy that brings guidance in our spiritual advancement, if we’re so inclined to look to these Masters along our journey.

Portia is alternately known as the ‘Goddess of Justice’ and ‘Goddess of Opportunity.’ Her energy focuses through the Violet Flame; bringing Divine Justice in places where there is no balance and harmony. She teaches us how to attain and maintain a balance and mental, emotional, physical and spiritual attributes using the elements of wind, earth, fire, and air. My kind of Lady! I’ve been blessed to have her come in many times over the last years.

Today, her work with me on the mountain was once again, about opening and/or preparing me for clairaudience. This sit, similar to the super wild one via Lady Master Nada yesterday, reached a fever pitch head movement-wise. There was again the extra neck stretching attention, testing out of ease of circular movement capacity, followed by intense, exponentially escalating clockwise and alternative counterclockwise head movements. I had the distinct feeling that this was some type of activation.

Two things I understand about the head movement phenomena during my communions: 1) It’s intelligently driven, sacred geometrical in action, and purposeful. 2) It’s not my own intelligence driving the bus. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine.

Anyhow, it went on for quite a while until that fever pitch of high velocity reached a zenith, then slowly unwound to the point of stillness. On the downturn I had the sense of being somewhat energy drained—a good tired feeling. I suspected that would be it for today. My head finally came to a stop. A pause, then started up again, but with a different shape and feeling.

Portia it seemed had ‘peaced-out,’ and this was someone else.

Checked with my HG. Mary Magdalene energy entered.

Mary of Magdala, a frequent host in recent Multidimensional Divine Light Transmission work with clients, and with whom I’ve had the pleasure of channeling multiple times now (as has one of my clients) popped in to signify the work was complete. Why her, I don’t know. But she gave the signal to head back up to Panther Meadows and the Spring to close out.

Before packing up, I asked about the significance of this space I was led to today. She confirmed it was a special, then also peaced-out (?). I checked with my HG. Ran through my list of best guesses and arrived at that it was basically a Great White Brotherhood Vortex.

The GWB is an esoteric conception of a larger organization, so to speak, like a council, of whom all Illumined/Holy Ones/Ascended Masters purportedly belong—spoken of in the Book of Revelation as the great multitude of saints ‘clothed with white robes’ who stand before the throne of God.

Once again, if I perceived this accurately, I’ll take it.

Panther Spring for the win

I hiked back up, marveling at the beauty of the mountain, the surroundings, and all the magic that took place today and every day out here. And at how fucking blessed and fortunate I AM.

Taking a seat at Panther Spring, there were a few folks sitting around, one lady throwing mudra shapes, closed eyes, in total silence. I happily joined the party.

As soon as I did, head starts wobbling. Apparently Mary stayed with me to take me out with one final brief mediation at the famed location. No more than 10 or 15 minutes, but a perfect cap to a beautiful day and a most wonderous experience.

Here’s one more snippet of Panther Meadows, then of the Spring:

A few weeks out, after several integration-oriented sits, I feel like I’m still there. Or I’ve taken it with me. Or both. And the integration will be going on for a while, especially since it was interpreted that I have little [conscious] idea of all that transpired. Where it’s all taking me I don’t know. The whole thing—from the onset of a Divine madness to the present day—is an unfolding beyond my control or awareness, as these types of things usually are.

I’m most excited about how this all will inform my work with others in tangible, perceivable ways. Because that’s what it’s about. Otherwise, it’s just self-serving. As it was confirmed just the other day that the potency of [my ability to serve as bridge/conduit for] the MDLT process increased by 40% as a result of all the activations and what not, I’m more curious than ever what’s in store, and how far this can go.

Moral of the story? If you get ‘the call’ to go visit a sacred space, GO!

THANK YOU anyone and everyone whose had the interest, patience (or just nothing else to do than :) to read this series.

THANK YOU Mt Shasta for the call, the magic, and changing my life.

THANK YOU Roxy Ghoraishy for the guiding and magical activations. You are Cosmic Stardust.

And THANKS to the awesome staff at Pipeline Craft Taps and Kitchen- Chris, Jeff, and the fellow weirdo Shasta locals I had the fortune of meeting, and for keeping me company each night over dinner!

‘May the heart of Christ be everywhere known’

-Tibetan Prayer

Om Namah Shivaya, Love, Ascension, Beloved I AM, and Divinely Materialized Port-O-Pottys,

Chris Hancock, LCSW, ACMHP

Franklin, TN

www.therapyoutsidethebox.com / @therapyoutsidethebox

chris@therapyoutsidethebox.com

615.430.2778

2023 Magical Journey to Mt Shasta (PT2)

Fresh off my first opportunity to begin integrating the downloads, activations, codes and energetic infusions I experienced at Mt Shasta (with the help of an interdimensional feminine and masculine Avatar, yesterday and today, respectively) this piece covers day two of my magical journey.

Enjoy!

8/25/23 - Destination # 1

I met up with Roxy, my intrepid guide this morning at the Gateway Peace Garden, a private residence turned outdoor shrine to symbolizing world peace and providing a gathering place for proponents.

The Peace Garden has a God Pole, a Peace Pole, a Mother Mary labyrinth, a Mary Garden, prayer flags all around, and Quan Yin circle. Quan Yin is the great Goddess and Mother of Compassion. A beautiful expression of the Divine Mother, associated with eastern/oriental spiritual traditions. Quan Yin, along with both Mary’s and others have been communing with me in my personal sits (and more recently in my work) for a few years now. So much of what takes place in my Spiritual Healing offering is led by Divine Feminine forces, so what a joy to visit this heavily Div Fem-loaded place and kick off day two here. I had it on my list anyway. And since the main mountain road was still closed as of that morning, perfect.

We walked the labyrinth, set intentions, prayed, and then settled in for another crystal alchemy singing bowl-assisted activation in the Quan Yin garden, which felt right to both of us.

If day one started off with an heightened energetic bang (See PT1 if you missed that), today was with an observant calm. A slow burn. Equally as wonderful.

Roxy got her bowls and invocations going. As I entered into a reverent state and setteled into a meditation, my head starts its infinity symbol movement and I right away get that, unsurprisingly, my/our host for this session is Quan Yin.

It was a lovely sit, if otherwise unremarkable. Save for at one point the energy, likely enhanced by the intensity and vibration of the crystal bowls and the power and significance of the spoken word activation, seemed to really ramp up. The velocity of my involuntary head movement (PT3 foreshadowing…) then got so intense that I actually lost upright balance and fell backwards. I was seated of course, so it was more humorous than anything. Oh the hazards of woo woo work :>

We wrapped up the Peace Garden visit with another walk through and I wrote a prayer on one of the cloths and hung it on the fence which people have been doing since the garden was built. What a beautiful place.

Check out these pics…

Peace Central

Quan Yin Circle

Mary Labyrinth

Closer Mary View

Peace Pole

Peace Banner

Destination # 2

We leave the Peace Garden and head out to McCloud Falls. This is one powerful, magnificent waterfall with a high cliff where a tour group of teens were jumping off into the basin below. Needless to say, at age 53, I declined the cortisol spike routine.

We crawled our way through the rocky, hilly, slippery wet terrain to get as close to the main wall of rushing water as possible. Roxy got in and swam around, which impressed (and mildly emasculated me, I’ll admit) cause that shit was fucking freezing. Instead I got to as near the center of the falls without being right under it to take in the power and energy.

McCloud Falls is, like so many places at Mt Shasta, a know energetic hotspot.

I get situated standing in a secure areas on a rock, say a few prayers, give thanks for this natural wonderland and express gratitude for being at this majestic mountain. I remember feeling a mild trance-like state come on while standing and staring at the rushing cascades and just hanging out in a state of being ‘open to receive.’ That calm but steady kind of hydra power is naturally trance inducing, I’ll say.

Next thing I know I perceive a download/transmission coming on. A mental impression of this exact sentence then arrives in my psyche:

“You are closer to home than you’ve ever been before.”

I check with my higher guidance for discernment and clarification in the quick and dirty way [the ‘Holy Discernment’ gift I was graced with years back that came in the form of an always available subtle head nod- up for yes/true, left/right for no/false, to any query or sustained thought]. This was my own thought?: ‘No.’ I imagined it?: ‘No.’ A transmission?: ‘Yes.’ From a higher source?: ‘Yes.’ Perceived/received correctly?: Then the quick run through the usual suspects- guides, masters, angel collectives etc and the affirmative on the source of delivery is my gateway guide, Saint Germain.

I stood there taking that in for a good while.

I’ve been and will continue to ponder what exactly this means to me, as it can obviously be interpreted in more ways than one. At the least, I take it as a confirmation that I was indeed called to the mountain. And that I’ll likely be coming back.

This is why guides out here like Roxy, herself called to/by the mountain, typically greet tour-ees with “Welcome home.”

McCloud Falls, site of a download from Saint Germain

McCloud Falls view from above, with sun codes a plenty

Since we spent a considerable amount of time at the Peace Garden and McCloud Falls (plus the travel time to get to the Falls), this was it for my time with Roxy. We left there and she promised to text with ideas, other destinations and magic places to consider and over my next two days.

After heading back to the town of Mt Shasta to browse and buy a few books, crystals and stuff, I decided to head back to Castle Lake. I get there, find the path we took out to the spot we worked in, and while searching along the lakes edge, I stumble upon a totally un-phased, totally topless lone sunbather, in all her half-naked exhibitionistic glory, sprawled out on a big flat rock. Hey, it’s California. Apparently, still the 60s there :>

I eventually find the spot where the Ancient Egyptian energy infusion took place. I did a meditation, this one hosted by a Light Being of unknown origin. And wouldn’t you know—this time sans vibration and sound of singing bowls like the day before—a parade of ducks again came waddling right up to me as I silently sat there!

Woo-attracted ducks :>

And for The Divine finale of Day Two….

Just after leaving Castle Lake, as I get to the bottom of the long and winding road, Roxy texts: “The main road to the mountain just re-opened!”

My heart leapt with joy!

If you missed this in PT1, the day I arrived I found out the main road to the mountain—the one to the very spots I had staked out to go to for my last two days solo— got shut down due to mud slides. I prayed, politely requesting intervention if it was the will of the Divine that I get to access the places where Saint Germain was said to have appeared in August of 1930, and to be led to some of the notorious portals and vortexes in and around Bunny Flats and Panther Meadows.

I check my HG on this and it is confirmed. Divine orchestration indeed at play here.

No words.

*Can it get any better?

In PT3 I’ll be sharing about my solo expeditions at Bunny Flats on day three, and Panther Meadows on day four.

(*SPOILER ALERT: IT GOT BETTER).

Until then,

Peace Gardens, Divine Mothers of Compassion, Ducks, Topless Sunburns, and Divine Interventions,

Chris Hancock, LCSW, ACMHP

Franklin, TN

therapyoutsidethebox.com / @therapyoutsidethebox

chris@therapyoutsidethebox.com

615.430.2778

2023 Magical Journey to Mt Shasta (PT 1)

I think this is going to be a 3, possibly 4 part series to keep it from being the world’s longest blog post hardly anyone will read :> PT 1 here is about what all led to the decision to go, and my experiences on day one which started off with quite a bang. The next installments will likely be more concise.

Quick caveat: If you’re not familiar with me, or the type of phenomena described herein, you’ll likely arrive one of two polarized conclusions. 1) Some combination of: I get it/I’m inspired/I gotta go to Mt Shasta/I might want to work with this guy. 2) This dude flipped his lid. Delusional. He has no business working as a mental health professional. Fair. No contest. Truth is, I probably flipped my lid a long time ago. Multiple times. Might have even come out my sweet mama’s womb flipped. Just probably not in the way you may have been programmed to believe or interpret such a concept. As for me, my only regret is how long it took me to break the shackles of consensus reality conditioning, dissolve associated fear, inhabit courage, and fully, proudly wave my freak flag. How I look at it now is that I’ve gone nearly completely sane. In any case, I’m good with whatever you take from this, and what you may determine about yours truly. Perception is reality. And we see things as we are. Through a glass darkly, until we shed the meat suit. And even then, who knows.

Mostly, I’m writing this for documentation of my Mt Shasta experience. And, to attempt to convey what can happen when, with a little curiosity, faith and wonder, one opens up to a possibilistic view of life. And to the endless generosity, availability (but for the asking), infinitely pure love, grace and mercy of the Godhead; of the spirit world at large, and all that lies beyond the boundaries of 3D constructs.

Enjoy!

CALL OF THE MOUntain

As with lot of other sacred spaces around the world, as they say, the Mountain calls you.

Knowing even the little bit I did about the root chakra of the earth, as Native Americans deemed Mt Shasta, when I first heard this phenomena of being (psychically) called to it, I was intrigued. Then about 4 months ago, things about it started popping up everywhere. Including looking up one day while driving to see a tow trailer in front of me with SHASTA in big bold letters on the interstate as I’m literally pondering and deliberating deliberating about taking the trip, and mildly stressing about the expense, leaving my family, etc. I mean, what?

Before that were minds-eye visions, a dream of being there, then finally more than one channeled conformational message at the conclusion of recent meditations/spirit communions.

It was at that point that I knew the Mountain does in fact call us to her. Some say she’s calling us home. I now actually have one concrete reason to believe this as well, which I’ll mention in PT 2.

There’s even a Gaia documentary entitled Call of the Mountain, largely based on the experience of one who calls himself Paul of Venus, a Mt Shasta spiritual tour guide.

When I answered the call, I booked a tour of the mountain’s notorious hotspots—to get a feel for the various legendary interdimensional inner earth (not flat earth, inner earth. See: Agartha, Telos, purported connection to Lemuria, Atlantis) and other portals and vortexes, with Paul. Somehow, come two days before departure it got entirely screwed up on his electronic scheduling side, so it never come to pass. But as I surrendered the entire trip and everything about it to The Divine and my guides/higher guidance (heretofore ‘HG’), I concluded it was not meant to be with him. Fortunately, I had a second guide lined up, so I doubled up with her, and all was well.

No doubt

Saint Germain connection

Given that my post-Dark Night of the Soul/awakening-initiation ‘gateway guide,’ or ‘Ascended Master of Ceremonies,’ as I comically think of it, is Saint Germain (not just him, but he’s the main), the immortal Master Alchemist, Avatar of Aquarius, and purveyor of the Violet Transmuting Flame, loosely associated with the Rosicrucianism and Theosophy (Read: ‘Divine Union’) whose entire esoteric legacy begins with his documented appearance on Mt Shasta back in the 1930s, from which followed a series of dictations, books, and an entire ‘I AM’ movement, it made sense that I would get the call.

Perhaps even more sense that it would come just shortly after voice channeling came online, coinciding with the roll out of my 100% spirit-guided offering: A Spiritual Healing approach which is essentially an extension of my personal spirit communion/opening-to-channel odyssey that I was recently nudged to begin incorporating into my work. I was also instructed to name it: Multidimensional Divine Light Transmission. A mouthful, I know.

Anyway I figured going to the mountain would only stand to enhance this process, my work, and personal initiation odyssey in general. So why not go? But I had subtle misgivings. And then came a Divinely-inspired idea (i.e. download) as to how to generate additional means one day (something I never would have considered) to make the decision easier budget wise. Needless to say, I followed through on it. And it delivered even more than anticipated. Upon returning home, a generous, unanticipated check was waiting. And wouldn’t you know, the sum total of this means-generating idea covered the entire expense of the trip, almost to the dollar.

Ask, Believe, Receive, once again.

prep

In anticipation of heading out, I did my best to let go all expectations and attachments outcomes; to surrender, as mentioned, the entire journey to The Divine and my guides. As you’ll see, I was not disappointed. And neither would you be if you’re so inspired to set up some complete surrender experiments. For me, that’s how this whole Outside the Box thing happened. That is, after nearly completely losing my mind and regaining a new and improved one following an insidious, near ten year DNOTS/burnout/midlife/existential crisis. I’m so beyond grateful for it now there aren’t even words. Because I’m now virtually totally free of fear and doubt (discernment yes, doubt, no)—especially with regard to being cared for and led but for the asking by a veritable army of higher sources, as well as about how I’m viewed by others/the outside world. My life, my work, and everything else has only gotten exponentially more beautiful, secure, connected, fulfilling, and magical since surrendering completely to a divinely guided life path. It can for you, too. This Universal law does not discriminate.

And as I wrote on my About page somewhere, if the Devil and his minions are pulling one over on me, they’re doing a helluva shitty job.

arrival

So I flew out on August 23rd, drove the hour from Redding to Shasta, and was completely awestruck by the first few glimpses of the mountain as I neared my destination. Got a good nights sleep, and bright and early the next morning meet up with my human guide, Roxy Ghoriashy.

To her great credit, and my infinite gratitude, this lady saved the day by rearranging her schedule to take me out on my first day there after my previously scheduled tour with Paul of Venus fell through. A sprightly woman of Persian decent with a notable lisp, Roxy arrived dressed like a cross between a Pixie, Barbara Eden in I Dream of Genie, and Vina, the dancing ‘Green Lady’ from that original Star Trek episode (minus the full body green paint). I’d expect no less from a modern mystic, starseed, galactic light language speaker, crystal alchemy singing bowler, author of a book of poetry titled I Am Cosmic Stardust, and Mt Shasta spiritual tour guide, herself was called the Mountain and never left.

My kind of people, apparently :>

8/24/23 - destination #1

I find out the road to the actual mountain was closed due to recent mudslides, which temporarily bummed me out until I remembered and recommitted to all according Divine plan. I said a prayer for the highest and best good to come to pass regarding this. We instead today head to some of the surrounding lakes and waterfalls, themselves notorious energetic hotspots. Roxy’s view, and that of many others, is that the entire mountain and the natural wonders surrounding it are all active containers of ancient and interdimensional energy, vortexes and portals, etc. All we need do is approach with intention to connect to and experience this energy, be open to receive/perceive, and assist with reverent prayers, rituals, activations, and engage a meditative state. I’m down.

We start at a spot along Lake Siskiyou. The view of the mountain from there is breathtaking. We get a little acquainted, get grounded, and prepare for a meditation. Roxy begins an invocation that organically morphs into light language. When you first hear light language spoken, it’s bizarre sounding. Indecipherable, and probably sounds like gibberish to most. After all, it’s said to be a native cosmic/galactic culture language transmission, so of course it’s not going to sound familiar. All I know is I’m intrigued when I hear it.

In this case, to my surprise, it seemed to initiate something entirely beyond mere intrigue.

Not 3 minutes after the light language portion commenced, I started feeling something distinct, mainly in my chest. It quickly escalated in waves into a palpable, powerful energetic heart expansion/opening as if something extremely powerful, pure and immensely loving was arising from deep within my heart cavity, yet clearing being initiated from without.

From there, waves and waves of an oscillating, full body energy immersion took place. How, what, why, caused by what exactly I did not know. I tried to stay out of my head and just experience it. And there was nothing in me that didn’t welcome it, and it literally felt other-worldy (a clue). Then an intensely beautiful escalating wave of pure joy and ecstasy took me to the brink, to the point that I remember telling my guide I thought I might burst into tears. She said she might cry if I did! We laughed and went with it.

It was at this point, perhaps partially to forestall erupting into tears, I thought to check with my HG on what/who is responsible for this sensation? I quickly run through my punch list of the higher guides, holy ones, masters, angels and various galactic collectives that have connected with me over the last years—as well as those fabled ancient cultures (Lemurians, Telosians, etc) and galactic /cosmic cultures long associated with Mt Shasta (Arcturians, Pleiadeans, etc). I get no immediate hits.

Not one to give up, I keep checking, and suddenly get a ‘yes’ on Lyran. Yes, this was Lyran collective cosmic energy, according to my HG. According to some Lyra, in the constellation of Vega (I think), is the origin point of multidimensional life in the Universe. Lyrans are considered cosmically to be a most ancient galactic culture, and super high frequency Star Beings. They’re also said to be Feline—lion beings—by some white lions and lioness Gods and Goddesses of pure love, peace, and light. There’s allegedly also a Lyran Avian culture, but my hit was on Lyran Feline energy infusing me here with pure heart blasting love and joy. I’ll take it.

I shared this with Roxy and then suddenly felt the need to get up, move my body, and disperse the energy. I half regret this now, wondering, how long might it have lasted if I hung in there and let it do its thing? Where else would it have gone? What else might have happened? Oh well. In any case, wow, what a way to kick it off.

Most unexpected.

Shasta over Lake Siskiyou

destination #2

We find a perfect spot right along the edge of Castle Lake. It being a weekday, presumably, just like at Siskiyou, hardly anyone in sight. Roxy set up her crystal alchemy bowls and we settle in for a singing-bowl vibration/tone assisted light code activation meditation. I didn’t ask specifics because it didn’t feel necessary. The setting was serene and alive, and the vibe thus far with my intrepid guide on point. And after what I had just viscerally experienced, why question?

Castle lake, the lore about it, is that it’s situated literally on top of an ancient Lemurian crystal castle. Meaning, there’s said to be active post-destruction Atlantean/Lemurian (See: Rudolph Steiner, Edgar Cayce) second and third root race defectors alive and well, living under Castle Lake. This is connected to the mythos of the earths far reaching, hidden inner world known as Agartha, said to be inhabited by an Agarthan culture, as well as more interdimensionally by Telos/Telosian culture, as well as it being connected to portals/gateways for other more conventionally galactic interdimensional positive polarity/benevolent “ET’s” such as Arcturians, Pleiadeans, and Venusians.

That out there enough for you?

Whether fact or fiction, mythic/woo woo legend or possible mystical non-consensus reality paradoxical truth along the lines of Neils Bohr’s famous statement about your theory is crazy but not crazy enough to be true, I don’t know. But I’m a possibilist, so I’ll leave it there. Reader decide.

Once the invocation, activation and crystal bowl tones got going, a parade of ducks come right up to us, presumably responding to the tone and vibrations of the bowls echoing across and throughout the lake. That was interesting. I don’t think I’ve seen ducks swim up toward humans outside of ponds where they’ve grown accustomed to being fed.

Then I soon start feeling some kind of energy. And energy that felt distinctly other, and good. Serious. Almost erudite, somehow. But safe, and good.

I suddenly feel moved to leave my on-land meditative perch and get into the lake. Once in the beautiful clean, pure water Mt Shasta is known for, I remember looking out, vibrating along with the singling bowl tones, turn away from my guide, gazing across the lake, and begin fixating upon a particular portion of the mountain. I fall into a peaceful,. reverent, mild trance-like state. No sooner I begin to perceive—more along the lines of mental/cognitive perception or download—Ancient Egyptian energy present with and within me. I mention it to Roxy. She says ‘wow!’ laughs, continues toning the bowls and repeating her ad-lib spoken word activation.

I checked my HG but couldn’t nail down who exactly was with me. Isis? No. Osiris? No. Horus? No. Ra? No. A collective? Yes. That’s the most I could get. Fair enough. I go with it.

I suppose sense can be made as to why I connected with Egyptian energy, and why here and now in this place, at least given the reputed galactic origin of the Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. And the connection between the Ascended Masters I’m in communion with and the ancient Egyptian Mystery Schools, and Temples of Initiation at Luxor where many a Master including Yeshua/Christ was said to be instructed and initiated during his apparent missing years (roughly 15-32).

Anyway, next thing I know I’m downloading that I-my soul-this soul-lived a (past) life in ancient Egypt. Which of course reminds me right away of my last psychedelic experience (5grms of Guadalajara mushrooms last October) where I spend a good deal of time in a trippy ancient Egyptian setting after being rebirthed into the womb of Gaia via a hedgehog (reminiscent of the Egyptian Hedgehog Goddess Abaset).

And that was it, just that. Transmission/download complete, followed by an incredible wave of pure bliss. Different from the blissful, joyful waves just experienced at Siskiyou, but amazing nonetheless. Comparable to a sense of relief at having just been handed a key, or key piece of the puzzle.

Once before in a healing session with someone who would bring through intuitive past life impressions, the same thing was interpreted to me. That I was the brother or son of a pharaoh in ancient Egypt, or something. It meant little at the time, and this person turned out to be problematic, so I had written it off. But this is harder to dismiss. I don’t generally put a lot of energy into the past life thing, but, coming the way it did here, and because this entire trip was destined, I’m inclined to give it a extra credence.

In any case, given the purported connection between Ancient Egypt the fabled Lemurian and Atlantean civilizations, galactic/cosmic cultures, and Mt Shasta, perhaps this is how I was meant to perceive it.

Pure Bliss in Castle Lake

Roxy preparing for crystal alchemy bowl light code activation @ Castle Lake

Destination #3

On quite a high from the experiences at both lakes, we head over to our last location for the day, Faery Falls. Faery Falls is well known in the woo woo circles to have a strong Arcturian energy connection, and to generally be a vortex-type spot in its own right.

Faery Falls is beautiful. Not huge, remote, but ethereal and definitely earthy-elemental in that fairy and gnomish kind of way. We didn’t do any kind of activation or ritual in this locale. We just got in there, frolicked around in the water, leaned up against the ‘Arcturian wall,’ invoked, prayed, and soaked up the energy.

I took a few pics a brief videos at the outset, and my guide took more while there. It was a peaceful, connected, joyful experience all its own.

I’ll finish this [PT 1] out with a few choice pics that paint an interesting picture of possible energetic/spiritual phenomenon photographically evident. No downloads, heart-openings or other wildly visceral experience like in the previous locations. Just a blissful time wading in the cascading water of the falls, and continuous curiosity about what can be seen in the images captured, posted below.

Violet Flame of Saint Germain + Plasma orb?

Violet Flame?

Roxy looks at this yellow band as light code. My HG identifies it as Sirian.

Yellow orb?

Giving thanks and signing off for the day…

We departed Faery Falls and bid each other adieux for the day, reconnecting the next for more. That will be the focus of PT 2, while PT 3 will be about my last two days solo out on the mountain with nature, deafening silence, and the presence of multiple higher sources who called me out there :>

In the meantime…

Peace, Feline Being Love, Plasma Orb Energy, and Ancient Egyptian Blessings,

Chris Hancock, LCSW, ACMHP

Franklin, TN

therapyoutsidethebox.com / @therapyoutsidethebox

615.430.2778

chris@therapyoutsidethebox.com

Multidimensional Divine Light Transmission

“I never said it was possible, I only said it was true”

-Sir William Crooks 1874

Words fail, especially when attempting to describe the ineffable. This most definitely applies to describing a more or less silent, entirely spirit-guided method, like this new Multidimensional Divine Light Transmission process I’m facilitating.

But if you know me at all, you know I got some words. English major. All verbal, no math. So I’ll give it a college try :)

While I work toward formally writing and uploading the web page for this on my site, the following is the summary description as place-holder:

‘Multidimensional Divine Light Transmission is an organic extension of my personal spiritual practice and process. Essentially this is a facilitated mystical experience (FME), whereby a sacred geometrical toroidal/torus field is generated, allowing for co-created immersive contact with one or more emissaries of the Father/Mother Source-God - ‘I AM Presence’ within Christ Consciousness (ex: Seraphim, Elohim, Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, Melchizedek, Ascended Masters, Benevolent-Positive Polarity Galactic Guides, etc).

This is a 100% higher source/pure consciousness-guided offering. My role in it is simply a grounding force, conduit/bridge, and discernment gate keeper, if you will.

In other words, this is no conventional therapy. Probably not best thought of as a ‘therapy’ at all. Definitely ‘‘off label!’

Examples are what it can be used for are (but not limited to):

-Practice faith, trust and surrender to Divine Will by having/setting no intention save for whatever is in ‘the highest and best good’ to be the objective for the session

-Spiritual awareness and healing in general

-Trauma healing support

-Nervous system & energetic body balancing/attunement

-Higher self embodiment

-Dissolving fear down to the cellular level

-Ancestral/generational pattern releasing

-Emotional, energetic & creative block clearing

-Negative karma dissolution, ascension support

-Ascension support/crystaline light body activation

-Awakening intuition

-Aligning with the frequency of abundance/prosperity consciousness

-Compassionate detachment of foreign entities/energetic parasites (i.e. ‘unattached burdens’)

…Or whatever else you can conceive as long as it’s in your ‘highest and best good.’

Sky’s the limit in terms of application. Because, what can’t Spirit do?

No particular belief or buy-in is necessary as to the actual sources, i.e who/what is doing the work—sometimes referred to as ontological agnosticism. While the felt-sense of the experience varies by person, and can range from the clam-subtle to the visceral-profound, an open mind, state of receptivity, an attitude of awe, reverence, and absence of fear is all that’s required.

A Q&A opportunity often concludes the session, with yours truly doing his best as a new conscious voice channel to bring through clear answers to questions about what took place in the session.

SERVICE IS AVAILABLE NOW, including on a consultation, or ‘a la carte’ basis for those not already working with me and who do not wish to become a formal therapy client. Available in-person, remotely, including soon via virtual small group format.’

multidimensional wha? (ORIGIN OF THE NAME)

Quite a title, huh? A client of mine called it a ‘powerhouse’ of a name. To which I said, ‘What less would we expect from Spirit?!’ What I mean by that is that the name itself was transmitted, i.e. downloaded, in a few parts, after I followed prompts to offer clients the opportunity, at their choosing, of turning over sessions completely to The Divine and seeing what happens.

After a handful of these, and jazzed by what took place, I started feeling and envisioning this as a formal separate offering. I started to think of what to call it and my higher guidance (HG) said not yet. I waited, and within about two weeks, during one of my opening to channel/spiritual initiation meditations, I started to get the downloads. Originally I had it backwards. Then I somehow figured it out :>

‘concrescence’

This is a term I learned from listening to talks by the late psychonautical mad genius Terence McKenna. It essentially means the growing together (of particles, for example). It applies here because MDLT is exactly that—a merging, a coming together of my post-burnout/temporary madness-infused Dark Night of the Soul/Awakening experience cum spiritual initiation odyssey with my professional life/therapeutic modalities. Kinda like the way couples who’ve been together forever start to look alike. Or how dog owners start to look like their pooch, for better or worse :>

I had already been consciously merging my interests, such as with my intuitively-guided Subconscious Heal and Release energy-psychology-based approach, and my psycho-spiritual/transpersonal approach to Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS). But this alchemical ‘concrescence’ came together involuntarily, purely at the behest of spirit. I had no conscious intention to bring what’s been occurring in my personal spiritual journey into the clinical setting in such a direct, hands-off the wheel kind of way. But if I’ve learned anything from the last few years, it’s to trust the Divine/Spirit and my HG implicitly. It will not steer me wrong, and wherever it leads me is most certainly in and for the highest and best good.

guinea pigs

While the vast majority of Therapy Outside the Box clients are at the very least spiritually curious and open-minded. But a few intrepid, seasoned ones were my test pilots for MDLT. And it happened organically. Meaning, as I check in each morning on what’s in the highest and best good from the perspective of Spirit/HG for each, I started to get clear clairsentient/claircognizant nudges to surrender completely by offering entirely spirit-guided sessions that would closely resemble my own personal spiritual process. It was intuitive from there to simply open up the session with invitation/invocation of the highest and holiest (etc), a prayer of protection protocol, hold the violet flame-charged amethyst crystal I was guided to obtain (for grounding of energy), have my client verbalize a specific ask/request, and let higher forces come in and take it from there.

It’s really that simple. It’s basically: invite/invoke, surrender, ask, perceive, receive, let go/go inside, allow, perceive, give thanks.

infinity symbol bobble head

What happens on my end during MDLT is what happens during my personal work. Once whomever comes in as my/our spiritual host/active agent for the session (individual or collective energy, and sometimes more than one), I know we’ve begun by the involuntary action that begins in my body. Specifically, my head, as it begins to wobble back and forth, mostly left to right, in the figure eight-infinity symbol formation.

Back some years ago when I was surrendering like my sanity depended on it (it did) and meditating during the onset of the psychic state of madness I found myself in, asking only for clarity and to be shown a new way forward (in work, life, pretty much everything), how I knew something truly mystical, transpersonal (beyond the self) began to take place was by the onset of this unique (to me) biophysical phenomena. Meaning, while sitting, surrendering and praying for help, my head began involuntarily and intelligently wobbling in the aforementioned shape/formation and never stopped with each successive sit. This corresponded with the perceiving of a few mental downloads—messages that let me know I was being heard, supported, to trust, have faith, etc.

A few months later, I began to notice that my head would begin to involuntarily nod up or down, to signify ‘true/yes,’ or ‘false/no’ at other times, in response to literally anything I’d ask or even think with intention.

This followed from one particular transmission/download during an earlier meditation in which I received the unmistakably clear message:

‘You are being given the gift of Holy discernment.’

I wasn’t sure what that meant at the time, and am still not positive. But after the head nod—like a built-in auto muscle test phenomenon began—it occurred to me that this was likely that referenced gift-in-action. It is in effect a discernment tool. And it comes in pretty handy, I must say.

sacred geometrical toroidial/torus field

Mechanically speaking, Multidimensional Divine Light Transmission appears to work via initiation of a Toroidal Field. This is a physics-based concept, although like the Flower of Life Symbol, it’s been long-associated with metaphysics and sacred geometry. My crude understanding is that MDLT works energetically off the principle of the creation of a toroidal/torus flow field by emanating spiritual/energetic power from Source via whoever the host/guide/agent/collective answers the call. It ‘powers up’ through yours truly as grounding/conduit/bridge, through the recipient, and back up, and around and around it goes until complete.

How do I know this? Only because I intuited and began to see it in my minds eye during the very first few sessions of doing this with my spiritually intrepid guinea pigs. I went searching for what known concepts would help explain this imagery and I knew that many respected healers, energy workers, channelers and medical intuitives report a similar mechanism at play in their work with people. It’s a well worn road, in the metaphysical healing world anyway. And here we are.

flower of life Symbol

The Flower of Life, one of the most beautiful and sacred symbols in existence, and one of the foundational symbols of all sacred geometry, originates in one circle, with all other circles built up around that. It posits and illustrates how all life is part of, and an expression of, a divine, geometric plan. In short, all structures known to us are following this plan. Hence, it’s a symbol that represents and depicts the entire primordial cycle of creation. It encapsulates how all life and consciousness arises from one source (i.e. The Law of One)—the first/original circle.

The next six circles are identical with the cell division process. Therefore, it’s a model of God’s Creation.

You, the reader, are likely familiar with this already. I include this here simply as a reference point for which to consider the toroidal/torus energy phenomenon as flowing from sacred geometry, as all life primordially and conceptually flows from and out of it.

applications

As described above, Multidimenional Divine Light Transmission is 100% spirit/higher source-guided and directed. My role as I understand it is simply a grounding force, to allow the spiritual force and information to flow through me, and to ensure via my own discernment that who/what answers the invitation is of the highest and holiest love and light quality. It’s it’s these highest and holiest emissaries of the Divine, Supreme Beings, Angel Collectives, Ascended and other Masters, Mother Mary, Benevolent/Positive Polarity ETs and others that decide (on a dime apparently) who or what combination or collective is best suited to assist any time we initiate the process. Just as in my own personal initiation work.

Examples of what it can be invoked for are offered in the sample description up top. But even as of this writing, MDLT sessions conducted since that description continue to demonstrate that there is no limit to what Spirit can do (only to what we can perceive and believe). Yet, belief, in any particular thing—including who or what is doing the work—is not even necessary. ‘Ontological Agnosticism,’ and even healthy skepticism is fine.

What we must possess though is an attitude of willingness (free will/freely choose to participate), awe, respect, a little faith doesn’t hurt, surrendering of expectations and outcome, and perhaps most essential, absence of fear. Because as I understand it, no energy/spirit/guide etc aligned with Christ Consciousness/Source is going to override our own will, or proceed when we’re fearful, unhealthily skeptical, etc.

Paradoxically, my last client to experience MDLT asked for help in becoming free of fear! But he had no fear whatsoever about allowing Spirit to work for and through him. At the end I channeled (more below) a response to his questions about what occurred. It was confirmed that he indeed received a spiritual/energetic ‘washing’ (Elohim the active agent in this session)—a cleansing away of fear down to the cellular level. He was as blown away as I was.

Otherwise, what people personally experience ranges from the imperceptible/subtle—a sense of peace of calm at the very least—to the energetically and viscerally epic. The mean (average) is somewhere in between. Much of what is perceived thus far appears to depend at least to some degree upon the spiritual sensitivity, openness and readiness of the recipient. Whether subtle or profound, I wholeheartedly believe the benefits are exactly in accord with what the higher forces who attend deem to be in the highest and best good of the recipient. No less, no more.

channeling componant

My conscious voice channeling is new—newly come on line—although I’ve been in a spirit-guided preparation process for some time. Never did it occur to me that the onset of it would be in the context of my work life!

It technically began on Mothers Day morning of this year, when I initiated this process with my wife who agreed to submit to it in search of clarity/assistance with a massive 8 out of 10 migraine headache. This session, conducted by the Seraphim, brought it down to a manageable 3 in less than an hour, allowing her to continue on with the day’s festivities. At the end, my wife spontaneously asked out loud about the root cause of her migraines and I began to speak to it. No more than 15 seconds in, I found myself saying “wait a minute…I think I’m full-on channeling this response!?” Everything in me affirmed that indeed I was.

All but one MDLT session conducted with my own clients since then (at least 6) have included this Q&A style channeled response to what was experienced and/or what was provided in the session. According to my own HG, my accuracy is somewhere between 85-95% so far. I’ll take it. In the end, this isn’t the most important part. Just a little lagniappe, as they say down in N’Awlins. ‘A litle something extra.’

If YOU are curious about experiencing a 1:1 Multidimensional Divine Light Transmission session on a consultation / a la carte basis, or if you’re interested in joining the INTEREST LIST for the virtual/remote group transmission sessions I plan to launch soon, get in touch!

Likewise, if you’re seeking a therapist in Nashville TN, a therapist in Franklin TN or interested in seeing if were aligned to work together virtually anywhere in the world via the services I offer remotely as part of Therapy Outside the Box, you may email me at: chris@therapyoutsidethebox.com, call me directly @ 615.430-2778 or send a message via my Contact form.

Peace, Love, and MDLT :>

Chris Hancock, LCSW, ACMHP

Franklin, TN

www.therapyoutsidethebox.com

School Shootings: The Boogeyman Hides in Plain Sight

Image above, and extra inspiration for this post courtesy of A Midwestern Doctor.

*DO NOT DISCONTINUE PSYCH MEDS WITHOUT MEDICAL SUPERVISION*

“Its no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society” -Krishnamurti

“You have very little chance of getting at the truth if you know in advance what the truth ought to be” -Robert B Parker

You can no doubt tell from the title and image above what this post is about. If you’re not up for it, you know what to do. It’s not exactly a free country anymore, if it ever truly was, but you’re under no obligation to consume anything here you might not feel prepared to confront. Own your sovereignty, here, there, and everywhere!

(That’s my version of a ‘trigger warning’).

If you’re still with me…

In the wake of the recent quite close to home Nashville Covenant School shooting— the 377th since Columbine in 1999—I felt compelled to highlight one of the apparent ever-present common denominators in nearly all school shootings, as well as many mass non school-based shootings in this country. The one that’s virtually no where to be found in the mainstream discussion. (There’s a good reason for that).

I’m aware that gun violence in America is not only a complex, complicated, multifactorial social ill (most of which is beyond the scope of this post), but a long standing one in which school shootings are just one form. And taken as a whole, school shootings are exceedingly rare in comparison to the entirely of gun violence—the #1 cause of death of children in the U.S. if this is accurate. Is it? I have no idea. Who knows what sources are trustworthy anymore. Uncorrupted truth, outside of that which we can glean through our own soul/a pure connection to Divine wisdom, is on life support post 2020.

But my purpose in this post—a forum for my own personal voice and opinion, nothing less or more—is to highlight, raise the one question, and perhaps get more of us willing to ask:

Why the deafening silence about the apparently ubiquitous presence of psychiatric medication in the lives of schools shooters from Columbine to the present?

Let me be clear that as of the time of this writing, to my knowledge, it has not been confirmed whether and/or what psychiatric drugs and/or other medical or chemical interventions the Covenant shooter was exposed to, either prior to or at the time of the shooting. But if the answer is none, this would be exception, apparently.

Take that in for a moment.

NOT ANTI ANYTHING

(Except the over-drugging, indoctrinating and brainwashing of America, especially youth, and a continuation of this collateral damage/madness).

Let me start with what I’m not. What I’m not saying/blaming/supporting, etc. This will give a sense of where there’s nuance to my view, where there isn’t, frame my main point, and illustrate why I believe the powers that be who benefit from the continuation of this phenomenon (make no mistake, there are beneficiaries) are more than happy to have us, the public, indefinitely point fingers over root cause, knowing it only further divides and distracts attention from the elephant in the room, assuring that nothing will change.

Not Anti Medication.

I’ve said here on my home page and in social media posts, there’s a time and place for medication. There’s a role for it. Although I strongly feel it should ne that’s far less utilized than it obviously is. And there are definitely better, safer, and more effective alternatives. The problem is many of them are overlooked, discounted, demonized/labeled quackery (too many to list), or still illegal. Like psychedelics (except ketamine). Though that’s changing. And I suspect changing mainly because Big Pharma has figured out how to appropriate, dilute, mass produce, patent, and make a killing on them: (See: ‘Pharmacuasca’). The other problem is that many alternatives to medication are not economically within reach for everyone. That’s no doubt part of the story that works in favor of the continuation of the mass drugging of humanity.

As most reasonably aware people can see and would probably agree, psychiatric drugs are grossly oversold, grossly overprescribed, and grossly over and unethically marketed (ask any former pharmaceutical drug rep beyond the time limit of their NDA. You’ll get some hard truth). And the fact that every other commercial on mainstream tv/media is a drug ad? C’mon. What do think is happening there? What’s the message? The agenda?

Bottom line: The Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex aka Big Pharma basically owns and controls the world at his point. Doctors, politicians, public health officials, media, hollywood. It’s out of control. Actually, completely in control. That’s the problem.

But still, I’m not patently anti-medication. I’m not a Christian Scientist or a Scientologist. I support the right to enlist psych meds—provided it’s truly needed (always subjective), and follows a complete psycho-social history, full consent, thorough and ongoing discussion of contraindications, risks/side effects, close monitoring, regular follow up, follow up labs, gene sight testing, metabolic, or neuropsych or other relevant testing where and when root cause/significant contributor questions remain, such as for nutritional deficiencies and underlying infections (underlying infections can wreak havoc on the brain and body, and science is now starting to corroborate the detrimental impact they have on mental health), and of course, concurrent counseling/therapy.

One problem is, especially since Big Pharma captured the primary care sector, resulting in family and generalist practitioners prescribing psych meds (something few if any of them are trained in), most of this rarely happens. Or rarely happens adequately and consistently.

How could it in the larger context of a broken, illness profit-based managed care-driven 15 minute pill mill model, such as is modern American medicine, especially psychiatry?

Not Anti Gun.

Responsible gun ownership, in America, makes some sense. Because it’s always been and always will be. I don’t care for it personally. I’ve never owned one and probably never will. But I grew up around it, learn how to respect and use a firearm, became something of a marksman in Boy Scouts, and accompanied my Father on hunting trips as a kid.

Am I in favor of tightening controls? Closing loopholes? Background checks and digitally universalizing purchase attempts the way we’ve done with controlled substances? Securing tighter restrictions at gun shows, and making rapid fire semi-automatic weapons of human destruction harder for the average citizen to come by? Yes. Virtually anything to at least make it more difficult, to buy more time between the moment someone shifts from homicidal murderous ideation and intent to practical action plan ad acquisition. Count me in.

But how? Is any of this even possible? Yes. Probable? Probably not. Because it probably would have happened by now. And in the the current post 2020 political and cultural climate, with a thoroughly corrupt *Uniparty (two broken wings of one broken bird) system run by largely invisible misguided Globalists who are batting a thousand in the well-planned, well-executed extreme polarization of America on almost every front/every major issue, it’s as unlikely now as ever.

* “Paradigms of Republican vs Democrat, and Conservative vs Progressive have been designed for obfuscation and entertainment.”

-Catherine Austin Fitts

Even with my boundless faith in God, in the Divine order, it’s hard to have much hope with respect to this phenomenon. (It’s not God’s problem, but ours). And my view is that we’re been stealthily indoctrinated—mind controlled—to ignore the boogeyman while innocents continue to be slaughtered. The fact that no perceivable change has been enacted and this goes on and on is one thing that in my book qualifies us as ‘a profoundly sick society.’

As far as the weapons element, historically, one or two countries have apparently implemented swift and sweeping action after mass shooting events and have seen no repeats. So something can surely be done be done. Just maybe nothing that robust in ‘Mericka, given how 2A is built into the fabric of our nation and the hearts and minds of the majority of the to the degree that any sensible controls have been so successfully but erroneously equated with all out unconstitutional violation/removal of the 2A. Nice job NRA, the gun lobby, and all politicians beholden to them.

But do I think guns or access to firearms are the root cause? I don’t.

For one thing, to my knowledge, firearms and relatively easy access to them have always existed in the great U.S. of A. Semi-automatic weapons included, though less so. Granted I’m sure the internet added much black market anonymous acquisition ease. But mass shootings, specifically school shootings—the trend that it’s become since Columbine—now as American as hot dogs and apple pie, has not.

Why all the sudden starting in 1999? What happened? What changed?

That’s the point I’m getting to.

Not Anti Trans (*)

As a child of the 70s and 80s though, still, whenever I hear it the term I think of Tim Curry in Rocky Horror. “I’m just a sweet Transvestite, from Transexual Transylvaniaaaaaaaaaaaaah…”. The whole point of that brilliant piece of arthouse art was ultimately acceptance. Celebration of differences. And non-judgment. Point taken.

Of course androgyny, gender bending and all forms of sexual variation has existed forever in virtually every culture. The famous 1970s Kinsey Report made it clear that sexual identity and preference exists on a spectrum, and most people are at least somewhat flexible and fluid when it comes to sexual identity, behavior, desire/preference. People are who they are. We’re complex. And I’m affirming of everyone’s sovereign right to discover this for themselves and express it in any way they see fit provided it’s safe, sane and consensual (The three tenants of sex positivity).

I have always had LQBTQ, and now some who identify as Non Binary clients. I don’t totally get NB, but if it harms none, fine. I actually cut my teeth in a field placement and subsequent first job in the mental health field in the heart of Greenwich Village in the 90s. The vast majority of my clients were lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, open/poly, leather, fetish, bdsm, sex workers, you get the idea. What an education! Yet as I recall, the least represented among this subset of the population was Transgender. I can remember all of two clients that actually identified as Trans over the course of two years in NYC. Neither to my recollection were post-op. I stood by them as I do now with anyone that genuinely feels, knows, themselves to be Transgender, or whatever else.

But the *movement (Trans activism) around it is a different animal. And I’m well aware there are massive culture wars going on with regard to this and many other things, including a ‘war on gender.’ To the degree that the most vehement allies often go right to ‘trans-phobic’ accusation at the mere raising of question or concern. I don’t get much involved in these battles beyond continuing to question who benefits from the stoking of polarization, what is it distracts from, and what goes on—what gets passed and implemented—while we’re all preoccupied with fighting, judging, condemning and hating each other. And while I get and support the underlying premise of being ‘woke,’ (inclusion), how the gender identity/war on gender theme has morphed into all out gender non-existence/denial of gender, I don’t. I mean, is it reasonable and rational by any measure to assert that it’s suddenly impossible biologically define what a woman (or a man) is?

To quote Jessica Rose, in the conclusion of an excellent substack article:

‘A woman is an adult female human being carrying two X chromosomes.’

I’d say that’s pretty accurate and unambiguous.

Most of all, do I think it’s safe, sane and consensual (and by consensual i.e. the consent part here, I’m meaning specifically age, developmental stage, and the psychological capacity to fully comprehend and agree) to encourage and lead children/teens with unformed brains, porous self-concepts, and little life experience down a path of hormonal blocking/ alteration, supplementation and medical-surgical reassignment as a result of increasingly socio-culturally supported gender dysphoria? I think it’s lunacy, actually. I know Jordan Peterson and at some long-ago transitioned, mature Transgendered adults agree. On this point, I’m with them.

I say cross dress, live as the opposite sex, no-sex at all, a tree self, etc, all day long. But seeing as most of us have no idea who we are until our 30s (Jung said 40 —‘…everything up till then is research’), I do not support the trend of irreversible medical physical-biological/surgical altering of youth. Nope.

And what should be the age of consent? Consent demonstrably free of agenda-laden influence? Can’t drink till 21 in most places. Can’t rent a car till you’re 25. But you can die on the battlefield at 18. So, what age?

I have no idea.

What I do have an idea about is this: I believe the mainstream medical establishment and Big Pharma (same thing really) backs this movement for no other reason than it’s good business. A cash cow. More lifelong customers = lifelong profits.

From the mental health perspective—and this the reason for including my thoughts about the Trans theme in regards to school shootings—the last handful of school shooters apparently all identified as either Trans or Non Binary. Hear me out when I say I don’t pretend to understand all the implications of this. I may not understand any of them, honestly. That’s not the focus of my work, nor this post, apart from how it may connect to the principle point I’m making. Although I think there’s something not exactly right, possibly deeply dark and corrupt even beyond the misguided motives of major medical/Big Pharma. Not about being genuinely Trans, but the exponential rise and trend of co-signing gender dysphoria to the point of gender denial/erasure and the medical-hormonal transitioning of children and teens, consequences seemingly be damned.

And I’m leaning into the theory that there are powerful forces and factions with nefarious motives behind both fetishizing (Hollywood) and exploiting (Medical-Pharma/WHO/UNESCO/WEF/Globalists/Elite…?) this population for reasons we might not ever want to have to confront.

And consider Dr. Robert Malone’s thoughts on what he calls ‘Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria,’ regarding the social contagion factor that are at least partially explanatory as to the recent exponential rise. (Malone is a problematic figure for multiple reasons, but this point is sound).

I’ll leave that there because it’s beyond the scope and central point. Time will tell.

For now I can only wonder, since I don’t have the facts on this, how many of the last crop of Trans or ND identified shooters, if any of them, were actively medically transitioning, i.e. receiving hormonal injections? Why is this potentially important? Because for one thing, as we know, artificially messing with hormones greatly effects mood and can spike aggression, especially testosterone. Imagine the implication of hormone disruptors on our youth in tandem with psych meds that induce an altered state of consciousness (all of them), that potentially disinhibit, numb, dull and/or outright exile the capacity for empathy (many of them—SSRIs and SNRIS included, depending on dose, length of time taken and other factors), and are known to either create or exacerbate suicidal or potential homicidal thoughts, feelings and impulses.

Is this one major factor in the smoke in this community of youth recently turning to fire?

it’s the drugs…that don’t work…or do they?

Cuttin’ to the chase…

Do psych meds ‘cure’ anything? No. Do they treat ‘chemical imbalances?’ That depends on whether you buy into this premise. One that’s all been disproven with the more recent advances of neuroscience, epigenetics, and the centrality of [the effects of] trauma that we understand now better than ever.

The chemical imbalance theory has also been all but debunked as a pharmaceutical industry invented fiction—sold as a rational for the massively profitable drugging and controlling of the population, to the tune of hundreds of billions a year and counting.

As mentioned above, what psych meds essentially do is create an altered state of consciousness that temporarily distracts from suffering. That’s it. Sometimes, yes, this can be beneficial—in the short term—such as to quell the severity of an escalating extreme state/psychosis, help bring the nervous system to the beginning of regulation in response to acute or boiling over complex PTSD symptoms, give a leg up out of a debilitating major depressive episode, or debilitating postpartum depression. So one can get out of bed, and have the energy to engage with methods of healing our pain.

Long term though, the gains are diminishing and the risk-reward ratio skews heavily to the former. This is fact. Psychotropics also wreak havoc on the gut and entire GI system—the so-called ‘second brain.’ In fact, approximately 15% of our gut lining is composed of enteric endocrine cells, which produce over 90% of the serotonin and over 50% of the dopamine our bodies use. Gut health is intricately linked to both immune system functioning and our mental health. This is why the number one most common side effect of psych meds is gastrointestinal upset. They tend to throw the whole delicate balance out of whack.

From my own clinical experience I’ve noticed that the more psych meds one is on, especially at higher does and longer duration, the more the capacity for interoception—the ability to subjectively sense and know our inner experience—becomes hijacked. Put to sleep. Or more specifically, in accordance with my multiplicity-informed understanding of the psyche, it obscures access to our intuition—our Larger Self, i.e. our essence; the infinite undamaged core—the seat of the soul, or consciousness. You get the idea.

This is why I recently decided that my most potent therapeutic offerings are simply not conducive to those who are taking two or more psych meds and/or those taking purposefully stimulating methamphetamine-based (Adderall) or tranquilizing effects (benzos, opiates).

Regardless of class/type, most meds have a poop out effect, leading chronic consumers on a treadmill of hoping on and off different meds, often to the point of neurological dependency with disastrously consequences where many are led to feel and believe that they can never come off. That is, resigned to a life of a perpetually dulled, chemically-altered state of consciousness. I saw this for years working in community mental health.

And for the last time, SSRIs and SNRIs in particular—the drugs the majority of school shooters were apparently prescribed, currently taking, or recently withdrawing from at the time of the shootings—have been shown time and again to either create or exacerbate (disinhibit and unleash) suicidal and/or homicidal thoughts, feelings and impulses. It’s in the medical fine print that no one reads and many doctors don’t have time or often much interest in openly discussing. And the longer (a child or teen with an largely still unformed brain especially) takes them, especially in higher doses, then add in massive psychosocial stressors not adequality recognized or addressed, the longer they remain in a state of chemically-altered/compromised state potentially detaching from external reality, slipping into derealization and losing both the capacity for empathy and judgement—I say the higher the likelihood of the continuation of this phenomenon that began in the years post initial wholesale roll out of antidepressants in the late 80s.

Here’s a brief summary in list form from an article (that I cannot get to paste or link for some reason) published in 2013 that illustrates the point:

•Eric Harris age 17 (first on Zoloft then Luvox) and Dylan Klebold aged 18 (Columbine school shooting in Littleton, Colorado), killed 12 students and one teacher and wounded 23 others, before killing themselves. Klebold’s medical records have never been made available to the public.

•Jeff Weise, age 16, had been prescribed 60 mg/day of Prozac (three times the average starting dose for adults!) when he shot his grandfather, his grandfather’s girlfriend and many fellow students at Red Lake, Minnesota. He then shot himself. Ten dead, 12 wounded.

•Cory Baadsgaard, age 16, Wahluke (Washington state) High School, was on Paxil (which caused him to have hallucinations) when he took a rifle to his high school and held 23 classmates hostage. He has no memory of the event.

•Christopher Pittman, age 12, murdered both his grandparents while taking Zoloft.

•Kip Kinkel, age 15, (on Prozac and Ritalin) shot his parents while they slept then went to school and opened fire, killing two classmates and injuring 22 shortly after beginning Prozac treatment.

•Luke Woodham, age 16 (Prozac) killed his mother and then killed two students, wounding six others.

•A boy in Pocatello, ID (Zoloft) in 1998 had a Zoloft-induced seizure that caused an armed standoff at his school.

•Michael Carneal (Ritalin), age 14, opened fire on students at a high school prayer meeting in West Paducah, Kentucky. Three teenagers were killed, five others were wounded.

•Andrew Golden, age 11, (Ritalin) and Mitchell Johnson, aged 14, (Ritalin) shot 15 people, killing four students, one teacher, and wounding ten others.

•TJ Solomon, age 15, (Ritalin) high school student in Conyers, Georgia opened fire on and wounded six of his classmates.

•James Wilson, age 19, (various psychiatric drugs) from Breenwood, South Carolina, took a .22 caliber revolver into an elementary school killing two young girls and wounding seven other children and two teachers.

•Elizabeth Bush, age 13, (Paxil) was responsible for a school shooting in Pennsylvania

•Jason Hoffman (Effexor and Celexa) – school shooting in El Cajon, California

•Neal Furrow (Prozac) in LA Jewish school shooting reported having been court-ordered to be on Prozac along with several other medications.

•Hammad Memon, age 15, shot and killed a fellow middle school student. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and depression and was taking Zoloft and “other drugs for his conditions.”

•Matti Saari, a 22-year-old culinary student, shot and killed nine students and a teacher, and wounded another student, before killing himself. Saari was taking an SSRI and a benzodiazapine.

•Steven Kazmierczak, age 27, shot and killed five people and wounded 21 others before killing himself in a Northern Illinois University auditorium. According to his girlfriend, he had recently been taking Prozac, Xanax, and Ambien. Toxicology results showed that he still had trace amounts of Xanax in his system.

•Finnish gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen, age 18, had been taking antidepressants before he killed eight people and wounded a dozen more at Jokela High School – then he committed suicide.

•Asa Coon from Cleveland, age 14, shot and wounded four before taking his own life. Court records show Coon was on Trazodone.

•Jon Romano, age 16, on medication for depression, fired a shotgun at a teacher in his New York high school.

pharmageddon

So if there’s any truth in any of this, WHY do we not hear about it? Why is no one talking about it as at least a compelling correlation worth questioning and examining further? Why is it not on the network news, except maybe on FOX here and there in the wake of another shooting, or You Tube (until it gets swiftly pulled down).

To cut to the chase again, the answer is obvious to anyone who paid close attention with a questioning eye since 2020. As I said up top, the Biopharmaceutical Industrial Complex basically owns and runs the world at this point. Big Pharma apparently funds 45% of the FDAs budget. And it seems the CDC, the mainstream media, much medical school continuing education, and major political, public health officials and institutions have been captured and corrupted by this monolithic industry. All in their back pockets.

“Over the last two decades, the pharmaceutical industry has moved very far from its original high purpose of discovering and producing useful new drugs. Now primary a marketing machine to sell drugs of dubious benefit, this industry uses its wealth and power to co-opt every institution that might stand in its way…including the United States Congress, the FDA, academic medical centers, and the medical profession itself.”

-Marcia Angell, Physician, Author, first female editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, current Senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School (nourishourchildren.org).

Much of this ties back to the two largest private investment companies that dominate almost every aspect of our lives and own everything we spend money on: Vanguard and Black Rock. Not to mention an estimated two-thirds to 80% of the content broadcast and published by mainstream corporate media comes from one of four pubic relations firms (Publics Groups, WPP, Omnicom Group, Interpublic Groups). The result? The vast majority of mainstream corporate content is outright propaganda.

Could I have it all wrong? Yes. If it turns out to be the case, I’ll be the first to say so.

For now, ask yourself: Would any Pharma-controlled media outlet be allowed to question or encourage discourse about the potential role of their products in this phenomenon, potentially implicating them in crimes against humanity, and threatening the windfall profits this monstrosity generates?

This is why the only place you might see, read, or hear anything much about the psych drug connection are on non-mainstream, non-captured, for now still uncensored platforms. Or in the offices, conventions and retreats run by holistic, wellness-oriented, functional/integrative or naturopathic medicine practitioners.

To drive it home, to date, the largest fraud (yes, fraud) settlement among corporations/larger institutions in the history of the U.S., like just about everything else in mainstream society, is “brought to you by Pfizer.” A 2.3 billion dollar criminal and civil fine for for illegally marketing off label use of four different drugs. And it’s not just Pfizer. Each and every major Pharma company has been sued and settled massive law suits time and again. The opioid crisis was knowingly at least co-created by Big Pharma. (See also: Purdue Pharma, Sackler Family). To these souless institutions, it’s just ‘the cost of business.’ When you’re too big to fail, lack conscience, life-affirming humanitarian values, and a moral code. Profit, power, and control over people.

On the profit point, consider this: In 2022, the total global pharmaceutical market was estimated at 1.48 trillion U.S. dollars.

Welcome to the post 2020 Post-Truth New Brave New Orwellian World. One where silence, (‘follow the silence’), corrupted peer review/captured science, censorship, cancel culture, propaganda, shadow banning and de-platforming, discrediting, virtue signaling, medical tyranny and totalitarian biosurveilance and biosecurity are the new free speech, the new democracy, the new health care. What the awake and outspoken Dr. Aaron Keriaty, M.D. calls (in his book of the same name): The New Abnormal: The Rise of the Biomedical Security State.

HOPE FLOATS

Despite this stark picture, truth always emerges. It already is. And in my worldview, light/absolute truth/good will always prevails over dark/maya/evil. As many masters have taught, the shadow/dark/evil/’wetiko’ aspects must come into full view before true renewal, emergence, and authentic collective awakening/ascension can commence. In the big picture that’s what I believe is happening. And while we must act on our own behalf and ultimately save ourselves, I’ll die on the hill that there is a spiritual solution to every problem, smallest to largest. But part of doing our part is opening our eyes wider, fearlessly speaking up, speaking out, speaking our truth. Naming the elephants, and taking our personal collective power back in wherever and however we can.

And while I have little hope in seeing the grand systemic changes necessary to end the multifactorial gun violence epidemic in our culture in my lifetime, my faith in the Divine order, the Divine play (‘Lila’ in Hinduism); my faith in the essentially goodness of humanity, and humanity as an expression of the Divine Spark has not and will not waiver.

Earth is a school. And we were never promised a rose garden in coming to this here school! In the words of Delores Cannon:

“The Earth School is the most difficult in the universe. Only the bravest souls sign up.”

From a Multiplicity of Minds-based, Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy-informed perspective, I also believe there are truly ‘no bad parts’ of people. Genetic and ancestral/generational loading that adds baggage, definitely. External entities and attachments that find openings in our porous system and can influence us toward malevolent ends, yes. Otherwise, just traumatized, wounded parts. Parts thrust into hyper protective, sometimes woefully misguided roles as a result of the various slings and arrows of life that can drive any one of us to horrific extremes given the right (or wrong) set of circumstances. That resonates as truth in my bones and soul, so I’ll die on that hill as well.

Hopefully I’ve shed some light on at least one major element of what I believe lights the fuse of these particular atrocities that’s become an American epidemic.

In the meantime, may God grant us the wisdom and strength to do better.

To end on a classically spiritual and uplifting note:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

—St. Francis of Assisi

LINKS

For more on the link between anti depressants and unfavorable outcomes of all kinds, check out:

https://ssristories.org/all-posts/

On the specific link between antidepressants and mass shootings (that I could not put better):

https://amidwesterndoctor.substack.com/p/the-decades-of-evidence-that-antidepressants

And for more on how the pharmaceutical industrial complex sausages are made, I recommend starting with:

-Anatomy of an Epidemic, by Robert Whittaker

-Pharma: Greed, Lies and the Poisoning of America, by Gerald Posner

-Deadly Psychiatry and Organized Denial, by Peter Gotzsche

-MadinAmerica.com (Organization and website)

-Medicatingnormal.com (Documentary film and website).

Thank you for reading.

Peace, love, and better living without chemistry for us all.

Chris Hancock, LCSW, ACMHP

www.therapyoutsidethebox.com

@therapyoutsidethebox

Franklin, TN

A Unique Grief: Ode to a Dog

Sylvie and me, a few weeks before having to put her down.

Yesterday, March 4th, 2023, was D-Day.

We knew this was coming for a long time, but that never makes it easier. I’m in a daze this morning as I write this. Fucking gutted. My wife is wrecked. If you’ve ever lost a cherished pet, you know exactly how it feels.

We adopted Sylvie, our first baby, my veritable shadow, 16 years ago. She was an Australian cattle dog/heeler/lab mix, or so we’ve always believed. Who knows. All we know was she was the sweetest, most attentive, protective, loyal, and crazy smart dog anyone could have. How smart you ask? Trained as a puppy to ring a doorbell with her nose to go outside in about one hour. Insane.

From the first moment I was clearly the alpha. Sylvie followed me everywhere around the house every day, all the time. If I had a dollar for every time she pushed her way through my wife and me, or poked her snout between my legs from behind and looked up at me as if to say “I’m here, daddy,” I’d be rich.

Today, one day out, it feels like I have phantom limb syndrome.

Sylvie saw my family through some of the hardest times—(not necessarily in this order)— a massive house flood, two moves, adopting a second dog, my mid-life/chiron return/burnout/dark night/breakdown, marital challenges, and a grueling child adoption process necessitating several long trips out of country which Sylvie did not do well with. We knew this would be the case because early on we tried to board her for a weekend. The vet had to heavily sedate her around the clock just to get her to relax and sleep. Possibly the most codependent dog that ever lived, but in the sweetest way possible. We never boarded her again. House sitters from there on out.

I was reminded yesterday that in the early years, when I would go off to work Sylvie would sleep in my dirty clothes pile in my closet all day until I came home. And that I threatened more than once to get a tattoo of her face on my arm. I never did, not a tattoo guy, but right now I kinda wish I had. Yet I can barely stand to see of picture of her yet, so maybe best I didn’t.

In the puppy years, like most puppies, Sylvie had way more energy than we could keep up with. Thankfully at that time we lived a bit outside the city and there was plenty of room to roam through the woods. She would whip through those trails and the little creeks like a spitfire on speed. And every time I called her, without fail, she would come running right back. That made me realize I had a little ptsd from the two childhood dogs I had that ran away, one turning up dead after getting into poison. Sylvie put me at ease about a repeat of this.

Always anxious/on alert/high strung, over the last few years Sylvie had become increasingly so. Cognitive decline began to set in, and increasing difficulty holding her bladder resulted in more and more frequent accidents—to the point where shampooing the carpets was maddeningly becoming a weekly chore. And it really started to smell like a barn up in here, which isn’t ideal when you have clients out all the time like I do. My local clients know we have dogs, although few got to meet Sylvie because she would generally sleep upstairs all day, and if she came down and we’d let her in the therapy space, she wouldn’t settle down, so it could be disruptive. Unlike Foxy, our other beloved pooch, who welcomes you at the door, smells, wags and licks, then is out for the count for the entire session. But only if you’re female. She nips men’s ankles soon as they’re not looking.

Never would have guessed Foxy, not Sylvie, would be my therapy dog. But that’s how it’s played out.

Over the last years, Sylvie also became increasingly hard of hearing and unable to relax at night. Now we think it was like a dementia-related sun downing phenomenon. Her panting and pacing increased, and thus began a pattern of her keeping me awake and rousing me out of bed around 4 am virtually every morning to go out, if not sometimes multiple times a night. We reluctantly tried drugging her with gabapentin as per the vets suggestion, but that would have minimal effect, and her already weakening rear legs and hip dysplasia would become rubber on that med, putting her at risk for falling down stairs. CBD did nothing. So we lived with it and dealt with it for a long as possible. But the chronic sleep interruptions really started to take a toll on me. At my age, and with my workload, in combination with my higher guidance confirming her quality of life was seriously diminishing, and finally that it was time, we made the grueling decision.

So yesterday we had the amazing Lap of Love pet euthanasia service out to the house. Dr. Stacey was so compassionate and kind. Sylvie was, of course, having a good day, energetic (for her) and hungry as hell, which only made it more confusing and harder. The parts of all of us that felt unsure, guilty, and intent on bargaining/buying more time really struggled yesterday. Dr. Stacey assured us this is common, and that all the signs and traits we have seeing and describing were clear indications that it is time, and the most humane thing to do. We knew this in our heart of hearts, but it did help to hear it.

My wife had started truly grieving about a week early. My younger daughter, still reeling from our having to put her cat down weeks earlier did as well. My older daughter seemed a bit unphased (until the deed yesterday). My tendency with such things is to be more or less okay until the time comes. I did a workout and even saw a client yesterday, which kept my mind and heart off the inevitable. Until my wife got the call that Lap of Love was on the way. From that moment on the emotion and my tears rose up and did not stop gushing until I sort of fell asleep last night. A good illustration right here of how everyone grieves differently; in their own way and on their own timeline.

The euthanasia process, as gentle, loving and humane as it possibly could have been, was also one of the most painful things I can recall experiencing to date. If you could see me right now, my face looks like I got in a bar fight (and lost), as does my wife’s. Outside of a few crying gags 10 years ago while in India picking them up after the completion of our three year adoption ordeal, have never seen me sob like this. I’m both glad and solemn about it. Glad because it’s real life. Sadness and grief is part of it. Men cry and kids should know and see this. Solemn because it was painful for them. But we were all there for each other, and that’s what its all about. I’m so fucking fortunate and I know it.

But I have to tell you, witnessing Sylvie receive the injections, and my family helping her body to the final rest position was so brutal I could barely watch, let alone participate. My wife and girls all helped her on to the stretcher. It was all I could do to get the front door open for them to walk her out to Dr. Stacey’s car. Out there we all lost it big time. Our neighbors probably thought a human, not someone’s dog, had died.

What a strange grief the loss of a cherished dog. How utterly uniquely this bond to a creature that’s entirely reliant on you, that you never heard a word from, and don’t ever really know for sure what exactly they feel, how, and why. I’m well aware we all anthropomorphize / representationally imbue our pets with all sort of human feelings, traits and qualities to some degree or other. And that dogs especially, with their Divine unconditionality, are perfect salves for the human love-based wounds small or large we all carry. But as I vacillate today between shock/denial and acute mourning, I care not. Sylvie was the bomb, she’s gone, and it sucks like hell. That’s all right now.

I’m remembering those poignant lines from The Little Prince:

“You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”

“But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me you will be unique in all the world. To you I shall be unique in all the world.”

I realize only know, as I wait for Sylvie’s ashes to come home, just how unique. And that breaks my heart.

Sheepishly I’ll admit I’ve been quietly dismissive of the impact of the loss of pets with others at times over the years. Perhaps because all mine growing up either ran off (dogs) or died of natural causes (cats) and I never had to make the decision, witness and participate in putting one down. That, in combination with Sylvie being who she was, and literally like our first child shortly after marrying and purchasing our first home, and how she adopted our adopted girls and became their protectors as much as ours, to see that all disappear in the blink of an eye is next level.

I get it now.

As I write this I’m like a stoned zombie after a shit sleep and still got up at the usually 4-ish am due to Sylvie muscle memory. The quiet was deafening. There are more tears to come. They’re right there waiting, I can feel it. But I’m also enjoying putting some of this to written word form and sharing it here. Sublimation is part of the processing.

Otherwise, just adjusting to the first day without Sylvie’s presence while I think of her crossing the fabled Rainbow Bridge, and on to whatever and wherever doggie souls go on to, and go on to do. And reflecting more deeply about what our tamed besties are here for, what they bring to our lives, how they enrich it, and the opportunity they offer us to value, cherish and appreciate it to the fullest.

To complicate it, there were a few years, the hardest years of child adoption adjustment/middle school years that we look back and feel we neglected our fur babies. Less walks, less attention, less outward demonstration of love. And over the last 6 months or so I was frequently frustrated with Sylvie’s inability to settle down, the constant panting, pissing the floor, and getting me up throughout the night. Reconciling with that now is hard. It compounds the grief with guilt.

With human loss that often amounts to what we call a ‘complicated grief’ process. Here it just feels like human frailty and failure. And you’re left wondering how that impacted them. My wife had a good hard cry this morning about wishing to know if Sylvie forgives us for it.

Regarding grief, a long time client of mine who lost both a child, a partner, and recently his mother (who I don’t believe ever read The Little Prince) said to me recently:

“Grief is wild. It cannot be tamed.”

The conversation about the unwieldiness and unpredictability of grief in which that gem arose was largely about the sensitivity, open-heartedness, wisdom and appreciation that painful loss engenders. On the heels of this, and knowing at my age I have more impactful human and animal losses on the horizon, I’ll take whatever comes from the inevitable. I’ll do my best to give each loss its due, grieve as completely as possible, love who and what I have in my life, and allow the unavoidable, paradoxical, untamable beauty of grief to inform my outlook toward every moment on this pale blue dot of earth school.

What more can we do?

Goodbye, sweet Sylvie. Thank you for all the years of happiness and joy. Even your passing, gut wrenching as it is, is another heart-expanding gift you’ve given us, your human family.

You will be missed forever.

'Diagnosisgate'

“Not to know is bad. Not to wish to know is worse.”
—African proverb

I get asked sometimes about the basis of my criticism of psychiatric diagnosis, mainstream psychiatry, and the ‘ole pharmaceutical industrial complex. This article I came across from 2015 on the Mad in America blog is one supporting illustrations. As we can see clearly today in our major governmental, economic, big tech, media, medical and health-related institutions (with a little extra help from the court-ordered Pfizer trial data dump, the Twitter files, the intrepid work of Dr. Naomi Wolf, and undercover reporting of Project Veritas, for some examples), we now know the astounding collusion and corruption once relegated to the hall of conspiracy theory is entirely real. And as pervasive as it is corrosive. The erosion of trust in public health is at an all time high. It’s time for us all to wake up. Knowledge is power. But we must want to be informed, dig deep (deeper than Google), be willing to question everything, including our most cherished beliefs and alliances, politically and otherwise. And most important of all, refuse to blindly accept dominant culture, mainstream media narratives designed to misdirect, deceive, control, and keep us compliant, numb, unhealthy, and spaced out on latest tabloid drama. Facing the reality of the widespread collusion, unethical conflicts of interests, post-truth, anti-democratic silencing, unprecedented censorship, digital shadow banning and state-sponsored propaganda that have infiltrated so many areas of modern life is the first step to empowerment. Only then can we regain increasing sovereignty over our minds, bodies, health-related choices, and our future.

I’ll get off my outside the soapbox now :>

Diagnosisgate: A Major Media Blackout Mystery

By

Paula J. Caplan, PhD

-

October 30, 2015

Remember “Colonel Mustard in the kitchen with the candlestick”?  From the game called “Clue” in which you tried to solve a murder mystery?  There’s a current, all-too-true and serious mystery involving devastating consequences – even death – for uncounted but vast numbers of people, but in this one the culprits are known to a very few, while their motives remain mysterious.

Until their identities are widely exposed, and their motives are known, the full story of the harm will never be known. It is astonishing that despite six stories in the major media — including a recent, groundbreaking Huffington Post series — and the filing of numerous lawsuits, the names and conduct of the culprits have consistently been omitted.

The story that has been called “Diagnosisgate”[1] starts in 1995, when the man widely considered the world’s most important psychiatrist split a payoff of nearly one million dollars with two colleagues in exchange for doing two patently unethical and illegal things that created the groundwork for a major drug company to market falsely one of the most dangerous psychoactive drugs.

Part one: In return for almost half a million dollars, they ignored what was known about the drug in order to manufacture a practice guideline holding up that drug as the best drug among two whole classes of related drugs for treating people who were classified as “schizophrenic,” the other drugs being marketed by other drug companies. This created what is widely considered the “standard of care,” the treatment that therapists are supposed to follow and that they can use in the knowledge that they are well protected from lawsuits if they follow it and their patients are harmed. The very foundation of the guideline, that it was about “Schizophrenia,” is illegitimate, because – though this will surprise many people – that category has been shown to be unscientifically created and indeed has been called a wastebasket for a wide variety of feelings and behavior, many of which are caused by psychiatric drugs.[2]

Part two: After the triumvirate received a bonus of $65,000 for creating the guideline speedily, their top psychiatrist  wrote to the same drug company, announcing that the three had constituted themselves as an entity that was prepared, in return for about another half million dollars, to create a marketing plan for the drug. The details included finding “key opinion leaders” (KOLs), who were prominent professionals in powerful positions – such as heads of state mental health or prison systems – and having them teach the Continuing Education courses that professionals are required to take, the ultimate message of those courses being that that particular drug was the best one to prescribe. Another section of their marketing plan was to have a great many articles published in what are considered scientific or medical journals, all concluding that that drug was effective and should be prescribed.

It is not clear whether the three psychiatrists were directly involved in choosing the content of the journal articles, but the plan to produce such articles was carried out, leading to publication of pieces recommending use of the drug to treat not only Schizophrenia but also Childhood Onset Schizophrenia, Schizo-affective Disorder, Bipolar Disorder in Children and Adults, Mania, Autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorder other than Autism, Conduct Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Psychosis, Aggression Agitation, Dementia, below average IQ, and disruptive behavior. Thus, a staggering array of psychiatric categories – many of which are as scientifically sketchy as Schizophrenia – was used to promote the drug. This massive marketing campaign proceeded despite the many major negative effects of Risperdal, including drowsiness, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, heartburn, dry mouth, increased saliva production, increased appetite, weight gain, stomach pain, anxiety, agitation, restlessness, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, decreased sexual interest or ability, vision problems, muscle or joint pain, dry or discolored skin, difficulty urinating, muscle stiffness, confusion, fast or irregular pulse, sweating, unusual and uncontrollable movements of face or body, faintness, seizures, Parkinsonian symptoms such as slow movements or shuffling walk, rash, hives, itching, difficulty breathing or swallowing, gynecomastia in male children,  painful erection of penis lasting for hours…and death.

Who are the characters in this mystery? Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a division of Johnson & Johnson, is the drug company, and Risperdal is the drug in question. The marketing term for Risperdal and similar drugs is “anti-psychotic,” but the accurate term is “neuroleptic,” reflecting the mechanism of suppressing the brain’s activity as a powerful tranquilizer. Dr. David Rothman, who wrote the expert witness report for one of the lawsuits about the marketing of Risperdal, revealed after scrupulous examination of vast numbers of internal emails between Janssen staff and the representative of the three psychiatrists, is a specialist in medical ethics and the Bernard Schoenberg Professor of Social Medicine at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, the medical school of Columbia University. He is also director of the Center for the Study of Science and Medicine at Columbia and at the time of writing his expert witness report was president of the Institute on Medicine as a Profession.  Rothman stated in his report that the guidelines were constructed “in disregard of professional medical ethics and principles of conflict of interest,” and that they “subverted scientific integrity, appearing to be a purely scientific venture when it was at its core, a marketing venture for Risperdal.”

The psychiatrist who spearheaded these efforts is Dr. Allen Frances, who the year before teaming with Janssen oversaw the publication of the fourth volume of the “Bible” of hundreds of categories of mental illness, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, sales of which topped $100 million as a result of marketing by the lobby group called the American Psychiatric Association, which published it.  By virtue of this position, he has been called the world’s most important psychiatrist. At the time, he was also Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University. The two psychiatrists who with Frances shared the nearly $1 million in payments from Janssen are Dr. John P. Docherty, who was then Professor and Vice Chairman of Psychiatry at Cornell University at the time, and Dr. David A. Kahn, who was Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University.

Now back to the mystery: Despite five individual stories in major media outlets in 2011, 2012, and 2014 about two huge Risperdal court cases filed by the state of Texas and joined by many other states, neither a single writer of any of these stories nor even the papers filed for the court cases named Frances, Docherty, or Kahn or described the fundamental roles played by their Practice Guideline and their marketing plan in the scandal. The mystery is deepened, because the authors of the media stories and the court documents did name and describe the roles of some of the KOLs, who assuredly were guilty of unethical conduct but whose participation was conceived of by Frances and his colleagues. And some of those who reaped huge financial profits from Risperdal’s false marketing – most notably Harvard University’s Dr. Joseph Biederman, who created an empire based on claims that “Bipolar Disorder in Children” had been woefully underdiagnosed and untreated – have been royally outed for the enormous sums they earned. But even respected investigative journalist Steve Brill, who recently completed a unique, 15-part story of the Risperdal scandal for Huffington Post, and who described in detail many of its players and some of the patients who suffered terrible harm from the drug and who elegantly described the way that Janssen covered up data about some of the harm, left out the essential roles the Frances triumvirate played.  Activist Vera Sharav of the Alliance for Human Research Protection published an online article about the Rothman Report and included the names of Frances and those two colleagues, her article was apparently picked up by only two or three bloggers and none of the major media reporters who read what she posts.

The Rothman Report has for some years been available online,[3] and information from many of the major media articles came from that report, so their blackout of information about Diagnosisgate is all the more puzzling. Indeed, it is difficult to read about the Risperdal scandal without coming across the Rothman Report, where Rothman’s scrupulous documentation of the Diagnosisgate portion appears on pages 14-17 of the 86-page document, so it is hard to miss.

It has not been possible as yet to determine the reason for the blackout, but it is alarming, given the powerful, influential positions held by Frances, Docherty, and Kahn, and in the interests of not only their own patients and trainees but also of anyone who hears the claims they make about treatments, as well as for anyone who enters the mental health system and is subject to being diagnosed as mentally ill. It is also alarming that the vast majority of therapists are far less likely to know about Diagnosisgate – and thus about the shocking extent to which conflicts of interest have driven diagnosis and drug marketing – than to have read the massive number of journal articles in which Risperdal is recommended for a wide array of “indications.”

Brill goes to great lengths – in 15 chapters published one per day – to document a vast amount of the Risperdal story, so it is perplexing to try to imagine whether he might have missed those crucial pages near the beginning of the Rothman Report or whether something else happened. And if it is the latter, what could it possibly be? Because I am a psychologist, people often believe that I can read their minds, but of course I cannot. I do not even wish to speculate about what maintains the blackout. What is clear is that the effect it has is to keep from the public some of the most crucial information about how those who promote and benefit from the widespread use of psychiatric labels have sometimes worked hand-in-glove with Pharma, riding roughshod over the truth – especially information that is harmful to patients, ignoring professional ethics and good scientific methodology, and after all that, not being held accountable, not to mention liable, for the harm they cause. No matter how or why the blackout has been created and has persisted, it is time for it to end.

* * * * *

References:

[1] Caplan, Paula J. (2015). Diagnosisgate: Conflict of interest at the top of the psychiatric apparatus. APORIA:The Nursing Journal 7(1), 30-41. http://www.oa.uottawa.ca/journals/aporia/articles/2015_01/commentary.pdf

[2] See Caplan, Paula J. (1995). They Say You’re Crazy: How the World’s Most Powerful Psychiatrists Decide Who’s Normal. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley, and Poland, Jeffrey, & Caplan, Paula J. (2004) The deep structure of bias in psychiatric diagnosis. In Paula J. Caplan & Lisa Cosgrove (Eds.), Bias in psychiatric diagnosis. Livingston, NJ: Jason Aronson.

[3] For instance, at http://psychrights.org/States/Texas/exrelJonesvJanssen/ David_Rothman_Expert_Report_300dpi.pdf

***

Mad in America hosts blogs by a diverse group of writers. These posts are designed to serve as a public forum for a discussion—broadly speaking—of psychiatry and its treatments. The opinions expressed are the writers’ own.

You CAN Change The Past

This idea for this blog post has been percolating for weeks. Inspired by direct clinical transpersonal Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy-related experience, and recent deep dives into traditional shamanism. Glad to finally get around to writing it.

A provocative title, eh? Intentional. Bare/bear with me…(take your grammatical pick there).

So you’ve probably heard the saying: "Even God can’t change the past,” often attributed to Agathon, or anonymous. However you interpret this doesn’t really matter. I’m not quibbling with the literal God concept per se, if only because I don’t wish to spur on an ontological debate, or come across as claiming to know the will of God.

If only!

you can heal your life

I am however using this idea in part, firstly, as something of a sensational and sentimental homage to the late mother of self-help, Louise Hay, who titled her best known book “You Can Heal Your Life.” Long before ‘The Secret,” authored by an accomplished an infomercial producer, muddied the waters with an omission-filled, inchoate version of ancient esoteric spiritual principles for western masses hungry for Divine intervention while sitting on the couch, Louise Hay had pretty much written the book on healing thyself and manifesting already. So did others steeped in deep esoteric and mystery school traditions before her, to be fair.

Louise didn’t claim to be able to change the past, or be a spokesperson for God (People like Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell and Benny Hinn had the market cornered anyway, so why compete?). But what she did with/about the horrors of her personal past was phenomenal. And she sure found an audience. And with this, laid the foundation for an unintentional empire (Hay House Publishing) built on her subjective experience of understanding that her cancer diagnosis, in her view, was root-cause attributable to repressed emotions carried in the body, resulting from early childhood sexual abuse.

She wasn’t the first to propose this mond-body connection, of course. It’s a given in Ancient Chinese Medicine (TCM). And even Freud famously said:

“Unexpressed emotions will never die. They will come alive later in even uglier ways.”

Relatedly, like other mind-body pioneers before him, the late Dr. John E. Sarno, originator of the psychosomatic pain condition he named TMS, and author of ‘Healing Back Pain,’ and ‘The Divided Mind,’ believed that over 95% of all back pain was the result of repressed (unacknowledged/denied/stuffed or, in IFS terms ‘exiled’) emotion. He said in the documentary about his life’s work:

“All of this because of one simple idea: the fact that the mind and the body are intimately connected. That’s the whole story.”

In any case, Louise Hay was a proponent of the power of the spoken word through journaling and a kind of self-led narrative therapy. Through assisting others in a quasi counseling role as a metaphysical minister, seeing similar patterns as her own in so many, she ultimately landed on the power of the affirmation (autosuggestion) as her main tool. In fact, she claimed till her dying day to have cured her cancer solely through the power of intention, practice and repetition of well-crafted daily self-love, acceptance, healthy mind and body, and forgiveness-based affirmations.

In other words, she put “Ask, Believe, Receive” to the ultimate test. She proved it to herself and many others over many decades of metaphysical ministry, authorship, and walking the talk. And if entirely true about her cancer, I’d call it miraculous in a sense, definitely. She obviously understood how to harness God Consciousness/Divine Intelligence to the degree that she didn’t have to change the past to heal. She just committed herself to the belief that it was possible to neutralize the negative, potentially deadly effects of the past to the point of permanent cancer remission, all from the standpoint of the future-present. Again, if entirely true, miraculous.

Yet, even Jesus said:

“Greater works than these will you do”

Whose to argue?

Dr. Candace Pert, M.D., author of Molecules of Emotion said:

“The body is the subconscious mind.”

Louise Hay obviously believed this to the core of her being. And while I love the idea of affirmations/autosuggestion for healing, and I know how effective they can be in moving the needle in the right direction of a healthy mind, body and spirit, to have accomplished what she did with her terminal (or terminal appearing) health condition is next level. To accomplish things of this magnitude using the power of the mind-based positivity and repetition alone requires a near 24-7 applied mind-state and lifestyle shift that most of us lack the time, energy, will, or whatever to be able to commit to.

For many, the weight and power of unhealed trauma, inner conflicts/limiting beliefs, generational burdens and energetic blockages are simply too much for even the most potent and consistently applied affirmations on constant repeat.

energy stuck or flowinG

The power of the spoken word / the ancient art of invocation (in other words, speaking things into existence/reality) goes way back, arguably to creation itself. (“In the beginning was the word…”). And the spoken word via affirmations/autosuggestion are the basis my own energy psychology-based Subconscious Heal and Release® approach. This method provides something of a ‘hack’ in the way it precisely identifies the exact causes of our misalignments with our target goal, and offers a quick n’ dirty (and safe) way to dissolve the ‘energetic signatures’ at the root, getting us into a state of alignment with our goals—be they health, prosperity, life purpose, or virtually anything else that’s in our ‘highest and best good.’

Does this actually change the past? No. It uses the wisdom of the body (muscle testing by proxy + my own higher guidance (claricognizance/clairsentience) to source and clear the aforementioned markers of overwhelming life experiences and/or generational burdens that, from the energy psychology perspective, either creates or exacerbate subconscious- level limiting beliefs and trapped emotional energies which lead to/exacerbate states of mindbody misalignment and/or dis-ease.

Actually change the past?

So, if not even God can change the past, how can we? And what does change the past really even mean?

Here’s where a little leap of faith ability/willingness comes in handy. The first of which requires consideration of the quantum mechanical view of linear time as illusion. Meaning past/present/future not even being a thing in the way we’ve been conditioned to perceive it. In short, in quantum terms, there’s only now. All is happening now. But…maybe multiple now’s? How exactly this squares with multidimensionality and parallel universes and the multiverse theory (which quantum models seem to strongly support), I don’t know. And if past lives exist, then are they really then more simultaneous other-present lives? Beyond my pay grade.

Suffice to say, experientially, in certain realms, at certain times, under the right conditions, we can all experience this sense of only-now-ness, or timelessness. This I know. So do many dedicated meditators, shamans, mystics, saints, sages, psychedelic explorers…and some of my IFS clients especially as of late.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) as Shamanic-Based Therapy

Shamanic traditions and practices offer a corollary in shamanic journeying—to the lower, middle and upper worlds—that traditional shamans experience in the imaginal, timeless inner realm.

Imaginal, but as real as anything.

To illustrate, and as tie-in to IFS, noted trainer and author of Transcending Trauma: Healing Complex PTSD with Internal Family Systems, Dr. Frank Anderson, says:

“Imagination is a very powerful neuroplastic agent. The work we do in IFS—which is very much imaginary—absolutely has neurophysiological effects on the brain and body. Its a beautiful intersection between psychotherapy and neuroscience. And we have more evidence to show the ways they’re linked together.”

So now into the heart of this ‘change the past’ idea.

In IFS, there’s the concept of a do-over. When I first came across it, I didn’t give it special credence. But like so many things in and about this beautiful and ever-evolving model, it takes time and experience to grasp it all. I’ve been practicing IFS on/off for about 15 years and I’m still surprised and humbled by its power, efficacy and scope on the regular.

In essence, there are times doing IFS where, when working with a young, vulnerable part—getting to know it, inviting it to have us feel some of the extreme beliefs and emotions its been carrying— that we invite the part to show us a scene or memory from the past for our Self to witness. A scene or memory that helps us better understand the part, what ‘exiled’ it, and what created the burdens (wounds and extreme beliefs) this part of us carries.

The witnessing (Self to part) is powerful enough alone. Depending on the events of the scene/memory itself, we might also ask the part if it would like us (The Self) to intervene in some way—to advocate, to speak on behalf of/speak up for, or otherwise put a stop the the hurtful or frightful action within the seven/memory. Even initiate and create an entirely different outcome.

This is the aforementioned “do-over.”

Sometimes, the part does not wish for this, doesn’t believe it possible, would help, or change anything. By definition, our child parts are frozen in time at a particular age. So sometimes to them, what happened happened. It’s over. They’re just sitting there, alone, stuck holding the bag, so to speak. They have no reason to believe anything can or will change about it. Occasionally, there’s even a palpable distrust on the part’s part (yup) that’s sometimes expressed as some version of “Why now? Where were YOU then, when I needed the help??” Which is understandable. In which case, from Self, we empathize, even apologize to the part for being unaware and absent, and reiterate the offer of intervening and helping the part now.

But, when the young part has enough trust in the Self, feels open, or perhaps just feels desperate for intervention and advocacy, then the do-over can immediately commence.

Whether or not the part understands that this can and does actually rewrite/rewire the event and essentially transmute the negative/painful/traumatic effects, their willingness is what opens the door for the Self to advocate or intervene in the way was most needed then and change the entire event i.e. change the past. Once this happens, we check in on how the part experienced it, what it feels and believes now, and what other effects this had on the young part.

The effects, I will tell you, are often fucking profound. The part often completely transforms into who or what it was always meant to be/become right there as a result.

This reminds me of a Dr. Joe Dispenza saying:

“Trauma without the negative charge equals wisdom.”

“there’s No Such Thing as The Past”

Sight detour…

This line is something of a Jungian mantra. Not that Carl Jung ever said it that I know of, but modern Jungian writers and analysts say it. From this perspective, the past is always alive within us. Were always living it out, projecting it from our unconscious, enacting and re-enacting. And Jung was of course an absolute pioneer of unconscious and collective consciousness exploration, and quite familiar with the inner worlds the shamans transverse.

But Jung didn’t recognize or conceive of ‘parts’ of recognize a Self per se. He therefore didn’t directly work with them in the way we do in IFS. Jung’s complexes and archetypes were in some sense versions of what we call parts, but not living, fully-formed, transformable subpersonalities within us. Although toward the end, as revealed in The Red Book, he had quite a relationship with an wise inner elder being who identified himself as Philemon, who in IFS terms would be probably considered an Inner Spirit Helper (ISH). Not a part in the conventional IFS sense, but an accessible, internal(ized) guide, akin to an elder, that lives within, or in our ‘field,’ the way our parts can and do.

Amway, using sing active imagination, Jung worked closely with the various elements of his/the psyche, but presumably, never had the experience of unburdening or initiating a ‘do over” for any element/complex/archetype (part), and therefore like most Jungians, would be inclined to see the (hurts of) the past as repeating in the present until the unconscious is amplified, made more and more conscious, and essentially outgrown or somehow magically otherwise transformed.

Jung experimented with other adjunctive ways of creatively externally embodying and assisting in this. Presumably again, because he didn’t see and treat our complexes/archetypes/neurosis/personas as [manifestations of] parts as we do in multiplicity-based IFS.

‘May The Schwartz Be With You’

By contrast, I’ve heard Dr. Richard Schwartz, creator of IFS, say that through IFS we can absolutely change the past. The first few times, I understood what he was meaning, but that’s where it ended. It wasn’t until I began deep-diving shamanism—not just the shamanic elements of IFS (the unburdening ritual to the elements)— but the true roots, history and methods of ancient shamanism, and doing some trainings and shamanic journeys that I began to understand the implications.

It also coincided (un-coincidentally) with the arc of my post-DNOTS/psychic dismemberment (itself shamanic)/spiritual awakening-based ongoing initiation odyssey, and the shamanistic tone that began emerging through this personal work.

To elaborate, in addition to my being visited by the consciousnesses of various ascended masters, spirit guides, ministering angels, multidimensional [cosmic culture] soul family guides, saints, sages, mystics, avatars and others from time immemorial coming in to work with me in my personal meditations, suddenly, the energies of ancient shamans (South American, Siberian and European) have started to appear as my hosts/guides, deepening my understanding of things like the ephemerality of past/present/future, and the absolute truth/reality that there is no death but of the body.

All of this also greatly informs my Spiritual for Extraordinary Experience (S.E.E.) work for experiencers of the whole range of non-ordinary phenomenon.

As this has gone on, my transpersonal IFS work with my spiritually-inclined clients (and even some not so much) has gone deeper, and gotten wilder. Still safe, and incredibly healing, but just wilder. More often now spirit guides, ancestors, deceased loved ones, shamanic animals and elementals from the nature kingdom are entering the fold. My clients imaginal realm experience is taking on more and more of the qualities of this quantum timelessness experience. Its also mor4e common now to connecting to Inner Spirit Helpers (ISH) that have a fondness for imparting profound pearls of wisdom and assisting the work in subtle ways.

My view is, as long as it’s of the highest Light and reflective of Absolute Truth, we’ll take the help from anyone who desires to provide it.

And young, exiled parts, often with the assistance of the spiritual realm, are welcoming the “do-over” offer. As a result, these young parts come alive before our very eyes with a new, profound trust in the Self, a readiness to unload their burdens, leave the “past,” come into “the present” (where the Self resides) and invite in new qualities and new roles in the system.

The parts that are their protectors are more often than not surprised and pleased by the effects of the “do-over,” enabling them to consider their place in time, an unburdening of their old roles, and an update in what they do for the Self.

Verdict?

So. Can we change the past?

Whether God can, can’t, would or wouldn’t anyway, and if there’s truly no such thing as the past as some Junginans like to say, or no such thing as the past because there’s only the eternal now as ancient spiritual mystery schools and modern quantum models demonstrates, hell if I know. You tell me.

All I know is that in the Therapy Outside the Box transpersonal-imaginal-shamanic IFS space, I see young, vulnerable parts reaping the benefits of ‘do-overs’ in past events that brought great harm and saddled these young parts with extreme beliefs and emotions. And that ‘do-over-ing’ transforms the meaning and effects of the event itself for that part, often with the support and direct assistance of non-material forms in/of the hereafter/beyond the veil.

And hey, if the body (i.e. the subconscious mind) truly doesn’t know the difference between imagining being at the beach under hot sun and literally being there—if it responds physiologically just the same (it does), then I guess it’s all good, as the kids say.

If YOU are looking for a Nashville Therapist, or a Therapist in Franklin, TN and would be interested in ‘changing the past’ for some part of you, I’d LOVE to help. Back here in linear time though, I’m on a waitlist for new clients. But if Divine Timing prevails, perhaps by the time I could get you onboard, it would be perfect.

Feel free to reach out here, or contact me directly @ 615.430.2778 with questions or to get on my wait list.

Some services also available via Telehealth/Secure Video the world over (Time zone reconciliation allowing).

Peace, Love, and Imaginal Spaces,

Chris Hancock, LCSW, ACMHP

Franklin, TN

www.therapyoutsidethebox.com

The Risks of Psychedelic Experiences: Myths and Facts

Reposting of a common question and answer guest article from the blog of Psychedelic Support Network, of which I’m a member. Enjoy!

Harm ReductionMental Health

#Healing, #Mental Health, #Psychedelic Integration, #Psychedelic Therapy, #Psychedelics

The Risks of Psychedelic Experiences: Myths and Facts

Psychedelics could bring mental health relief to millions of people. But are there risks in psychedelic experiences?

By Marie Hasty, RN

August 9, 2022

At Psychedelic Support, we’re convinced of the evidence-based potential psychedelic substances have to improve lives. But does our excitement make us overzealous about the risks of psychedelics? Let’s talk myths and facts about the risks of psychedelic experiences. 

In the last few years, psychedelics have been decriminalized in cities across the country, like: Denver, Oakland, Santa Fe, Ann Arbor, Somerville, and Washington, D.C. On top of that, Oregon has gone one step further by aiming for statewide access to psychedelics in early 2023. 

At Psychedelic Support, we’re excited about decriminalization and creating avenues for access. That’s why we’re all about empowering clinicians to confidently offer psychedelic therapy to their patients. But has our excitement about psychedelics led us to move too quickly? Are there significant risks of psychedelics that we’re overlooking? 

Many of our early ideas about psychedelic risks come from criminalization measures. Sensationalized media stories from the mid-1900s painted a scary story about psychedelics and the people who used them. Yet when we look at psychedelic’s risk from an evidence-based perspective, these reports don’t hold up. Reality is more nuanced. Here’s the evidence-based scoop. 

Do Psychedelics Cause Schizophrenia and Psychosis?

For a while now, we’ve had this cultural idea that psychedelics cause psychosis. In research during the 60’s, patients sometimes experienced psychotic symptoms lasting up to 48 hours. This was an important fear to establish when the DEA outlawed psychedelics in 1970.[1]

These early studies often did not meet the standards we require today. For example, may early studies [1]:

• Neglected to control the setting where patients took psychedelics

• Failed to exclude patients at risk for psychosis

• Did not maintain a control group

As we know now, all these factors make the results of these studies difficult to analyze at best, and irrelevant at worst. 

With what we know now, it’s clear that these adverse patient outcomes often resulted from unethical science. Patients were often given high doses of LSD without preparation, and were even restrained during their experiences. Given this context, it would appear that psychotic episodes were caused not by LSD, but by abusive research methods [1]. 

However, there are rare cases when psychedelics have caused overwhelming hallucinations. People with a history of psychotic disorders may be at a higher risk for these negative outcomes. Modern clinical trials have yet to see psychosis resulting from psychedelic medicine, but it still remains a concern for many people [1]. 

Do Psychedelics Cause Dependency?

In the 60’s, the media coined the term “period use amongst arty types”[1]. The root idea being that hallucinogens caused a specific type of substance dependence. Many believed that, since people were using them frequently, they must have a high potential for abuse. 

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) acknowledges hallucinogen use disorder (HUD). The manual lists three categories of HUD: hallucinogen dependence, hallucinogen abuse, and other HUD. 

Yet psychedelics don’t meet the profile of other substances that cause dependency. Few people find it difficult to cut down on psychedelic use – a hallmark of pathological dependency. The bottom line is that HUD is uncommon, and there’s a low risk of people developing dependency after experiencing psychedelics [2]. The majority of people who use psychedelics are not dependent on them. 

In fact, when compared with other substances, psychedelics have very low abuse and dependency potential. In 2017, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration ranked psychedelics at the bottom of their list of dependence risk [3]. 

Psychedelic therapists should still educate themselves about abuse and how to prevent it in the rare cases when it can happen. 

Note: For more about the nuances of psychedelics abuse and dependency, check out our blog Can Psychedelics Be Abused? And How to Prevent It in Patients. 

Can Psychedelics Cause Flashbacks?

Maybe you heard in high school that LSD flashbacks can happen years after a psychedelic experience. This popular legend still persists, and has been documented in some users. But these post-experience hallucinations are not specific to psychedelics. They can also happen with other psychoactive substances, like alcohol and benzodiazepines [1].

If these hallucinations persist, they’re called Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD). We’re still not sure how common this syndrome is. The DSM-V reports a prevalence rate of 4.2% in people who use hallucinogens [4]. However, this is even more rare in the clinical context, and we believe this is because of screening and patient preparation [1]. 

One small study seemed to show that people who experienced anxiety and panic during their psychedelic experiences were more likely to experience HPPD afterward. Because of this, symptoms of flashbacks may be more similar to a trauma response rather than residual effects from the psychedelics [5]. 

What if Patients Experience a “Bad Trip” in Therapy?

Your patients may be worried about having challenging experiences, or “bad trips,” while taking psychedelics. This can happen, although it’s more rare in the context of therapy. There’s no exact definition of this experience. Generally people describe feelings of fear, anxiety, dysphoria, and paranoia that don’t last past the acute hallucinogenic period [1]. 

Yet even these “bad trips’” may not be all bad. One 2016 survey measured outcomes from people who self-reported challenging experiences from psychedelics. 84% of this group said that they still benefited from their experiences in the long-term, despite these “bad trips” [6]. Research suggests that these unpleasant experiences are transient, and they don’t take away from the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics [7]. 

We’re still not sure why some people have negative experiences and others don’t. Some research suggests that people with high levels of openness, acceptance, and absorption may be more likely to have positive experiences. People who are more apprehensive or preoccupied may be more predisposed to “bad trips” [8]. 

To mitigate this risk, psychedelic experiences should be paired with therapy sessions and close supervision. Setting and dose should also be carefully controlled in order to decrease the likelihood of negative experiences. With time, we’ll know more about how to prevent or interpret challenging experiences in patients.

Interested in preventing bad trips with evidence-based harm reduction? Check out our free guide.  

Can People Hurt Themselves While on Psychedelics?

It’s no secret that psychedelic experiences can be emotional for people. Psychedelics can bring past trauma to the surface, and make people see the world differently. Sometimes folks are overwhelmed with their experience. If they’re unprepared, or in the wrong setting, the effects of psychedelics may cause people to act out in dangerous ways [9]. 

In rare cases, people experiencing psychedelics have jumped from buildings and did not survive [10]. This is a serious risk for people who undergo psychedelic experiences without supervision. 

Other substances such as alcohol and opiates cause thousands of deaths per year. Compared with other substances, the risk for physical harm is relatively rare [11]. 

Within psychedelic medicine, physical harm is mitigated by using safe standards of care for all patients. Establishing rapport and trust with patients before their experiences helps them feel safe. The controlled setting of supervised therapy ensures that patients can’t hurt themselves or others. That’s why proper education is vital for the success and safety of patients. 

Can You Overdose on Psychedelics?

At normal doses, psychedelics are physiologically safe. Overdoses have happened under very large doses, for example, at more than 550 times the recommended LSD dose [1, 12]. Even at these high doses, they have made full recoveries. Mixing psychedelics with other substances like alcohol can also increase the chances of toxicity [13]. 

However, in the clinical setting, dosage is set and controlled. Clinicians strictly monitor patients for physiological symptoms outside of the norm, or symptoms of overdose. Because of psychedelic medicine’s strict standards, toxicity and overdose have not occurred within the clinical setting. 

Are Psychedelics Neurotoxic?

Early, flawed research in psychedelic medicine promoted the idea that psychedelics were toxic to the brain, and could even damage chromosomes. These early conclusions were widely publicized. Unfortunately, when these ideas were disproven or retracted, the damage to public perception had already been done [1]. 

Most researchers believe that psychedelics are non-toxic. They don’t damage mammalian organs, and they’re generally physiologically safe [14]. We’ve failed to see any neurocognitive problems from contemporary research [15]. In fact, some research even suggests that psychedelics promote neuroplasticity and neurogenesis  – meaning they may actually help us build more connections and new neurons [16].  

Learn more about how psychedelics help neurons grow on our blog.

Key Takeaways About the Risks of Psychedelic Medicine

So often in medicine, we look for answers that are “right” and “wrong.” We want to give patients clear answers that don’t confuse them. 

But psychedelic medicine, like all medicine, is more complicated than that. Just like when prescribing any other medication, psychedelic clinicians must understand that one therapy won’t be useful for all patients. Every medical intervention has its risks and benefits. By dismantling old misconceptions, we hope to create a better understanding within this growing field. 

Psychedelics medicine holds the potential to change countless lives. With the right education, high standards, safety precautions, and increased research – we can mitigate the risks of psychedelic therapy in order to unlock its potential for healing. 

Want to learn more about reducing the risks of psychedelic experiences? Psychedelic Support has created a free learning course on psychedelic harm reduction. In this course, you’ll learn how to limit the harm of “bad trips” and understand the risks of psychedelic use. Sign up for this online course today!

References:

1. Schlag AK, Aday J, Salam I, Neill JC, Nutt DJ. Adverse effects of psychedelics: From anecdotes and misinformation to systematic science. J Psychopharmacol. 2022 Mar;36(3):258-272. doi: 10.1177/02698811211069100. Epub 2022 Feb 2. PMID: 35107059; PMCID: PMC8905125.

2. Shalit, N, Rehm, J, Lev-Ran, S (2019) Epidemiology of hallucinogen use in the U.S. results from the National epidemiologic survey on alcohol and related conditions III. Addictive Behaviors 89: 35–43.

3. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (2017) Results from the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Detailed Tables. Available at: https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/cbhsq-reports/NSDUHDetailedTabs2017/NSDUHDetailedTabs2017.htm#lotsect1pe

4. American Psychiatric Association (APA) (2013) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Washington, DC: APA.

5. Halpern, JH, Lerner, AG, Passie, T (2016) A review of hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD) and an exploratory study of subjects claiming symptoms of HPPD. In: Halberstadt, Vollenweider, Nichols, DE (eds) Behavioral Neurobiology of Psychedelic Drugs. Berlin; Heidelberg: Springer, pp.333–360.

6. Carbonaro, TM, Bradstreet, MP, Barrett, FS, et al. (2016) Survey study of challenging experiences after ingesting psilocybin mushrooms: Acute and enduring positive and negative consequences. Journal of Psychopharmacology 30: 1268–1278.

7. Carhart-Harris, RL, Bolstridge, M, Rucker, J, et al. (2016) Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: An open-label feasibility study. The Lancet Psychiatry 3(7): 619–627.

8. Aday, JS, Davis, AK, Mitzkovitz, CM, et al. (2021) Predicting reactions to psychedelic drugs: A systematic review of states and traits related to acute drug effects. ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science 4(2): 424–435.

9. Johnson, MW, Richards, WA, Griffiths, RR (2008) Human hallucinogen research: Guidelines for safety. Journal of Psychopharmacology 22(6): 603–620.

10. Honyiglo, E, Franchi, A, Cartiser, N, et al. (2019) Unpredictable behavior under the influence of ‘magic mushrooms’: A case report and review of the literature. Journal of Forensic Sciences 64(4): 1266–1270.

11. Nutt DJ, King LA, Phillips LD; Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs. Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis. Lancet. 2010 Nov 6;376(9752):1558-65. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61462-6. Epub 2010 Oct 29. PMID: 21036393.

12. Haden M, Woods B. LSD Overdoses: Three Case Reports. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2020 Jan;81(1):115-118. PMID: 32048609.

13. Van Amsterdam, J, Opperhuizen, A, Van den Brink, W (2011) Harm potential of magic mushroom use: A review. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology 59(3): 423–429.

14. Malcolm, B, Thomas, K (2021) Serotonin toxicity of serotonergic psychedelics. Psychopharmacology. Epub ahead of print 12 July. DOI: 10.1007/s00213-021-05876-x.

15. Aday, JS, Mitzkovitz, CM, Bloesch, EK, et al. (2020b) Long-term effects of psychedelic drugs: A systematic review. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 113: 179–189.

16. Ly, C, Greb, AC, Cameron, L, et al. (2018) Psychedelics promote structural and functional neural plasticity. Cell Reports 23(11): 3170–3182.

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Marie Hasty, RN

I'm Marie Hasty - a nurse, medical copywriter, and artist living in Charlotte, North Carolina. I get to use my clinical and academic background to create accurate, readable medical copy. I am passionate about writing informative articles for patients and the community.

Transpersonal IFS, Synchronicity, & 'Compassionate Depossession' PT2

Assuming you’re familiar with what I discussed in PT1, onto the most recent of the high strangeness occurring in Therapy Outside the Box two weeks ago.

And I’m writing this on Sunday 8/7, in fits and spurts, between walking around the lake with a friend, talking to my daughter about dating, dump runs, meditating, helping my other daughter write a biography, and attending an online Meetup on mircodosing. So this might not be the most cohesive post! But if I don’t get it done today it won’t happen. And I’ll be seeing this client again this week, so I’m as eager to finish this and follow up with him as I know he is to revisit what occurred and see what happens next.

Here goes…

RECAP—Days prior to the session I’m about to describe, completed a web-based training on Shamanism and Psychotherapy (IFS), hosted by two lead trainers in the IFS model. One of those, Robert Falconer, discussed his accidental ascent into the weird offshoot of what in IFS we are unattached burdens. These are not parts of us in the conventional IFS sense, but something other. Entities, if you will, that can become attached to us (in my view on the etheric level) as a result of our susceptibility during times of extreme trauma, or any circumstance or event that leaves us feeling utterly powerless. Of course indigenous cultures practicing various forms of shamanism have understood this for an eon. In any case, Falconer became convinced of the reality of this phenomenon after a profound experience encountering and ultimately helping to release someone from one of these unattached burdens that, by the persons own description, changed the entire course of her life. Because he was the first therapist in a long line to both 1) take the idea of an attachment seriously and 2) actually help release it.

Despite much guff, some ridicule and ostracization by those in the psychotherapy and the mainstream IFS community, he felt compelled to forge ahead into this area. He continues to help others do the same, and is soon to release a book about this phenomenon titled ‘The Other Ones.’ I can’t wait.

So anyway here I am, fresh off some of my own increasingly weird but beautiful clinical happenings (detailed in PT1), fresh off this training that made me aware of the neo-shamanic spirit release method called ‘compassionate depossession’ that Falconer has borrowed from, and my deciding to apply for training in it by one of its founders, Betsy Bergstrom.

Then, the following happened:

RELEVANT BACKGROUND—My client is a male in his 40’s. I’ve been seeing him for a few months and for this session we agreed to go further into my transpersonal approach to Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS). We did one introductory IFS session some weeks back. Our work before and since have been largely Integrative Counseling, and one or two Energy Psychology (Subconscious Heal and Release®) sessions, all aimed at helping him navigate and ultimately accept the likely end of a gut wrenching on/off romantic relationship. One that commenced not very long after a 15 or so year highly dramatic and toxic marriage ending in divorce. That was with someone who, by this individual’s account, would regularly decompensate into horrifying, rage-induced dissociative breakdowns marked aggressive, frightening mood/affect changes, deep, seemingly unnatural guttural vocal sounds, occasional exclamations of being something other than who she is/non-human, and odd/unusual physical behavior. All of which no intervention could control or bring to a halt until it ran its course.

You can probably see where this is going.

The ending of the current relationship, one overlaid with much of the unprocessed pain and rescuer-based dynamics of the former, was coffin nailed so to speak the week before by an unexpected final communication following a painfully long silence. Whatever the contents of it by the now official ex, it left the client in a state of acute despairing about his own unforeseen psychological dynamics, relational patterns, and family of origin traumas/attachment wounds that have co-created the downfall of his romantic endeavors to date. A bitter pill to be sure. But one that led him to commit to bringing the focus back to himself—to accessing, understanding and bringing compassionate healing and relief to his own wounded and hyper-protective parts.

THE SESSION—After some revisiting of the impact of the death knell communication from the now official ex, with eyes wide open as to the depth of his own pain, and his ability to distance from it via romantic rescuing and ‘achievement bypassing,’ we settled in. Establishing an intention for this IFS session, we agreed to hold it loosely, allowing for whatever may arise (foreshadowing if there ever was). We called in and called upon ancestors, guides, masters, angels, archangels, spirt and totem animals, helping spirits and elementals to join, support, assist, guide, and direct. Off we went.

Right away the client became aware of tightness in the heart area, accompanied by a stabbing sensation, and a ‘funnel imagery’. My intuition/guidance seemed to suggest this was a protector part, although it wasn’t entirely clear. (Meaningful, as it turns out). Then there was a part the client felt was suspicious of this part. ‘Suspicious, but okay.’ This part seemed to respond to a request to make space. Thus far, more or less standard IFS.

As the client returned his focus to what he noticed in the heart, he said he got that it was ‘hurting, and scared.’ Then something about ‘rejection, not being wanted,’ and that it had ‘been here for too long.’ At this point I’m still intuiting that this is what in IFS we would consider a protector part.

It’s gets stranger then when I suggest asking this part its age. “2 years old,” he says. That’s awfully young for a protector part, in my experience. Two would most certainly be a younger, or ‘exile’ part, as its called in IFS. When I suggest the client ask the part how old it thinks you are he gets “I don’t even know who you are,’ …but then, strnagely, the part seemed to warm up, the client said.

Now that’s unusual. Because a part saying it doesn’t even know (the person) it usually results in the part receding, or it becomes less clear, or goes silent. It doesn’t warm up or come closer. I asked the client to just stay with the part, and then (as I probably should have done sooner) asked the client the magic, penultimate IFS question, which is:

“How do feel toward this part right now?”

[In IFS, this is the Self-Energy detecting question. It’s what tells us how much Self is present, as opposed to other parts being in the way of the connection we hope to establish between the Self and the part we’re endeavoring to help. If the response is anything other than things like “I feel curious about it, open to it, sorry for it, or like I want to help it, then we assume it’s another part describing how it feels toward the (target) part. We then acknowledge that part, tell it we get that, and ask it to step out and make space. And that’s usually what happens].

Not this time…

HOLY F*&#K—In response to the magic question, I begin to get a sense of why things weren’t quite adding up. The client, fortunately a highly spiritually aware and adept seeker, super well-read and studied in various schools of philosophical and spiritual traditions of east and west including deep esoteric and ceremonial magic practices, suddenly looks some combination of surprised, scared, and yet, poised.

Amazing, considering what came out of his mouth next.

“Um, there’s this…a dark being…an overlord…right here. It’s…demonic. (My intuitive guidance via up/down head nod confirms the entirely of the statement. I breathe, and doublecheck: affirmative.). I literally hear myself think Holy F@*k. I ask that alarmed part of me to step back, and remind myself to hold steady, trust, have faith, and stay with it.

To my amazement, the client then confidently says: “Wait, I know what this is…I invited him in.”

I intuitively knew he didn’t mean intentionally.

He goes on to describe that he knows this things came in during his marriage to his highly unstable ex. Specifically as result of the many, many attempts at containing and preventing his ex from harming herself or him during the aforementioned ragefully dissociative breakdowns.

In these, he’s stating now, while he thought he was essentially safe playing the role of rescuer/therapist/shaman/exorcist, so to speak, he was…and the entity apparently gleefully confirmed this…that he was being manipulated, tricked, controlled, essentially possessed to some degree.

The client then says: “His name is [something like] Ackanoizan”(sp?).

As I’m observing, attempting to remain focused and in Self, as if for comedic, dramatic effect on the part of Mother Nature, it literally begins storming outside (?!?!?!).

Having no idea what’s next, I start reaffirming the presence of the Highest and Holiest, calling in by name the biggest guns I can think of—The Christ, Holy Spirit, Mother Mary, Archangel Michael, Elohim, my Ascended Master guide Saint Germain, Babaji, and The Great White Brotherhood.

Not that I’m surprised, but I tell you, the already palpable white light energy in the room ramped up.

The call was clearly being answered.

COMPASSIONATE (SELF) DEPOSSESSION—As mentioned prior, I had just recently completed a training in shamanism and IFS, and decided to train in ‘compassionate depossession.’ Before I get the chance, here I am facing a Mack Daddy of a dark, apparently demonic unattached burden :>

It’s at this point that we get to the meat and potatoes. Yet I cannot even provide a descriptive accounting of what transpired next. Because honestly, it was all the client.

Drawing upon his own resources, intuition, intelligence, spiritual knowledge and wisdom, and without a doubt the assistance of the Highest and Holiest Emissaries of The Divine, the client initiated his own compassionate depossession process. Maybe a little lighter on the compassion than I would have led with, but effective nonetheless. The outcome is what matters.

All I can really say is that for the last 15-20 minutes or so, lightning and thunder crashing outside, as I prayed and held space, I simply observed while the client silently engaged his full strength of energy, power, faith and conviction in his own ability and/or will to release the entity.

At what appeared to be the finale, I see the client’s head slowly rise, his chest puff up and out slightly, and his countenance begin to shift. Once his face was upright and in line with mine, I shit you not, I half expected to see him open his eyes to reveal sheer, empty blackness and the expression of a man demonically possessed. Fully incorporated, as they say.

At this very moment, I noticed a palpable wave of intense fear pass me by. Not wash over me. Not as if attempting to enter me. And not from within. Rather, as if something was moving through the room, exiting, and I was just privy to the felt sense of its negative energetic nature on the way out.

The client then looked up at me with clear eyes, a surprisingly relaxed smile, an unspoken “whoa,” and simply said:

“It’s gone.”

Long exhales.

CONCLUSION—Already far over time, we marveled and took stock of what occurred. The client said there just came a point where he knew what to do, or what he must attempt to do. He drew on the classical wisdom that suggests when dealing with such phenomenon—especially something identifying as demonic—that you must get their name. Keep demanding it. Once he got it, it gave him confidence to attempt to release it by any means necessary. His description was such that he simply gathered his power, harnessed all the energy he had, and essentially mind-forced the thing out.

I believe this is exactly what he did. And that this entity was the fearful energy I felt pass me by prior to his eyes opening, at the end of this seemingly accidental, though synchronistic compassionate depossession process we found ourselves in on this day.

When I asked about the 2 year old part, the client felt that this was actually a decoy—a ruse on the part of the entity to lure him in, and to get his attention. Which would make sense given the anomalies I was experiencing in the lead up to the fireworks. (To date, I’ve never met a 2 yr old protective part of anyone. Protectors are usually at least a few years older than that).

My sense is that my guidance chose not to prematurely alert me to the fact that this was a decoy (if in fact it was) or that there was an entity/other situation at play. It was likely for the client to realize it himself. In other words, I trust that there was a rhyme and reason to it unfolding as it did. The outcome is probably the best evidence for this.

Perhaps also, the entity, whatever the hell it was, may have underestimated the power of the individual he attached to to be fearless, confront, and ultimately kick it out. Either that, or it sorely underestimated the power of the Highest and Holiest forces, or didn’t think we’d have the sense to call in the big guns. Perhaps all of this. Who knows.

Before wrapping up, we agreed to keep in touch over the next few days by email or otherwise if needed.

He beat me to the punch the following morning:

“Yesterday evening and this morning I am feeling more clear headed and focused than I have in a long time.”

I followed with:

“Fantastic _______. I've just begun documenting the experience. Only as far as definition of terms: IFS, unattached burdens, compassionate depossession. Checked in with my guidance about it early this morning and got confirmation that all is well, that what we believed happened actually did, and what we thought that entity to be is exactly correct. As well as your take on from where, when, why and how it came into your system. More power to you for staying fearless, grounded, and intuitively knowing exactly what to do. You did the heavy lifting. If you can do that, what can't you do? Best is yet to come.”

He responded:

“Thank you for your feedback and encouragement. I too checked-in this morning to verify. I got a strong confirmation. I believe this type of internalized exogenous part is more common than I think people realize. I can see how IFS dovetails into the intersection of what parts are of the primary constellation and what entities, deamons, intended or unintended homunculus' have docked inside our non-primary constellation unaware. Humans are always doing magic. Whether they are asleep at the wheel or not matters not. I feel open, light, clear, positive and grounded. I feel strength, motivation, courage and compassion. I can feel a part of me has been restored and the channel to my higher-self has been unclogged. Indeed. Best is yet to come.”

“There’s an Outside the Box Solution for Every Problem.”

Godspeed.

Chris Hancock, LCSW, ACMHP

www.therapyoutsidethebox.com

chris@therapyoutsidethebox.com

Franklin, TN

615.430.2778

Transpersonal IFS, Synchronicity, & 'Compassionate Depossession' PT1

I had a wild and undeniably synchronistic last week of Therapy Outside the Box. It came to head in a session which I’ll detail in PT 2, after some more processing. In the meantime I’ll set the stage, and try to present this in layman’s language as much as possible.

On that note, a few definitions of terms:

INTERNAL FAMILY SYSTEM THERAPY (IFS)—A revolutionary, de-pathologizing, compassionate, shamanic-based, comprehensive therapy, life practice, and spiritual path. I discovered IFS in 2006 and have been studying and practicing it on and off ever since. At this point, with how the model has evolved, and its natural crossover with the shamanic and transpersonal and my own unfolding spiritual odyssey, I’m all in. Anyhow, IFS views our inner system/psyche as naturally multiple; both one and many, made up of 1) A core Self—the undamaged, eternal, infinitely whole healing essence within all of us, as has been written about in the great spiritual traditions for an eon. And 2) Parts (aka subpersonalities). Parts become psychically separated from the Self, mainly as a result of trauma and attachment wounds early on. Some parts carry old pain and extreme beliefs (called burdens in IFS) while others inhabit managerial roles to protect both the Self and the vulnerable parts from being exposed to more hurt. The larger goal of IFS is harmony amongst our parts, unburdening the pain and extreme beliefs our vulnerable parts carry, relieving our protective parts of the need to hyper-protect and take on newer, more updated roles, and increased trust in the Self to lead.

The qualities of Self (The 8 C’s) are: calm, curiosity, courage, confident, compassion, clarity, creativity, and connectedness.

An important ‘off-label’ concept in IFS—central to what this post series is about— is the concept of unattached burdens. These are considered to be something ‘other.’ Not originally parts of us, but things, constructs, energies— entities of unknow origin, and for all we know vast, multiple varieties. These are entities that become attached to the person (on the etheric body level I believe) with the permission of a part or parts, usually in times of extreme trauma, distress, or vulnerability resulting from overt abuse, surgery, or near-death experiences.

According to IFS lead trainer Robert Falconer, who specializes in releasing unattached burdens, these entities persuade [parts of us] to allow entrance with the promise of power to the powerless, or power in times of helplessness. We’ll get more into this with the case example to follow in PT 2. For now, note the synchronistic Divine Timing of my recent exploration into this territory, culminating in the case example to come.

You can’t make this shit up. Well, I guess you can. But no need when it happens on its own for real.

Back to definition of terms:

COMPASSIONATE DEPOSSESSION—A neo-shamanic term coined by a buddhist-trained shamanic practitioner named Betsy Bergstrom who developed this modern, non-adversarial approach to dealing with all forms of attached suffering beings. This type of spirit-release work can include the depossession of so-called ‘demonic,’ shadow beings, and extra-terrestrial (ET) entities. It’s a kinder, gentler, no-drama way of helping a spirit move towards the light. In this view, if a person who has experienced soul loss or other serious traumas have become a host to suffering beings or entities, these beings may live off of that person's energy and influence them in a variety of ways. Illness, depression, substance abuse, phobias, emotional problems, suicidal tendencies and other issues may be in part due to the influence or overshadowing of entities that have attached to the person. These beings may be people whose own experience at the time of death has become compromised in such a way that they did not successfully make their own journey to the Light.

Compassionate Depossession benefits both the person and the entity from whatever reality the being comes from. Akin to the Catholic Rite of Exorcism, but without the formality, pomp and circumstance, and with non-judgement and compassion (obviously) replacing reliance on aggression, command, authority and forceful banishment of the religious approach. One that’s often led to great harm to the individual and performing priest/exorcist alike.

SOME BACKGROUND—As you may know if you follow my blog or my Instagram, I’ve been in a post-spiritual emergence(y)/Dark Night of the Soul/Spirit Guide/Ascended Master-led initiation for a few years now. In surviving, surrendering, and integrating the experience, I was graced with a kind of claircognizant/clairsentient capacity. I’m also being prepared to become some type of channel, or so my ongoing spirit communion meditations seem to suggest. All of this is what led to my transition from more or less conventional therapist to nearly giving it all up entirely, to my re-emergence/rebranding as Therapy Outside the Box. What’s clear now is that I was always meant to go full woo woo (in the most grounded and still clinical way possible, of course ;) with my life’s work. Apparently, it took me experiencing a full on mid-life, to-the-knees-breakdown and (thankfully temporary) descent into madness to wake me up to it. Better late than never. And now the farther I go with courage, trust, faith, patience and surrender to The Divine and The Divine Plan, the more outside the box things get, with no agenda or forcing on my part. It’s fucking beautiful, honestly. I’m in awe. As they say here in the south, I’m blessed.

Anyway, as I’ve been forging ahead in curating and applying my transpersonal IFS approach, there have been a number of spontaneously shamanic, mediumistic, even psychopompic occurrences as of late. [A ‘psychopomp' is one, usually a shaman, or hermetic figure classically, who guides the spirits of the dead to the afterlife or the otherworld. In some religions, psychopomps can be creatures, spirits, angels, or deities whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife]. These occurrences have come about simply as a result of myself and my clients together formally inviting the Divine, The Christ, Holy Spirit, Archangels, Guides, Ministering Angels, Masters, ancestors, crossed over loved ones, spirit and shamanic power animals into the fold at the start of each session—to assist, enlighten, guide, direct and facilitate healing in whatever way is in the highest and best good. ‘And so it is.’

STAGE SETTING EXAMPLES:

Recently, in the middle of an otherwise straightforward IFS session, there emerged the appearance of a client’s spirit animal (A wise old wolf in this case). The wolf came through suddenly and clearly to the client with a PROFOUND, life-altering message, then proceeded to chaperone the retrieval of a young vulnerable part into the present and help guide the shamanic unburdening/transmuting of the younger part’s wounds and extreme beliefs into fire. Extraordinary.

In another case, confirmed by my higher guidance, with a young, precocious, highly intelligent and psychically advanced client who is what’s called a *‘soul walk-in’ from age 12, we’ve experienced on more than one occasion thus far the intervention of spirit guides, elementals, and cosmic/galactic culture guides, making for quite uncommon happenings with the shamanic-based IFS process. [*A soul “walk-in” is considered a higher soul, other than the original soul, that enters in the body as a result of a prior deal/contract. The original soul returns to higher dimensions while the higher soul uses the body for a new destiny]. In this individual’s case, we believe there’s a variation at play. Our understanding, again confirmed by my guidance, is that members of this individual’s soul pod (group soul) came in at age 12, in dramatic fashion, for specific reasons, some connected to the client’s difficult family dynamics, and that did not in this case include the departure of the original soul. More like an addition. Talk about multiplicity! :>

On two other occasions with a different client, immediately upon beginning the IFS process, after calling in the ‘highest and holiest,’ guides, ancestors and loved ones, etc, what I can only describe as spontaneous mediumistic visitations, or after-death communications, (ADC’s) took place. Meaning, one of the client’s crossed-over loved ones came right through with a peaceful presence, and a few uplifting, freeing messages. It was unmistakably real, natural, and healing for the client. This presence was viscerally felt, recognized, and unquestionably accepted as the consciousness of the deceased. All I can say is that is was definitely not a part, not the clients Self , and most certainly not an unattached burden/entity. No question.

In the next session, the second of two loved ones appeared, in stark contrast to those before, in a state of quiet distress—trapped between walls, seemingly dazed, in a state of suspension. My own guidance helped me intuit that this loved one was here not to provide validation of well being, or encourage my client’s being at peace, like the prior visitors had. This loved one came in need of help— to begin facing and accepting the very fact of his crossing over. And this made sense based on what we’d discussed about the circumstances of his life and passing. The client went with it, took my que, and functioned in this case as a both medium and psychopomp—providing context, validation, and ultimately freeing the loved one from the liminal/bardo state he’s been stuck in since passing, on to wherever his soul is meant to proceed from there. By the end, the walls gave way, he stood up straighter, and simply wandered off, as if exploring his ability to be spiritually mobile for the first time since shedding the body.

Of note is that for all my woo woo and personal spiritual goings on, I’m not a medium or psychopomp, nor intending to become any of these. And neither is this client. This person has no particular spiritual leanings or practice! This was an organic, but welcomed occurrence. One that’s brought about a unique and unexpected sense of healing and peace. The beginning of real closure in regards to the multiple losses incurred.

In PT 2, after I’ve gathered more of my thoughts and checked in some more with my higher guidance to be sure I’ve sufficiently understood to the degree that I can what occurred, I’ll be detailing the strangest of the strange to date: A case of unplanned and unexpected ‘compassionate depossession’ of a foreboding, imposing, dark unattached burden/entity occurring in a session literally two days after completely a training on Shamanism and IFS with a focus on unattached burdens in which I learned of the concept of ‘compassionate depossession’ and had just decided to apply for training in the method.

Stay tuned…

Nashville Voyager Magazine Feature

Pretty cool to get a local spotlight. Very honored.

Life & Work with Chris Hancock, LCSW of Franklin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Hancock of Therapy Outside the Box

Hi Chris, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.

“Thank you! I really appreciate this opportunity. Well, I grew up on suburban Long Island. But my father was raised in a small town in South Georgia, so my affinity for the South runs deep! I feel totally at home here. Growing up it was really all about music. So much so that after graduating college, I reunited with old mates and we gave it go up in Boston, MA. We achieved a modicum of success through the 90’s recording two records, one for a major label, and doing a good bit of touring. But the lifestyle and the malarkey of the industry left me cold. I made my exit in 1997 to answer a loudening soul call to something higher. I returned to New York, got into therapy (again), and began taking classes. The first 10 minutes of my very first class in human development confirmed I was exactly where I was supposed to be…

Click here to read the whole story!