The main goal of Chrysalis is increased self-awareness. You’ve heard many times assurances that “all the answers are already inside us.” We just have to coax them out. Tarot is one of many modalities people employ to achieve this highly desirable goal.

Increased self-awareness = spiritual growth and higher consciousness. This is one reason Chrysalis is widely recognized as a “spiritual deck” – one that promotes “active imagination.”

I recently ran across a piece that speaks eloquently to the quest of making the unconscious conscious and I would like to share it. The author is Doug Hilton, a frequent contributor to Quora.

To the question of how to make the unconscious conscious Doug writes:

The unconscious does it for you. We are the subconscious/unconscious, which does the data processing, and has no awareness.

What is conscious? It helps to direct our senses, by constantly providing feedback to the subconscious.

Being able to remember the exact sequence of events, cause and effect, is vital to survival. In theory, every bit of long-term memory has a sequence code, or something that performs the same function. If you are not consciously aware of something, then it cannot have a sequence code, and cannot be stored long-term. That includes thoughts, decisions, everything ever imagined, and data from out senses.

How we cope, with an ever-changing world? We make predictions, in order to make choices.

How do we evaluate all things, in order to make choices? Emotional value, which is determined by a combination of our genes, knowledge, experience, the environment, our emotional and physical state, and more. Google brain chemical reward. To a great extent, these chemicals determine human behavior, by determining emotional values.

In order to make predictions, the subconscious must run simulations for every choice. That includes every physical movement. It calculates the best outcome (highest emotional value), or least negative outcome (pain, fear, shame, humiliation….etc), and decides. The decision is passed on to conscious. At times, other choices are included, which gives the illusion, that the conscious is making the decision.

The subconscious is capable of mixing and matches a million bits of memory. Imagination needs regular exercise. Search the web for subjects, that excite your brain, because you will remember more details.

Absorb as much information, as you can. You will eventually be able to ask intelligent questions. If you can’t find the answers, then press your brain. If possible, become obsessed, with discovering the answers. They should be the first thing on your mind, when you wake, and the last, before falling asleep.

Your brain will eventually deliver something. If you continue pressing it, your imagination will be “on” full time. You’ll have inspired thoughts, inspired dreams, and inspired questions. You’ll see connections, that others miss.

© Toney Brooks, 2018