It was September, 1986 that I was introduced to the festival of Michaelmas. I had enrolled my daughter in the first class of the fledgling Waldorf School of Princeton and at the end of the first month of school there was a Saturday gathering around a dragon and a dragon slayer.  28 years later and I am still learning about dragons and dragon slayers. 

The Archangel Micha-el is the Spirit of Our Times and brings to the human soul a capacity to recognize, name and slay or tame the dragons that dwell in the caves of our soul and our sense of self. 

We find in Micha-el the source of light that illuminates the darkness within. But, Micha-el appears in darkness, not above or beyond it.  In other words, Micha-el comes to us so we can see ourselves, find the courage of I, in the midst of darkness.   

Through my work as a spiritual mentor supporting others as they undertake the activities of finding, knowing, and becoming themselves, and through my own personal self-imagining, I've recently come to recognize and name three types of dragons: karma dragons, trauma dragons, and demon dragons. Much of my work with my individual clients is about discerning these three types of obstacles to selfhood and determining how to forge and use the inner sword that brings the strength of Michael to confronting and overcoming karma, trauma and demons.   

Let's discern these dragons.

The Karma Dragons

Karma dragons are the obstacles found in our thoughts and feelings about our inherited selves: the forms and functions of our physical and biological selves and the attitudes and myths of our families and immediate communities.  These innate dragons are so tough to see and tougher to slay. These karma dragons are the ones that form our false selves and then defend these distorted identities against the freedom that comes with a a growing, evolving sense of selfhood.

The biggest problem with karma dragons is that they look like us, or like mommy or daddy, so slaying them feels like a crime against the self and all that defines us.  It feels that if we slay them everything will die and there will be no I.

The Trauma Dragons

Trauma dragons are the events of our lives that take a part of our souls and freeze them in suspended animation.  Suspended animation is the slowing or stopping of life processes by outer or inner means without termination. 

"Without termination" of life, yet no capacity to live.  Have you seen any of the zombie movies??? Have you wondered why young people find the image of zombies so intriguing?  

Trauma dragons are the ones that have taken away the life of your soul, usually just parts of your soul.  They keep you from feeling any vibrant warmth or enthused engagement for your work, your relationships, your personal goals. These are the dragons that "scare the life out of you." 

Trauma dragons can be great loss, great inflating success or devastating failure, sexual, emotional, or spiritual abuse, a physical illness or accident.  I've had my share of battles with trauma demons...and brought new life to the zombie bits of my soul.  You can, too.

The Demon Dragons

Finally, the nasty little demon dragons.  These soul vermin attack our thoughts, our feelings, and our acts of will and turn them into rigid thoughts, robotic habits and toxic reactions.  They are cancerous.  A demon dragon finds a single thought, feeling or deed and attacks it, not to devour it but to corrupt it.  One corrupt thought, feeling or behavior then begins to grow and metastasize throughout our soul.  Demon dragons are the enemies of moral development.

Typing Your Dragons & The Courage of I

And they are so little.  Karma dragons look like us but are large, dramatic, and so familiar. Trauma dragons range in size and make a lot of pain and though they may hide, once out in the open they are easily recognized and can be overcome. But the little demons are like fleas and gnats, too small to be seen.

The moment you can type a dragon: karma, trauma, demon, you will find a light, a warmth, a tone, and a force entering your soul.  This is the Micha-elic courage of I.  

When you take up the Michaelic task of naming and slaying your personal dragons, there is much benefit in having conversations that both support and guide you in your work.  You are the only one who can free yourself from your dragons, no one and no being can do this for you, not even Micha-el.  Micha-el bring the light of the Sun and conversations can encourage your courage of I.

Use these distinctions in your moments of self-reflection - your dragon hunts. See if they don't help you in your dragon-spotting and dragon-slaying.  Michaelmas is the soul season for this courageous work of facing your karma, your trauma, your demons.

Share your thoughts on dragons here.

The NEW Imagine Self Website

For the last three years, I have had a beautiful, content rich website that did not function to serve you or me.  I've been busy creating curriculums and courses for the essential task of finding, knowing and becoming yourself, but the website which should be a map leading you to all the support and inspiration for this work has failed to provide a workable guide.  

This is changing, transforming, blossoming!  A new website is in the works. I'm very excited.  

And I am creating The Store of Self-Imagining to offer you products to support your life of self.  One very special, utterly yours, product will wrap you up in a portrait of your cosmic possibility. 

Need Help Imagining Self?

Need help with imagining yourself? Book yourself 20 complimentary minutes with me and we will work miracles and get very practical:

http://lynnjericho.acuityscheduling.com

The re-imagining of the Imagine Self website means the course descriptions are currently unavailable. If you would like to talk with me about taking a course, please book a course conversation with me: 20 minutes to guide your self-imagining.  

From the beginning of experiencing your work, I have been and continue to be, astounded by your ability to organize this spiritual content with inner process. 

Andrea Martone - Core Imaginations participant, biodynamic farmer, bookkeeper, Pilates instructor, Durango, CO

I have deep appreciation of Lynn's intuition and her insights into Anthroposophy, in particular, the wisdom she brings to transforming Spiritual Science into a modern and relevant soul quest.

Martin Fisher, PhD - Social Psychologist, Western Cape, South Africa

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CORE IMAGINATIONS

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CORE IMAGINATIONS is a curriculum designed to support you in developing a profound, powerful, and compassionate image of yourself as a human being.  It will truly provide you with a sense of self that is whole, free, and manifest in all you think, feel, and do. It will guide you to a new imagination of yourself that will heal your wounds, liberate your sense of self, and empower your self-expression.  

CORE IMAGINATIONS consists of 37 lessons (audios, slide presentation, exercises and community support) that will be yours for the rest of your life.  The curriculum is not a curriculum in an academic sense, rather it is a series of maps to find yourself, mirrors to know yourself, and methods to become yourself you can use over the rest of your lifetime.  The content and exercises will be sources for self-compassion and self-imagination that bring together in creative relationship all that has shaped your sense of self and all that will allow you to break free of the limitations to being the fullness of self that lives in your core imagination of being. human and becoming I.

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