You know, people come to therapy really for blessing. Not so much to fix what’s broken, as to get what’s broken blessed. – James Hillman
Dream Animals, page 2
There is so much emphasis on “fixing” in our culture.
We think we are broken and need fixing. Or we put pressure on ourselves to help others solve their problems or give them “actionable takeaways” (ugh, I hate that phrase).
It’s easy to forget that feeling seen by another person is sometimes the greatest gift they can give us.
The past five years of Jungian analysis has helped me discover ways to listen to and feel seen by my soul, because a Jungian analysis isn’t about fixing. You aren’t “in treatment.” As Hillman wrote about in The Soul’s Code, one’s “symptoms” can sometimes point you in the direction of your calling; if you listen to the symptoms carefully, they can show you what it is your soul would rather attend to.
Since starting to study ancient astrology a year ago, I’ve discovered that an astrologer can bless someone simply by showing them the breathtakingly intricate ways that they are seen by the cosmos in their birth chart. It helps flip one’s inner narrative from marinating in regrets about certain past events to compassion towards self and others. As Hillman said at an astrology conference in 1997, ” The astrologer reverts events to their sources in the heavens, thereby taking the person out of circumstances and into heaven. Hence the revelatory feelings when a striking interpretation is made. Heaven’s gates open and a connection made between the two spheres.”
And let’s not forget the blessings of animals! The Hillman quote at the beginning of the post was from the book Dream Animals, in which Hillman says blessing by the animal occurs when they wake up our imagination when see them in nature. And when they enter our dreams. He also said that pets were the first psychoanalysts and make us aware of ourselves. I also can’t help but add that astrology reminds us of the blessings of animals, too, as several of the zodiac signs are animal symbols. “The planets are largely stabled among beasts,” as Hillman said.
Yesterday, while getting ready to write the draft of this post, the Lutheran benediction that I heard hundreds of times during childhood and early adulthood came to mind. I was able to recite it without difficulty and it goes something like this:
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you… and give you peace.
I put ellipses in there because I seem to remember the pastor pausing before saying those final four words. Then afterwards the pastor made the sign of the cross, not by touching his or her forehead and chest with their fingers, but with their arm extended from their body, Blessings aren’t meant to be kept clutched to ourselves.
Of course it’s not just a pet, priest, therapist, astrologer, or God that dispenses blessings. All of us can lift up our countenances upon each other and give each other peace.
