With the arrival of COVID-19, from day to day we are navigating uncharted waters. In this newsletter I would like to share:

a few ideas drawn from depth psychology, indigenous and mythological traditions which I hope will offer us a larger psychological context for what is now happening and some reassurance to navigate this difficult passage and strange times
information about courses, webinars and personal consultations I am offering that may help you at this time with your response.

We can be grateful that this virus does not impact the more-than-human world of flora and fauna, air and water quality, all of which are mercifully showing signs of relief and improvement now that human activity has slowed down. But for human beings, this is a time of tremendous, unprecedented uncertainty and upheaval, with deep anxiety about the pending loss of lives and livelihoods. We know not what lies ahead, but we do know that both we and the rhythms of our lives are destined to change profoundly.

A liminal time

As nation states and services close down, and individuals self-isolate or are quarantined, we find ourselves collectively entering a liminal (from the Latin limen, meaning threshold) phase. The liminal stage has been identified by noted anthropologists and psychologists like Victor Turner and Arnold Van Gennep as the second phase in a rite of passage or initiatory experience, after separation from a previous world and before the return to society. In a liminal period, we are no longer what we were but not yet what we will become.

Indigenous traditions recognise that entering a liminal phase of ‘unknowing’ is a crucial stage in any initiation. This is true for the initiation of an individual, and we can understand this psychological process as now happening on a global scale as well. Metaphorically, the liminal stage has been likened to death, being in the womb, being lost in a dark forest, or being swallowed into the belly of a whale. Mythology knows this as the nekyia (the title of the eleventh book of the Odyssey, from the ancient Greek word ἡ νέκυια meaning corpse), the night sea journey, or descent into the underworld (recall, for example, the Greek myths of Persephone’s abduction to Hades, or of Psyche’s descent into the Underworld to be re-united with Eros). The mythologist Joseph Campbell traced this womb-like image of being swallowed into the whale’s belly throughout the world’s mythic traditions, and commented that “the hero [or the heroic egoic], instead of conquering or conciliating the power of the threshold, would appear to have died”. As habitual assuredness and certainty now falters, even amongst our leaders, it seems that this is what is happening to us now.

We can view this liminal time as part of a process of ‘collective initiation’ into which we are now being ushered by COVID-19.

What happens in initiation?

The disorientation and self-isolation which we are being thrown into by COVID-19 bears all the hallmarks of an initiatory experience. Let’s look at the stages of shamanic initiation in traditional cultures, where the novice or initiate is faced with ego death and transformation, to understand what happens.

First, the initiate is separated physically and/or psychically from the community and his or her normal life and thrust into an unknown situation (sound familiar?). The initiate is forced to surrender to the situation as his or her usual resources fail (we cannot fight this COVID-19 ‘war’ in the usual ways, neither can we get back to ‘business as usual’). The middle of the initiatory experience is marked by the activation of the initiate’s imagination and emotions, making everything feel extreme (panic hoarding, share market collapses, for example).

In this stage, the initiate fully realises his or her weaknesses, wounds and limitations and that the only option is to give up control. We must surrender to what is.

According to Christina Pratt in The Encyclopedia of Shamanism, “From this place of revelation and surrender the initiate is guided to something within himself that was hidden. If initiates can merge with that hidden aspect, they become greater than they were before”. The middle of the initiation is the crucial point, during which a fundamental shift in consciousness must occur. If this transformation occurs (and I emphasise ‘if’ – there are no guarantees with initiation – the truth is that not everyone will make the transformation), the completion of the initiation begins with the death of the initiate’s ego self, or the ‘little self’.

The individual is transformed at this fundamental stage, gaining the freedom to align consciously with the will of his/her soul and the soul of the cosmos, and becomes 'the person he or she came here to be'. This necessary loss of the little self is why shamanic initiation is often called the ‘little death’. The death which one undergoes in an initiatory experience will always be a death of identity, a death of one’s former self.

For those of us living in modern Western cultures, there has been a breakdown of cultural rituals of initiation that bestow an experience of inner guidance. But initiatory experiences can also arise spontaneously. In the absence of initiation by the culture, the psyche or the Self may take the lead to initiate us by means of a numinous experience, either positive or negative. An initiatory experience may also be instigated through the death or loss of a loved one, or the loss of work which has been integral to one’s sense of self, or through an accident, illness, mental health crisis or other profound disruption to notions of reality and the world as we know it.

We can see this now happening around us. COVID-19 and its economic fallout, on top of the climate and extinction crisis, heralds a collective initiatory experience for the post-industrial Western psyche. Confronted with the death of collective identity based on heroic but unsustainable economic notions of unlimited growth, expansion and progress, the Western psyche is now undergoing a descent, where we are being forced to comprehend our role as human beings in relation to the ecology of the whole.

Although scary and painful, depth psychological and wisdom traditions have long understood that initiation is a process which must be suffered if one is to mature psychologically and spiritually and align one’s will with a ‘greater will’, whereby one’s self-interest becomes enlightened. Crossing this threshold into the unknown is a transit into a sphere of rebirth, but it involves a symbolic ‘self-annihilation’, a metamorphosis, where we go inward to be quickened by the recollection of who or what we are. Initiation is how we hear our soul’s calling, and become true elders.

The good news is that if initiation is successful, the initiate emerges with a new myth, a set of guiding beliefs and assumptions to shape her awareness and actions in the community and, specifically, “to restore harmony in the connection of all things through service to the community, both human and spirit”. And in this dystopian age of the Anthropocene, this is the very prescription that our world so much needs.

You can learn more about this topic of initiation and the emergent soul’s calling in my new book, From Career to Calling: A depth psychology guide to soul-making work in darkening times.

If you’d like to participate in a reflective conversation about this topic in our Life Artistry Community, to share your thoughts and experiences, please drop me a line and I’ll be happy to arrange a group webinar.

Lastly, during this time of COVID-19 I will be offering a small number of personal 50 minute Skype consultations at a special rate of $90. If you’d like a sounding board for your work and vocational concerns and ideas, in a context where the reality and guidance of the psyche/ soul is honoured, you’ll find this very therapeutic. As one woman said, “Having this talk about psyche and vocation is giving me much more clarity than I had ever imagined. I could never have expected anything like that.” Availability on Mondays and Thursdays, please email me to schedule an appointment.

“May you recognize in your life the presence,
power and light of your soul.

May you realize that you are never alone,
that your soul in its brightness and belonging
connects you intimately with the rhythm of the universe. ”

— John O'Donohue

Take care, dear one, appreciate moments of beauty in nature (even looking through a window at a tree or the sky), and listen in deeply to your own soul’s calling in this liminal time.

with love,
Suzanne

Dr Suzanne Cremen
Founder, Life Artistry Centre (Australia)
Adjunct Faculty, Pacifica Graduate Institute (USA)