Bottom and Top - and Cellar

Sometimes we get so used to things so much that we do not think to question them, not even for fun. One example: Joseph Fischer, the former German foreign minister - once he was a taxi driver, then he made his career, became a member of the government and today he is professor in the United States. A man who made it from the bottom to the top. Start as a dishwasher and become a millionaire? From the bottom to the top, that is what we call it. Underneath lies a clear definition: bottom = bad, top = good.

You can find analogies in spiritual systems and religions. However, there is a little difference since there is something below the bottom.

In the Greek mythology, it was the three macho Gods who divided their influence spheres: Zeus got heaven and earth, Poseidon got the sea and Hades at last could name the underworld his own.

The Christian world is not so far from this: on the ground it is us. Depending on how we behave, we can go to heaven or to hell.

In Buddhism, a similar principle is demonstrated by the holy flower Lotus. Her roots reach deep under the water's surface in the dirty ground, the flowers, however, reach for the sky. This reflects Samsara, the material, dirty aspect of the world, and Nirvana, the highest, pure aspect.

Let me take the opportunity to take you with me on a little journey to the underworld, hence the bottom. In our minds we associate hell with evil, pain, and misery. However, the term was used in a somewhat different way long ago.

There are uncountable stories, myths and legends about voluntary and involuntary trips to hell, and the astonishing thing about it is how much they all have in common. A typical sign for something archetypal.

Let me start with one of the best known in central Europe: a folk story the Brothers Grimm adapted to the bourgeois value system and made into fairy tale. Unfortunately, they censored many of the popular stories they found. One example is the bad step-mother. According to them (and many others) a mother simply cannot be bad at all. So, when they needed a bad female character, they always turned the mother from the original story into the evil step-mother so that the holy picture of the good mother was not besmirched. "Frau Holle" (Mother Hulda) is an example that supports this, since in her story a mother plays a role who is only good to her own child, not to the other. Anyway, the reason I mention Mother Hulda is her special role in this fairytale. It is quite obvious that her name was derived from the word "hell" which in turn comes from Hel, the German Goddess of the underworld. In her story a young girl falls into a well and dies, although the Brothers Grimm do not mention her death. Reincarnation did not belong to their belief system, so they simply denied her death. When she wakes up she finds herself in a strange world where a couple of tasks wait for her: the apple tree wants to be shaken, the bread wants to be taken out of the oven and at last when she reaches Mother Hulda's house, she is asked to do some housework. She does not know the meaning of all these tasks, but in fact, the way she fulfills them will determine her fate after she is sent back to the Earth. I doubt whether the Brothers Grimm ever heard about something like "Karma.”

However, Marie and her stepsister are not the only ones who found themselves in the underworld unexpectedly and completely suddenly. Demeter was the Goddess of fertility in ancient Greece, who you probably have heard of. Her daughter's name was Persephone, and her story is one of an involuntary journey to the underworld. One day, she was kidnapped by Hades, the male version of a God of the underworld. He took her to his own kingdom, where he raped her and kept her in the dark. Now this is not so far from what we consider to be hell, a place where we are helpless, powerless, alone and in the hands of evil dark forces. Much effort and help from the Gods is necessary to rescue her.

A third story is the one of Goddess Inanna from Mesopotamy who travelled voluntarily to the underworld to rescue her twin. Seven doors she had to pass on her way, and in order to be let in, she had to give up anything she wore every time she wanted to go through one. At last, she was naked - an analogy to helpless- and powerlessness omething Marie, Persephone and Psyche, who I will mention later, experienced too, only in different ways.

And finally, Jesus. After his crucifixion he had to go down to hell before he could stand up from the dead (re-incarnate?) and rise to heaven. Obviously, there is no Nirvana without Samsara, no heaven without hell. In so many cultures, they found different names and terms, but are they not all the same?

All these stories should be seen within a spiritual and cultural context. Their archetypal similarities make them decodable. Hell may have lost its horror since these ancient times, but still there is a hell today, and that is where I was heading toward by mentioning all these legends and myths.

Let us say our life is going well, everything is fine, we are in good health and happy. Suddenly something happens to us, something unforeseeable, something alarming, something like falling into a well, being kidnapped to hell, something beyond our control: the diagnosis is cancer (or multiple sclerosis, a heavy car accident or whatever). 

Suddenly it is no longer up to us to decide what goes on, a bad fate does it for us without asking whether we like it or not. We find ourselves in a hospital, bereft of our power and self-determination, sometimes even our clothes, put into common hospital clothes that hide our individuality, and only the gods (doctors) decide which needles and things are put where and how often into our bodies. Perhaps all that ends successfully - perhaps not. It does not seem as if it were up to us (but is it really not?).

To cut it short: what happens in the underworld (or in hell or intensive care) determines what will happen in the 'real' world. It may sound a little childish to you, but if we let the breads burn in the oven and the apples go bad on the tree and do not run the household the way the Goddess of the underworld, Mother Hulda, demands, it will have bad consequences for our (next?) life. You could as well say: as long as we do not harvest what is given to us, do not develop what waits within us for being discovered (our skills and talents), do not bring structure to our lives...

When I work with cancer patients, I train them to go into trance and later remember what happens there. Very similar to dreamwork indeed. Then I send them to the underworld to find out what is going on and what to do in order to survive. For that, it is necessary that they do not fall asleep and forget their dreams. Bringing the hidden meaning into consciousness is one of the main tasks of trance work.

All who suffer from life-threatening diseases have one thing in common: the archetypal descendance to the underworld. Myths and legends are not merely stories, they do mean something. Let me give you the example of a young woman I once worked with when she was suffering from lymphoma. After a couple of hours of training, she was able to travel consciously to the realm that usually is called the unconscious. One of the tasks I gave her was to find her inner healer and ask for the name. When she returned, she reported that she had found her (in her case the healer was female, but that is not necessarily so, the inner healer may be of the opposite sex as well). She was a woman of 40 - 50 years from India (at least she looked like that). Her name was Charon. In Greek mythology, there is a figure called Charon. Charon is the name of the ferryman who brings the ones who died across the river Styx to the underworld.Charon, the ferryman

In contrast to the well-known north American shamanic technique which uses a hole in the ground as entrance to the underworld, in Europe you have to dive into water. In Greece you had to cross a river, in Mother Hulda's fairy tale it was a well. You may find this a little too associative and wishful thinking, and perhaps you are right. Actually, it does not really matter if Charon or whoever is the mythological figure that appears in a dream or trance. In this case, it was most important that it was possible to speak with her, get important information and be guided on the way back to good health. And, of course, the 'real Gods' called doctors celebrated the good success of their cancer treatment.

One more story shall highlight the importance of the lesson that lies in a life-threatening illness: Eros and Psyche, two more (human) beings from Greek mythology. At night Eros comes to see Psyche, everything is fine. But then Psyche doubts who Eros may really be since he always appears in the dark. Maybe he is a bad guy. To find out, she needs two tools: a lamp and a knife. She can light the lamp as soon he has fallen asleep, and in case he is a monster, she could use the knife to kill him. The lamp stands for consciousness, the knife for the capacity to act.

And both tools are required when the patients, shocked by the threatening diagnosis, prepare for their own travel to the underworld: the lamp is the light in the dark, the knife changes them from patients (who have to be patient and do nothing) to actors. A shamanic travel, a mind game (as Jean Houston and Robert Masters call this), a journey through one's phantasy, call it as you like, does not mean to be passive. On the contrary you can train the ability to solve your problems by doing something. Of course sometimes the 'hidden' lesson is to become patient and to stop being active, but this, too, can be found out this way.

It is very much the same with sleeping and dreaming. People 'fall' asleep - down again. This, too, is an analogy to the descendance to the underworld; this, too, seems not to be actively directed and sometimes full of demons and terror.

For you, who read this and who are hopefully in good health, flower essences can open the door to the unconscious. While sleeping we work on issues and experiences made the day or year before. If we do it successfully, we regain our energy and can start into a new day without the burden of what happened to us. Conscious dreaming can help with our everyday life as well as with finding out the deeper meaning of being ill. But before we confront ourselves with the latter, let us begin with something less terrifying.

Today I would like to introduce four essences that serve as a tool providing access to our inner hidden resources:

Mugwort - Artemisia vulgaris

This is THE dreamflower. Mugwort helps to remember dreams and introduces you step by step to the possibility and ability to become aware of your dreams while still dreaming. This flower is the main tool for all those who want to initiate their own healing by using their dreams.

Evening Primrose - Oenothera biennis

The flower essence that resembles the lamp in Psyche's story. Most of us do not even know there is an emergency exit in our nightmares. When the terror rises above a certain level (the killer has almost reached us, while our feet are sticking on the melting ground) we wake up, sweating, our heart heavily beating but happy to realize: Thank God, it is just a dream! On the other hand, this mechanism keeps us from facing the evil, we simply got no chance to confront ourselves with our hidden fears. To give way to our fear, however, means to make it stronger. Facing one's fear reduces it to its real size. In eastern Asia there is a people called Senoi. They teach their children how to dream consciously as soon as they begin to speak, so that dreaming and remembering the dreams becomes natural and simple for them. These children know how to face the tiger, they know how to stand still, turn around and look the tiger in the eye. They speak with the tiger; they know how to make friends with tigers - and the hidden fears turn into strong helpers. If you want to learn this - be aware it is not that easy when you have already grown up, you can compare this to learning a language, which is very easy while you are a child - you can get some help from the essence with the name Evening Primrose.

Sagebrush - Artemisia absinthum: the flower of authenticity, the essence you need to open your eyes and see yourself as you really are. Sagebrush helps you to stop lying to yourself by finding out the essence of your own being. The first steps towards yourself are easiest when dreaming. Need help? Take Sagebrush. Sagebrush, by the way, is a sister plant of Mugwort.

At last after these three essences that stand for Psyche's lamp, now one that serves as the knife - and did you really expect a Bach flower...?

Centaury - Centaurea umbellatum

Centaury provides us with the capability to act, it helps us to not allow the tiger to eat us, but prompts us to defend ourselves. This essence strengthens our back and our spine, our self-worth and self-assertiveness. Centaury makes us strong enough to say "stop.” A lack of self-consciousness in our everyday life is often mirrored in our dreams (and vice versa). Centaury teaches in dreams what encourages us for a better 'real life.’ By the way, Psyche also travelled to the underworld. She carried cakes to calm Cerberos the dog of hell and let her pass. On her way there, she met miserable beings imploring her help – however, offering a helping hand would mean to lose the cake and be killed by Cerberos herself. To care for yourself and not for others, fight the bad consciousness that comes from not helping the others can be the only way to save your life - and that is what Centaury is for: save your life.

With the help of these four flower essences, the first steps in dreamwork should be a little easier than expected.