In 1997, while standing in at a bargain book table at a local bookstore, I stumbled upon a book that I ended up purchasing and have come back to over and over again ever since. Today I will use it as inspiration for my blog. The book is called “The Soul’s Code” and it was written by James Hillman.
Hillman (April 21,1926 – October 27, 2011), a psychologist, was a lesser known contemporary of Freud and Jung. His magnum opus, Re-visioning Psychology, was written in 1975 and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
“The Soul’s Code” contains a treatise Hillman calls the “Acorn Theory”. It’s about callings, fate, character and the innate image. Hillman proposes that each individual carries with them a uniqueness that wants to be expressed, lived, and is there from our first breath. What I didn’t know when I reached down to thumb through this book twenty-three years ago is that I would become a practicing shaman and astrologer years later and gain even greater insight and appreciation for this theory.
Chapter One, is aptly titled, “In A Nutshell”. Essentially, Hillman’s theory argues that we experience signals, urges and fascinations that when heeded or embraced can lead us to our true calling. He states, “This book is about that call. If not this vivid or sure, the call may have been more like gentle pushings in the stream in which you drifted unknowingly to a particular spot on the bank. Looking back, you sense that fate had a hand in it”
There’s that word, fate! For many, it’s a scary word. This likely stems from a feeling that one is surrendering control to something or someone else. Truth is, simple reasoning tells us that we are not in total control. Sun doesn’t rise tomorrow, game over! How much control do you really have? As an interesting exercise, and to prove my point, I challenge you to control your thoughts today. Don’t allow anything to pop into your mind that you don’t want to be there. Can you do it?
I begin every astrological reading I do with the following introduction. I believe life is two things, fate and free will. Sometimes we are living fatefully and sometimes willfully. The balance shifts frequently throughout our lives. It is when we learn to harmonize the two that I believe we are capable of hearing our calling. In western astrology this is signified as the north node of the moon and its placement in your natal chart. Think of it as it as the direction you need to go in order to grow and develop. It is not the familiar and known, but rather the unfamiliar and it can be scary because we as humans seemingly innately fear the unknown. But it is on the other side of this fear we can find our power. Yes, like the acorn that becomes the oak.
Hillman credits Plato with his theory of the acorn. At the end of his well-known work, The Republic, Plato in his Myth of Er, proposes the following… in Hillman’s words,
“The soul of each of us is given a unique daimon before we are born, and it has selected an image or pattern that we live here on earth. This soul-companion, the daimon, guides us here; in the process of arrival, however, we forget all that took place and believe we come empty into this world. The daimon remembers what is in your image and belongs to your pattern, and therefore your daimon is the carrier of your destiny”
Since the day I initially read this passage in 1997, through today, I have been intrigued the concept of the daimon and its connection to “our calling”. Looking back in history, various terms have used by different groups and cultures. The Romans named it your genius, the Greeks, your daimon; and the Christians your guardian angel. Keats said the call come from the heart, and Michelangelo’s intuitive eye saw an image in the heart of the person he was sculpting. The Neoplatonists referred to an imaginal body, the ochema, that carried you like a vehicle. It was your personal bearer or support.
Having children, I have watched my fair share of Disney feature films. Have you noticed a pattern in these movies? Yes, there is quite often a daimon featured. How you ask? Think Jiminy Cricket – Pinocchio, Meeko & Flit – Pocahantas, 7 Dwarves – Snowwhite, White Rabbit – Alice in Wonderland, Piglet – Winnie the Pooh, Flounder – Little Mermaid, Zazo – Lion King, Thumper – Bambi, Tinkerbell – Peter Pan and many more. All of these “sidekicks” act as a guardian and guide of some type to the protagonists in each of these movies. They are constantly redirecting and reminding the main character of the quest they are on.
In conclusion, I am one who believes that you and I and every single person is born with a defining image, an acorn inside that wants to become something very specific. This is our quest. We are not alone on this journey. We have a higher-self, a daimon, a sidekick that will frequently whisper in our ear, trip us up to the point we fall, and sometimes scream at us. Our job is to listen.
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