Imaginal Consciousness- how the soul speaks to us

“The imaginal world “is neither literal nor abstract and yet is utterly real, with its own laws and purposes.” – (Hillman, 1991)

Sign or Symbol – Is a Cigar Just a Cigar?   

Sigmund Freud is quoted as saying, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar,” suggesting that sometimes things are just as they are and nothing more. In this way, we perceive the cigar as in the realm of the concrete and utilitarian.   

If we consider a cigar a cigar, we recognize it as a vehicle for enjoyment, reflection, and after-dinner ritual. Like a stop sign, a sign tells us exactly what it is and how we can use it. We don’t need to think deeply and reflect on the deeper meaning of a stop sign.  

This is the realm of concrete, literal things. We perceive objects in our world literally, and we can measure and name them. This is the world of signs and linear time, nothing more and nothing less.  

This is the difference between a sign and a symbol.

Psychological Level of Perception 

Michael Meade, a storyteller, mythologist, and colleague of Jungian Analyst Archetypal Psychologist James Hillman, identifies three levels of being: the literal, the psychological, and the mythic.  

I talked about the literal above.  

With the psychological, we are looking at the internal or subject experience, “What does this mean to me? What is my wounding and what is my trauma?  How do I find healing?” There is still a subjective perception and an objective reality – an in-here and an out-there.  

Imaginal Realm and perceiving the world through the lens of the SOUL? 

For Jung and James Hillman, we exist in the soul and not vice versa. At this level of perception, there is no out there or in here. This is the place of unitive consciousness; that is, the oneness of everything. It is the place of direct perception and the place of soul-making. The spontaneous eruptions from images from the soul provide a bridge between consciousness and the unconscious.  

Imaginal consciousness is the vehicle for conscious action. When we connect emotionally and thus live the image, we enter into a dance between our conscious reality and the invisible realm, which is only accessible via the image:  the goal of individuation.  

Creating Space for the Imaginal Realm 

To cultivate this innate aliveness that exists in imaginal consciousness,  we need to create space to allow images to speak to us.  

There are so  many ways in which we can allow the soul to speak to us through image-dreaming,  visioning, storytelling,  journaling, meditation, 

We need to pay attention and accept that this is how Soul guides us and leads us to who we are meant to be.  

Christina Becker
March 2024

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