The Devil Archetype

Okay, River, here goes. (Somehow those words seem apropos to start a piece of writing, regardless of punctuation...hmmm, interesting...River here goes, a river goes here....)

I was about 16, give or take a year or so. So we're talking 30 years ago. I remember the details like yesterday. I read a short article in "Seventeen" magazine about TM and decided to try it. (I was always on the lookout for new experiences there in rural Kans-ass, pretty near the exact center of the USA.)

It was afternoon. Mum was in the kitchen. I pulled down the shades in my bedroom, lit a candle and placed it on the floor in front of me, and sat cross legged, and did exactly what the article advised. I must've said "OM" over and over for a half hour or so, and became totally lost in "all the empty spaces" in my mind (which are rather hard to find....) and felt truly very successful with my first try at meditation.

After I completed the meditation I stood up (slowly), turned on the light, sat back down (slowly), blew out the candle, and just basked in the relaxation.

Now in my bedroom back then there was a multi-level, multi-toned beige carpet. I looked down to my right and THERE was the devil, I am NOT sh*tting you (please pardon any hints of profanity - I dislike cursing but sometimes it's the best way to express something), his FACE was FLOATING above the carpet, about an inch tall and proportionately wide, with the horns and the goatee, and the EYES were ANIMATED as was his remarkably tricksterish, evil SMILE. YIKES YIKES and MORE YIKES.

You know how we communicate through our eyes? I was looking at his eyes and he was looking at mine. He was THERE, dammit - the craziest damn thing I've ever seen (and I've seen plenty of crazy stuff). Animated, crazy grin on his face, floating, JUST the face. ALIVE - first and last time I've ever seen anything like it - I mean, seeing ETs and/or their disguises is much more acceptable than this devil archetype. It was outta this world WEIRD and downright SCARY.

Instinctually I reached out my right index finger and SMUDGED his face into the carpet. Immediately, though of course our eyes locked first. I rubbed my finger into the carpet like killing a flipping cockroach (ick!) and when I lifted up my finger there was a SKULL - clear as a bell - etched into the carpet (not floating above it). At that point I jumped up, ran down the hall like a madwoman yelling for "MOM!"

I think this was a turning point in my life. I never did anything worse than pulling wings off flies when I was really little and for whatever reason didn't know better, or taking a few bucks out of the little old ladies' purses in the bathroom during our rural high school's basketball games (what else to buy mind-altering substances with, when no jobs existed in farmland?). But I felt that the devil himself was letting himself in via the thin veil I'd created using the TM. And mind you, I'm not religious, nor have I ever been, though I did memorise 500 Bible verses when I was around 5th grade in order to go to Bible camp for a week. Who wouldn't? Swimming, cabins, canteen, camaraderie, etc.....but no, I never got into the whole Christianity thing. Just never made sense to me, nor does to this day....

but the devil, dammit SATAN himself, he did show his face, even if it was an archetype, how was it animated? Real or unreal, concrete or abstract? I wasn't in any religious turmoil nor was I feeling anything but peaceful after the TM.....so I don't believe I conjured up some hallucination.

Gotta get off this topic - I'm creeped out just talking about it, though I don't believe for a minute that the Devil's in my life in any way, shape, or form today. I rubbed him out at a critical juncture in my life - maybe he sensed my vulnerability as a teenager tempted to do some "bad" deeds? But I took care of it then and there. Never again have I seen him, though I've had a few close calls with evildoers who mean't me harm, but my guardian angel (again, not in a religious sense as much as an archetypal sense) has been by my side.

Ironically too, I was having ET experiences since before birth most likely, but wasn't aware of them during the time this particular event happened, although much later I made the connection that the skull I saw after rubbing out the devil looked quite a lot like your typical "grey," i.e., big, bulbous head with huge dark eyes. Skull looks a lot like a grey alien. I don't think they're all bad, despite their bad rap. But that's another topic entirely - and in my experience, not an archetype but a reality.

So I'll leave it at that. Please, after all I've shared, don't leave me high and dry - respond as soon as you can. It's not easy for me to share, but yet I feel compelled to share.....share and share alike. FREAKISHLY satisfying to have written this! Off the cuff....but like I said, the memory is as fresh as if it had happened yesterday.

Now, how this applies to the world today, and the collective unconscious? Well, the devil archetype has been around for a long, long time - and look at all the evil sh*t we have facing the world today. Is "he" getting the upper hand? Can we collectively RUB HIM OUT? Hmmmmm...........do tell your thoughts on this one.