Much has been written about intrauterine life, bodily memory, and our body that keeps all our deep traumas from the unconscious. Psychogenealogists could certainly complete this much more detailed and applied picture. But that’s not what I want to tell you about… or maybe a little about that too.
A bit about that too because any work of personal development, any approach in the process of self-knowledge often leads us to our origin, to the place where we come from, and it is good to always remember where we started.
We often talk about childhood, about adolescence, about the stages of personality development, but sometimes we forget about the 9 months in our approach. During these 9 months, our matter takes shape, just as maybe in a project, in an idea, in a desire, it is possible to find, consciously or not, clues for their materialization. Let us remember that, most of the time, the association of an external event with an event of internal development can clarify us the origin of a suffering or maybe of a blockage in the development of the process in which we engaged.
And let’s start with the Magician, the arcana number 1 in the Tarot of Marseilles, the archetype of the first matter, tells us about the full potential, about what the Jungians call Animus and Anima, not yet separated, about the model of the initiator The first month of pregnancy is dedicated to the installation, the fertilized egg separates into the placenta and embryo. At the beginning it is a unique energy impact, an idea, an impulse. Here we are in the stage of the commitment to use the potential to give shape. The magician does not go in search of knowledge but, rather, in putting order in what he already knows. And what happens if external events are not in order?
In the second month the cardiac system is formed, the spine begins to appear, the sex, apparently female, begins to develop. The High Priestess, the eternal and sacred feminine, the founding and fertilizing principle of the archetype of the mother, the divine mother, the guardian of the self, Isis with veil, the symbol of feminine energy that allows the divided man to reunite as Osiriris was reconstituted piece by piece by Isis, his divine wife, prepares the ground for the next stage. And if external events block the movement, if tensions or conflicts in the mother’s life unconsciously oppose the development process? What work might be needed to understand why the projects we are enthusiastically initiating crash from the start?
Already in the third month, the Empress, the great arcana of expression, adds discernment along the way. It is the month in which the fetus defines itself sexually, remains feminine or becomes masculine. At this stage appears the pancreas, which contains cells called Langerhans islands that are involved in the manufacture of insulin. The pancreas, this true coordinator of digestion, will regulate throughout our lives everything related to food, even symbolic food. Disorders during this period due to external events are also suggested by the Empress, the inability to swallow, that knot in the throat, that apple of Adam present in the iconography of the arcana, problems with digestion, bloating can be manifestations of the mother’s condition in the third month of pregnancy?
In the fourth month, the glandular system is perfected, especially the thymus, which binds the child completely to his mother and gives him immunity. Immunity in the territory where the process of refining the future man cub continues. Also here, the thyroid gland develops, the Emperor, the arcane of the territory, symbolically, protects and gives space to the development of the fetus. What if the mother’s territory is violated or threatened during this period? How will the child’s unconscious assimilate the mother’s feelings? The Emperor tells us about certainty, about overcoming limits by allowing us to explore unknown worlds. What fears, programs, or even physical ailments have their origins in the fury of an Emperor who sees his security threatened?
Along with the Hierophant,the one who speaks from the heart, the one who invites the balancing of the two cerebral hemispheres, the great pedagogue and orator, we enter the fifth month, the month in which all neurons are definitively formed, the moment when the surfactant intended for the lubrication of the pulmonary alveoli which will thus be able to unfold at birth. Maybe a reflection with Temperance, the arcana number 14, in the same range as the Hierophant (1 + 4 = 5), the great arcana of breathing. It may be interesting for people with breathing difficulties, lung conditions or headaches to reflect on the external events of that period.
In the sixth month the respiratory system is fully developed and although the baby may be born now it would not be very comfortable. Maybe just like the Lover, the sixth arcana in the Tarot of Marseilles, feels out of sorts when faced with the issue of freedom. The need for freedom is the consequence of our need for love. What external events took place this month that were recorded perhaps as a lack of love? Can the difficulties we encounter in adult life when we have to choose originate in the unconscious fear of being abandoned that we experienced in the sixth month of pregnancy?
In the seventh month, the baby, due to his external ear, reacts to external sounds, some sounds relax him, others unsettle him, recognizes the father’s voice and the mother’s voice, resonates with the whole sound universe that surrounds him. The Chariot, the arcana number seven, the great arcana of authorization and validation, tells us, among other things, about the choice between desires and fears, about the harmonization of reason with feeling. In The Myth of the Soul, Socrates imagines the human soul as a chariot drawn by two horses, the chariot as a symbol of the most conscious part of the soul. She must take care of the two horses, Desire and Fury, so that they are in balance otherwise the carriage will overturn… What do we rather take care of? What are we concerned about? What is stopping us from moving forward? Desires? Fears? And maybe an external event in the seventh month of pregnancy could contain the first unconscious seeds of our present behavior?
In the eighth month, the process of manifestation of the being is completed, the baby begins to turn and point his head towards the exit. Justice, the great arcana of transformations, the arcana of passage, the essence of divine justice, invites self-knowledge, justice for oneself, for others and for the universe. What happens if during this period the external events, the mother’s feelings, the external universe imprints us with a program of injustice, or maybe even with the unconscious blockage of coming to a world where we are not welcome?
The Hermit, the pilgrim and the speleologist of the Tarot, the one who descends in himself to bring to the surface the inner sun, announces the ninth month. The baby is ready to leave the dark womb, life in the dark, and face the world, to begin the adventure. He will bring with him everything that the 8 months of travel brought him unconsciously..
These programs, cellular memories will manifest as echoes throughout our existence. The body reacts, receives or generates sensations that gradually become a shell between the body and reality, a wall that separates and limits us… Maybe that’s why in the method of the Referential Birth Chart, the imprint is an aspect that allows working with these unconscious programs, but we will talk about this in another article
I thank Myriam Brousse for the meeting with her writings that inspired me to make this material. The body does not forget, the healing of deep traumas from the unconscious, published by philobia, is a reference for those looking for the origins of lived suffering and self-discovery.
See you soon,
