These objects represent the four Jungian active powers of our consciousness: intuition (the spear), feeling (the cup), sensing (the stone), and thinking (the sword). These modes of interacting with the world are valuable, and yet each by itself is incomplete without the others.

It takes about three years of being an apprentice to get some stability with your new identity and develop your skills, and another three to feel like you are actually the being you say you are and act as every day (“doctor,” “lawyer,” “minister,” “teacher”).

start tracking the process in a journal where you record and process your transformations. In the journal, ask what the central elements of your old myth are. Who are you? How do you see yourself? How do others (family, friends, coworkers) see you? What is the creation myth of you?

it is not that we are not committed or are weak willed; it is a matter of what we are committed to. We don’t need to gain more discipline; we need to arrange our priorities. We all have about three hours of good concentration in a day. We must use some of it in our spiritual practice.

it can feel like you have two dragons fighting inside you. As you craft the new myth, the practices that support it, and the worldview that goes with it, there will be a honeymoon period, as there is in any new relationship. Then at some point the old myth will realize that you are not kidding about the new path and the new you.

Where do I come from? Where am I going? and Who is coming with me? These are the essential three questions that every mythological tradition answers.