The Daimon. A Greek word, meaning spirit. An aspect of the Psyche that functions independently of the ego. In those who have experienced neglect(and that is mostly everybody, even if their neglect was a lack of empathy for their depths) it is the protector. Everyone has one. It’s been there their whole life. It was there in moments when nobody looked after a vulnerable child. Even if there were adults around, even if the parents were good and present. There were still moments of isolation and vulnerability, when a small child had no protectors. Maybe it was late at night in your room alone. Perhaps it was during a frightening dream. Maybe it was during an event that was too big to metabolize emotionally. But whenever this happened, if you are grown and whole, it was there, looking after you, when nobody mortal was.
The Daimon isn’t all negative. In fact, it also leads us to our fate. It knows of our gifts, our talents, our contribution that we have to(or have yet to) make to humanity as a whole. It whispered to us as children. It informed our interests, our predilections, our gifts and our aspirations. It has been with us, from the beginning of our life, and it will be with us till the end. It whispers to us in moments of intuition, insight and important decision making. It’s presence is felt in sychronicities. It is both with us in the temporal world, and outside of time and space. It lets us know how it views us, and what it wants for and from us.
In my work with people, I know nothing predicts success better than my capacity to partner with their Daimon. If I can’t partner with it, no good can come from our relationship. If I don’t respect its authority and express my empathy for its lifelong regard for my client, it will not allow the person I am working with to expose their depths. In the past, when those depths were threatened, it was the Daimon who comforted the person I find myself working with all these years later. If the Daimon doesn’t feel as though I am going to respect its’ authority in the depths of my client it will alarm the client that I am not to be trusted, and the depth we are working at will feel threatening and foreboding. But if the Daimon feels I have partnered and respected its authority, it will chaperone our descent.
Part of my job in working with people is listening to the Daimon as it tries to communicate with me. It communicates with me in its preferences, its concerns, and its guiding suggestions. From the moment someone makes contact with me for work, I am listening for the whisper of the Daimon. It’s a bit like fishing. But once the Daimon responds to my interest, or my empathy, it becomes a presence in the relationship. Like a third party, it remains present in my relationship with clients, and in the work I do with them. We become a triad, and the Daimon will chaperone us to remarkable depths. For those who have worked successfully with me in the past, now you know what a big ingredient of our success has been. For those who wish to work with me in the future, I look forward to becoming acquainted with your Daimon, and partnering with it for your benefit.