Healing with inner archetypes
I recently watched an interesting film called Split about a man with dissociative identity disorder, brilliantly played by James McAvoy. It showed how emotional and physical trauma can cause aspects of the psyche to split off into independent identities, all of them displaying unique personalities and (fascinatingly to me as a holistic healer) physiologies. Some are male, some are female. One may smoke while another is a health fanatic and yet another has to inject insulin to control diabetes.
The film showed an extreme example of imbalance that ultimately led to criminal behaviour, but what many people aren’t aware of is that even in a healthy psyche this sort of separation is present to some extent.
Read MoreRebel with a cause – reading for 2019
It’s always good to see a Princess, as she births spirit into matter so that it can become solid and real. In the case of this Princess, it’s ideas that are being brought through from heaven to earth. Not only bringing those ideas through but, more importantly, putting them into action.
As you can probably work out from the image, this is not always a peaceful process. There will be some conflict and likely confusion as radical and rebellious thinking comes up against opposing forces still locked into tradition and resistance. So the activism, protest and uprisings we’ve been seeing more and more of in the world are going to continue.
Read MoreThe Gift
I wrote this poem a week ago as a stream of consciousness exercise after some inner journeying which involved listening to poetry read aloud during a sacred women’s circle. It poured out of me after a particularly busy few weeks that had been dominated by my “adult” responsibilities, and I realised in this beautiful breathing space that my inner playful child was feeling woefully neglected. It seemed appropriate for this time of year, too, when we find ourselves thinking about other kinds of presents.
Read MoreWasherwoman
It’s washing day and She’s switched to heavy soil cycle,
Her determined arms pounding out the stains ingrained through centuries of careless wear.
Muddied water churns relentlessly under her garment grip,
The dirt-brown deluge spewing and spating over boulder-strewn banks
While Her low lament lures the keen ear,
Dripping with loss and neglect, sodden with desire.
She bridges the deserted path along which
We’re headed; there is no other route.
What’s in a name?
People often comment on my name, usually asking where it comes from and wanting to know what it means. It’s become a good ice-breaker and conversation-starter when I meet new people, which is one aspect of its magic perhaps. Because names do possess magic and power, as every wise child will tell you. In many folklore, magical and mystical traditions there is the idea of a “true name” which somehow expresses and encapsulates the nature and being of a thing or person.
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