Blogs

EXCERPT from my new blog post and interview with Dr. Joseph Cambray, Jungian analyst and Provost at Pacifica Graduate Institute:

"...Recent analyses of the fractal qualities that are inherent in Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings, which reveal Pollock had “spontaneously intuited a way to get at the optimal amount of fractal density.” It’s that kind of intuitive knowing from nature—not from a cognitive rational process—which, when they emerge in therapy and supervision, are art forms...."

Psychothera

Variation On A Theme By Rilke
by Denise Levertov

(The Book of Hours, Book I, Poem 1, Stanza 1)

A certain day became a presence to me;
there it was, confronting me — a sky, air, light:
a being. And before it started to descend
from the height of noon, it leaned over
and struck my shoulder as if with
the flat of a sword, granting me
honor and a task. The day’s blow
rang out, metallic — or it was I, a bell awakened,
and what I heard was my whole self
saying and singing what it knew: I can.

For weeks,

Wendell Berry: "To Know the Dark"

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

            I have spoken these lines, penned by poet, philosopher, farmer and social activist, Wendell Berry, in Solstice celebrations at the church where I ministered for thirteen years.  Every year, the doors would open into the candle lit sanctuary. 

Who hasn't seen - and loved - Joan Fontaine in Rebecca? The news of Fontaine's passing on Sunday immediately brought to mind that amazing role she played.

As the second unnamed wife of Laurence Olivier's Maxim De Winter, Fontaine's heroine tiptoed around Manderley startled by shadows, haunted by her predecessor's ghost and taunted by Rebecca's maid, Mrs Danvers.

Alliance members may be interested to read Germaine Greer's eyebrow-raising Jungian interpretation of the film, here. She argues that the

In looking at patterns, we see an incarnation and expression of archetypes and spirit within the internal and external world.  The specific form and design of these patterns gives voice to the reality of these underlying shapers of experience.  
   
From the moment a dancer steps onto the stage, to the lyrical musings of a poet, and even to our most intimate of relationships, we find these highly stylized, patterns in our life.  Joseph Campbell allowed us to see that one’s life is an unfolding of

Fisher King Press Presents

Deep Blues: Human Soundscapes for the Archetypal Journey

by Mark Winborn

Deep Blues explores the archetypal journey of the human psyche through an examination of the blues as a musical genre. The genesis, history, and thematic patterns of the blues are examined from an archetypal perspective and various analytic theories – especially the interaction between Erich Neumann’s concept of unitary reality and the blues experience. Mythological and shamanistic parallels are used