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SONG OF SOUL
A community-building intensive process drawing on Ancient-Ancestral and
Contemporary Celtic and African Spiritual traditions of healing
I still remember the day in the house of my Cuban “god-mother”, who
answered my search for meaning by guiding me through my first initiation
in the context of an Ancient African Spiritual Tradition. I remember the
terror, confusion and fear inside me, when I was told that my purpose
was that of a healer. I strongly objected to what I perceived was a task
much too high for a person as wounded as I experienced myself at that
time.
My early child hood experiences of abandonment and abuse accompanied by
tremendous pain and struggle had led me on my journey of self and soul
discovery. Despite three years of intense therapy I had not yet reached
a place to trust my inner wisdom and spirit guides, despite the fact- as
I later realised- that they were instrumental in my survival.
Multicultural Accessibility: Honouring our indigenous soul
More than ten years later and still within therapeutic and spiritual
process, I am myself working as a psychotherapist, actively engaged in
the care and healing of soul. The Greek work therapeuein “to heal”
originally meant “Service to the gods”,[1]and this is where my shamanic
and spiritual training meets my practice of psychotherapy.
Studying various approaches in the art of transpersonal, psychodynamic,
humanistic and existential therapies, I found many more parallels to
Ancient Spiritual Wisdom for Healing, most of which were given very
little credit.
Martin Prechtel, a shaman, healer and painter known for his depictions
of the mythology of the Mayan people, writes: “Since the human body is
in the world, every individual in the world, regardless of background or
race, has an indigenous soul struggling to survive in an increasingly
hostile environment [...] Because of this, a modern person’s body has
become a battleground between the rationalist mind and the native soul.
As a shaman, I saw this as the cause of a great deal of spiritual and
physical illness.”[2]His view is rooted in the ancient belief that ‘ I
am in everything and everything is in me.’
Being myself of Dual Heritage during my childhood I have experienced
deeply painful attempts to split myself into either my
Jewish/German-European or my Sudanese-African heritage. In my search for
identity, belonging and wholeness I have come to an understanding, where
“otherness is not reduced but embraced as the greatest gift that anyone
can give you.”[3][3] This process has been one of ‘sweating’, to use
Malidoma P. Somé’s[4]words: “unless there has been sweat - people
sweating to get through the countless things that keeps them apart -
they are probably lying when they say we are all one. If you believe
that just by coming together to the same place you already awakened,
forget it. Because you are living in a culture with a very heavy history
behind it, and you are all stained by it, you have to start by looking
into that history realising where you are as a culture with respect to
it. The choice is to do the hard work to transcend your history - or to
just pretend that everything is fine in the way of naive
spirituality.”[5] Looking at my life, I recognise my calling as a bridge
between two worlds, consciously encouraging multi-cultural communities.
Within all my work it has therefore been very important to reach beyond
the stereotypes of “white middle class or black extremist’s”, creating a
project accessible to all layers of community.
Children: Embracing our past and
future
In my analysis of the excluded, but also in my personal experience as a
mother, I noticed that children are amongst those unwanted on the
majority of settings and even in retreat and spiritual communities,
currently on offer in the West. I suspect this mirrors the same
soul-wounding rejection many of us experience, when we enter this world
and are left alone, undervalued. Thomas Moore describes: “the child of
the soul, the archetypal child, as everything that is abandoned,
exposed, vulnerable, and yet divinely powerful. [...] Because the
presence of the soul child with its ignorance and clumsiness generates
such discomfort, it is tempting to deny the child or try to cover it up
or force it to disappear [...] it is a defence against the humiliating
reality of the child, a humility that embarrasses the promethean longing
for adult control of life but nonetheless is full of soul. [...] If we
would come to appreciate the archetypal child whom we feel within
ourselves, we might have a more open and appreciative relationship to
actual children.”[6] Malidoma tells us that in the Dagara culture no
celebration, no ritual is to be performed without the presence of
children. No doubt the wisdom of children in the realm of the psyche is
invaluable and it can be said that: “Any move against the archetypal
child is a move against soul, because the child is a face of the soul,
and whatever aspect of the soul we neglect, becomes a source of
suffering.”[7] These reflections led me into initiating celebrations
that wholeheartedly welcomes the presence of children. I am currently
co-ordinating a project for children and adolescents in residential
care, many of whom are excluded from mainstream education. I experience
daily that “...if you actually take time to talk and listen to young
people, it’s amazing how the conversation can get real, and how you can
get at the underlying emotion, which is often desperation, isolation,
loneliness, [anger, rage,] fear of the future, distrust of authority
structures and today’s educational system, and a massive anxiety about
what they’re actually going to do to improve their lives.”[8]
Families: Nesting ground of the soul
Whether one has or hasn’t faced the challenges of parenting, “nothing is
more suitable for care of the soul than family”[9] and communities.
Current relationship problems may re-activate memories of past repressed
and non-repressed events. Transferential and actual feelings may emerge
and intermingle and some may experience the urge to step back from what
will undoubtedly be a ground for challenges, but my goal in the creation
of community building has never been harmony for harmony’s sake. “To
some extent all families are dysfunctional. No family is perfect, and
most have serious problems. A family is a microcosm, reflecting the
nature of the world, which runs on both virtue and evil. [...] Soul
enters from below, through the cracks, finding an opening into life at
the points where smooth functioning breaks down. Encountering the family
from the view point of the soul means accepting its shadows and its
failure to meet our idealistic expectations.“[10] Working with the
dysfunctions of family and community in a wider sense, will lead us
undoubtedly into a deep reflection of soul events. Families are “the
nest in which soul is born, nurtured, and released into life.”
Soul: A sister of love
Celebrations, Art, Ritual, Myth and Story, Sand play and Dreams are
mediums of singing the song of soul. They all connect to the
non-rational world of imagery, opening windows to the soul. The “Place
of [the] soul [is] a world of imagination, passion, fantasy, reflection,
that is neither physical and material on the one hand, nor spiritual and
abstract on the other, yet bond to them both.”[11] Soul may be described
as a databank containing records of life experiences and vehicles of
individuated spirit. James Hillmann, founder and leading voice of
archetypal psychology reminds us that “we still catch our soul’s most
essential nature in death experiences [initiations], in dreams and in
the images of intimacy”[12]. Images are often seen as a direct
expression and food for the soul. Carl Gustav Jung, described as
archetypal psychology’s most direct ancestor, took it as far as saying:
“Psyche is image”[13]. Psukhè/psych is the Greek word of soul and the
ology or logos of the word Psychology relates to ‘a knowing, telling of
the soul’. “Although an image is only an image, all images also carry
archetypal value”[14] and are therefore “universal, trans-historical,
basically profound, generative, highly intentional, and necessary.”[15]
Our involvement with ritual, sand play, story telling, divination,
prayer and worship – (whichever faith or religion we embrace) is all
based on archetypal symbols: we are taking images within and define and
refine those archetypes as they play out in our lives. This process is
in psychotherapy referred to as “individuation” – a process of becoming
whole. Within each human being, all archetypal qualities are present and
to find wholeness we aim to create a healthy and balanced relationship
with these archetypal energies.
Connecting to the “Song of Soul’ also means connecting to an energy that
re-members our life purpose. Traditionally it is the role of the shaman,
the healer, the priest and more recently the counsellor or community
builder to help find and retrieve soul, as without it’s presence we
loose our life force, fall ill and eventually die.
There are many different myths, stories and symbols that relate to the
soul. “To the Bakongo[16] it is a shining circle, a miniature of the
sun. Hence they mark the sun’s four moments-dawn, noon, sunset, and
midnight, when it’s shining in the other world, by small circles at the
end of each arm of the cross, mirroring the immortal progress of the
soul: birth, full strength, fading, renaissance. The four corners of a
diamond tell the same sequence.[…] The spiral is [yet] another symbol
for the souls endless journey[…].”[17] The Celts believed that the soul
resides in the head and inn the Celtic spiritual tradition ‘Anam” is the
Gaelic word for soul. Irish poet and visionary John O´Donohue describes
the soul as the house of belonging and he adds that “Love is the deepest
language and presence of soul.[18][...] The soul needs love as urgently
as the body needs air. In the warmth of love, the soul can be
itself.[...] Fear changes into courage, emptiness becomes plenitude and
distance becomes intimacy.”[19] The notion of therapy as a space for the
meeting and love between two souls seems relevant here. The butterfly
and its stages of metamorphosis and transformation has also often been
associated as a symbol for the soul.
Symbols and Images: Language of the soul
Celebration & Ritual in particular invests action with symbolism and
Malidoma P. Somé describes “Symbols [as] the doorway to ritual.”[20] It
is also interesting to note, that in many languages spoken in West
Africa the words for ‘symbol’ can be translated to “that which free’s,
brings freedom” [21]. Images can be understood as messengers from “the
gods[22]”. Symbols are seen as a connection between the visible and the
invisible reality, an interplay of the material and physical with the
psychic components. “[…T]he psyche recognises symbols wherever they are
and reacts to them at all times”, in fact as Malidoma relates to us, the
human psyche requires symbols to maintain its focus and meaning in life
and not get depressed.[23] Though symbolic images, the language used by
our psyche, may not be fully understood by the intellect, for their
meaning is vast, we can experience and know its beauty, suffering and
healing qualities. As Carl Rogers said: “insight cannot be gained from
being talked to; it is an experience which the client achieves.”[24]
Emphasis here lies in the immediacy of the lived experience itself
rather than merely as an expressions or as potentials for experience. As
Jung said: “An emotional disturbance can also be dealt with in another
way, not by clarifying it intellectually but by giving it visible
shape.”[25]
Cultural diversity and universal unity stand hand in hand when one
examines symbols closely. The pig with it’s many piglets’ stands as a
Celtic symbol of fertility and survival in the climate of harsh winters
that our ancestors on this side of the globe needed to face. We also
find the concept of fertility in African symbolism, however the pig
brings up the association of disease, as pig meat and the intense
African heat does not go hand in hand. Here cowry shells and female
figures with moon-like faces are examples for symbolising fertility.
Celebrations & Rituals: Powerful tool for transformation in the
healing of soul
The Psyche does not differentiate between a symbolic act and a real one
and that is why Celebrations and Rituals has such powerful effects.
Celebrations and Ritual are defined in this context as a meaningful,
structured activity, a dramatic enactment of myth that allows
individuals space, time and support to recognise, respond to and absorb
a significant change. Ritual is also designed to make a sufficient deep
impression on the individual to reach his unconscious and repetition is
often used provoking the intensity of feelings.
Most indigenous rituals & celebrations are based on nature, the seasons,
animals and elements. We are required to enter into the spirit of what
we see, thus achieving inner knowledge, developing a sense of awe and
reverence for that which is greater than us. During Ritual & Celebration
we are surrendering to what Jung termed a “conscious submission to the
impulses of the unconscious” [26]. May we bring the “willingness to
follow here where soul leads, and a heart mindful that, as Heraclitus
said long ago: You could not discover the limits of the psyche, even if
you travelled every road to do so; such is the depth of its
meaning.”[27] Ritual & Celebration becomes a healing process addressing
psychic disturbances or injuries from before birth to early childhood
thus it becomes the tool that may lead a person back into the deep
layers of their early childhood psyche.
Unlike “…Therapies [which] are supposed to come to an end, these
ceremonies and rituals have no end… every intact indigenous culture that
we look at has, at its root, a series of ceremonies and rituals whereby
the human community acknowledges and nourishes its interconnectedness
with the land and the rest of the Earth community… it would seem that we
“moderns” in our arrogance, relegate these things to the realm of mumbo
jumbo or “ empty” rituals and, in our enlightenment, proceed to
dismember the Earth.”[28]
Indeed within African, Celtic and many other indigenous spiritual
traditions Ritual and Mythology are integrated into every day life and
can be viewed as the scientific experiments of ancient people.
Celebration marks transformational processes, transition and crisis in
life, such as birth, puberty, marriage and death. Such ceremonies
certainly are the one sacred and active practice of integrating,
organising and relating information and new realities into a
mythological reality that all religions, cultures and organisations have
in common. Such Celebrations can be defined as sets of actions that
translate a myth into a dynamic reality which bring forth the archetypes
or bits of universal truth from the unconscious mind and making them
conscious. This facilitates personal integration and affects a psychic
balance or renewal. I once read the beautiful saying: “May the
definition of human souls be: ´one who performs rituals´. “
Body: a gift of spirit to the soul
Concrete and tangible symbolism in the multi-dimensional pictures
support Ritual, Sand play, Dream and the Art of story telling as
accessible and holistic mediums to both children and adults, involving
the interaction, interplay and mutual influence of body, soul and
spirit. Actively engaging and honouring the body as a gift from spirit
to the soul, the journey from body awareness to awareness of the soul is
one that requires transformation of consciousness. Our tongue and mouth
may have learned how to lie to others, and ourselves but the body never
lies. Body symptoms can be seen as messages, as it is often through the
body and it’s truth that we find our way to the healing of soul.
Nature: mirror of the soul and text book for healing
Our bodies are also a living part of ‘The Great Mother Earth’ and our
task is to relate and feel through our body to the body of the earth.
The ancient and alchemical principle: ‘so below as above. So within as
without.’ reminds us of our interconnectedness with the whole of the
universe. “Nature is like a canvas, a painting of countless options and
possibilities. It is the total of all the interwoven connections”[29].
Nature is a tool for healing, which takes place subtly, slow and
gradually. We need practice in solitude, silence and respect in the
process of reconnection with the natural world. The night world, the
realm of the dead and the moon with its phases and feminine connotations
are important associations in the search for soul healing, thus we will
enter this realm within ritual space in the duration of the Song of Soul
project. Nature-centred activities are also at the basis of
Eco-psychology, founded by Michael Cohen, which are based on the belief
that personal, social and environmental problems are a result of
disconnectedness of self and nature. Jung himself wrote:
“There are no longer voices from stones, plants and animals that speak
to humans, and […humans do…] not speak to them in the belief, to be
understood. […] Contact with nature is lost and with it the strong
emotional energy, which relates to this symbolic connection.” [30]
Counteracting this loss experienced by so many in this modern world,
central to the theory of Eco psychotherapy is the concept of US, fabric
of the community’s ability to relate and grow harmoniously through
nature. It is interesting to note that the Greek word oikos means home,
thus Eco-psychology is about being at home with the earth.
There are other links to modern therapies, such as the experiences
described by Dr. Pfleiderer “whilst being trained to become a
holotropic[31] breath worker under the guidance of Stanislaf Grof [one
of the founders of Transpersonal Psychology and referred to as the great
shaman of the west] my classmates and I often experienced the
consciousness of Earth, mountains, plants, and other sentient beings
like the two- and four legged ones as a tangible reality.”[32]
The ancient Element model is often used within the practice of
psychotherapy as a way to relate to energy centres, chakra’s within a
person’s body, but also to categorise people into different types
according to their qualities. The models vary slightly throughout
different cultures and during the Song of Soul course we will follow the
medicine wheel of the Dagara[33].
Here Earth is at the centre and touches all of the other elements. Water
is in the north, opposite fire, which is placed in the south. Mineral is
seen as the 4th element and can be found west and Nature, the 5th
element is in the east.
Speaking in elemental terms soul has been described as water to spirit’s
fire.
The process of transformation in nature, mirrored in both physical
evolution and psychological interpretation are also observed and
described in alchemy. The process of Song of Soul can also be looked at
from the perspective of the alchemical stages[34]: Calcinatio (Fire),
Solutio (Water), Coagulatio (Earth), Sublimatio (Air), Mortificatio,
Seperatio and Coniunctio.
Myths and Story: Ancient Medicine for the soul
Eagerly awaited by the small and big children, one of our daily evening
rituals are the sharing of stories, which are like the sharing of soul
vitamins. No, writing down is not enough; the actual telling is what
gives life in the physical realm. “As we enter a story, we are invited
to join that which in the story is the closest extension of who we are
and the process we are involved with.” When told from the heart each
listener will take exactly the meaning, learning and perspective he or
she needs. Clarissa Pinkola Estees describes the therapeutic and
cultural art of story telling as a medicine for the soul: “They have
such power; they do not require that we do, be, act anything – we need
only listen. The remedies for repair or reclamation of any lost psychic
drive are contained in stories. Stories engender the excitement,
sadness, questions, longings, and understandings that spontaneously
bring the archetype […] back to the surface.”[35] Each myths stands as
one representation of an underlying archetype, thus myths can be seen as
an extended symbolism.
It is important to value the links between our Ancient-story: ance-st’ry,
as through myths and story we can re-claim many insights into who we are
genetically and spiritually. As “modern story tellers [we] are the
descendents of an immense and ancient community of holy people,
troubadours, bards, griots, cantadoras, cantors, travelling poets,
[trance-tellers], bums, hags and crazy people.”
Our tales of healing invite a cleansing for the soul, that relates to
alchemical process. Stories defy control of the human intellect and
represent chaos, paradox, order, mystery and complexity. Stories act as
containers, elements, process and triggers of transformation. Stories
consist of words. In most African languages word is connected to change,
visibility, power, creation, materialising and catching. This
interconnectedness is represented in the symbol of the Word or the first
Cause, [36] which is shown here:
It is important to recognise the power of Words. They can wound, heal,
kill, soothe and trigger any number of things. Wrong words can get you
fired or can make or destroy a relationship. The right words can elevate
an inner intention through the power of prayers and invocations. In the
cosmology of the Dagara story telling is linked to the element mineral
and bones in particularly are symbols as memory carriers. In Celtic
mythology the tree with its encoded rings is an equally powerful symbol
for memory. “The Celtic stories suggest that time as the rhythm of soul
has an eternal dimension where everything is hathered and minded. Here
nothing is lost.”[37] Placing the soul in the centre of attention it
seems important to briefly re-tell one of the most famous stories of
Greek Mythology, that of the god Cupid and the young woman Psyche. She
was so beautiful that her parents compared her even with Venus. As a
punishment for their arrogance, Venus arranged for her son Cupid to
prick Psyche with one of his arrows, so that she may fall in love with a
monster. However by mistake he pricked himself and fell deeply in love
with Psyche. They married each other and Psyche was given a beautiful
palace, but was not allowed to ever see Cupid. At night he would lay
beside her and by day he would be invisible to her. During one of
Psyche’s sister’s visits they led her into mistrusting this arrangement.
One night she shone a lamp on Cupid and was amazed at his beauty,
however he awoke with rage and left Psyche. From then she wandered
searching for her Beloved, suffering greatly until Venus gave her a
chance of proving herself worthy of Cupid. Among her tests was to fetch
a jar that contained the sleep of death. Once again Psyche could not
withstand her curiosity and so she dies. Cupid appealed to Jupiter and
eventually Psyche became immortal and the couple was reunited.
Song: A bridge to travel beyond
Australian aborigines and many indigenous traditions believe that the
music of the heavens is what rules the entire universe. They used song
lines as energetic roadmaps. Thomas Moore also reminds us that “the
music of the soul may be altogether silent - no violins, no singing, no
audible vibrations. The movement of the soul, its various elemental
factors, its scales and turning, melodies and harmonies - these make a
music which is re-presented in performed and recorded music, but in
itself is ‘audible’ only to an ‘inner ear’ that is tuned to the
fundamentals and overtones of the soul.”
Healing Songs add deep emotions; melody, rhythm and life to the
poetry-ritual invocations and prayer and in the context of the sacred
become a medium for affecting reality. Singing the song of soul means
breaking the silence, giving our healing journey voice. Singing from a
deep place within also means tapping into our own soul with no concerns
for “how it sounds”, weather the song is a salve, a celebration, a
lamentation or a bridge to other worlds. “At that moment when the shaman
song emerges, when the sacred breath rises up from the depth of the
heart, the centre is found, and the source of all that is divine has
been tapped.”[38]
Malidoma explains that rhythmic songs “must be intoned by someone and
taken up by the entire village. Drums must support the song. Rhythm and
chant are two sustaining ingredients in community rituals. Together they
constitute the umbrella overarching the community engaged in its healing
journey.”[39]
“For there to be a world at all, every indigenous, original, natural
thing must start singing its song, dancing its dance, moving and
breathing, each according to its own nature [...] Every Gypsy must be
singing her ancient tune, every Bushman, Croat, Arab, Jew, Chuchee,
Hmong, Papuan, Celt, Yoruba, Saxon, Cree, Guarani, Sami, Inuit, Kazaki,
Tahitian, Balinese, Han, Ainu, Jaguar, Honey creeper, anteater, Shrike,
Beetle Butterfly, Oak, Birch, Ceiba, Baobab, Dog, Mosquito, Shark,
Coral, Lightning, Tornado, Mist, Mountain, Deer, Desert, and so on
forever, each must be making its magic sound.”[40]
Sand Play: Sacred garden of the soul
Ever since I placed a sand tray in my “counselling room”, my
six-year-old son first request on his return from school is: Can I play
with the sand? There are few preconceived ideas of the art of sand play,
so he feels free to create and visualise a world that is sacred to him.
He loves being engaged for our hours, building tunnels through mountains
and placing treasures and shells into the depth of his oceans. Volcanoes
and Dragons may spit fire. Heroes and Princesses are fighting fierce
battles, and eventually the goodies win over the baddies. His patience
and imagination seems unlimited and I can see why Sand pictures, have
been called “the garden of ones soul”[41]. In my psychotherapy practice
I have come to witness, how not only children but also adults enjoy sand
play as a means to soul expression.
The “use of sand itself […] has a long history. Many Native Americans,
especially the Navaho and the Hopi in the Southwest, and the Dieaueño
and Luiseño in Southern California, made extensive use of sand paintings
in their healing and initiation ceremonies. Tibetan Buddhists create
mandala’s out of colorful sand and the Tantrics pour offerings over the
Shiva Ling made of sand. Throughout history sand has been used for the
cleansing and creation of sacred space. Relating to the element of
earth, Sand and Psyche have much in common, both are flowing and moving
in search for form.
Sandplay relates to the intuitive and bodily rather than the logic and
rational and incorporates the act of visioning, which allows us to
consciously peer into the psyche, using symbolic images in the sand
forms and those of little toy figures. Contained by the boundary of the
tray, it is a safe way of engaging into interactive, creative and sacred
play and although not necessary gives ample opportunity for reflections.
Margaret Loewenfeld, in the western world perceived to be the founder of
sand play therapy, recognised symbolic elements, which enter into the
sandplay scene spontaneously as an indication of engagement with the
unconscious.[42] Dora Kalff, a colleague of Loewenfeld’s time, found
that “working at the sand tray initiates a psychic process which is
holistic and can lead to healing and the development of the
personality.”[43] We can certainly think of the sand tray as an
alchemical vessel, in which the transformation of psychic substance
occurs.
Dreams: mythology of the soul
Another ritual that my family and I value in our daily life is the
sharing of our dreams. I consider Dreams as an opportunity for awakening
as they too never lie. The sharing of dreams involves a process of
communication from one person’s unconscious to the other person’s
unconscious, where the manifold ways of interpretation become secondary.
Dreams can also be seen as a way to divine the “soul desires”, which
when unfulfilled lead to physical and mental illness. Shamans have for
centuries read the symbols and during rituals re-enacted dreams with
practical modifications.
In Dagara cosmology understanding and translating dream imagery is
connected to ancestral and fire culture. It is important to invite
dreams as they can lead us into new points of view. To never stop
listening, exploring and following ones intuition can provide insights
without the need to jump into the rationality of dream-interpretation.
“The images, dreams and experiences that are important to us will always
have a multitude of possible readings and interpretation, because they
are rich with imagination and soul.”[44]
©Amal Abbass-Saal 2002
[1] F. Edinger: Anatomy of the Psyche, pg.2
[2]M. Prechtel: Secrets of the talking jaguar, pg. 281
[3]http://www.carlmccolman.com/odonohue.htm, pg.4
[4]Malidoma P. Somé is a famous African Shaman and respected Elder. He
has been described by James Hillman as “…one of my teachers. He knows!”
[5]http://www.motherjones.com/mother_jones/MA95/miller.html, pg. 3
[6]Thomas Moore: Care of the Soul, pg. 49-54
[7]Thomas Moore: Care of the Soul, pg. 53
[8]John O´Donohue in http://www.carlmccolman.com/odonohue.htm, pg.3
[9]Thomas Moore: Care of the Soul, pg. 25
[10]Thomas Moore: Care of the Soul, pg. 26
[11]James Hillmann, A Blue Fire, pg.212
[12]James Hillmann, A Blue fire, pg.
[13]C.G. Jung, Collected Works, pg. 889
[14]Benjamin Sells: Working with images, pg. 6
[15]Archetypal Psychology, pg. 13
[16]
[17]Robert Farris Thompson: “Face of the Gods”, og.27
[18]John O Donohue: Anam Cara, Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World,
pg. 33
[19]John O Donohue: Anam Cara, Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World,
pg. 33
[20]Malidoma P. Somé: The Healing Wisdom of Africa, pg. 146
[21]Clémentine Faik-Nzuji: Die Macht des Sakralen, pg.
[22]Can be viewed as energies contacted in numerous states of
consciousness
[23]Malidoma P. Somé: The Healing Wisdom of Africa, pg. 148
[24]Carl Rogers: Counseling and Psychotherapy, pg. 179
[25]Jung: Vol.8, CW, pg.82-83
[26]Jung: Memories, Dreams, Reflections, pg. 173ff
[27]Phillip Wheelwright, Heraclitus, pg.58 in Benjamin Sells: Working
with images, pg. 8
[28]John Seed: Thinking like a mountain
[29]Malidoma P. Somé: The Healing Wisdom of Africa, pg.
[30]Jung: Symbols and Dream interpretation, 1998, pg. 106
[31]Expanding states of consciousness induced by holotropic breathing or
hyperventilating to specific music while laying on a mat
[32]Dr. Pfleiderer: Soils and Souls, pg. 15
[33]Burkina Faso, West Africa
[34]These stages may well overlap.
[35]Clarissa Pincola Estés: Women Who Run With The Wolves, pg. 15/16
[36]Clémentine Faik-Nzuji: Die Macht des Sakralen
[37]John O Donohue: Anam Cara, Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World,
pg. 219/220
[38]From Joan Halifax Shamanic Voices
[39]Malidoma P. Somé: The Healing Wisdom of Africa, pg. 225
[40]M. Prechtel: Secrets of the talking jaguar, pg. 283
[41]Ruth Ammamm, pg.21
[42]Margaret Loewenfeld, The World Technique, pg 35
[43]Dora M. Kalff: Sand play
[44]Thomas Moore: Care of the Soul, pg. 296
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