Wilna van der Walt Psychology Practice

Dr Wilna van der Walt Psychotherapy Practice

MB ChB (UFS) Pr nr 0681652

Address: Muizenberg, South Africa

Wilna van der Walt is a registered medical doctor; she practices in the field of psychotherapy, and has a special interest in creative work.

Her experience as medical doctor and caring for terminally ill patients increased her conviction that the unity of psyche and body is often neglected in sickness and in health.

On her personal journey, she encountered the creative process in the 1990’s as a living organic process. Jungian psychology confirmed her experience of the potentially transformative power of the creative process and continues to inform her current work.

Her creative experimentation of 25 years was published in book-form in 2016.

The Role of Creativity

Jung, in The Aims of Psychotherapy: “A patient needs only to have seen once or twice how much he is freed from a wretched state of mind by working at a symbolical picture …” Read more

Getting started: Individual Creative Facilitation

We all have a living creative flame that inform our lives; yet there are different reasons why we often find it difficult to get our own personal creative conversation with our inner selves going. … Read more

Online Creative Cafe

The sole purpose of this space is to facilitate a contained shared milieu suitable to creative inner work. Simple introductory guidance will be given initially … Read more

Creativity and the Inner Other Online

In this workshop the focus will be on the theoretical background to the creative process, as found in medicinal stories from around the world … Read more

Program, Creativity and the Inner Other June 2020

The Creative Space: The symbolical creative space as an important containing space will be explored, as found in a Native American story, as well as the unfolding of content within this space, and how this can be meaningful… Read more

The Swiss psychiatrist, CG Jung (1875 – 1961), was the founder of analytical psychology and is known for his exploration and description of processes of the unconscious and archetypal phenomena.

Jung found that the unconscious spoke to us in our dreams by way of symbols. Convinced that dreams offer practical advice, sent from the unconscious to the conscious self, he found that improved self-understanding would lead to a fuller and more productive life. (Blurp from Man and His Symbols)

In CG Jung speaking: Interviews and Encounters, edited by William McGuire and RFC Hull, Jung says:

Together the patient and I address ourselves to the 2,000,000 year old man that is in all of us. In the last analysis, most of our difficulties come from losing contact with our instincts, with the age-old forgotten wisdom stored up in us.

The posts below were written for a social media platform and reposted. Aspects of symbols and processes are explored. It is meant to stimulate one’s thoughts and should not be seen as a comprehensive exploration of any particular symbol.

NEXT POST: 29 MAY 2020.

Fire-bird

The phoenix or fire-bird, is a mythical bird the size of an eagle and graced with certain features of a pheasant. When it sees that its death is drawing near, it builds itself a nest… Read more

Bearing

In a fantasy fragment a man sees a grizzly prowling around his city home. The bear can be seen as the spirit of the wild. Because it cares for its young in almost human fashion, the bear was a much loved symbol of the Great Mother as the Self… Read more

Indra’s Net

I have a dream | A song to sing… When we were young, we had dreams, and perhaps unrealistic ideas about how to fulfil our dreams. Whether we have learned to live our dreams… Read more

Moon Mother Mirror

An artist dreamed of a magic mirror that creates his life. “Ego consciousness is a mirror into which the Self gazes…” and “…the ego is a reflection of the Self.” (Schwartz-Salant, 1982, p. 46.) To be mirrored… Read more

Trickster Creates

A retired actor dreamed that his child was unable to play. A traumatized child cannot play. A playful approach to life’s difficulties allows one to play around with possibilities in difficult times, to adapt. All forms of creative activity … Read more

Mysteries

A man dreamed of finding an intricate old key. The key is associated with the mystery in the cave, the divine birth. (CW 18 par 266) The Eleusinian Mysteries developed from the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone … Read more

Stone

A woman dreamed of a precious stone, buried in her garden. A precious stone is a symbol of the lapis lazuli, the self. In modern culture, diamonds are often associated with making a commitment in a long-term relationship, felt to signify the rock on which it is built. Read more

Serpent

Buffie Johnson says: “The serpent serves as metaphor for the impenetrable manner in which our lives change, twist and renew themselves.” (The Lady of the Beasts, p. 128) Read more

Water

“Here falls the heavenly dew, to love the soiled black body in the grave.” (R.Ramsden, quoting Edinger, Alchemy Seminar, 2012)

The sacred alchemical marriage can only be fulfilled … Read more

Tree

The tree represents the manifestation of the life-force, of our ability to grow into greater maturity; when faced with an impossible life situation, one should not try to force anything, but ‘stay in one place and grow, like a tree.’ (Jung, Dream Seminars, 1929) Read more

Creativity and the Inner Other

Saturday 20 June 2020: 9.00 – 15.00

An Online Workshop on Symbolical Creative Work

Creative inner work can be a valuable tool in therapy. In this workshop the focus will be on the theoretical background to the creative process, as found in medicinal stories from around the world.

We will explore the principle of the creative space as a containing liminal space, its unfolding content and how it may be meaningful. The natural tendency of the unconscious to restore equilibrium in creative work will be discussed. In the work of David Blum, conductor and musical writer from New York, we will trace the development and integration of motifs spanning 35 years of his life. Finally, we explore how the ongoing relationship to the creative space may influence one to accept previously undervalued aspects of the personality.

Jung, in The Aims of Psychotherapy: “A patient needs only to have seen once or twice how much he is freed from a wretched state of mind by working at a symbolical picture, and he will always turn turn to this means of release whenever things go badly with him.” Chodorow, 1997, p. 93

View the program

The creative space is defined as a containing symbolical space. By learning to relate to this space and its unfolding content, it may become an inner object or transitional object, as described by Winnicott. Kalsched pointed out that Winnicott’s transitional object and Jung’s concept of the transcendent function of the psyche and its symbolizing capacity overlap in a meaningful way. (Kalsched, 1996, p. 197 – 200)

Online Creative Café: I am excited to invite you to this new shared creative space, replacing the practical aspect of the workshop. This space can be used by anyone. It is an open space independent from the theoretical aspect of the workshop.

The Creative Cafe will be hosted on the first Sunday morning of every month 9 – 10.30 am, as from 7 June 2020.

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Bookings

Cost of June 20^th Workshop: R1400 (not including the Online Creative Café)

Cost of Online Creative Café: R 300 per person per meeting

All welcome. Advanced bookings only.

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