Introduction: This page. Getting started and general information.
Containing the creative space: The container and the unfolding process are inseparable. A fetus cannot be without a womb. Exploring the creative space as demonstrated by a Native American story.
Restoring inner balance: Jung’s concept of the Transcendent Function. Why and how inner equilibrium is restored through creative inner work as demonstrated by an ancient Chinese tale.
Finding meaning: making the content conscious by relating to the image, demonstrated by Ovid’s Pygmalion.
“The psyche consists essentially of images; it is a series of images in the truest sense.” Jung, CW8:618
Image credits top to bottom:
Heather Hansen, YouTube
Neck Chand, India
Basquiat exhibition
“Often the hands know how to solve a riddle with which the intellect has wrestled in vain. By shaping it, one goes on dreaming the dream in greater detail in the waking state.” Jung, CW8:180
How to get started? Take stock first. Where are you in yourself? What brought you to this space today? How do you experience yourself right now? Write this down. To get over your initial hesitation it might help to start handling the material and soundboard as you go: what feels right? After completion, it is helpful to write down how your work unfolded: a simple description of what you did first, what came next.
We start with what we have: a feeling or an idea, an image, a fantasy, or dream fragment. Stay with it and allow it to unfold, be curious about it. Stray thoughts may drift past as you work; a memory, a dream, a story? These are important when you return to find meaning. One projects, interacts, is influenced.
“Sometimes an image or idea appears first in the mind’s eye, but it may or may not want to come out. More often than not, images arise in a completely spontaneous way as we work with an expressive medium.” Joan Chodorow
If it feels as if you have nothing, then you may start with that, with the feeling of nothing; stay with it, be curious about it. What does nothing look like? Give it a shape. Nothing is the seed of it all, like the void, or the space between the stars.
We tend to value the mind above our natural instinctive wisdom, and we often struggle with the cultural over-emphasis on training. Sometimes we say we must take lessons; we must learn from another. Of course, this can be an important beneficial process. However, when we start to look for guidance outside, we often stop listening to our inner voices.
References
Chodorow, Joan. (1997) Encountering Jung: Jung on Active Imagination. Princeton, USA: Princeton University Press. P. 5 – 17; 43 – 60; 73 – 76; 91 – 96; 146 – 153
Hannah, Barbarah. (2000) The Inner Journey. Toronto, Canada: Inner City Books. P. 34 – 45
Kalsched, Donald. (1996) The Inner World of Trauma. London, UK: Routledge. P. 197 – 200
Jacobi, J. (1971) Complex, Archetype, Symbol. Princeton, USA: Princeton University Press. P. 74 – 88; 94 – 103
Jung, CG. (1969) Memories, Dreams, Reflections. New York, USA. Random House Inc. P. 340
In Alchemy, the vas is the container as well as the unfolding process. Likewise, without the containing therapeutic relationship, there can be no psychotherapy. This is also true of the creative process: the container and the process is inseparable.
Image credits top to bottom:
Cg’ose Ntcox’o, San Art, Kalkbay Modern, Capetown, SA
Frans Claerhout, Mother and child, Mutual Art, SA
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