“Searching for meaning connects us to the soul and the spirit, resulting in a life that is more open, more joyful and closer to the true self. By connecting with arts and creative expression on a profound level, we are able to more fully explore and understand our life experiences, wounds and strengths.”
— Kate T. Donohue
(image © Helen Hardin Estate)
Helen Hardin, a southwest artist created her own imagistic mythology. She called these images her feminine trinity: Changing Woman, Medicine Woman and Listening Woman. They combine universal themes and Tewa spiritual legends. These images emerged from her investigation of the Motherline: the unconscious feminine legacy of one’s family: personally, culturally, creatively and spiritually. Stories from the Motherline are pivotal in the individuation process. Using the life and transcendent images of bi-cultural Southwest artist Helen Hardin, we will explore first her Motherline individuation process by delving into the personal, maternal, cultural and spiritual paradoxes that molded her experience and exploring the dynamic of bridging these paradoxes, the transcendent function. By contrasting her early childhood development to her adult behavior, we see the compensatory function at work. Through her images, we see how she formed a relationship with her shadow, her animus and to the sacred. Her individuation process through the Motherline lead her to numinous experiences and to the sacred feminine.
By using expressive arts therapy process, participants will delve into their own richly layered and complex Motherline journey of individuation. Using poetry, visual arts and movement, each participant will have the opportunity to explore bi-cultural issues, the dualities and injuries in his/her family, shadow relationships within the family’s feminine line, spiritual wounds and the complex interactions one has with the world as an artist. They will also have the opportunity to explore their compensations for these injuries in their adult lives as well as to explore the passions that have difficulty being expressed in their outer lives. Participants will also learn how to bring these processes into their clinical work.
Through the sharing of the images created during this workshop, participants will find their own personal relationship with the sacred feminine and the universal themes of the mother-line that emerge through those images. In closing, we will come together to create useful processes to keep the relationship to the feminine alive in our lives and into the lives of those with whom we work.
Learning Objectives
In this workshop, participants will learn about:
- the Jungian concept of the individuation process, the process of becoming whole and its application to their clinical practice.
- the Jungian concept of the mother-line, the feminine unconscious legacy to the family and its application to clinical practice.
- learn about Tewa themes of spirituality and the application the spiritual beliefs in their client’s individuation process.
- the transcendent journey of a creative personality through the mother-line, and apply this understanding to therapeutic processes.
- how to use expressive arts therapy processes by creating images of mother-line, exploring one’s experiences of paradox, precision and passion.
- the relationship between the individuation process, expressive arts therapy and the Sacred Feminine.
- the use of expressive arts therapy group process through the sharing of poetic, visual and kinesthetic images the collective, universal images of the mother-line.
