“Death is psychologically as important as birth and like it, is an integral part of life”
– C.G. Jung cw 13 paragraph 68
Our soul cannot embrace life fully unless we acknowledge our death. Our first breath is our first step towards death, change and transformation. In “The Soul and Death”, Jung discussed the importance of exploring the existential issue of death. By confronting death. we can then celebrate life. We can know life best through images and symbols. By embracing the images that define our souls, we can have a fuller relationship with our lives. Our images and symbols provide access to the depths of our inner world and connect with the breadth of our archetypal potential.
Many cultures live closely to their symbolic lives and have rituals that help them integrate death and thus embrace life. In Ghana, Africa, the most revered ritual is the funeral. It is three days of drumming, dancing, and creating imagistic coffins to help the soul cross over and find its new path.
This workshop will weave together Kate’s cross-cultural experience in Ghana, her Jungian based expressive arts approach into a journey into the darkness discovering images of the psyche to celebrate life.
On Friday, night by first exploring the Ghanian funeral ritual through slides, video and discussion, participants will delve into the space in between our first and our last breath. Through discussion, we will begin to understand how confronting death can enhance life. Investigating cross-cultural practices, Jungian and Expressive Arts concepts and the power of images to reveal deeper levels of the psyche, the foundation will be created for the Saturday experiential workshop.
On Saturday, particpants will be invited to engage in Expressive Arts processes to discover seminal images that define their psyche. The psyche is revealed not only through words, but through images, symbols and the body. The Expressive Arts re-awaken the language of image, movement, sound, metaphor, drama and poetic utterances, revealing the deepest aspects of the self and expressing what often cannot be put into words. Drawing, paintings, sculpture, movement, dance, sandplay and rituals provide access to one’s inner world.
Using the life breath as the creative moment, we will explore the body and allow images to flow from breath and movement of the body. Each participant will create with these images, a sacred vessel that will house the symbols of the psyche. We will create the images that help define our essence. By embodying these images, we will create the rituals that will help celebrate our life and open the door to new beginnings personally, collectively and spiritually.
Through sharing these images created during the workshop, participants will find their personal relationship with these existential issues. In closing, we will share and create useful processes that bridge our images to our lives, both for our personal process, and for professional application.
Abstract:
“Death is psychologically as important as birth and like it, is an integral part of life”
– C.G. Jung cw 13 paragraph 68
Our soul can not embrace life fully unless we acknowledge our death. Our first breath is our first step towards death, change and transformation. In Ghana, Africa, the most revered ritual is the funeral. It is three days of drumming, dancing, and creating imagistic coffins to help the soul cross over and find its new path. By first exploring the Ghanian funeral ritual through slides, video and discussion, participants will delve into the space in between our first and our last breath through expressive arts processes. We will create the images that help define our essence. By embodying these images, we will create the rituals that will help celebrate our life and open the door to new beginnings personally, collectively and spiritually.
Learning Objectives:
In this workshop, Participants will learn:
1. Key Jungian concepts in confronting the existential issue of death
2. Expressive arts theory and application
3. Cross-cultural applications of a Jungian -based expressive arts approach
4. Cross-cultural approaches to dealing with death, and
5. Clinical applications of expressive arts process both for groups and individuals.
Biography:
Kate T. Donohue, Ph.D. is licensed psychologist, registered expressive arts therapist and founding core faculty member of the CIIS Expressive Arts Therapy Department. With her expressive arts compatriots, she helped create the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association and has co-created their professional standards and ethics code. Her thirty years life work in writing, teaching, consultation and private practice, Kate created a marriage between Jungian theory and expressive arts therapy. Her passion is exploring the sacred feminine in ethnic art and dance. In 2000, she traveled to Ghana to continue her study of West African dance in a small Ewe village. She will share some of her journey in this workshop.
Recommended Readings:
1.Yares, J (1999). Jung on Death and Immortality. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
2. Secretan, T. (1995). Going Into the Darkness. London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd.
3. Levine, E. & S. (Eds.) (1999) Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy.
Philadelphia, PA. Jessica Kingsley.
4. Lewis, P. (1993). Creative Transformation: The Healing Power of the Arts. Wilmette, Illinois: Chiron Press.
Suggested Readings
Applah, K.A. and Gates, H.L., Jr. (eds.) (1999). Africana: The Encyclopedia of African and African-American Experience. New York: Basic Civitas Books.
Azindow, Y. (1999). Philosophical Reflections of Adinkra Symbols. Accra, Ghana: Norcento Press.
Byrnuim, E.B. (1990). The African Unconscious: Roots of Ancient Mysticism and Modern Psychology. New York: Teacher’s College Press.
Chodorow, Joan. (1991). Dance therapy and depth psychology: The moving
imagination. New York: Routledge.
_________. (Ed.). (1997). Jung on active imagination. Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press.
Cooper, J.C. (1978). An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols. London: Thames and Hudson.
de Vries, A. (1984). Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery. New York: Elsevier Science Publishers.
Donohue, K.T. (2001). “A transcendent journey through the motherline: a voyage with Helen Hardin, southwest artist”. The Arts In Psychotherapy 28 (2001) 19-30.
Elder, G.R. (ed) (1996). The Body: An Encyclopedia of Archetypal Symbolism. Boston: Shambala Press.
Fletcher, J. (2002). The Egyptian Book of Living and Dying. London: Duncan Baird Publishing.
Gadon, E.W. (1989). The Once and Future Goddess. New York: Harper and Row.
Hersch, E.D.; Kett, J.F.; Trefel, J. (1993). The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
Holden, M. (2002). “Godfather Death “ in Parabola: Dying, Vol. 27 #2
Johnson, D. H. & I. J. Grand (Eds.), The Body in Psychotherapy. North
Atlantic Books and The California Institute of Integral Studies.
Jung, C.G. (1965). Memories, Dreams & Reflections with Anieta Jaffer. New York: Vintage Book.
Jung, C.G. (1956). The Collected Works of C.G. Jung: Symbols of Transformation, Vol. 5. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Jung, C.G. (1956). The Collected Works of C.G. Jung: The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, Vol. 9. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Jung, C.G. (1954) The Psychology of Transference (translated by R.F.C. Hull) Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Knill, P.J., Barba, H.N. and Fuchs, M. N. (1995) Minstrels of Soul: Intermodal Expressive Arts Therapy. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Palmerston Press.
Levine, E. & S. (eds.), (1999) Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy. Philadelphia, PA. Jessica Kingsley.
Lusebrink, V.B. (1990) Imagery and Visual Expression in Therapy. New York: Plenum Press.
McNiff, S. (1992). Art As Medicine. Boston: Shambhala Press.
McNiff, S, (1987). The Arts and Psychotherapy. Springfield, Illinois: Charles, C. Thomas.
Metcalf, P. & Huntington, R. (1991). Celebrations of Death: the Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Monaghan, P. (1998). The New Book of the Goddesses and Heroines. St. Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn Press.
Moon, B. (ed) (1991). An Encyclopedia of Archetypal Symbolism. Boston: Shambala Press.
Nukunya, G.K. (1992) Tradition and Change in Ghana. Accra, Ghana: Ghana University Press.
Pallaro, Patrizia. (Ed.), (1999). Authentic movement: Essays by Mary
Starks Whitehouse, Janet Adler, and Joan Chodorow. London: Jessica Kingsley
Publishers.
Robbins. A. (1994). A Multi-Modal Approach to Creative Art Therapy. Bristol, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Robbins, A. (ed.) (1998). Therapeutic Presence: Bridging Expression and Form. Philadelphia, PA. Jessica Kingsley Press.
Sambhava, P. (1994). The Tibetan Book of the Dead (translated by Robert Thurman). New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell.
Sloan, C. (2002). Bury the Dead: Tombs, Corpses, Mummies, Skeletons & Rituals. Washington D.C.:National Geographic Society.
Some, M.P. (1998). The Healing Wisdom of Africa: Finding Life Purpose Through Nature, Ritual and Community. New York: Jeremy P. Tarchen/Putnam.
Stein, M. (1995). Jungian Analysis. London: Open Court (second edition).
Stein, M. (1998). Transformations: Emergence of the Self. College Station, Texas: Texas A & M University Press.
Stewart, I.J. (2000) Sacred Woman, Sacred Dance. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International.
Stone, M. (1979). Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood: A Treasury of Goddess and Heroine Lore from Around the World. Boston: Beacon Press.
Thompson, R. F. (1983). Flesh of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy. New York: Vintage Books.
Walker, B.G. (1988). The Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects. New York: Harper and Row.
Walker, B.G. (1983). The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. New York: Harper and Row.
Wilkinson, P. (1998). Illustrated Dictionary of Mythology. Buckinghamshire, England: DK Publishing Book.
Back to The Soul’s Journey into the Darkness to Celebrate Life
