Imaginal Journal
Imagination is Medicine
Unconcious
Sigmund Freud pioneered several theories on psyche, some of which remain prominent in our collective understanding of the unconscious, especially on sexuality, dreams, and ego functions. One of my favorite films that pokes fun at the Pandora’s box that he incited is “Unconscious.” Set in Victorian era Spain, a love triangle ensues between his devotees, swept up in the drama of his creative, brilliant, and audacious concepts, which expresses the spirit of the times.
When I visited Freud’s London home and spent time in his famous study, I was struck by the palpable energy of Freud’s connection to our deeper ancient wisdom. With archeological relics, volumes of books, and curated objects abound, the mythopoetic cocoon that this man had created, seeped him in some undeniable truths about the underpinnings of psychological phenomenon.
Although many of his notions are thought to be forced or out-dated in our modern understanding, Freud’s theory of Thanatos, the death instinct, and Eros, the life instinct, remains a compelling consideration for me. How do we make sense of this primary destructive urge towards ourselves and others? And on the other hand, towards survival and creation?
To that end, the circular paradox of creation and destruction as a reality of natural and universal law persists within our own psychic realities. While we may have paradoxical instinctive drives, at times hidden from our awareness, the effects on a macro and micro level are evident, yet we resist this reality of life by expecting perfection or all light. I end up thinking of Freud as wise critic/sociologist/anthropologist with something valuable to express the paralleling features of the mind and the nature of mankind.
I recall Allen Koehn, a beloved professor, who would provoke us into deepening with this consideration: “What is the opposite of life?”
Intuitively we answered death. He smiled and said, “Birth is the opposite of death. There is no opposite to life."
To the Valley of my Ancestry
To sunny mornings and fresh air; watching Papa, the relentless cowboy, tend to the land and animals; to heading to the mercado with Mama, the persistent caretaker, before the vendors close for siesta, so she can make a feast for the hungry lunch crowd of family visitors; to going to the corner store for sodapop and bread rolls; to watching the clouds suddenly roll in for a thunderstorm afternoon and leave makeshift rivers on paved roads without drainage; to hikes along dirt paths, careful to not stumble over a red ant hill; to playing cards with the older generation; to drinking hot chocolate, homemade from the cacao, just the way abuelita would make it; to paying patronage to the village saints and their miracles; to giving homage in the unkempt cemeteries to those who've passed on; to the vast black and starry night sky; to having memories of my childhood flood my mind; and to checking the sheets for scorpions before going to bed-- in the valley of my ancestry.
Curator & Cure
“The words ‘curator’ and ‘cure’ are essentially the same. By being the curator to our images, we care for our souls.”
The Imaginal Journal
The Imaginal Journal is dedicated to sharing images and insights related to the field of depth psychology, the humanities, collective and self study with gentleness, humor, and humanness. My aim is to make depth topics accessible and practical by sharing images I am curating and in process with.
My offerings are to support, resource, and amplify our relationship to life and the unconscious by considering the deeper layers of experience, wisdom, and meaning through symbols, archetypes, myths, fairytales, film, music, art, writing, and poetry– in short through our feeling to the realm of imagination by referencing creative and insightful people and their gems on life.
I invite you to engage in the liminal space between psyche and soma, soul and spirit, light and dark, feminine and masculine, being and doing, space and matter, birth and death, self and other, that holds the potential for transformation, wholeness, acceptance, and alignment with life and our fellow sojourners.
