Within each of us, we carry all of the stories.
We are people from of old. Our world has changed, technology has evolved to levels where the very nature of what it is to be human is in question. But at our essence, the blood of our ancestors flows through our veins. The memory of the dirt of the land we once grew from remains in our souls. The stories of old, they still whisper to our hearts, calling us to a life in the wilds that we once called home.
Within each of us, we carry all of the stories.
My journey in arts therapy thus far has been shaped by several main influences.
MIECAT study has taught me a process and a philosophy so much deeper than anything I imagined when I started.
As we learned experientially, I felt the very fibre of my understanding of the world start to shift, and I began to experience life differently, phenomenologically.
A gap between two buildings became a world for unknown things, untouched by humans.
A misdirected nozzle in the shower became an opportunity to watch the trajectory of tiny water droplets on their eliptical path.
The world was once again inbued with a wonder that I forgot in my adult busy life.
However a more recent, and at the same time far more ancient philosophy that has also shaped my arts therapy practice is Jungian thought.
Undergoing Jungian analysis myself, exploring the world of my unconscious through my dreams, has brought forth such deep knowings and changes to my life that I could never doubt its importance.
Not only this, but I feel connected to the soul of humanity in a way I never did before in my Western, individualistic mindset.
What To Expect?
In this series we will explore not only what we find as we inquire into our own depths, but what we find when we inquire into the depths of the collective.
Folk stories and myths will be shared, and explored through arts making, their archetypes and images woven in with our own.
Through our exploration of self and collective each person will identify a symbol of something that speaks of their journey towards a preferred way of being.
During the latter half of the series we will make an amulet to represent this way, alongside each other.
These amulets will be made from any material that is appropriate, and this will become apparent as we continue through the workshop.
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58686486
During my MIECAT study we also made amulets. This was the result of a week of intense self examination. The amulet something to take forward, to carry a vestige of this with us into the days to come.
While our workshops at MIECAT did not focus on archetypal stories, it happened that at that time in my life I had been reading Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, who is herself a Jungian psychoanalyst.
When we were asked to make the amulet, my learnings from the week were intertwined with my learnings from the story of Vasalisa, who ventured into the forest to find Baba Yaga, and to ask her for her fire.
The amulet I hold here was a representation of the Yaga’s fire, which the triumpant Vasalisa returns with to her home. This experience was so rich for me that I was inspired to design this workshop series, to invite others to come on the journey.
Where? When? How?
3hr Sessions Offered for $75. Running on the third Sunday of each month.
Next session:
Sunday 15th May 3 -6pm
Register your interest now.
Location: St Paul’s Anglican Church
Does this pique your interest?
When the story is right, it will call you. You will know.
Within each of us, we carry all of the stories.
– Written by Cara Phillips –
Cara is a MIECAT trained Arts Therapist based in Perth, Western Australia.
She has worked in theatre and film, specialising in devising shows and films with different groups in the community about things that are of interest them.
Cara has strong values around the intersubjective connection between people. She lives to dance in this space……….