"Symbols in Dreams and Myths: A Response to The Shaman's
Doorway (1976) and The Mythic
Imagination (1990) -- Two Books by Stephen Larsen" by Eric Miller, 2019, Chennai, south India Note: This piece
of writing presents and discusses some ideas that animate my counselling
work. This
piece of writing is a companion to my essay, "Giving Training in
-- and Practicing -- a Form of Storytelling Therapy, In-person and via
Videoconference", which describes my counselling work in other ways. __________________________ 1) Introduction. 2) Quotes from Two Books
by Stephen Larsen: The Shaman's Doorway;
and The Mythic Imagination (including
some Creative Mythology Exercises). 3) Commentary. __________________________ 1) Introduction. In his books, The Shaman's
Doorway (1976), and The Mythic Imagination (1990), Stephen Larsen encourages
people to cultivate their relationships with their individual and collective
unconsciouses -- especially through the use of symbols from dreams and
myths. He points out that dreams can be a key source of symbols from
and about one's unconscious; and that supernatural figures from various
cultures can also provide very valuable and useful symbols of aspects of 1)
one's own personality, 2) the human personality in general, and 3) the rest
of nature. Beginning of page 2 of 16. The author explains that the development of an individual is not just internal to
that person, nor is it limited
to that person's family, acquaintances, or even community. Development of an individual also relates
to the entire human race, and to all of the rest of nature. Ceremonies and symbolic representations
utilising various media are needed to facilitate individuals' healthy and
satisfying growth and maturation processes. Note: A shaman is a ritual leader who interacts
with the realms of the divine and death.
In cultures in which shamans exist, it is believed that a shaman may
go on spirit journeys to other realms, and/or may call figures from other
realms into his/her body. __________________________ 2) Quotes from Two Books
by Stephen Larsen: The Shaman's Doorway;
and The Mythic Imagination (including
some Creative Mythology Exercises). *** The Shaman's Doorway. My goal
is to invite modern people to join me in an ancient quest, a re-awakening to
the spiritual universe which has always lain just beyond the borders of
secular materialism. (Page vii.) People
everywhere are turning to the inner quest as a vehicle for
transformation. (Page viii.) Myth has
been perennially active throughout human history, informing peoples'
perceptions of the world and subtly shaping their every dealing with it. Myth must now be withdrawn from the theatre
of history and relocated in the psyche.
(Page 6.) Myth,
withdrawn from its projection on the common outer environment and no longer
bound to culturally-propagated forms, is to be recognised as part of
consciousness. Hence it becomes,
perhaps for the first time in history, the responsibility of the
individual. (Page 7.) When the
mythic imagination is cultivated, it is the creative source realm of the
highest and best in human endeavor, the inspiration of the finest flowerings
of our culture. (Page 7.) Beginning of page 3 of 16. This book
is intended as an instruction manual for owning and operating a mythic
imagination. (Page 8.) Our
collective response to a de-mythologised, industrialised, and technological
environment is an escalating cycle of alienation, dissociation, and
confusion. Yet we cannot return to the
days of our ancestors -- to literal, orthodox mythology. What is required is a form of consciousness
that recognises the enduring needs of that shadowy myth-susceptible dreamer still waiting just below the surface of
awareness: our deeper, older self.
(Page 6.) We
require a mediator between the bright world of myth and ordinary
reality. (Page 9.) Sometimes
when we feel uncertain, we hope guidance may come from an invisible world
within or beyond ourselves. (Page 13.) As we
work with mythic patterns, we find that they can be catalysts which initiate
changes in consciousness. The ultimate
dialogue is between consciousness (the undiluted perception of self and
world), and those patterns to which consciousness has proven most
susceptible: the archetypes that underlie the shape-shifting world of
myth. (Page 15.) "A
myth is a large controlling image that gives philosophical meaning to the
facts of ordinary life" (Mark Schorer).
(Page 27.) Dialogue
with an inner world of terror or ecstasy, contacting the shape-shifting
universe of the psyche. (Page 45.) Our
dreams and visions, the dramatis
personae of our imaginations, act as if they were independent entities
with lives of their own. Often as not,
they show up as hidden, undiscovered parts of ourselves. (Page 45.) An
effective transpersonal message
(transcending the personal) must somehow touch and speak to the collective
archetypal predicament. (Page 47.) Beginning of page 4 of 16. What
ought to function as a symbolic metaphor for the client's psychological state
is sometimes delusionally read as the literal workings of reality. (Page 52.) The
shaman's profession is the relationship between the mythic imagination and
ordinary consciousness. (Page 59.) Many
people have no symbolic vocabulary, no grounded mythological tradition, by
which to make their experiences comprehensible to themselves. (Page 81.) Animals
can often be seen as representing aspects of one's unconscious. (Page 85.) An
operative mythology provides structures and expresses otherwise inaccessible
inner levels of psychological meaning.
Such a mythology constitutes a comprehensive symbolic system which may
function both for internal reference and for social dialogue. (Page 88.) Dreams
give access to one's inner life, which is other-than waking
consciousness. (Page 89.) The
enactment of dreams is an all-important therapeutic technique. Dreams may seem to want to become
real. Making dreams real may involve a
literal carrying out of an action portrayed or suggested by a dream; or, if
this may not be appropriate, a symbolic enactment. (Page 89.) In some
traditional societies, it is believed that certain illnesses may best be
cured by the interpretation of dreams facilitated by medicine societies
during spring, fall, and mid-winter dream
festivals. (Page 93.) The
Iroquois (a Native-American people) pay the strictest attention to the
messages contained in dreams, for to ignore them is to court illness,
madness, and disaster, by opposing the messages of the god coming from
within. (Page 95.) Most of
our difficulties come from losing contact with our instincts -- with the
age-old unforgotten wisdom stored up in us.
And where do we make contact with this old man or woman within
us? In our dreams. (Page 96.) Beginning of page 5 of 16. During a dream festival, when the dreamer -- or
others -- feel that someone has made the right interpretation of a dream, the
dreamer must give a gift to that person.
A friendship is expected to spring up between them as a result of this
psycho-symbolic transaction. (Page
97.) If a
dream expresses a "wish of the soul," everyone takes part in
helping the individual to realise his/her wish. ...
When a dream is enacted, audience members may play various parts. (Page 97.) Public
"dream interpretation ceremonies" may occur during dream festivals. (Page 98.) The
Senoi, like the Iroquois, value the enactment and making public of messages
contained in their dreams. (Page 101.)
...
Voyaging in their own mythic inner spaces and bringing back things of value
for us all. (Page 102.) ... A
young person may seek to cross the threshold from adolescence to adulthood by
going into the wilderness alone, to fast and await a vision or dream which
serves as a psychological initiation.
(Page 103.) The
archetypal dimension of such an experience serves to initiate one into a
sense of belonging, not only to the social but also to the cosmic order. The initiate may return with a new
name. (Page 103.) To the
patient it is a revelation when something altogether strange rises up to
confront him/her from the hidden depths of the psyche -- something that is
not his/her ego and thus is beyond the reach of his/her personal will. He/she has regained access to the sources
of psychic life, and this marks the beginning of the cure. (Page 111.) Jungian
analysts feel the emergence of such archetypal material signals the onset of
a natural curative process from within.
(Page 111.) There is
a curative magic in finding one's meaningful place in the archetypal, cosmic
order. (Page 112.) Beginning of page 6 of 16. How bleak
our three-dimensional world can be without the magic light of myth shining
into it. (Page 117.) Many of
us have no training in turning one's attention to the living landscape
within, and allowing one's energies to there enact their symbolic play. (Page 121.) We need
to learn ways to deal intelligently and creatively with mythopoetic
consciousness. (Page 122.) We are
developing a relationship with the symbolic phantasmagoria that has been released
into the collective mindscape in modern times. (Page 122.) The guide
within fulfills a psychological need, which is one of the basic functions of
myth. (Page 123.) Having
been shown by Darwin that the Garden of Eden is most likely not literally
true, many of us have discarded our entire mythological orientation, with its
psychological guiding functions as well.
(Page 126.) When
consciousness turns its energy back upon itself, the result is to render
perceptible its otherwise inaccessible subjective patterns. When one has engaged those patterns and
energies directly, they no longer fully dictate and structure our conscious
experience, and we no longer think and act unconsciously and compulsively. (Page 155.) Whenever
the unconscious fails to co-operate, one is instantly at a loss, even in
one's most ordinary activities. There
may be a failure of memory, of coordinated action, or of interest and
concentration. Such a failure may
cause a serious annoyance, a fatal accident, a professional disaster, or a
moral collapse. The cooperation of the
unconscious, which is something we often take for granted, when it suddenly
fails, can be a very serious matter.
(Page 156.) All parts
of the self must be in relationship to each other for an organism to be
healthy. (Page 161.) Beginning of page 7 of 16. When I am
disembodied, out of touch with myself, I am out of touch with the world of
nature, and I can remain numb and content in a city of humans. But when I am embodied, and the sap-energy of
life flows strongly within, I am not happy unless I am among trees and brooks
and mountains, or by the sea. (Page
168.) We humans
are in the midst of ecological, bodily, and psychological crises. (Page 169.) The
central and unifying dialogue is between ordinary consciousness and the
mythic imagination. (Page 171.) The
psyche has been developing a mythic vocabulary for inner dialogue. (Page 176.) The
scientist is only the magician of the daylight world. He/she has lost touch with the nocturnal world of the imagination. (Page 186.) Look at a
person's soul. (Page 191.) The
visions obtained require the stabilising anchor of enactment. (Page 199.) Our
modern Western culture is a barren womb for the gestation of the sacred and
lacks a framework for validating one's visionary experiences. (Page 200.) The quest
for psycho-spiritual learning, for apprenticeship to a person of knowledge,
is one of our enduring archetypal yearnings.
(Page 200.) Rigid
people are cut off from the flow of life.
(Page 212.) One may
be able to resolve collective problems through attunement to hidden patterns
of the universe. (Page 227.) *** The Mythic Imagination. Dreams break into this world.
(Page xix.) One needs to find one's mythic roots. (Page xxv.) Something from this world could marry something from the mythic
world. (Page xxvii.) Beginning of page 8 of 16. Knowledge of myths gives one a richly-furnished chamber of the psyche. (Page xxvii.) Awaken to the presence of mythic themes in your life. (Page xxxii.) An archetype is an identity larger than oneself. When one consciously plays an archetype,
one enters an eternal role. (Page 3.) Mythological symbols communicate and touch one beyond
vocabularies of reason. (Page 4.) Break out of an isolated human adventure, and participate in a
larger social, cultural, historical, and spiritual ecology. (Page 5.) We often repeat mythic patterns.
(Page 11.) Construct an authentic psyche -- one that is broad, integrated,
and creative. (Page 14.) Become the unity that embraces all of the
possibilities within oneself. Give
coherence and unity to one's component parts.
(Page 15.) Develop symbolic compendiums of
soul-vitalising forms. (Page 16.) Myths are symbols that contain emotions and ideas. (Page
25.) Emotions
and behaviors are made meaningful by recognising the stories that surround
them. (Page
27.) Seek to discover the secret workings in everyday life of
gods, heroes, and demons. What
emotions, thoughts, and experiences of yours are associated with these
symbolic figures? (Page 28.) What
unknown, secret script -- and what underlying logic -- seem to inform one's
emotions and behaviors? At times a
sense of helpless participation in a timeless drama may come over one. (Page
30.) To what
god or goddess is a certain passion sacred? (Page 31.) Beginning of page 9 of 16. In
traditional cultures, mythological themes are presented at points of life
development -- at stages of emotional, physical, and social transition. These moments are marked by corresponding
rituals, which provide a mythic tissue of transformation for the growing
psyche.
(Page 33.) Symbols
of transformation help us transform. (Page 35.) A myth
may have a magical impact on layers of the psyche which cannot be reached by
intellectual talk.
(Page 42.) The
mythically awake imagination sees through the ordinary-seeming surface of
everyday life to discover the "secret cause," the mythic and
archetypal patterns underneath. (Page 50.) In psychotherapy,
the therapist often traces a destructive personal belief-and-behavior-complex
back to an event, or series of events, and "exorcises" the
destructive pattern through awareness and emotional release. However, I believe a belief-and-behavior-complex
must be understood both in terms of its experiential origin and its mythic
meaning for it to be truly worked through and transcended. (Page
61.) In myth
and dream, "impulse is transduced into image and symbol, and an internal
plight is converted into a story plot" (Jerome Bruner). (Page 70.) "To
understand the psyche, we have to include the whole world" (Joseph
Campbell).
(Page 95.) "The
human personality is always on a journey of soul-making" (Joseph
Campbell).
(Page 97.) The
psychological task of the hero is "to retreat from the world scene of
secondary effects to those causal zones of the psyche where the difficulties
really reside" (Joseph Campbell). (Page 98.) "A
hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural
wonder. There fabulous forces are
encountered and a decisive victory is won.
The hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to
bestow boons on his fellow man" (Joseph Campbell). (Page 98.) Beginning of page 10 of 16. The self
is to be entered as the fairy realm of myth and folklore. The dragons and ogres encountered there are
aspects of ourselves. The kingdom,
lying under its wicked enchantment, is the world as we have come to see it in
our regressive and self-induced trance. (Page 105.) The
individual soul plunges into the depths of his/her own psyche in search of
renewed meaning and a sense of belonging. (Page 108.) Images of
animals can be living sources of power within the psyche. It can be a therapeutic encounter to enter
into dialogue with imagined animals and discover what they need. Some may be sick, caged, or neglected, for
examples.
(Page 113.) By
failing to recognise our inner as well as outer ecology, we modern folk have
cut ourselves off from our sources of life. (Page 114.) To have a
richness of outer experience requires an inner wealth of symbolic forms: this
is both the legacy and the invitation of the mythic imagination. (Page
114.) Actualising
an underlying pattern or myth into life can be called incarnation (page 117.) Modern
humanity is in search of a soul. (Page 117.) One cause of "Soul sickness" is being cut-off
from one's natural and healthy psychic environment. (Page 122.) A woman had
an impaired relationship with her own instinct and intuition. Her dreams were helping her improve her
relationship with her unconscious. (Page 166.) A symbol
connected her with her energy source. (Page 174.) The
mythic world guides and interfuses events in the everyday world. These events may become (in one's
perception) timeless, luminous, or intensely meaningful. (Page
181.) One needs
to get in touch with the spiritual principle that gives meaning to the entire
adventure.
(Page 206.) Beginning of page 11 of 16. A theme
in Jung's approach is to recognise the ancient gods and offer them
"hospitality" in modern life. (Page 214.) In our depths lie transpersonal wisdom figures and an
inexhaustible creative life force. (Page 223.) Humanity
needs a new sense of mythology, geared to the creative life of the individual
who seeks his/her own way in the world and who, through following his/her own
path, develops a relationship with the archetypal and mythical powers that
inform life.
(Page 227.) It is
this individual path to the mysteries, not the collective participation
enjoined upon us by all of the religions, that may well constitute the
ultimate human adventure and the achievement of personal wholeness. (Page 228.) The
modern mind still thirsts to drink at the well of mythic meaning. It yearns for experience of the world made
sacred. (Page 232.) The
responsibility of the conscious mythmaker is to construct an appropriate
"frame of reference" into which the powers are invited to show
themselves (page 233.) A
function of a mask is to unite the wearer (and the observer) with a mythic
being (an archetypal power.) A mask
can enable a concentration of psychic energy, and offer dialogue between ego
and other. (Page 236.) Mask-making
and -wearing can be signs of a covenant between the supernatural realm and
the human, natural, and social worlds. (Page 241.) When a
Navajo sand painting healer places his patient in the mandala he has worked hours
or days to prepare, he is trying to align psycho-spiritual forces in the
patient, in himself, and in the universe. (Page 242.) Humans
are truly free only when they are at play.
Play enables the energies of the psyche to be released and transformed. (Page 287.) Beginning of page 12 of 16. In a
hero's/heroine's quest, the hero/heroine encounters important aspects of
him/herself. (Page 317.) What does
the world need? (Page 318.) What does
the hero/heroine need? (Page 318.) Does the
hero bring something back? Is anything
different in the world because of what the hero/heroine has done? (Page 318.) A
personal awakening and transformation can be achieved. (Page 327.) "Creative Mythology
Exercises" (from The Mythic
Imagination). Ask for a
dream or vision, and wait. (Page 25.) Act out a
dream to help accomplish healing.
(Page 25.) Construct
a container, a ritual form, to hold the mythic energy. The energies can then be safely and
reliably invoked, summoned, confronted, and pleased. (Page 30.) Projective
technique: present ambiguous stimuli and invite the client to make
additions. (Page 32.) Find
images of the universe that bring meaning into the soul. (Page 94.) Imagine yourself
at your own funeral, when you are leaving this life and looking back upon
it. Deliver your own eulogy (speech
about your life). (Page 141.) I invited
him to find his inner guide to see what he advised. He said, "I find him in a
cave." (Page 219.) Help the
patient regenerate the life force deep within him/herself. (Page 243.) A ritual
must be structured enough to contain and shape psychic energy, and loose
enough to allow it to flow freely from its own deep sources. At every step one could dialogue with the
images as they emerge. The images
carry emotion and are protean; they metamorphose as one tries to hold
them. (Page 247.) Beginning of page 13 of 16. Create an
imaginary universe, and then live in it.
(Page 259.) We can
play at confronting what terrifies us most.
We can, in play, open the cages and prisons that lock up parts of
us. (Page 282.) Create a
space into which the mythic may be invited.
(Page 296.) Go
through your body, part by part. (Page
304.) Imagine
your mind to be a blank screen on which images may appear. (Page 304.) Look into
a deep well. (Page 304.) Look into
a mirror. (Page 304.) In a
dream, what is the feeling? Seek to
identify and describe colors, objects, perceptions, and themes. (Page 304.) Fantasies
may involve wish fulfillment, compensation, anxiety, etc. (Page 306.) Does the
fantasy recur? Does it seem stuck, or
is it going somewhere? (Page
306.) Does the
dream present an impasse (a difficulty)?
If yes, in what ways could the impasse be resolved? (Page 306.) Meet an
inner guide. Meet an ally. Meet a shadow. (Page 306.) Stand
before a doorway. (Page 308.) Stand at
the top of a spiral staircase that goes down.
Go downward, spiraling seven times, to meet your guide. (Page 308.) At the
bottom of the staircase of seven spirals, look into the eyes of the person
you find there. Ask this person,
"Are you my guide?" Wait for
confirmation or contradiction. If the
answer is no, ask, "Could you take me to my guide?" (Page 309.) Beginning of page 14 of 16. Tell your
guide what your challenging situation is, and ask, "What should I
do?" You could
ask, "May
I visit my shadow?" "May
I visit a deceased ancestor?" "May
I visit ...?" (Page 309.) Perhaps
bring a gift for the person you would like to visit. (Page 309.) When
ready, ask one's guide, "May I go back to the ordinary world?" (Page 309.) If you
cannot follow your guide's advice literally, try to do so as a symbolic
enactment. (Page 310.) Imagine
walking in a beautiful garden. There
are many plants and flowers. (Page
310.) If
animals are there, move like an animal you see. (Page 312.) Cross a
river. Come to a sacred grove. (Page 314.) Ask
whoever you meet, "Is there anything I could do for you?" (Page 314.) Describe
the first dream you have had. That is,
the earliest dream you can remember.
Describe the room and the bed in which you had this dream, and what
you were doing and how you were feeling at that point in your life. (Page 316.) Re-dream
a dream, and have it go differently this time. (Page 316.) __________________________ 3) Commentary Stephen
Larsen's thinking as a therapist, healer, and facilitator is very much in the
Carl Jung - Joseph Campbell tradition, as is mine. I am very grateful to Stephen Larsen for
presenting these ideas. The Shaman's Doorway and The
Mythic Imagination
state, discuss, and illustrate ways working with symbols in dreams and myths
can help people to connect with themselves, society, culture, history, and
nature. Beginning of page 15 of 16. Using
these symbols can help one to achieve a sense of belonging, and to see the
larger picture and one's place in it. This is
finally about helping people to find themselves, and to discover the
meanings, purposes, and directions of their lives. However,
we are living in a perilous moment -- As the
old cultures recede in time, and as physical and linguistic traces of those
cultures disappear, it seems fewer and fewer people are digging into history,
immersing themselves in ancient cultures, and learning about ancient
myths. The study
of the Liberal Arts, the Humanities, is dwindling. Mass media tends to be sensational and
fleeting. In the realm of mass media, memory
of the distant past, and background and social-context, are secondary
considerations. Much on the Internet
is self-promotional. Education is more
and more designed to prepare people to for vocations and to manage systems --
not to question, modify, reject, and create systems. It seems most young people, and people in
general, do not like to read or write for more than a minute or two. Biological,
cultural and linguistic diversity are all dwindling. Forests
are being cut down. This has been going
on for a long time, but it seems we are now arriving at the end of the
process. Forest vegetation is being
replaced by mono-crops. Wild animals
and plants are simply disappearing. One
million species of animals (out of nine million) are on the verge of
extinction. As a result,
we humans are ending up cut off from the rest of nature, and isolated -- on
physical as well as psychic levels. We
are being cut off from nature in part because in many cases the nature no
longer exists: we are in the late stages of eradicating much of it. What happens to one's psyche when there is
no longer wilderness in nature that one could experience and use to represent
the wilderness within one's psyche? All of
this seems to be leading to the production of individuals who might have
shallow, under-nourished psyches -- not "richly-furnished chambers of
the psyche" (The Mythic
Imagination, page xxvii). People in this deprived, uncultivated
condition may be relatively unaware (culturally-speaking) of where they came
from, who they are, and where they might be going. Beginning of page 16 of 16. In
leading Creative Writing workshops for teenagers, I feel some glimmer of hope
when students express interest in the "occult" and the
"paranormal" (ghosts, etc).
At least they are searching for something under-the-surface. I was heartened the other day by a teenage
student who included in a short story of hers the Goddess of the Forest known
in ancient Greece as Artemis,
and in ancient Italy as Diana. Citations The Shaman's Doorway:
Opening Imagination to Power and Myth, by Stephen Larsen. First edition: New York: Harper and Row,
1976. The Mythic
Imagination: Your Quest for Meaning through Personal Mythology, by Stephen Larsen.
First edition: New York: Bantam Books, 1990. "Giving Training in -- and Practicing -- a Form of
Storytelling Therapy, In-person and via Videoconference," by Eric
Miller, 2019, http://storytellingandvideoconferencing.com/23.html "One Million Species Face Extinction, UN Report Says. And
Humans Will Suffer as a Result," by Darryl Fears, The Washington Post, 6 May 2019,
|