myths symbols sandplay

Acorn Symbolism

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Scandinavian and Celtic lore, the acorn is the symbol of androgyny, life, fecundity, and immortality and is sacred to Thor. According to Jobes (1961), the acorn is "a combination of I, the holy one, and O, the generative orator or cup". The acorn also represents the male principle. The acorn is associated with Jupiter and Zeus as the fruit of the oak, the holy tree, and represents fertilizing power and the kernel of life. In heraldry, the acorn symbolizes strength.

(see Bibliography Category for references)

More Miniatures!

More miniatures added to my Etsy shop, Remember That 1. Link to online shop at top right of this blog's home page.

New items include wedding figures and miniature furniture.

Early Spring

Unseasonably warm in Colorado. My bulbs are blooming. Sunshine yellow! Crocus.

Chinese Heart Symbolism

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chinese word for heart is xin and mind hsin are the same. Confucius taught that true knowledge lies in the heart and his teachings emphasized human-heartedness. The Chinese call the heart the king of all organs and "the thinking heart". The wisdom of the Tao states that a balance and order in the heart will influence all other senses. In Chinese medicine, the heart is the command center of consciousness and intelligence.

Confucius taught an ethical system that was heart-oriented. His concept of jen included the capacity to affirm others as you would want to be affirmed. If one attained chun tzu (humanity at its best) and li (right behavior), one had rightness of heart. "For Confucius, how people treated one another in this life took precedence over concerns of otherworldly things" (Goodwin, 2001).

After two and a half thousand years the Tao Te Ching, written by Lao-Tzu, is still being translated and read. Tao means "the way or path" or "the way in which one does something". Through wu wei (quietude) one may become in tune with the tao.

"Confucians work for balance… Taoists respect the dynamic imbalance, from yin to yang and back, as being the very essence of life – which you might as well get in harmony with, since you exist inside its melody" (Goodwin).

Chinese medicine is both philosophical and physiological with its holistic approach to the mental, emotional, behavioral, social, and spiritual aspects of the individual. Practitioners of Chinese medicine look for imbalance within each system and in the complex connections between the different body systems. Of the five systems, the heart is the most important. The yin (receptive) and yang (active) must be in balance for all aspects of health. Adjectives used to describe imbalance in heart energy include: 

Heart Full         always too tired

Heart Large      cardiac failure 

Heart Small      coronary artery disease

Heart Tight       angina 

Heart Closed    restricted energy

 

Calligraphy image ~ http://mindfuldiscipline.blogspot.com/2012/11/from-heart-to-hand-traditional-chinese.html

See Bibliography category for references

Tempo gusto

"The Italians have a musical notation not found in any other language: tempo gusto, 'the right tempo'. It means a steady, normal beat, between 66 and 77 on the metronome. Tempo gusto is the appropriate beat of the human heart."

~ Gail Godwin

Love...I think I have a potion for that

Love charms, rituals, and magic objects were used by many societies to gain control over the heart and emotions of the desired person. Amulets, potions, or special words in the form of incantations or spells may also have been part of love magic or love medicine.

 

Both men and women in American Indian societies use love magic, which was most complicated in societies where the young men and women were separated. "In some societies, flute music was considered particularly seductive to women and so was widely used in courting. A special bird-bone whistle summoned a Flathead maiden to an evening tryst." (Niethammer, 1977)

 

Northern California coastal Pomo Indian girls would make a charm consisting of four white feathers and four hairs from the boy she admired. The charm would be hung high in a tree for the wind to blow. Apache girls sought the knowledge of special women who would cast a love spell using symbols of the sun, water, and the sacred butterfly. Zuni men would carry a fragment of a woman's clothing in their pocket or headband.

 

The Menominee people of the Great Lakes region create a male and female doll, each named after the husband and wife. These love dolls are made of wood and dressed in colorful beaded garments. They are tied together, facing each other, to ensure faithfulness. Pottawatomi Indians, also of the Great Lakes region, used dolls as charms to make one person fall in love with another.

 

Niethammer, C., Daughters of the Earth, Collier, New York, 1977

Quote: Heart

Heart symbolism is complex. J. C. Cooper writes about the heart as "The center of being; the divine presence at the center. The heart represents the 'central' wisdom of feeling as opposed to the head-wisdom of reason; both are intelligence, but the heart is also compassion; understanding; the 'secret place'; love; charity; it contains the life-blood".

Deities of Love

Aonghua Og or Oengus – Celtic god of love; son of the Dagda, Lord of All Knowledge, and the river goddess Boann; four birds representing his kisses always hovered above his head; dwelled in the place of the Boyne named Bruigh na Boyne (the Boyne river in the east of Ireland, rises at Trinity Well, near Carbury, County Kildare); his golden harp was a symbol of the wind

Aphrodite – Greek goddess of love and desire; born from sea foam; daughter of Zeus and the nymph Dione; embodiment of charm, seduction, and sensuality; as an androgynous deity called Hermaphrodite when paired with Hermes, the male principle

Bastet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bastet – also known as Bast, Egyptian cat/woman goddess of pleasure and joy; guardian of marriage; daughter of the sun god Re; she was the mother and divine protector of all pharaohs; her attribute was a sacred rattle

Cupid – Roman god of love; send a Vulcan and Venus; depicted as a boy with wings; his gold tipped arrows caused people to fall in love; from the Latin cupido meaning desire and passion

Eros– Greek god of the power of sex and amorous desire; son of Aphrodite and Ares; sibling of Anteros, deity of unhappy love; lover of Psyche; his attributes are the dove, lyre Mussel shell, and swan

Freya

Freya – Northern European goddess of love and sex, her name means lady; one of the most promiscuous of the deities,; she drove a chariot pulled by two cats; twin sister of the Norse god, Frey; daughter of the sea god Njord and the goddess Skadi; wife of Od, a sun god

Ishtar – Assyro-Babylonian goddess of love; daughter of Sin and Ea; wife of Tammuz; in her aspect as evening star, deity of love and harlotry

Kama – Hindu god of love and voluptuousness; his name means desire; sprang from the heart of Brahma; his concerts were Rati, goddess of sexual desire and affection and Priti, goddess of pleasure; he carried a bow made of sugar cane strong with honeybees; his flower tipped arrows made people fall in love; his festival is Madonatsava; he is invoked by brides; when he angered Siva he was burned to ashes thus he became known as Ananga, meaning bodiless

Venus – Roman deity of gardens and spring, later goddess of love and beauty; mother of Aeneas; wife of Mars; daughter of Jupiter and Dione; called Ishtar by the Babylonians

Xochiquetzal – Aztec goddess of sexual love and fecundity; her name means "precious flower" or "beautiful rose"; women who were to become brides braided their hair to resemble Xochiquetzal to honor her; human sacrifice was part of the festival to celebrate her

The Greeks and the Differentiation of Heart and Mind

The argument went back and forth: the immortal soul was in the head and the mortal soul was in the heart (Plato) versus the soul as an entity which could not be divided and therefore could only reside in the heart (Aristotle). Following are two quotes from Heart by Gail Goodwin, which illustrates the evolution of Greek thought regarding the heart:

"The heart, the knot of the veins and the fountain of the blood which races through all the limbs, was set in the place of guard, so that when the might of passion was roused by reason warning that something was amiss due to an outside cause or to the inner lusts, [the heart] would signal to everything in the body and thus allow the principle of the best to have command over all of them."    Plato (427–347 B.C.)

 "For nature, when no other more important purpose stands in her way, places the more honorable part in the more honorable position; and the heart lies about the center of the body…"    Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)

Godwin, G. (2001). Heart. New York: Harper Collins Publishers

Container Symbolism

According to Barbara Walker, in The Women's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects, containers are objects that are "ordinary for the most part, yet treated as sacred by some groups of people at some times. Many are household items somehow associated with ancient religious symbolism and used…in a way that has been called "living in a sacred manner". Following is a list of vessels or containers and their symbolic meaning.

athanor – mystic vessel of alchemy; the vas spirituale; the womb of matter; the Vessel of Hermes; the dwelling place of the Anima Mundi; represents the metaphoric uterus

basket – sacred to the Goddesses; carried by the moon Goddesses Diana and Hecate; legendary boat-cradle of Moses, Sargon, and Romulus and Remus; on Greek coins, a basket covered with ivy symbolizes the Dionysian Mysteries

bowl – used at sacrificial ceremonies to catch the blood of the person sacrificed; the Greek word for this type of bowl is amnion, which also means the container of blood in the womb; Babylonian symbol for the whole cosmos known as the Goddesse’s mixing bowl; an inverted bowl is the Native American symbol of the heavens

cauldron – symbol of transmutation and germination; most Celtic mythic cauldrons are located at the bottom of a sea or lake, as cauldron of Bran, Cerridwen, and Huon gives an inexhaustible supply of good things; primary feminine symbol of the pre-Christian world; the Egyptian hieroglyph of three cauldrons represents the great female deep that gave birth to the universe; in Indian myth, Indra drank of the magical soma (moon blood) from three cauldrons; Odin of Norse mythology acquired wisdom, insight, and magic power by drinking the "wisest blood in the world" from the three cauldrons known as Odrerir, Són, and Bodn; symbol of the womb of the Great Goddess

chalice – the Christian transcendental form of the cup; related to the Grail, often formed of two halves of a sphere, the top half closing over the bottom half; as holy chalice or goblet, receptacle for the blood of deities or sacred kings

ciborium – container used in Christian churches, symbol of the Ark of the Covenant, the Eucharist, the Last Supper

clay pot – representative of mythological metaphoric human beings; Sumero-Babylonian Goddess, known as the Potter, made the first people out of clay; a feminine craft, pot making used the creative substance adamah or bloody-clay; the sacred pot, kernos, symbolized the womb from which Adonis would be reborn

cup – originally a matriarchal symbol of the womb vessel, later becoming a patriarchal vessel of the blood-filled chalice of resurrection; sole function is to contain; symbol of friendship, good fellowship, salvation, temperance, and wisdom; holder of water and wine, source of eternal life; as a fertility emblem symbol of female reproductive energy; in the Tarot deck the ancient name for the heart suit, signifying passion; Christian symbol of the destiny of mankind, the Eucharist; in Greek and Hebrew tradition, represents the union with the savior god; in the Hebrew Pesach feast placed in the center of the table for the prophet Elijah, the invisible guest, the promise of the coming of the Messiah; in Norse mythology, the life-token containing the soul

goblet – Jemshid, legendary king of the Peris, possessed the seven-ringed golden goblet of the sun, filled with the elixir of life

horn of Amalthea – the Greek mythological sacred goat who provided milk to Zeus; at her death Zeus honored Amalthea by making one of her horns a wonder - whoever possessed the horn had abundance of food and drink; symbol of peace and prosperity

jar – depicted with flowing streams of water, the Egyptian and Middle Eastern symbol of fertility; Isis wore a jar shaped amulet representing the fountains of living water; in Indian myth, any deity could be incarnated in a jar of water called a pitha; the Babylonian savior god Nebo was led to the place of his immolation and resurrection by a "jar-bearer"

kapala – human skull cup, used as a Buddhist altar object; tantric symbol used when offering libation to the gods; emblem of Buddhasaktis (consorts of Buddhas), dakinis (female air deities), Dharmapala (defender deities), Ekajata (the angry goddess known as the Blue Tara), and Yi-dam (protective tutelary deity); in Tibet called t’od-p’or

sangreal – according to tradition, the cup used at the Last Supper, in it Joseph of Arimathea caught the blood of Christ flowing from his side

(See Bibliography Category for references)

The Sandtray and Therapist as Container

The concept of the sandtray and the therapist as a "container" for the client’s work is often discussed in case presentations both at conferences and in publications. When I hear the level of respect and support for client’s sand tray work, I am reminded of the role of the therapist as container and provider of a free and protected space. The tray itself is often discussed…dimensions, wood or plastic, wet or dry?

The sandtray is a container of specific proportions used in a specific way. Usually about 19" by 28" by 3" deep and constructed of wood or plastic, the sandtray is often painted blue on the bottom to represent water. Estelle Weinrib, in Images of the Self, describes the dimensions of the tray as "limiting and containing" in that it can be viewed in its entirety thus "focusing and reflecting back the inner vision". The sandtray is also a symbol of containment at it serves to provide a sacred place to create scenes or manipulate the sand itself. Jeanette Pruyn Reed, in Sand Magic, views the sandtray as "a controlled space in which there are opportunities to build, shape, change, imagine, order, simplify, perfect, and embellish a concept or an idea".

In Sandplay – Silent Workshop of the Psyche, Kay Bradway and Barbara McCoard state "… therapists do provide the necessary container or tenemos." Dora Kalff described this tenemos as the free and protected space. Bradway and McCoard refer to this concept as the "holding container of the countertransference", a term used by Bradway to describe the transference-countertransference always present in the treatment room.

Weinrib states, "Essentially, the emotional and psychological free and protected space is provided by the personality of the therapist as the psychological container and protector of the process." In the Journal of Sandplay VIII, 1, Rosalind Winter’s article on Sandplay and Ego Development describes the role of the therapist as container "as someone who provides the safety, the non-judgmental presence that allows the psyche to unfold and to heal itself."

Maria Ellen Chiaia writes about "a containing space held by the therapist within the silence of relationship". She further describes the role of the therapist by stating, "We hold the space open, so that the emergence of the patient’s material may occur more easily." Both the client’s experience of working in the tray, and the knowledge and training the therapist brings to sandplay, support the client’s process.

(See Bibliography Category for references)

Word Of Mouth

Please tell others about my blog and please consider commenting on posts as there is no greater support you can give than your word of mouth recommendation. Thank you.

Religious and Structure Miniatures Now Available for Sale

New religious figures and religious miniatures, along with structures, have been posted online.  Structures include cottages, circus tent, churches, houses, and a general store.

Simply click on the link to my online Etsy shop "Remember That?" at the top right hand corner of the blog's home page.  If there are any miniatures you are looking to add to your collection, contact me and I will be happy to let you know if I have what you are looking for.

Also, if you know  of other sandplay therapists building their collection, please share this information with them.

Thank you...

The "Telling The Story" Connection

In the blog posts (11.13.16, 11.17.16, 12.5.16), I presented information regarding Telling The Story through art, dance, and costume. Following is an explanation about how that information relates to sandplay. As therapists, we view trays using established theory, information on myths and symbols, and our knowledge of the individual client. Additional resources include research and information provided by practicing sandplay therapists through publications or presentations at workshops and conferences. Tribal art and mask-making, dance, and costume offer related information about varied aspects of the human experience which enrich our understanding of the many ways of telling the story.

Archetypal images inscribed in rock, painted on bark, or used as body adornmant tell the story through pictures and symbols. Designs on masks used in ceremonial dance and ritual are specific to each tribe and culture. When clients draw archetypal designs in the sand or arrange items in spirals, circles, oval, etc., I wonder what they are saying". What are these designs expressing? Knowledge regarding the symbolism of these types of designs and placement of items in a tray adds to my understanding of the client’s story.

Just at the dancer and the observer are participating in exchange of information, client and therapist also engage in an exchange during sandplay. The dancer uses body art, make up, and costume to tell a myth or story related to the tribe or culture. The observer understands the story through costume color and adornment and through the steps and poses of the dancer. The process is one of becoming familiar with the meaning of the costume and dance, which results in understanding and in appreciation of the story. Therapists are in the position of the observer; noticing the use of miniatures, their symbolic meaning, and how this all comes together to understand the story the client is telling. As the client, through the use of sandplay, tells their story, additional information from a wide variety of resources enhances understanding and provides depth and dimension for the observer/therapist.