The Inner Twin
Hannah Green
HAPPY NEW MOON
Happy Juneteenth. This is a special weekend, it is the summer solstice and a new moon. I am hoping all of you have some time to rest, rejuvenate and recenter. I honor all the ways you are soul searching, healing and bringing shadows into light. May all your efforts bear fruit!
I am really excited about the intersection of commitment and surrender. How does one practice committed surrender and surrendered commitment? Can we deeply commit without attachment or a death-grip on the outcome? Can we deeply surrender and recognize the limits of our control while still being steadfast in our integrity and values? Each of us must find our own balance and this involves lots of "mistakes" as the pendulum swings from side to side and we slip out of balance... too far in one direction or the other.
The pendulum always settles if we can let go and let it swing. Where surrender and commitment cross on the axis is the transformational place, the magic place. May we each find our balance and our unique intersection of the two....one day at a time.
We explore balance and much much more in this new and still coagulating offering...
EMBRACING THE SHADOW WORKSHOP FOR WOMEN
GUIDED IMAGINATION
This guided imagination honors gemini season and is an invitation to dialogue with the inner twin. Think the lovers card in Tarot ~ the inner marriage between our light and dark, our masculine and feminine, our tame and our wild side. Jungian depth therapy creates a container for this inner marriage and often utilizes active imagination as a way to get the internal dialogue going. After all if inner marriage is to occur, we better start with introductions, chatting, likes, dislikes, etc. Think courting....
Our inner others are the complement to our conscious ego and help us to stay balanced. Our inner others are often different that what we show the world. When we become more consciously aware of the balance this creates we become more confident, whole and in integrity.
Once you get relaxed and listen to the guided imagination here are some journaling prompts to help you dialogue with the inner other. Remember with guided imagination you are completely in charge. If you are feeling uneasy or disturbed you can stop any time. Try to hold guided imagination lightly and not take things too seriously, this helps us to be creative and go with the flow.
LISTEN TO THE GUIDED IMAGINATION HERE
Journaling/Dialoguing Prompts:
Asking the Inner Other and answering as the Inner Other:
What do you want me to know about you?
What do I misunderstand about you?
What are you really good at?
How do you want to help me?
What do I need to do to be in balance?
What would delight you?
What makes you powerful?
How can you help me in my relationships?
What is your dearest wish for me?
Favorite Book
How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
As a depth therapist I am focussed on wholeness, in acknowledging the both the conscious and the unconscious, the light and the dark. The business of devaluing the unconscious and valorizing the conscious fuels psychopathology and soul sickness. This same mechanism of devaluing and valorizing fuels racism, sexism and every other systemic pathology. As Kendi points out "denial is the heartbeat of racism." His book is skillfully supporting me to soften my defenses, face my own denial and see where I am caught in blindly devaluing and valorizing. I learned from my Gestalt teachers that "where there is awareness there is choice." This book is is miracle grow for my awareness and is helping me face where I am perpetuating racist ideas and perspectives.
Psychology in the Movies
Melancholia is a (melancholy) and beautiful film written and directed by Lars Von Trier. This is dark moon viewing at its best. I just rewatched the film after some years and was deeply impacted again. The psychologically minded viewer will appreciate the heartbreakingly poignant depiction of depression as well as the razor sharp portrayal of codependence and family dysfunction.
However, it is the films imagery and dream like beauty that will really blow you away and take you to a place of deep and emotive contemplation. Viewer discretion advised as this film contains apocalyptic themes and is potentially depressing. If you are looking for an easy uplifting film this is not the one. I do think it is a beautiful and worthwhile film of you are feeling up to it. It is potentially cathartic as you may find that the beauty and truth in the film far surpasses the morbidity.
Von Trier peers into the theme of control and surrender to fate. I find it to be a cathartic film because it allows us to face fears, grapple with them and ultimately surrender in our way along side the two main characters, sisters Justine and Claire. Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg give relentless performances as two sisters with complementary dysfunction in a rich but irrevocably damaged family. This movie also stars an amazing cast: Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt, Alexander and Stellan Skarsgard to name a few.
As the film builds towards its climax layers of illusion are peeled away and what was previously obscured is revealed. In this way, the film is a rich exploration of the unconscious. The anger and wisdom underneath Justine's depression is revealed. The fear and desperation underneath Claire's codependence is revealed. The cowardice and selfishness underneath Claire's husbands bravado is revealed. The wisdom underneath Leo's youth is revealed.
The imagery in the film is as rich as a Tarot deck. I especially enjoy the opening sequence. The film asks many questions and is one of the most dream like and emotive films I've ever seen. Give it a try sometime if you are feeling moody and want to drink in some visual beauty whilst plumbing the depths.