This writing is about within the conflicting messages between wellness culture and body positivity, we see the tension of opposites, a fertile ground where transformative attitudes emerge. If we allow ourselves to tolerate the discomfort of this tension, something new can be born.

This writing is another love note to the Covid-era mothers who find themselves in ambivalence they didn’t quite expect and to the creative mothers who wonder about the sacrifice of their creativity for children. May we tolerate the unknowing long enough for the blessing to emerge.

A love note to the Covid-era mothers... When lockdown began my daughter was just turning 3 months old. I had seen a handful of clients in person and I was struggling with leaving my baby with a babysitter. So when we were told to stay home I was flooded with relief. With the privilege afforded to me in so many ways, I was able to take walks, work through the trials of breastfeeding that were harder than I could have ever imagined, and be with my baby, holding her as she napped for hours at a time.

The following article is from a paper I wrote in 2016 focused on the individuation journey in Jungian psychology. It is an example of how artistic, cultural material expresses psyche. It also references the art of a pop culture icon, Beyoncé, to illustrate an archetypal psychological process.

James Hillman (1975) re-framed the term “pathologizing” to describe a natural activity of soul to create psychological disorder and illness (p. 57). Pathologizing is one of four distinct movements of soul that Hillman articulated in seminal work, Re-Visioning Psychology (1975). The four movements of soul exist like currents in a river—pathologizing is an already-existing psychic current that we drop into, not one that is created from an egocentric perspective (G. Slater, personal communication, November 9, 2017). Pathologizing is the psyche’s illness-creating activity, which includes fantasy material as well as disease, and is a way of viewing life “through this deformed and afflicted perspective” (Hillman, 1975, p. 57).

The unconscious is the a priori field from which consciousness emerges that serves a regulating function to the psyche (Jung, 1928/1966, p. 177-178). The unconscious has its own purpose and aims that is in relationship to consciousness.

Archetypes populate the collective unconscious as universal patterns that structure experience from physiological instincts to the spiritual realm (Jung, 1954/1969, p. 212). Archetypes are only known through inference as images; and these images are evidenced in myth, art, and psychological experiences since the archetype, itself, cannot be known directly due to its energetic power (Jung, 1954/1969, p. 226).

A dreamwork tip on water or flooding dreams… I use symbol dictionaries very sparingly in dreamwork and I caution against any specific dream symbol dictionaries. A standard symbol dictionary can help to us to understand archetypal symbols, but it is not a substitute to the personal associations in a dream. Here are the two symbol dictionaries I use: Taschen Symbol Dictionary and Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets.

Whether we know it consciously or not, most of us are familiar with this pattern of descent and rebirth. The way this might appear in our own lives is when we feel a call towards change, possibly first through noticing dissatisfaction and a longing for something unnamable. The call for change might eventually reveal a longing for something new and exciting, like marriage, a baby, or a career change. But if the call is asking for deep transformation, even if the call sounds beautiful, it often put us into the land of death and rebirth.

This writing is for the mothers who have complex feelings about mothering…who are finding their way as mothers and humans outside of mothering. I hope my experience echoes something in you that might not be echoed in normative culture.

Vocation comes from vocare which means “to call” as well as a proto-Indo-European root which means “to speak”. This tells us that vocation is a call-and-response—it includes our participation.

I talk to a lot of people looking for a therapist from potential clients to friends to family and the common sentiment is this: I know I need to change, why can’t I just do it already?

I’ve been told before that I carry the “Weight of the World.” That I feel a lot, maybe too much. That it’s not my responsibility to carry the Weight of the World with all of its heartache and pain—that I should feel less and then I would feel better.

If you are in the US (or on social media) you are aware that a total solar eclipse blessed this country yesterday coast-to-coast. On Sunday evening I went to a ceremony in preparation for this cosmic event where we explored the myth of Lazarus, who died and was brought back to life to teach his journey of rebirth and love.

I want us to stop talking about gratitude (unless it’s that deep, in your bones, ache of a whisper saying “thank you…”) and start talking about Grief.