Peter writes: “Land is the inescapable condition of life, the prime material of our origins and destiny. In the relationships between the primary earthly elements can be found the possibilities of body, soul and spirit. It is through painting that I learn to perceive. Painting for me is a phenomenological exploration of what is and I refer to interior and exterior qualities including the imagination”

Peter Cameron  is largely self taught and has been painting, drawing and sculpting for his entire adult life. He has mounted about 20 solo shows and has his works collected privately and by various Public Institutions. He lives in Sydney, Australia.

 

 ****

 

 

 

 

Pamela Preston began her Jungian studies in Santa Fe, NM in 1982. She embarked on a literary, mythological quest in 1992 with a typewriter and a one-way ticket for Paris, France. Based in the French countryside for 17 years, Ms. Preston continues  threading mandalas and writing her personal myth.
Pamela also has a poem “Incantation to Ancestors” in this issue of Depth Insights.

 

 ****

My Year Of the (Dark Wood) Horse by Jennifer Fendya

 

 

 

 

 

Jennifer writes:

Einsiedeln, Switzerland was the location for an intensive Sandplay training I attended in the summer of 2013.  An hour’s journey south of Zurich and surrounded by pastoral landscapes of forests and rolling farmlands, Einsiedeln is a stop on the Jakobsweg (St. James Way) for pilgrims who come to visit the Black Madonna for whom the village is known.  Each day, the bells of Kloster Einsiedeln greeted the dawn; and, as their sonorous peal mingled with the jangle of cowbells and chirping of early-rising birds, I found it impossible to sleep.

There was a palpable aliveness in the air as I set out to walk, the deep, rich soil drawing me down, grounding me to the Earth as I made my way toward the magnificent Benedictine abbey that is the heart of the town.One early morning, I circumambulated the pastures of the abbey where for centuries the monks have bred cavalli della Madonna, the Madonna’s horses, as part of their devotion to Her.  There were a dozen or so chestnut-colored horses out grazing at a distance, and as I stopped to watch, several moved across the field with an eager purposefulness until they were upon me, gazing down into my awe-struck face.  I’ve never had a personal connection to horses, but alone out there in the soft twilight with the fading of the bells, the spirited physicality and gentle curiosity of i cavalli affected me deeply.  I stood, transfixed, for some time until the horses and I broke our silent communion and I entered the Cathedral to sit before the “Lady of the Dark Wood.”

It seemed that a kind of mystical transaction happened in that “free and protected space”* of Einsiedeln. Was it a primal life force from our Earth Mother, channeled through the figure of the Black Madonna and amplified by the highly-charged sub-alpine atmosphere? Granted, the rigorous daily practices and self-reflections of the intensive Sandplay study made me more permeable to numinous Earth matter/mater. Yet it was the horses, with their intrinsic connection to the Madonna as mediatrix of the material-ineffable, their corporality of powerful moving earth energy and alert gracefulness, that drew me into their fully-embodied experience. Now, a year later, there are moments as I traverse the well-trodden paths of life’s landscape, when I thrill to feel the mysterious stirring of my own equine energies.

* A “free and protected space” is how Dora Kalff, creator of Sandplay therapy, described both the securely bounded container of the sandtray itself, as well as the atmosphere of unconditional witnessing by the therapist, in which a client is able to engage in healing “play.”

Jennifer Fendya, Ph.D. is a Psychologist in private practice, student of Nalanda Miksang photography, co-curator of the gallery at the C.G. Jung Center, Buffalo and member of the Board of Directors of the Analytical Psychology Society of Western New York. She currently is training in Sandplay therapy. These photos are from a larger collection shown earlier this year in a three-person exhibition, “2014 – Year of the Horse,” at the CG Jung Center, Buffalo.

 

 ****

 

 

Brenda Littleton, MA, MFT is a book artist, a poet, painter, and Jungian counselor, having studied at Pacifica Graduate Institute in both the depth doctoral program, and in the MFT counseling masters program. Long-term research with literacy of place, of participation mystique, and the personal relationship with image/mythic symbols contributes to her private counseling practice.

 

 ****

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

 

 

Candace French, Contemporary Abstract Artist, rediscovered her passion for art after she experienced the tragic loss of a loved one and her dreams called her to creatively express herself through painting. Her bold use of color, texture and layers, are engaging and invite the viewer to explore a deeper experience of life’s mystery and connection with the Divine.

 

 ****

 

 

Janet Clark began to paint when she was a training candidate in Zurich in the early 1980’s. Today she is a partner in a real estate investment company and a full-time student at the Texas Academy of Figurative Art in Ft. Worth, Texas.

 

 ****

 

 

Built mostly of old scrap steel, this kinetic sculpture is a fairly accurate model as described by the great psychologist Carl Jung. Its pulleys, spinning mirrors and creaking parts demonstrate the psyche at work.

NOTE: This image links to an online “Prezi” file which should be viewable and interactive online. Just click on the image and then continue to click the right arrow to step through the features of the model.

You may also find the interactive file at ­ ­ ­ ­http://prezi.com/nxn8klzq6vmq/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

 

Tim Holmes is the first American artist ever honored with a solo exhibition in the Hermitage museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where three of his works remain in the permanent collection. He is recognized for many international human rights projects and peace awards such as the U.N. Peace Prize for Women. Archbishop Tutu, President Jimmy Carter, President Vaclav Havel, and Coretta Scott King are among his notable collectors. Holmes has lectured and taught workshops around the country and in Europe. He believes that art is the medicine that will heal the world.

 

 

 ****