Aesculapiads.files.wordpress.com



Polytheism and Mental HealthWorkshop ReportIn attendance: Kurt Lampe (classicist and philosopher, pagan, trainee therapist), Angela Voss (academic expert in pagan studies, astrologer), Isabel de Salis (psychotherapist, medical anthropologist), Jack Hunter (anthropologist and expert in pagan studies and the occult), John Chacksfield (psychotherapist, mental health manager, Golden Dawn practitioenr), Evelyn Shackley (psychotherapist), Kieron Gurner, Rhodri Karim (trainee psychotherapist, president of the Bristol psychedelic society, occultist), Nick Woodward (shamanic practitioner and former supervisor at the Sacred Trust), David Leech (philosopher of religion), Vanda Zajko (classicist), Fran Randerson (trainee therapist, pagan), Angus Bailey (psychotherapist), Richard Seaford (classicist), Georgia Petridou (expert in ancient medicine), , Virginia Rowan, Ruth Cogan (Bristol Goddess Temple), Conor McCormack (independent film-maker, Lacanian psychoanalyst), Maria Lopez (PhD student, classics)Apologies: Polly Wood (GP, psychotherapist), Steve Marrett (psychotherapist), Susan Haase-Derrett (psychotherapist), Joffrey Mendes (trainee psychotherapist), Esther Eidinow (expert in ancient religion), Simao de Cortes (PhD student)NB: Six other local academics, therapists, or pagan practitioners expressed a strong interest in attending, but could not make this date. Networking events, in my experience, either enter a death spiral during the first hour or come together, with topics of shared interest gathering consistency and enthusiasm as time goes on. I modestly think that for almost all participants, this event fell into the latter category.The workshop involved three short presentations, totally a little over an hour, and more than 3 hours of structured conversation. Kurt spoke first in order to explain the aims of this particular workshop and the pathway forward, which is applications for larger grants. If we are successful, we would run a series of workshops in 2019-2020. Kurt went on to illustrate with myths about the healing of Orestes and associated ritual ecosystems the sorts of questions he would like to address with this group. In a nutshell, he commented that the dominant paradigm of both transpersonal psychology is and esoteric practice is focused on enlarging, deepening, or expanding “consciousness.” He asked how we could enrich this paradigm by taking into account developments in many fields. Prominent among these would be anthropological approaches to “the new animism” and philosophical approaches to “ecology.” (Time allowing, he would have added “extended” or “enactive” mind and emotion and structuralist approaches to Greek religion, which have now achieved remarkable levels of sophistication and empirical application.) All of these theories have important practical consequences for the lived experiences of both spiritually-oriented therapy and pagan practice. Kurt asked participants to discuss in small groups (and then as a large group) what questions they wanted to raise in this multidisciplinary and multiprofessional workshop.Isabel spoke next about an illness and system of diagnosis and healing in Malawi that is – in the minds of the people who experience it – simultaneously bodily, spiritual, and social. Isabel’s presentation exemplified beautifully how interpersonal dynamics, spirit entities, and healing professions and institutions interlock. In this way it helped to crystallize discussions around Kurt’s paper. It also raised questions about tensions between western mental health and spiritual traditions – questions that recurred throughout the workshop, and not only with respect to non-western societies. For instance, afterwards we drifted into discussion of the operating theatre as “sacred space.” After all, it is certainly a place of life and death, where “purity” is required. But if all sacred spaces are occupied by spirits, not all spirits are accessible for mentally and emotionally meaningful interaction. This recalled an issue that came up in the discussion between papers, namely the need to connect with the “ground of being.” (On the other hand, it was also remarked that some people are all too immersed in meanings and energies, which they need instead to “drain off.” Although various knowledgeable people in the workshop mentioned in passing how disorders we classify as “schizophrenia” or “bipolar disorder” in the west can be cared for in non-western, spiritual traditions, we did not discuss this in detail. It is something to which we should return.)Angela spoke last. She described the “transformative education” ethos of her MA in Myth, Cosmology, and the Sacred at Canterbury Christchurch, which combines critical and “objective” study of sacred texts and practices with various forms of personal engagement. Then, in her talk and in subsequent discussion, she also discussed her practice as an astrologer. She testified explained astrology as an imaginary system, whose symbols and configurations had powerful meaning effects for those who consulted her. Conversation afterward drifted into Big Questions about the forms of discourse and thinking that are validated or discouraged in mainstream British culture and the consequences for mental wellbeing. Although Angela was careful to insist that astrology is not therapy, we also discussed the analogy, considering the empowerment and risks of the psychodynamic relationship between astrologers and those who consult them. K. Lampe 2.7.2018 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download