Jungian Sandplay Water in sandplay Marion Anderson, PhD Certified - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Jungian Sandplay Water in sandplay

Marion Anderson, PhD Certified Jungian analyst IAAP Sandplay therapist CST-T STA/ ISST

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The Bible mentions water over 440 times

• nly in the new testament

2 Handout Water presentation SD - December 9, 2019

Cherokee creation myth

In the beginning, there was just water. All the animals lived above it and the sky was

• vercrowded. They were all curious about what was

beneath the water and one day Dayuni’si, the water beetle, volunteered to explore it. He explored the surface but could not find any solid ground. He explored below the surface to the bottom and all he found was mud which he brought back to the

• surface. After collecting the mud, it began to grow

in size and spread outwards until it became Earth as we know it.

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What does water represent in the Psyche?

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• The eternal
• Spiritual/celestial
• Mother symbol/feminine realm, holding and

involving, protective, cleansing

• Negative aspects: devouring, destructive,

undermining

• Fluidity, impermanence
• Fertility, new growth
• Flexibility
• Feelings
• Representation of the inner flow of energy
• Fairy tales: vital resources for the hero

5

I Ching

• Hexagram 48 “the well”
• Hexagram 29 K’AN

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“An old alchemical dictum says. ’Dissolve the matter in its own water.’ This is what we do when we try to understand the process of psychotherapy in terms of alchemy” Edward Edinger, Anatomy of the psyche

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“The real nature of matter was unknown to the alchemist; he knew it only in hints. Inasmuch as he tried to explore it he projected the unconscious into the darkness of matter in

• rder to illuminate it…

Jung in Psychology and Alchemy § 345

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“While working on his alchemical experiences, the

• perator had certain psychic experiences which

appeared to him as the particular behavior of the chemical process. Since it was a question of projection, he was naturally unconscious on the fact, that the experience had nothing to do with matter itself. He experienced his projection as a property of matter, but what he was in reality experiencing was his own unconscious. “

Jung in Psychology and Alchemy § 345

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Why is this relevant to sandplay?

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• “ what makes Alchemy so valuable for

psychotherapy is that its images concretize the experiences of the transformation, that one undergoes in psychotherapy. Taken as a whole, Alchemy provides a kind of anatomy of

• individuation. Its images will be most

meaningful of course to those who have had a personal experience of the unconscious “

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Sandtray :

• Can be seen as an alchemical vessel where the

psychic transformation can occur

• Space or uterus, a safe and sacred place where

healing can take place

• Interpretation of imagery is often helpful in the

symbolic understanding of the process, be it through the color, content or through the processes described.

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” For sandplay joins the Operatio, the practical work at the sandtray and Theoria, the theoretical elaboration of the action. “

Ruth Ammann

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• Solutio dissolution of the materia prima
• Separatio separating the single components
• Coagulatio solidifying contents
• Calcinatio incinerating
• Mortificatio death of the material to be reborn
• Sublimatio process of evaporating
• Coniunctio reuniting the opposites

“major life transitions are commonly solutio experiences”

Edinger Anatomy of the Psyche pg. 68

Alchemical operations and processes in the Psyche

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Edinger, Anatomy f the psyche chapter Solutio

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Cleansing Fertility Bath Baptism Venus Rejuvenation Rebirth Healing Tears Flood Drowning Melting Blackness Decay Desmemberment Chaos

Positive Solutio

Negative Solutio

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Psychological Meaning

• Alchemical stage of Solutio (Facilitates de-

integration process)

• Represents flow and immersion in the psyche
• Depth of the psyche, the unconscious
• Fertility and new meaning
• Washing and cleansing
• Rituals

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Water in Sandplay

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• Not much literature available
• Personal experience and practice
• The therapist’s attitude
• Challenges for therapists
• Unleash regression at service of the ego
• How water is provided

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Psychological Meaning

• Contact and rebuild inner chaos
• Structure consciousness
• Facilitate de-integration process
• Contact fertility and new meaning
• Washing and cleansing
• Rituals

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Different stages of the sand, symbolic meaning and counter-transference

• 1. Dry sand
• 2. Moist sand
• 3. Wet sand
• 4. Saturated sand
• 5. Flooded sand

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Different ways how the symbol of water is present in Sandplay

• Importance of water usage
• 1. The bottom of the tray appears
• 2. Symbols of water show up
• 3. Water is added to the sand
• 4. Water is added to a container
• 5. Wet sand
• 6. Sand is flooded with water

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Some clinical observations:

• Important when water (symbolically or physically)

appears

• Excessive use of water is rare at the beginning of

therapy.

• The end of therapy does not mean no water or

flooding anymore. Usage and symbolism is different.

• Inundations at the end of therapy process often

related to client’s feeling about termination of process

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And how does the analyst feel when Solutio happens in the tray?

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Therapist’s perspective:

Outer circumstances

• Fear that the tray might leak or break
• The miniatures might spoil or disintegrate
• Mess to clean up after the session
• Efforts to control the use of water

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Inner processes

• Difficulty in dealing with the mud and disintegration on a

psychic level

• Bodily sensations of anxiety when a beautiful tray disintegrates
• What happens in the live of the therapist at this moment?
• How does the therapist’s psyche influence what is going on in

the sand tray?

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