The meaning and importance of a father’s blessing to transform the space between us

Wounding and Blessing.
This is a year when we have begun to acknowledge some of the many ways the culture of the United States wounds us with its many disparities. The Masculine Awareness Committee (2019) was established by the Board to recognize and repair a long-standing disparity that led to wounding: a felt lack of being seen and heard by our male sandplay therapists, amongst the much larger group of female sandplay therapists. Of our Committee’s work David Capitolo, the chairperson says, “We members have participated in and achieved something unique. We became vulnerable with each other and shared personally and deeply our experiences of our fathers’ blessings.” The Father’s Blessing refers to a father seeing, recognizing, and loving as unique, his children, male and female. This numinous and enduring experience is really an archetypal masculine energy within all of us that must be encountered,
purified, blessed and integrated into the larger Self if we are to move towards
balance. It impacts sandplay therapy for both therapist and client.
We will share our work through:
• the story of the Navajo Twins Seeking their father’s blessing via both
masculine and feminine helpers
• experiential opportunities for participants; and
• sandplay case vignettes presented by four members