A shamanic dimension to my analytic work is an area of experience I have not sought out, but which has found me. It has found me without any recourse to psychedelic drugs or any conscious expectation. I feel like an innocent bystander, where the collective unconscious snook up on me unawares, not as a frontal assault but taking a path that the unconscious, in its purest form, seems often to take, in percolating up from the depths and gradually making its presence felt, unbeknown to the recipient.

The context for this has been ancient shamanic art. I grew up in a family where any form of culture was conspicuous by its absence – no books, no pictures, no music. It was a cultural desert. I was a blank canvas. Then out of the blue I was introduced to ancient art. Some pieces found a home in my consulting room which, in hindsight, had a shamanic connection to ancient civilisations. They had a strange power of their own, imposing themselves on my room, my life, and my patients. I would like to trace the journey of living with this art, and its impact, connecting me to a world of collective phenomena that has transformed my view of time and space. This has been a very moving experience.

I would like to give a series of clinical examples of how ancient art dovetailed with analytic practice, to bring about striking change, often with very traumatised patients. With such patients there is a raw connection to the various layers of the collective unconscious.

I’m reminded of the words of Leonard Cohen : “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”. For those with the deepest crack, there is sometimes an access to a brighter light.

I would like to set this in context and talk about a shamanic view of the world, which seems to have emerged right across the continents, thousands of years ago. I will do this with particular reference to South and Meso America, the cultures with which I am most familiar. The shaman is normally a damaged individual who crossed boundaries of space and time, who accessed the collective unconscious, containing individuals and communities.

I would also like to explore Jung’s work on this theme, and also the work of Stanislav Grof, who brought together analysis and the use of psychodelics and holotropic breathing, as ways of bringing healing to deeply traumatised patients.

Programme:

Seminar 1 – 09th Sep 2023
The “animal” is a central theme in shamanic journeys into the unconscious world, as is the “anima” in an analytic journey negotiating trauma. I would like to reflect on this theme in relation to a very traumatised man, Francis Bacon and the exhibition of his work at the Royal Academy – “Man and Beast” – looking at Bacon’s access to, and the power of, the “animal/visceral” in his own unconscious journey. Then I would like to explore the “animal/anima” in the consulting room particu- larly in relation to ancient art and quite striking ways that this art has impacted a number of patients in healing trauma. Finally I would like to think about the poet Ted Hughes and his quite extreme relationship to animals and how this played out in his own traumatic journey through life.

Seminar 2 – 23rd Sep 2023
I would like to explore the nature of time in analytic/shamanic journeys starting with the Peru exhibition at the British Museum – “A Journey in Time“ – looking at the fluidity of time and space in South American thought, and in our dreams – the way that the present relates to the past and the future in the dreamspace of our own lives and the lives of patients as they negotiate past experiences including interuterine and birth trauma. I would like to share some encounters between me and a patient centering around a very ancient Peruvian culture facilitating a deep connection between us.

Seminar 3 – 21 Oct 2023
I would like to explore some important aspects of Jung’s traumatic life, and a detailed exploration of entering into a patient’s complex and highly traumatised transgenerational dreamspace, where a very shamanic journey together, through quite extreme trauma, resonated with certain important aspects of Jung’s life and threw some light on Jung’s sexual acting out. The essence of trauma is a profound aloneness with intensely painful experiences. I would suggest that entering into a patient’s experience at the centre of their trauma where boundaries between dissolve, opens the door to healing as they are no longer alone.

Seminar 4 – 25 Nov 2023
I would like to explore the work of Stanislav Grof who augmented his analytic work with his patients taking mind altering drugs. He speaks of the trauma associated with four stages of birth which prefigure patient’s traumatic dreamworlds. He also speaks of birth and death as entry and exit points of contact with what he calls the cosmic matrix/the collective unconscious. He speaks of this as transcending space and time and facilitating contact with archetypal figures which Jung encountered in good measure. I would like to give some clinical examples of patients negotiating this interface and the healing impact of this. Finally I would like to explore Christopher Bache’s 73 LSD trips that he records in his book “LSD and the Mind of the Universe” and his exploring deeper layers of the Collective Unconscious and the impact on his life.

Reading recommendations:
Francis Bacon catalogue – RA exhibition – “Man and Beast”,
YouTube video about Ted Hughes – “Stronger than death”,
British Museum Peru exhibition “Journey in Time”,
Memories, dreams, reflections – Jung’s autobiography,
“Healing Our Deepest Wounds: The Holotropic Paradigm Shift” by Stanislav Grof.
Christopher Bache – “LSD and the mind of the Universe”.