The Absent Father Effect on Daughters: Father Desire, Father Wound (workshop)

The workshop will illuminate through a fairy tale and discussion the ramifications of identification with or ignorance of the absent father. Because a daughter does not appear in his vision, she receives no reflection from him. She is left to wonder of her value and if she is worthy of loving herself and others. She retains a hole in her heart, the threads of her personality ruptured. His absence may lead him to question what he wishes for her, and how he has damaged and limited her growth. Participants will have experiential opportunities to explore ways to repair the missing pieces. Both lecture and workshop apply to everyone, as the aspects of fathers and daughters are internal figures, appear in dreams and in all relationships. Being trapped in a complex of absence and lack can sap energy and deplete the person and the culture.