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Transpersonal studies is an international journal of transpersonal studies. It publishes articles on a wide range of topics. Editors include Glenn hartelius, christine brooks, and courtenay crouch.
Transpersonal studies is an international journal of transpersonal studies. It publishes articles on a wide range of topics. Editors include Glenn hartelius, christine brooks, and courtenay crouch.
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Transpersonal studies is an international journal of transpersonal studies. It publishes articles on a wide range of topics. Editors include Glenn hartelius, christine brooks, and courtenay crouch.
Droits d'auteur :
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Formats disponibles
Téléchargez comme PDF, TXT ou lisez en ligne sur Scribd
Altered States During Shamanic Drumming: A Phenomenological Study
Anette Kjellgren & Anders Eriksson A Chakra System Model of Lifespan DevelopmentK. Candis Best SPECIAL TOPIC: Transpersonal Feminism Introduction to Special Topic SectionChristine Brooks & Courtenay Crouch Unidentifed Allies: Intersections of Feminist and Transpersonal Tought and Potential Contributions to Social ChangeChristine Brooks
Ecology of the Erotic in a Myth of InannaJudy Grahn Mothering Fundamentalism: Te Transformation of Modern Women into FundamentalistsSophia Korb Psychospiritual Development of Female Adoptees Raised Within a Closed Adoption System: A Teoretical Model Within a Feminist and Jungian PerspectiveApril E. Topfer
Te Word, the Body, and the Kinfolk: Te Intersection of Transpersonal Tought with Womanist Approaches to PsychologyJuko Martina Holiday
A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family SystemsIrene Sheiner Lazarus
Te Wheel of the Year as a Spiritual Psychology for WomenValeire Kim Duckett
Eclipse (Poem)Judy Schavrien
War and Nature in Classical Athens and Today: Demoting and Restoring the Underground GoddessesJudy Schavrien A Reply to CaprilesJohn Abramson
Volume 29(2), 2010 ranspersonal Studies T
he International Journal of International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Table of Contents Editors IntroductionGlenn Hartelius iii Altered States During Shamanic Drumming: A Phenomenological Study Anette Kjellgren & Anders Eriksson 1 A Chakra System Model of Lifespan DevelopmentK. Candis Best 11 SPECIAL TOPIC: Transpersonal Feminism Introduction to Special Topic SectionChristine Brooks & Courtenay Crouch 28 Unidentifed Allies: Intersections of Feminist and Transpersonal Tought and Potential Contributions to Social ChangeChristine Brooks 33
Ecology of the Erotic in a Myth of InannaJudy Grahn 58 Mothering Fundamentalism: Te Transformation of Modern Women into FundamentalistsSophia Korb 68 Psychospiritual Development of Female Adoptees Raised Within a Closed Adoption System: A Teoretical Model Within a Feminist and Jungian PerspectiveApril E. Topfer 87
Te Word, the Body, and the Kinfolk: Te Intersection of Transpersonal Tought with Womanist Approaches to PsychologyJuko Martina Holiday 103
A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family SystemsIrene Sheiner Lazarus 121
Te Wheel of the Year as a Spiritual Psychology for WomenValeire Kim Duckett 137
Eclipse (Poem)Judy Schavrien 152
War and Nature in Classical Athens and Today: Demoting and Restoring 153 the Underground GoddessesJudy Schavrien A Reply to CaprilesJohn Abramson 180 T
he International Journal of ranspersonal Studies Volume 29(2), 2010 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies The Internatonal Journal of Transpersonal Studes Volume 29, Issue 2, 2010 Editor Glenn Hartelius Senior Editor Harris Friedman Coordinating Editor Les Lancaster Assistant Editor Maureen Harrahy Honorary Editor Stanley Krippner Editors Emeriti Don Diespecker Philippe Gross Douglas A. MacDonald Sam Shapiro Special Topic Editors Christine Brooks Courtenay Crouch Associate Managing Editors Jessica Bockler Charles Flores Cheryl Fracasso Adam Rock Rochelle Suri Associate Circulation Editor Adrian Andreescu Editorial Assistant Lila Hartelius Publisher Floraglades Foundation, Incorporated 1270 Tom Coker Road LaBelle, FL 33935 2010 by Floraglades Foundation, Inc. All Rights Reserved ISSN (Print) 1321-0122 ISSN (Electronic) 1942-3241 Board of Editors Manuel Almendro (Spain) Rosemarie Anderson (USA) Liora Birnbaum (Israel) Laura Boggio Gilot (Italy) Jacek Brewczynski (USA) Sren Brier (Denmark) Elias Capriles (Venezuela) Michael Daniels (UK) John Davis (USA) Wlodzislaw Duch (Poland) James Fadiman (USA) Jorge N. Ferrer (Spain/USA) Joachim Galuska (Germany) David Y. F. Ho (Hong Kong, China) Daniel Holland (USA) Chad Johnson (USA) Bruno G. Just (Australia) Sean Kelly (USA) Jefrey Kuentzel (USA) S. K. Kiran Kumar (India) Charles Laughlin (Canada/USA) Olga Louchakova (USA) Vladimir Maykov (Russia) Axel A. Randrup (Denmark) Vitor Rodriguez (Portugal) Brent Dean Robbins (USA) Mario Simes (Portugal) Charles Tart (USA) Rosanna Vitale (Canada) John Welwood (USA) International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Editors Introduction International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 2010, pp. iii-iv T he International Journal of Transpersonal Studies (IJTS) has a three-fold mission: to build and enrich the literature of transpersonal psychology and related felds, to encourage the publication of empirical research in these felds, and to expand transpersonal studies by cultivating the use of a transpersonal approach to other areas of scholarship. Te current issue advances all three of these goals. Early in the transpersonal felds history it was recognized that other disciplines of study contributed to transpersonal psychology (Boucouvalas, 1980). Later it became clear that transpersonal approaches might also develop in non-psychology areas such as sociology, education, anthropology (Walsh, 1993), medicine (Achterberg, 1992), and business (Schott, 1992). Some felds not carrying the transpersonal name have also been seen as closely related, such as ecopsychology (Davis, 1998) and somatics (Walsh, 1993). Tese disciplines arguably belong under the umbrella of transpersonal studies, to which this journal is devoted. In addition to cultivating transpersonal disci- plines, IJTS also supports the development of transper- sonal approaches within felds with which there are signifcant points of overlap. Contemporary feminism is one of these felds, and the Special Topic in this issue ofers papers that explore a transpersonal approach to feminist thought and research. Tese are previewed by Special Topic editors Christine Brooks and Courtenay Crouch in the editoral introduction to that section. In this way, a major portion of the issue is devoted to pursuing the third of the journals goals. Te second goal, promotion of empirical work in transpersonal psychology, is furthered by one of the two general articles also presented here: a phenomenological study by Anette Kjellgren and Anders Eriksson on altered states experienced during shamanic-like drumming. Te result is a clear description of the experience of shamanic-like journeying, richly studded with the personal language of the participants. While shamanic experiences have been of great interest to transpersonal psychologists, this study is one of a small number that investigate the processes associated with shamanic journeying in a systematic way. Te importance of empirical work within transpersonal studies cannot be overemphasized. Transpersonal felds are rich with theory and philosophy, and while there is some evidence that the trend is toward more research within tranperonal psychology (G. Rothe, personal communication, June 6, 2011), there is much low-hanging fruit in terms of opportunities to test transpersonal ideas empirically. For this reason, IJTS gives precedence to empirical submissions. A second paper, by Candace Best, ofers a lifespan development model based on the traditional Indian chakra system. In this view, the fetal stage and approximately the frst 16 months after birth correspond to the root chakra, which sits at the base of the spine. Tis chakra is associated with the rudimentary processes of existence. From here the average individual passes through stages associated with another three of the seven chakras: the sacral, navel, and heart chakras. Te heart chakra corresponds to the stages of middle adulthood through old age. For individuals with exceptional spiritual development, the throat, brow, and crown chakras may also open, bringing with them higher human capacities. Tis paper represents an area not yet well developed within transpersonal psychology, and thus particularly noteworthy. Additionally, the issue contains a response by John Abramson to the extensive work of Elias Capriles International Journal of Transpersonal Studies v presented in Volume 28(2) of this journal. Capriles paper ofered a detailed critique of three major transpersonal theoristsWilber, Grof, and Washburnfrom the perspective of Dzogchen Buddhism. Abramsons comments acknowledged much of Capriles critiques of Wilber, but ofered several correctives, mainly along the line that Capriles work did not take into consideration Wilbers most recent theoretical advances. Tis is a familiar theme in such rebuttals of Wilbers critics, due in part to the fact that Wilber shifts his views frequently (MacDonald, 2007). In this case the point is accurate, as Capriles was re-stating critiques written some years prior (also published in IJTS; see Capriles, 2000); Wilbers work was not the major focus of this paper. Abramsons points of correction are thus fair-minded and specifc, and a helpful clarifcation. IJTS is committed to advancing dialogue and scholarship within transpersonal studies, and the volunteer staf that helps to produce the journal is growing in both size and skill. Without them, the many authors who have shared the fruits of their work, and the reviewers who have helped to strengthen those eforts, the journals contributions would be impossible. My sincere thanks to each and every one. Glenn Hartelius, Editor Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Achterberg, J. (1992). Transpersonal medicineA proposed system of healing. ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation, 14(3), 140-148. Boucouvalas, M. (1980). Transpersonal psychology: A working outline of the feld. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 12(1), 37-46. Davis, J. (1998). Te transpersonal dimensions of ecopsychology: Nature, nonduality, and spiritual practice. Humanist Psychologist, 26(1-3), 60-100. MacDonald, D. A. (2007). Wheres that wascally wilber? Te challenges of hitting a moving target. PsychCritiques, 52(13). Schott, R. L. (1992). Abraham Maslow, humanistic psychology and organization leadership: A Jungian perspective. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 32(1), 106-120. Walsh, R. (1993). Te transpersonal movement: A history and state of the art. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 25(2), 123-139. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 1 Altered States During Shamanic Drumming Altered States During Shamanic Drumming: A Phenomenological Study
Anette Kjellgren & Anders Eriksson University of Karlstad Karlstad, Sweden Tis study investigated the experiences gained from a 20-minute shamanic-like drumming session. Twenty-two persons participated and made written descriptions afterwards about their experiences. A phenomenological analysis was applied which generated 31 categories, that were organized into six themes: 1) Te undertaking of the drumming journey, 2) Perceptual phenomena: visual, auditory and somatic, 3) Encounters, 4) Active vs. Passive role, 5) Inner wisdom and guidance, and 6) Refections on the drumming journey. A multitude of detailed experiences were described such as visual imagery, hearing sounds, encountering animals, as well as gaining insights. Participants generally appreciated the drumming session and few negative efects were noted. Te conclusion made is that shamanic-like drumming can be a valuable supplement to other psychotherapeutic techniques. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 2010, pp. 1-10 T he drum is an important tool in indigenous cultures for achieving shamanic visionary trance states (often described as journeys). Drumming can be used alone or in combination with singing or dancing. Te main rhythm used in drumming for shamanic purposes is typically a steady rhythm of about 4 to 5 beats per second (Neher, 1962; Symmons & Morris, 1997). Tese frequencies correspond to the theta dominated activity in the brain (Neher, 1962), which also seems to facilitate visionary experiences with vivid imagery, altered states of consciousness and perhaps also experiences of paranormal occurrences (Symmons & Morris, 1997). During this journey the shaman is awake and alert, and is able to move at will between ordinary and non-ordinary reality (Maxfeld, 1994). In the worldview of a shaman, the purpose of such a journey could be for example contacting the spirit world to gain information about which medical plant to be used or how to fnd food. Tis is done for an individual, a family, or a community that seeks his or her help (Metzner, 2009). Some features of altered states of consciousness (ASCs) are perceptual changes, body image changes, disturbed time sense, alterations in cognitive functions, but also experiences best described as mystical or inefable (cf. Kjellgren, 2003). ASCs can be induced by a variety of techniques such as sensory isolation (e.g., prayer, meditation, fotation tank), sensory overload (e.g., rhythmic drumming), physiological methods (e.g., long distance running, hyperventilation) or by psychoactive substances (e.g., LSD, ayahuasca, MDMA). However, diferent opinions on the concept altered states of consciousness exist, and the term is subject to several defnitions. A classic defnition by Tart (1972) is a qualitative alteration in the overall pattern and mental functioning, such that the experiencer feels his consciousness is radically diferent from the way it functions ordinarily (p. 1203). Another defnition by Krippner (1972) is a mental state which can be subjectively recognised by an individual (or by an objective observer of the individual) as representing a diference in psychological functioning from the individuals normal alert state (p. 1). In these defnitions, ASC is described as a recognised deviation in psychological functioning compared to the ordinary baseline normal state. Rock and Krippner (2007) have pointed out a possible confusion in the discussion of altered states of consciousness, where consciousness per se is confused with the content of consciousness. Tey emphasize that the term altered pattern of phenomenological properties should be used instead of ASC, to minimize this confusion. Tis is an important distinction, which needs to be discussed further. Also, whether or not shamanic journeying states are really altered states is, in fact, a contentious issue in the literature (see, e.g., Krippner, 2002). For the present study, we are using the term ASC as a way of describing subjective alterations in psychological functions, as compared to the experienced normal state. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 2 Kjellgren & Eriksson In a historical perspective ASC might be considered the worlds oldest healing method (cf. Eliade, 1972). Ancient cultures and native shamanistic societies have used consciousness altering techniques for the purpose of healing and wellbeing for persons suffering from diverse ailments. Several scientific studies indicate positive and healing effects for methods known to induce ASCs, such as meditation (cf. Kjellgren & Taylor, 2008), sensory isolation in f lotation tanks (Bood et al., 2006; Kjellgren, Sundequist, Norlander, & Archer, 2001), yoga (Kjellgren, Bood, Axelsson, Norlander, & Saatcioglu, 2007) and psychedelic drugs in a spiritual or clinical setting (Johansen & Krebs, 2009; Kjellgren, Eriksson, & Norlander, 2009; McKenna, 2004; Morris, 2008). Drumming as a method for achieving ASCs or spiritual experiences also became popular in the New Age or neo-shamanic movement in the Western world (Bittman et al., 2001; Lindquist, 1997). Te book, Te Way of the Shaman, by Michael Harner (1990) has likely been one of the factors contributing to this interest. Since the participants in the present study were not shamans, we have used the term shamanic- like drumming instead of shamanic drumming, as suggested by Rock, Abbot, Childargushi, and Kiehne (2008): Techniques may be conceptualized as shamanic- like insofar as they bear some relation to shamanic techniques and yet depart from what may properly be called shamanism. For example, listening to monotonous drumming to facilitate soul fight on behalf of ones community may be considered a shamanic technique, while recreationally listening to monotonous drumming to facilitate purported shifts in consciousness is merely shamanic-like. (p. 80) It was early pointed out by Walsh (1989) that scientifc research on drumming was rather neglected and that such studies were needed. Since then several studies have been performed, evaluating the phenomenological efects and diferent aspects of monotonous drumming such as change in mood and visual imagery, as well as comparisons with other induction techniques or instructions (Rock, 2006; Rock, Abbott, Childargushi, & Kiehne, 2008; Rock, Abbott, & Kambouropoulos; 2008; Rock, Baynes, & Casey, 2005; Rock, Casey, & Baynes, 2006; Rock, Wilson, Johnson, & Levesque, 2008; Woodside, Kumar, & Pekala, 1997). In the study by Rock (2006) a thorough analysis of phenomenological contents during rhythmic drumming (as well as for other induction techniques and control condition) was performed. As an extra manipulation control, this study investigated the efects of a shamanic journeying instruction (as proposed by Harner, 1990) about how to perform the journey and also if an additional religious information afected the outcome. Another aim with this study was also to explore the origin of the mental imagery. Several themes emerged in the phenomenological analysis of participants experiences such as predatory creatures, whirlpools, helping spirits, obstacles, and religious mental imagery. Shamanic journeying instruction coupled with religious instruction were associated with the highest religious imagery, and it was concluded taht most of the visual images were primarily from autobiographical memories. All techniques involving ASCs (both non-drug as well as drug induced) are heavily infuenced by a persons set (expectancies) and the setting (environment and circumstances) where the technique or method is performed (Gustafson, 1991). We are interested in analyzing the psychological experiences obtained during shamanic-like monotonous drumming and how such experiences are interpreted. Since we realized that the set and setting are of great importance we deliberately chose participants with an interest in transpersonal psychology in the hope that their ability and enthusiasm to engage in a task like this are superior to persons without these interests. We also expect this sampling to generate rich and elaborated descriptions. Method T he aim of the present study was to make a phenomenological analysis of the experiences gained from a shamanic-like drumming journey in a group of Swedish students of transpersonal psychology. Our research questions were: a) What kind of experiences/ themes might emerge? b) Do participants experience some kind of healing or benefcial efects of the drumming journey?, and c) Are there any occurrences of concurrent negative or disturbing experiences? Participants A total of 22 persons (3 males, 19 females), mean age 48.45 years (SD = 12.62), participated in a shamanic-like journeying drumming session. All participants were students in a course on transpersonal psychology at Karlstad University, Sweden. Tey had International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 3 Altered States During Shamanic Drumming on average participated in similar drumming session 2.68 times before (SD = 3.75, range 0 15 times). For six of the participants it was the frst time. Design A shamanic-like drumming session was performed (rhythmic live drumming) in a dimly-lit room for 20 minutes. All participants were lying down on mattresses on the foor. Instructions on how to perform this imaginary journey were given before the drumming started. Afterwards data was collected using written reports. Data collection Data was collected on participants estimation of the time duration of the session, the subjective experience of the process, and the degree to which the phenomenology of the event deviated from normal. Duration estimation. Immediately after the drumming stopped, participants were asked to write down their estimation of the duration (in minutes) of the drumming journey. Te actual length (20 minutes) was not known to the participants. Tey were not informed beforehand that they were going to be asked this question. Drumming experiences. A questionnaire with three questions was constructed for use in this study. Te questions were: 1) Please describe your experiences during the drumming, 2) Was the drumming a positive or a negative event? Please describe, and fnally 3) Were there any experiences during the drumming that you believe can have any importance for your everyday life? Te questionnaire also included questions about age, gender, and number of earlier experiences with drumming journeys. Each participant flled in this in silence after the drumming journey was completed. Te questionnaires were already distributed (upside down) before the drumming began, in order to minimize distraction and movement in the room. Tere was no time limit for flling in this questionnaire. Te data gathered here was used for the phenomenological analysis. Degree of experienced deviation from normal state. As a supplement to the phenomenological research, a set of quantitative data were also gathered using the EDN (Experienced Deviation from Normal state) questionnaire. Tis questionnaire consists of 29 statements (items), each responded to on a VAS-scale 0- 100 mm (endpoints 0 = No, not more than usually; 100 = Yes, much more than usually). Here are some examples of the items: I saw scenes rolling by like in a flm; I could hear sounds without knowing where they came from; Perception of time and space was like in a dream. All the points obtained from these 29 items were averaged to provide an index of experience (0 100). Tese values refect the total experience of deviation from normal states. Te scale reliability measurement Cronbachs alpha for EDN was 0.94 in the present study. Te EDN scale has been used in several earlier studies (e.g., Bood et al., 2006; Kjellgren et al., 2007; Kjellgren & Taylor, 2008; Kjellgren, Lindahl, & Norlander, 2009-2010; Kjellgren & Buhrkall, 2010) with Cronbachs alpha ranging between 0.91 0.97, which indicates very high reliability for this scale. Te validity of the scale has been confrmed in studies where comparisons between treatments such as relaxation in a fotation tank or yoga with control conditions (relaxation in armchair and/or resting on a bed) have been done (Kjellgren, Sundequist, Sundholm, Norlander, & Archer, 2004; Kjellgren et al., 2007). Te EDN-scale has generated consistent measurement across diferent conditions. Te EDN tests have been extensively used in connection with fotation-tank research (e.g., Kjellgren et al., 2001; Kjellgren, 2003). Typical EDN values after an individuals frst experience of sensory isolation in a fotation-tank are about 30 EDN points and about 40 points on subsequent occasions. By comparison, the experience of resting on a bed in a dark, quiet room scores 15 EDN points (Kjellgren et al., 2004). Tere was no time limit for response to this questionnaire. When the questionnaire was completed participants tiptoed out of the room in order to minimize disturbance and interactions. Procedure Before the drumming started all participants were informed that their participation was voluntary and were assured of total confdentiality. Tey were also informed that all the data reporting was to be done independently. Te participants were all gathered in a room with mattresses on the foor. Before the drumming began, all were instructed to perform a Lower world journey as described by Harner (1990). Te instruction involved visualizing (closed eyes) a hole in the ground as an entrance for the journey, then going through a tunnel, and fnally trying to fnd what was at the end of this tunnel. Tey were instructed to search for an answer or solution to a personally pre-formulated question or problem area. Tey were also instructed to visualize going the same way back to ordinary reality International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 4 Kjellgren & Eriksson when the drumming journey ended (indicated by a notable diferent drumming rhythm). All participants laid down on the mattresses, the lights were turned of, curtains were drawn to produce semi-darkness, and then the live drumming (about 4 beat per second) was performed by the frst author. Twenty minutes later the drumming was terminated by four sharp beats repeated three times; thereafter the drum was beaten very rapidly for 30 seconds. Te light was then turned on. Te frst author then asked the participants to write down their estimation of the duration of the journey and then to fll in the questionnaires. When all completed questionnaires had been handed in, participants were invited to gather again in order to talk freely and share their experiences. Tey were all thanked for their participation. Analysis Te participants written descriptions were transferred to a Word fle. Ten, the Empirical Pheno- menological Psychological Method (EPP-method) devised by Gunnar Karlsson (1995) was used in analyzing the data. Te EPP-method comprises an analysis in fve steps and was performed by the frst and second author. Step 1. Tis stage involved reading participants descriptions carefully until a substantial understanding, overview, and sense of the material was obtained. Te aim of this reading was to distinguish relevant psychological phenomena. In this study, the descriptions were read three times in no particular order. Te reading excluded the aim of testing validity or any specifc hypothesis. Step 2. In the second step of the analysis, the text was divided into smaller so-called meaning units (MUs). Tis division is not based upon any rules of grammar, but entirely upon the content the researcher discovers and at places where a suitable shift in meaning occurs. Here is a short example yielding two diferent MUs: 1/ It felt dreamlike, exciting, and primitive but 2/ afterwards I was not able to remember everything that happened. A total of 542 MUs were identifed in the written descriptions. Step 3. During the third step, each MU was transformed from the language of the participant to the language of the researcher. Tis was the frst abstraction of the material. Tis transformation follows no specifc rules; however, everyday language is preferred to psychological terminology. Te purpose is to make the implicit and underlying meaning of a phenomenon visible and explicit. Two examples of transformed MUs (from the examples above): 1) Te participant described feelings of an unusual state, and 2) Te participant described amnesia for some of the drumming experiences. All 542 MUs were transformed, so 542 transformed MUs were transferred to step 4. Step 4. In the fourth step, the 542 transformed MUs were synthesized into categories. An attempt to describe and answer the question how the phenomenon expresses itself (noesis) and what the phenomenon is (noema), were focused on in the categorization. Te categories vary in content depending upon the phenomenon from which they originate. Te categories or situated structures were developed during processing whereby repeated consultations of raw data continued in a hermeneutic manner. Tis was the second abstraction of the material. A total of 31 diferent categories emerged. Tree examples of categories that emerged were: visual imagery, loss of memories, and encounters with animals. All 542 MUs were used when these categories were constructed. Step 5. In this fnal step, the categories were moved into more general themes or typological structures. Tis is the third and last abstraction of the material. Te level of abstraction was decided according to the principle that clarity should be attained without excessive detail. Te purpose was to refect at a more abstract level. Te themes included categories that denoted various aspects of the experience of participating in the shamanic-like drumming: for example the theme Encounters was composed by the following fve categories: Encounters with animals, Encounters with plants, Encounters with insects, Encounters with humans, and Landscapes. Reliability and validity A trustworthiness test, the Norlander Credi- bility Test (NCT), was used for the phenomenological analysis (Edebol, Bood, & Norlander, 2008; Norlander, Grd, Lindholm, & Archer, 2003; Pramling, Norlander, & Archer, 2003) in order to ensure reliability. It was conducted by random selection of fve of the 31 categories. Four of the transformed MUs were then randomly selected from each of these fve categories. Te material was given to two independent assessors. Teir assignment was to put the twenty MUs into the fve diferent categories. One of the tests yielded an 84 % agreement, and the other test yielded an 80% agreement. Te overall agreement was thus 82%. According to Karlsson (1995), high validity is ensured by following the stages of the EPP method. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 5 Altered States During Shamanic Drumming Results T he Empirical Phenomenological Psychological method (EPP; Karlsson, 1995) was used to analyze the material. Te analysis yielded 542 MUs from which 31 categories emerged. Each category illustrated a special perspective on the phenomena studied and, when considered as a whole, the categories can illuminate and provide insight into experiences and meanings derived from the drumming experience. Te categories are presented below (Table 1) in the approximate sequence in which they emerged in the analysis. Each of the 31 categories provides interesting information, and even more so if they are interrelated in a general structure. In the last step of the analysis, the categories were further abstracted and combined into six themes and will be further discussed as such. Te six themes are: 1. Te undertaking of the drumming journey (categories: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 27) 2. Perceptual phenomena: visual, auditory and somatic (categories: 8, 9, 11, and 13) 3. Encounters (categories: 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22) 4. Active vs. Passive role (categories: 7, 10, 12, and 17) 5. Inner wisdom and guidance (categories: 19, 21, 25, and 26) 6. Refections on the drumming journey (categories: 15, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, and 31) Supplementary quantitative data Degree of experienced deviation from normal state (EDN). Te mean value derived from the group was 34.88 (SD = 18.34, range 0.52-66.20). Time perception. Participants estimated the duration of the drumming journey in average as 15.5 minutes (SD = 5.40, range 6 30 min). Te actual time was 20 minutes. Discussion T he aim of the present study was to make a phenomenological analysis of the experiences gained from a shamanic-like drumming journey. A multitude of detailed and elaborated experiences were described by the participants, including rich visual imagery, hearing inner sounds, and gaining psychological insights. Te participants liked the drumming journey and stated that it was a valuable and interesting method. Very few negative experiences were documented. In the light of both the written reports and the quantitative measuring, it seems reasonable to conclude that the participants No. Category (Meaning Units [MUs]) 1 Te setting (10 MUs) 2 Aim (12 MUs) 3 Entry hole (17 MUs) 4 Te tunnel (32 MUs) 5 Infuence of the drumming sound (13 MUs) 6 Movements in diferent levels (8 MUs) 7 Alterations initiated by the free will of the participants (8 MUs) 8 Bodily sensations during the drumming jour- ney (8 MUs) 9 Visual imagery (8 MUs) 10 Experiences of being active with their bodies (17 MUs) 11 Events are passively experienced or seen (33 MUs) 12 Sudden transformations (10 MUs) 13 Inner sounds (8 MUs) 14 Encounters with animals (32 MUs) 15 Refections about power-animals (12 MUs) 16 Encounters with insects (5 MUs) 17 To be an animal (10 MUs) 18 Encounters with plants (17 MUs) 19 Emergence of memories (12 MUs) 20 Encouters with humans (13 MUs) 21 Emotions during the drumming journey (25 MUs) 22 Landscapes (29 MUs) 23 Problems during the drumming journey (36 MUs) 24 Loss of memory (7 MUs) 25 Processing of personal issues (26 MUs) 26 Insights (33 MUs) 27 Return to everyday consciousness (10 MUs) 28 Feelings after the drumming journey (7 MUs) 29 Descriptions about performance of the drum- ming journey (22 MUs) 30 Comparison with other similar experiences (35 MUs) 31 Evaluation of the drumming journey as a method (27 MUs) Table 1. Results of Analysis of Phenomenological Categories International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 6 Kjellgren & Eriksson were induced into a mild altered state of consciousness by the drumming, since their experiences to a great extent seemed to difer from their normal state of being. Te six themes are discussed below. A few illustrative citations from participants are presented (in italics). Te undertaking of the drumming journey Tis frst theme refers to the descriptions given about the experiences of participating in the drumming journey concerning preparation and technical details (e.g., the drum, entry hole, the tunnel) during the drumming (categories: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 27). All participants formulated an aim to themselves before the drumming journey started. Common aims were questions about health issues and personal relations. Tey pointed out that they felt secure and comfortable in the group, and that this factor was of great importance. When the drumming began, participants visualized some kind of entrance into the ground (a well; tree-root; pond) as a starting point for the inner journey. After the entrance they visualized/experienced passing through a tunnel. Many diferent descriptions of what it looked like were given (smooth; straight; dark; narrow) and the passage through it were experienced in diferent ways such as walking, fying, or crawling. For some it was easy, others found it harder. Sooner or later all participants found an exit from the tunnel and experienced entering into an inner landscape (lower world). In this inner landscape (many detailed descriptions of what it looked like were given) participants experienced moving through diferent levels of worlds or realms. In the worldview of indigenous shamanistic cultures the concept of multiple levels of reality is central (Metzner, 2009). Participants also appreciated the rhythm of the drum and experienced the sound as a healing source. Tey pointed out that the drumming was felt as physical sensations in their bodies and how these sensations facilitated the feeling of actually undertaking the journeying. Te drum was also central in signalling the re-entry into normal reality; a task the participants experienced as easy. Perceptual phenomena: visual, auditory, and somatic Te second theme summarizes diferent experiences of perceptual changes (categories: 8, 9, 11, 13) that occurred during the drumming, phenomena usually described as characteristics of altered state of consciousness. Te most common perceptual alterations described were lively visual imagery. Encountering sceneries such as kaleidoscope patterns, spirals, or diferent colors were common, but also descriptions of more detailed sceneries involving gardens, animals, humans, plants or mushrooms. All things perceived were organic forms like landscapes or living beings; nobody reported having seen technological or man-made products or forms. Several acoustic impressions were noted such as hearing futes, running water, songs or even the song of the mountain or of the earth. An altered perception of the body was pointed out, and described as either an increased sensitivity to normal bodily functions (could hear my heartbeats; I felt my aorta) or as physical alterations of functions (tears were running from my eyes; my body changed form; I felt light as a feather). Te participants reported on how the lucidity and clearness of these experiences fuctuated during the course of the drumming journey. Te sensation was described as fuctuating between a dreamlike irrational and a clear focused state, maybe indicative of moving in and out of an ASC. Te perceptual alterations that occurred might suggest that an ASC was achieved during the journey. Te supplementary quantitative measure (EDN-scale) with a mean value of M = 35 strengthens the assumption that an unusual non-ordinary mental state was achieved, approximately equivalent to 45 minutes of sensory isolation in a fotation tank (Kjellgren et al., 2004). Another measure aimed at documenting possible occurrence of ASC was the time-estimation measure. Participants in general underestimated the duration (about 25%) of the journey. Disturbed time perception is one of the hallmarks of ASCs. Apparently the intensity of the drumming state could vary from a very mild experienced deviation from normal state, such as meditative daydreaming with just some perceptual alterations, to more powerful experiences where convincingly detailed scenes pass by similar to the experience being immersed in a flm. Te state induced during the drumming includes several of the important characteristics of ASCs. Despite the discussion in literature regarding the question whether shamanic-like drumming induces an ASC or not (cf. Krippner, 2002), we would like to suggest that the state during the monotonous drumming is best described as an ASC. Encounters Tis theme comprises diferent kinds of encounters (categories: 14, 16, 18, 20, 22) experienced during the drumming journey. Close encounters with landscapes and natural sceneries were commonly described. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 7 Altered States During Shamanic Drumming Sometimes the landscape was perceived from a birds eye view, but mostly from the perspective of walking around in it. In these inner landscapes diferent kinds of beings were encountered, such as humans, animals, plants, and mushrooms. Te humans encountered often seemed to be of native ancestry or from the past, generating an exotic impression (the man with the leopard fur talked to me, advised against going down the slope; the native American presented some twigs to me). Several diferent animals were seen, ranging from amphibians, reptiles, insects, birds, and mammals. Tese meetings often had a stark emotional charge (when I met the brown eagle, waves of excitement few through my body; Te elephant and I put our foreheads together and it warmed my heart, the moment was full of grace) and were regarded as precious moments. Participants wondered whether such highly emotional moments might be an indication of a meeting with their power animal, as described in shamanic traditions. It might be speculated whether the characters or attributes of the encountered animals in some way could be recognized as symbolic metaphors for hitherto unknown or unconscious dimensions of participants own mode of being or acting. Te encounters with plants were described as highly rewarding; old trees with fowers or fruits were common features. Te experience of meeting insects, which was less common, was described as generating feelings of discomfort, and was regarded as a kind of intrusion. Active vs. Passive Role Tis theme describes participants experience of taking an active or a passive role during the journey (categories: 7, 10, 12, 17). Participants reported that they were able to make conscious choices during the journey, such as to change or move into a specifc direction, to create things needed, or to intervene when they sensed that their help was needed. Tey mostly experienced having a physical body and were able to voluntary talk, swim, and walk or do some other activity. But sometimes things changed without their conscious intent; a sudden unexpected movement might occur or they felt thrown into a totally diferent scenery and course of events. Te environment would quickly change from familiar into unfamiliar sceneries during the journey; sometimes this transit was instantaneous. Even their own bodies were suddenly transformed into something else (my mouth was changed into a beak, and my hands were transformed into claws). Tere were many descriptions given of being transformed into animals, mostly referred to as becoming a bird and being able to fy or get a birds eye view (it was a fantastic feeling being a fying sharp-eyed hawk). Such events are common shamanic features. If these experiences occurred because the participants were acquainted with or interested in shamanism could not be ascertained. Inner wisdom and guidance Te ffth theme deals with issues that are best categorized as psychotherapeutic processes (categories: 19, 21, 25, 26). Participants gained insights into specifc problem areas or issues in their lives. Tought processes involving personal problem-solving were initiated, mainly involving three areas: relations, physical health and psychological health. Te insights that arose were experienced as coming from an inner source of wisdom, the emergence of which were said to be facilitated by the drumming. Several persons reported how memories from their childhood emerged which were considered important and of great signifcance. Needs for working/dealing with these memories were expressed. Sometimes such processes or their hidden meaning were revealed later during the journey. Te experiences as such were seen as defning metaphors of their lives (I could see how I tried to harvest the crop before it was ripe, thats exactly how I live my usual life). Many diferent emotions were experienced, mostly as peaceful or harmonious, involving some solution to a problem or life situation (a fantastic euphoric feeling when the eggs hatched, this reassured me everything is going to be fne; I realized I can re-create this feeling of peace and harmony in my daily life). Sometimes the solutions appeared as indirect metaphors, but also as direct recommendations. Te most prominent feature of the insights concerned the importance of taking responsibility for their own lives and not await for others to help them. Te experiences of such deep and valuable insights suggest that the method could serve as a valuable complement to other psychotherapeutic interventions. A therapeutic session subsequent to the drumming journey (as part of a therapeutic treatment programme), would probably have yielded more benefts. Refections on the drumming journey Te last theme summarizes descriptions about participants refections on the drumming journey and sense of awe (categories: 15, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31). Refecting on what was happening while the drumming journey was still going on was regarded as a disturbing problem since it restrained the possibilities of relaxing and going deeper into the experience (I lost focus when I tried to analyze what was happening). Some participants International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 8 Kjellgren & Eriksson reported having problems fnding a suitable starting place (entry hole) or to be able to move forward at all; these problems were encountered during the frst minutes but all of them fnally managed to perform the session. In general, refections in retrospect arose regard- ing the validity and relevance of the experience and its possible applications. Many wondered if the encountered animals constituted a real power animal or not, or if such exists, and if there was a hidden possible meaning. Te drumming session was considered a pleasant method for achieving stress reduction and relaxation. A few stated that they had problems recalling or recapitulating the content of the session. Others refected on the strange or exotic feeling when the body was experienced as still remaining on the foor but the mind wandered and took part in an alternative reality or process independent of the body. Finally, some efects of the drumming session reported were positive feelings of rest and relaxation and that it was an interesting and worthwhile experience (I felt very alert afterwards; I had never done this before but it felt good and was very interesting). It is interesting that the participants reported feeling relaxed despite all the emotional and intense experiences. Tis might be an indication of the healing and benefcial potential of temporarily entering a state of mind quite diferent from the daily normal. Some persons also refected upon the fact that there were some similarities but also diferences between the drumming state and other techniques (e.g., dreams, earlier psychedelic experiences, hypnosis, and fotation tank). Suggestions for future research Many psychologically interesting experiences during a shamanic-like drumming session were documented in the present study. Healing and benefcial efects were reported by the participants. Very few negative experiences were encountered. Tis might be one of the reasonsalong with motivations such as pure curiosity or an urge for spiritual explorationwhy the technique of shamanic-like drumming has gained popularity in the Western world in recent years. Te conclusion is that shamanic-like drumming as a technique can be an interesting and fruitful domain for future research. Its value as a supplement to other psychotherapeutic techniques needs to be investigated and further evaluated, and to establish, for instance, whether there are also negative efects if the method is applied to unprepared or psychologically vulnerable individuals. As far as we know, there have been no studies to date investigating possible risks or adverse efects. Also many diferent physiological studies, investigating changes in factors such as EEG-patterns or hormonal- or immunological functioning could be performed. Possible methodological limitations of the present study Since it is well known that set and setting heavily infuence the experiences during a consciousness-altering technique, it can be argued that the experience of seeing tunnels, meeting animals, and other shamanic elements might simply be the result of instructions given or the expectations of the participants and not by the drumming per se. An experimental study by Rock et. al (2006) suggested that many experiences during shamanic-like journeying involve recall of autobiographical memories. Te experiences recounted in the present study were considered real and genuine by the participants and in a phenomenological study the inner life world is of particular interest. Te intention of this study was not specifcally to prove any particular efects induced by shamanic-like drumming (such a claim would require several randomized controlled trials) but to increase the body of knowledge about what might happen during monotonous drumming. A study with other types of drumming, other instructions or other participants, could have yielded very diferent results. Also, the validity and reliability of a phenomenological analysis can always be questioned. In the present study the NCT with two independent assessors were used (see Method section) in order to increase reliability, and strict adherence to the stages of an EPP-analysis (Karlsson, 1995) ensures high validity. Final remarks In a speculative sense, it may be argued that the drumming journey can be seen as a metaphor for a persons life. Birth happens through the birth canal (symbolized as the tunnel), and one enters into a still unknown world (as in the drumming journey) where many things happen to us as humans. Some of these just happen, others are under our control (theme: active vs. passive role), we encounter and interact with other beings (theme: encounters) and we learn and evolve during our lifetime (theme: inner wisdom and guidance). Te theme refections on the drumming journey is analogous to our refections on our own life. Te beat of the heart make our lives possible, just as the rhythmic pulse of the drum sustains a journey through an alternative perception of life. 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Woodside, L. N., Kumar, V. K., & Pekala, R. J. (1997). Monotonous percussion drumming and trance postures: A controlled evaluation of phenomeno- logical efects. Anthropology of Consciousness, 8, 69- 87. About the Authors Anette Kjellgren, PhD, is working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Karlstad University, Sweden. She has performed studies about sensory isolation in fotation tanks, yoga, meditation, relaxation outdoors in nature, as well as about psychoactive substances. She has an interest for transpersonal psychology and teaches in courses in this feld for students in psychology and psychotherapy. Anders Eriksson, MSc, is a teacher in biology, chemistry and psychology and is currently a psychotherapist student. He is practising yoga, zen meditation and qi-gong on a regular basis, and also has an interest in shamanism. About the Journal Te International Journal of Transpersonal Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal in print since 1981. It is published by Floraglades Foundation, and serves as the ofcial publication of the International Transpersonal Association. Te journal is available online at www. transpersonalstudies.org, and in print through www. lulu.com (search for IJTS). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 11 Chakra Model of Development A Chakra System Model of Lifespan Development
K. Candis Best St. Josephs College Brooklyn, New York, USA Tis article presents a model of lifespan development based upon the tantric chakra system. It begins with a survey of the evolution of transpersonal psychology and its alignment with eastern philosophies as previously espoused by William James, Carl Jung and others. Te chakras are defned in relation to their potential infuence on psychological functioning with a focus on development beyond the level of ego stability and functioning. Building upon prior work integrating the chakra system with developmental processes, this article presents an interpretation of the chakras as a model that defnes a pathway for growth-oriented development. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 2010, pp. 11-27 A ll humans follow a developmental sequence as they mature from infancy through adulthood. Barring signifcant trauma, this sequence can be expected to follow a predictable pattern and to be relatively consistent across cultures (see Broderick & Blewitt, 2006). Over the course of several decades, volumes of research have been conducted on human development resulting in the emergence of discrete categories that organize these theories according to specifc schools of thought. Tey include behavioral, cognitive, interpersonal, object- relations, and evolutionist paradigms among others. Each ontological model has provided a unique perspective on what it means to develop as a person. Among the more recent paradigms to be explored among Western psychologists is the transpersonal, which evolved from the humanistic tradition (Scotton, Chinen, & Battista, 1996). William James has been credited with being the frst Western psychologist to use the term transpersonal in relation to the feld of psychology (Ryan, 2008). From James to Jung, and up through the late 1960s when an actual feld of transpersonal psychology was ostensibly chartered with the publication of the frst issue of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, a dynamic tension has existed concerning the extent to which the feld of psychology is an appropriate venue for exploring matters that are essentially spiritual (Cunningham, 2007; Scotton & Hiatt, 1996). Tis tension can also be viewed as what Walsh and Vaughan (1996) termed a paradigm clash wherein adherents with extensive knowledge of or an epistemological preference for one school of thought are unable to objectively critique theories from other related yet distinct schools (e.g., existentialism vs. transpersonalism). Nonetheless, as the body of literature and re- search in transpersonal psychology has grown over the past several decades, the relationship between transpersonal philosophy and the psychological discipline has defned itself more clearly. Transpersonal psychology is based upon the premise that human function potentiates along a continuum that can be divided into three sections: pre-personal (prior to the formation of a separate ego), personal (ego formation), and transpersonal (superseding a fully functional ego; Nelson, 1994; Rama, Ballentine, & Ajaya, 1976; Scotton & Hiatt, 1996; Wilber, Engler, & Brown, 1986). As a consequence, transpersonal psychology has frmly rooted itself as an anchor on the continuum of human development. Just as the cognitive, evolutionary, and behavioral schools have produced their own theories and perspectives on development, the transpersonal school has also reached a point where discrete theories of development can be profered for critique and analysis. Tis article presents a theory and model of development that is drawn from one of the transpersonal movements earliest sources of inspirationHindu (or yoga) psychology. Western Psychology/Eastern Infuences W hile William James is generally regarded as the father of transpersonal psychology, Carl Jung is credited with being the frst Western psychologist of note to embrace a cross-cultural perspective in the development of his theories (Scotton, Chinen, & Battista, 1996). He is known to have solicited opportunities for his students International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 12 Best to learn about Kundalini Yoga albeit with cautionary caveats due to his belief that Western perspectives were ill-suited for assimilation of tantric approaches (Coward, 1985). Nonetheless, Jung to his credit allowed Eastern philosophies refective of both Hindu and Buddhist belief systems, to emboss some of his most popular theories. Jungs interest in Indian psychology was not an isolated example of the nexus between Eastern and Western views on human psychology. In 1946, noted psychologist and member of the Harvard University Department of Psychology, Gordon Allport, wrote the introduction to a book on Hindu psychology that had as a stated aim the identifcation of synergies between these two seemingly disparate approaches to evaluating the human psyche (Akhilananda, 1946). Traditional views of psychological development are predicated upon the construction of stable psychological structures that can support a healthy ego. Transpersonally oriented developmental theory follows the two great arcs premise advanced by Wilber, Engler, and Brown (1986) in which the frst major phase of development leads to the personality and the second major phase leads beyond it. It is this notion that healthy human functioning requires development beyond the formation and stability of the ego that most clearly has its origins in Eastern philosophy. Neumanns (1954) exhaustive review of the origins and evolution of consciousness on both the individual and collective level made repeated references to Indian and Egyptian mythological scripts. Neumann referred to these scripts to illustrate how the concept of an unfolding collective unconscious manifested itself in the literature and art of antiquity. Both Hindu and Buddhist precepts identify attachment to ego-philic pursuits as the source of misery and discontent. According to the Hindu tradition, this is referred to as samsara. Yoga, which is a word most appropriately used to describe a spiritual course of development, is pursued as a path to the only source of lasting contentment because it has as its goal the transcending of egoic concerns in pursuit of reunion with divine consciousness. However, it cannot be overstated that one must have an ego before it can be transcended. Te unanimity of agreement on this issue is what made it possible for transpersonal psychology to move beyond merely asserting the existence of a tripartite developmental structure to actually describing developmental frameworks that might exist within it. Ken Wilber, as perhaps one of the most prolifc theorists in the feld, has ofered and refned a theory of development based upon the pre-personal, personal, and transpersonal structure (Wilber, 1977, 1980, 2001; Wilber, Engler, & Brown, 1986). Aurobindos (1993) theories are more directly linked to Hindu yoga practice than psychology, but have also infuenced developmental models based on the tripartite structure. Te chakra system model described in this article builds upon this and other related bodies of work by presenting this ancient system in the tantric tradition of Hinduism as a self-contained framework of ontogenic markers indicative of healthy development through to the transpersonal level. One of the enduring strengths of Eastern philosophies is their accommodating stance, which acknowledges that there are multiple paths to the same, or related, destinations. Te Chakras C hakra is the Sanskrit word for wheel. Within the Indian tradition, the chakras represent centers of energy located vertically along the spine. Tese centers of energy are also believed to serve as seats of consciousness. Rama, Ballentine, and Ajaya (1976) refer to the chakras as an inner playroom where the individual explores experiences with consciousness during the course of growth and development. Tis conceptualization is a perfect starting point for considering the chakra system as a developmental model. However, frst a summary description of the chakra system is in order. Te concept of a chakra system of energy or consciousness centers exists in many forms in diferent indigenous systems including Egyptian, Chinese, Native American, Suf, and Kabbalah (Williams, 2008). In addition, even according to the Hindu tradition upon which the present model is based, there are by some estimates more than twenty major and minor chakras (Brennen, 1988). However, most discussions of the chakra system center on the seven major chakras and this is the view upon which the chakra system model is based. Te frst is the Muladhara (root) chakra which is located at the base of the spine. It is identifed with basic survival and self-preservation. Te second is the Svadisthana (sacral) chakra which is located in the genital area. It is identifed with sensuality and procreation. Te third is the Manipura (navel) chakra. It is located in the abdominal or gut area of the solar plexus and is identifed with the assertion of will. Te fourth is the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 13 Chakra Model of Development Anahata (heart) chakra located in the upper chest. It is associated with the expression of unconditional love. Te ffth is the Visuddha (throat) chakra. Located in the throat, it is associated with creativity and expression. Te sixth is the Ajna (brow) chakra and is located in the center of the head behind the eyes. Tis chakra is associated with intuition and wisdom. Finally, the Sahasrara (crown) chakra is located just above the crown of the head and symbolizes not only the highest state of consciousness but complete and total union with the source of all creation (Rama, Ballentine, & Ajaya, 1976; Scotton & Hiatt, 1996). Much more will be said about each of these centers of consciousness as this model is described in more detail. However, it would frst be prudent to establish how and why this system is appropriate for use as a self-contained developmental framework. Gilchrist and Mikulas (1993) used the chakra system as the basis for a model of group development by aligning the seven chakras with other recognized stages of group development. In the course of establishing the synchronicity of the chakra system with developmental progression, the authors noted that individual development progressed along a sequential path within the chakra system as well. Prior to Gilchrist and Mikaulis, Wilber (1986) described a similar alignment between the chakra system and other theories of human development that included his own, as well as the theories of Sri Aurobindo, Albert Maslow and Jane Loevinger. Finally, Judith (2009, 2004) has written extensively about the chakra system and provided a detailed synthesis of how the chakra system maps to the developmental sequence of the individual according to Western systems of lifespan psychology. However, it is Nelsons (1994) interpretation of the chakra system as a diagnostic tool for personality disorders that is most similar to and has been most infuential on the present model. In Healing the Split and a related journal article published the same year, Nelsons (1994), primary objective was to present the chakra system as a transpersonal diagnostic system. Te properties of each chakra were presented frst with attention to their correlations to recognized patterns of individual development, followed by a detailed explication of how regressions in each chakra might present as conditions of psychological maladaptation. Te richness in detail ofered by Nelson concerning the connection between psychotic, neurotic, and borderline levels of personality disorder and their corresponding chakra centers is made plausible by frst outlining how the chakra system aligns with individual development as it is currently appraised within the feld. For the purposes of this article, this nexus will be demonstrated by discussing each chakra in relationship to its corresponding phase of human development as well as related developmental theories (see Table 1). Te Root Chakra and the Infant (Unborn Fetus to First 16 Months of Life) A s mentioned earlier, the root chakra governs security and survival. In this way it is similar to the frst motivational need of Maslows hierarchy (1968) as well as the sensoriphysical stages identifed by a variety of theorists including Piaget, Aurobindo, and Wilber (Wilber, 1986). From a developmental perspective, the root chakra represents those most rudimentary needs that must be confronted and satisfed before attention can be turned to other developmental tasks. For this reason, the status of a newborn infant is an ideal starting point both, literally and metaphorically, for evaluating the position and purpose of the root chakra in a chakra based system of development. From a purely physiological perspective, a healthy infant is a self-contained but not yet self- sufcient organism. While it possesses all of the functional capacities that it will require to mature, it is completely dependent on its environment in order for these capacities to be activated in a manner that will enable it to thrive. From a psychological perspective, its introduction into this new and foreign environment is jarring and potentially debilitating. Here again, it is dependent on external support in the form of its primary caregiver to create a sense of order and orientation. In this way, this level also conforms with Eriksons (1968) frst stage of development which is characterized by basic trust versus mistrust. Trust or mistrust will be established based upon how well needs for safety, security, and stable orientation are met by others. Te root chakra also aligns with Kegans (1982) Stage 0/Incorporative stage, where the infant functions purely at the subjective level, and has not yet achieved a level of individuation that allows for the perception of objects outside of him or herself. Nelson (1994) added that the birth experience serves as an initiation into individualized consciousness. Tis necessitates the development of psychic membranes, the veiled partition separating the corporeal reality into which infants are born from the pre-sensate state out International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 14 Best of which they emerged. Te root chakra represents the initial stage of formation for these membranes and, as would be expected at the beginning of any developmental process, they are relatively undiferentiated. According to Nelson, their role at this stage is to create a stable base of consciousness that will support human emotions, reason and the consensual reality of society (p. 173). Tus, the root chakra establishes a line of demarcation between the collective consciousnesses (perceived as unconsciousness at this stage) and the nascent stages of an individual and personal consciousness. It also initiates the construction of a framework that will house the self-system which will be defned in greater detail shortly. By virtue of the narrowly defned parameters of its functionality, however, the root chakra represents a crucial but nonetheless transitional stage of development. By virtue of its relentless focus on the survival instinct, its defning feature can be described as the challenge to move from fear to fearlessness. Te Sacral Chakra and Early Childhood (12 to 24 Months) D uring the frst stage of development as represented by the chakra system, the fedgling individual is consumed with its own survival. While theorists debate the extent to which this stage is aptly characterized by primary narcissism as proposed by Margaret Mahler (Mahler, Pine, & Bergman, 1975) or refects a greater awareness and receptivity to interpersonal response (Reddy, 2008), there is little doubt that one of the distinguishing features of an infants transition to early childhood is the emergence of a separate identity. In the chakra system, the sacral stage marks the point of embarkation for this individuation process as well. According to Nelson (1994) among the eight characteristics of the sacral stage resides the emergence of self-boundaries that, while still shared to a certain extent with parents, will nonetheless come to delineate a sense of I-ness. However, this stage involves more than a period of experimentation with separateness in relationship to caregivers. Here, individual consciousness is also beginning to diferentiate itself from the collective consciousness; what Nelson referred to as the Spiritual Ground. Te signifcance of this pre-egoic level of consciousness for transpersonal psychology as well as the model proposed here is crucial. Jung was the frst Western psychologist to identify this level of consciousness in relation to the development of the individual psyche (Scotton, 1996). His use of the term collective unconscious was intended to represent a source of psychic infuence that did not originate within the individual but rather was shared with all human beings. However, for Jung this consciousness was inherited and he refrained, at least in his earlier writings, from ascribing a spiritual component to it. Nonetheless, Jung did allow his views to be infuenced by indigenous spiritual beliefs and practices. Hindu philosophy was most certainly among them (Coward, 1985). Accordingly, Jungian psychology can be seen as establishing one of the earliest bridges between Western psychology and Hindu psychology in two important respects. First, it introduced the concept of a shared consciousness that is pre-extant to an individuated identity. Second, through the dichotomous orientations of introversion and extroversionwhich would later evolve into personality types (Briggs Myers, McCaulley, Quenk, & Hammer, 2003)it explored energy as a psychosocial dynamic rather than a purely biophysical phenomenon. As it pertains to the chakra system model of development, the individuals relationship to this collective consciousness (which for the sake of clarity will be referred to hereafter as universal consciousness) functions as a navigational marker throughout the life cycle. For the remainder of this article, the term universal consciousness will be used to distinguish it from Jungs collective consciousness which, while similar, should not be considered parallel to the model presented here. During the frst three chakra stages, ego formation emerges in direct proportion to the minimization and ultimate cessation (albeit temporarily) of contact with universal consciousness. Nelson (1994) described this process as a choice between the external world of material reality with the attendant forfeiture of access to the fount of creativity and intuition that universal consciousness provides, and regression to that consciousness. However, regression to universal consciousness can only result in the arrest of the developing ego because of how overwhelming a constant stream of energies would be at such a fragile stage of development. As a result, healthy psychological development must direct Nelsons choice toward the external world. For Kegan (1982) whose developmental theory also refers to orders of consciousness (but from an object- relations rather than a transpersonal theory perspective), this next stage which he called Impulsive, marks the beginning of decentration. Decentration refers to the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 15 Chakra Model of Development evolutionary process of meaning-construction that is central to the process of development. It causes the individual to move from embeddedness in her subjective reality to relationship with a more objective view of reality. Kegans subject-object theory of development will provide heuristic insights into this model at later stages of this discussion as well. For purposes of describing the transition from root to sacral chakra, the individual moves from being fully consumed by the refexes experienced primarily as alternations of fear and relief, to having perceptions by virtue of his frst opportunity to practice disembedding from these experiences. One of the consequences of this frst disembeddedment as refected in Nelsons depiction of this transition is that the subtle energies of universal consciousness increasingly become unavailable as a mechanism for processing experiences. As a result, the senses take over this function. Not surprisingly, a preoccupation with sensual pleasures at this stage of development is precisely what Freudian psychology predicts. As it happens, the sacral chakra is identifed primarily with sensuality, sexuality, and the genital area (Rama, Ballentine, & Ajaya, 1976). So simultaneous with a childs experimentation with autonomy and a stable sense of self in relation to others, he or she is also learning to rely on sensual responses to stimuli to make meaning of the external world. Tis shift in focus brings with it both a redirection and intensifcation of energy that, for both Western and Hindu psychology, is localized in the genital area. However, Hindu psychology as expressed through the chakra system, views the developmental process as facilitating the redirection of this energy upward. In this way, development involves the introduction to and mastery of energies that have specifc functions but are expected to eventually be integrated into a stable self. At the sacral stage, however, the individual is tasked with consolidating a food of sensations while learning to do so with increasing independence from caregivers. With no prior experience to draw upon, and now with rapidly diminishing input from universal consciousness, the individual must increase its reliance on cues from the external world, which during the earliest stages takes the form of imitation. Children begin to imitate what they see during infancy (Reddy, 2008). However, imitation cannot be regarded as a scafolding strategy for purposes of personality formation until a child possesses the capacity for object constancy and the ability to form representational models of self and others. Tere is little disagreement that this process begins in early childhood. Terefore, the sacral stage can be regarded as the period where identity formation is concerned with refning the boundaries of self, but is also heavily infuenced by external referents in determining how to construct those boundaries. Sensual experiences provide feedback that is internalized to determine which external referents to adopt or adapt and which to discard. However, the self is ultimately expected to be experienced as unique and independent. Tus the defning feature of the sacral stage can be viewed as the challenge of moving from imitation to independence. Te Navel Chakra and Early Childhood Trough Adulthood (18 Months to 4 Years and Beyond) E very bit of knowledge and experience that has been acquired through the transitions to and through the frst two stages is consolidated and then purposefully directed during the navel chakra stage. Te third chakra is identifed with the will or personal power. Several important developmental markers are characteristic of this stage. First, the individual is frmly committed to the task of individuation. Chiefy concerned with defning a self-concept that supports healthy self-esteem, she or he will become preoccupied with this task if its accomplishment is perceived to be unsuccessful in any respect. Here the hallmarks of the frst two stages are not only evident but instrumental to the task of creating and maintaining a positive self-concept. Second, during adolescence peer groups replace caregivers as the primary reference sources and imitation as a vehicle for acceptance is at its zenith. Exploration of sensuality and sexuality is also intensifed as a result of a rapid surge in hormones. As the individual moves from adolescence to adulthood, vocational choices, mate selection and the acquisition of symbols of success become an integral part of the self-concept. A functional will is central to the achievement of all of these tasks. Furthermore, all other developmental resources previously acquired and the extent to which they are successfully mastered, infuence how the individual exercises his or her will. For example, the man who has emerged from the frst chakra stage fearful and unsure of whether his security concerns will be met and who proceeds through the second stage by over-identifying with the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 16 Best power of sexuality and sensual experiences, may elect to exercise his will in adulthood through the acquisition of material wealth by dominating others and viewing them as objects for exploitation. Tere are many possible permutations of how personality develops up to and through the third chakra stage. Nonetheless, the exercise of the will (aggressively or passively) is the focus. If the energies of this stage are not directed upward toward further evolution, this focus becomes a preoccupation with maintaining the symbols of status that support the individuals self-concept. Tis is at the heart of the Hindu and Buddhist admonitions about the ultimate sources of sufering. Te frst three stages provide ever increasing and complex sources of attachment that the will becomes preoccupied with either adding to or maintaining. Terefore, the defning feature of the third chakra stage is the challenge of moving from a preoccupation with current ego-based attachments to the surrender of subjective attachments so that the process of ego transcendence can begin. Te navel chakra stage is a uniquely pivotal one in the chakra system model of development for this reason. Barring any major life trauma, it is the last stage that one is presumed to be able to reach automatically. In fact, Hindu psychology and many complementary Eastern philosophies assert that, for most people in the West, this is the highest stage of development that they will ever reach (Akhilananda, 1946; Aurobindo, 1993). Tis also marks an important point of departure between this model (Nelsons [1994] model) and Judiths (2004) schema. Judiths chakra based developmental framework aligns each chakra with Western equivalents of stage development across the lifespan. Judiths view suggests that all individuals evolve through all seven chakras during their lifetime, which facilitates alignment with Eriksons (1997) widely accepted lifespan model as well. Under the chakra system model this is not assumed to be the case. To the contrary, this model asserts that for most individuals, after reaching the navel chakra stage for the frst time by the age of 4, they recycle (for many, indefnitely) through the frst three chakra domains. Te primary challenges of fear, imitation, and preoccupation are worked through as these challenges re-present themselves with ever-increasing complexity in the form of life experiences that correspond with successive phases of biopsychosocial maturity (e.g., adolescence, young adulthood, etc.). Heart Chakra and Middle Adulthood Trough Old Age T he heart chakra stage represents a pivotal transition point. It is the gateway to the second of the two great arcs. Te heart chakra represents a selfess form of love and compassion for others. Its place within the chakra system model of development, however, reveals a shift in how love is regarded and experienced. As Nelson (1994) noted, ascending to the heart chakra stage means that love is no longer manifested as a need or craving that involves the acquisition or control of the afection of others. In this sense, it becomes a proving ground for the individual in establishing whether one is really prepared to transcend the ego-oriented preoccupations of the frst three stages. Terefore, it should be viewed as no coincidence that this stage spans the period of life when most adults are navigating the myriad challenges of parenthood. For most new parents, the birth of a child is likely the frst true experience of selfess love. In his seminal work on attachment theory, Bowlby (1988) described patterns of mother-child interactions that ensue immediately after birth with specifc attention to the manner in which a mothers selfess nature of responsiveness to the child leads invariably to the development of secure attachment patterns and healthy development for that child later on. More recent studies on the disruptive efects of maternal intrusiveness during early childhood and the potentially moderating efects of maternal warmth (Ispa et al., 2004) lend credence to the notion that parenthood ofers orienting glimpses of the heart chakra stage. On the other hand, becoming a parent also provides a whole new set of preoccupations, security concerns, and imitative triggers. A childs safety is the exclusive province of its parents for the frst decade of life and beyond. During that time and through adolescence, parents will tend to gauge their success or failure by measuring their childs progress against the children of other parents. A childs perceived success or failure on any number of measures from academic achievement, to athletic prowess to physical attractiveness and popularity can become their parents nearly obsessive concern until the child becomes adult. Tus, middle adulthood becomes the earliest opportunity for most adults to refect upon their own lifes activities and to decide on the kind of meaning they will attach to what they see. Te heart chakra stage International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 17 Chakra Model of Development will be entered and subsequently mastered only by those adults who upon refection, see their lives as stable yet incomplete, being thereby motivated to seek completion not through the acquisition of more external objects but by turning within. Hindu psychology regards this as the last of the fve primary urges and credits this urge with being the reason why the overwhelming majority of individuals seek out religion at some point during their adult lives (Akhilananda, 1946). However, from a purely developmental perspective an interest in religion is one possible indication, among several, of engagement with the heart chakra stage. Kegans (1982) Stage 2 Imperial and Stage 3 Interpersonal phases bear many of the hallmarks of the navel to heart chakra transition. In fact, Kegan encapsulated the primary challenge of moving from Stage 2 Imperial to Stage 3 Interpersonal as relating to the individuals inability at Stage 2 to step outside of his or her subjective attachments. Such attachments represent precisely the type of anchors that can impede progress from the Navel to (and ultimately through) the Heart stage. Tis constriction limits the individuals ability to take the kind of broad, objective view of both the world and all of the diverse concerns within it, that can accommodate the possibility of a shared reality within which personal needs and demands give way to a mutuality of concerns. Te key diference between Western views of psychological development and those espoused by the chakra system, is that from the Western point of view healthy development is seen as complete upon attainment of a fully functioning ego, even when the ego is still bound by subject-object attachments. Tis, however, neither suggests nor explains an internal drive to fnd meaning in ones life and work, a drive that remains unsated for many at precisely this stage of adulthood. Te heart chakra explains this as the impetus to continue to develop and only transpersonally oriented developmental models such as the chakra system model ofer additional stages to pursue that align with this purpose. Te chakra system model positions this stage as one in which ego- based pursuits will either be relinquished in favor of higher chakra stage attainment or result in stagnating behavior in which no further development is possible. If, as Rama, Ballantine, and Ajaya (1979) suggested, the chakras represent a playroom or laboratory in which life experiences are used as tests and experiments in the service of self development, the heart chakra is the capstone exercise. Most individuals will continue to confront and revisit their self-concept in relationship to the impulses, desires, and preoccupations of earlier chakras. If they are unable to transcend them, they will fnd themselves bobbing up and down between this stage and the navel stage as the currents of their lives dictate. Te Troat Chakra Stage S table ascent through the Heart chakra stage is achieved only by those whose self-concept and broader worldview is steeped in the embrace of the underlying unity of all things (cf. Wilber, 2000, 2001). . Here again, the selfess love and compassion which is attributed to the heart chakra and the openness to experience which accompanies it has one other important consequence. It reintroduces the individual to universal consciousness in a way that allows the individual to experience it as an intrinsic part of the self. A byproduct of this reunion is an increase in creativity and the need to express that creativity in ways that beneft others. Nelson (1994) stated that there is a call to service as the self prepares to ascend to the ffth chakra (p. 275). He further defned the throat chakra stage as a fne balance of reason and intuition, self-control and surrender, discipline and freedom, individuality and unity (p. 284). Tese descriptors are often used to depict those who have approached their later years with grace and dignity. However, the chakra system does not view ascendancy to this stage as an automatic inheritance of aging nor is it the exclusive province of the elderly. Eriksons (1997) stages of development ofer many parallels to the chakra system, including his description of the concerns that correspond to the transition to higher order chakra stages of development. Specifcally, according to Erikson, mid-adulthood marks a stage where the individual will either remain self- absorbed or turn his focus outward toward society and an interest in leaving a legacy of creativity and productivity. His corresponding stage to the throat chakra is described as a challenge of intimacy versus isolation. For most, middle adulthood represents a decade or more of experiences upon which to refect and act. Te consequences of the life choices accumulated during that time highlight opportunities for intimacy in the form of a growing extended family (e.g., marriage, child birth, inlaws, granchildren). At the same time ones social and professional network will likely have grown during this time span. By contrast, if these opportunities were International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 18 Best missed or avoided, it will be at this period in life that the absence may be felt most keenly, leading to feelings of isolation. Tis depiction may initially appear to align itself more appropriately with the heart chakra than the throat chakra stage. However, Rama, Ballantine, and Ajaya (1979) helped to clarify this discrepancy by noting that the throat chakra is aligned with nurturance as well as creativity. It moderates the other-directed focus of the heart chakra by teaching the individual to accept and receive love as well as guidance from the universal consciousness with which it has now been reacquainted. Tus it redefnes intimacy as a psychospiritual rather than a sensual construct. Notably, it is at this stage that it becomes possible to refer to the Self with a capital S because it is no longer the self that has heretofore been exclusively identifed with the ego. Te Brow Chakra L iberated from the obsessions of the ego and experiencing free communication with universal consciousness, the Self is now the embodiment of wisdom. Te interesting corollary for this discussion is that just as Erikson labelled his corresponding stage as the choice between stagnation and generativity, the chakra system model positions this stage as one in which access to the higher order chakras liberates an unprecedented level of intuition that would likely manifest itself as a wisdom that has a benefcent infuence on others. In their article on wisdom, Baltes and Staudinger (2000) grouped the then-existing theories on wisdom into three categories: personal dispositions, expositions of post-formal thought, and expert systems concerning the meaning of life. Te approach of that article, and others like it, attempts to empirically validate the correlates of wisdom, something that might appear to be folly to the intuitive aspects of wisdom as experienced at this level. Nonetheless, they do provide objective measures by which to consider how a person who has ascended to the brow stage would appear to others, although it should be noted that the Baltes and Staudinger model was not designed to validate transpersonally oriented stages of development. Wisdom has been broadly classifed as demonstrated expertise in and a capacity to successfully navigate what Baltes and Staudinger (2000) referred to as the fundamental pragmatics of life (p. 125). Tese pragmatics are translated into a model of personal wisdom by Mickler and Staudinger (2008) in which its constructs are purported to include personal maturity, self mastery in the form of subjective well-being, functional levels of fuid and crystallized intelligences (i.e., both cognitive capacity for problem solving and knowledge acquired through past experience), and demonstrated self-refection based upon life events. Te results of their study revealed several patterns that align with the brow chakra stage. First, personal wisdom was positively correlated with an intermediate number of life events that stimulated refective thinking. Second, the relation- ship between personal wisdom and intelligence was curvilinear suggesting that individuals of higher intelligence and presumably higher status have a harder time incorporating non-intellect related facets of wisdom (Mickler & Staudinger, 2008). In particular, the authors noted that lower scores on the domain of universalism suggested a more ego-oriented value system which may tend to devalue issues of social concern that are an intrinsic element of wisdom. It should be noted that wisdom was also found to be correlated with high levels of moral reasoning (Pasupathi & Staudinger, 2001). It should go without saying that by the time a person ascends to this chakra stage, they would evidence among other virtues a discernable and unimpeachable moral perspective. Tese observations illustrate a central feature of the brow chakra, which refnes the intellect in a way that integrates the emotions, relational concerns, and drives of the lower order chakras into a more intuitive form of interaction with the external world (Rama, Ballentine, & Ajaya, 1976). It involves a mastery of detachment from the objects that serve as barriers to growth because they operate as tethers to egoic concerns. By rising above these concerns, individuals who have ascended to the brow chakra stage not only evidence the hallmarks of wisdom, but they have balanced their feminine and masculine aspects and enlarged the opening to universal consciousness which prepares their ascent to the seventh and fnal chakra stage. Te Crown Chakra W ith the ascent to the Crown chakra, the boundaries of the psychic membranes that were fortifed during the transition through the frst three chakras and then gradually deconstructed during the next three chakras are fnally and completely dissolved. Having frst fully experienced and stabilized an ego structure, the transpersonal or post-egoic self can relinquish these International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 19 Chakra Model of Development structures because they are no longer needed for support or reference. Te unity with all things that is concomitant with universal consciousness no longer threatens the self- concept because the concept of Self has been enlarged and integrated through the developmental process. Here again, Eriksons lifecycle provides insight by analogy. His fnal stage of integrity versus despair forecasts the psychological and emotional state that ensues when individuals fail to progress to this stage by later life. Te use of the term integrity is consistent with ascent to the highest chakra stage which afrms ones true Self identity. Nelson (1994) referred to this stage as sage consciousness. Because this stage contains all of the prior stages, it also possesses access to all of the knowledge gained through them. Te sage is free of attachments and is thus fearless, independent, and unfettered by preoccupations of any sort. She or he has mastered what Hindu scholars referred to as afectionate detachment, which mimics the activating agent of the Agape form of love. But most notably, it symbolizes direct communion with universal consciousness and thus completes the cycle of development by returning the Self to its source. Te Model T he signifcance of any developmental model can be evaluated by how well it explains human functioning relative to three criteria: progress, productivity, and positivity. Te central feature of all developmental models, regardless of their ontological underpinnings, is that they purport to delineate human progress. Life span models such as Ericksons predict human progress over time; cognitively oriented models such as those of Piaget and Chomsky describe progress relative to the mechanisms of the intellect or the development of language; biologically oriented models focus on the progress made or not made along physiologic lines; Kohlbergs model charts progress relative to moral development. Tat they are termed developmental makes the progress element of these models self-evident. However, to qualify as developmental models from a psychological perspective, these theories must also be anchored both subjectively and objectively. Te subjective anchors can be found in the particular paradigms through which they are crafted. Te objective anchor is the standard they all have in common which, in the feld of psychology, is linked to the degree of individual functionality demonstrated. In other words, as individuals develop are they able to be productive within the settings and according to the expectations of their stage of developmental attainment? Finally, progress and productivity are both measured against a scale that seeks to determine what is developmentally positive. Tis may be defned by using terms such as healthy, normal, or functional. Proceeding from this rubric, the chakra system model, to be classifed as a developmental model, must also address progress, productivity, and positivity in its depiction of human functioning. As previously identifed, the seven chakras have already been presented in a stage sequence by other authors (Judith, 2004; Nelson,1994). However, viewing the chakras purely from a stage perspective only avails of the more superfcial elements of its architecture because it bypasses the most central tenets of the system. It bears restating that the chakras also represent centers of energy. Te feld of energy medicine, proceeds on the premise that energy is a life promoting and sustaining force (Srinivasan, 2010). Tus, the chakras are not and cannot be conceived of only as stages to be reached, but must also be viewed as domains through which their corresponding energy felds operate to engage and infuence individuals as they move from stage to stage. Te Self-System W ilber (1986) described the self as a self-system with six constituent functions: identifcation, organization, will, defense, metabolism, and navigation. Identifcation is the source of the self-concept; organization unifes the mind to frame experiences with the outside world; will is the exercise of agency and choice; defense consists of mechanisms of self protection from perceived threats; metabolism is the assimilation of past experiences; and navigation is movement from one developmental stage to another. For purposes of the chakra system model, the self-system is perhaps best visualized as a sphere that is constructed by the individual as he or she proceeds through life (Figure 1). Te chakra stages represent the layers of the sphere which are constructed from the bottom up. However, as with any structure, the building process has many phases. First a foundation must be laid, then a skeletal structure is erected, followed by the external surfaces and fnally the internal structures and components. Tis order is crucial for several reasons. Te foundation must be laid frst because its stability determines how high the skeletal form can reach while still maintaining its structural soundness. As previously International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 20 Best Figure 1. Te Self-Sphere with Chakra Stages
stated, an individual must have a fully formed and stable ego before it can be transcended. Tis begins with a secure transition from from the root chakra, without which the individual may question their very existence (Nelson, 1994). Te skeletal form must precede the application of the external surfaces for these surfaces to have anchoring points. Tis is the function of the sacral stage during which the individual begins to explore both their individuation and the defnition of the self-concept that they will project to others. Finally, the external surfaces must be afxed before signifcant work is done to the interior so that the internal fxtures are adequately protected from the corrosive efects of the external environment. Te assertion of personal will characteristic of the navel stage serves among other functions, to protect the developing psyche and ego based attachments through the deployment of defense mechanisms. Each of these steps must be taken in this order and with attention to detail. Otherwise, deviations will emerge as tectonic defects once the structure is subjected to uses such as the daily life activities each individual experiences and the concomitant variations of excitement and stress that accompany them. As Eastern views of human development meet West, the former might depict the latters conceptualization of the self-sphere as half complete. According to the chakra system model the skeletal structure of the sphere is constructed in two hemispheres. Individuals construct the bottom half up to a point that would support the frst three chakra stagesroot, sacral and navelwhich typically takes until middle adulthood to achieve. Ten and only then, depending upon the life of the individual, is one capable of constructing the skeletal structure that will support the second hemisphere that will complete the Self and contain the four remaining chakra stages. As with any hierarchical structure, the skeletal form of this spherical model of the Self is erected vertically, thus creating latitude and longitude efects. Te latitudes mark the chakra stages. Te longitudes represent developmental paths as the individual moves up through the potential infuences of the chakra domains. Recall that each chakra is distinguished from the others by several defning characteristics: the root chakra by its focus on security and survival, sacral by sensations and individuation, navel by will and initiative, heart by love and afection, throat by creativity and nurturance, brow by intuition and wisdom, and crown by oneness with creation. Each of these characteristics also manifests as energies that infuence perception and behavior. When functioning as domains (as opposed to stages), the chakras signal the individual energies or schematic frames that predominate in an individual as he or she engages in the tasks and requirements of life. It is at this point that a return to the six functions of Wilbers (1986) self-system is particularly illuminating. Te metabolism function refers to the self-system function of ingesting experiences and converting that material into components that will be accepted, internalized, and manifested as the building blocks of the self. Alternatively, the self will sometimes reject some of the experiences it tastes, by exercising its defense function. Tese defenses serve as the outer wall that protects the self from the elements that appear as a threat to the evolving self-concept. Under the chakra system model, the chakra domains serve as metabolizing agents as well as agents of defense that flter experiences based upon the characteristics identifed with that specifc chakra (e.g., fear, survival, sensual pleasure, will, etc.). Tis model accommodates the biological, social and environmental factors deemed infuential by other developmental models and rubricizes them. As Wilber (1986) noted, development involves attaining and identifying with a stage until it is mastered and then transitioning to the next stage. Tis transition, however, can be difcult as it involves detaching from the stage that has just been mastered and engaging in Crown Brow Troat Heart Navel Sacral Root Upper Hemisphere Lower Hemisphere International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 21 Chakra Model of Development the uncertainty of a stage not yet experienced. It is not uncommon for individuals to become rooted or stuck at a stage of development for any number of reasons. Te chakra system model afords an alternate nomenclature that permits evaluation of how arrested stages become operationalized. However, its utility lies in the fact that it extends the developmental paradigm in ways that aford a therapeutic pathway even for those who would be deemed healthy according to Western psychology. In making the case for a spiritually-oriented branch of personality psychology, Emmons (1999) noted that spirituality facilitates adaptive functioning because it supports goal attainment, self-congruence, and self- regulation. He went on to argue for the existence of a spiritual intelligence and supports this hypothesis by arguing that spiritually-infuenced behavior meets Fords (1994) pre-requisites for efective functioning motivation, skills, biological architecture, and supportive environment. In other words, spiritually-infuenced lives involve goal directed activity (motivation), deliberate action requiring the application of skillful conduct, and the biological capacity to support motivated action along with an environment that will not hinder its progress. Te chakra system model puts this spiritual intelligence in context. Specifcally, it provides a developmental sequence for the individual such that goal directed activity is evaluated in light of both chakra stage attainment and the chakra domains which predominate an individuals perceptions at a given time. For example, chakra stage attainment would place the typical 25 year old male at the navel stage. However, if he were still overly focused on materialism to defne his self-concept, the sacral domain would suggest that the energies of the sacral domain were still a dominant infuence over his choices. Additionally, this framework serves as a reference point for measuring both the skillfulness of the conduct and the adequacy of the supporting environment. However, on a more practical level, chakra domains ofer guidance for investigating all levels of development in both healthy individuals and those experiencing varying levels of psychological dysfunction. Even the most narcissistic or aggressive individual can be found to demonstrate isolated gestures of selfess compassion, while the popular press is replete with examples of pious fgures succumbing to their sensual urgings. Te mediating infuences of the chakra domains ofer an explanation for these patterns of seemingly incongruent behavior, because the chakra stages and domains interact independently. Universal consciousness is comprised of the energy represented by all seven chakra domains. Its existence is constant as is its availability. What varies is the individuals ability to control the lower order domains and access higher order domains without being overwhelmed by them. Grof and Grof (1989) suggested that behaviors sometimes diagnosed as psychiatric disorders actually represent the premature accessing of higher order psychic functions that correspond with the higher order chakra domains, something they called spiritual emergencies. Te chakra system model explains development as a process by which the individual begins life experience navigating upward from the root chakra with a primary focus on security and survival. Accordingly, all experiences are also metabolized through the prism of the root chakra domain. Te remaining six chakras, while present, are undiferentiated and thus unavailable for use (Figure 2). As the individual matures, however, if safety and security needs are met adequately through appropriate interactions with caregivers, additional chakra domains become accessible (Figure 3) and assist the nascent being with the transition to the sacral chakra stage followed by higher chakra stages that will rest on the secure foundation of the chakra stages already mastered. What is most important to note, however, is that the construction of the bottom hemisphere of the self-sphere refects an autonomic progression through Crown Troat Brow Root Sacral Navel Heart Figure 2. Chakra Domains (Unbalanced Root-Dominant) International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 22 Best the frst three stages. Tat is, progression through infancy, childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood (corresponding to the root, sacral, and navel chakra stages respectively) is generally dictated by physiological, cognitive, and behavioral markers that assume stage attainment unless major structural defcits are noted. Terefore, the chakra system model does not determine positive, productive progress to be achieved based upon attainment of the third stage, as this is presumed. To the contrary, progress is determined by how well these stages have been supported as indicated by unobstructed access to all seven chakra domains (Figure 4), so that experiences can be metabolized in an appropriately balanced manner. In this way, access to fully balanced chakra domains helps the individual produce the building material that forms the skeletal supports and internal fxtures of the self-sphere. Te quality of the interior, particularly in the lower hemisphere of the self-sphere, is thus determinative of whether and to what extent development will continue into the upper hemisphere. Premature access to higher order chakras before an individual has become sufciently grounded by full and stable access to the lower order chakras can lead to a destabilization of the ego structures (Grof & Grof, 1989; Nelson, 1994). Alternatively, fxation on the lower order chakra domains without progression to the moderating efects of the higher order chakra domains leads to stagnation. Crown Troat Brow Root Sacral Navel Heart Figure 4. Chakra Domains (Balanced) Crown Root Sacral Navel Heart Figure 3. Chakra Domains (Unbalanced Multiple-Dominant) Tus, what has heretofore been described as regressions under other paradigms (Washburn, 1990) is regarded here as a continual reliance on the infuence of the root, sacral and/or navel chakra domains. Access to higher domains as a result, is either sporadic or not experienced at all depending upon the extent to which reliance upon lower order chakra domains inhibits the individuals ability to diferentiate higher order chakra domains. Tis diferentiation of higher order chakras is a necessary precursor to their exploration, use and ultimately to higher order chakra stage attainment. Chakra System Teory A ll models must be supported by an underlying theory. Te chakras have been discussed both from religious and psycho-spiritual perspectives for several thousand years (Akhilananda, 1946). Neither is their relationship to the psychological discipline within the Western worldview a novel concept. However, it is necessary nonetheless, to frame the chakra system as an independent theory if it is to support a model as is intended in this article. Feist and Feist (2009) identifed three characteristics of a theory that can serve as a useful framework for presenting a chakra system theory. Te theory must present (1) a set of related assumptions; (2) that can support logical deductive reasoning; (3) from which testable hypotheses can emerge. Tus to qualify as a legitimate theory, the assumptions supporting the Brow Troat International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 23 Chakra Model of Development chakra system model, must be readily identifable and able to support a variety of hypotheses in the form of not only the model itself, but also for example, diagnostic strategies, measurement instruments, and therapeutic interventions as well. Earlier in this article, one set of assumptions advanced was that under this theory, developmental progression from infancy to adulthood was characterized as the challenge to move from a state of fear, imitation, and preoccupation to a state of fearlessness, independence, and surrender of subjective attachments. Tese assumptions were based upon the presumed existence of lower order chakras that must be mastered before higher order chakras can be realized. To master the selfess afection, creativity, intuitiveness, and wisdom that serve as the defning characteristics of higher order chakra stages, it is reasonable to deduce that one would have to overcome worries about having security needs met, possessing the afections of others, or preoccupations with the egoic concerns that can characterize adulthood, a period when the lower order chakra domains predominate. Maslow (1968) described this transition in terms of a dichotomy comparing defciency motivations to growth motivations. Defciency motivations are directly linked to the individuals dependence on the environment. For Maslow, these motivations could be linked to the frst four levels of his hierarchy of needs (safety, security, belongingness, and esteem); however, they map just as efectively to the frst three chakra stages. Just as Maslow identifed ego transcendence as representing the transition from the dependency stage created by defciency motivations to the independence attendant with growth, the line of demarcation for the two hemispheres of the self-sphere divide the dependency that characterizes the fear, imitation and preoccupation of the lower order chakras from all that the higher order chakras represent. Moreover, it is only through how one uses the flters of the chakra domains to interpret life experiences that growth is possible. Tis is illustrated in the wisdom research done by Mickler and Staudinger (2008) which identifed how one manages life events as a defning characteristic of personal wisdom. Terefore, in returning to the self-sphere, the individual capable of transition to and through the heart chakra to the higher order chakras will be the individual who has fully metabolized life experiences through the frst three chakras in a manner that leaves little to no undigested bits such as residual neuroses, complexes, or ego-based preoccupations. Following Guntrip (1971), Wilber (1986) described psychopathology as failed metabolismthe self fails to digest and assimilate signifcant past experiences and these remain lodged, like a bit of undigested meat, in the self-system, generating psychological indigestion (p. 79). Security concerns no longer serve as a motivation to operate out of fear. Mastery of sensual impulses and the need to imitate others free the individual from the overwhelming infuence of desire and ego-based concerns. Otherwise, the individual interprets the will as a tool for dominating or being dominated by others as insurance that dependency needs will be met. Tis process facilitates navigation through the chakra stages, defnes the organization function of the self-system and activates the identifcation function in a manner that either releases the individual from external dependencies and ultimately from the ego itself or keeps the individual perpetually bound to ego-based concerns. In this way, the chakra domains function as heuristic devices through which higher level stage attainment is made possible. Implications for Future Research W hat does the chakra system model add to the developmental literature that is not already addressed by other models? In proposing a grand theory of development based upon dynamic systems theory, Spencer et al. (2006) identifed four central tenets of development: behavior is both of the moment and consequential; it is softly assembled from varied causes and subsystems deriving from and merging with nonlinear interactions; perception, cognition, and action are embodied in behavior as an integrated component; and these experiences combine in idiosyncratic and personalized ways. Such a view would suggest a chaotic view of development that should defy attempts to predict the emergence of coherent stages. Yet such a coherence does exist. Te chakra system model asserts that an unlimited variety of individual experiences are softly assembledthrough a fnite number of prismsthe chakra domains. Te domains encase these nonlinear interactions of living in ways that explain why progress can appear to be regression (e.g., struggling with sacral domain impulses while working to master heart chakra stage attainment; intuitive creativity appearing spontaneously in the midst of self-indulgent and destructive behavior). Additionally, the concept of chakra domains explains how perceptions, cognitions International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 24 Best and actions are fltered and ultimately infuenced such that observed behavior can be explained in a systematic way while still accommodating the idiosyncratic nature of individual development. More importantly, however, this model provides a therapeutic course for those who have met the requirements and expectations of a satisfactory and well-functioning adulthood, yet still feel unfulflled. Te chakra system model explains that what has heretofore been viewed as complete is only the frst half of ones developmental journey, as has also been advanced by Erikson (1997), Washburn (1990), and Wilber (1986, 2000, 2001). It can also provide support for developmentally focused psychotherapy, which has been argued for as a necessary alternative to problem focused approaches (Sperry, 2002). Te disciplines of counseling, education, leadership, and even divinity all posit theories aimed at aiding individuals toward the development of improved functionality within their respective purviews. Yet, each struggles to fnd a defnitive approach upon which universally accepted and invariably successful models can be based. Te limitation more often than not can be traced to the individual as the unit of analysis. Terapeutic interventions, educational strategies, leadership styles and religious inspiration are all predicated upon stability in the mode of delivery, which in every instance is traced back to the individual. Transcendent individuals will become more intuitive counselors, provide more efective instruction, function more consistently as holistic leaders and inspire the spiritual development of more people through the examples they set. Te chakra system model presents a paradigm to support these and other discipline-specifc approaches. In keeping with other transpersonal theories, it extends the range of human development and adds depth and context to the upper strata of stages to which the healthy psyche aspires. By regarding this model as a developmental model, it like other developmental models, ofers a scafolding structure upon which to build growth- oriented strategies both for neurotic and pathologic levels of human functioning in need of therapeutic invention as well as healthy individuals looking to continue the development of their potential in all areas of life. Specifcally, further areas of research that would test the efcacy of this model could include the creation of validated instruments to identify both chakra stage attainment and the over or underutilization of specifc chakra domains; the development of counseling strategies and coaching techniques based upon a diferentiation of lower versus upper hemisphere stage attainment; implications for the refnement of diferential diagnoses of neurotic and pathologic behaviors that may in the alternative represent the premature accessing of higher order chakra domains (Cortright, 2000); and leader and leadership development models based upon the chakra system model stage descriptions. Tat said, this list is just a frst step toward many potential uses and applications for this model. Limitations include constraints on identifying measurable constructs related to higher order chakras (e.g., Brow & Crown). However, research based on this theory could build upon the research designs used for wisdom-related studies as well as those previously conducted to validated theories of transcendence (Tomas, Brewer, Kraus, & Rosen, 1993). Conclusion R eturning to Kegan (1982), evolution from lower to higher order chakras (viewed as moving from subject to object according to his orders of consciousness model), represents a recursive process of meaning making applied to our personalized view of reality. He wrote: Subject-object relations emerge out of a lifelong process of development: a succession of qualitative diferentiations of the self from the world, with a qualitatively more extensive object with which to be in relation created each time; a natural history of qualitatively better guarantees to the world of its distinctness; successive triumphs of relationship to rather than embeddedness in. . . . What is taken as fundamental is the activity of meaning-constitutive evolution. It is true that infancy marks the beginning in the history of this activity. As such, infancy initiates themes that can be traced through the lifespan and inaugurates a disposition on the part of the person toward the activity of evolution. Te frst years of life do indeed have great salience. But it is a not a salience sui generis; the distinctive features of infancy, it is suggested, are to be understood in the context of that same activity which is the persons fate throughout his or her life. Te recurrence of these distinctive features in new forms later on in development are not understood as later manifestations of infancy issues, but contemporary manifestations of meaning-making. (pp. 77-78) International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 25 Chakra Model of Development In the foregoing quote, Kegan (1982) articulated the core function and purpose of the chakra domains and their relationship to chakra stage transitions. It is through the defning characteristics of each chakra domain that individuals work through the process of shifting from subject to object relative to that corresponding stage. Tat is, the developmental process of the chakra system model fnds the individual working from a position of being so immersed in the tasks, challenges, and identifying features of a stage so as to be embedded in and thus unable to distinguish him or herself from the those featuresto objectifying and thus transcending that stage such that she is able to relate to, learn from and incorporate these features into a newly evolved self that begins the process anew at the next stage. However, Kegans orders of consciousness model ofers even more insight relative to the crucial transition from the lower to the upper hemispheres of the Self-sphere. As the heart chakra is defned as a proving ground for the surrender of subjective attachments, this stage transition also represents the very mastery of the subject-object transition itself. Beyond the heart chakra, the Self emerges as a form that no longer needs to create objects to make meaning but internalizes experiences as a refection of the undiferentiated whole to which all individuals belonguniversal consciousness. When viewed in this fashion, the line of demarcation between the lower and upper hemispheres of the Self can be visualized as delineating the epic battle between defning our experiences of self by our knowledge of the world and defning our experiences of the world by our knowledge of Self. In so doing, the perspective ofered by the chakra system model extends the accepted sequence of lifespan development by augmenting the present conceptual understanding of when, how, and under what circum- stances healthy adult development can truly be achieved, and complements them with a model organized around the chakra system. References Akhilananda, S. (1946). Hindu psychology: Its meaning for the West. New York, NY: Harper. Aurobindo, S. (1993). Te integral yoga: Sri aurobindos teaching and method of practice. Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Press. Baltes, P. B., & Staudinger, U. M. (2000). Wisdom: A metaheuristic (pragmatic) to orchestrate mind and vir- tue toward excellence. American Psychologist, 55(1), 122-136. Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base. New York, NY: Basic Books. Brennan, B. A. (1988). Hands of light: A guide to healing through the human energy feld. New York, NY: Bantam Books. Briggs Myers, L., McCaulley, M. H., Quenk, N. L., & Hammer, A. L. (2003). 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Ford, M. E. (1994). A living systems approach to the intergration of personality and intelligence. In R. J. Sternberg, & P. Ruzgis (Eds.), Personality and intelligence (pp. 188-217). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Gilchrist, R., & Mikulas, W. L. (1993). A chakra- based model of group development. Te Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 18, 141-150. Grof, C. & Grof, S. (1989). Spiritual emergency. Los Angeles, CA: Tarcher. Guntrip, H. (1971). Psychoanalytic theory, therapy, and the self. New York, NY: Basic Books. Ispa, J. M., Fine, M. A., Halgunseth, L. C., Harper, S., Robinson, J., Boyce, L., . . . Brady-Smith, C. (2004). Maternal intrusiveness, maternal warmth, and mother-toddler relationship outcomes: Variations across low-income ethnic and acculturation groups. Child Development, 75(6), 1613-1631. doi:10.1111/ j.1467-8624.2004.00806.x International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 26 Best Judith, A. (2009) Wheels of life: A users guide to the chakra system. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn. Judith, A. (2004) Eastern body, western mind: Psychology and the chakra system as a path to self. New York, NY: Celestial Arts Kegan, R. (1982). Te evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Mahler, M., Pine, F., & Bergman, A. (1975). Te psychological birth of the human infant. London, UK: Hutchinson. Maslow, A. H. (1968). Toward a psychology of being (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold. Mickler, C., & Staudinger, U. M. (2008). Personal wisdom: Validation and age-related differ- ences of a performance measure. Psychology and Aging, 23(4), 787-799. doi:10.1037/a0013 928 Nelson, J. E. (1994). Healing the split: Integrating spirit into our understanding of the mentally ill. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Neumann, E. (1954). Te origins and history of consciousness. New York, NY: Pantheon Books. Pasupathi, M., & Staudinger, U. M. (2001). 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Battista (Eds.), Textbook of transpersonal psychiatry and psychology (pp. 62-74). New York, NY: Basic Books. Washburn, M. (1990). Two patterns of transcendence. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 30, 84-112. Wilber, K. (1977). Te spectrum of consciousness. Wheaton, IL: Quest. Wilber, K. (1980). Te atman project. Wheaton, IL: Quest. Wilber, K. (1986). Te spectrum of consciousness. In K. Wilber, J. Engler, & D. P. Brown (Eds.), Transformations of consciousness (pp. 67-97). Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2000) Integral psychology: Consciousness, spirit, psychology, therapy. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2001). A brief history of everything (2nd ed.). Boston: Shambhala. Wilber, K., Engler, J., & Brown, D. P. (Eds.). (1986). Transformations of consciousness: Conventional and contemplative perspectives on development. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications. Williams, P. D. (2008) Te chakra systems and ancient wisdom traditions worldwide. Patricia Day Williams. Retreived from www.patriciadaywilliams. com/chakrasystem.pdf About the Author K. Candis Best, JD, PhD, is an educator, consultant, speaker, and author. She is licensed to practice law in International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 27 Chakra Model of Development the States of New York and New Jersey as well as before the federal courts of the Eastern District of New York. In addition to a law degree from Villanova University, she possesses a Masters in Business Administration from Adelphi University, a Masters in Psychology from Capella University, and a PhD in Social Welfare Research and Policy Development from Stony Brook University on Long Island, where she enjoyed the distinction of being a W. Burghardt Turner Fellow. She holds board certifcations in Healthcare Management and as a Human Services Practitioner and is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. About the Journal Te International Journal of Transpersonal Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal in print since 1981. It is published by Floraglades Foundation, and serves as the ofcial publication of the International Transpersonal Association. Te journal is available online at www. transpersonalstudies.org, and in print through www. lulu.com (search for IJTS). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 28 Brooks & Crouch Editorial Introduction to Special Topic Section: Transpersonal Feminism
M any women who have passed through the halls of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, where both Special Topic editors are currently located, have asked, Why are there so few women published in this feld? Women of note have published well-received books on a variety of topics such as psycho-spiritual development (Ruumet, 2005; Vaughan, 1995/2005), as well as developing research methods infuential within the feld of qualitative research (Anderson, 2011; Clements, 2004). While women authors in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology have increased as a percentage since the 1980s, women have been consistently under-represented in the professional literature of the transpersonal felds (Daniels, 2005; Hartelius, Caplan, & Rardin, 2007). To date, no scholarship has adequately addressed the reasons for this historical situation or examined the motivations and support necessary for women to achieve more publication in the transpersonal feld (G. Rothe, personal communication, April 20, 2011). Whatever the roots of this dynamic, the current special issue addresses this gender imbalance with an ofering of womens voices to the transpersonal audience, with a specifc focus on feminist perspectives. Along with women-centeredness, feminist perspectives ofer rhetorical and analytical tools for examining issues of social and personal rights and the mechanisms through which such rights are constricted based upon gender. For example, feminist scholarship in felds such as psychology over the past four decades have revealed the imbalance in gender representation in the vast majority of research upon which these disciplines were built (Yoder & Kahn, 1993; Enns, 2004). Additionally, feminist critiques of foundational psychological forefathers such as Freud (Flax, 1990; Turer, 2005) and Jung (Wehr, 1987; Young-Eisendrath, 2004) have expanded some of the culturally-bounded and, at times, sexist classical concepts of early psychology with the explicit goal of creating schools of thought that are more inclusive and less pathologizing of diverse perspectives. As a feld of study, feminism, in its many forms, centers scholarship around the experiences of women and issues of vital importance to womens lives and well-being, such as economic justice, reproductive freedom, and freedom from harm and discrimination. With regard to areas of focus in much transpersonal scholarship, including states of consciousness, psycho- International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 2010, pp. 28-32 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 29 Editorial Introduction to Special Topic Section spiritual development, extraordinary human experiences, and psychological well-being, considerations of the diferences men and women may experience are vastly underrepresented in the literature. Socio-cultural location and the infuence of gendered identities on the daily lived experience of both individuals and groups are real factors in the difering ways women and men are treated as both subjects of research as well as authors of transpersonally- oriented scholarship. Consideration of and research on the variety and richness of womens psychospiritual experiences will help to broaden understanding in the feld of the various ways in which the transpersonal can be viewed and interpreted. However, the voices of women cannot be represented by any single author: it is a confuence of voices that will bring forward the dynamic, multidimensional ways in which womens experiences can inform a deepening understanding of transpersonal phenomena. Te goal of this Special Topic is to invite conversation and exploration of diverse feminist viewpoints within transpersonal studies in order to further develop transpersonal theory that is inclusive of the individuals it aims to describe. In this issue, Christine Brooks and Martina Juko Holiday suggest intersections or possible relationships between feminism/womanism and transpersonalism. Tese meeting points create possibilities for novel approaches to spirituality, critical theory building, clinical practice, education, research, and activism, endeavors that ultimately aim to heal the psychospiritual wounds of those who may have sufered from non- inclusive conventions. A discussion of feminism within the transpersonal feld has been sorely needed; Brooks piece flls that gap and posits why and how the transpersonal feld omitted considerations of gender in transpersonalists early universalizing theories. Brooks delivers a broad overview of feminist psychological theory and feminist spirituality in order to give a tangible characterization of the intersection between feminism and transpersonalism, noting that beyond scholarly discourse and research, praxis and education may serve as potent locations of social action; transpersonal scholarship may beneft from reaching out to mine the wealth of subjective experience that exists outside the formal bounds of the academy, bringing the people and their experiences front and center in the integration of feminist and transpersonal scholarship. Indeed, Brooks notes that both transpersonal and feminist thought focus on the role of individual agency in personal and social transformation, emphasizing the acceptance of subjective experience as the starting point of inquiry that aims to elucidate the experience of many within larger collective contexts. Within this epistemological vein, Ferrers (2002, 2009) participatory philosophy is presented as a possible theoretical starting point for the envisioned feminist and transpersonal worldview, as the participatory turn values and takes account of the multiple perspectives on spirituality that are recognized today by those sensitive to feminist views and diverse transpersonal experiences. Holiday describes the womanist perspective in all of its historical, cultural, political, and spiritual richness, giving credit to the liberationist work of women of color seeking to communicate their own subjectivity as a personal form of self-articulation, communion with spirit, connection with community, and individual and collective healing. Holiday points out transpersonal psychologys own early ethnocentricity, but carves out a space in the transpersonal discourse for the womanist perspective, which has from its inception been embedded within an explicitly spiritual context. Holiday uses the metaphor of the self-created mirror to convey how womanists must express their real lived experience authentically, sounding the call for more scholarship from within the transpersonally-oriented womanist community. According to Holliday, the healing of deep wounds and traumas of women of color may be supported through inquiry that embraces the womanist-infuenced concepts of the word, expressed through narrative and testimony; the body, trusted as a viable source of data and an authoritative embodied voice of experience; and the kinfolk, recognized as the relationship between the individual and her community. Here, as in other articles within this issue, scholarship is not removed from the object of its study, but rather is conducted by those who come from within the studied context, by those whose participation in that reality grants them a subjective authority that is valued in both womanist and transpersonal discourse. Te other six womens voices included in this special issue demonstrate the depth and breadth of feminist thought as it is currently expressing itself in the transpersonal community. Tis collection of articles brims with the lived experience of women and the issues that have meaning and importance to them in their personal, academic, and spiritual lives. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 30 Brooks & Crouch Judy Grahn interprets an ancient Mesopotamian myth about the great goddess Inanna to reappraise how the personal integrity of women is vital to the urgent need to save the natural world. Grahn here considers the myth of Innana and Shukaletuda, in which Innana is subjected to a sexual transgression, and proposes that such an image stand for general disrespect of natures order, represented not only by the transgression of Inannas feminine power and aesthetics, but also by the transgressors unthinking pillaging of the land. Grahn suggests that this transgression is not what other modern cultural critics might consider as a rape, for the crime done to Innana is not personal and psychological, but rather a societal and collective wound inficted upon the earth to which the community is bound. Te powerful imagery of Innanas menstruation and menstrual blood and its power to cleanse the land reinforces the transformative role of the feminine, which Grahn asserts was and still is denigrated under the reign of patriarchy. Grahn gives us a look into how females may choose to interpret old stories along postmodern feminist lines, and how this can be ecologically, psychologically, and spiritually healing. Sophia Korb proposes an area of potential research that has been overlooked to date in transpersonal studies: the lived experience of Jewish and Christian fundamentalist mothering. Korb points out that conservative religious movements in the West have often been derided or rejected in transpersonal circles; she suggests that the motivations and complexities of the lives of fundamentalist women must be understood, as raising children constitutes a vital culture-making process. Korb illuminates why some modern women choose to identify with a more restrictive fundamentalist path instead of a more liberal feminist one, emphasizing self-agency, religious identifcation, cultural and social discourse, tradition, and community. Korb presents this discussion within the sequential framework of a social and cultural process of identity formation, described as the infuences of early environment, identity formation, religious transformation, and fnally the molding of the early environments of womens children, concluding that identity, as a whole, is comprised of the intersecting identities of both the mother and the religious practitioner. April Topfer discusses the embodied experience of female adoptees within a closed adoption system, weaving in personal narrative as a cogent example of the authors own hermeneutical process of biological identifcation and the reclamation of her embodied female voice. Topfer combines elements from Jungian and feminist theory to propose a theoretical model of psychological and spiritual growth that highlights the role of the embodied female voice as a transformational component of a female adoptees journey toward self- understanding. Furthermore, Topfer includes narratives from birth mothers who relinquished their children, providing a counterbalance to the discussion of the lived experience of female adoptees. Irene Lazarus reports on the efcacy of incorporating feminism and a family systems view into a model of psycho-spiritual development as a healing modality appropriate for personal work as well as therapeutic practice. Lazarus discusses her own experience of teaching the course, A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family Systems, at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology from the years 1995- 2002, and includes an organic inquiry into the personal narratives of some of her students, who used transpersonal modalities such as genealogy, dream work, journaling, and other forms of creative expression to assist in self- understanding and self-acceptance. Considering how family history is tightly bound to a particular socio- cultural framework, Lazarus feminist revision to Murray Bowens original family systems theory is a much-needed update to a transpersonal theoretical system that could be more inclusive and broadly descriptive by honoring perspectives grounded in complex and varied contexts. Lazarus thus sets an example of how transpersonal theory can be updated according to current feminist discourse. Te personal, academic, and spiritual lives of women cannot be considered as separate within a feminist paradigm, as demonstrated by Kim Ducketts proposition of the transformational power of using the Wheel of the Year (WOTY) as a psycho-spiritual healing process for women. Ducketts teachings and programs for the WOTY are modeled on ancient European earth- based systems of psychospiritual development, which follow the temporal patterns of the changing seasons, and are also refected in the modern teachings of womens spirituality, Pagan, goddess spirituality, and Wiccan traditions, and draw parallels with the transpersonal developmental model of psychosynthesis. For Duckett, a womans lived experience and her processes of healing including the reconstructing and deconstructing of integral parts of the selfcan be compared symbolically International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 31 Editorial Introduction to Special Topic Section to the mythology of the Greek goddess Persephone, whose story of spiritual and psychological development is entwined with the change of the seasons. Ducketts model recognizes the necessity of and encourages self- refection and identifcation with other women going through individual processes of biological development and psycho-spiritual growth, and thus presents a healing modality for more than just the individual female, but for the whole of the community of women. Judy Schavrien examines two sets of ancient Greek trilogies as allegories to current environmental catastrophes. Setting the stage for her analysis, Schavrien takes note of the reciprocal dynamic between the sociopolitical world and the religious beliefs and practices of the ancient Greeks; she then locates the intersection between society and societys religion in the gendered attitudes and beliefs of Athenian males, as witnessed through the infuential discourse of the theater, which crafted specifc visions of female deities and thus informed and was informed by the social roles of Athenian women. In the frst trilogy of plays examined, Aeschylus Te Oresteia, Schavrien suggests that the defamation, demonization, and distortion of the female deities, linked to the maternal, to nature, and to natures way of both creating and destroying, ft the purposes of a growing democratic male-dominated city-state. In the second example, Sophocles Oedipus trilogy, Schavrien shows how the playright might have written a tale that aligned with the sociopolitical context of the time, with the hopes of restoring the balance between family and body politic, female and male, and ultimately between humans, nature, and the gods. Schavriens study, informed by Gross (1993) feminist hermeneutics of suspicion, exhibits a broad vision by frst attempting to uncover the androcentric and misogynistic bias within the earlier trilogy that correlated with hypermasculinity and hubris, and thus imbalance, and then fnding some resolution within the later trilogys foregrounding of the feminine, thus potentially restoring balance. Schavrien contends that the second triology served as a critique of not only the sociopolitical scene, but also of the psychospiritual and psychoecological characterization of the collective. Schavrien then suggests parallels between ancient Athens and contemporary America and modern corporations; then, in consonance with Sophocles late vision, Schavrien proposes an act of rebalancing centered on the sustenance of the Earth, with implications for critical reinterpretations of history, politics, and psychology. Te editors of this section are not attempting to set out a rigid defnition of what feminist transpersonal scholarship should look like, or set an agenda for the kinds of topics feminist transpersonalists and transpersonal feminists should contribute to the growing body of literature. If any viewpoint stands out within the feminist movement, it is that contemporary feminists seek to utilize the most comprehensive and sophisticated interdisciplinary methods to study and elucidate the complexity of womens experiences, from illustrations gleaned from personal, self-refective processes and development to examination of social and collective roles, relationships, and identities. Many of the articles in this issue describe or employ qualitative methods of research and review of extant literature; such approaches aim to privilege subjective accounts of womens experience, drawing from the psychological, the experiential, the embodied, and the actual lived reality of women. Interestingly, a number of authors chose to discuss their own personal experiences as these relate to their research endeavors. Qualitative methods are gaining increased visibility and credence within the social scientifc felds, and feminist researchers and scholars have employed qualitative approaches to gathering and analyzing subjective experience, both formally and informally, for decades. Additionally, transpersonal psychology has from its inception developed qualitative approaches for research, since many of the experiences that transpersonalists have studied cannot be fully elucidated through quantitative description. Tose working within both feminist and transpersonal terrains have learned the benefts of qualitative approaches to inquiry and can take strong positions in favor of these methods with decades of meaningful data to support them. Te transpersonal feld is a progressive academic discipline and it is imperative to engage in scholarly discourse that promotes forward-thinking, fexible, and adaptive methods of inquiry to support the constant changes within intellectual discourse. Te editors are honored to bring this special section of the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies to life. Christine began to vision such a project as a student at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology almost a decade ago. Eight years later, through collaboration with passionate women scholars in the transpersonal community, this issue ofers eight articles representing diverse viewpoints from within a feminist-transpersonal perspective. Te International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 32 Brooks & Crouch editors hope that this issue will help to bridge feminist and transpersonal research and scholarship that fosters interdisciplinary intellectual thought, and that it will explicitly support academic work by transpersonally- oriented women. Each new and diverse perspective that is given voice adds to the whole picture of human experience, complex though it may be; if the inclusive vision of transpersonalism cannot be achieved through universalisms, then it must be pursued through a rich plurality of diverse voices. Christine Brooks Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Courtenay Crouch Institute of Transpersonal Psychology References Anderson, R. (2011). Intuitive inquiry: Exploring the mirroring discourse of disease. In F. J. Wertz, K. Charmaz, L. M. McMullen, R. Josselson, & R. Anderson (Eds.), Five ways of doing qualitative analysis: Phenomenological psychology, grounded theory, discourse analysis, narrative research, and intuitive inquiry (pp. 243-278). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Clements, J. (2004). Organic inquiry: Toward research in partnership with spirit. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 36(1), 26-49. Retrieved from <http:// atpweb.org/journal.aspx> Daniels, M. (2005). Shadow, self, spirit: Essays in transpersonal psychology. Charlottesville, VA: Imprint Academic. Enns, C. Z. (2004). Feminist theories and feminist psychotherapies: Origins, themes, and variations (2 nd
ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. Ferrer, J. (2002). Revisioning transpersonal theory: A participatory vision of human spirituality. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Ferrer, J. (2009). Te plurality of religions and the spirit of pluralism: A participatory vision of the future of religion. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 28, 139-151. Retrieved from <http://www. transpersonalstudies.org> Flax, J. (1990). Tinking fragments: Psychoanalysis, feminism, and postmodern theory in the contemporary West. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Gross, R. (1993). Buddhism after patriarchy: A feminist history, analysis, and reconstruction of Buddhism. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Hartelius, G. Caplan, M., & Rardin, M. A. (2007). Transpersonal psychology: Defning the past, divining the future. Humanist Psychologist, 35(2), 1-26. Retrieved from <http://www.informaworld. com/smpp/title~content=t775653705> Turer, S. L. (2005). Te end of gender: A psychological autopsy. New York, NY: Routledge. Wehr, D. S. (1987). Jung & feminism: Liberating archetypes. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Yoder, J. D., & Kahn, A. S. (1993). Working toward an inclusive psychology of women. American Psychologist, 48, 846-850. doi:10.1037//0003-066X.48.7.846 Young-Eisendrath, P. (2004). Subject to change: Jung, gender, and subjectivity in psychoanalysis. New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 33 Feminist and Transpersonal Tought Unidentifed Allies: Intersections of Feminist and Transpersonal Tought and Potential Contributions to Social Change
Christine Brooks Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Palo Alto, CA, USA Contemporary Western feminism and transpersonalism are kaleidoscopic, consisting of interlocking infuences, yet the felds have developed in parallel rather than in tandem. Both schools of praxis developed during the climate of activism and social experimentation of the 1960s in the United States, and both share a non-pathological view of the human experience. Tis discussion suggests loci of synthesized theoretical constructs between the two disciplines as well as distinct concepts and practices in both disciplines that may serve the other. Ways in which a feminist-transpersonal perspective may catalyze social change on personal, regional, and global levels are proposed. C ontemporary Western feminism (which will be defned below) and the transpersonal movement both came of age in the climate of activism and experimentation in the United States during the late 1960s, and both movements continue to evolve today. As with many schools of thought that blossomed during the height of modernism and then transformed during the postmodern turn, both feminism and transpersonal studies 1 are kaleidoscopic disciplines made up of interlocking yet distinct infuences and sources. However, as evidenced in the literature of both felds and demonstrated herein, feminism and transpersonalism have moved in parallel rather than in tandem over the course of their development. Feminist thought, and even the voices of women scholars, are woefully lacking in transpersonal literature. Hartelius, Caplan, and Rardin (2007) devoted an entire section of their discussion of a contemporary working defnition of the transpersonal feld to evaluating gender diversity in the literature; it is interesting to note that they found that only 25% of the 182 articles published in 30 years in the key journal of the feld, the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, were attributed to women. Tis led the authors to conclude that, if transpersonal psychology is to stand for human wholeness and transformation, it needs to embody what it teaches; there can be no lasting human transformation without inclusiveness, nor holism without diversity (p. 19). Te absence of womens voices in the professional literature takes on political and social signifcance in relation to such burning questions: who among transpersonalists is publishing in the professional literature, and what barriers continue to exist in transpersonal circles that maintain the invisibility and silence of many women? Te ongoing diversity work at the core of feminist movements, described below, may serve as a rich resource as transpersonalism moves, as Rothberg (1999) and Hunt (2010) urged, into a more socially-engaged phase. Michael Daniels (2005) suggested that the feld of transpersonal psychology has relied heavily on aspects of theory and practice historically related to an ascending (transcendent) model of psychospiritual development rather than a descending (immanent) model. Daniels went on to argue that ascending models value the masculine while descending models are often related to aspects traditionally related to feminine qualities. Te problematics of gendering psychospiritual qualities (i.e., using terms such as masculine and feminine to describe psychological or spiritual qualities) is a topic worthy of scholarly inquiry in its own right; though it will be a running question throughout this piece, the full attention that this burning issue deserves within the feld is put of for a future inquiry. It must sufce here to note that the frequent utilization of binary gendered language (i.e., International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 2010, pp. 33-57 Keywords: feminism, feminist psychology, transpersonalism, transpersonal psychology, social justice, spiritual development, spirituality, interdisciplinarity. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 34 Brooks masculine and feminine qualities)notably common in transpersonal psychologyis an area ripe for additional critique, research, and theory in the future of the feld. As a researcher and educator who straddles the two disciplines in my own work, I began my exploration of the relationships between feminist and transpersonal thought with a series of questions: What are the intersections between feminism(s) and transpersonal studies? Where do these progressive movements align? How do they difer? What does it mean to identify as both feminist and transpersonal? It is not my intention herein to trace the entirety of the complex and compelling histories of both transpersonal and feminist thought, although excellent sources for both are noted below. My goal is to highlight a few locations of synthesized theoretical constructs and practice between the two disciplines. Additionally, initial proposals of how a feminist-transpersonal perspective may catalyze social change will be addressed. Te Transpersonal Terrain A s the feld of transpersonal psychology matures, histories of its origins and continuing research seeking to defne the boundaries of this feld of inquiry and practice have become more prevalent (Daniels, 2005; Hartelius et al., 2007; Hastings, 1999; Lajoie & Shapiro, 1992; Lukof, Lu, & Turner, 1996; Shapiro, Lee, & Gross, 2002; Walsh & Vaughan, 1993). Hastings (1999) 2
placed the birth of the feld of transpersonal psychology in the late 1960s with the publication of Maslows (1968/1999) second edition of Toward a Psychology of Being. Originally published in 1962, Maslows work explored peak experiences and how such experiences promote a transcendence from a doing level of self to the level of being (Hastings, 1999, p. 193). Additional infuences in the development of the discipline include the work of Anthony Sutich and the Palo Alto Group who associated transpersonal theory with the feld of psychology to establish what Maslow viewed as the Fourth Force of psychology. However, many concepts at the core of transpersonal psychology pre-date this era and refect ancient wisdom traditions such as Buddhism and Sufsm as well as theories about spirituality developed by earlier psychologists such as William James (1902/1997) and Carl Jung (1934/1954). Citing William James approach to the psychology of religious experience, transpersonal scholar William Braud (2006) referred to James concept of becoming conscious of and in touch with a More (p. 135) in the human experience. In short, in transpersonal psychology there is an explicit acknowledgement of the spiritual nature in human consciousness and recognition that the study and understanding of the spiritual experiences in peoples lives deepen a psychologists comprehension of the human condition. Building upon the work of humanists such as Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, the feld has devoted much of its theory building and scholarship to understanding concepts such as exceptional human experience, higher states of consciousness, and altruistic behaviors and attitudes such as compassion, mindfulness, and forgiveness. Transpersonal psychology additionally chal- lenges the rigid, materialist epistemology of traditional schools of psychology in favor of a system that is fexible enough to hold many perspectives at once (Mack, 1993, p. xi). As Mack noted: Psychology in this [materialist] paradigm, has limited its healing potential by following a therapeutic model in which one person treats the illness or problems of another, separate, individual, whose relevant world is confned to a few principle relationships (p. xii). Te burgeoning transpersonal feld has ofered an alternative view: In the transpersonal universe or universes, we seek to know our worlds close up, relying on feeling and contemplation, as well as observation and reason, to gain information about a range of possible realities. In this universe we take subjectivity for granted and depend on direct experience, intuition, and imagination for discoveries about the inner and outer worlds. A transpersonal epistemology appreciates the necessity of ordinary states of consciousness for mapping the terrain of the physical universe, but nonordinary states are seen as powerful means of extending our knowledge beyond the four dimensions of the Newtonian/Eisensteinian [sic] universe. (p. xii) Tis epistemology values multiple ways of knowing, moving beyond scientism and embracing the complex and diverse voices comprising the transpersonal feld to date. Additionally, Macks (1993) view of transpersonal psychology suggested the validity of the subjective experience. As will be noted below, the primacy of the subjective voice is a major locus of intersection between transpersonal psychology and feminism. However, it is important to note, albeit briefy, that a distinction is to be made between individualism International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 35 Feminist and Transpersonal Tought and subjectivity. For the present purposes, individualism considers the individual as a discrete whole, an entity aware of and intentionally participating in its own growth and development, a process that is decontextualized and not dependent upon others. Subjectivity is rather the state of awareness of inner and outer events as ones own experience, the experience of a contextualized, bodily-located self. Such a distinction is important to consider with regard to the evolution of both the feminist and transpersonal felds over the course of the past four decades. As noted above, the feld of transpersonal psychology (much like the social movement of feminism and the feld of feminist psychology) has multiple faces. Over the more than 40-year course of the development of the feld, defnitions of transpersonal psychology have evolved from Maslows early focus on peak experiences. In 1992, Lajoie and Shapiro published a synthesized defnition from more than 40 defnitions of transpersonal psychology: Transpersonal psychology is concerned with the study of humanitys highest potential and with the recognition, understanding, and realization of unitive, spiritual, and transcendent states of consciousness (p. 91). As I examine this defnition almost two decades after its publication through my own feminist lens, two elements stand out: 1) a privileging of transcendence and higher states of human potential and consciousness rather than an acknowledgement of the complexity and depths of all lived experience (cf. Daniels 2005); and 2) a seemingly exclusive focus on the decontextualized individual. So much has changed in the intervening years since this defnition was developed: the internet alone has expanded the capacity to network, connect, and interact with one another at levels never dreamed possible, while also highlighting the increasing isolation felt by many in a world too fast and demanding to encourage actual person- to-person interaction. Increasing globalization of the marketplace has created opportunities for extreme levels of wealth for a very few while simultaneously threatening ecological and economic disaster as human and material resources continue to be consumed at unsustainable levels. Te frenzy of capitalism and consumption has led to the explosion of the sustainability movement that seeks to restore a healthy relationship to the planet and replace entitlement with respect for the relationships needed to fulfll the most basic levels in Maslows (1943) hierarchy of needs: food, water, shelter, and love. In this climate, transpersonal psychology has needed to evolve in order to stay relevant. Mainstream psychology is beginning to embrace its own roots in spirituality, re-engaging with both psyche and spirit in both practice and research. 3 In the United States positive psychology (e.g., Snyder & Lopez, 2007) and health psychology (e.g., Sheridan & Radmacher, 1991) are now established felds of research and clinical intervention, and spiritual practices such as mindfulness meditation are studied and taught as mainstream psychological treatment to minimize stress and promote healing (e.g., Kabat-Zinn, Lipworth, & Burney, 1985; Stahl & Goldstein, 2010). 4 A contemporary defnition of the transpersonal feld addresses these cultural changes and the evolution of the feld. Following the example of Lajoie and Shapiro (1992), Hartelius et al. (2007) conducted a thematic analysis of 160 defnitions and concluded that transpersonal psychology is comprised of three interacting themes: Beyond-Ego Psychology; Integrative/ Holistic Psychology; and Transformative Psychology. Hartelius et al. wove the themes into a new defnition of the transpersonal feld: An approach to psychology that 1) studies phenomena beyond the ego as context for 2) an integrative/holistic psychology; this provides a framework for 3) understanding and cultivating human transformation (p. 11). While this defnition may be viewed as individualistic in scope, the authors stressed that the transformation of the individual is but one important aspect of creating change in the world: Te three aspects of the feld complete rather than compete. As beyond-ego aspects of human experience become understood, a view emerges in which human individuals are integrally interconnected with much larger contexts. Tis larger vision, in turn, allows glimpses of how to become a greater, deeper humanity. As humanity transforms, individually and collectively, it cultivates more beyond-ego development worthy of study. Together, the three themes of transpersonal psychology form an interdependent, mutually supportive cycle of inquiry. (p. 11) Tis statement seems to mirror the often- paraphrased quote by Gandhi: Be the change you want to see in the world. Such a comparison is not meant to diminish either the nuanced complexity of the above defnition, nor to frame Gandhis quote in a reductivist manner. Rather, it is to point out that both concepts focus on the vital importance of individual agency and action International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 36 Brooks as catalysts for personal as well as social transformation: moving from rigid individualism to the embracement of unique subjective experiences within intersubjective milieus. As will be discussed later, it is important to highlight that transformation begins with the individual in this frame, and thus subjectivity is reafrmed as the locus or starting point of the process. Te self is the place where transformation begins, though not its full and fnal purpose. Te Feminist Terrain(s): A Brief History of Western Academic and Activist Feminism W estern (or Euro-American) feminism, 5 generally understood to include the movements developed in the late 60s through early 80s in the United States, Western Europe (notably the United Kingdom), and Australia, has contemporary roots, as well as a deeper lineage reaching back to the frst wave of women- centered activism focused primarily on sufrage (womens right to vote) that took place in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries in the United States and United Kingdom (Freedman, 2002). What is generally understood as Western feminism is one faction among many in the broader global womens rights movements that focus on issues such as human trafcking, reproductive and family planning rights, violence against women, women impacted by war, womens representation in government and the workplace, and povertyto name but a few of the crucial areas of concern (Morgan, 1996). Consideration of the complexities, nuances, and rich history of the myriad womens movements that now span the globe and interlock in multiple ways through scholarship (e.g., Bhavnani & Phoenix, 1994), activist endeavors (e.g., Women in Black and Code Pink, two international war protest groups), social media (e.g., websites such as Facebook and GlobalSister that seek to connect and inform women) and non-government organizations (e.g., Sisterhood is Global Institute and the Global Fund for Women) are beyond the scope of this work; thus, it is not possible to provide a comprehensive overview of feminism here. Major concepts describing key schools of thought and evolutions of the Western feminist movement that have infuenced my perspectives on feminisms will be briefy noted to provide context for the considerations at hand (but see Freedman, 2002; LeGates, 2001). Te Western feminist movement of the 1960s to 1980s, now referred to in many feminist academic circles as second wave feminism and understood as the modern origin of contemporary Western feminism(s), was greatly infuenced by the civil rights, anti-war, and youth activism movements in the United States during the 1960s (LeGates, 2001); its development paralleled the counter-cultural inception of contemporary transpersonalism. Te movement was driven by a wide variety of womens concerns, including sex discrimination; limited opportunities in employment; restraints on reproductive freedom; and concerns about domestic violence, sexual victimization, and womens unpaid labor (Biaggio, 2000, p. 3). Early activism and political action focused on women as a distinct class (diferentiated from men) who shared the common experience of dominance and oppression simply by being women (Lerner, 1986; Spivak, 1988). Te construct of a monolithic class of women has become increasingly complexifed as the rise of diverse voices in the movement(s) has demonstrated the problems that come with conceptualizing women as a class. Nonetheless, early feminist thought demonstrated the need to delineate a starting point for the movement that starkly highlighted the extreme inequity and disparity of privilege that women have experienced due to gender and/or sex roles associated with biological sex (Jehlen, 1990; Kessler & McKenna, 1985). Tis early activism began to dismantle assumptions about womens position in society as well as what had traditionally been assumed as fxed gender roles. Te feminist movement grew through grassroots eforts, notably the formation of consciousness-raising (CR) groups. Tese groups were collectives of women gathered together, focused on facilitating personal awareness of a central tenet of the movement: the personal is political (Biaggio, 2000, p. 6) 6 : All across the [U.S.], as if by spontaneous combustion, women were meeting to discuss their personal plights and arriving at the same conclusion: that their problems were not unique or isolated phenomena, but rather refections of a political environment that devalued and subjugated women . Tis is how the movement caught fre; women bonded around the new insight that they were being treated like second-class citizens. Tey realized that they had grown so accustomed to this status that they had been blind to its very existence. Tis awareness and the fervent sense of sisterhood it gave rise to fueled the movement. (p. 6) International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 37 Feminist and Transpersonal Tought Acts of consciousness-raising often also led to personal and public confrontations of long-held views on race, class, and social injustice, along with protests of gender inequality. Women began to write personal narratives of their own experiences as subjective accounts of such issues (Friedan, 1963/2001; Pratt, 1984; Rich, 1979/1995). Tis early work became the heuristic ground of qualitative information that coalesced into feminist theory through various manifestos and anthologies (e.g., Morgan, 1970; Redstockings, 1969/2010). Te Spectrum of Feminism Feminism is, and has been from its inception, a collection of many movements. What is generally referred to as second wave feminism developed out of four major sub-categories: liberal feminism (or equality feminism), radical feminism, socialist feminism (or material feminism), and cultural feminism. Radical feminism and cultural feminism have been greatly infuential in contemporary feminist psychology and warrant brief explication herein. Radical feminism. Radical feminists believe that the patriarchal structure of society oppresses women. Radical feminists have conducted research and created theory demonstrating how some of the most sacred cultural institutions, including marriage and child-bearing/care, operate as mechanisms of control and domination over women (Rich, 1979/1995; Firestone, 1970). Psychologist Laura Brown (1994) is dedicated to dismantling and restructuring theory, practice, and even the patriarchy inside ourselves in an efort to create a vision of the just society in which oppression and domination are no longer the norm (pp. 233-234). Browns voice displays the intermingling of theory and politics that most often characterizes the radical feminist perspective. Te prominent social and political work of radical feminism pursues the elimination of violence against women and highlights issues of sexualitymost notably the issues of rape and pornographyand the efects these two elements have on women (Dworkin, 1981; MacKinnon 1982/1993). Amid the criticism of unrealistic separatism leveled at some of their political stances, radical feminists nonetheless have been at the forefront of antiviolence legislation and were among the frst to develop rape crisis centers and battered womens shelters (Echols, 1989) and have had a lasting impact in feminist psychology. Cultural feminism. Cultural feminists are generally credited with seeking to resurrect, reconsider, and re-vision the cultural meanings of female qualities such as the concept of the feminine as it is used in areas such as Jungian analytic work (e.g., Woodman, 1990, 1997; see also Downing, 1992/2003) and feminist spirituality (e.g., Christ, 1992, 1997). A core assertion of many cultural feminists is that women have been oppressed due to inherent unique qualities such as intuition, emotionality, and relationality (Alpert, 1973; Donovan, 1992; Noddings, 1984; Wilshire, 1989). Cultural feministshave tended to embrace the biological and psychological understandings of the diferences between men and women. From their perspective, the social problem women encounter is not the diferences per se, but rather the diferential value placed on those diferences. (Whalen, 1996, p. 23) Or, as Wilshire (1989) noted in her explication of how ancient philosophers laid the groundwork for ongoing oppression of women qua women: One sees that the more things change, the more they stay the same, for philosophic tradition continues to extol things culturally perceived as male (e.g., knowledge in the mind) and suppress things culturally perceived as female (e.g., knowledge in the body). Note here, briefy but pointedly, that maleness and femaleness in this context often have nothing to do with being a woman or a man. (pp. 94-95) Tree major contributions of cultural feminism are: (a) the celebration and honoring of motherhood; (b) a resurgence of womens spirituality, including the resurrection of goddess traditions; and (c) re-evaluations and reformations of traditional philosophies of knowledge such as strict empiricism, materialism, and logical positivism (Alpert, 1973; Starhawk, 1979/1999; Wilshire, 1989; Lips, 1999). A Tird Wave in Feminist Tought and Action As in political parties, each branch of feminism has a particular platform and mandate upon which the members of the group operate. However, the boundaries between these ideologies are fuid, and many feminists hold beliefs from more than one group and/or create hybrid platforms such as ecofeminism, a fusion of ecology and feminism (e.g., Daly, 1978; Grifn, 1978/2000; Shiva, 1988), womanism, an African-American feminist movement highlighting the strengths of women of color (e.g., Higgenbotham, 1992; Walker, 1983), and post- International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 38 Brooks colonial and critical race theories, schools of thought critical of mainstream American feminism for universalizing the experience of women and thus fattening the complexity of identity (e.g., Ahmed, 2006; McClintock, 1995; Sandoval, 2000; Spivak, 1988). Additionally, the voices of lesbian, queer, and transgender women continue to impact feminist endeavors through the exploration of how sexuality (including sexual orientation and afectional orientation), gender orientation, and biological sex interplay in multivalent ways and further complexify and diferentiate the experiences of women (Ahmed, 2006; Bornstein, 1995; Butler, 1990, 1993, 1997; Rich, 1979/1995). Contemporary U.S. political, social, and academic feminism of the late 20th and early 21st centuries has come to be called the third wave (Findlen, 1995; Gillis, Howie, & Munford, 2007; Heywood & Drake, 1997; Walker, 1995). Tis movement is a pastiche of history, politics, and pop culture (Baumgardner & Richards, 2000) and embraces the contradictions of identity and the subjective voices of a variety of perspectives to demonstrate the diversity and complexity of womens experience in response to perceived earlier essentialist stances taken in some feminist activism. Essentialism is understood here as adhering to the belief that there are unique attributes that women possess that are diferent from men; thus, this perspective is also referred to as diference feminism. While third wave voices are prevalent in the felds of womens studies and philosophy, many of the rhetorical and conceptual devices employed in this school of thought have yet to penetrate into the institutional structures of psychologyand are notably absent in transpersonal psychology. Tese ofer promise for future theory and research. Te Evolving Voices of Feminism: Considerations of Diversity T heorizing and research in feminist work continues to evolve the feld, notably in relation to continued eforts to understand the complexity of identity. Some third wave feminists have viewed the stance of cultural feminists as essentialist. Much work in third wave feminism argues for the varying utility of this stance, and questions whether the essentialist view contributes importantly to the feminist goal of liberating women from oppression grounded in devaluation (Bohan, 1993, p. 6). However, the point remains that these [essentialist] theories have been criticized for presuming universality and ignoring diversity in human experience (DeLamater & Hyde, 1998, p. 13; for additional critique of such essentialism in feminism, see also Bohan 1993; Lorber & Farrell, 1991; Stone, 2007). 7 Te ongoing dialectic around the concept of essentialism underscores the challenging work of exploring the socio-cultural nature of identity and demonstrates the vital need to keep issues of diversity at the fore of research and theory- building. Te critique against essentialism arose within feminist camps because early theory and research in the second wave years was primarily conducted by and generally included an overwhelming majority of white, middle-class women (Yoder & Kahn, 1993). As feminism has continued to evolve in the past three decades, scholars such as Patricia Hill Collins (1990), bell hooks (1981, 1989, 2000), and Johnnetta B. Cole (1986) have highlighted the absence of the voices of women of color in second wave feminist theory and research. Cole noted the chauvinism among white women, that takes the form of attitudes and behaviors which ignore or dismiss as insignifcant diferences in class, race, age, sexuality, ethnicity, and physical ability (p. xiii). Peggy McIntosh (2002) wrote about white chauvinism, the weightless knapsack (p. 358) of white privilege that is, as McIntosh wrote of her own racial awakening to whiteness, the invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was meant to remain oblivious (p. 10): [Tis privilege] leads white women to make the assumption that their experiences are universal, normative, and representative of others experiences, although well-motivated, white, middle-class feminist scholars have fallen into the trap of presenting the experiences of mainstream women as the yardsticks of womens experiences. Terefore the impacts of racial, cultural, and class-based factors are ignored, not only for women of color, but also for white women. (Espin & Gawalek, 1992, p. 91) Over the past three decades, feminist psychological theory has begun to move beyond a consideration of gender in a vacuum, recognizing that the intersections and interplay of gender, race, class, physical ability, sexual orientation, other socio-cultural factors, and personal identity create matrices through which people experience their lives (Ballou, Matsumoto, & Wagner, 2002; Brown, 1994; Crenshaw, 1991; International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 39 Feminist and Transpersonal Tought Espin & Gawelek, 1992; hooks, 1989). A contextual consideration of identity is especially urgent in the feld of transpersonal psychology, which has sidestepped the mundane self in much of the literature, relegating that discussion to traditional forms of personality psychology (see Daniels, 2005). However, new work is beginning to appear that addresses the concept of a transpersonal self (see MacDonald, 2009), and further theoretical and empirical work will need to continue to fesh out such a concept, as described further in sections below. Te ongoing revelations of the complexity of female experienceon national and global levelshave led to continuing, lively debates in feminist camps. Spivak (1988) suggested early on that at times it is necessary to rely on strategic essentialism in order to focus directly on realities that impact the lives of women. She suggested that one must not lose sight of harm against women in the process of creating philosophy or theory, and that alliances must be created across ideological diferences in order to achieve social justice. Since Spivaks early statements, others have suggested more sophisticated models of coalition-building (Anzaldua, 2007; Anzaldua & Keating, 2002), bridge identities (Ferguson, 1997), and complex models that better represent the intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991) 8 of identity. Te intention is to create feminist theory and practice that embraces contradiction, multiplicity, and diference (Gillis et al., 2007, p. xxiv) so that activism on behalf of womens rights and safety may continue without relying on an exclusively essentialist understanding of women as a monolithic class. I see parallels in this critique of essentialism to questions Ferrer (2000, 2002) has raised in transpersonalism with regard to the perennial philosophy. Ferrer argued against the universalization of understanding concerning religious/spiritual experience. In the context of feminist discourse, if universalizing constructs are relied upon, then which classes or categories of (female) experience become foregrounded, and which experiences are erased or backgrounded? Questions related to who has the right or power to name and legitimize their own experiences are at the heart of much feminist work and also at the core of Ferrers work through the past decade. Who Speaks for Women? While the rhetorical and philosophical stance of postmodernism is at risk of being dismissed by some as a futile, nihilistic project, 9 the core understanding of the power of language (and other forms of signifcation) is nonetheless valuable in a consideration of pluralistic movements such as transpersonalism and feminism. Postmodern theory, a term confated and interchanged with social constructionism in the feld of psychology, seeks to deconstruct the very categories (e.g., sex, gender, masculine/feminine, disorder) that have achieved truth status within psychology (Cosgrove & McHugh, 2002, p. 22). Some scholars argue for a distinct diference between strict postmodern theory and the principles of social constructionism (Butler, 1990). However, the two schools of thought hold fast to a common understanding that we have no way of knowing with certainty the nature of reality (Bohan, 1993). Bohan defned the basic structure of this theory and how it may ameliorate the assumptions promoted by essentialism: So-called knowledge does not refect the discovery of a free-standing reality, existing apart from the knower and revealed by careful application of procedures. Rather, what we purport to know, what we see as truth, is a construction, a best understanding, based upon and inextricably intertwined with the contexts in which it is created. Among the most forceful factors that shape our constructions of knowledge are the modes of discourse by which we exchange our perceptions and descriptions of reality. Tus, knowledge is a product of social interchange; what we call knowledge is simply what we agree to call truth. (pp. 12-13) In a detailed account of potential intersections and understood contradictions of postmodern and feminist schools of thought, Cosgrove and McHugh (2002) underscored the tension between wanting to explore the subjective expressions of research participants while adhering to postmodern tenets. Language thus becomes a primary tool of a combined feminist/postmodern method in that language (the term discourse is frequently used because of its inclusive connotation) is seen as constituting rather than revealing reality. Language afects what we do (and dont) notice, what we do (and dont) experience (p. 24). Holding the tension between feminist identity politics and a postmodern perspective as described above allows a theorist, researcher, or practitioner to examine the relationship between ontology (being) and epistemology (knowing) (p. 25). While language is of central importance to postmodern thought, scholars such as Butler (1990, International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 40 Brooks 1997) and Barvosa-Carter (2001) have been careful to move toward a poststructuralist stance in which language is but one aspect of the discourse that constructs reality and subjectivity. Te importance of this diferentiation rests in these theorists insistence on constant refexivity in order to uncover the power structures through which reality is socially constructed. In an overview of Butlers contributions to both postmodern and feminist schools of thought, Barvosa-Carter (2001) summarized the central tenet of their collective thinking: Poststructuralist theories (including Butlers) describe the social world in large part in terms of the production of norms and veiled attempts to deem those norms natural or universal. Butlers strident anti-normativity is born out of her attempt to unmask the pretense, falsehood, and will to power behind attempts to declare socially constructed norms universal across space and time. To reveal the contours of normative precepts and the activities of those who advance them is neither to dispense with the need for norms within political practice nor to eliminate their complex role in the formation and transformation of social relations and practices. Hence, from a poststructuralist perspective, acknow- ledging the subordinating misrepresentations by which some social norms are created, advanced, and maintained will not banish norm generative activities from feminist political practice. (p. 133) Tus, the inclusion in feminist discourse of schools of thought such as postmodernism, social constructionism, and poststructuralism, each focused squarely upon the political act of delimiting the source(s) of power and infuence upon which norms are created, has broadened feminist perspectives toward a new school of thought which can and must attend to both symbolic and material politics (Barvosa-Carter, 2001, p. 135). In relation to psychology, and notably and specifcally to transpersonal psychology, a feld in which the symbolic is often deemed as vital to subjective experience as material reality (Campbell, 1974; Hillman, 1997; Jung, 1976; Woodman, 1997), the above perspectives may contribute new and nuanced frames of reference from which to explore how power and reifed gender roles are replicated in classical transpersonal work. Tis occurs, for example, through tactics such as using terms such as masculine and feminine to describe psycho-spiritual constructs and states. 10
Applied Feminism: Psychology and Spirituality F eminist psychology, as a feld, has been dedicated to centering women and womens issues in psychological research, theory, and treatment modalities. Utilizing the strong analytical tools developed in academic and activist strands of the movement, feminist psychologists have served key roles in addressing gender as a crucial locus of psychological health and development. Accounts of the many feminist threads that inform feminist psychology and psychotherapy are prevalent in the literature, including Enns (2004) comprehensive overview, Feminist Teories and Feminist Psychotherapies. A core concept that informs many of the scholars and researchers in feminist psychology is relationality, or the theory that we, as human beings, grow and develop through relationship and not in individual vacuums of experience. Relational-Cultural Teory is a feminist construct that has posited the need for and value of interpersonal relationship in healthy psychological development; as a theoretical model, it has become a keystone of efcacy in the therapeutic process (Baker Miller, 1978; Jordan & Hartling, 2002). Additionally, feminist psychologists have highlighted the necessity of focusing on subjectivity, or the actual lived experience of women in order to create valid, verifable data upon which to build theory and practice that will serve diverse populations of women (Lerman, 1986), since the need remains to continually build diverse theory that no longer speaks only to narrowly-defned populations (Brown, 1994). 11
In the past decade, Suyemoto (2002), for example, has proposed a model of socially-constructed self and identity as perpetually shifting and developing rather than relying on rigid, step-wise, hierarchal concepts of personality development that have defned personality psychology as a feld. Suyemoto asked of traditional theorists and researchers: Who determines what my . . . personality is or is not . . . what is or is not healthy or pathological in personality? (p. 74) Additionally, Ballou et al. (2002) created an ecological model of human nature that includes community, ecology, and cosmos as infuences that shape the self and ones understanding of identity. Similar to the earlier work of Bronfenbrenner (1979; see also Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, 1994), the Ballou et al. model extends a holistic model of identity to include consideration of the sociopolitical realities of intersectional identity as understood and interpreted through a feminist lens (Crenshaw, 1991). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 41 Feminist and Transpersonal Tought Feminist work has been primarily focused on identity politics and conceptualizations of what it means to be a socially-constructed self, diferentiating these models from the psychospiritual models generally utilized in the feld of transpersonal psychology, which have historically placed primacy upon spiritual experience and the importance of ego-transcendence as a move toward wholeness (Wilber, 12 1973, 2000; see also Washburn, 1995, 2003; Ruumet, 2006). In overly- simplifed terms, the political orientation of much feminist theory has served well the motto noted above, the personal is political (Hanisch, 1969/2006). Just as it was suggested above that Gandhis exhortation to be the change might signify the gestalt of contemporary transpersonalism, this simplifcation of a classic feminist slogan is not meant to be reductive; rather it is to suggest that the core focal strength of feminism(s) is that it values subjectivity while acknowledging that the socio-political reality of such lived experience impacts the lives of actual individuals. In my own work as an educator, theorist, and researcher, I fnd that feminism informs the transpersonal, and vice versa, to create new synergistic lived spiritual activism. It may be that this sort of mutually-inspiring relationship can also evolve between the felds themselves. Feminism and Spirituality Troughout the varied and voluminous anthologies of academic feminist theory, 13 research literature, 14 and textbooks on feminism and psychology, 15 issues of spirituality or religion are often noticeably absent. Womens studies and political science professor Leela Fernandes (2003) devoted an entire work to highlighting the lack of focus onarguably even avoidance ofthe issue of spirituality in mainstream Western academic feminism and womens studies programs. In her work, Transforming Feminist Practice: Non-Violence, Social Justice, and the Possibilities of a Spiritualized Feminism, Fernandes posited that academic feminists have been wary of religious institutions that have sought to control womens bodies and sexualities and that this wariness had inadvertently allowed conservative religious and political organizations and movements to colonize spirituality (p. 9). She further suggested that secular, urban, middle-class feminists (p. 9) would beneft from an exploration of the possibility of social transformation through a spiritual revolution, one which transforms conventional understanding of power, identity, and justice (p. 11). Te author recounted that the students in her womens studies courses are loath to discuss spirituality in the context of feminism, and her work is ofered as a bridge between these academic circles and the lived spiritual reality of most women. 16
While Fernandes makes the case that spiritu- ality has often been missing from mainstream feminist academic discourse, she has not addressed the interdisciplinary feminist scholars who focus attention on aspects of spirituality, most specifcally issues related to womens religious and spiritual experience. Her work circumvented the fact that the relationship between feminism and spirituality is not absent, but ambivalent; while her point may be valid in the feminist circles in which she resides, it does not take into consideration the richly complex vista of feminist spirituality that afords interesting locations of intersection between transpersonal and feminist schools of thought. Te feld of feminist spirituality developed alongside the activist and academic camps of the movement since the inception of the second wave and also has deep roots in the religious motivations espoused by frst-wave feminists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1895/2003). Accounts of the history of feminist spirituality are available, including an overview of feminist infuence in monotheistic religion and goddess worship by Stuckey (2010) and the history of womens spirituality as researched by Eller (1995). Much scholarship has been written concerning institutional religions, especially, in the United States, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism; notable works include Plaskow (1979/1992, 1991), Gross (1979/1992), Schssler-Fiorenza (1983, 1984), Reuther (1983, 1985), and Daly (1978, 1968/1985). Some of these works (including Schssler-Fiorenza) seek to re-establish women as active participants in the living traditions of religion, while some scholars seek to re-vision the sacred scripture, liturgy, and ritual of religion to make it more inclusive for practicing women (as in the work of Reuther, Gross, and Plaskow). Dalys work argued for women to abandon patriarchal religious institutions altogether due to the inability of such religions to truly value and honor women and womens experiences. Goddess traditions, Wicca, paganism, shamanism, earth-based spiritual traditions, and womens circles are also present in prominent literature in the feld (Christ, 1979/1992, 1997; Noble, 2001; Starhawk, 1979/1999; Teish, 1988). Activist and emancipatory spirituality International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 42 Brooks are continuing to evolve and diversify, and one such example among many is the work of Lillian Comas- Diaz (2008) on Spirita, a spiritual perspective focused on collective liberation and social justice, grounded in mujerista, or Latin womens spiritual and liberatory work. Several core constructs are central to feminist spirituality theory and practice: women-centeredness, processes of reclaiming or renaming, praxis, and educating other feminists. Prime examples of these constructs can be found in the Womens Spirituality masters program at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California. 17 Te program is explicitly woman-centered: 18
placing womens experience as the central focus of study and research (D. Jenett, personal communication, April 6, 2009). Te program is interdisciplinary and focuses on the archeological and mythological roots of matrifocal culture and goddess worship, as well as contemporary social and political issues afecting how and whom women worship (thus, reclaiming and renaming). Courses in the program include the use of ritual, and women enrolled are required to engage in an applied learning practicum in a community setting (praxis). Finally, the program is an excellent resource for feminists who have not encountered spiritually- oriented feminism before (educating other feminists). Similar accounts of parallels to these core concepts can also be found throughout the feminist spirituality literature (e.g., Christ & Plaskow, 1979/1992; Plaskow & Christ, 1989; Powers, 1995). Te concepts noted from the feminist spirituality research and literature above, grounded primarily in the felds of womens studies, history, archeology, mythology, religious studies, and social and political activism, have recently begun to contribute to the feld of psychology. Feminist Spirituality and Psychotherapeutic Practice Te academic journal Women & Terapy has devoted two full issues to the topic of women and spirituality in the past two decades (Kaschak, 2001; Ochshorn & Cole, 1995). Both of these volumes explored the multiple ways in which spirituality afects the therapeutic process, including the use of spiritual elements such as ritual in therapy, and the place spirituality holds within the realm of mainstream feminist psychology. Te 1995 issue had three articles of note: Ballous Women and Spirit: Two Nonfts in Psychology, Bewleys Re-membering Spirituality: Use of Sacred Ritual in Psychotherapy, and Hunts Psychological Implications of Womens Spiritual Health. Te articles in the 2001 issue had a similar theme, building upon the platform established in the former issue: namely, the vital importance of spirituality in the development of a holistic understanding of the self (Funderburk & Fukuyama, 2001; Perlstein, 2001; Weiner, 2001). While none of the articles in either issue mentioned transpersonal theory specifcally, Noble (2001) utilized alternative nonrational knowledge techniques (p. 193) and ancient healing techniques (p. 193) in her conception of bringing spirituality into the therapeutic setting. Such techniques included ritual, dreams, oracles, hands-on healing, and other forms of shamanistic technique that are applied in hopes of disrupting the entrenched pathological patter and simultaneously stimulating a rebalancing to take place on its own (pp. 194-195). Transpersonal psychotherapeutic literature is thick with analogous sentiments as evidenced in the works of authors such as Fox (1990) and Vaughn (1993). Te language used to introduce the later issue (Kaschak, 2001) also demonstrated compatibility with much transpersonal thought: Spiritual practice contributes to a dimension of consciousness untouched by psychodynamic and other approaches that emphasize awareness. It also demands a profound level of responsibility for oneself, to oneself, to others, and, fnally, to all beings and to the earth herself, thereby acknowledging and making visible the inevitability of our mutuality and connectedness. We need not create connection; we need simply to awaken to it. (p. xxii) Te absence of specifc transpersonal voices indicates a place for exploration and potential research and theory- building that may further illuminate intersections of feminist and transpersonal perspectives and generate transformative professional conversations. Contributions that transpersonal psychotherapy could make to feminist therapists work include expertise in techniques that assist in the discernment between pathology and spiritual emergency (Grof & Grof, 1989; Lukof et al., 1996), the integration of spiritual techniques such as meditation in clinical practice (Vaughan, 1993) and personal wellness (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010), non- pathological language to better understand exceptional human experiences (Palmer & Braud, 2002), and applications of forgiveness in therapeutic practice or work International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 43 Feminist and Transpersonal Tought with groups in confict (Luskin, 2002; Lewis, 2005). Additionally, the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology has developed excellent models of whole-person clinical training programs that illustrate the importance of the integration of personal and professional development as forms of transformational learning (Braud, 2006; Frager, 1974; see also Ferrer, Romero, & Albareda, 2006; Meizrow, 1997). Terapists, scholars, researchers, and educators in both feminism and transpersonalism tend to be eclectic and interdisciplinary. Tus, the fact that these felds may already share some common vernacular, as tentatively illustrated above, may serve as a bridge between them. Additionally, of course, there are already feminist-oriented transpersonal practitioners and transpersonally-oriented feminist practitioners, as evidenced by the other transpersonal/feminist works included in this special issue of IJTS, as well as a litany of excellent dissertations produced by doctoral students in schools such as ITP, the California Institute of Integral Studies, Saybrook University, the Pacifca Graduate Instutite, and other similar schools globally. 19 Tese works serve as a tentative beginning to the mapping of such intersections. Feminism and Transpersonal Psychology: Intersections S imilar to many feminist psychologists, including the work of Ballou and Brown (2002), Hare-Mustin and Maraceck (1990), Maraceck, (2001) and others, the pioneers in the feld of transpersonal psychology found the emphasis on pathology and malady in mid-20th century psychology only representative of a fraction of human experience and sought to create a feld of study that would honor the fullness of humanitys multiple ways of being, knowing, and experiencing the world around us. While self-proclaimed feminists are active clinicians, researchers, theory-builders, educators, and spiritual guides within the transpersonal milieu, the relative absence of feminist voice is problematic with regard to theory-building and models of efective clinical interventions. Tis lack threatens to perpetuate sexism in the feld of transpersonal psychology through silence. It is possible that some of this gender gap may be attributable to what Ferrer (2002) has pointed to as an over-reliance on the perennial philosophy during the frst quarter century of the felds development. Ferrer described perennialism as: the idea that a philosophical current exists that has endured through centuries, and that is able to integrate harmoniously all traditions in terms of a single Truth which underlies the apparent plurality of world views. . . . this unity in human knowledge stems from the existence of a single ultimate reality which can be apprehended by the human intellect under certain conditions. (p. 73) As Ferrer observed, despite their professed inclusivist stance, most universalist visions distort the essential message of the various religious traditions, covertly favor certain spiritual paths over others, and raise obstacles for spiritual dialogue and inquiry (p. 71). Just as perennialist views homogenize the topography of human spiritual experience, they may fatten the plurality of lived experience that results from inhabiting a gendered body, and overlook the need for participation by women scholars. As noted earlier, feminist postmodern scholars employ dialectics that continually question the validity of universal truths or monolithic theories claiming to represent all human experience. Te inclusion of womens voices generally, and feminist voices in particular, can support the felds eforts to overcome unexamined presuppositions and, through embracing diversity, achieve a greater degree of plurality in the philosophical foundations of the discipline. Louchakova and Lucas (2007) have recently written a critique that also suggests that the avoidance of the examination of the self in transpersonal psychology is linked to the roots of the feld in the personal growth endeavors of the 1960s, which sought to diferentiate from other mainstream schools of thought and relied heavily on Eastern conceptions of no-self as a template for enlighten- ment. As ego-transcendence was and still is a core value of the feld, the question of self (as identity or contextualized subjectivity, which includes the ego) has been a problematic conundrum that has only recently been addressed in transpersonal circles (see also MacDonald, 2009). Te deep and skillful socio-cultural analytic tools developed in feminist psychology may be essential to help transpersonal theorists and clinicians ground solid defnitions of growth and transformation beyond (or through) ego, but in situ, in cultural context. While spiritual experiences are often described as inefable, decontexualizing the individuals experiencing such inefability risks creating essentialist models that may not ft diverse experience, as Ferrer (2002, 2009) has suggested. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 44 Brooks Epistemologies and Research Methods: Explicit Intersections Feminist perspectives have greatly infuenced a body of scholarship exploring alternative epistemologies that challenge the positivist position held in science for more than a century (Lips, 1999). Feminist theorists have explored and critiqued the ways in which knowledge is collected, interpreted, and transmitted (Chelser, 1972; Chodorow, 1978; Gilligan, 1982; Jaggar & Bordo, 1989). As Ballou and Brown (2002) pointed out, epistemologies deriving from psychologies such as postmodern, multicultural, and ecological are more commonly utilized and more broadly understood (p. xiii) to be more inclusive and fexible, and thus better tools for the study of models such as Relational-Cultural Teory (Jordan, Kaplan, Miller, Stiver, & Surrey, 1991) or the feminist ecological model of the self (Ballou et al., 2002). Te above epistemological frames complement and, in some instances, intersect with some of the core constructs that have been developed in transpersonally- grounded research methods (Anderson, 2004; Braud, 2004; Braud & Anderson, 1998, 2011; Clements, 2004). Both feminist research methods (grounded often in the perspective of social constructionism) and transpersonal research methods seek to move beyond exclusive reliance on experimentally or objectively gathered data, demonstrating an early valuing of and confdence in qualitative research methods, including the use of heuristics, hermeneutics, and phenomenology (Anderson, 2004; Ballou, 1992; Braud & Anderson, 1998). As noted, neither feld seeks to do away with empirical methods of data gathering (Bohan, 1993), but rather to select a method that best fts the research questions at hand (Braud, 1998). However, in the case of a social constructionist stance one is reminded of the diferentials of power in all research endeavors, and is urged to remain skeptical of received truths and taken-for-granted frames of reference . . . knowledge is never innocent, but always value-laden and predicated on specifc sociopolitical conditions that it serves to legitimize (Maraceck, 2002, p. 6). In the case of a transpersonal stance toward research, the transformative and liberating potential of doing research is highlighted, while close care is paid to the integrity and refexivity of the researcher (Braud, 2004; see also Anderson, 2000; Clements, 2004). Research is not to be taken lightly and attention is to be paid to vigilant self-development in order to create as clear a vision in data analysis as possible. A researcher with a feminist orientation may be infuenced by the values of egalitarianism, mutuality, multiple viewpoints, and a respect for subjective experience (Reinharz, 1992). Additionally, emphasis may be placed on lived experience and the subjective voice of research participantsoften referred to as co-researchers in both feminist- and transpersonally-oriented models. Within the transpersonal feld, two research methods embrace explicitly feminist epistemologies: intuitive inquiry and organic inquiry. Intuitive inquiry is a process through which objective and subjective data is analyzed through successive hermeneutic cycles of data collection and refection (Anderson, 2000). According to Anderson (2004), this method is rooted in both feminist and transpersonal concepts; she identifed the process of intuition as a transpersonal act that may take several forms and is admittedly difcult to quantify. In one moment, intuition seems vibrant and breathtaking to beholdand then it disappears (p. 4), yet Anderson nonetheless purported that intuition is a viable form of knowingan argument also made in feminist work (Wilshire, 1989). Symbolic processes, sensory modes of intuition, and empathetic identifcation are all forms of knowing that are valuedindeed, encouragedwithin the method. Anderson (2001) also encouraged embodied writing as a technique that: brings the fnely textured experience of the body to the art of writing. Relaying human experience from the inside out and entwining in words our senses with the senses of the world, embodied writing afrms human life as embedded in the sensual world in which we live our lives. As a style of writing, embodied writing is itself an act of embodiment. Nature feels close and dear. Writers attune to the movements of water, earth, air, and fre, which coax our bodily senses to explore. When embodied writing is attuned to the physical senses, it becomes not only a skill appropriate to research, but a path of transformation that nourishes an enlivened sense of presence in and of the world. (p. 83) In intuitive inquiry, the subjectivity of the researcher is valued equally to the voices of the co-researchers. Tese research methods and techniques demonstrate models of conducting research that value transformation, personal responsibility, and a researchers capability, and are International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 45 Feminist and Transpersonal Tought useful for understanding human experience through a transpersonal lens. Another method valued in transpersonal research is organic inquiry, which: stands at the intersection of feminine spirituality and transpersonal psychology. Organic studies to date seem to be motivated by a desire on the part of the researcher to investigate and share the meaning of her or his own deeply-held experience in order to improve the life of another, by a desire for social and individual transformation, a goal which mirrors the high ideals of both the feminist and transpersonal movements. (Clements, Ettling, Jenett, & Shields, 1999, p. 5) Like intuitive inquiry, the organic method seeks to understand and legitimize ways of knowing traditionally dismissed in mainstream psychological research (Clements, 2004). Tis method utilizes nature metaphor such as the cycle of planting, growth, and harvest to highlight non-rational processes available to the researcher as well as synchronistic experiences that may arise while the research is being conducted and reported. Additionally, there is an explicit social justice mandate for research conducted in this manner: not only should the research transform the researcher, it should also positively impact the co-researchers and the readers of the research, and should lead toward social transformation for all exposed to the material (Clements, 2004). Additionally, the method encourages the reporting of fndings through the actual voices of the co-researchers: the researcher uses as much of each participants story as possible to fesh out the fndings. Tus, organic inquiry is a technique that values the subjective nature in qualitative research and feminist theory in general. Te explicit ways in which feminist theory is utilized in the aforementioned transpersonally- oriented methods may serve as an excellent template for additional ways in which feminist perspectives may support and enhance continued development in transpersonal methods. Ongoing development may include considerations of the unique nature of power, relationship, and identity, and how socio-political and personal factors impact the generation and production of research fndings. Such feminist critique could contribute to the already-existing gifts of the spiritual focus of transpersonal research methods and techniques. A Rare Published Example of Feminist Critique in Transpersonal Psychology In the areas of transpersonal developmental theory, an early (and solitary) example of a deconstruction, based upon gender, of one widely-accepted model of transpersonal development was produced by Peggy Wright in the mid-1990s. 20 Wright (1995, 1998) sought to explore, critique, and engage with Ken Wilbers pre/ trans fallacy model, which privileges transcendence of the ego as the ultimate goal of spiritual development. Wrights critique and reevaluation of Wilbers model is of note because she, like Karen Suyemoto (2002), raised questions and alternate perspectives in order to bring to the fore the supposition of universal human experiencea task central to the feminist model of theory-building (Lerman, 1986) and, as noted, not often seen in transpersonal psychology. Wrights (1995, 1998) primary assertion was that much of Wilbers theoretical framework hinged on an understanding of the self in which the development of higher states of consciousness are universal across not only culture, but also gender. Wright made the argument, based upon the work of Chodorow (1978) and Jordan (1984), that womens ego development and conception of the self difer from the developmental experience of men. Referring to the relational aspects of womens development, Wright (1995) relies on permeable boundaries to allow the simultaneous experience of self and other. Te self-boundaries are permeable in the sense that they are open to the fow between self and other (p. 6). Due to this experiential diference, Wright postulated the following: Because womens prepersonal development difers from mens, it is not much of a stretch to postulate that womens transpersonal development may also difer. I propose that the connected self, with its permeable boundaries, cuts across developmental lines in the prepersonal, personal, and transpersonal stages. Permeability afects all levels of experience. In terms of how it afects transpersonal development, it may subtly change the developmental path. I speculate that because of permeable self- boundaries, womens experience of an isolated, unitary self already may be diminished. Awareness may naturally focus on the holographic, interwoven nature of reality. In this awareness, the hierarchical structures that the mind uses to reduce experience International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 46 Brooks into comprehensible packets of reality can be more easily dissolved, and formlessness and ambiguity are better tolerated. Boundary permeability may ease the path to union with a spiritual self. Te merging and embedding of the self into God or Self may not always be experienced as a loss of self. Instead it may refect a coming to self/Self. (p. 7)
Building upon her theoretical constructs, Wright (1998) further suggested alternative visions to Wilbers assessment of how contemporary Western culture must undertake its own healing. Drawing upon the self-in- relation models of female development, Wright (1998) suggested that we, as people, must heal the splits between mind/body and culture/nature not as individuals only, but also in community. In addition, she disagreed with Wilbers conception of the diferences between transcendence and regression, insisting that, at times, one must regress in order to heal. Wright posited: A diagnosis of what needs to be healed in our culture and the process of healing can be clarifed through theoretical models, but the healing itself requires lived experience. Tis healing is sometimes an exceedingly difcult and unpleasant process. Coming back into the individual and collective bodies to heal trauma often means reliving our sufering. Without healing, we may ascend, but we cannot be whole. Healing the split at times requires messy, emotive, and nonrational regressive experiences. In addition, it requires developing personal, empathic relationships with the elements of the biosphere and with each other, as well as with Spirit. Ultimately, individual and social healings facilitate our spiritual development. (p. 225) Wrights theoretical stance (1995) called for multiple approaches to transpersonal development that may be needed to keep a balanced perspective (p. 10). Like Ferrer (2002), Wright (1995, 1998) brought into question the rigid adherence to perennialist models that may not adequately represent the experience of non-dominant groupsin Wrights case, the category of women. However, Wright did not address issues of essentialism, and her work is now more than a decade old. A contemporary development of her critique into theory would be of value in order to explore how a feminist critique of essentialism, as well as of other developmental models (e.g., Washburn, 1995; Ruumet, 2006), would enhance transpersonal psychology as a feld by exploring assumptions in models that tend towards generalization across gender or other aspects of identity. Such a critique might demonstrate ways in which some models fail to represent non-dominant experience, which in turn might highlight the need for expanding and revising those models in ways that increase inclusivity. Tis might enhance the potential relevance and applicability of the models. A Contemporary Opportunity for Dialogue: Te Work of Jorge Ferrer A s noted throughout this exploration, intersections in the ways feminists and transpersonalists view common psychological and spiritual phenomenon have yet to be explicitly formulated. Te work of Jorge Ferrer (2002, 2009) may be a ripe place to begin formal conversation on the richly complex matrix of potential agreement and contradiction that can be found in exploring transpersonal studies relationship to feminism. A specifc place to initiate this inquiry may be the tension between a postmodern skepticism for the acceptance of universals and the pursuit of for universal human experience found in some transpersonal theory. Most notably, such universalization relies on works such as Huxleys (1945) and Schuons (1953/1984) explication of perennial philosophy, which, at its most basic level, holds belief in an ultimate reality or Truth. 21 Debate on this issue can be found in Ferrers (2002) work, who put forth a concept of a participatory nature of spiritual knowing; this perspective seeks to re-vision and broaden transpersonal theory beyond either postmodernism or perennialism. Ferrer critiques transpersonal psychologys roots in a perennialist paradigm in which specifcity and diversity are eschewed in favor of a search for common spiritual ground. As an alternative view, Ferrer suggested it is time to deconstruct transpersonal models that adhere to the validity of monolithic Truth in search of a more fexible theoretical model able to hold a participatory spiritual pluralism (p. 189). Ferrer (2002) believed that transpersonal phenomena are not solely individual inner experiences, but are rather multilocal participatory events (p. 117). Tus, transpersonal phenomena are: (1) events, in contrast to intrasubjective experiences; (2) multilocal, in that they can arise in diferent loci, International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 47 Feminist and Transpersonal Tought such as an individual, a relationship, a community, a collective identity, or a place; and (3) participatory, in that they can invite the generative power and dynamism of all dimensions of human nature to interact with a spiritual power in the cocreation of spiritual worlds. (p. 117) Ferrer criticized the feld of transpersonal psychology for reifying the inner experience of spiritual and transpersonal phenomena, which leads to intrasubjective reductionism (p. 23). Such reifcation, Ferrer suggested, holds back the evolution of the feld: Te task of emancipation of spirituality set forth by the transpersonal project will be incomplete as long as transpersonalists remain committed to the experiential vision. We need to free transpersonal theory from its modern experiential prejudices and expand the reach of spirituality out of its confnement to the subjective space to the other two worlds, that is, the objective and the intersubjective. (p. 23) In his vision of transpersonal psychology, grounded in participatory, pluralistic perspectives, Ferrer (2002) sought to move transpersonal thought and practice into a stance of active engagement and embracement of the wide variety and expressions of spiritual experience. Tis participatory turn does not do away with the individual or with individual experience, but rather honors contextualized experience and subjective reality; the participatory turn aims to foster our spiritual individuation in the context of a common human spiritual family, but also turns the problem of religious plurialism into a celebration of the critical spirit of pluralism (Ferrer, 2009, p. 140). From this starting place, it may be interesting to inquire how Ferrers (2002, 2009) participatory concepts could create an important dialectic of theory and praxis with a feminist construct such as the Relational-Cultural concept of growth-in- relation (Jordan & Hartling, 2002; Jordan et al., 1991; Miller, 1987). Judith Jordan (2001) succinctly summed up the clinical application and utility of this model: Terapy based on the relational-cultural model suggests that the primary work is to bring people back into healing connection, where they begin to reconnect with themselves and bring themselves more fully into relationship with others. We posit that growth occurs in connection and that we grow, learn, expand, and gain a sense of meaning in relationship. Tis does not mean that we are in actual physical relationship with people at all times, but that there is an attitude of relatedness, of mutuality, of openness, of participating in experience. Tis can occur in solitude, in nature, when we feel connected and in relationship with our surroundings. In isolation, we are not in relationship, we are cut of, we are not in mutual responsiveness. (p. 97) Te emancipatory and relational/participatory sentiments of the above constructs (both the work of Ferrer and Jordan et al.) suggest a place of opening for conversation about how socio-cultural realities such as gender and other intersectional identities impact participatory events. Ferrer (2000) sought to break through the long-held perennialist viewpoint in the hope that the exposition and airing of the presuppositions of perennialism will help create an open space in which transpersonal theory need not subordinate alternative perspectives but can enter into a genuine engagement and a fertile dialogue with them (p. 25). Ferrers (2002) vision of transpersonal psychology, frmly grounded in participatory, pluralistic perspectives, seems closely aligned to feminist principles and suggests several intersections in theory and practice that may contribute to a feminist transpersonal perspective. Conclusion: Toward a Socially-Engaged Spiritual Future S o what might this all mean for a socially-engaged, spiritually-focused psychological paradigm of human experience? Both the feminist and transpersonal felds are concerned with the concept of consciousness-raising, which is clearly an elemental aspect of their shared counter-cultural roots, as noted above. However, the forms of this consciousness-raising seem to have taken somewhat divergent paths over time, with feminism and feminist therapy doing an exceptional job with socio-cultural analysis and political action in support of groups and individuals who traditionally have not had voice in dominant cultures. Concurrently, transpersonal psychology has fostered forms of consciousness-raising with regard to altered states, alternative ways of knowing, self-knowledge, and personal growth: concepts related to Jungs models of psychological health, which includes the process of individuation, or moving toward wholeness and integration. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 48 Brooks In the transpersonal camp, Elgin (1993) wrote that the evolution of our consciousness (and supportive social forms) is not a peripheral concern; rather, it is of central importance to our human agenda (p. 249). Rothberg (1999) spoke of the need for a socially-engaged spirituality that is concerned with ethics and action (p. 41). Tus, in the transpersonal world there exists a call for social engagement and the recognition that one cannot stop change at the personal growth stage, and also that one must use that change to transform the world (thus, back to Gandhis exhortation be the change). However, feminist expertise in social organizing and the long history in feminism of critique, analysis, and personal refection as social action (e.g., Hanischs (1969/2006) the personal is political) would serve as a rich model for the applied ethics and action Rothberg (1999) sought. Conversely, transpersonal studies may ofer new insights into conceptualizations of spiritual development, novel approaches to integrating spiritual interventions into clinical practice, and reminders that psychology encompasses the beauty and richness of the full range of human experience in each client seen and each student educatednot to mention in ones own lived experience. As early as 1994, Laura S. Brown saw feminist psychological theory moving toward considerations of the spiritual or existential realms (p. 233). Leela Fernandes (2003) and others (Flinders, 1999; Klassen, 2009) have demonstrated the deep hunger in academic feminist circles for a more spiritually-infused form of activism. 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Gender issues in Ken Wilbers transpersonal theory. In D. Rothberg & S. Kelly (Eds.), Ken Wilber in dialogue: Conversations with leading transpersonal thinkers (pp. 207-236). Wheaton, IL: Quest Books. Yoder, J. D., & Kahn, A. S. (1993). Working toward an inclusive psychology of women. American Psychologist, 48, 846-850. doi:10.1037//0003- 066X.48.7.846 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 55 Feminist and Transpersonal Tought Notes 1. See Friedman (2002) and Daniels (2005, p. 265) for the argument that transpersonal studies encompasses a wider scope of what is truly taking place among transpersonally-oriented scholars and that this term, rather than transpersonal psychology, is utilitarian as the feld of transpersonal psychology continues to develop and grow. 2. Another excellent overview of the feld and the core theoretical constructs that inform transpersonal psychology is Michael Daniels (2005) Approaching Transpersonal Psychology. 3. A report was recently published in the professional magazine of the American Psychological Association (Monitor on Psychology) on neuroscientifc research demonstrating that religious belief in humans fosters stronger social bonds as well as staves of existential angst (Azar, 2010). Tis report took a distinctly non-pathological view of the religious impulsea relatively new stance for a mainstream psychological publication. Weve had this long history of believing that the things of the spirit are in one camp and that science and technology are in another camp, says [Tomas] Plante, professor and director of the Spirituality and Health Institute at Santa Clara University and president of APAs Div. 36 (Psychology of Religion). If anything, this work reiterates that we are whole people; the biological, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual are all connected (para. 16). 4. All three felds, positive psychology, health psych- ology, and mindfulness studies and applications are commonplace in the U.S. market today, with specialized professional journals and conferences in each feldand all three disciplines are core areas of consideration at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and other like-minded schools in the feld. 5. Western feminism is generally understood to include the movements developed in the late 60s through early 80s in the United States, Western Europe (notably the United Kingdom), and Australia. 6. Tis phrase was originally coined as a title for a treatise written by Carol Hanisch in 1969. For a detailed history by Hanisch and the original article of this title, go to <http://www.carolhanisch.org/ CHwritings/PIP.html> 7. For a difering perspective that seeks to reafrm the value of second wave feminist research while simultaneously critiquing some of the faws and assumptions of earlier feminist research, see Hayes (1997). 8. An intersectional perspective is the ability to view the lived human experience through multiple lenses of identity which infuence how one walks in the world. Examples of these multiple lenses are class, race/ethnicity, socio-economic status, region, physi- cal ability, religion or spiritual orientation, sexual or afectional orientation, or gender. 9. Philosophers from within and outside of postmodern circles continue to debate the value of deconstruction as a process (see Habermas, 1981). Nonetheless, understandings of the power structure of language and the social construction of the self have been invaluable projects in feminist and queer theory building with the goal of de-centering assumed and implicit identity and power structures (e.g., Foucault, 1970, 1980; Butler, 1990, 1993, 1997; Gergen, 2001). 10. Transpersonal psychology is rife with examples of gendered language that have gone unexamined with regard to how such usage reinforces gendered roles based upon psychospiritual developmental expectations. Examination of how and to what purpose such language is used may expose problematic, rigid gender roles that do not represent or symbolize the lived experience of individuals who do not easily ft into categories such as masculine and/or feminine. It is the hope of the author to address these very issues in a future essay. 11. Feminist psychotherapist Laura S. Brown has written for decades on the complexity of the feminist endeavor to create fexible, non-pathologizing, and holistic theory and practice in order to address the experiences of women. Nontheless, Brown (1994) has continued to hold strong to the perspective that the feminist project must include novel approaches to psychological theory-building rather than an additive approach to broadening what already exists in mainstream psychology. She stated: I believe that we can continue to borrow from mainstream developmental theories only at our peril. Te feminist clinical psychologist and theoretician Rachel Hare-Mustin has aptly noted that feminist personality theorists continue to stand International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 56 Brooks on the bellies of dead white men in building our theories (personal communication, July, 1993) A feminist theory of personality requires starting afresh, departing from the patriarchal universe of knowledge, standing on our own feminist feet, and allowing our politically oriented way of knowing to represent good personality theorizing (pp. 231-232). Her perspective may be controversial to some, but her stance is one that suggests that a careful examination of unspoken oppression and tacit acceptance of gendered stereotyping in much psychological research and theory may continue to maintain patriarchal power dynamics unless care is taken to make such unidentifed discrimination plain throughout the research and theory building processes. 12. Wilber would, most likely, disagree with the supposition that there is a lack of consideration for socio-political issues in integral theory, even though it is clear that this area has not received signifcant development or emphasis in comparison with topics of personal transcendence. It is also clear that signifcant gaps remain within transpersonal studies, including critiques of the socio-political implications of spiritual development. 13. Te three major third-wave theory anthologies do not address religion or spirituality in any substantive form. If mentioned at all, spirituality is eschewed for activist work (see Baumgardner & Richards, 2000) or addressed so peripherally as to have no substantive presence in feminist theory-building in these contexts (see Gillis et al., 2007; Heywood & Drake, 1997). 14. A search conducted in the Psychology of Women Quarterly archives (dating from 1997 to the present) yielded a total of three articles in response to the the keyword spirituality (Retrieved from EBSCO Host database, December 23, 2010). Tis is the fagship journal of Division 35 of the American Psychological Association, the Society for Women in Psychology. 15. Examples include Biaggio and Hersen (2000) and Lips (1999). 16. Te Pew Forum for Religious and Public Life conducted the U.S. Religious Landscape survey in 2009 and reported that 86% of women in the U.S. were religiously afliated and in many factors score higher on religious measures than men (http:// pewforum.org/The-Stronger-Sex----Spiritually- Speaking.aspx). 17. Tis is one of two programs in the San Francisco Bay Area of California dedicated specifcally to the study and practice of womens spirituality. Te other program is housed at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. 18. Woman-centeredness does not denote gender or sex exclusivity with regard to those invited to study the feld. Rather this perspective is grounded in transformative teaching practices and feminist theory: through de-centering norms (such as male- centeredness, or the primacy of male experience, in patriarchal religious structures), new vantage points of understanding and shifts in frames of reference may create opportunities for profound personal, social, and intellectual change through viewing ones self or experience as centered rather than othered or non-normative. 19. With the comprehensive indexing of dissertations and theses on databases such as ProQuest, access to this rarely considered literature is now widely possible. As noted elsewhere in this piece, the politics of why these dissertations have not been published to date as articles or books in the professional literature continues to go unexamined. 20. Another early self-identifed feminist author in the feld who utilized gender as a locus of psychospiritual exploration (notably through the lens of self- psychology) is Judy Schavrien (1989; 2008). Her use of classical Western drama as a tool to explore the rise of (her term) Te Feminine in the development of a mature psyche is further explored in an article in this special issue. 21. Tarnas (2002) encapsulated the unfolding of trans- personal theory based upon inherited principles that revealed themselves to be acutely problematic (p. viii). He continued: With modernitys focus on the individual Cartesian subject as the starting point and foundation of any understanding of reality, with its pervasive assertion of the knowing subjects epistemic separation from an independent objective reality, and fnally with the modern disenchantment of the external world of nature and the cosmos, it was virtually inevitable that transpersonal psychology would emerge in the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 57 Feminist and Transpersonal Tought form that it did: namely, with an overriding com- mitment to legitimate the spiritual dimension of existence by defending the empirical status of private, individual intrasubjective experiences of an independent universal spiritual reality. And since experience of the ultimate spiritual reality was regarded as one shared by mystics of all ages, it was, like scientifc truth, independent of human interpretations and projections, and empirically replicable by anyone properly prepared to engage in the appropriate practices. In turn, this consensually validated supreme reality was seen as constituting a single absolute Truth which subsumed the diverse plurality of all possible cultural and spiritual perspectives within its ultimate unity. Tis was the essential transcendent Truth in which all religions at their mystical core ultimately converged. (p. ix) About the Author Christine Brooks, PhD, is Assistant Professor and Chair of the Residential PhD and Masters programs in Transpersonal Psychology at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for the Sacred Feminine and the Chair of the Diversity Action Team at ITP. Her scholarship is focused on issues of diversity in transpersonal psychology and related felds and exploring the potential for social transformation and social justice from a transpersonal perspective. Additional areas of interest include womens adult psychospiritual development, the use of gendered language and imagery in psychospiritual theory and models, and transformational education and leadership. Correspondence regarding this article should be directed to the author at cbrooks@itp.edu. About the Journal Te International Journal of Transpersonal Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal in print since 1981. It is published by Floraglades Foundation, and serves as the ofcial publication of the International Transpersonal Association. Te journal is available online at www.transpersonalstudies.org, and in print through www.lulu.com (search for IJTS). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 58 Grahn Ecology of the Erotic in a Myth of Inanna
Judy Grahn Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Palo Alto, CA, USA Myths of Mesopotamian Goddess Inanna, planet Venus in the ancient Sumerian pantheon, have been useful in psychological processes of contemporary women. A lesser-known myth, Inanna and Shukaletuda, includes sexual transgression against the deity and ties the deifed erotic feminine with fecundity and sacredness of felds and trees. Interpretation of Inannas love poems and poems of natures justice contextualizes ecofeminist relevance to psychological issues. Deconstruction of rich imagery illustrates menstrual power as female authority, erotic as a female aesthetic bringing order, and transgender as sacred ofce of transformation. Meadors (2000) interpretation of three Inanna poems by a high priestess of ancient Ur provides four new archetypes for women that situate an axis for further understanding of Inanna and Shukaletuda. W ithout question, the literature of the goddess Inanna of ancient Sumer has been valuable in the teaching of both transpersonal psychology and spirituality to contemporary women, and men. Te Mesopotamian poets of the second millennium BCE were not only the frst to capture in lasting written form their peoples sacred stories, but they also left much material that is remarkably accessible and applicable to our current world. We have beneftted as section after section of the lyrical poetry and myths of the Sumerian goddess Inanna has been excavated, translated, and published. Such psychologically relevant treasures as Inanna Meets the God of Wisdom (Wolkstein & Kramer, 1983), and Te Descent of Inanna into the Underworld (Wolkstein & Kramer, 1983; Meador, 1992) enable both women and men to delve deeply into their own psyches, and, for example, to understand some forms of depression as possibly creative journeys that not only achieve resolution, but are also benefcial. Earlier in the 20 th century the surfacing of the Gilgamesh myth with its food story, and Inannas courtship tale of choosing the shepherds gifts over the farmers, brought attention to the antiquity of stories that later became retained in biblical texts, long after the great Sumerian civilization had faded. By the frst millennium BCE, if not earlier, Inannas name had become replaced by her more recent and familiar names of Ishtar and Astarte. Meadors (2000) interpretations of translations of the long poems and temple hymns of Enheduanna, the great poet-priestess of Ur, have contributed to the knowledge of Inanna as a vehicle for a pro-nature philosophy that is pressingly needed in current times. Psychologists, activists, and artists have used the mythology to further contemporary methods and worldviews (Grahn, 1993, 1999; Meador, 1993, 2000; Perera, 1981; Starhawk, 1988; Wolkstein & Kramer, 1983). Some examples: Inannas Descent to the Underworld has been used to re-describe depression as a creative journey endowing the eye of truth as its outcome. Inanna attains laws of the cosmos in the myth, Inanna Meets the God of Wisdom, a story that helps teach women that power is paradoxical, belongs to them, and involves struggle. And, Inannas richly sensual love poetry attaches sexuality to the sacred in ways seldom seen in other literature. Now, interpreting yet another and less known myth, Inanna and u-kale-tuda, about Inanna seeking justice for a sexual transgression of her body, I would like to suggest that once again her fne Sumerian poets can teach us something of her contemporary as well as ancient, psychological and ecofeminist value. Te myth does not, and I do not, use the term rape, something I will discuss at length later. As a mythologized personifcation of the planet Venus, among other natural features, Inanna was queen of the night sky where she fared as a living torch, and she ruled the day as well, coming down to walk about International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 2010, pp. 58-67 Keywords: ecofeminism, Inanna, archetype, erotic, menstruation, rape, mythology, trans- gender, embodied spirituality, Sumerian, ecology, spirituality. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 59 Ecology of the Erotic in a Myth of Inanna in human form among her people, the black-headed (as they called themselves) of the Mesopotamian river valley (Simo Parpola, as cited in Meador, 2000, pp. 17-18; Wolkstein & Kramer, 1983). As long ago as six thousand years, temples were built to her, and her signs were left stamped in baked clay and on carved seals. Te earliest cuneiform tablets were found at her temple site at Kulaba, the place that would become old town as the great city of Uruk grew (Schmandt-Besserat, 1992). Fifty-fve hundred years ago, the clay tablet lists and accountings of Sumerian scribes began to yield a new art, written literature (Schmandt-Besserat, 1992). Much was written in praise of powerful Sumerian gods who preceded Inanna in the lineage of the pantheon, the sky god An, the wind god Enlil, the stony earth goddess Ninhursaga, the moon couple Nanna and Ningal (Inannas parents), and the god of wisdom and sweet water, Enki, her grandfather. But by about 2300 BCE, Inannas own literature would exalt her to the highest position in the complex pantheon of Sumerian deities (Jacobsen 1978; Meador, 2000; Wolkstein & Kramer, 1983). As a prototype of active female power, Inannas range is unique, her love poetry some of the most lushly sensuous ever written, her combination of authority and emotional intelligence unparalleled among the other Sumerian deities (Black, Cunningham, Robson, & Zlyomi, 2004; Wolkstein & Kramer, 1983). Lady of largest heart one of her poets called her (Meador, 2000, p. xxx). She is a protective warrior in that fghting is her play (p. 118), yet she also tenderly kisses babies and cares for her Sumerian people in their complex economic lives as they balanced both urban and rural activities. She is a complex, paradoxical goddess of both nature and culture. Dated from the late third millennium BCE, the extensive poetry of high priestess Enheduanna so expanded the character of the goddess Inanna that Jungian analyst and writer Meador (2000) deciphered from its stirring lines four new archetypes for women: lover, priestess, warrior, and androgyne. While warrior is one aspect of this complex deity, another is her far-ranging rule of her people, after she receives the paradoxical cosmic powers of tenderness and care, drought and food, wealth and ruin, health and illness (Meador, 2000), and of all things related to the peoples occupations of metal, wood, and stone crafts, trading, herding, and horticulture (Wolkstein & Kramer, 1983). Yet another aspect of her character is her sexuality, expressed in fne love poetry, in which she chooses among suitors, celebrates her own vulva, and spells out in detail how her lover is to approach her (Wolkstein & Kramer, 1983; Jacobsen, 1987). Inanna, though merged with the planet Venus as her identity, takes other forms in the imagery of her poets: torch, dragon, snake, lion, bird; she also creates permeable boundaries of gender for her people. She is sometimes titled the Woman as though she represents a collectivity of Sumerian womankind, with the same physical body and experiences. She is very much an elaborate social construct of both Sumerian culture and nature. Meador (2000) summarized something of her meaning: On the cosmic level, Inanna pulls the rug out from under our belief in order and principle. She is the element of chaos that hangs over every situation, the reminder that cultures and rules and traditions and order are constructs of humanity. Society congeals possibility into laws and mores so that we can live together. Inanna reminds us these are but products of the mind. At bottom all is possible. (p. 11) As this is a myth of ecofeminism, the four qualities I am tracking through this article all have to do with the power of womens bodies magnifed as powers of nature, and embodied in Inannas mythology: Inannas sexuality as eros that feeds the Land; her capacity to stop the peoples economic life with the power of her menses; her ability to deprive her transgressor of rebirth; and her control of gender androgyny that implies transformation of relationship or situation. A valuable correspondence to these powers is provided by Meadors (2000) articulation of the four archetypes, as named above. Note that the translators of this myth spell the goddess name with one n; I am following the usual spelling of Inanna except in quotes from the text, but also capitalizing Land as do they. Te Myth: Inanna and u-kale-tuda T he myth tells of a confrontation between the goddess and a young man, a callow youth, u-kale-tuda. Te story begins by extolling Inannas righteous authority, as she stands in her temple, which was called E-ana, and how she set out one day on a quest for justice: Te mistress who, having all the great divine powers, deserves the throne dais; Inana who stands in E-ana International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 60 Grahn as a source of wonderonce, the young woman went up into the mountains, holy Inana went up into the mountains. To detect falsehood and justice, to inspect the Land closely, to identify the criminal against the just, she went up into the mountains. (Black et al., 2004, p. 197) Te scene then shifts to Enki, god of wisdom and sweet (fresh) waters, who is teaching a raven the arts of gardening. Te raven closely follows the instructions of the wisdom god; he chews up the kohl plant, he pulls up a shoot that is a palm tree and plants it; he even properly works the shadouf, the long thin pole with a counter weight that makes the water bucket rise up and down drawing priceless liquid from the river (Black et al., 2004). Meanwhile on her mission of inspection, goddess Inanna went into the mountains and began fying around. From one border of the territory to the other, she few round and round. She few around the Tree whose roots intertwine with the horizon of heaven, by now so tired that she lay down beside its boundary roots. She had for her loincloth a weaving of the seven cosmic powers, across her thighs. Her thoughts were with her shepherd lover, Dumuzid. On the same plot of land a youth, u-kale-tuda, was working, and saw her; he approached, untied the loincloth of divine powers across her holy vulva. He had intercourse with her as she slept, kissed her, and returned to his place at the edge of the garden plot. By the light of the risen sun, the woman inspected herself closely, holy Inana inspected herself closely (Black, Cunningham, Fluckiger-Hawker, Robson, & Zlyomi, 1998-2001a, para. 112-128). She was immediately outraged, asking, what should be done (Black et al., 1998-2001a, para. 129- 138) on account of her vulva? Specifcally, what should be destroyed (para. 129-138) because of her vulva? She instantly acts. First, she flls all the water wells of the Land with her own blood, so that blood is irrigating the orchard crops, and they are producing blood. Te adult slave who goes out to gather frewood is drinking blood; the girl slave who is drawing water from the well is drawing up blood. All the Sumerian people are drinking blood. Te people are asking, how long will this last? No one knew when this would end (para. 129-138). Inanna declared that she would search all through the Lands for the man who had done this. She began to search, taking with her an entourage of assistants: She mounted on a cloud, took (?) her seat there . . . Te south wind and a fearsome storm food went before her. Te pilipili (one of the [temple] personnel in Inannas entourage) and a dust storm followed her . . . Seven times seven helpers (?) stood beside her in the high desert. (para. 185-193) She searched everywhere, but she could not fnd the man who had had intercourse with her. u-kale-tuda went to see his father, and told him some of the story, that he was worried as the woman had vowed to fnd him. His father told him to go into the city and hide among the other black-headed youth. Once again Inanna fooded the Sumerian water supply with her own blood, and once again she went looking for the man who had had intercourse with her. Again, she could not fnd him. Again, the boy went in fear to his father, and was given the same advice. Yet a third time she went looking for him, taking another ofensive measure. She took an implement in her hand and blocked of all the roads; no one in the Land could now travel. And still, she could not fnd him. Now, Inanna went to the elder wisdom god, Enki, who had been helpful to her in other of her life events. Enki was in charge of the elemental creation place, the apsu (watery abyss from which reality arises). Who will compensate me? (Black et al., 1998-2001a, para. 239-255) for this, Inanna asked him. I shall only re-enter my shrine E-ana satisfed after you have handed over that man to me, (para. 239-255), she declared. Enki, whose province was provision of fresh water in the Land, responded, All right! . . . [and] . . . So be it! (para. 239-255). He opened the apsu; immediately u-kale- tuda had no place to hide. He went running into the mountains. Tere, Inanna arched her body across the sky in the form of a rainbow, from one end of the Land to the other. And, although in his frightened and solitary situation he made himself very small, she saw him. She questioned him, and while the text is unclear here, it seems she compared his behavior to that of a dog, a donkey, and a pig. Addressing her as my lady (Black et al., 1998-2001a, para. 262-281), he told his complete story to holy Inanna. He explained that his job was to water the garden plots and build an installation that would be a watering well for the plants, but not a single plant remained there, not even one, I had pulled them all out by their roots and destroyed them (para. 262-281). Ten, a stormwind from the mountains blew International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 61 Ecology of the Erotic in a Myth of Inanna dust into his eyes; he could not wipe it all out; he had sand in his eyes. He looked and saw the exalted gods of the plains and of the mountains, the wind and the sky. And then he saw fying toward him a single god, I saw someone who possesses fully the divine powers (para. 262-281). He saw her divinity. In the middle of the plot stood the Tree whose roots entangle with the horizon, a Euphrates poplar, so large its shade remains the same all through the day. Under this tree the lady had laid down to rest after she had fown around heaven and around earth, from Elam to Subir, and she was very tired. He noticed her; he approached, had intercourse with her, and kissed her. Afterwards, he went back to the edge of his plot. Having heard his testimony, she then determined his destiny (para. 290-310). Holy Inanna said to u-kale-tuda: So! You shall die! What is that to me? (para. 290-310). But his name, she continued, would be remembered; his name would exist in songs and make the songs sweet (Black et al., 1998-2001a, para. 290- 310). Te songs would be pleasingly sung in the palace of the king; shepherds would sing them in their work of churning butter, and in the meadow where they grazed their sheep. As for u-kale-tuda himself, the palace of the desert shall be your home (para. 290-310). Such was his destiny. Te myth ends with praise to holy Inanna, who decides fates. An Interpretation with an Ecofeminist Perspective W hat is that blood? Tis myth has elements that are mysteriousat frst reading. What is this about her blood? Why are the cosmic powers in a loincloth across her thighs? Why doesnt the myth tell us his motivation? And why, if she has the power to declare the criminals death as her retribution, does she then say that his name will be remembered, sweetly sung even in the kings palace? And what, exactly, was his transgression, given that she is a divine shape-shifter and he a mortal callow youth? Te myth doesnt call it a rape; should we? An appropriate place to search for answers is Inannas favorite site: her sexuality. Te seven cosmic powersin some myths she wears them in her cloak, however in this myth the image is of a girdle or loincloth with the powers woven into it, that lies protectively and provocatively across her vulva, drawing a connection between the cosmic laws and her place of eros. What is it about her vulva that has anything to do with the correct functioning of the cosmos? Te myth shows this in the series of actions of the criminal. As learned from his confession to the goddess, prior to approaching her, the young gardener was really no gardener, he had already transgressed the Landhe was to make a well for the garden plot but as he complains, there were no plants to water, for he had pulled them all up. He was a criminal of a person already. Tough recognizing her as divine, he disrespected her need for rest and also the sacred place, the tree she had chosen, where the roots of the horizon entangle, a Tree of Life as it were, under which she lay sleeping. A Euphrates poplar, a huge, long-lived, spreading, riverbank tree, turns brilliantly golden in FallInannas gold color of the planet Venus shining in the evening sky. Tat this tree is explicitly named, described as having its roots tangled at the place intertwined [at the] horizon of heaven, (Black et al., 1998-2001a, para. 112-128) and is visited by a goddess, designates it a Tree of Life (Haynes, 2009, p. 68), and therefore a sacred site. When the water of the Euphrates is still, a mirror image of the tree refects in such a way that the river bank looks like an island foating between two blue seas, the Land held together by the roots of both treesthe one real, the other refected and imagined. And then, at that sacred site, before he committed his sexual transgression on the body of the goddess, he frst disrespected the seven powers of her girdle, pulling them aside. Finally, he sneaks upon her as she sleeps, and obviously, leaves her will out of his act, which is for himself alone. By knitting the imagery together, the poet ties together the two transgressions, sexual and ecological a man who would carelessly transgress the Land would carelessly transgress the person of the Woman as well. Te belt across Inannas loins contains the laws or orders of nature; the implication is that her vulva holds things together for the world of Sumer. Besides her identity as nature itself, how does her vulva hold things together? For one thing, her benevolent sexuality, which is fulsome in her literature, manifests her vivacious force of eros, aesthetic sexuality that gives abundance to the people. But her frst action after inspecting her vulva and realizing she has been transgressed is to reverse her vulvas benevolent power, spewing venomous, show- stopping blood instead. Tat she flled all the wells of the Land with her own blood is the clue that this is a major transformation with a menstrual component. In her guise as a maiden International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 62 Grahn lying under a tree, Inanna produces blood as her frst act of correcting the sexual transgressionsignifying that the gardener has broken a nearly universal menstrual taboo that prohibits sexual intercourse (and another that prohibits economic activity) while the woman is bleeding (Grahn, 1993, 1999; Jacobsen, 1987). She sends a signal that his act is on the order such that the blood law of the Goddess has been transgressed, and consequently all the Land is brought to a startled halt by the substance, which she deliberately pours into the water sources. Tis is a deity for whom menstruation, sexuality, and other functions of her vulva are at the heart of her sacrality (Meador, 1992; Wolkstein & Kramer, 1983). Tis surely explains why the laws of the cosmos are woven into a holy loincloth that binds her loins. One of her other names, Ishtar, contains the syllables indicating menses (Meador, 2000, p. 56). Te inner sanctum of her temple, the giparu, is the womens secluded section. Te Sumerians were people who celebrated Inanna at the new moon by holding a parade for her, and who reveled in sacred blood: they sprinkled drops of blood when they walked in procession to her, and they poured the red liquid of blood onto the dais where she would stand, or seat herself (Black et al., 1998-2001a; Wolkstein & Kramer, 1983). So now this blood of her outrage that she foods into the wells has brought local life to a standstill. She has taken away the water of life from her horticultural people. When will this end, they ask. A second indication that menstrual taboo is being invoked in the poem occurs the third time she could not fnd u-kale-tuda, though she looked over all the territory. She then blocked all the roads, so the people were prevented from traveling. Once again we sense we are in menstrual taboo territory, suggesting that this refers to a prohibition against traveling (a restriction which could apply to the men in the family as well as to the women) whenever the women are in their bleeding rituals (Grahn, 1999). Te goddess is in her stormy period, she has changed all the water in the land to her own blood, and now no one is to travel. No one is to work. No one puts lips to the water from the wells. With her paradoxical and elemental feminine powers, she has altered her usual bounty to a state of suspended tension that impacts all economic and social activity. All this because a puny gardener lifted her skirt? Trough my reading I had the uneasy feeling that rape is not an appropriate term of description here. Uneasy because does one dare let go of the protective properties of using this term, even for a moments refection? Rape has undergone a change of defnition within my lifetime. Te patriarchal view of rape is that it is a transgression of one male upon the property of another male, to the shame of the female, who may be blamed and punished rather than the perpetrator. A feminist view of rape is that it is an act of aggression against her (or him if the victim is a male) person, with grave psychological and perhaps social consequences to the victim; it may lead to pregnancy, disease, social stigma and punishment, post- traumatic stress disorder, and an inner sense of shame that may last a lifetime. Te victim is an individual with personal rights; the rapist is seen as having great powers of destruction. But in this myth from the era of still potent goddesses, on the cusp of the patriarchy with its emphasis on kingship, militarism, slavery, and empire, Inanna is still an active, paradoxical, and extremely powerful Feminine Principle. She is nature as a living participant and culture as a protective agent. In this myth, as I interpret it, the crime is against a goddess who embodies simultaneously woman, society, and nature. Te transgression against her vulva is hardly describable as rape in our modern sense given that Inannas quest for justice has such an expanded, complex implication in this story. Tis myth takes rape out of the realm of the personal, and extends the transgression to that which impacts all society and how society intersects with nature. Inanna sets out consciously to identify the criminal against the just (Black et al., 1998-2001a, para. 1-10). Te goddess is outraged, but she is not psychologically damaged. She does not complain of personal pain, or nurse her wounds. She does not fee or hide out; she is very public. Shame does not enter in. She is the one who does damage in order to locate the culprit. Her blood is her frst force of expression. She brings economic activity to a standstill; she efectively shuts the water wells; she blocks of the roads; and she tells the god Enki, her ally in other myths as well as in this one, that she will not sit down again on her throne until he hands over to her the culprit. She will not stop her restless and counter-productive activity. He immediately agrees to her terms, and to reveal the culprit he opens the apsuthe place of originationand again there is an implication of transformation, starting over from the beginning, re-orienting. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 63 Ecology of the Erotic in a Myth of Inanna Inannas Sexuality Is Life Force I nanna is most commonly understood as a goddess of love, including sexual love. Her poets celebrated this about her, from what has been recovered, more than any of her many attributes. For Inanna sex is openly enjoyed, a public and holy joy. In the oldest part of her city, Uruk, is her original precinct, Kulaba, of which a Sumerian poet wrote, Inanna the mistress, the lady of the great powers who allows sexual intercourse in the open squares of Kulaba (Black, Cunningham, Fluckiger-Hawker, Robson, & Zlyomi, 1998-2001b, para. 358-367). For Inanna sex is joyful lovemaking, with elaborate rites that precede and accompany the intercourse itself. First she prepares her holy body; she bathes and adorns herself; she paints her eyes; her bed is made up especially for the sexual encounter with her lover. Cedar and other sweet smelling balms are spread among the sheets. She describes her preparations: When I have bathed for the king, for the lord, when I have bathed for the shepherd, Dumuzid, when I have adorned my fanks (?) with ointment (?), when I have anointed my mouth with balsamic oil (?), when I have painted my eyes with kohl . . . (Black, Cunningham, Fluckiger-Hawker, Robson, & Zlyomi, 1998-2001c, para. 14-35) Te lover is called holy, and spouse; she calls him My honey-man (Wolkstein & Kramer, 1983, p. 38). He too meticulously prepares himself and approaches her in the appointed place, not just anywhere. Te time and the place are under her specifcation; the acts are regulated. His behavior includes play that is foreplay, carefully spelled out by the poets, when he rufes my pubic hair for me, when he plays with the hair of my head, when he lays his hands on my holy genitals (Black et al., 1998-2001c, para. 14-35). Her pleasure is part of the act, and part of the troth between them, when he treats me tenderly on the bed, then I too will treat my lord tenderly (para. 14-35). Te texts about Inannas sexuality imply that her sexuality is for the beneft of everyone, and the words also seem to be instructions to the populace from the priestesses and priests, of how lovemaking should proceed through the aesthetics of beauty and tenderness, in order to induce the maximum joy. Inanna is the one holding the power position: her lover must treat her tenderly, then she will treat him tenderly. But he must prove himself. Her genitals are holy, they must be approached in a holy manner. For Inanna the sex act itself is so much about the upwelling of joy that the high sexual arousal and orgasmic climax is called rejoicing: After the lady has made him rejoice with her holy thighs on the bed, after holy Inanna has made him rejoice with her holy thighs on the bed, she relaxes (?) with him on her bed: Iddin-Dagan, you are indeed my beloved! (Black, Cunningham, Fluckiger-Hawker, Robson, & Zlyomi, 1998- 2001d, para. 187-194) As though her attractiveness and sexuality keep the whole economy reciprocal, Inannas lovers must bring her, through her temple personnel, oferings in their courtship: Dumuzid, her favorite, brings the best milk and cheese; the farmer brings cakes and wine; the fowler brings the fnest birds; the fsherman brings her his catch (Black, Cunningham, Fluckiger-Hawker, Robson, & Zlyomi, 1998-2001e). Inanna is the unpredictable tumult of natures cycles, and she is also the cultivated Land and its abundance: Oh mistress, let your breasts be your felds! Inana, let your breasts be your felds, your wide felds which pour down fax, your wide felds which pour forth grain (Black, Cunningham, Fluckiger-Hawker, Robson, & Zlyomi, 1998-2005, para. 70-77). Te priests ask the goddess to fow forth water from her breasts, and they give her a libation in exchange. For Inanna, sexuality is joy that leads to abundance and wellbeing, and therefore it is part of celebrative public ritual. Te solitary nighttime act of the gardener is thus an act of his personal will exerted on her body as an isolated psychological release, not a ritual or sacred act, having no relation to the formal rites of erotic arousal, love, and tenderness that her temple poets so carefully prescribe. Te errant youth could not think much of himself, as he has already wrecked the meaning of his own task to provide water to nurture seedlings by inexplicably pulling up all the plants by the roots and killing them. As with those mindless acts, his transgression on the body of the sleeping goddess is a stupid crime of opportunity, done impulsively. He is a creature driven by irrationality, inability to control his impulses. Te story calls him a boy (Black et al., 1998-2001a, para. 139-159). He knows he is in trouble for what he has done, and goes to his father for advice; International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 64 Grahn his father tells him only to go to the city to be among the other black-headed young men who are your brothers (para. 177-184) so she cannot fnd him. Inanna solves this crime, though not by herself. Inanna is an integral part of the Sumerian pantheon in which none of the gods is hegemonic; together they constitute a powerful community. Tough some of her powers and attributes will later contribute to Yahwehs characteristics, unlike his more separated portrayal, she is immanent in nature, she fies around in the form of a hawk as she circles the earth; she rides a cloud, becomes a rainbow; she is the planet Venus on its courses. She is intricately involved with the other gods, who are also elements of nature, and she is a child of the moon couple with their cycles. Te Eyes of Life, Death, and Rebirth T he role of priestess is to create rituals of transformation, and with the goddess acting as priestess, these would be amplifed. Within the religion of Inanna, as seen through her mythology, at least some of the Sumerians would have believed in cycles of rebirth. Te theme of life, death, and rebirth in the myth, Te Descent of Inanna into the Underworld, belonged both to Inanna and to the queen of the netherworld Ereshkigal, who is Inannas elder sister. She is the agent of Inannas three days of death, and she also gave her over to the forces of resurrection. Tat the underworld is a place of rebirth is reinforced by the characterization of Ereshkigals daughter Nungal as the midwife of life and death. Te midwifes temple dais was set up at the edge of the netherworld, just as the human midwife is stationed at the gateway to the womb. Nungal speaks for herself: My own mother has allotted to me her divine powers (Black et al., 2004, p. 341). Among these powers, in addition to cutting the umbilical cord and speaking benevolent destinies, Nungal has the power of judgment over who among the people shall live and who shall die. Ereshkigals role makes it clear that she has the power of restoring life to at least some who have died; Dumuzid and his sister, for instance, die and are reborn every six months, respectively (Wolkstein & Kramer, 1983). Inanna acquires from her underworld death and rebirth the Eye of Death to balance her eye of life, and therefore she has this power as well. Tough some writers have interpreted the two powerful sisters as enemies, I see them as a family: Inanna, her sister Ereshkigal, and Nungal, Inannas niece, who is the joy of her heart. For us, Inannas journey through her elder sisters ferce domain models life, death, and rebirth as a psychological passage, whatever else it might have meant for the Sumerians. She did not go through this transformation alone; she received shamanic assistance and the agency of the god Enki, who in the genealogy of Sumerian gods is her maternal grandfather (Wolkstein & Kramer, 1983). As the quintessential fertile male principle, Enki is sweet water, and semen, and the construction of irrigation systems so crucial to these alluvial plain river horticulturalists, craftspeople, and herders. Enki is part of the creation cycle, and he afects Inannas return from the Underworld. Now, in this story of the gardeners criminal transgression on the body of the goddess of love, Enki is again the source of a solution for her. When Inanna cannot fnd the man who had intercourse with her, not even after fooding the water with blood twice, and trying thrice to fnd him, she turns to Enki. She supplicates, but she also threatens, and he capitulates. u-kale-tudas misuse of the goddess begins with misuse of the plants of the Land, then of the Tree of Life, then of the cloth with cosmic powers, then her holy vulva. Finally, he kisses her. In Sumer, this might have had a particularly transgressive quality, as the kiss was perhaps more than a sign of afection or a method of sexual arousal: one Sumerian poem suggests that the kiss on the lips was part of a troth, a promise of loyalty in love, and acknowledgment of Inanna as a fruiting tree, a garden (Jacobsen, 1987, p. 98). Inanna, hearing the youths confession, compares his behavior to that of animals who do no courtship rituals: dog, donkey, pig. From the text, Enki had taught even a raven to plant and irrigate, two things this failure of a gardener cannot manage to do. Inannas punishment is swift and terrible; she decides u-kale-tudas destinythat he will have no destiny. Te frst thing she does is to take away from him not only his life but perhaps more importantly, the goddess gift of rebirth. So! You shall die! (Black et al., 1998-2001a, para. 290-310) she says. Te So rings out with its meanings: therefore, consequently, because of your actions, or perhaps meant more in the sense of so be it! (para. 239-255) as she declares his destiny. Emphasizing how thoroughly she is turning all her considerable benevolence away from him, she adds, What is that to me? (para. 239-255). She will not mourn, there will be no lamentation over his loss. She, and by implication, the cosmos itself, the Land itself, does not care that he will not return. He is dead forever. Ten International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 65 Ecology of the Erotic in a Myth of Inanna she adds what for him must have been a bitter, ironic twist. His name alone will live on, she will make sure of this. But not as a great or crazy criminal, or a contrite sinner, or a thief in the night, rather his name will be used to sweeten a song, and the song will be sung by a shepherd, not by a farmer. Te song, in other words, will further the goddess, and her enterprise of sexuality as joy and celebration. Since in the myth of her courtship, the goddess had rejected the farmer as a suitor while accepting the shepherd, she is condemning Su-kale-tuda to be misrepresented by his rival, and not celebrated as antihero by his own farmer people. Te song will be sung even in the palace of the King. As for u-kale-tuda, his palace will be the desertthe lifeless place, infertile and dry, from which he will never return. Reconstructing Gender and Sexuality M eadors (2000) archetypes are efectively guiding the way through this myth. As a warrior, Inanna halts all activity and demands redress; as a lover, her sexuality brings joy and abundance to all; and as priestess, she afects life, death, and afterlife. Yet what of the archetype, androgyne? As noted, the blood that Inanna sends through the waters of her lands indicates that this is a myth of transformation, a recipe for handling a certain form of insanitymisuse of the Land, and misuse of the Lady of Heaven and Earth, whose holy sexuality must be held sacred in order to maintain joy, and the abundance of life that accompanies joy. In addition to the menstrual blood signs, another indication that this myth is a transformative object lesson is the presence not only of the dust storm following the goddess and a food proceeding her as she searches for her transgressor: she is also accompanied on her justice quest by a pilipili. Tis temple ofce is held by lamenters, mourners, singers, and those who go into ecstatic trance in behalf of the goddess. Te ofce is highly shamanic, artful, and emotional, unlike a more staid temple function such as scribe, libation-pourer, or lamp-lighter. Te pilipili drum and dance while going into deep states of ecstasy or grief, and they are transformative in character. At least some of them are the head- overturned (Meador, 2000, p. 124) men and women whose gender has been changed by the goddess. In the section of a longer poem describing her process of switching the genders of a particular woman and man, Inanna names them reed marsh woman [and] reed marsh man (p. 124). Tus they are, metaphorically, geographically positioned as a combination of sweet water and bitter (salty) water, they mix within themselves those frmly gendered elements, as well as the female earth. Te oldest Sumerian creation myth is of Nammu, goddess of the womb of primeval seas, and Enki who as noted is the seminal god of sweet waters. Out of Nammu also came An, god of the sky and Ki, the frst earth goddess. Tis all happened, the myth says, before anyone recognized the marshlands and their intermediary character as boundaries between river and sea. One of Inannas symbols is thought to consist of two bundles of reeds from the marshlands that may have held the doorposts of her granary. Again, a gateway or borderland is implied, as well as a guardianship. Tat Inanna is accompanied by a pilipili in her successful exertion of justice and rebalancing suggests she undertook a transformative justice ritual with not only artful blood rites but also shamanic and gender fuidity to help produce the outcome: setting boundaries of gendered behavior. Tis characteristic can be seen as part of the archetype of androgyny, giving the goddess (and the individual psyche) more tools, more aspects of the marshland, the in-between place, this estuary teeming with life forms from both sea and earth, where evolutionpsychic and materialcontinues its roiling and beautiful creativity. Such a transformation appears to happen in Inannas bestowing of her transgressors destiny. Te narrative ties the crime of sexual transgression against the Sacred Female Principle to a second equally serious ecological crime against the same Principle, transgression against the Land, and the precious cosmic powers that rule it. He has set aside the laws of being, of reciprocity. Trough the mindless disconnection of his transgressions, he has placed himself outside of both culture and nature, as he has broken the bond between them. Tere is no place for him, he has transgressed place itself; he is to be deprived of his life and more, his afterlife, his rebirth, and his history; he is to be deprived of everything about himself, including his crimes. Yet she thwarts his alienated disconnection, and turns his name back toward her sweetness of life force and sexuality; she converts his very name toward the positivity of her endeavors, and reabsorbs him into her vast being. As a warrior, the goddess seeks justice, a balancing that keeps the Land protected just as surely as it keeps the people protected, and it keeps the Feminine Principle of reciprocity. As a lover, she uses her sexuality, and by extension everyones sexuality, in rituals with International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 66 Grahn an aesthetic of eros for the beneft of all, including the plants. Her poets are priestesses mediating emotional intelligence; they tell stories that maintain connections between humans and the rest of creation; they co-create reality. Inanna can be vulnerable, ferce, just, and tender. Trough her diversity of forms, her people can more easily identify themselves with not only the goddess but also other creatures and beings. Her quest for justice however is from her warrior self: what should be destroyed? (Black et al., 1998-2001a, para. 221-230) and who will compensate me? (para. 239-255), both meanings balanced, because of the transgression against her vulva, that site of social and natural order. Te myth implies that as modern women living in a world ruled to a large extent by the same kind of unconscious, mindless refusal to connect cause and efect of behaviors, we too could use a diferent approach to issues of sexual transgression. Were we to understand the inheritance of our sexuality as a power for positive social grace, allied so closely to the prosperity of the earth toward us and our being, we could efortlessly see a transgression of one as a transgression of the other, a diminishing of the joy that keeps all life revolving. We too can reconstruct gender to include reciprocity and justice. Te act of the gardener is a mindless transgression against civil order, against natures order, and against the joy inherent in sexuality that is, in the carefully proscribed rituals of the goddess, life enhancing. His act against the plants, pulling them up by the roots, he seems only to partially understand. His explanation, which seemed to be, what was the use of making the well when the plants were gone? (Black et al., 1998-2001a), reveals his utter incapacity to comprehend his own place in both culture and nature, and the consequences of his actions; his sense of cause and efect are warped. He has sand in his eyes. He has no allies in nature. In his psychology he lives in a desert of the heart. He sounds eerily like many leaders of our culture today. Inanna had no sympathy for his lack of consciousness and heart connection; why should we tolerate this lack in our national and corporate leaders, or for that matter, in ourselves? Te myth also implies that as mindless destroyers (consumers) of natures bounty, as people who casually set aside cosmic and natural order for our own impulses, we as a culture have sand in our eyes. Our culture is allowed to completely mis-defne economy, omitting both the labor of women and the necessities of the natural world. We are slow or even unable to see the connections between our actions and the consequences, or seeing them, to act. But we can change, we can relearn ourselves as land, as sea, as river, and as tree. Te myth tells us through the character of Inanna that when nature is not approached with love and respect, with mindfulness, and with consciousness of self, the result is chaos for us, and not just death, but also disappearance, and disconnection. Te love carried by the goddess is not only maternal, though it is certainly that. Te love is explicitly eros; the hearts joining in joy, in the ecstatic artful aesthetic of the bodys communication, of self and nature, of love. Eros is what a peach, a fg, or a honey-cake gives. If we could give to nature what a peach gives to us, we would have made the initial step. Te myth says that in order to live with natures bounty we must pay close and heart-flled attention to how we interact with her, which also means how we interact with each other and ourselves. To co-create with her, we must cultivate her joy, and accept at times her caprice, even her patterns that are or seem destructive or limiting to us. We must be wise to the places in her we must not touch; we must know when we are touching her inappropriately, inviting disaster upon ourselves and other living beings. Te parts of us that use her heedlessly and heartlessly, we must killwe must turn from them utterly, not glorify them in any way, and not give them a hiding place within ourselves. References Black, J. A., Cunningham, G., Fluckiger-Hawker, E, Robson, E., & Zlyomi, G. (1998-2001a). Te Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved from http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/ section1/tr133 .htm Black, J. A., Cunningham, G., Fluckiger-Hawker, E, Robson, E., & Zlyomi, G. (1998-2001b). Te Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved from http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/ section1/tr113 .htm Black, J. A., Cunningham, G., Fluckiger-Hawker, E, Robson, E., & Zlyomi, G. (1998-2001c). Te Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved from http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr242 24.htm International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 67 Ecology of the Erotic in a Myth of Inanna Black, J. A., Cunningham, G., Fluckiger-Hawker, E, Robson, E., & Zlyomi, G. (1998-2001d). Te Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved from http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/ section2/tr25 31.htm Black, J. A., Cunningham, G., Fluckiger-Hawker, E, Robson, E., & Zlyomi, G. (1998-2001e). Te Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved from http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/section4/tr408 29.htm Black, J. A., Cunningham, G., Fluckiger-Hawker, E, Robson, E., & Zlyomi, G. (1998-2005). Te Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved from http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/ section4/tr40 77.htm Black, J., Cunningham, G., Robson, E., & Zlyomi, G. (Trans.). (2004). Te literature of ancient Sumer. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Grahn, J. (1993). Blood, bread, and roses: How menstruation created the world. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Grahn, J. (1999). Are goddesses metaformic constructs? An application of metaformic theory to menarche celebrations and goddess rituals of Kerala and contiguous states in South India. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). California Institute of Integral Studies, San Fransisco, CA. Haynes, G. (2009). Tree of life, mythical archetype: Revelations from the symbols of ancient Troy. San Francisco, CA: Symbolon Press. Jacobsen, T. (1978). Te treasures of darkness: A history of Mesopotamian religion. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Jacobsen, T. (1987). Te harps that once: Sumerian poetry in translation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Meador, B. (1992). Uncursing the dark: Treasures from the underworld. Wilmette, IL: Chiron Press. Meador, B. (2000). Lady of largest heart. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Perera, S. B. (1981). Descent to the goddess: A way of initiation for women. Toronto, Canada: Inner City Books. Schmandt-Besserat, D. (1992). When writing met art: From symbol to story. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Starhawk (1988). Truth or dare: Encounters with power, authority, and mystery. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFranciso. Wolkstein, D., & Kramer, S. N. (1983). Inanna queen of heaven and earth: Stories and hymns from Sumer. New York, NY: Harper & Rowe. About the Author Judy Grahn, Ph.D., is a poet, cultural theorist, and teacher. She is co-director of the Womens Spirituality Masters program at Te Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California. She has written two book-length poems on the archetypal fgures of Helen of Troy and Inanna of Sumer. Both long poems have been produced as full-length plays, one of which toured Europe. In turn, these and others of her poetical works have been the subject of critical writing in Joe Mofets (2007) Te Search for Origins in the Twentieth Century Long Poem: Sumerian, Homeric, Anglo-Saxon; Linda Garbers (2001) Lesbian Identity Poetics: Class, Race and the Roots of Queer Teory; and Johanna Dehlers (1998) Fragments of Desire: Sapphic Fictions in the Work of HD, Judy Grahn, and Monique Wittig. Dr. Grahn has published over a dozen books, and edits Metaformia Journal (www.metaformia. org). Her most recent collection is Te Judy Grahn Reader (Grahn, 2010). Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Judy Grahn: judygrahn@ gmail.com About the Journal Te International Journal of Transpersonal Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal in print since 1981. It is published by Floraglades Foundation, and serves as the ofcial publication of the International Transpersonal Association. Te journal is available online at www. transpersonalstudies.org, and in print through www. lulu.com (search for IJTS). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 68 Korb Mothering Fundamentalism: Te Transformation of Modern Women into Fundamentalists
Sophia Korb Te Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Palo Alto, CA, USA Despite upbringings infuenced by modern feminism, many women choose to identify with new communities in the modern religious revivalist movement in the United States who claim to represent and embrace the patriarchal values against which their mothers and grandmothers fought. Because womens mothering is determinative to the family, it is therefore central to transforming larger social structures. Tis literature review is taken from a study which employed a qualitative design incorporating thematic analysis of interviews to explore how womens attitudes about being a mother and mothering change when they change religious communities from liberal paradigms to fundamentalist, enclavist belief systems. Tis has implicit relevance to the feld of transpersonal psychology, which could incorporate the spiritual experiences of an often-ignored group. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 2010, pp. 68-86 T ranspersonal psychology has been criticized for focusing too much on the positive aspects of religious or spiritual experience, bypassing sufering in favor of an optimistic worldview (Alexander, 1980), and lacking a clear enough understanding of the negative dimensions of human consciousness. In that regard, transpersonal psychology often takes a reductive approach to religionseeing religion either as simply the vehicle for spiritual experience, or as a calcifed obstacle to genuine spiritual experience. Tis framework fails to incorporate a full view of the pros and cons of religious community, discipline, and practice that may be present in many fundamentalist communities. However, Walsh and Vaughn (1993) proposed a diferent defnition of transpersonal psychology, one that incorporates religion. Tese authors defned transpersonal psychology as the branch of psychology that is concerned with transpersonal experiences and related phenomena, noting, these phenomena include the causes, efects and correlates of transpersonal experiences, as well as the disciplines and practices inspired by them (p. 203). Te topic of this article, women who mother in religious communities in which they were not raised, confronts new-age-infuenced transpersonal psychology (Sovatsky, 1998) by exploring and reclaiming as an object of respectful study an often- exiled character: religious fundamentalism. Te modern religious revivalist movement arose in the 1970s as a backlash to the decadent 60s in the United States. It was characterized by a rise in afliation in both Christianity and Judaism (Aviad, 1983; Pew, 2010). Tese numbers continue to swell (Pew, 2010). Tis was not the frst religious revival for either faith tradition, but is the most recent in America and was accompanied by growing political action and cultural shifting to the right, as well as reafrmation of fundamental religious and social beliefs. Religious revivals accompanied a massive backlash against feminism and asserted a return to traditional gender roles (Almond & Appleby, 2006; Faludi, 1991). Men and women chose to engage in patriarchal constructions of identity and community. Contemporary American culture is overwhelm- ingly pronatalist (Daniluck, 1996; Hird & Abshof, 2000; Lisle, 1996; Meyers, 2001; Morell, 2000), valorizing mothers and procreation, yet modern motherhood is characterized by guilt and ambivalence (Guendouzi, 2006). Motherhood is one of the most important identities for women in both modern and fundamentalist religious communities. Te work of mothering, not simply physically bearing a child, but the care and nurturing that mothers are expected to do, is integral to society. Mothers socialize children, instilling attitudes and ideas about the sexual division of labor and sexual inequality both inside and outside the family and the non-familial world (Chodorow, 1989, p. 3). Because womens mothering is of profound importance to the family, it Keywords: religion, mothering, motherhood, conversion, feminism, spirituality, qualitative. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 69 Mothering Fundamentalism is also central to transforming larger social structures and society (p. 3). Motherhood is a time for values to be transmitted, and is thus a crucial developmental period to study psychological change in women who have moved from modern to religious communities. Women transitioning from modern to fundamentalist communities may experience a profound shift in perspective on motherhood and family. Studying that shift elucidates several issues. First, understanding the reasons modern women embrace an outwardly pro-patriarchal lifestyle and raise their children in that society can inform the psychological community about what attributes within the modern communities women are choosing to leave, as well as seeing what attributes they value within the communities they join. Second, understanding the development of womens faith and mothering in fundamentalist women, and how this process interacts with personal identity, may add to understandings of religious practice, discipline, and community. Tis understanding is sorely needed, as feminist spiritual literature has tended to concentrate on goddess imagery (Spitler, 1992) or feminist critiques of traditional religions (Christ & Plaskow, 1979; Reuther, 1979) rather than the experience of women in traditional religious groups. First, in order to create a background from which specifc groups can be discussed, this article will defne religious fundamentalism. Ten it will address the historical backgrounds of Christianity and Judaisms fundamentalist movements and describe each briefy. Next, the connections between the two communities will be addressed. Diferent motherhood ideologies will be described and analyzed, frst in the fundamentalist community, and then with regard to modern American society in general. Finally, the approaches taken so far to the study of women in these communities will be critiqued, and a new one will be suggested, afrming fundamentalist womens ability and agency. Tis is a preliminary consideration, a review of the terrain of fundamentalist mothering from a transpersonal/ feminist perspective into an ongoing piece of research that the author is conducting. In that research the author recruited and interviewed women for whom this experience is their lived reality. Cross-cultural Fundamentalism F or the purposes of this article, religious fundamentalism is defned as: A system of absolute values and practiced faith in God that frmly relies on sacred canonical texts, a signifcant level of afnity among its members, seclusion from the world that surrounds it, strict communal discipline and a patriarchal hierarchy. (Barzilai & Barzilai, 2004, para. 3) Tis defnition has the advantage of including commonalities found by extensive research and also the understanding of how the fundamentalists understand themselves as a religious community based on a theology dependent on fundamental methods of textual analysis. Tis defnition is intended to be inclusive of both fundamentalist Jews and Christians without denigrating either. Fundamentalism has been explained as both a pathological retreat from reality and a rational reaction against modernity (Monroe & Kreidie, 1997). However, a broader defnition of fundamentalism, as seen from inside the movement, is a religious reaction to modernism. In that view, fundamentalism seeks to recover the lost force of religion and its institutions that has been hidden, or repair the chain that has been broken, by modernity (Castells, 1996). In 1987, Marty and Appleby (1994) began an international scholarly investigation of conservative religious movements throughout the world called Te Fundamentalism Project. Te project, which collected empirical data from all over the world, concluded in 1995. Te project understood fundamentalism as a militant opposition to modernity, which is a controversially inclusive defnition. Te authors for the capstone project, Strong Religion (Almond, Appleby, & Sivan, 2003), wrote that it is improper in most contexts to use the term fundamentalist with regard to Jews. However, they also wrote that the danger of restricting that word because of inappropriate use is that it can restrict the conversation and reduce the ability to discuss fundamentalism as a global phenomenon. Te Fundamentalism Project found several similarities between fundamentalist groups in their global study. First, the groups are founded on a profound embedded patriarchy; men lead and women and children follow. Second, the rules of their religion are complex and rigid and must be followed. Tird, fundamentalist groups do not accept a relative pluralism. Te rules of their group apply to everyone everywhere. Fourth, they see discrete groups of insiders, and all others as outsiders. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 70 Korb Fifth, although they claim to pine for an older age and yearn for a past time when their religion was pure, they engage in selective historical revisionism to reinforce their nostalgic view of a utopian past. Sixth, they see their religious views as weapons against a hostile world (Marty & Appleby, 1994). History of Christian Fundamentalism in the United States M odern Christian Fundamentalisms rise is connected with the rise of the Christian Right, also called the Religious Right, a political movement characterized by their strong support of conservative social and political values and causes. Tis rise is often self- attributed to political action against Roe v. Wade (Joyce, 2009), a US Supreme court case decided on January 22, 1973, that upheld the legal right to a womans termination of pregnancy for any reason, until the time when the fetus becomes viable, or able to live outside the mothers body. Tis understanding of their own history reinforces the Christian Rights current political agenda, which concentrates on a triad of sexually related agenda items: abortion, homosexual marriage, and abstinence only sexual education (Deutchman, 2008). 1 Regardless of the historical origin of the movement, American Christian Fundamentalists are politically conservative, are against abortion rights for women, resist governments intrusion into family life, and tend to be politically involved. Within the US population, 26.3% identify themselves as as evangelical Protestants (Pew, 2010). Distinguishing between evangelical Protestants in general and fundamentalist evangelical Protestants can be difcult because they share many traits and beliefs and are part of the same overarching category. Also, fundamentalists exert political and social control over more than their small group. Evangelical Protestants share a belief in the need to be born again, some expression of the gospel in efort, a high regard for Biblical authority, and an emphasis on teachings that proclaim the life and death of Jesus Christ. Te more specifc group of fundamentalist evangelical Protestants have a more specifc belief defned below. Tough over 50% of Americans are Protestant Christians, the makeup of that group includes an increasing number of evangelicals, as Liberal Protestantism is in demographic decline. Southern Baptist is the largest group within evangelicalism, and included within the category of fundamentalism. For the last 20 years, Southern Baptists have been growing at 12% a year outside the South and 2% a year inside the South. Tey have gone from being an intentionally white denominationas late as 1970to being a denomination that is currently 20% ethnic. Tere are 750,000 African-American Southern Baptists, and about a half-million Hispanic American Southern Baptists. History of Jewish Fundamentalism in the United States J udaism has had a similar fundamentalist 2 revival, attributed to both a backlash against the liberal 1960s as well as a surge of Jewish pride and identifcation after Israels victory in the 1967 Six-Day War (Aviad, 1983). 3 In the 1970s, religious afliation in Jews increased across the board, in the US, internationally, and in every denomination (Heilman, 2006). Many Jews who were once unafliated with any movement within Judaism became Reform, the most liberal Jewish movement, and those already afliated with a particular denomination of Judaism moved to the right. In the Orthodox world, the infux of once liberal or secular Jews joining Orthodox communities and adopting Orthodox ways of life and thinking became known as the Baal Teshuva Movement (Heilman, 1992, 2006). Tese new adherents to Orthodoxy are known as baalei teshuva (masters of return or repentance), in the singular baal teshuva for a man or baalat teshuva for a woman. Te total number of baalei teshuva is unknown but is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands (Heilman, 2006). In broad strokes, one can divide Orthodox Jewish society into two major groups: the Modern Orthodox, who explicitly engage with the outside world ideologically, and the Hareidim, or Ultra-Orthodox, who engage with the outside world not for its own sake, but rather because of pragmatism (Heilman, 1992, 2006; Yehuda, Friedman, Rosenbaum, Labinsky, & Schmeidler, 2007). Estimates place the number of Hareidi Jews in America at around 250,000 (Wattenberg, 2005), but statistics about the Hareidi population are scarce, not only because of difculties in counting the members of the community but also because of a Hareidi taboo on counting people at all. One third of the Orthodox Jewish community is comprised of 18-25 year olds, many of whom have chosen to join the community as young adults (Ringel, 2008). Tese adherents continue to join. According to the Jerusalem Center for Public Afairs, synagogue afliation in the Orthodox community grew from 10% to 20% of the general Jewish population from 1990 to International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 71 Mothering Fundamentalism 2001, but stayed about the same or declined in other Jewish denominations (Heilman, 2006). Te Baal Teshuva Movement is associated with a general cultural shift to the right towards more enclavist, conservative forms of Judaism opposed to modernity. Rabbi Yosef Blau (2004), the spiritual director of Yeshiva University (one of the cornerstone institutions of Modern Orthodoxy) has noted the Orthodox communitys difculty in integrating the not particularly modernist baalei teshuva: A baal teshuva movement has emerged with a signifcant number of Jews from non-traditional homes returning to the observance of grandparents and great grandparents. In fact one of the challenges facing modern Orthodoxy is that many of these returnees are attracted to a European Orthodoxy. (para. 6) Rabbi Blau pointed out a discontinuity of culture and purpose between the traditional Modern Orthodox and the newly joined Orthodox. A baal teshuva may be interested in learning Yiddish, wearing garments from Eastern Europe, and escaping from the perceived excesses of modern culture, whereas non-baalei teshuva may be more likely to engage in Modern Orthodoxy. Tough baalei teshuva may be interested in engaging in the old European style, the way that Orthodox Jews learn to be part of their community has changed in the last hundred years. Traditional Jewish communities were based primarily on behavioral mimesis of the religious way of life, but today, with increasing literacy, both Modern Orthodox and Hareidi Jewry emphasize the value of the religious texts as the basic source of increasingly strict norms, as a key cultural symbol, and as the organizer of the social order (Soloveitchik, 1994). Baalei teshuva are often very concerned about their full integration into their chosen community, and some see their status as a baal teshuva not just as a transitional status but also as an identity (Sands, 2009). Te Baal Teshuva Movement is itself one sign of the diference between American and European Judaism. How an individual practices Judaism has changed from fate to choice (Davidman, 1991). Womens Lives in Christian Fundamentalism T he Christian fundamentalism movement, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity or fundamentalist evangelicalism, is characterized by afrming a fundamental set of Christian beliefs: (1) the inerrancy of the Bible, (2) sola scriptura, the belief that the Bible is the only authority for the Christian Church, (3) the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, (4) the doctrine of substitutionary atonement, the idea that Jesus died on the cross to atone for the sins of others, (5) the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and (6) the imminent personal return of Jesus Christ (Colaner & Giles, 2008; Wagner, 2003). Other doctrines of individual congregations vary, but members of the movement still recognize one another. Some fundamentalists embrace the term, despite or because of the fact that it is sometimes used as a pejorative. Some fundamentalist leaders enjoy the separatism and group cohesion inherent in rejection from the greater society (Wagner, 2003). Many conservative fundamentalist groups view the other congregations as co-belligerents, allied people fghting against a common cause (Joyce, 2009). Te churches pit themselves against abortion rights for women, and more broadly, see themselves fghting against the infuence of modern day feminism writ large, which they see as responsible for the breakdown of the family as well as the increased pressure in modern society for women to look sexy and attractive (Brasher, 1998; Joyce, 2009; Luker, 1984). Tough fundamentalist groups difer in their details, several themes are typically true of fundamentalist communities. First, there is an emphasis on individual salvation; each individual needs to come to redemption of their own accord and be born again. Another main theological feature of fundamentalist Christianity is the headship of men, based on the Biblical verse, Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. (Ephesians 5:22, New International Version) Tis theology has evolved into a spiritual practice for women based on submission to their husbands. Some Fundamentalist Christians see this as natural and a due right for men because of womens punishment and culpability in the Fall from Grace (Joyce, 2009), but the main thrust of the theology emphasizes that the submission is not about the man himself, but rather that one is submitting to Christ through submitting to ones husband. Te man is the spiritual head of the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 72 Korb family and the submission has metaphysical properties: it reorders the family as a microcosm of the universe, reordering humans with respect to God. Tese practices of spiritual submission reinforce a society that embraces traditional, homebound roles for women. Submissive wives and mothers have an extensive social network within their particular religious communities, but also across communities, including very active online fora. Te Patriarchs Wives group on Yahoo is an excellent example, where women send each other support in the spirit of Titus 2:3-5, Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Ten they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. (New International Version) Tus, there is textual support for the practice of women mentoring each other in wifely submission and being a housewife. Brenda Brasher (1998) performed an ethno- graphic study in which she spent six months as an active participant in two Christian fundamentalist congregations. Brasher went to womens ministries and Bible study groups, openly as a researcher, and listened to conversion narratives to explore how and why women become involved in these groups. Her writing brought to light the apparent paradox that fundamentalist women can be powerful people in a religious sphere organized around their submission. Gender functions as a sacred partition (p. 5), which literally divides the congregation in two, establishing parallel religious worlds. One world is led by men and encompasses public congregational life; the second is a more private, domestic world, composed of and led entirely by women. Te women-only activities both create and sustain a parallel world within and among the diferent fundamentalist congregations. Tis enables the women to direct the course of their lives and empowers them in their relationships with others. Te women develop intimate social networks that serve as a resource for those in distress and provide for coalition when women wish to alter the patterns of more public congregational life, despite the fact that they are ostensibly not empowered in that realm. Some authors have explained womens involvement in these groups by pointing to the fact that the prescription of a home-based life for women releases men from the macho individualism of secular culture, in turn creating devoted family men (Davidman, 1991; Luker, 1984). Kristin Luker (1984) interviewed pro-life and pro-choice activists and very carefully traced the worldviews of the two sides in her seminal work, Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood. Luker suggested that essentially the two sides are characterized by diferent values and ideas about womens roles and the family. Although not all fundamentalists are pro-life activists, Lukers data ofered an interesting window into a world of the more politically active, and those who feel they can represent at least the political interests of the community. As evidenced above, abortion remains one of the Religious Rights primary political campaigns. In 1984, 80% of Lukers study participants were Catholic activists; nonetheless Lukers work remains important in studying todays mostly Protestant fundamentalist Christians. Tough the demographic has changed, Lukers 1984 analysis still articulately explains a worldview consistent with this political action, now mostly carried out by members of fundamentalist Christian groups. Her analyses of the activists philosophies are consistent with more recent research done exclusively on Protestant fundamentalist groups, detailed more precisely below (see Joyce, 2009; Brasher, 1998). Tis may refect a shift to the Right in general, a sign that the worldview of activists in 1984 is now the commonly held perspectives of many religious groups. Second, 60% of those pro-life activists inter- viewed in Lukers (1984) study were religious converts, people who grew up in other religious communities. According to conventional wisdom about the zeal of the converted, religious converts are often those who most vehemently espouse the ideologies of their adopted group. Tis folk saying has been backed up recently by a quantitative Pew Research study, which demonstrated that people who have switched religions consistently exhibit higher levels of religious commitment than those who still belong to their childhood faith (Pond, 2009, para. 6). Also, research indicates that some adult converts play out, and sometimes resolve, their psychodynamic issues, dysfunctional patterns learned in childhood and brought forward into adulthood, in their newfound religion (Mirsky, 1992; Mirsky & Kaushinksy, 1989). Some might speculate about patterns of psychodynamic International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 73 Mothering Fundamentalism wounding in the secular community that may lead people both to join fundamentalist groups and serve as activists against abortion rights for women and against feminism in general. Some of the following ideas about social reality are characteristic of both Christian and Jewish fundamentalists, and relevant to their relationship to motherhood, so will be explicated in more detail below in sections about fundamentalist motherhood. Here, though, they serve to explain Christian fundamentalist involvement in anti-abortion politics. Fundamentalists believe that men and women are intrinsically diferent (Joyce, 2009; Brasher, 1998; Heilman, 2006). Tis both leads to and explains the diferent social roles assigned to men and women in fundamentalist society, which fundamentalists view as proscriptively and descriptively positive. Fundamentalists believe that motherhood is the most fulflling role that women can have (Joyce, 2009). Tey believe that mothering is a full-time job, which deserves complete time commitment (Joyce, 2009; Brasher, 1998). Because they see it as so encompassing, they tend to disbelieve that one can be in the work world and still do as good a job with ones home and family. Fundamentalists see the sets of tasks required in the public mens world and the domestic womens world as requiring a diferent set of emotional skills; they imagine that the working mother must shift modes to transition between her working and mothering skills. Tey argue that doing so is difcult and damaging to her mothering and to her work. According to Luker (1984), these views support the belief that abortion is wrong in three ways, all of which are relevant to fundamentalist models of motherhood. First, abortion is taking a human life, and what makes women special is their ability to nourish life, so all abortions are degrading to all women. Second, by giving women control over their fertility, it breaks up an intricate set of social relationships between men and women that has traditionally surrounded (and in the ideal case protected) women and children (Luker, 1984, p. 162). Tis applies to birth control in general, not just abortion, and may explain and predict negative views of fundamentalists towards birth control. In both cases, the fundamentalists see themselves not as taking rights away from women, but rather as maintaining womens power. Fundamentalists continue to see themselves as protecting women from abortion (Shaw, 2008). Tird, fundamentalists in the anti-abortion movement see abortion as wrong because it supports a worldview that diminishes the traditional roles of men and women. Fundamentalists in general see those roles as natural and good; the roles are natural extensions of the two separate male and female spheres described abovewomen who are tender, moral, emotional, and self-sacrifcing are the exclusive holders of those feminine qualities and occupy the female sphere. Tere is a confation of the idea of the feminine and actual physical females. When women cease to be traditional, fundamentalists see a loss of those qualities. Fundamentalists believe society on the whole benefts from the division of male and female qualities and attributes into separate spheres, where those qualities can more fully express themselves and are not compromised by their combination in one individual. Womens Lives in Jewish Fundamentalism O rthodox Jewish society is family-centered, tends to cluster in urban areas, and valorizes the study of ancient texts. Tere are strict gender divisions from a young age and socialization is generally same-sex. Members of the Orthodox community follow legalistic interpretations of ancient texts as interpreted by the Talmud and later scholars in almost every area of their individual lives. From what thoughts to think about other people, to how to pour tea on the Jewish Sabbath, to what shoe to put on frst, Orthodox Judaism is integrated into almost every action one might take. Hareidi Judaism, what many consider to be fundamentalist Judaism, advocates segregation from non-Jewish culture, although not from non-Jewish society entirely. Tough Hareidi Orthodoxys diferences with Modern Orthodoxy ostensibly lie in interpretation of the nature of traditional Jewish legal concepts and in understanding what constitutes acceptable application of these concepts, the major division is one of culture. Te enclavist Hareidim eschew engagement with modernity and the infuence of the outside world, including the infuence of modern ideas of culture and sexuality. Hareidi men occupy all the public religious leadership roles in their community. Hareidi Judaism is divided strictly between male and female spheres. Because Hareidi Judaism emphasizes that Jewish men have a constant, unending obligation to learn Torah, Jewish women take on responsibilities for many communal functions outside of the parameters of ritual observance. Hareidi women run charities, educational foundations, and orphanages with minimal input or help from men, aside from fgureheads. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 74 Korb Tznius (Yiddish), or modesty, is a prominant ideology of fundamentalist Jewish women. Tough the Biblical dictate of hatznea leches or walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8, New International Version) is enjoined upon both men and women, traditionally the law has been interpreted to restrict womens actions much more than mens. In fact, the dictate of tznius has been said to be the womens equivalent of Torah study for men, the paramount obligation in the Jewish world (Falk, 1998). In other words, the same reward that a man accrues for his fulfllment of the most important stricture within Judaism, studying the tradition, a woman accrues for wearing modest clothing and not attracting attention to herself. Tere are strict restrictions on womens dress and action, ranging from dictates about not boasting about oneself to skirt lengths toat its most extremeadmonitions that young girls should not laugh and dance in the streets lest they draw attention to themselves (Yafeh, 2007; Falk, 1998). Tis concept of modesty extends beyond restrictions of dress into an ideology of both physical and emotional humility and modesty. While both Modern Orthodoxy and Hareidi Judaism acknowledge the legal and spiritual importance of modesty, the emphasis on particular details and the central importance of this ideology for women is one of the major departures of the two communities. Feminist critiques of this construction point out the asymmetrical emphasis on womens dress and action as opposed to mens, as well as placing responsibility for male sexual behavior on women (Yafeh, 2007). Men and women will not speak to members of the opposite sex that they are not related to, let alone shake hands. Dating only takes place through a matchmaking process leading to courtship and marriage. Jewish fundamentalist ideology tends to emphasize the concept that womens private role is an elevated one (Sands, Spero, & Danzig 2007; Shai, 2002). Tough women are frmly placed in the domestic realm, Jewish fundamentalist society difers from most other fundamentalist societies in that women are responsible for both domestic life and for economically supporting the family, especially in the early years of the marriage (Shai, 2002). At that stage, Jewish women work outside the home, and Jewish men are often encouraged to maintain a lifestyle exclusively devoted to Torah study (Stadler, 2002). However, this isolationist and singular focus towards Torah study for fundamentalist Jewish males leads to the irony that women are more connected to the outside world, despite an ideology that actively promotes modesty and separation for women. In 2007, Sands, Spero, and Danzig authored a study comparing what male and female baalei teshuva appreciate most about the culture that they have joined. Baalot teshuva women like the community and family- centered society and appreciate that aspect more than their male counterparts, who tend to appreciate structure and learning. As such, the parts of the adopted culture of the baalei teshuva that they most enjoy are those parts that are emphasized for their gender. Tis could be due to a number of factors, one of the most obvious being that those women who choose to become baalot teshuva are those who appreciate womens roles in their chosen culture. In Ringels 2007 study, baalot teshuva reported that they perceived Jewish fundamentalist society as understanding women better than secular society. Fundamentalist Motherhood D espite their basic similarities, diferent fundamen- talist groups have diferent cultures, traditions, and expressions of their beliefs. In Bergers (1969) Te Sacred Canopy, the author theorized that religious adherence and practice in modern societies is increasingly a matter of individual choice. He claimed that this heightened ability to choose would inevitably and inexorably weaken traditional religious commitments. Warners (1993) Work in Progress Toward a New Paradigm for the Sociological Study of Religion in the United States article asserted the future of American religious choice, arguing that religion need not represent something in which people are primordially rooted. Religious afliation in the United States is not tribal (p. 1078). Warners point of view is challenged by authors who have stated that despite the existence of choice, choosing does not make the commitment of an adherent weaker (Davidman, 1991). Additionally, many religious traditions in modern America incorporate an ascriptive element in their understandings of the boundaries around their community. Ascriptive religious traditions claim that religious identity adheres to a person upon their birth: for example, Jewish law states that a Jew is a convert or the child born to a Jewish mother. However, in Avishais 2008 study of women observing the laws of niddah (menstrual separation), she concluded that religiosity is a status that is learned, negotiated, and achieved by adhering to or performing prescribed practices that distinguish the religious from the nonreligious (p. 429). Religions of ascription are International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 75 Mothering Fundamentalism contrasted with religions of achievement, in which personal belief is the determinant of the boundaries of religious identity (Cadge & Davidman, 2006). An example of this is the Protestant Christian belief that personal salvation is the only path to heaven; each person must independently come to his or her belief in God. Tough ascription and achievement are conceptually distinct ways of constructing religious identities, in a study conducted by Cadge and Davidman (2006) in which they surveyed Jewish and Buddhist Americans, both from groups with strong inherited religious identities, they found that the respondents combined the two ideas when talking about their religious life. Rather than being treated as a dichotomy, the concepts of ascription and achievement were integrated in nuanced ways in the narratives of religious identity told by these Americans. Tese diferences are relevant when comparing fundamentalist mothers, the main focus of this article. Mothers from these diferent traditions may have diferent goals and measures of success for their children and diferent priorities in educating them. Because the religious identity of the child comes from the mother in traditional Judaism, and from the childs faith in fundamentalist Christianity, motherhood in those traditions may be conceptually and experientially diferent. Due to their restricted public roles, the primary valued role for Hareidi women is as wife, mother, and housekeeper (Longman, 2000). A fundamentalist Jewish womans worth is defned according to her relational capacitieshow she relates to her husband, children, family, and the community at large (Longman, 2008). In studies of fundamentalist Jewish womens spirituality, the women have reported experiencing personal fulfllment by putting their children and husbands before themselves (Ringel, 2008). Jewish women see motherhood as a religious responsibility (Burt & Rudolph, 2000; Yehuda et al., 2007) and connected to their experience of spirituality and relationship with God (Burt & Rudolph, 2000). Family is seen as a means for self-actualization (Ringel, 2008). Motherhood is an extremely important goal for fundamentalist Jewish women, such that their schooling is primarily geared toward it (Longman, 2008). Jewish motherhood is particularly stereotyped in America. Te stereotype of Jewish mothers is an emasculating, controlling, materially-focused, pushy woman who evokes the Oedepus complex in her children (Antler, 2007). Tis stereotype emerged in the 1950s as immigrant Jews made their way to the suburbs. Antler posited that it was a way to locate stereotypes about Jews in just one group of Jewish society, allowing for Jews to gain greater acceptance in a secular world by blaming their diference on mothering practices. One recent qualitative study (Hamama-Raz, 2010) studied spontaneous abortions in Hareidi women. Te women found the loss far more devastating than their partners. Te experience brought up issues of self-esteem concerning their value as women. Te self-judgment of the women made their sense of isolation much worse. Te women brought up issues of faith, belief in God, and a sense of loss of Divine Providence. Tis fnding speaks to the religious importance of motherhood to Hareidi women. In 2006, Fader performed a discourse analysis on how Hareidi women speak to their children. Te author noted that childrens queries regarding gender categories are an important time for caregivers to essentialize gender diferences as markers of Jewish morality. Fader wrote that Hareidi women implicitly teach children that their relationships to those around them are parallel to the hierarchy between them and God. To their children, Hasidic (a subset of the Hareidi) women caregivers present communal hierarchies of authority as rehearsal for and parallel to obeying divine authority. Local hierarchies of authority (gender, age, and religious practice) gain their legitimacy because parents and older siblings, teachers, and religious leaders all consistently share authority as the transmitters of sacred beliefs and practices. In response to childrens disobedience or challenges, caregivers respond in a wide variety of ways, from least severe to most severe: reminding them of responsibility, warning of a boundary that may not be crossed, and, as a last resort, publicly shaming them (Fader, 2006). In the most severe cases, the childs behavior might even be compared with that of Gentile children or animals. Fader took note of the ideology that Hareidi Jewish children must always care about what they do and say because of the belief that God is always watching. Von Hirsch Erikson (1995) similarly noted that the phrase I dont care is a particularly loaded one and elicits very strong reactions from mothers and teachers. Fundamentalist Christian mothers also see motherhood as an incredibly important part of their International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 76 Korb identity. Motherhood is promoted as part and parcel of a fundamentalist womans Christian religious identity that is, as a unifying identity. In Fundamentalist Christian ideology, the sin of Eve is redeemed through the act of childbirth using the following quote from the New Testament: Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed frst, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing. (I Timothy 2:11-15a) Because mothering inculcates children with the culture of their society, the role of the mother is the link between the general society and the womans body (El-Or, 2002). According to the point of view expressed in I Timothy, the actual act of childbirth is what is redemptive, not the mothering that comes afterwards. It is a point of view that emphasizes the physical rather than the experiential. A quantitative study by Colaner (2008) of 134 college-aged, evangelical women pointed to an interesting intersection of role ideologies and aspirations. Te young women surveyed did not jointly hold career and mothering aspirations. Te young women saw those two goals as separate. Tey were less conficted about motherhood than modern women who hold more egalitarian points of view. In these women, the desire to adhere to the traditional female role preceded the actual realization of the goal of motherhood. Women in the Evangelical subculture do not seem to experience the same tensions of having it all as women at large. Modern American and fundamentalist mother- hood may be diferent in some respects. Women in modern religious or secular culture must contend with competing values: simultaneously women should stay home and tend to children, as well as create and maintain an image of a high-powered, beautiful professional. Tese conficts will be addressed at length below. However, fundamentalist women do not necessarily contend with the same competing values. Tey are part of a society that actively supports the choices that they make and rejects the modern demands of a career for women. In the research on baalot teshuva, many women report that they joined their group in order to join a society that is more encouraging toward traditional femininity (Kaufman, 1991; Longman, 2007) and a nuclear family (Danzger, 1989). Religion afects parent-child relations as well as the other way around (Pearce, 1998). Pearce pointed to three ways in which religion impacts parent- child relations: religions disseminate the idea that families are important, religious communities provide formal support for families, and religious groups add to the familys social ties. Education is an important responsibility for fundamentalists, who often see their parenting as better than that of the secular people around them (Heilman, 2006, p. 259) and defne their observance largely in terms of their diference from others (Avishai, 2008; Heilman, 2006). In religious enclave communities that engage in explicit cultural critiques of the society surrounding them, appeals to moral superiority are one of the key means for retaining members and building boundaries (Sivan, 1995, p.17). Both Jewish and Christian fundamentalist communities have developed extensive online homeschooling resources and private school systems (Kunzman, 2009). As mentioned before, Shai (2002) studied Orthodox women using a family development approach, with the hypothesis that the asynchronous pattern of Orthodox Jewish womens lives as compared to the rest of society would negatively impact them. Te Orthodox womens lives are out of step in that for young Jewish families, the highest priority of the young family is that the man learns Torah full time, so Jewish women work as much as they can and have children, supported by either or both sets of parents, during the time when modern American families are developing their professional identities and stockpiling money toward the future. Despite being out of step with how the rest of the society does family, fnances, and motherhood, fundamentalist women are not showing ill efects. Shai explained this by pointing to the strong insular community that supports fundamentalist women. Individual women who are difering from outside society are not doing it alone, they are doing it as a community with particular values and a specifc timeline. Barrenness is a major theological issue in cultures in which the ability to bear children is exalted, impacting both Jewish and Christian fundamentalist societies. Two books by Christian authors illustrate popular opinions of fundamentalist Christians with regard to the situation of infertile couples. Vicky Love (1984) in Childless is Not Less provided the perspective that childlessness is a tragedy to be overcome, never a conscious choice. Kristen Johnson International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 77 Mothering Fundamentalism Ingram, (1988) in Childless but Not Barren, wrote a number of fctionalized Bible stories about childless women. Ingram ofered stories of nine childless women from the Bible and nine women from real life and showed how their faith in God led them to live fulflled and valuable lives. In her perspective, all nurturing skills are those of mothering. Not having children challenges a woman to perceive Gods grace in another way; her recommendation was to transform the mothering skills a woman has to care for others in ways other than in biological motherhood and to spread Gods light in diferent ways. To some members of the evangelical Christian community, fertility treatments are also discouraged. Tey see barrenness as something to be accepted from God if that is His choice, while recommending prayer to change Gods decree (Ingram, 1988). In Tamar El-Ors (1994) anthropological study of Hareidi women, Educated and Ignorant, one of the women in her study, Nava, is childless. Tough she is from an important lineage within her religious group, and thus is part of the social elite, she is threatened with a potential loss of status because she is three years married and not pregnant. El-Or interpreted the other womens preoccupation with Navas attempts to get pregnant as a desire to see her infertility as punishment. Infertility would cause an incredible loss of status, even for a successful young woman from an elite family. In general, conservative religious beliefs predict more disapproval for chosen childlessness (Koropeckyj- Cox & Pendell, 2007). Christian and Jewish funda- mentalists also have a range of diferent attitudes toward sexual activity and birth control within their own and others communities. Te major launching points for the Christian evangelical rights political action have been fghting against three issues: abortion, birth control, and gay marriage (Deutchman, 2008). Te fact that these are all related to sexuality is not a coincidence. Te Christian Rights perception is that sexuality is a major axis around which their values difer from the modern society around them. As Luker (1984) noted: Rosalind Petchesky argued as early as 1983 that issues over sexuality could well serve as the glue to bind a new generation of conservatives together, with opposition to changes in sexual and gender roles taking on the role that anti-communism once played in binding diverse conservative constituencies together. (p. 223) Furthermore, the Christian movement is the main driving force behind abstinence-only education, and diferent Christian Fundamentalist groups have diferent interpretations and opinions about the permissibility of birth control. One common opinion in the Christian Right is natalism: promoting procreation, and eschewing all forms of birth control. For example, Charles D. Provan (1989) argued, Be fruitful and multiply ... is a command of God, indeed the frst command to a married couple. Birth control obviously involves disobedience to this command, for birth control attempts to prevent being fruitful and multiplying. Terefore birth control is wrong, because it involves disobedience to the Word of God. Nowhere is this command done away with in the entire Bible; therefore it still remains valid for us today. (p. xxx) Diferent fundamentalist Jewish communities have diferent attitudes toward the legal or social acceptability of birth control (Nishmat, 2010). Tese legal restrictions arise from the interpretation of the commandment to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28) and the commandment In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not desist (Ecclesiastes 11:6), which obligates Fundamentalist Jews to do more than the simple letter of the law as stated in the Book of Genesis (i.e., to have big families). In most Jewish communities, there are few injunctive rules against all forms of birth control; many rabbis will give women dispensation to use family planning methods for a variety of reasons (Nishmat, 2010). Despite the technicalities allowing women to use birth control, the social system creates descriptive rules against the use of birth control: it is considered taboo to ask for birth control. In a sample of 1751 married urban Israeli Jewish women, contraceptive use was reported by 73% of secular subjects, 54% of Modern Orthodox women, and 15% of ultra-Orthodox women (Haimon-Kuchmon & Hochner-Celinkier, 2007). With- in the fundamentalist community, contraception is employed mainly for birth spacing, contrasted to secular women who use contraception to prevent pregnancy altogether or postpone even their frst pregnancy. In many fundamentalist communities, families of more than 14 children are the norm as well as the expectation for women to be considered successful members of their society. Te average birth rate of Israeli Hareidi Jews is International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 78 Korb 7.7 children per family (Remmenick, 2008), one of the highest birth rates of any nation. Many Hareidi women invoke Jewish traumas such as the Holocaust when questioned about their large family size (Wattenberg, 2005). Additionally, the taboo against birth control is accompanied by a strong fundamentalist Jewish legal and social taboo against premarital sexuality. All touching is forbidden between members of the opposite sex who are not related to each other. Fundamentalist Jewish groups have not been major players in the American politics of abstinence education or birth control, the political issues which afect people both in and out of their own communities. One reason for this may simply be a more liberal stance on abortion in Judaism than in Christianity (Feldman, 1995). In both communities, a perception that outside society cares less for children and family values than their community reinforces a sense of their own community identity and the danger of the outside world (Davidman, 1992; Joyce, 1996). Modern American Motherhood M othering is a social construct found in every contemporary society (Arendell, 2000). It encompasses more than simply bearing, nursing, and caring for a child, functions that can be done by someone who is not mothering and by someone who is not a mother. Mothering is largely determined by social circumstances; mothers do not nurture or care for their children the same way across cultures, and what it means to be a mother is reinforced and supported by cultures in diferent ways. How one cares for a child, and how one conceives of that caring, is culturally organized. Te feminist movement in the United States afected more than simply the rise of fundamentalism that fostered change in the American religious communities. In addition, motherhood as a modern institution among women not in these religious communities also drastically changed. Tough feminist action led to great strides in what women can accomplish in their careers, this was simultaneously accompanied by increased expectations of motherhood. On one hand, the mothers who stayed home needed to justify that decision by making motherhood into a full-time job that required all of their energy, while mothers who went out to work applied the same standards of competitive work to their home life. Tose rising expectations led to a new style of mothering named intensive mothering by Sharon Hays, who has researched the social construction of motherhood since the 1980s. Hays explained, Tis motherhood mandate declares that mothering is exclusive, wholly child centered, emotionally involving, and time-consuming (as cited in Arendell, 2000, p. 1194). Tis is the dominant ideology among North Americans in general. Tere is extensive research on the intensive mothering ideology and how it has increased the amount of confict and guilt that mothers are feeling (Arendell, 2000; Guendouzi, 2006). Yet, this is not the only current modern Western model of motherhood. Researchers Elvin-Novak and Tomsson (2001) reported that in general, Swedish mothers are rewarded for being more happy and fulflled, from expression of their individualism in their own careers to promoting well-being in their children. Te American intensive mothering mandate is not the only possible one. Access to ideology and fulfllment of the hegemonic American model described above are highly class-based (Arendell, 2000; Daniluck, 1996). While in the 1970s and 1980s, middle class and poor mothers were taught that the attachment with their child was the most important priority, more important than their individual or personal fulfllment, external pressures dictated diferent outcomes for the two groups. Te federal welfare-to-work programs of the 1990s required poor mothers to seek employment outside the home as a condition of their welfare beneft, ostensibly to the detriment of their children. Te rhetoric positioned them as selfsh for staying home. At the same time, middle class mothers were required to decide whether to self-sacrifce by staying home with their children or to selfshly sacrifce their childrens welfare by going to work. It is no wonder that modern motherhood is characterized by considerable ambivalence and guilt among women (e.g., Colaner, 2008; Giele, 2008; Guendouzi, 2006). Tus, American social policy reinforces the dominant ideas of a good mother as one who is married and supported by her partner, and as such, reifes a particular view of appropriate womens roles (Arendell, 2000). Motherhood, as the cultural construction through which children are educated for society, presents the opportunity for the society as well as the family to judge the mother. Mothers are held accountable for the deeds of their children (Hartman-Halbertal, 2002) and are blamed when things go wrong. Te psychological literature points to diferent psychopathologies and names the characteristics of the mothers of individuals International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 79 Mothering Fundamentalism who sufer from those conditions. For example, in the 1950s, it was proposed by Bateson, Jackson, Haley, and Weakland (1956) that children develop schizophrenia when their mothers face them with double-bind scenarios. Tis was debunked later, when it was discovered that mothers instead give double-bind statements when faced with difcult children who exhibit prodromal symptoms of schizophrenia (Koopmans, 1997). Mothers fnd themselves constantly negotiating with the oughts of motherhood (Hartman-Halbertal, 2002). Additionally, mothers expect themselves to mother in ways other than how they were mothered because they recognize the change in culture and new psychological oughts. However, many mothers fnd themselves, to their horror, saying exactly what their mothers said (Fraiberg, Adelson, & Shapiro, 1980). Motherhood is often characterized by self-doubt on the part of women, rather than questioning the social pressures around them (Hartman-Halbertal, 2002). As a counterpoint, critics of the contemporary culture often point to the deinstitutionalization of the private domain, characterized by changing family norms, as a cause of discomfort, leading to the rise of religious movements (Kaufman, 1991). Motherhood is socially entwined with notions of femininity (Medina & Magnuson, 2009). Te specifc kind of intensive motherhood conceived of today is a modern social construct, but mythologized as natural and immutable. Social deconstruction of the maternal instinct concept was pioneered by Badinter (1981) in her work, Motherlove, which traced the development of the myth of maternal love and sacrifce. Badinter (1981) argued that many early French feminists, fred by Jean Jacques Rousseaus Emile, were encouraged to view child rearing as a liberating and empowering appropriation of their husbands former sphere of infuence. It became the role of women to transmit their educational and moral values to their children, and as such, the education of women became more highly valued. Tis was motivated by the changing French economys experience of the Industrial Revolution, which required men to work long hours outside the home. Tis forced women into what had traditionally been the mens role of running the home, and also put a growing importance on individual children as French citizens and workers. In order to stem the loss represented by childhood mortality, French women were persuaded that their new kingdom was in their home, raising their children (p. 179). Badinter (1981) argued that maternal instinct is a relatively recent social construct. It was designed to confne women to a very limited conception of their identity and to convince them of their daunting, perhaps unfulfllable, obligations. Badinter asserted that Maternal love is a human feeling. And, like any feeling, it is uncertain, fragile, and imperfect. Contrary to many assumptions, it is not deeply rooted in womens natures (xxiii). Badinter argued that perceptions of mother love are culturally constructed and that the concept of motherhood was yet another manipulation of women and their conception of their place in the world. In her cultural analysis of the evolution of the ideals of motherhood in the United States, Diane Eyer (1996) made a similar point: Motherhood, as most people think of it, was really fashioned in the 1830s as a response to the labor dilemma posed by the Industrial Revolution, which threatened to draw work out of the home and into the factory. Women should stay at home, it was decided, and become hearth angels, exemplars of moral virtue to inspire the children who were mere clay in their hands. (p. xiv) Similar to Badinters specifc historical point above, many authors have argued that motherhood is constructed not only for individual children but also for the larger social group in which they are situated (Arendell, 2000; Guendouzi, 2006; Hartman-Halbertal, 2002). Mothering is the main vehicle for identity formation of children (Arendell, 2000). In motherhood, childrens gender identities are reinforced and society, through its infuence on the mother, creates its future citizens. Arendell (2000) wrote that mothering is more important to womens identity than either marital status or occupation. Living in an overwhelmingly family-focused society, in which being a mother is more important to ones identity than being a lawyer, it is no wonder that women feel guilty about their motherhood (Arendell, 2000; Guendouzi, 2006). Tis maternal ambi- valence is sourced in the paradoxical nature of mothering experience; not every minute with another individual can be close and happy, let alone one that is completely dependent upon you and with whom you are expected to spend every moment. Motherhood can be an incredibly powerful identity for women, but Anna Snitow (1990) wondered if the patriarchal construction of motherhood inevitably International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 80 Korb placed women outside the realm of the social, the changing, the active (p. 21). In other words, does placing motherhood on a pedestal isolate mothers from the experience of being people? If mothers gain power by being connected to the patriarchally-constructed, powerful spiritual identity of motherhood writ large, which is greater than themselves and defnes them and their interests, it may also serve to silence them. Teir inclusion in this archetypal class may detract from their individual voices. Despite the fact that all mothering is necessarily done by someone other than the child, psychological research generally only speaks from the childs perspective (Hartman-Halbertal, 2002). When the mother is named in the conversation, she is brought in through the childs experienceas powerfully good, bad, or silent. A mother reading these theories cannot fnd her own experience by reading the perspective of the child looking to the mother as a mirror. Andrea Dworkin (1977), the controversial American feminist, saw women as trying to create power by positioning motherhood as the most important act that women could do. She warned of the pitfalls of what she called womb worship, valorizing women simply for their reproductive capacity while romanticizing the womb. On the one hand, this allows mothers to avoid the discomfort of modern-day expectations of doing it all by making their mothering into something that can seem all-encompassing and that can only be fulflled by women. On the other hand, it locks women into the idea that the body is the source of destiny and identity, an idea that Dworkin saw as contributing to the history of womens oppression over time, used to justify mens domination over women because men are physically stronger. Modern American society is hugely pronatalist, or valuing of motherhood, childbearing, children, and defned social roles for women (Brooks, 2007, p. 17). Tis pronatalist trend is often traced to a backlash from the Womens Liberation movement of the 1970s (Daniluck, 1996; Hird & Abshof, 2000; Lisle, 1996; Meyers, 2001; Morell, 2000). Parallel to the pronatalist agenda, childlessness is regarded as an afiction in modern America (Spitler, 1992). Te concept that some women never want to have children seems to be drowned out in the debate about reproductive rightswhich centers around the question of when women will have the children they are assumed eventually to have. Even though these attitudes are commonly thought to be a response to the rise of feminism, some authors have suggested that feminism may have contributed to the pronatalist agenda by valorizing mothers experiences over those of non-mothers and suggesting that wars and human violence were due to male control and power. Te notion that women naturally have a more nurturing instinct than men, and thus should be at home with children, is an example of biological determinism, the idea that biology is destiny. Conclusion E xtensive research exists on the cultural and political phenomenon of the Christian Right, and research on fundamentalist women has begun to take hold, with several Christian groups opening themselves up to schol- ars and the mainstream media. Some research has been done on baalot teshuva, and so far it has concentrated on the process of identity transformation (Aviad, 1983; Glanz & Harrison, 1978), the recruitment process (Shafr, 1983), gender issues (Davidman, 1991), and comparisons between diferent groups of returnees (Davidman, 1991; Davidman & Greil, 1994). While considerable efort has gone into studying the experiences of women in fundamentalist groups amid a recent resurgence in interest in traditional religion (Avishai, 2008), including conversion and transition experiences, a gap looms in the research as far as comparing the lived experience of changing between models of motherhood. In a 2008 article, Avishai argued that women who participated in her study are neither passive targets of religious discourses (doormats), nor strategic agents whose observance serves extra-religious ends. Instead, she argued that their observance is best explained by the notion of religious conduct as a mode of being, a performance of religious identity, or a path to achieving orthodox subjecthood in the context of threatened symbolic boundaries between [their religious and secular] identities (p. 410). Avishai analyzed the extant academic literature about women in conservative fundamentalist religion and presented three main responses to the problem of women giving up agency by participating in such religious groups. Te frst response is that while women may experience conservative religions as restricting, they are also empowered or liberated by their religion. Te second is that women subvert and resist ofcial dogma through partial compliance, and lastly, that religious women strategize and appropriate religion to further extra-religious ends. Tese theoretical frames are all fawed: for example, such theories create a dichotomy International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 81 Mothering Fundamentalism of subordination versus subversion, empowerment, or accommodation, which equates agency with resistance. Tese fawed theoretical frames reinscribe modern liberal valuesresearchers valuesas being the only expression of true self, rather than allowing people to consciously choose which actions refect their higher selves, or seeing the womens current state as an expression of their true self. Tese frameworks do not acknowledge that women may participate in a religion for a religious end, rather than an extra-religious one, or that compliance is not a strategy, but rather something that the women are choosing to do, a mode of conduct and being. Lastly, the focus on the women as individuals ignores the structural and cultural contexts that organize their lives and religious observance. Looking at religion as something that women do, parallel to gender as performance (Butler, 1990), or modes of behavior and comportment that are shaped by social rules, assumes that they are actively making religious choices. Agency is thus grounded in the very construction of gender. Butler in Gender Trouble located agency not only in acts of transgression, but also in the internal work one does to be able to receive a particular cultural discourse. Gender is understood as an unconscious performance, whereas Avishai (2008) proposed looking at doing religion as a semiconscious, self-authorship project (p. 411). Tis is particularly poignant in the case of adults who change religious communities, who exert agency and engage in self-reconstruction by choosing diferent cultural discourses to be subject to. Tey are engaging in the project of self-authorship by moving their protagonist, themselves, to a new location with new rules. Tis is a new, compelling paradigm that can examine fundamentalist womens choices and afrm these choices through respectful research. Models of motherhood remain important to study as they refect cultural oughts (Hartman- Halbertal, 2002), and because of the unconscious way that ones own childhood comes out in ones parenting (Fraiberg et al., 1980). Tis is especially poignant in the case of people who change religious communities, as they deliberately choose to raise children with a diferent social group than that in which they were raised. Tey must navigate the oughts of their new society with their own psychodynamic issues arising through parenting. Tough transpersonal psychology tends to pathologize fundamentalist religion, and the news histrionically reports about the rise of fundamentalism in America as a source of terrorism, analysis is called for to deconstruct and analyze the fear expressed in research about the threat of fundamentalism. New research is also called for that re-examines what has often been seen as a regressive choice of modern women (Avishai, 2008; Longman, 2007), thus afrming the agency of women to choose a new cultural discourse. Such research may help create a fuller, more relatable understanding of fundamentalist womens experiences of their identity, and particularly their experience of themselves as mothers, an identity that they, and society, see as most important. Te relationship of motherhood and religious experience are complicated mechanisms of intersecting identities, both important to transpersonal psychology. 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History of past sexual abuse in married observant Jewish women. Te American Journal of Psychiatry, 164(11), 1700-1706. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2007.06122030 Notes 1. Some non-fundamentalist scholars have suggested that the movements true beginnings lay with the Engel v. Vitale (June 25, 1962) Supreme Court case, which addressed prayer in public schools (Dierenfeld, 2007). Still others, including Jerry Falwell, a televangelist and conservative commentator and founder of the Moral Majority, an evangelical Christian-oriented political lobbying organization, have pointed to a history beginning with Bob Jones University v. US (May 24, 1983), which addressed the tax-exempt status of a private, International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 86 Korb nonproft religious university that prescribed and enforced racially discriminatory admission standards on the basis of religious doctrine (Wagner, 2003; Wald & Siegelman, 1997). 2. Te term fundamentalism is more highly controversial in application to Jews and is highly contested in academia (Longman, 2007). Watt (2008) wrote that the term fundamental as applied to Jews invokes supersessionism, the belief that Jesus death superseded the law of the Hebrew Bible, and re-inscribes that meaning when used today. He also contended that the term fundamentalism is simply used to describe someone seen as extreme or dangerous. Harris (1994) wrote extensively about the term, arguing that the type of textual reading that traditional Jewish culture engages in is considerably diferent from Christian fundamentalists. Addition- ally, the use of the word fundamentalist can be problematic when it includes Jews who are only politically and not religiously conservative, such as settlers in the Israeli occupied territories, who may not be considered fundamentalists simply based on their religious beliefs. 3. In the Six-Day War, Israel was attacked by the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria with the help of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria. Te confict lasted 6 days, between June 5 and June 10, 1967, and by the time it was over, Israel had gained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. About the Author Sophia Korb is a 5th year Clinical Psychology Ph.D. student at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California. She is working on her pre-doctoral clinical hours while employed as a Harm Reduction Specialist for Community Access, a person-centered social service agency in New York City that assists people with psychiatric disabilities to transition from shelters and institutions to independent living. She is writing two books for Whole Person Associates in the next year. Continuing work she began in graduate school, she researches and writes on the social and spiritual meanings of substance use with Jim Fadiman, as well as the efcacy of innovative housing programs in San Mateo County with Shelter Network. About the Journal Te International Journal of Transpersonal Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal in print since 1981. It is published by Floraglades Foundation, and serves as the ofcial publication of the International Transpersonal Association. Te journal is available online at www. transpersonalstudies.org, and in print through www. lulu.com (search for IJTS). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 87 Psychospiritual Development of Female Adoptees Psychospiritual Development of Female Adoptees Raised Within a Closed Adoption System: A Teoretical Model Within a Feminist and Jungian Perspective
April E. Topfer Te Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Palo Alto, CA, USA Tis article proposes a transpersonal theoretical model suggesting that the embodiment of the voice of the feminine is a signifcant catalyst for awakening the psychological and spiritual growth and development of female adoptees. Existing Jungian and feminist theoretical models regarding the psychological and spiritual implications for a female adoptee raised within a closed adoption system will be discussed. Te author will share her adopted voice about her spiritual and psychological process toward fnding wholeness using a hermeneutical process of inquiry. Te voices of birth mothers who relinquished their children will also be included. Voice is then explored to be an essential component of the embodied feminine, in turn becoming a catalyst of psychospiritual growth and developmental awakening for female adoptees. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 2010, pp. 87-102 Keywords: hermeneutical, birth mothers, female adoptees, embodied feminine voice. A bout 64% of Americans know someone who has adopted, been adopted, or relinquished a child for adoption (Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, 2002). With this large of a percentage, and considering the large percentage afected and the lifelong efects of adoption for all members within the adoption triad, 1 there is a great opportunity to bring a new and fresh transpersonal perspective into the existing adoption literature. For an adoptee, a transpersonal perspective is important because adoptees pay a high psychic, psychological, and spiritual price when they grow up feeling like anonymous people cut of from the genetic and social heritage that gives everyone else roots (Lifton, 1994, p. 8). Te disconnection they feel is so deeply rooted in the psyche and spiritual in nature (Jaggard, 2001) that the primal wound (Verrier, 1993, p. 1) they sufer is not only from the genealogical loss of their biological origins but also from a bodily incompleteness that remains with them into adulthood (Lifton, 1994; Verrier, 1993, 2003). Hence, there is a signifcant need to fll in the gap in the transpersonal theoretical literature with a psychospiritual developmental model, which will help transpersonal clinicians, and clinicians in general (especially those who are not familiar with the issues of adoption), 2 gain a better understanding of an adoptees quest of an authentic identity (Lifton, 1994, p. 10). Ultimately, a psychospiritual developmental model can help adoptees transform and integrate what adoption and Jungian writer Axness (1998) described as the pervasive shadows of an abstract burden that have woven themselves around their lives. Several terms regarding adoption need to be clarifed. Although adoption can take many diferent forms in the United States, 3 the primary focus in this article will be on adoptions within an independent or private agency, domestically, and within a closed system. An independent or private agency adoption involves the ofcial legal transfer of parental rights and responsibilities to adults who are not a childs biological parents (Miller, Fan, & Grotevant, 2005). A domestic adoption occurs when the child is adopted within the country of origin. A closed system of adoption is when an adopted childs biological identity remains unknown to him or her and to the adoptive parents. Adoptive parents names replace the childs biological parents names on a new legally amended birth certifcate that is issued to the child upon his or her entry into the adoptive family. Te adopted child is thought to be reborn (Baran & Pannor, 1990, p. 321) into a new family with a new identity and identifcation. Te adoption proceedings, including the original birth certifcate and any other information concerning the identity of the childs birth parents, are International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 88 Topfer sealed depending upon state court order and supported by statutory law and regulations. Although closed adoptions were the standard procedure for adopting a child throughout the United States by the end of the 1930s and still are commonly practiced today, current research conducted by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute (2009) concluded that contact with birth relatives is the most important factor in achieving a positive adoptive identity in white adoptees. 4
While contact with birth relatives may have a positive efect upon adoptees development, 5 this paper is not concerned with matters of adoption reform. Te discussion will focus solely upon Jungian and feminist theoretical considerations and literature relevant to the psychological and spiritual implications for female adoptees raised within a closed adoption system. Troughout, I share my experience of being adopted and the impact of this experience on my spiritual and psychological development and my growth toward fnding wholeness. Additionally, the known efects of the closed adoption system upon birthmothers who surrendered their children will be illustrated utilizing a feminist perspective. Finally, I propose a transpersonal, theoretical model suggesting that the embodiment of voice of the feminine becomes a signifcant catalyst for awakening the psychological and spiritual growth and development of female adoptees. Authors Personal Voice I chose to focus solely on female adoptees psychospiritual development within this article because of my own personal experience as a female adoptee raised within a closed adoption system. My focus is further congruent with the beginning stages of engagement with my dissertation and research in which I will use a hermeneutical process of inquiry as well as my spiritual practices of meditation and yoga. I am curious to know whether other female adoptees have experienced similar somatic, phenomenological, and psychospiritual experiences as I have while embarking upon their spiritual paths. As I began to engage in the hermeneutical research method of intuitive inquiry by reading the adoption literature and listening to the feminine and feminist voices of adoption from female writers such as Axness (1998), Fessler (2006), Jaggard (2001), Lifton (1994), Solinger (2001), and Verrier (1993, 2003), I found they all held a deep feminine embodied wisdom, truth, and voice regarding the issues and ramifcations of being adopted. Teir voices deeply resonated on a bodily level within me, causing psychospiritual shifts and deepening my embodied awareness regarding my adoption identity and body. Tis process fostered more curiosity about the development of voice and how other female adoptees develop and cultivate their own embodied feminine voice through an embodied spiritual practice, such as meditation, or other mindful awareness practices. In my experience, growing up within a closed adoption system had a severe impact on my ability to fnd and cultivate my authentic and embodied feminine voice. However, as I began to undertake the hermeneutical journey of my adoption and deepened my mindfulness practice of meditation, my embodied voice grew stronger and continues to demonstrate a wisdom that I never experienced growing up. Additionally, I noticed that each of these practices, including the inquiry into my adoption, which became a practice unto itself in my journal writing and Jungian analysis, became inseparable from one another. Ultimately, these practices helped to sustain a process of transformation and integration of my adoption experience and identity in my life. My Adoption Story Te loss, grief, and the closed adoption systems ideologies of secrecy and shame that had been bestowed upon my birthmother became the legacy passed to me. Given the paradigm of silence in the closed system and a lack of information or knowledge about my biological identity, I experienced what adoptee and feminist writer Leighton (2005) stated was an erasure of details that might contradict what could be read or seen about the body (p. 163). Due to this erasure, my family upheld the silence in our home by never discussing my adoption or the adoptive status of my older sister. Tis strict denial of my adoption rendered my adoption identity invisible and my embodied authentic feminine was lost as a result of my hidden biological origins. As a result, it constricted my ability to speak from a known and trusted embodied feminine source, which was especially evident as a teenager and in early adulthood when the conspiracy of silence (Lifton, 1994, p. 10) felt like a smothering unspoken force. Lifton (1994) wrote that an adoptee knows something is amiss, missing, not acknowledged, something that is the ramifcation of her society, and perhaps her adoptive family, who has informed her that discovery of her true biological identity is forbidden and must be kept in a secrecy of silence. Ultimately, the underpinning force of the unspoken was the not knowing womanhood International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 89 Psychospiritual Development of Female Adoptees and the unknowns of biological motherhood. As feminist Cornell (2005) stated, the struggle of every woman to become who she is demands a confrontation with the connection between femininity and motherhood (p. 26). For my birth mother who relinquished me and for my adoptive mother who could not bear a child, the connection had been lost within the development of my embodied feminine. My birth mothers story is one that adoption feminist writers Fessler (2006) and Solinger (2001) candidly wrote about. My birth mother was a sixteen-year- old unwed mother who became pregnant in conservative Youngstown, Ohio, lived in a Florence Crittenton home for unwed mothers, and then relinquished me upon my birth in October of 1973. Despite the Roe v. Wade (1973) decision that gave women the right to choose to terminate their pregnancies or not during the month I was conceived, my fate would have it that my birth mothers Catholic upbringing most likely prevented even the thought of an abortion within her mind or the minds of her parents. Te only conceivable option would have been to relinquish me for adoption, or so I am left to assume. She does not deny nor admit she is my birthmother; I take her denial as evidence that she is indeed my birth mother. Given the circumstance, I am forced to weave my own self-narrative of the details concerning my relinquishment from other stories of courageous birth mothers who have come forth to recall their relinquishment experiences. It is from the shared voices of these birth mothers that I am able to reconstruct and claim their story as my birth mothers, thus unveiling the unspoken unknown of my adoption and biological identity that has been trapped and confned within the walls of the closed adoption system. In this psychospiritual process, I am also forced to unweave the unconscious projections and fantasies that my birth mother and I were ever a dyad in order to awaken myself from the limiting confnes of my double identity. Cornell (2005) stated: Te beginning of a relationship between mother and daughter, and the celebration of a symbolic distance that makes recognition possible, can occur only once the fantasy that we ever were a dyad is dissolved. Trying to simply reenact the dyadic fantasy gets us nowhere new. (p. 35) Tis process of recognizing my projections and fantasies becomes especially difcult when I visit my hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, where my adoption and the closed systems patriarchal paradigm is continually reinforced in my life due to not being in a successful reunion with my biological family. Even after having undergone the process of reconstructing my relinquishment story from the embodied voices of birth mothers while consciously deconstructing my unconscious fantasies and projections, time is eerily suspended in my hometown in the year 1973. It is as if the attitudes and the secrecy of the closed adoption system still deeply permeate throughout my identity and voice when I am there, and my biological identity begins to form a force of its own in its strong desire to search and connect with my biological origins and roots. However, my adoptive identity still feels trapped and helpless in doing so due to Ohios laws that deny me access to my original birth certifcate. 6
My Conscious Journey Into and Apart from the Closed Adoption Circle I manage the two psychic forces of my split identity and the unconscious fantasy and projection that my birth mother and I are still merged together within the closed adoption systems confning space by experiencing the felt sensations of tension and ambiguity in my bodily aware- ness while engaging in a hermeneutical process of inquiry. Te realization that I am separate from but not value- free and independent from my adoption experience arises in my consciousness. Lifton (1994), herself an adoptee, wrote about adoptees mythic return to their true selves: Adoptees must weave a new self-narrative out of the fragments of what was, what might have been, and what is. Tis means they must integrate their two selves: the regressed baby who was abandoned and the adult that baby has become. Tey must make the Artifcial Self real, and allow the Forbidden Self to come out of hiding. Tey must integrate what is authentic in these two selves, and balance the power between them. (p. 259) In my experience, the balancing of powers becomes a possibility for psychological integration and healing with embodied mindful awareness practices of meditation and yoga. Both mindfulness and yoga help me to draw attention and awareness to the present moment without judgment or criticism. Tis helps support me to call back my authentic power and feminine body from the overwhelming adoption force. A more creative and transformative power naturally occurs with the greater spaciousness in my mind, psyche, and body to permit me to further explore what further felt sensations, thoughts, International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 90 Topfer images, and feelings arise from my adoption experience, body, and identity. Similar to my process, adoptee and feminist Leighton (2005) wrote that the adoption experience is not about identifcation with an unknown lost family but rather as an identity of possibility (p. 147). For her, it is a way to make sense of the tensions produced by being both at once the product of ones environment and someone whose meaning always exceeds that environment (p. 147). She stated,being adopted opens up a space of non-identity between the self as a subject and the self as an object such that one cares about the processes (social, historical, cultural, political, and relational) through which one has come to be (p. 147). Leightons experience closely resembles a hermeneutical process of interpretation. Five levels of interpretation are found in intuitive inquiry (Anderson, 2004), the research method I have chosen for my dissertation project. I chose intuitive inquiry for my dissertation research because of its personal exploration and transformative potentials. Te researcher is deemed a co-participant. Te frst cycle of interpretation that I have completed has led me to learn about the preconceived lenses through which I view the social, familial, and psychological interaction of my adoption within the closed system. Interpretative researcher Addison (1989) wrote that a hermeneutic cycle begins when the researcher identifes and names her lenses, perspective, and beliefs about the subject matter she is investigating. Tis is called the forward arc. After each area of exploration is complete, such as the literature review and data collection, the researcher evaluates her old lenses and decides whether to discard them or establish new ones. Tis is the reverse arc of the hermeneutical circle. Overall, the process of a hermeneutical cycle encourages the completion or continuation of the researchers own self-refective narrative and truth through the lenses she possesses. Alas, truth is seen as an ongoing and unfolding process, where each successive interpretation has the possibility of uncovering or opening up new possibilities (p. 56). As I began to engage in the frst hermeneutical cycle of interpretation, I recognized that the embodied expression of my voice was left paralyzed and my projections, which interpretative researcher Addison (1990) considered part of the persons existential structure, were unevaluated and unbeknownst to me. Te possibility of moving my arc forward within a hermeneutical cycle remained stuck because of my lived-felt experience of being psychically drowned in the unconscious mothering attitude of the closed adoption system. It was also the unconscious bonds I shared with my two mothers within the closed adoption circle that stunted the arcs forward process. Te weight I felt describes what Jungian writer and analyst Woodman (1990) wrote is an unconscious bond that can create an insurmountable block if the daughter feels guilty when the time comes for her to outstrip her mother, to go beyond the level of consciousness her mother achieved. Te adoptee not only has one mother with whom to face this challenge but twoher adoptive mother and her biological mother. I faced guilt with both of my mothers by breaking the silence about my adoption experience to my adoptive mother, making contact with my birth mother, and speaking my truth about the closed adoption system to fellow adoptees. However, as I had the opportunity to listen to the various conscious embodied voices from other adoptees, as well as from birth mothers and feminists, my inner sense of freedom and creativity about my adoption experience was being restored, resulting in feeling less and less guilt about examining and expressing my adoption experience. As I see it now, I was engaging in the reverse arc of the hermeneutical circle by evaluating other womens adoption experiences against my own neglected and unexamined psychological projections and fantasies. Tus, the conscious process of embodying my adoptive identity and voice completed the frst full hermeneutical cycle in my research method of intuitive inquiry, resulting in feminine growth, awareness, and development. Ultimately, my lived felt experience of my adoption story was transforming itself. An Adoptees Conscious Mother and Crone My Jungian analyst has told me that I am working through the bi-valent nature of the mother archetype the terrible mother and the good mother. Tis has been demonstrated with my unconscious fantasy and splitting that my adoptive mother is the good mother who loved me so much that she rescued me from my birth mother who is the terrible mother who could not raise me. Tere was another story, however, that was never voiced yet continuously felt, held, and reenacted in my unconsciousness: my adoptive mother is the terrible mother who took me away from my birth mother who is the good mother that can save me from my deep longing International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 91 Psychospiritual Development of Female Adoptees for connection. Tis latter fantasy refects Jaggards (2001), Liftons (1994), and Verriers (1993) accounts of adoptees unconsciousness experiences. Similar to my experience, these authors accounts reported that many adoptees feel a bodily experience of disconnection. Unwittingly, these authors accounts invoke what Jungian scholar and adoption writer Severson (1994) described as the Mother/ Child archetype, especially Verriers concept of the primal wound (p. 1). Te primal wound is the trauma that many adoptees experience due to relinquishment in infancy. Te primal wound can be experienced as a split of baby part of ones self and can have long-lasting efects upon an adoptees psychological, emotional, and spiritual life. In my own personal process toward healing and wholeness, Liftons (1994) and Verriers (1993) accounts began to form an invocation of the Mother/Child archetype for me through the power of reading adoptees voices. My primal wound was being put into words and the process of the hermeneutical circles forward arc began. Although reading adoptees voices played an important role in my process of healing, I still experienced a disempowerment in my adoption story and voice. Tis shifted, however, when a fellow adoptee invited me to attend the Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At this conference, I discovered a new level of my feminist identity as I listened to the voices of birth mothers who relinquished their infants. As a result, my unconscious fantasy and projections about the archetypal mother that society has constructed about birth mothers were deconstructed, ultimately leading to a more realistic representation of my own personal birth mother and consequently, my adoptive mother. In addition, my conscious mother began to fully emerge as I listened and took in various birth mothers experiences. I was greatly impacted by feminist writer, researcher, and documentary flmmaker Fesslers (2010) seminar. I viewed her documentary based on her courageous and landmark book Te Girls Who Went Away (Fessler, 2006). Te book and documentary present the voices of birth mothers who relinquished their children in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Another powerful seminar presented a discussion by birth mother Lynn Lauber (2010), who held the voice of the conscious crone. Woodman (1990) stated that the conscious crone can aford to be honest, for she is not interested in playing games. Tis was the case with Lauber. She was not interested in perpetuating the games of the closed adoption system. She spoke from an embodied place about her pregnancy experience, the relinquishment of her child, and of her pain, loss, confusion, and devastation. Her voice held the unwavering truth that was silent and steady. It held great somberness, grief, loss, and sadness. Her steady eyes, her gaze, and her unwavering lips conveyed a lost part of herself that she had determined to reclaim and resolve again and again. As I am able to see it now, up until the time I listened to birth mothers experiences of relinquishing their children, my ego was not ready nor able to hold the tension generated by the opposites of the Great Mother, one who is nourishing and containing and one who is also devouring and restrictive (Woodman, 1990). What made this so difcult was the dualistic projections of the opposites of the Great Mother upon both mothers my adoptive mother and my biological mother. My embodied voice and sense of identity had been devoured, smothered, swallowed up, and drowned. It is the closed adoption systems web of silence and secrecy that created this constant felt experience. A Feminist Perspective on the Closed Adoption System A doption is a social construction (Lifton, 1994) and is deeply embedded and cannot be separated from feminism. Adoption practices refect sociopolitical, economic, and moral attitudes and changes in history that pertain to the second-wave feminist movement. Te attitudes pertaining to adoption and the closed adoption system prevailed until unwed mothers became politically active in the 1970s, speaking out about the ramifcations of relinquishing their children, 7 and until abortion was legalized in 1973. 8 Before this time (after World War II and during the 1950s and 60s), childless married couples, who desired to parent and conform to the social and familial expectations of the time, turned to adoption in record numbers. Approximately one and a half million babies were relinquished for nonfamily or unrelated adoptions between 1945 and 1973 (Fessler, 2006). 9 In turn, the rising demand for adoptable children intensifed the pressure for young unmarried pregnant women to surrender their children within the closed adoption system. Despite popular opinion, feminist writer Solinger (2001) explained It is very rare in this country to think about relinquishment as a coerced act, forced on a mother who wanted to keep her child (p. 74). However, that was often just the case. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 92 Topfer In her landmark interviews with women who surrendered their children between the end of World War II and 1973, Fessler (2006) illustrated how these women were not ultimately given a choice and consequently denied their right to keep their children. Many of these women did not make a decision to surrender but instead were rendered powerless 10 in their ability to choose what was best for them and for their children. Te only choice presented was the one that was available to them: living in an unwed mothers home, immediately surrendering their child, and legally signing away their right as a parent. It was the only option prescribed within the patriarchys 11 defnition of what it meant to be a mother. According to authorities and those who enforced the closed adoption systems extreme polices, such as social workers and parents, these non- marital pregnancies were treated as evidence that young women were unft to be mothers. It marked them as bad choice makers and poor prospects for becoming or raising good citizens (Solinger, 2001). 12 Motherhood was not determined by biology or by giving birth. Rather, it was determined by marriage and the commodifcation of their babies (p. 78). Solinger explained that adoption is rarely about mothers choices; it is, instead, about the abject choicelessness of some resourceless women (p. 67) and about the economic resources of other women. It is typically overlooked that economic and cultural degradation can cancel a womans ability to assert the biological claim to motherhood (Solinger, 2001, p. 75). Young pregnant girls were not given a realistic picture of the responsibilities and costs of raising a child. Tey were denied information that could have saved them and their motherhood, thus preventing them from participating in making an informed choice. Despite the fog of their despair and helplessness, some women recognized that when adults denied them motherhood and their babies, it was about power over one who is less socioeconomically and sociopolitically infuential in society. As a result of their lack of status power, the only choice was to conform to the enormous societal pressures of the middle-class values of the time. Middle- class parents were quick to agree that the only choice for their young daughters problem was relinquishment and adoption. Solinger added:
When daughters became objects of their own parents terror in the era of family togetherness, they felt absolutely resourceless. Mothers and fathers worked quickly to erase these girls as social actors; what the daughters wanted for themselves was completely irrelevant. (p. 72) Hence, there was no other acceptable solution than for pregnant girls to go along with family wishes or risk being permanently ostracized from family members and their communities. 13 Consequences of Birth Mothers Lack of Choice Te legacy cast upon birthmothers in the closed adoption system left deep scars in their lives, especially considering the common societal myth and psychological split cast upon a young girls psyche after she surrendered her child:
Following this course, their daughter would be given a second chance. Her pregnancy would efectively be erased from her history and she could expect to go back to a normal life, as if it had never happened. Without her child she would be able to marry a decent man and have other children. She would not have to live with her mistake. (Fessler, 2006, p. 148) Unraveling this myth forty years later from accounts of women who tell stories that force us to gauge the relevance of biology when biology is denied (Solinger, 2001, p. 75), Fessler (2006) found that surrendering a child for adoption was described by many of the women she interviewed as the event that defned their identities and shaped their entire adult lives. Despite the ideal hope for a better future, their experience felt like a lifelong, psychologically wrenching burden to them. In a study by Winkler and Van Keppel (1984), birthparents regarded the surrender of a child to adoption as the most stressful experience of their lives. Young unwed mothers were made to carry the full emotional weight of circumstances that were the inevitable consequence of a society that denied teenage sexuality, failed to hold young men equally responsible, withheld sex education and birth control from unmarried women, allowed few options if pregnancy occurred, and considered unmarried women unft to be mothers (Fessler, 2006). Many women who went through this experience have said that when women lack such fundamental controls, their lives can be ruined (Solinger, 2001). Studies have concluded that relinquishing mothers are at risk for long-term physical, psychological, International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 93 Psychospiritual Development of Female Adoptees and social repercussions (Askren & Bloom, 1999). Te pain of the surrender remains as intense as if the adoption just happened yesterday and intensifes over time (Winkler & Van Keppel, 1984). Relinquishing ones infant can become such as intense experience that the loss has been likened as a form of trauma (Fessler, 2006) and PTSD (Verrier, 2003). Cornell (2005) wrote that the closed adoption system unfortunately blocks any hope for the recovery from this trauma (p. 21) due to the legally enforced, absolute cut of a birthmother from her child. Not only is the closed adoption system to blame for these womens trauma but also many of the younger women who were sent to a maternity home, such as the Florence Crittenton home for unwed mothers, 14 confrmed that it was a traumatic experience for them (Fessler, 2006). Solinger (2001) depicted one birthmothers experience: I left my heart and soul, as well as my baby, in that drab little institution. I left my youth, my innocence . . . my trust, my laughter, and my love. . . . Pieces of that girl who entered the Home in August, 1962 are still missing today. . . . I have not been and never will be whole again. (p. 79) Another birthmothers words capture the experience that many of the women identify with deeply: I was a singing teacher, but I lost my voice after the relinquishment. Losing my voice was the result of almost dying of a broken heart (p. 79). Because surrendering a child is not commonly recognized as a loss by society (Silverstein & Kaplan, 1982), birthmothers were not permitted to talk about or properly grieve the loss of their child. From a feminist perspective, this protection from public exposure of the adopting mothers failure to be a woman because she has failed to meet the symbolic meaning of womanhood demands erasure of the birth mother (Cornell, 2005, p. 24) as well as erasure of her voice. Regardless of the reason for the underlying societal motive:
When a young woman surrenders an infant for adoption we set her apart from us. Sworn to secrecy and admonished to return to school or work as though she had been on holiday or helping with an unfortunate relative, the privilege of grief is denied. (Brodzinsky, 1990, p. 311) Due to this lack of privilege, a birthmothers grief becomes exacerbated, and sometimes chronic. In her qualitative study, Davis (1994) found that all 15 birthmothers she interviewed experienced a lack of support and encouragement from others for the need to grieve following the relinquishment of their infants. Te loss they face continued to intensify over time and had similarities to the loss experienced after a death. However, with death there is closure, but with adoption there is no end to the loss, and thus, no closure to the loss experience (Silverstein & Kaplan, 1982). As a result of having no closure for the loss of their children, many of the women faced depression, lost their jobs, and had difculties in their relationships because, as Solinger (2001) candidly wrote, dignity and independence are, in fact, the life enhancing ingredients that tend to be incompatible with relinquishing a child (p. 23). Ramifcations of the Closed System upon Adoptees Despite the intention to erase the stigma of adoptees pasts to insure their equal status and treatment among their nonadopted legitimate ofspring (Brodzinsky, 1990), some of the psychological problems observed in adult adoptees appear to be directly related to the secrecy, anonymity, and sealed records of a closed adoption system (Baran & Pannor, 1990; Lifton, 1994). Ultimately, the closed system diminishes what leading adoption expert and adoptee Lifton (1994) wrote are the civil rights of adult adoptees. She stated that adoptees are second class citizens (Lifton, 2010, n.p.) due to a large majority of adult adoptees in the United States who are denied access to their original birth certifcates. 15 Additionally, adult adoptees who are denied access to information related to their births and adoptions experience potentially serious negative consequences to their physical and mental health (Baran & Pannor, 1990; Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, 2007; Lifton, 1994). Aside from denying adoptees full access to information regarding their biological origins, 16 the message cast upon birthmothers was that they should feel grateful that other women could mother their children better, which was translated into the message to adoptees that they were chosen, picked, or special for being adopted and that their adoptions were no big deal (Brodzinsky, Schecter, & Henig, 1992). Another message sent to adoptees was that speaking about their biological origins was forbidden territory (Hartman & Laird, 1990, p. 236). Tese attitudes imparted within the closed adoption system encourage a more secretive and avoidant communication style among adoptive parents. It was, and International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 94 Topfer sometimes currently is, common for adoptive parents to treat their adoptive children as if they were their own biological kin (Brodzinsky, 2005). Given fctitious and nonexplicit narratives of adopted childrens stories, many adoptees experience a ruptured (Hartman & Laird, 1990, p. 236) continuity of personhood and identity. Consequently, adoptees must weave a new self-narrative out of the fragments of what was, what might have been, and what is (Lifton, 1994, p. 259). Tey are on a quest to search for the missing parts of their narrative, for their origins, for meaning, and for a coherent sense of self (Lifton, 2007). Tis usually manifests in an adoptees search to reunite with her biological origins. Te meaning of the word search is important to adoptees, whether they have made contact, have had reunion with their biological family, or have no desire to search for their biological family. Schooler (1995) stated: Te word search for an adopted person carries with it multiple layers of meaning. Te word search for many is not limited to its literal meaning of a physical efort to make a connection. Te meaning expands to include all that is part of the adoptees quest, for it is an emotional, psychological, and spiritual quest. (p. 24) Te quest for an authentic identity among adoptees can reinforce feelings of disconnectedness (Bertocci & Schecter, 1991; Jaggard, 2001; Lifton, 1994; Nickman, 1985; Verrier, 1993). Schecter and Bertocci (1990) wrote that the lack of connection can become so intense that it can be equivalent to starvation (p. 85). Adoptee and adoption researcher Jaggard (2001) made a similar conclusion in her qualitative study with 14 midlife female adoptees. Jaggard suggested that female adoptees disconnection was deeply rooted (p. 158) and contained spiritual components. In addition, she concluded that connectedness is not solely due to the adoptive family relationship but that it comes from a physical, emotional, and psychological genetic core or template (p. 159). Tis conclusion is also highlighted by adoptive mother and clinician Verrier (1993), who stated that a deep identifcation with the adoptees ancestors genes are stamped into every cell (p. 102) of an adoptees body. A Proposed Psychospiritual Developmental Model for Female Adoptees B ased upon the narratives of other adoptees and my own experience, I propose that a developmental model is relevant for understanding the psychospiritual journey of female adoptees. Te psychospiritual process of development and integration for female adoptees involves what transpersonal theorist Levin (1985) described as a retrieval of ones body. 17 For women, it becomes a retrieval and awakening of ones feminine body, thus leading to the embodiment of the conscious feminine (Zweig, 1990); this entails the embodiment of the conscious virgin, mother, and crone. Female Buddhist writer Feldman (1990/2005) echoed that awakened women are embodied women and that the very frst step toward ending estrangement from their true selves is reclaiming their bodies. She stated, We do not begin on a spiritual path divorced from our sexuality, or lives: all of this we bring with us (p. 5). A female adoptee searching for wholeness brings all aspects of her adoption experience and story with her on the journey of awakening her feminine body: an extreme longing for connection (Jaggard, 2001), cumulative losses (Axness, 1998), and broken narratives (Lifton, 1994). She courageously begins to inquire and examine these areas, which is the forward arc of the hermeneutical circle, thus transforming her lenses and perspective, representing the returning arc of the hermeneutical circle. Analysis, conscious embodied spiritual practices such as meditation and yoga, and journaling can all activate the process of transformation and growth. Eventually, her mother projections are deeply revealed and the most painful feelings of abandonment and rejection can be dealt with. Ten, a female adoptees feminine wisdom, including her conscious crone, mother, and virgin, can be born from her conscious sufering (Woodman, 1990, p. 99), and she can discover and retrieve her forbidden feminine body amidst her primal wound and the smothering conspiracy of silence built into the closed system (Lifton, 1994, p. 10). Te process becomes a lifelong journey for adoptees. As a female adoptee walks into what fellow female adoptee and child expert Axness (1998) described as the emptiness inside an adoptees self, she can feel her sufering from the separation from her biological and feminine origins deeply and then grieve her loss. Feldman (1990/2005) added that any spiritual journey asks a woman to cultivate a deep, inner aloneness as the frst step in reclaiming inner wholeness. Te journey for inner wholeness happens when a female adoptee can sit in her inner aloneness, listen, and be with the deep inner voices of her adoption experience. Her hidden Forbidden International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 95 Psychospiritual Development of Female Adoptees Self can be retrieved, and a coherence of her experience and story can be integrated. Transpersonal theorist Washburn (1995) wrote about this process of human awakening and development using a transpersonal perspective. In his view, development begins in an original dynamic, creative, spontaneous source out of which the ego emerges, from which the ego then becomes estranged, to which, during the stages of ego transcendence, the ego returns, and with which, ultimately, the ego is integrated (p. 4). Tis process highlights what Zweig (1990) called the life-enhancing potential for more transpersonal values in a persons life versus the destructiveness of egocentric values (p. 5). She wrote:
For women, whose source of ego identity is our mothers, this developmental process unfolds in one way. We identify with our mothers as our origin, both biologically and psychologically. So, to be a woman, we need to face the paradox of breaking the personal identifcation yet remaining grounded in the Feminine. (p. 5) Only then can a woman provide her adult self with the essential qualities that she may have missed as a child. Tose qualities will nourish and sustain her feminine embodied growth and development. A female adoptees process of retrieving an authentic relationship with her feminine body or what Woodman (1990) called a womans embodied spirituality (p. 98) can unfold as a female adoptee makes her own identity distinct from her birth mother, from her adoptive mother, and from the closed adoption system that holds the virgin, crone, and mother unconscious. It is essential that a female adoptee re-mother herself (Zweig, 1990) and develop the mature feminine and the conscious virgin (Woodman, 1990, p. 105). Part of this re-mothering is consciously working through and owning responsibility for her mother projections and fantasies in order to arrive at what Woodman referred to as a females embodied conscious virgin. Woodman described the conscious virgin:
Te virgin lives her own essence. Like the virgin forest, she contains the seeds of countless possibilities. She refects the Divine Feminine that resides in and resonates through all the senses of our body so long as we live on earth. She is the maturing and mature soul child, the feminine container, strong enough and fexible enough to receive the masculine spirit. She is the consciousness that radiates through matter and lives after matter returns to dust. (p. 105) Woodman (1990) stated that a womans journey to fnd her embodied spirituality and to bring the birth of the virgin in her life entails fnding those lost parts, standing to their truth, and living them in our everyday life (p. 99). Upon the adoptees realization of her biological heritage, also named by Lifton (1994) as her Forbidden Self (p. 56), 18 the conscious mother and virgin can embark upon a more authentic relationship. Te conscious crones voice is thus heard, understood, and embodied. A female adoptee can diferentiate her feminine nature from the closed adoption legacies of secrecy and silence when she discovers, listens, celebrates, and connects to the internal rhythms of her forbidden body. She had not grown up connected with the bodies of her biological mother, and any other biological feminine family members such as her sisters, aunts, and grandmothers. Tus, how can a female adoptee begin her psychospiritual journey that is necessary to retrieve her conscious feminine body when her biological body and its rhythms were not refected and mirrored back to her by her biological feminine ancestry? Feminist writer Tanas (1997) claimed that women in general do not know how to listen to their own natural bodies. An adoptees task of deeply listening to her biological body and aligning with its natural rhythms is challenged with her Forbidden Self trapped within the closed adoption system. Considering this, what are the tasks that a female adoptee needs to accomplish in order for her to be able to deeply listen and connect with her biological body when she never had it refected back to her? Lifton (1994) wrote that the task for adoptees is to retrieve their Forbidden Self versus succumbing to the Artifcial Self (p. 50), who was created out of the false messages and myths within the closed adoption system. Te retrieval of the Forbidden Self happens when a female adoptee can distinguish, identify, and pursue inquiry into her adoptive identity distinct from her biological and Forbidden Self. From this practice of deeply listening and being mindful of her Forbidden Self and body, she creates more openness and receptivity to the conscious feminine. Te possibility of more connection to her own internal rhythms arises when she relates to her birth mother and adoptive mother International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 96 Topfer without unconscious projections and fantasies of them. If a practice of mindfulness and deeply listening is not sustained, her projections and fantasies will succumb to the closed adoption systems psychic split and loyalty binds that created her Artifcial Self. Her lifelong work of fnding wholeness is both psychological and spiritual. Another way for a female adoptee to retrieve her Forbidden Self and biological body is by listening to the authentic stories of birthmothers who surrendered their children for adoption. Deeply listening and connecting with their stories creates a new perspective and deepens her feminine bodily receptacle for the female adoptees voice to be expressed and heard. In my personal experience, my feminism was deeply illuminated as birth mothers shared their authentic stories. My deeper feminist perspective became apparent as my adoption experience was intimately connected with birth mothers experiences. At last, my adoption identity became more fully embodied and integrated, allowing open expression and inquiry into my adoption experience. Jungian feminist writer Young-Eisendrath (1990) stated that the adoption of a feminist perspective awakens an appreciation for the fact that beliefs infuence perception, and that whatever one takes to be realwhat one assumes to be really true (p. 160) of ones self and of others is true from ones vantage point at that moment. Tis feminist awakening and its appreciative stance refect the forward arc of a hermeneutical cycle; one begins to own and take responsibility for ones projections. As previously stated, for a female adoptee it is her projections upon her birthmother and adoptive mother. She can begin to dissect her known lenses as they currently reveal themselves. A practice of mindfulness with meditation, journaling, and/or analysis helps support the process of establishing ones current lenses. Te returning arc of the hermeneutical cycle is when one compares fresh and new information with ones established lenses. In my hermeneutical process, I was given the choice of either rejecting the new feminist perspective that saw how my birthmother was given little to no choice about relinquishing me, or accepting this perspective. I noticed that when I tried on and was open to this new perspective, it provided me tremendous relief from my sufering and guilt. Integration quickly happened as I felt held and supported by other feminists and adoptees. My familiar and unconscious lenses from the closed adoption system that I had been carrying around and felt chained to for my entire life had been challenged and thus a deeper feminine receptacle was created to allow my forbidden voice and body to feel stronger and more alive. As I refect upon my experience, this particular cycle of the larger hermeneutical process toward fnding wholeness liberated part of my Forbidden Self from the unconscious and oppressive bonds of the closed system, within which my birthmother is still confned. I gained an embodied felt sense and connection of autonomy and strength from my newly expanded conscious feminine container. Young-Eisendrath (1990) stated:
Until a woman is ofered a feminist explanation of her felt condition of personal inadequacy, from a theory that accounts for the function of gender stereotypes and the reality of female experiences, she is necessarily in a double bind about her own strengths and authority. (p. 160) Tis conscious feminine strength and authority is in radical opposition to the unconscious mother that is created in the closed adoption system. Te unconscious mother alienates and disconnects the Forbidden part of the Self from the biological and adoptive mother, and from the female adoptees feminine and feminist expression of voice and body. Tus, a feminist perspective helps support the adoptees psychospiritual development and growth. Voice as a Path to an Adoptees Psychospiritual Development and Awakening Woodman (1990) explained a womans path of self-realization is the heros journey out of the unconscious, like the dragon slayer on the way to fnding personal power. For a female adoptee, her dragons are the ghosts (Lifton, 1994, p. 11) of the closed adoption system that continue to haunt not only her feminine body and voice but also those of her birth mother and adoptive mother. When she develops a new perspective and voice that is aligned with other adoptees and feminists, one which connects the cultural movement with a personal meaning system, a female adoptee can consciously discovery the hidden ghosts that have caused her great sufering. She then has more internal room to allow her Forbidden Self to exist. Te conscious virgin, mother, and crone can be awakened. As stated, a female adoptees psychospiritual journey provides an opportunity for her to reclaim what was lost and forgotten in the closed adoption systems belittling attitudes by consciously embracing her feminist International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 97 Psychospiritual Development of Female Adoptees expression of voice. In female writer Gilligans (1993) study on womens psychological descriptions of identity and moral development, voice takes on an embodied and lived experience quality in the women she interviewed. Voice describes when people speak about the core of the self. Gilligan wrote: Voice is natural and also cultural. It is composed of breath and sound, words, rhythm, and language. And voice is a powerful psychological instrument and channel, connecting inner and outer worlds (p. xvi). Whether it is a womans own voice or the voice of other feminists, the instrument of voice is always there to access more development and growth toward fnding wholeness. For female adoptees, the catalyst of discovering their feminist voice, thus expanding and deepening their embodied feminine container, begins as a deep inner longing to fnd a sense of belonging and connection with something outside of themselves; predominantly, the longing manifests in the search for their biological family. Despite the many successes or failures that can be involved in reunion with her biological family, a female adoptees feelings of inner disconnection can continue because she searches for love and acceptance from relationships outside of herself. She has not begun the conscious journey of unraveling, disengaging, and distinguishing her own sense of self from the Great Mother archetype and its gripping unconscious projections and fantasies regarding her birth mother and adoptive mother that are held in her psyche. Te adoptee feels a groundlessness and lack of security due to the primal wound and due to the false messages in the closed adoption system. Neither sustain nor nourish a conscious feminine container, body, and voice. Spiritually, the adoptee cannot connect with the voice of her inner mystic (Feldman, 1990/2005, p. 34). Buddhist writer Feldman stated that the awaited inner mystic voice for women is discovered when a woman asks questions that are crucial to her growth and freedom. Because the unconscious gripping forces of the unchallenged Great Mother have smothered her feminine voice, the adoptees feminine growth and freedom is lost. With a practice that cultivates mindfulness, however, the adoptees inner mystic can be discovered and can begin to examine, question, and discard the various social and spiritual values that undermine and limit her sense of worthiness, acceptance, and sense of self. A feminist lense and perspective held in mindful awareness can cultivate deeper questions about the closed systems patriarchal motivations and the ramifcations it has upon the adoptees psyche and spirit. Hence, the female adoptees inner mystic is the wise conscious crone that questions and is courageous enough to speak out and be heard. Her new awareness can cast light upon her invisible loyalty binds between her adoptive parents, her biological parents, and the closed adoption system, thus freeing her of them. Moreover, Gilligan (1993) found that in womens psychological development, a womans identity becomes a lie when girls and women alter their voices to ft themselves into images of relationship and goodness carried by false feminine voices. Te closed adoption system carries this false lie with the adoptees identity of the Artifcial Self and the image that the adoptee is the natural child of her adoptive parents. Te legislature and laws reinforce this lie by endorsing shame and secrecy with the concealment of her original birth certifcate. Tis creates massive confusion and doubt within the adoptee, and furthers self-defeat when she is not granted access to her identifying birth information. Te closed adoption systems voice conveys she is a second- class citizen and not an embodied woman who can know, embrace, and connect to her biological heritage. Despite these false messages, she can disengage with nonjudgmental awareness the psychic and spiritual lies of the closed adoption system when she engages in her embodied spiritual practice, such as in yoga, meditation, analysis, and journaling. Te conscious crones voice replaces the lies of the closed adoption system and helps support the female adoptees deep attunement to her embodied biological rhythms. Once the adoptee cultivates an attunement to her feminine biological rhythms, this can deepen psychospiritual awakening and embodied feminine growth within her. She is listening to the voice of her authentic and conscious feminine inner mystic. Shuttle and Redgrove (1978) refected this by writing that if mental experiences refect, as they often seem to, bodily ones, then there are many possibilities of experience if one opens up to ones own bodily rhythms. Due to the psychological refecting the somatic, when a female adoptee aligns herself with her feminine inner mystic and voice, an authentic and conscious narrative regarding the impact of the closed adoption system can take form. Her mental ability can make more sense of her adoptive experience as deeper and deeper recesses of the psyche and spirit unfold. Trough this process, a female adoptee International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 98 Topfer can connect to her feminine container and body and nonjudgmentally acknowledge the difculties that her adoptive status has had in her life. With her new found freedom, awareness, and voice, a female adoptees adoption story can become more fully integrated with compassion because she has been able to gather up the missing pieces of her Forbidden Self with her own fecundity. Tus, her adoptive identity is no longer hanging in the shadows of the closed adoption systems outdated patriarchal framework. Her voice can tell her full adoption story without the weight of shame and secrecy. Her adoption story and its efects upon her can be one of coherence, curiosity, and inquiry. She is now on the conscious path of awareness. Jungian writer Hancock (1990) wrote about a woman arriving home to her feminine consciousness. In her words:
When a woman carries her conscious virginal girl across the threshold into womanhood, when she speaks in her own idiom as naturally as she mouths the language of the patriarchy, when she hits on the deepest truth about who she is and tells her story of becoming whole, she gains access to a world that is as fertile and abundant as the most verdant gardens. (p. 63) For a female adoptee, her practice of mindfulness and a hermeneutical circle of inquiry help her gain access to the world of her authentic biological self, and feminine body, container, and voice, all of which are fertile and abundant in her search for wholeness. References Addison, R. D. (1989). Grounded interpretative research: An investigation of physician socialization. In M. J. Packer & R. B. Addison (Eds.), Entering the circle: Hermeneutical investigation in psychology (pp. 39-57). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Anderson, R. (2004). Intuitive inquiry: An epistemology of the heart for scientifc inquiry. 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Reconceptualizing openness in adoption: Implications for theory, research, and practice. In D. M. Brodzinsky & J. Palacios (Eds.), Psychological issues in adoption: Research and practice (pp. 145-166). Westport, CT: Praeger. Brodzinsky, D. M., Schechter, M. D., & Henig, R. M. (1992). Being adopted: Te lifelong search for self. New York, NY: Doubleday. Cornell, D. (2005). Adoption and its progeny: Rethink- ing family law, gender, and sexual diference. In S. Haslanger & C. Witt (Eds.), Adoption matters: Philosophical and feminist essays (pp. 19-46). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Davis, C. E. (1994). Separation loss in relinquishing birthmothers. Te International Journal of Psychiatric Nursing Research, 1(2), 63-70. Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. (2002). 2002 national adoption attitudes survey highlights. Retrieved from http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/ survey/surveysummary.htm Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. (2007). For the records: Restoring a legal right for adult adoptees. New York, NY: Author. Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. (2009). Beyond culture camp: Promoting healthy identity formation in adoption. New York, NY: Author Feldman, C. (2005). Woman awake: Women practicing Buddhism. Berkeley, CA: Rodmell Press. (Original work published 1990 as Woman awake: Celebrating Womens Wisdom) Fessler, A. (2006). Te girls who went away: Te hidden history of women who surrendered children for adoption in the decades before Roe v. Wade. New York, NY: Penguin Press. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 99 Psychospiritual Development of Female Adoptees Fessler, A. (2010, April). Screening of A Girl Like Her (in production) and discussion with flmmaker Ann Fessler. In M. Novy (Chair), Keynote Address. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture, Cambridge, MA. Gilligan, C. (1993). In a diferent voice: Psychological theory and womens development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Hancock, E. (1990). Te girl within: Touchstone for womens identity. In C. Zweig (Ed.), To be a woman: Te birth of the conscious feminine (pp. 55-63). New York, NY: Putnam. Hartman, A., & Laird, J. (1990). Family treatment after adoption: Common themes. In D. M. Brodzinsky & M. D. Schechter (Eds.), Te psychology of adoption (pp. 221-239). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Howard, J. A., Smith, S. L., & Deuodes, G. (2010). For the records II: An examination of the history and impact of adult adoptee access to original birth certifcates. New York, NY: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. Jaggard, S. I. (2001). Te adoption puzzle: Bringing pieces together at mid-life (Doctoral dissertation). Dissertation Abstracts International, No. 9999045). Lauber, L. (2010, April). A love diverted: A birth mother speaks. In M. Homans (Chair), Keynote Address. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture, Cambridge, MA. Leighton, K. (2005). Being adopted and being a philosopher: Exploring identity and the desire to know diferently. In S. Haslanger & C. Witt (Eds.), Adoption matters: Philosophical and feminist essays (pp. 146-170). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. Levin, D. M. (1985). Te bodys recollection of being: Phenomenological psychology and the deconstruction of nihilism. London, UK: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Lifton, B. J. (1994). Journey of the adopted self: A quest for wholeness. New York, NY: Basic Books. Lifton, B. J. (2007). Te inner life of the adopted child: Adoption, trauma, loss, fantasy, search, and reunion. In D. Brodzinsky & J. Palacios (Eds.), Handbook of adoption: Implications for researchers, practitioners, and families (pp. 418-424). Tousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Lifton, B. J. (2010, April). Te age of search and reunion. In J. Deans (Chair), Complications of search, reunion, & aftermath. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture, Cambridge, MA. Miller, B. C., Fan, X., & Grotevant, H. D. (2005). Methodological issues in using large scale survey data for adoption research. In D. M. Brodzinsky & J. Palacios (Eds.), Psychological issues in adoption: Research and practice (pp. 233-255). Westport, CT: Praeger. Nickman, S. L. (1985). Losses in adoption: Te need for dialogue. Te Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 40, 365-398. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113,93 S. Ct. 705,35 L. Ed. 2d 147 (1973). Sass, D. A., & Henderson, D. B. (2000). Adoption issues: Preparation of psychologists and an evaluation of the need for continuing education. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 9(4), 349-359. Schechter, M. D., & Bertocci, D. (1990). Te meaning of the search. In D. M. Brodzinsky & M. D. Schechter (Eds.), Te psychology of adoption (pp. 62-90). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Schooler, J. (1995). Searching for a past: Te adopted adults unique process of fnding identity. Colorado Springs, CO: Pinon Press. Severson, R. (1994). Adoption: Philosophy and experience. Dallas, TX: House of Tomorrow. Silverstein, D. N. & Kaplan, S. (1982). Lifelong issues in adoption. Retrieved from <http://www.adopting.org/ silveroze/html/lifelong_issues_in_adoption.html> Shuttle, P., & Redgrove, P. (1978). Te wise wound: Te myths, realities, and meanings of menstruation. New York, NY: Grove Press. Solinger, R. (2001). Beggars and choosers: How the politics of choice shapes adoption, abortion, and welfare in the United States. New York, NY: Hill & Wang. Tanas, K. (1997). Hearing the voice of the body. In L. Friedman & S. Moon (Eds.), Being bodies: Buddhist women on the paradox of embodiment (pp. 43-47). Boston, MA: Shambhala. Verrier, N. N. (1993). Te primal wound: Understanding the adopted child. Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press. Verrier, N. N. (2003). Te adopted child grows up: Coming home to self. Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press. Washburn, M. (1995). Te ego and the dynamic ground: A transpersonal theory of human development. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Winkler, R., & Van Keppel, M. (1984) Relinquishing mothers in adoption: Teir long term adjustment. Melbourne, Australia: Institute of Family Studies. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 100 Topfer Woodman, M. (1990). Conscious femininity: Mother, virgin, crone. In C. Zweig (Ed.), To be a woman: Te birth of the conscious feminine (pp. 98-110). New York, NY: Putnam. Young-Eisendrath, P. (1990). Rethinking feminism, the animus, and the feminine. In C. Zweig (Ed.), To be a woman: Te birth of the conscious feminine (pp. 158- 168). New York, NY: Putnam. Zweig, C. (Ed.) (1990). To be a woman: Te birth of the conscious feminine. New York, NY: Putnam. Notes 1. Te adoption triad members include adoptee, adoptive parents, and biological parents. Each one experiences loss at the hub of the adoption wheel, then rejection, guilt/shame, grief, identity, intimacy, and control (Silverstein & Kaplan, 1982). 2. Te psychodynamics of an adoptive family life are often overlooked by professionals (Lifton, 1994). How- ever, Sass and Henderson (2000) conducted research with over two hundred practicing psychologists, asking them to assess their preparedness in treating members of the adoption triad. Only 22% responded as well prepared or very well prepared to work with adoption issues, while 23% responded they were not very prepared (p. 355). Te researchers concluded that psychologists need more education concerning adoption triad members, considering that a large proportion of adoption members seek psychological services and are afected by the dynamics of adoption. 3. One major distinction falls between domestic and international adoption. Shortly after World War II, a large number of Americans began to adopt from abroad, reaching out to war orphans, those in poverty, and others facing unmanageable social conditions. To date, South Koreans comprise the largest group of internationally adopted persons in the U.S., and adoption from South Korea into this country has a longer history than from any other nation (Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, 2009). Adoptions from Russia have increased over the years. Within the category of domestic adoptions, there are several different kinds: stepparent, second-parent, foster care, private and independent. Stepparent is the most common form. Second-parent adoptions provide a way, at least in some states, for same-sex couples to adopt. With private and independent adoptions, there is the choice of closed or open adoption systems. While this article focuses on the psychospiritual ramifcations of the closed adoption system, it is worth mentioning briefy the open system of adoption because contemporary adoptions often occur within an open system, with varying degrees of openness. An open adoption system is a process in which the two parties meet, exchange identifying information, and the birth parents have some degree of contact with their expected adopted child. In some states, openness arrangements are legally binding, in other states they are not. Openness of communication between the parties can be a fuid process and system, leaving greater and lesser degrees of contact between the parties (D. M. Brodzinsky, personal communication, February 16, 2010). 4. Despite public and scholarly opinion, there still remains considerable controversy regarding the impact of open adoptions on the various members of an adoption triad (Brodzinsky, 2005). 5. It has long been accepted that adoptees live with a dual identity, yet if they have knowledge about their biological origins, it positively contributes to their emotional and psychological well-being (Baran & Pannor, 1990). 6. In an updated report by Howard, Smith, and Deuodes (2010), the authors wrote that barring adopted adults from access to their original birth certifcates wrongly denies them a right enjoyed by all others in our country and is not in their best interests for personal and medical reasons. 7. A small group of unwed mothers who relinquished their children formed the organization called Concerned United Birthparents (CUB) in 1976 in order to reconstruct themselves and claim their personal strength. Tey gathered together to provide mutual support for birthparents. Today, CUB members include birthparents, adoptees, adoptive parents, and others afected by adoption. Teir ongoing work includes supporting adoption reform, preventing unnecessary family separations, and assisting adoption-separated individuals in search of family members. 8. Roe v. Wade was announced on January 22, 1973. Te ruling was a landmark for changes in adoption attitudes. Te legalization of abortion had a lot to International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 101 Psychospiritual Development of Female Adoptees do with the rise of single mother families (Solinger, 2001). As Baran and Pannor (1990) explained, Unmarried, pregnant women expressed the feeling that if they completed the pregnancy, it was because they planned to keep the baby. Otherwise, they would terminate the pregnancy. Tey began to express the thought that having a baby and giving it up left lifelong scars. Tere was no way, they said, that a woman could truly resolve relinquishing her child. Keeping a baby and raising a child as a single parent had become much more acceptable. (p. 323) 9. Solinger (2001) wrote that no one really knows how many women gave their babies away in adoption before Roe v. Wade (1973). Estimates suggest numbers in the neighborhood of a couple of hundred thousand a year in the 1950s and in much of the 1960s. 10. Cornell (2005) wrote that a birth mother who was forced to give up her child obviously was not granted the protection of her right to represent her own sexuate being (p. 30). Her decision was thrust upon her either by economic circumstances or because of the sexual hypocrisy that dominated the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. 11. Borrowing from Cornells (2005) defnition of patriarchy, the current usage indicates the manner in which a womans legal identity remains bound with her duties to the state as wife and mother within the traditional heterosexual family. Relinquishment has historically been enforced and felt by many to be necessary in the protection of these family values (p. 21). Cornell demanded a full release of women from this legal identity that defnes and limits what it means to be a woman. 12. Tis was true for both black and white unwed mothers, yet black and white unwed mothers were treated very diferently from each other by their families and communities, by social agencies, and by the government. After the war, a black single mother typically stayed within her family and community and kept her child to raise herself, often with the help of her family. 13. Te intense social pressures that families felt during the 1950s and 1960s and the stigma associated with unwed pregnancy have waned dramatically over the last forty years. Te same language used today, such as selfsh and incomprehensible, to describe the women who initiate adoption of their own child is the same language used forty years ago against young mothers who did not want to surrender their children. 14. When the maternity-home movement began, the nurses and staf of the homes helped encourage a mother to bond with her baby with breast-feeding and would help fnd mothers employment. However, after the end of World War II, maternity homes became a place to sequester pregnant girls until they could give birth and surrender their children. By the 1950s, the message they sent was one in which an unwed mothers interests were best served in giving her child up for adoption. Solinger (2001) stated that the homes developed a raft of strategies, some quite coercive, to press white, unwed mothers to relinquish their babies to deserving (p. 70) couples. Te strategies were astoundingly successful. 15. While many states still keep these records sealed, other states such as Alaska, Kansas, Alabama, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Tennessee allow adoptees unconditional access to their original birth certifcates and records when they reach the age of 18 or 21. An additional 11 states allow adult adoptees access to their identifying birth certifcate under certain conditions, such as if their adoptions took place before or after a certain date, or if a birth parent signed permission for her relinquished child to have access to his or her identifying information. 16. In the 1970s, through the impact of the Adoptees Liberty Movement Association (ALMA) and other organizations, adoptees claimed the right to own the truth about their origins. Tey explicitly tied their causetheir right to search for their biological parentsto the civil rights movement. By the mid- 1970s, adoptee liberation (Solinger, 2001, p. 82) was referred to as a civil right. 17. Levin (1985) also wrote that the retrieval is a hermeneutical process. He stated, It is no mere return to bodily life as it was experienced during early childhood but is rather a regathering of this life at a higher transpersonal level, a level that integrates bodily life with our cultural and personal histories (p. 4). 18. Lifton (1994) coined the terms Forbidden Self (p. 56) and Artifcial Self (p. 50) in the adoption literature to describe the psychological phenomenon of an adoptees divided self. She stated the Forbidden Self is the adoptees self that might have been, had International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 102 Topfer it not been separated from its mother and forced to split of from the rest of the self. It goes underground and keeps itself hidden; whereas, the Artifcial Self is artifcially created, compliant, and desires to please. Lifton stated, It is a social construct, an as if self living as if in a natural family (p. 52). It tries to structure its psychic reality to match the reality of the family in which it fnds itself. Some adoptees are so successful at splitting of a part of themselves that they stop asking questions about the birth mother early and do not fantasize or dream about her (p. 53). About the Author April E. Topfer is a doctoral student at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. Her dissertation and research focus on the efects of mindful awareness practices upon adult female adoptees sense of self, identity, and relationships. April is on the board of directors for PACER (Post Adoption Center for Education and Research) and facilitates a support group for adoptees. She currently lives in Fairfax, CA and has made successful contact with her birth aunt. About the Journal Te International Journal of Transpersonal Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal in print since 1981. It is published by Floraglades Foundation, and serves as the ofcial publication of the International Transpersonal Association. Te journal is available online at www. transpersonalstudies.org, and in print through www. lulu.com (search for IJTS). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 103 Te Word, the Body, and the Kinfolk Te Word, the Body, and the Kinfolk: Te Intersection of Transpersonal Tought with Womanist Approaches to Psychology
Juko Martina Holiday Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Palo Alto, CA, USA Since Alice Walker coined the term womanist in the early 1980s, black feminists and feminists of color have created a rich, soulful body of scholarly work. Contributions to womanist thought have emerged primarily in the felds of theology and ethics. Te aim of this article is to put womanism in historical context, examine transpersonal expression in womanist scholarship, and to articulate the values that inform emotional healing in a womanist context. Womanism is spiritualized due to its original defnition and subsequent development, making transpersonal thought a resonant ft for unearthing paths to authentic cultural competency in psychology and other disciplines. O ver three decades ago, Alice Walker (1979/2006) planted a seed that has blossomed into a spirited academic movement. She accomplished this by observing a character in a short story: the wife never considered herself a feministthough she is, of course, a womanist. A womanist is a feminist, only more common (p. 7). Four years later, Walker (1983) published In Search of our Mothers Gardens: Womanist Prose, in which she prefaced her work with a more complete defnition: Womanist: 1. From womanish (opp. of girlish). A black feminist or feminist of color. From the black folk expression of mothers to female children You acting womanish, i.e. like a woman. Usually referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous or willful behavior. Wanting to know more and in greater depth than is considered good for one. Interested in grown-up doings. Acting grown-up. Being grown- up. Responsible, in charge, serious. 2. A woman who loves other women, sexually and/ or non-sexually. Appreciates and prefers womens culture, womens emotional fexibility (values tears as natural counterbalance of laughter), and womans strength. Sometimes loves individual men, sexually and/or non-sexually. Committed to the survival and wholeness of the entire people, male and female. Not a separatist, except periodically for her health. Traditionally universalist, traditionally capable. 3. Loves music. Loves dance. Loves the moon. Loves the Spirit. Loves love and food and roundness. Loves struggle. Loves the folk. Loves herself. Regardless. 4. Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender. (p. xi) Walkers (1983) articulation of transpersonal presence by her inclusion loves the Spirit (p. xi) in her defnition has touched the hearts of several Christian women theologians, who, in turn, have inspired scholars in other disciplines. Since the seed was planted, womanist scholars have been defning and articulating core principles in their work within the disciplines of theology (Baker-Fletcher, 2006; Grant, 1989; Riggs, 1994; Williams, 1986/2006), ethics (Floyd-Tomas, 2006b), pedagogy (Lynne, 2006; Sheared, 1994/2006), nursing science (Banks-Wallace, 2000; Taylor, 1998, 2000), and literary criticism (April, 2003). In psychology, Lillian Comas-Daz (2007) has worked to clearly express the active and liberating role spirituality plays International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 2010, pp. 103-120 Keywords: womanist, feminist, mujerista, transpersonal thought, depression, African Americans, somatic experiences, testimony, kinfolk, liberation psychology, engaged spiri- tuality, narrative therapy. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 104 Holiday in the lives of women of color, framing it as essential to the development of womanist psychological theory. Tis approach to psychology resists the idea that the emotional needs of women of color can be met without foregrounding our values and investigating our lived experiences for ignored and discounted wisdom. While most of the early work articulating this perspective has been done by black women, there is a mujerista movement (from mujer, Spanish for woman), which also has roots in the feld of theology (Isasi-Diaz, 1992, 1994). Te aim is to articulate a Latina feminist epistemology, taking into account the impact of colonization and economic exploitation on its development. Mujerismo is infused with ideas from liberation psychology and theology, the work of Gloria Anzalda (2000, 2002, 1987/2007), and the lived experience of Latina women. Womanism has been spiritualized and oriented toward healing and wholeness from its inception, making the intersection between womanist and transpersonal thought particularly interesting to me as a transpersonalist, a psychotherapist, and a woman of color. By placing womanism in an historical context, articulating the values that inform emotional healing from a womanist perspective, and examining transpersonal expression in womanist scholarship, it is my hope that the felds of both transpersonal and womanist studies will be enriched. Tis article is divided into three parts. In the frst, I defne womanism, explore points of resonance between womanist and transpersonal thought, and discuss unique gifts and perspectives derived from embracing woman of color consciousness. In the second part, I explore three ideological principles that have emerged from womanist scholarship. Taken together, they inform the development of womanist mind, the capacity to authentically appreciate the complex intersection of ethnicity, culture, and gender. While a womanist is a black feminist or feminist of color, the development of woman of color consciousness, or womanist mind, is not limited to any particular ethnicity. Tese principles may serve as guides for those interested in cultivating this perspective. Te principles are: (a) conscientizaton, a process of sociospiritual awakening; (b) redemptive subjectivity; and (c) engaged and liberated spirituality (Comas-Daz, 2007; Floyd-Tomas, 2006b; Phillips, 2006). In the third part, I examine the role of word, body, and kinfolk in womanist approaches to emotional healing. Tese values represent themes that emerge from womanist literature and the lived experiences of women of color in the United States and are in resonance with the work of womanist scholars in psychology (Comas-Daz, 2007; Comas-Daz & Greene, 1994; Vaz, 2006). While proposing specifc psychotherapeutic interventions is not within the scope of this paper, word, body, and kinfolk provide strong theoretical roots for the development of therapeutic practices that incorporate (a) recognition of the importance of narrative and testimony as recognized paths to emotional healing, (b) re-possessing and using the body as an ally for the end of sufering, and (c) understanding the importance of community and context in the process of restoration (Asante, 1984; Nelson & Prilleltensky, 2005; Young-Minor, 1997). As these womanist thoughts about healing surface from the literature onto these pages, my heart dances; I begin to reframe my experience in a context of my own creation, one that values my culture, deeply appreciates my constraints and opportunities, and celebrates woman in me. My framework for studying and understanding psychology broadens to include a context of my own creation, one that values my culture, deeply appreciates my constraints and opportunities, and celebrates woman in me. I acknowledge the limitations of mainstream paradigms, becoming mindful of how omitting spirituality and neglecting deeper inclusivity limits the capacity of traditional psychology to fully address my needs as a woman of color. Tis is the process of conscientizaton in action. I gently tend to the ground of my womanist heart, this piece of earth all my own. Seeds are sown, blossoms grow; my bent back straightens, I slowly turn to face the sun. Womanist and Transpersonal Intersections Te frst time I saw my own refection Was in the buckle of the boot Tat was stepping on my neck . . . (Westfeld, 2006, p. 209) T his poet so truthfully expressed what it means to hold on to Divine vision in the presence of oppression. Later in the poem, she described the beauty she fnds in her face, despite the distorted refection. Womanists are quite adamant about the reality and importance of the spiritual world, with less concern for the diversity of ways that it is conceptualized (Phillips, 2006, p. xxvi). It is this acknowledgment of the existence, signifcance, and infuence of that which dwells beyond ourselves that International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 105 Te Word, the Body, and the Kinfolk separates womanism from other ideological perspectives and methodological approaches. Tis focus also serves as a point of connection to transpersonal thinking. Walker (1983) included a love of Spirit in her original defnition, and subsequent womanist writing has been infused with that presence. In the section that follows, I highlight the early history of womanist scholarship while underscoring ways in which womanist and transpersonal perspectives overlap. Despite points of natural resonance, African American womens perspectives and examination of racism are widely absent from transpersonal literature. One of the frst scholars to use Walkers (1983) defnition to describe the work she was doing was Jacquelyn Grant (1989) in her book White Womans Christ and Black Womans Jesus. Her work was like sunlight for womanist ground, and a body of womanist theological scholarship began to emerge after her work was published. Early womanist scholars were engaged in acts of spiritual liberation, informed by their experience at the crossroads between gender and ethnic discrimination. Teology from this point of view claimed that their experiences as black women constituted valid data for theological refection (Copeland, 2006). Early womanist scholars re-visioned Biblical stories (e.g., Hagar in the Old Testament) and theological constructs (e.g., emphasis on Jesus as Lord and master) in a context specifc to the conditions of African American women throughout the history of the United States. Teir work was important in that it extroverted themes and connections between Christian practice and African American womens lived reality, a perspective not previously included in the academic canon or considered a topic of scholarly importance. Williams (1986/2006) documented the connection African American women felt to Hagar, an exiled single mother who modeled faith and survival in the face of oppression. Grant (1989) examined the tradition among black women to frame Jesus as divine co-suferer (p. 212) as opposed to master or Lord, particularly given the historical usage of Biblical text by advocates of slavery to justify the institution and preach unquestioning obedience from their slaves. Ultimately, the intention of their work was to articulate and emphasize the connection between faith, the unique aspects of black womens painful experiences, and their struggle to manage, rather than be managed by their sufering (Copeland, 2006, p. 228). Tis intention inspired womanist scholars to expand notions of what constituted a legitimate source of knowledge in a way that has parallels with methodological innovations in transpersonal research (Braud, 1998; Braud & Anderson, 1998; Copeland, 2006; Ferrer, 2000). Both womanist and transpersonal approaches (a) value lived experience as a valid source of data, (b) challenge paradigms that privilege mainstream assumptions (e.g., regarding the validity of including spirituality in psychology or the study of entheogens), and (c) ofer empowering contexts for experiences that are often pathologized. Grof (2008) pointed out that the creation of transpersonal psychology was, in part, a response to the observation that the practice of psychology was hampered by its ethnocentricity. It was formulated and promoted by Western materialistic scientists, who consider their own perspective to be superior to that of any other human groups at any time of history (p. 47). It was clear to early transpersonalists such as Grof, Marguiles, and Sutitch that this stance led to a bias that automatically pathologized, devalued, or ignored a valuable range of human experience, easily dismissing entire bodies of religious practices and cultural norms in psychopathological terms (p. 48). While transpersonalists and womanists might difer in areas of focus and content, both work to redeem sacred human experiences from narrow paradigms that cut of valuable opportunities for expanding human knowledge. Womanist and transpersonal approaches to scholarship have several noteworthy points of inter- section. Each feld honors transcendent and spiritual experience. Walsh (1994) outlined the importance of Maslows (1968/1999) study of peak experiences to the origination of transpersonal studies. Phillips (2006) and Keating (2006) observed that while traditional academic disciplines avoid being spiritualized, womanism openly acknowledges the transcendent realm. In addition to an inclusion of the realm of the spiritual in their work, scholars in both disciplines often fnd themselves countering traditional, Western psychological perspectives that are dismissive of the narrative of the lived experience. Transpersonal pioneers were not satisfed with the nature and meaning of non-ordinary experiences as interpreted by traditional, Western psychological scholarshipparticularly as this perspective quite often characterized these states as possible evidence of delusion or psychosis. Many transpersonalists engaged with Asian philosophies, which contained detailed accounts, not just of peak experiences, but of whole families of peak International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 106 Holiday experiences and systematic techniques to induce and sustain them (Walsh, 1994, p. 115). By moving beyond traditional frameworks, these transpersonal scholars were rediscovering and reclaiming their own lived transcendent encounters from a dominant narrative that had dismissed or pathologized this aspect of human experience. Eastern spiritual philosophies, meditations, and practices provided structured containers for processing and learning about this realm. For reasons beyond the scope of this paper, transpersonal scholars have focused heavily on Eastern practices and philosophies (Myers, 1985), though Bynum (1992) correctly observed that transcendent experiences, by diferent names, are present in all societies, and in particular, African ones. Because of the important cultural role organized spiritual practice has among people in the African Diaspora, black womens consciousness and ways of knowing have been heavily informed by encounters with Spirit (Lincoln & Mamiya, 2003). Many of us have experienced quite normalized contexts for transcendent experiences in contrast to Western scholars who pioneered the feld of transpersonal studies. Whether through participation in the Black Church in the United States or exploration of other African-infuenced traditions such as the Afro Cuban practice of Santera, transcendent experiences are often sanctioned by spiritual authority and not stigmatized by the community. In my own culture, up close and personal experiences with Spirit were far from non-ordinary. Transcendence (in the form of being flled with the Holy Spirit) was part of a normal Sunday service; it happened every week and was expressed in a variety of ways. While the development of both disciplines has been infuenced by embodied transcendent experience, I am not suggesting that womanists and transpersonalists translate those experiences into their respective episte- mologies in the same way. Womanist synthesis of the transcendent has informed an activist stance that connects political and spiritual liberation, supporting the liberation of all humankind from all forms of oppression (Phillips, 2006, p. xxiv). Transpersonal psychology has moved from an early focus on individual, beyond-ego experience to wider explorations of human transformation, consideration of spiritual experience in social and cultural contexts, the articulation of models of spiritual development, and the inclusion of transpersonal perspectives from other disciplines (Ferrer, 2000; Grof, 2008; Walsh, 1994). Te transpersonal feld, however, has not remained vigilant about addressing its own ethnocentricity. Published transpersonal literature has been heavily skewed toward male authorship. While there has been minor participation from non-Western scholars, those voices that do emerge are often overlooked (Hartelius, Caplan, & Rardin, 2007). Transpersonalists have the tools to address this blind spot. A respect in the feld for the lived experience and personal truth can facilitate authentic dialogue about gender and culturean admittedly complex subject that can hold a lot of emotional charge. Connection to a more expansive understanding of human development provides space to move beyond bias, prejudice, and passive racism. At the same time, operating from the assumption of interdependent spiritual connection can lead to bypassing the difcult work of confronting that bias. It can be quite tempting to frame serious consideration of ethnicity and culture as issues that are irrelevant to the transcendent focus of transpersonalists work. Te expansive nature of transpersonal thought has space for the unique sociospiritual work womanists do, transforming constraint by giving it both political and psychospiritual meaning. Womanists teach each other the alchemists secret, or how to turn dirt into gold; this spiritual transformation enables them to alchemize their oppression into liberation (Comas- Daz & Greene, 1996, p. 17). Te result is healing and increased possibility for well-being. Womanist mind is informed by transpersonal consciousness, and there is an undeniable spiritual presence in womanist philosophy. From inception, womanism has been intertwined with an acknowledgment of a transpersonal dimension of experience. Te two are bound together by inclusion of Spirit, the work of early theologians who dared call themselves womanist, and the prayer I hold in my heart as I write these words. I engage this connection directly in the next section by ofering a womanist perspective of the term transpersonal. A Transpersonal View of Womanist Identity When I consider the term transpersonal from a womanist- oriented perspective, the meaning (a) is understood to represent a worldview that existed in diferent forms before the term was coined in mid-twentieth century California, (b) expands to include consideration of the beyond-self here on Earth(Schavrien & Holiday, 2010), and (c) is both vernacular and academic. First, a International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 107 Te Word, the Body, and the Kinfolk womanist understands that the transpersonal dimension of human experience existed and was expressed long before it was named by scholars. Te serious study of transegoic states, with and without the aid of entheogens, was not a discovery made by Western scholars (Bynum, 1992; Tedlock, 2005). So a womanist conception of transpersonal considers the unacknowledged, unpublished, unconscious body of knowledge that existed before it grew into the current published canon, which has mostly been achieved by borrowing heavily from the forms and customs of Western psychology. I am grateful for and acknowledge the transformative impact of this work while remaining aware of its limitations. While black womens transpersonal experiences have not been widely published, it does not mean those experiences do not exist. A womanist engages in the task of flling in these gaps, working in ways to make sure that the astonishing omission of her presence in the literature does not translate into continued bias. A womanist perspective is mindful that the trans of transpersonal also means across, not only beyond, and that reaching across to otherto serve and to learnis part of our work. Tis is integrating our beyond self wisdom with service that is beyond-selfsh here on Earth (Schavrien & Holiday, 2010). Transpersonal knowing is irrelevant if limited to discourse, so a womanist stance encourages useful applications in every- day living and curiosity about how the transpersonal afects the vernacular experiences of common people. Te transpersonal becomes a worldview that is not limited to a formal, disciplined study of transcendent experience, but one that is useful for personal and social transformation. To be clear, these thoughts are not limited or unique to a womanist perspective. Tey are dimensions that have been addressed by other scholars (Bynum, 1992; Ferrer, 2000; Hartelius, Caplan, & Rardin, 2007). Te intention is to continue to uncover points of resonance and connection. Tis is particularly important when discussing complex and emotional topics, such as race and power. My grandmother fought courageous battles every day, none of which were studied by academics or written down in a book. Helen Brooks could visually pass for a white woman and could get work in places darker-skinned black women could not. Determined to be truthful, she never lied when she was confronted with suspicions about her ethnicity. Once, co-workers chided her about the style of hosiery she was wearing, asking her why she was wearing Colored womens stockings. Fully aware that the truth would cost her the job, she stopped working and put on her coat. I wear Colored womens stockings because Im Colored, she said, before walking out the door (H. Brooks, personal communication, 1989). Helen did not call herself feminist; she never heard the word womanist. At the same time, she certainly moved through life with a courageous and audacious heart. She was a womanist before the word was spoken. Tis womanist way of being in the world did not begin when Walker (1979/2006) fnished her fnal draft of Coming Apart. One hundred years separate the activism of Sojourner Truth and that of Fannie Lou Hamer. Imagine the scores of anonymous women who qualifed as serious, grown-up, and in charge while navigating the busy intersection of race, gender, and lack of privilege. Most of these womens stories died with them, excluded from shaping history, much less psychology. It is a particularly cruel tool of patriarchy to rob women of color of our access to historic and mythic foremothers by acts of erasure and distortion. Yet examples of audacity and courage survived such as with Alice Dunbar, Anna J. Cooper, Zora Neale Hurston, and Lydia Cabrera (hooks, 1981). Teir work and the stories of their lives deepen my understanding of what it means to be responsible and in charge. Tese women cleared space for other Black and Latina feminists who followed, including author Audre Lorde (1984/2007), politician Shirley Chisholm (1970/2010), theologian Patricia Hill Collins (2000), culture theorist bell hooks (1981, 1989, 2003), political activist Angela Davis (1983), Chicana and queer theorist Gloria Anzalda (2000, 2002, 2007), and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alice Walker (1983, 2006). Anzalda (2000) embodied mujerista spirit in her work, writing about the unique conditions of women living at the crossroads of racism, sexism, and faith. I recall with clarity the frst time I heard someone mention Tis Bridge Called my Back: Radical Writings by Women of Color, an anthology Anzalda edited with Cherrie Moraga (1981/1983). Just hearing the name of the book evoked a sense of recognition in my soul. Te title she penned summed up some unnamed tension in mean anger, isolation and confusion I was feeling as an undergraduate at an Ivy League university in the early 1990s as well as the frst person in my immediate family to go to college. Her articulation of the internal struggle that paralleled my external ones spoke to some deep place in me. Her experience as a Tejana woman, stuck International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 108 Holiday between worlds, touched what I was feeling as a poor, black-identifed woman at an Ivy League school. She wrote: Te struggle is inner: Chicano, indio, American Indian, mojado, Mexicano, immigrant Latino, Anglo in power, working class Anglo, Black, Asianour psyches resemble the border towns and are populated by the same people (Anzalda, 1987/2007, p. 109). Te border towns she wrote of in this passage are those between Texas and Mexico, but she purposefully relates that literal space to the psychic and spiritual borderlands in which women of color fnd themselves. In my case, it was the frontera (border) between my growing identity as a feminist, my connection to the African American community, and my position as a woman from a poor family living and studying among people of privilege. Near the end of Anzaldas (2000) life, she was working to expose the concept of race as a social construct and a tool of patriarchy. Labeling all humans with dark skin of African descent Black implies a universality that does not exist. African American experience is diferent from African experience, which is diferent from a person of African descent living in Jamaica or Brazil. Her writing challenged racial divisions that are very deeply embedded in the North American psyche. Witness, for example, the struggle to apply the correct racial label to Barack Obama. I am a light-skinned black-identifed woman of mixed parentage and have been routinely questioned about my racial identity, very often by strangers. Anzalda (2002) wrote: Of all the categories we today employ, race is the most destructive. Race is for sure one of the masters tools, one of the most insidious tools of all (p. 2). So many terms have been devised to categorize people: black, white, Hispanic, Latina, Asian, indigenous, Tird World women, women of color. Tere are the hyphenations, and there is the supreme frustration with the seeming need of dominant culture to ignore or deny the diversity that exists within these categories. Along with several other scholars in the African Diaspora (Asante, 1984; Collins, 2000), I do not capitalize these terms. I use them instead as adjectives, to describe consciousness and connection to culture as opposed to literal skin color or actual ethnicity. I liken the degree of race consciousness in the United States to a sea of fsh who have no idea they are wet. We are trained to classify a person based on racial appearance. Tis leads to an array of assumptions, generalizations, and openings for distortion. What we miss in this process is the true richness of culture and the opportunity to approach ethnicity as only one facet of identity (Anzalda, 2002). Anzalda and Keating (2002) framed race as an historical creation by European men to categorize, defne, and control those they viewed as other. Keating wrote: [Our] approach questions the terms white, and women of color by showing that whiteness may not be applied to all whites, as some possess women-of-color consciousness, just as some women of color bear white consciousness (p. 2, emphasis added). I connect this consciousness to Anzaldas (2007) liminal borderlands by acknowledging the many sources of sufering that can keep a woman on the sidelines of power and discourse. Border women are those who thrive and grow from in-between forgotten cracks; they are women of multiple identities and live with varied sources of social constraint. Grounding in the transpersonal makes it possi- ble to look past the literal and consider that women who inhabit these borders are not exclusively women of color. Being a bi-sexual or lesbian woman, an immigrant woman, a women living with disability, or a women facing economic or social constraint are all reasons a person (of any ethnicity) may fnd herself marginalized. Border women know who they are. Tey do not need academics to tell them about life spent reaching for sun from dry, narrow growing grounds. Tere is healing to be found in continuing to thoughtfully and carefully unmask race as a social construction. By rejecting rigid categories used to oppress us, we can fnd more accurate ways of refecting the fullness and complexity of who we are. Some of the original womanist scholars might not feel comfortable with the expansions I make here. Karen Baker-Fletcher (2006) wrote: Te defnition of womanist is broad and deep, intentionally left open for interpretation within certain limits. For example, a womanist is never a white woman or a white feminist . . . most simply, a womanist is a black woman or woman of color committed to freedom from gender, racial and economic, planetary and sexual oppression. (p. 221)
Naming and having ownership over what we have created is important in the African American community, and I have deep respect for the black women who are the roots that ground my work. I am not suggesting any radical shift in the way anyone chooses to identify herself. However, I am suggesting womanist values are International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 109 Te Word, the Body, and the Kinfolk traditionally universal (Walker, 1983, p. xi). Looking at this potential confict through a transpersonal lens opens up possibility for expansion, not so much about who calls herself womanist, but in the cultivation of womanist mind, irrespective of ethnicity. Developing womanist mind is thinking seriously about the sufering of those who usually matter least in our society, as symbolized by poverty-stricken black women (Kirk- Duggan, 2006, p. 142). Comas-Daz (2007) presented it as the development of a multicultural brain (p. 16), one engaged in the promotion of critical consciousness regarding sociopolitical context and works to transcend a colonized mentality (p. 16). Cultivating womanist mind can allow for fuller appreciation of the complex intersection of culture, ethnicity, and gender. It ofers a path to be fully aware of ones own privilege in relation to others, locally and globally, and it can create space to swap stereotypes for deep understanding. A common criticism of womanist thought is the focus on Christianity, which has dominated womanist spiritual writing. Smith (1998) and Harris (2006) have both pointed out that Walker no longer defnes herself as Christian; she professes an ecospirituality that encompasses both Pagan and Buddhist practices. Some foremothers in this feld have taken great pains to note that the frst womanists were black and Christian (Riggs, 1994). Te scholarship of these Christian black women shaped this epistemology, and I have profound respect for their work. At the same time, I resist any implication that one must be a Christian woman of African descent to engage in womanist scholarship, as this would silence the multiplicity of marginalized womens voices, narratives, and wisdom. Feminism and womanism have been contrasted by scholars (Collins, 2000; Comas-Daz, 2007; Williams 1986/2006), a discussion I frame as a continuation of the challenge feminism has had to be meaningful for and inclusive of common women. My hope is that the development of what I call womanist mind can be useful for transpersonal feminists interested in engaging in a process of more authentically understanding what Kimberl Crenshaw (1991) referred to as the intersectionality of ethnicity, class, and gender. I prefer the term womanist to black feminist because it connotes for me a connection to and concern for the state of women globally, whether they are of African descent or not. At the same time, there are black feminists who do not fnd it necessary to identify as womanist or have not seen the need for another term (Coleman, 2006). Walker (1983) has clarifed that her intent was never to frame womanism as better than feminism. She ofered society a new term because the other, black feminist, did not convey the organic fullness of the spirit of black women she wanted to describe. She also sought to fnd a term that adequately acknowledged a fundamental diference between the patronizing patriarchal narratives white women were confronting, as African descended women in the United States were not historically stereotyped as weak, incapable of hard labor, or in need of male protection. She began her defnition by calling a womanist a black feminist or feminist of color (p. xi). As such, I do not place them in confict. Tey are concentric circles with respect for womanhood at the center, spreading out an infnite number of times, each encompassing, embracing, challenging, and informing the other. Gifts of the Nepantlera I t is from my unique position as an inhabitant of the borderlands between black and white, loving women and loving men, between the Friend I have in Jesus and the peace I fnd in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha that I articulate ways marginalized women can engage in the process of emotional healing. Living along these borders is a source of great richness in my life. I also know dwelling in such busy intersections puts a woman at risk for being run down. Anzalda (2000) called this in-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-space the nepantla, a word from Nahuatl she adapted to mean a psychic and spiritual in-between space that aids in our development and transformation. Te nepantla is a narrow opening, where life takes root against probability. It represents the liminal spaces where change occurs (Anzalda, 2002, p. 571). Nature provides a meaningful example of this concept via the ability of trees and plants to grow through narrow cracks and crevices. Imagine an acorn, hidden in the crevice of a rock by a bird, that manages to take root. As it grows, it pushes against stone instead of earth, and its struggle changes both the nature of the rock and the oak tree it eventually grows into. Tis oak holds a wisdom other trees do not possess. To survive it must seek liberation, which it fnds as it discovers pliable places among the hardness of the stone. Women who live in spaces like these are nepantleras: in-betweeners, those who facilitate passages between worlds (Keating, 2006, p. 9). Nepantleras are borderlands women who do visionary work by acting as cultural intermediaries between the diferent worlds they inhabit. Tey are threshold people: they move within International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 110 Holiday and among multiple, often conficting cultures and refuse to align themselves exclusively with any single individual, group, or belief system (Anzalda, 2002, p. 1). In a womanist frame, skills born of difculty are celebrated to the same extent trauma is identifed and processed. Comas-Daz (2007) identifed trauma- derived vicarious empathy (p. 18) as one of the gifts womanists might fnd in the rubble of oppression. Resilience is another quality that can grow from a life spent pushing against rock. At the same time, survival at the meeting point of multiple streams of constraint is not a matter of exhausting ourselves by incessantly hammering at the rocks that oppress us; it is about wisely fnding and moving toward the sun, getting succor and nurturance where possible, and sending the tap root down as far as it will go, to whatever depth is necessary to survive. It is sensing the presence of light despite having ones face pressed toward the ground. Womanist Mind E xamination of womanist scholarship, prose, and the lived experience of women of color provide us with a theoretical ground for womanist thought. In the following section, I consider three processes that emerge from the literature that further clarify the womanist paradigm: conscientizaton (critical consciousness), redemptive subjectivity, and engaged spirituality. While I present them in this order, the intention is not to imply a linear progression (i.e., being fnished with one process before beginning another). Each informs and fosters development of the other, and as a whole they provide a starting point for engaging womanist mind. Conscientizaton Te struggle has always been inner, and is played out in the outer terrains. Awareness of our situation must come before inner changes, which in turn must come before changes in society. Nothing happens in the real world unless it frst happens in the images in our heads. (Anzalda, 2007, p. 109) A womanist approach for addressing societal sufering recognizes that resistance begins when change is envisioned. Conscientizaton, a process of awakening to sociospiritual and critical consciousness, helps to develop the focus and scope of this vision. Te roots of conscientizaton are found in the writings of Latin American liberation psychologists. Ignacio Martn- Bar (1994), drawing upon the work of Paulo Freire, challenged the ability of mainstream psychological paradigms to meet the needs of people afected by multiple layers of oppression and trauma. He proposed that sociospiritual awakening was a process that involved breaking the chains of personal oppression as much as the chains of social oppression (p. 27), and he saw the connection between the liberation of each individual and the liberation of all people. Stacey Floyd-Tomas (2006b) believed conscien- tizaton began when a black woman experiences cognitive dissonance in light of what is considered normative in society. . . . while cognitive dissonance may be feeting, conscientizaton is a salient experience in which black women realize that what is considered normal negates all that they embody (p. 83). Tis is the beginning of the process of identifying the damaging distortions we see when looking in fawed mirrors, then setting out to fnd refections that are more attuned with who we know we are. Anzalda (2002) wrote about the related process of conocimiento, or deep awareness. It begins with a similar moment of dissonance, which she called el arrebato, or rupture. From this fragmentation, one realizes what it means to inhabit the nepantla, then experience liberation through resistance and faith. Tis deep awareness inspires new personal and collective stories of transformation, which embolden one to act out transpersonal vision, resulting in engaged spiritual activism. Conscientizaton wakes one up to the realm of the sociospiritual, allowing consideration of life with one foot in older discourses and another at a growing, opening edge, that of the not yet voiced (Keating, 2002, p. 19). When a woman follows the path of conscien- tizaton from being shook by cultural dissonance through to the development of a kind of emotional fexibility that allows her to dance out our liberated dreams, she performs alchemy between sufering and healing and between spiritual vision and social activism. Te faith of womanists is not without works, it is infused with movement. It is not static; it is active, connected, and engaged. Viewed from within the Souls presences, theres no me or you. Tere is just us. And yet this us has been shattered and fragmentedsplit into a multiplicity of pieces marked by the many forms our identities take. I believe, with all my heart, that spiritual activism can assist us in creating new ways to move through these boundaries. (Keating, 2002, p. 19) International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 111 Te Word, the Body, and the Kinfolk Awakening to the extent to which border womens lives are distorted by cultural relativism and patriarchy begins with an experience of cultural dissonance that can lead to Anzaldas (2002) vision of spiritual activism. However the process of conscientizaton unfolds, inviting deeper sociospiritual awareness is critical to cultivating womanist mind. No Margin, No Center It is a waste of time hating a mirror Or its refection . . . (Lorde, 1997, p. 67)
What Lorde (1997) suggested in her poem is that one confront the glassmaker who turns out new mirrors that lie (p. 67) and is thus responsible for perpetuating limited and inaccurate refections of oneself. I grew up knowing women could write, be heard, speak the truth with hand-on-hip and head-held-high. My identity as a black woman was fortifed by my grandmothers, the one who taught me how to make peach cobbler and the other who put Maya Angelous (1971) poetry in my hands as soon as I could read. When Arzlene gave me those books, it was as if the three of us were colluding in blatantly willful womanist behaviorme by reading them, my grandmother by giving them to me, and Angelou by writing them in the frst place. Tese early refections by such willful, profound, and honest voices have protected me from many of the faults in the mainstream mirror. When Grant (1989) called upon black theologians who were challenging sexism in African American spiritual traditions to call their work womanist theology (p. 205), she proposed it as a means to release in totality the need to choose between racism and sexism, to identify as feminist or black liberationist, and to demand the right to think theologically and independently of black men and white women (p. 209). Tis is the type of radical subjectivity (p. 7) described as a tenet of womanist epistemology by Floyd-Tomas (2006a). Tis principle practice, which encourages borderlands women to centralize our experience and hold it as a valid reference for understanding ourselves, also emerges from the work of Layli Phillips (2006), who emphasized the power of redemptive self-love. We redeem pieces of ourselves lost, subtly, each time we have been excluded due to an absence of conscientizaton. We create our own standards for what constitutes an accurate refection of our values, challenging the grinning glassmaker Lorde (1997) invoked in the end of her poem, who is constantly turning out new mirrors that lie (p. 67). Te practice of subjectivity also serves to reframe our day-to-day experience, what Phillips (2006) called the vernacular (p. xxiv) part of the lives of border women. Womanist thought honors the process of shunning theoretical norms in favor of the lived experiences of women of color. As a result, womanist thought is non- ideological at heart. Tis point of subjectivity is meant to aid us in our redemption and healing, not to create rigidity around what womanism is or is not. We place ourselves at the center as an act of inclusion and in hope of connection. Tere are no demarcations, no lines in the sand, as womanists understand how damaging rigid demarcations can be (Phillips, 2006). Tis non-ideological stance resonates with liberation psychology. Martn-Bar (1994) identifed the conscious process of de-ideologizing vernacular experience as critical to the formation of a distinctly Latin American psychology liberated from distorted Western knowledge claims. Going beyond a stance that resists rigid ideology, this process counters dominant, inaccurate narratives, especially those that discount the reality of common people by rejecting their validity. To de-ideologize means to retrieve the original experiences of groups and persons and return it to them as objective data which they can use to articulate a consciousness of their own reality (p. 31). It is a process of redemption via the construction of more accurate refections of so- called marginal experiences, questioning judgments, assessments, and diagnoses that come from psychological perspectives that were created in a way that assumes dominant culture is normal. By re-evaluating our emotional health from a place of redemptive subjectivity, border women reclaim pieces of our psyches lost to scholars who described but did not understand us. Tis lack of being interpreted in light of our own values created myths and stereotypes that keep us bent over to this day. Engaging in the process of rejecting and countering oppressive ideologies is a way to experience the relief of standing up, stretching out, and moving toward healing. Womanists do not theorize without evidence but work to expand concepts about what that evidence may consist of. Building on Grants (1989) original womanist theology that emphasized personal connection to the divine, it makes sense that womanists encourage information that comes from personal experience. Womanists act as our own foundations; when black women critically inquire, probe, refect, judge, decide, International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 112 Holiday challenge and act in service of truth, they constitute themselves as critical knowers and doers (Copeland, 2006, p. 229). It is acting in service of truth that we create a psychology that accurately refects us. Black women have been so long un-mirrored, we may have forgotten how we look (OGrady, 2003, p. 176). Trough the practice of audacious subjectivity, we can reject refections that mine our struggles for evidence of pathology and disorder; we take a stand against the patriarchy that negates our wisdom and ways of knowing. Engaged Spirituality Walker (1983) very purposefully included refer- ence to faith when she crafted her defnition of womanism. Comas-Daz (2007), a pioneer in psychology aimed at women of color, introduced the term Spirita (engaged and liberated spirituality) as essential to womanist psychological thought. One of a handful of scholars using womanist and mujerista perspectives in psychology, she also draws upon the tradition of liberation psychology advanced by writers such as Martin-Bar (1994). Comas-Daz (2007) defned Spirita as a spirit- uality defned by protest, resistance, and r/evolution (p. 13). It is rooted in the idea that the transpersonal is not divorced from the psychological if women of color are writing the psychology. Spirita is a way of life that celebrates love and spirit and reclaims the sacredness in all (p. 16). It is a means of connection to generativity and promotes the gestation of people who liberate themselves and others (p. 16). By connecting to Spirita, women have permission to let their experience stand and not feel the need to repress or revise it in order to ft in with frames that do not resonate or that deny the validity of their lives. Political action informed by spiritual belief undergirds the work of other feminists of color. Phillips (2006) pointed out that spiritual intercession and consideration of the transcendental or metaphysical dimension of life enhance and even undergird political action (p. xxvi). Anzalda (2000) believed spirituality was a powerful tool for women in the borderlands, the only weapon and means of protection oppressed people have (p. 72). She exemplifed the connection between the transpersonal and the political by highlighting the importance of spiritual and ideological fexibility to complement the kind of emotional fexibility Walker (1983) wrote of in her original defnition. Anzalda (2000) exposed the danger of clinging so closely to an institution or ideology that one loses enlivened spirituality, audacious faith, and practice of transpersonal resistanceall important to living an engaged spiritual life. She saw activism as a natural extension of imaginal experience and spiritual vision. Placing an engaged, liberated spirituality at the heart of womanist psychology honors the part of the woman that feels and senses the sun despite having her face cast downward. It stresses the importance of allowing and making room for the transpersonal in transcultural work. Christian womanists frame God in an equally engaged role as healer, provider, liberator, redeemer, and most often as the way-maker. Black womens negative life experiences can be transformed by seeing that their relationship with God trumps social conditions (Townes, 2005, p. 97). Critical consciousness, subjectivity necessary for redemption of womanist soul, and a socially-engaged intention for spiritual practice are three values that can help develop womanist mind, and from there vision womanist psychology. Te Word, the Body, and the Kinfolk I n this section, I look at three conduits to emotional healing that resonate with womanist values: the word, the body, and the kinfolk. Tese paths acknowledge the importance of using narrative and testimony, engaging the body as an ally, and remembering the individual in the context of her community in the development of more culturally competent therapeutic tools. By looking at how these themes are woven into womanist scholarship and experience, it is possible to move toward a more fully articulated approach to the development of womanist psychological practice. Te Word My early experiences with worship were in a traditional African American church. I have danced in the Holy Ghost and cried on the mourners bench. I have experienced the particularly African spiritual phenomenon of call and response, a practice meant to join and encourage the person who is speaking or giving testimony. It is an expected part of the service for the congregation to provide immediate feedback about how that message is resonating with them. Te sanctuary whether it be a soaring building complete with stained glass windows or a storefront with folding chairs instead of padded pewsis flled with voices of the congregants: Amen! Say that, preacher! Tell it! and Testify! One of my favorite parts of the service was at International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 113 Te Word, the Body, and the Kinfolk the end, when the preacher would open the doors of the church. A weeping member of the congregation in need of prayer or a recently converted sinner would stand, walk to the front of the sanctuary, then turn to the assembly to give her testimony. Testimony might include references to how bad things were (or how bad things are), how she was sitting and wondering how she was going to get the light bill or the car note paid. She might speak of some trouble at home or of her struggle with illness or disease. As she shares her burdens, she is encouraged and supported by the voices and the presence of those listening. From here, the story fows to her direct personal experience of Gods grace and providing. She may quote from scripture, from the book of Matthew, reminding herself and all those who listen that God is aware of every sparrow that falls from the sky. She speaks to the power of a God who makes a way out of no way, has blessed her before, and always brought her through. Te purpose of testimony is to risk baring it all and having it witnessed. It provides a personal account of faith that is superior to circumstance. Te testimony is a path to healing, a soul-witness account of what is possible. Te audible response of those listening is a means of building an alliance with the person sharing the story, inviting catharsis, connection, and healing for the church community. Redeeming painful experience through testimony transforms those events into something valuable, algo para compartir [something to] . . . share with others so they may also be empowered (Anzalda, 2002, p. 540). Contrast this with what I was taught as a clinician. Tere is no such thing as testimony in psychotherapy, it is called self-disclosure, and is discouraged in some therapeutic theoretical orientations (Gehart & Tuttle, 2003; Moursand & Kenny, 2002). In traditional psychoanalysis, there is the extreme of the therapist as blank screen, purposed to invite a patients transference (Fall, Holden, & Marquis, 2004). A clini- cian I know shared that he was advised to stand in front of a mirror and practice holding his face in a blank, non-reactive way during his early training as a therapist. For nepantleras, used to being invisible and unseen, I often wonder about the ways these approaches may do unintended harm. While many mainstream clinicians resonate with Rogerian ideas about the importance of creating a warm and healthy alliance with patients, there is little room for anything akin to testimony. From womanist consciousness, narrative and testimony are rich sources of healing, employing nommo, defned as the generative quality of the spoken word (Asante, 1984, p. 171). Clearly, there are many other orientations that value this principle, and I am in no way suggesting that the value placed on vocalized healing narrative is exclusive to a womanist perspective; the intent is to underscore the importance of narrative and testimony to womanist work and to place it in a context specifc to our history and spirituality. Pinkla Ests (1995) stands in the space between formal psychoanalytic training, the language of archetypal psychology, and the world of the cantadora (sacred singer), the griot (West African oral historian), and the cuentista (story-keeper and teller). She speaks to the fuidity with which women engage in the process of story-telling and narrative. Holding and passing knowledge through stories and oral tradition has deep roots in indigenous culture. Tese stories have helped women learn to honor our processes, in particular when it comes to emotional and mental well-being. She wrote that the psyches and souls of women have their own cycles and seasons of doing and solitude, running and staying, being involved and being removed, questing and resting, creating and incubating, being of the world, and returning to the soul place (p. 256). We learn about these cycles through stories, testimony of other women, and through dreams and meditation; it is these cycles that keep us balanced and are essential to our emotional and spiritual health. A person who witnesses the testimony and narratives of others comes closer to fnding their own guiding myths, which in turn provides what is needed for personal healing and development (Ests, 1995). Te process of weaving ones own story is a way of reclaiming oneself and releasing internal burdens; the process of telling stories is a way of experiencing union with those who witness them. Hooks (1989) framed it as a longing to connect with the past and deconstruct it at the same time, using the wisdom of ones older self to heal the wounds of the younger one. Testimonio is a witnessing narrative in Latin American literature that is socially and politically con- scious. Maier and Dulfano (2004) called it resistance literature (p. 5). Tese narratives are highly personal accounts of oppression by narrators who identify as excluded or disempowered. Testimonios are often written in the third person, with the intention to give International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 114 Holiday voice to marginalized peoples. Tese narratives are not written to be received passively. In a parallel to the tradition of testimony in African American Christian contexts, testimonios intend to inspire action and aid in the process of conscientizaton (Nance, 2002). Tey are not disinterested, nor are they objective. Tey contain los desconociminetos, knowledge that has been ignored (Anzalda, 2000). It is a fuid form of anti-oppression storytelling, which sometimes includes connecting the narrator with mythical or historical fgures. Lorde (1984/2007) called a similar mixture of autobiographical fact and myth autobiomythography. By weaving a narrative this way, one un-weaves oppressive or harmful narratives at the same time. Floyd-Tomas (2006b) wrote that: [Autobiomythography] allows for the transformation of something that is initially crippling to become something empowering . . . the biomythographical narrative is a purposeful form of call and response from one unique black womans voice to a larger community of women who are invited to resonate with her voice and become a part of it. Tese women, when coming together into this new mythic community, become transformed. (p. 22) Te Body Te broken mirror she used to decorate her face made her forehead tilt backwards her cheeks appear sunken her sassy chin only large enuf to keep her full lower lip from growin into her neck Sechita had learned to make allowances for the distortions (Shange, 1977, p. 24)
Womanist writers have made a place for the body in academic discourse, so I make a place for reclaiming the body in identifying womanist pathways to emotional healing. Again, I do not claim this stance is unique to womanists. Using the body as an ally in emotional healing appears across many cultures. My aim is to underscore the importance and put that importance in historical context. In this section, my focus is on the black womans body in particulara terrain that has been heavily dominated by patriarchy, and at the same time holds the means to heal that domination (Razak, 2008). Womanists position the body as a hermeneutic, as a modality of interpretation useful in deconstructing (and re-constructing) life in the Americas (Pinn, 2007, p. 404). Tere is a grief I feel about the abuse of black womens bodies that is in my DNA. Among my ancestors is an unnamed slave woman who bore a girl child by her owner. When this girl was still in her early teens, this same owner, her father, started raping her. He impregnated her twice before she turned eighteen. I take the time to root the need for somatic redemption in historical context in order to give some idea of the depth and scope of healing work to be done. Womens bodies are often battlegrounds for great political and cultural wars, from the fght for reproductive rights to the untold number of African women who have experienced mutilation of their genitals (Roberts, 1997). Tere is hardly any quarter on this globe where one would not fnd womens ownership of their bodies being challenged, whether it is by over sexualized objectifcation or total denial that our sexuality exists. Given the extent to which it has historically been under scrutiny, attack, and objectifcation, making space for any woman to reclaim her body is an act of courageous mujerismo. By writing through and in the presence of grief in my own body at this moment, I turn my heart toward and acknowledge the robbery and lack of control women, and, in particular, poor female children of color, have over their bodies. During the era of legal slavery in the United States, the abuse of African American womens bodies was particularly atrocious. Sojourner Truth delivered the following speech in 1853. When she fnished, she bared her breasts to prove to the audience she was, indeed, a woman, after being challenged by a member of the audience: Dat man ober dar say dat women needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to have de best places . . . and aint I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have plowed and planted and gathered into barns and no man could head meand aint I a woman? I could work as much as any man (when I could get it), and bear de lash as welland aint I a woman? I have borne fve children and I seen em mos all sold of to slavery, and when I cried out with a mothers grief, none but Jesus hearand aint I a woman? (Stanton, Anthony, Gage, & Harper, 1889, p. 116). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 115 Te Word, the Body, and the Kinfolk Truths famous speech barely hints at what slave womens bodies endured: an unimaginable amount of work; routine infiction of emotional trauma; lack of access to education, medical care, or proper food; and the recurrent, horrifc physical abuse and sexual exploitation of their bodies. Slave women were often stripped naked when they were being physically beaten by owners or overseers, creating an objectifed, sexual layer on top of horrible physical pain. Black women were bred like animals to bear ofspring for their owners, many times seeing those children sold away from them. Teir bodies existed for the proft and pleasure of the men who owned them (hooks, 1981). Another example of the extent to which black womens bodies were made objects is found in the life of Saartjie Baartmann. She was a woman from what is now South Africa who was put on display in Europe in the early nineteenth century. Her features were considered exotic, in particular her breasts and buttocks. Patrons could pay extra to touch and examine these parts of her body. When she died, her remains, including her genitalia, were put on display in a museum in Paris until the mid 1970s. Known as the Hottentot Venus, these remains were eventually returned at the request of Nelson Mandela (Collins, 2000). One of the outcomes of the stereotype of the strong black woman has been to dismiss or diminish the traumatic nature of the abuse our bodies have endured (hooks, 2003). While a womanist approach to healing draws upon the power of nommo and faith, it is not with the intention to invite spiritual bypass. A. Elaine Brown Crawford (2002) addressed this in Hope in the Holler, noting that many black women move immediately to demonstrating strength as the primary response to trauma. Part of reclaiming our bodies is creating safe spaces for us to grieve the historic lack of control, abuse, and objectifcation of them. Engaging the grief is a means to fnding wholeness. Consider that the spiritual practices of communities of color are often physical, engaged, kinetic, and active. If womanist spiritual practice is infused with movement, so then are womanist approaches to reclaiming and healing the body. Anzalda (2000) stated: to reclaim body consciousness tienes que moverte [you must move your body] go for walks, salir a conocer mundo, engage with the world (p. 97). Liturgical dance and other ways of honoring the body as a vessel of Spirit and a tool for worship hold great potency for releasing women from oppression that has come from religious repression. Hooks (2003) noted that Christian scriptures were often put in a context that perpetuated the notion that the body was inherently unclean, evil, corrupt, that sexuality was bad (p. 110). A womanist liberation from those doctrines could ofer African Americans a way of thinking of their bodies that resists these ideas and ofers healing from messages that hold the body with disdain. Womanist writers such as Walker (1983), Can- non (2007), and Williams (2005) have a tenacious regard for the dynamics of the black womans body (Pinn, 2007, p. 404), especially in the context of reclaiming it from oppressive theology. Consider this passage from Beloved. Baby Suggs, holy, shared this message with those assembled to hear her preach: She did not tell them they were the blessed of the earth, its inheriting meek or its glory bound pure. . . . Here, in this here place, we fesh; fesh that weeps, laughs; fesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard. Yonder they do not love your fesh. Tey despise it. Tey dont love your eyes; theyd just as soon pick em out. No more do they love the skin on your back. Yonder they fay it. And O my people they do not love your hands. Tose they only use, tie, bind, chop of and leave empty. Love your hands! Love them. Raise them up and kiss them. Touch others with them, pat them together, stroke them on your face cause they dont love that either. . . . Tis is fesh Im talking about here. Flesh that needs to be loved. (Morrison, 1987, p. 88) Tis sermon unlocks the most essential element of any intervention designed to rectify somatic damagethat is to move and love our fesh. To reclaim the body is to love the body, to fll it up with ourselves, to invite entry of the Spirit, to be real about the feelings we have about it, to know the history of it, and to confront the ways in which it is used, claimed, controlled, and shamed by others. Te Kinfolk Te therapist encouraged me to take eight to ten deep breaths. I was feeling agitated, anxious, and sad. Te clinician was sensitive and attuned. Yet something still felt missing from our work. I closed my eyes. Before I had taken ten breaths, the image of a woman holding a child in her arms came into my awareness, and I immediately identifed her as my aforementioned ancestor, who bore International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 116 Holiday two children by her owner-father. It was in that moment I was more at ease about the time and resources I was putting into healing myself because I became aware it was also in service of healing my ancestors, both the slave and the man who raped her. Te work became more meaningful to me culturally and spiritually, taking on a depth and import- ance it had not had before. Te therapy was about more than just my healing, my growing up, the ways in which I was or was not nurtured. By putting my journey into a transpersonal communal context, therapy was no longer confned to traditional psychodynamic theories about family of origin. In that moment, it became connected to my family of Origin, with a capital O, my kinfolk. Te importance of our kinfolk, a term I use here to signify both the immediate and extended circle of family and community to which a woman belongs, emerges as an important consideration in womanist paradigms, which make room for an expanded notion of community to include the ancestors, both literal and mythical. What happened in this experience was a shift from work that was oriented toward what Roland (1988) called the individualized self (p. 8) to a connection with my communal self. His work, which has made distinctions between the concept of self in Japan and the concept of self in India, clearly demonstrates that not all cultures view the healing of emotional pain as an individual endeavor. Womanists pluralize their concept of self (Comas-Daz, 2007, p. 18), holding and honoring the connection between communal healing and individual healing. Following frameworks in community psychology, womanists understand it is not a matter of privileging the communal over the individual, but seeking balance between the two. If all we do is therapy while neglecting poor peoples circumstances, our practice is out of balance. If all we do is try to restructure communities without attending to peoples inner struggles and feelings, we are equally of balance (Nelson & Prilleltensky, 2005, p. 213). Tis pathway to emotional healing seeks balance between the individual and her community and is informed by African American spirituality, the secret of which is the recognition of the need for individuals to take responsibility for themselves while at the same time recognizing this is impossible without other people (Asante, 1984). In a womanist paradigm, emotional healing is a process that involves both individuation and development of a communal self. Tending to this communal self is not always a pathology (sometimes mistakenly framed as enmeshment). It is a necessary component of emotional balance. Tere is an understanding of the connection between individuals and their communal contexts. As my wounds heal, so can those of my family and my kinfolk. As my community is liberated, my possibility for freedom from sufering increases. Te presence of the word, the body, and the kin- folk are themes that run through womanist scholarship, lived experiences, and literature. Foregrounding them here is a step toward making connections to how they might be enlisted in the practice of womanist psychotherapy. Points of resonance between these frameworks and postmodern/narrative therapy, somatic psychotherapy, modalities that include dance or movement, group therapy, and community psychology provide exciting possibility for bringing womanist ideology to praxis. Conclusion W hen feminists of color create frameworks anchored in their unique values and experiences, we reclaim parts of ourselves lost to distortions and objectifcations. Sociospiritual awareness and redemptive subjectivity give us tools to shape mirrors that truly refect who we are. Tis frees us to reinterpret theoretical canons in ways that uncover what has been buried, the voice that is deep speaking into deep (Cannon, 2007, p. 133), el ro abajo ro [the river beneath the river] (Ests, 1995, p. 29), which contains lost wisdom we need to reclaim ourselves. Embracing Spirita, the active and engaged spirituality articulated by Comas-Daz (2007), clears up any dissonance from dominant narratives about the practice of linking our spiritual struggles to our political ones. Te scale of our engagement is unimportant. It is the continual, determined resistance to being silenced that leads to freedom and wholeness. Tis spiritual empowerment gives us insight into the ways our trials in the borderlands can create a quickening space (Floyd- Tomas, 2006b, p. 97), a courageous embracing of the gifts inherent to life in the nepantla. When Spirit enters these rituals of restoration, a kind of cultural alchemy can temporarily cook whats raw, unite whats divided, give meaning to whats chaotic, and thereby enchant, refresh, and reanimate all participants (Lorenz, 2002, p. 497). Te refective surfaces I have invoked in the poems of Lorde (1997), Shange (1977), and Westfeld International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 117 Te Word, the Body, and the Kinfolk (2006) demonstrate the most basic reason for the need to continue to develop womanist thought: to ofer undistorted, accurate refections of the experiences of women of color. Lorde (1984/2007) famously stated the masters tools will never dismantle the masters house (p. 112). Liberated by a transpersonal womanist point of view, broad and deep enough to contain redemption, forgiveness, and all manner of contradiction, my focus shifts beyond the masters house to a dwelling of my own design. References Angelou, M. (1971). Just give me a cool drink of water fore I diiie. New York, NY: Random House. Anzalda, G. E. (2000). In A. L. Keating (Ed.), Interviews: Entrevistas. New York, NY: Routledge. Anzalda, G. E. (2002). Now let us shift . . . the path of conocimineto . . . inner work, public acts. In G. Anzalda & A. 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(UMI No. 9820930) About the Author Juko Martina Holiday is a doctoral student at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California and works as a psychotherapy intern in a community clinic that serves working poor and unin- sured women in Los Angeles. She completed her clinical studies at Antioch University Los Angeles in a program that emphasized cultural competence and social justice. Her undergraduate degree is from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, with a concentration in International Relations. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 120 Holiday About the Journal Te International Journal of Transpersonal Studies is a peer- reviewed academic journal in print since 1981. It is published by Floraglades Foundation, and serves as the ofcial publication of the International Transpersonal Association. Te journal is available online at www.transpersonalstudies. org, and in print through www.lulu.com (search for IJTS). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 121 Transpersonal Approach to Family Systems A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family Systems
Irene Sheiner Lazarus 1 Chapel Hill, NC, USA Tis paper presents a preliminary description of A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family Systems (ATFAFS) as taught at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (ITP) between 1995 and 2002. In this approach, students studied the principles of Murray Bowens family systems theory with attention to feminist revisions of the theory while simultaneously investigating their own multigenerational family histories. Additionally, students kept a journal, recorded and worked with their dreams, and worked with a chosen creative expressive modality. Tey may also have worked with other transpersonal modalities. Student narratives, informed by organic inquiry, illustrate aspects of the approach. Te paper concludes with a detailed look at students perceived benefts and drawbacks of the approach. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 2010, pp. 121-136 T his paper presents a preliminary description of A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family Systems (ATFAFS) as taught at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (ITP) between 1995 and 2002. It is my hope that this description, based in rich student narratives, will provide a sense of the multifaceted, instructive, and healing experiences that we, teacher and students, shared together. Te paper aims to contribute to the emerging transpersonal-humanistic family-systems perspective (Lukof, 2005/2006, p. 4) and to the ongoing discussion concerning the training of transpersonal psychotherapists (Boorstein, 1986; Braud, 2006; Hastings, 1983; Hutchins, 2002; Hutton, 1994; Kennett, Radha, & Frager, 1975; Lazarus, 1999; Ram Dass, 1975; Vaughan, 1979, 1982, 1991; Speeth, 1982). A single course in this topic was developed and taught to graduate students at ITP between 1995 and 1999 as a method for inner transformational work and for the training of clinical graduate students. Since 1999, a curriculum based on this approach has been available for Global distance-learning students at ITP. In 1998, I initiated an exploratory organic qualitative study with interested students of this course and approach to elicit a more detailed description from those who had used it and to ascertain benefts, drawbacks, and avenues for further study. Beginning with a Dream I t seems ftting to begin with a dream of March 24, 2006. I knew that I had allotted this day and the rest of the weekend to prepare for a poster presentation for the North Carolina Association of Marriage and Family conference on the portion of this study focusing on the use of dreams as a complement to family study. My dream: I realize that I have put my son Ben to sleep in the freezer. I become worried about him and go to take him out of the freezer. In the dream, he is a baby, maybe 6 months old, and I am very relieved to see that he is breathing easily and his skin looks pink and healthy, though there is much ice forming in the freezer. I take him out of the freezer. He says, Mom, I did not want you to put me here. As I watch, he suddenly begins to transform and grow rapidly until he becomes the handsome 19 year old he currently is. At frst, I am perplexed and a bit alarmed about this dream. Why would I be putting my son into a freezer? I wonder if there is some unconscious way I have been harming my son, which this dream is trying to bring to consciousness. My husband reminds me how much I miss my son who is now fnishing his sophomore year at Georgetown and has plans to stay in Georgetown all summer. My husband suggests I may have a wish to freeze Ben back in time. Ten I remember that this is the weekend I have set aside to fnish my preparations for a poster presentation on dreams and family study. I recall Marie-Louise von Franzs reminder that young boys in womens dreams can represent important work projects Keywords: multigenerational family systems, transpersonal, feminist, dreamwork, journ- aling, organic inquiry, creative expression. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 122 Lazarus (Boa & von Franz, 1994). Te teaching and developing of ATFAFS is a work project very close to my heart, so close that it is not surprising that my dreammaker would choose my son Ben to represent it. I have been working on this particular project for almost as many years as my son has been alive. I suppose I did put this beloved project in the freezer when I left California and my teaching in the Residential program of ITP in 1999 to move to Chapel Hill, North Carolina with my family. It is delightful and reassuring to see that Ben in my dream is healthy and unharmed, though not very happy about spending time in the freezer. It is my hope that, as Ben has matured in the dream, so has the work presented here. What Is A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family Systems? A TFAFS is a method of working on the self, used in the training of transpersonal psychologists and psychotherapists at ITP. In this approach, students study principles of Murray Bowens family system theory (Bowen, 1985/1990; Kerr & Bowen, 1988; Papero, 1990) with attention to feminist revisions of the theory (Knudsen-Martin, 1994, 1996; Lerner, 1985, 1989; McGoldrick, 1998), while simultaneously investigating their own multigenerational family histories using tools of the genogram and family chronology (McGoldrick, Gerson, & Shellenberger, 1999). Additionally, students keep a journal (Goldberg, 1986; Pennebaker, 1991, 1996; Progof, 1992), record and work with their dreams (Boa & Von Franz, 1994; Mellick, 1996, 2001; Taylor, 1992) and work with a chosen creative expressive modality (Cassout & Cubley, 1995; Mellick, 1996, 2001). 2 Tey may also choose to work with other transpersonal modalities, such as prayer (Dossey, 1993, 1996) or meditation (Hanh, 2003; LeShan, 1974). Students may choose to present their work in a fnal project submitted privately to the instructor, or they may elect to prepare a family presentation to be shared with their classmates. Students are encouraged to make sense of their family history in their own terms and are encouraged to use whichever transpersonal modalities they deem useful. Family Systems Aspects Te approach is built on the foundation of Murray Bowens (1985/1990) brilliant contribution to family systems theory, particularly his formulation of the multi-generational transmission process (the notion that individual diferences in functioning and multigenerational trends in functioning refect an orderly and predictable relationship process that connects the function of family members across generations (Kerr & Bowen, 1988, p. 224), his encouragement of the study of ones family of origin to become aware of family history and patterns both for patients and as a method of psychotherapeutic training (Bowen, 1985/1990), and his coaching to move in ones family in a diferentiated (pp. 140-141) way. Bowen spoke favorably about the value of working on ones family of origin in a clinical training program: Later in 1967 and 1968 I noted that this group of residents were doing better clinical work as family therapists than any previous residents. At frst I simply considered this an unusually good group of residents. As time passed I became aware that the diference between these and previous residents was too great for such a simple explanation. Te diference appeared to be related to something I was doing and I began to ask questions. Ten it became clear that it was precisely those residents who had done best in the efort with their parental families who were also doing best in their clinical work. (p. 531) Feminist Aspects In the 1970s, in psychology and elsewhere, feminists mounted a challenge to traditional institutions and disciplines, encouraging them to be more inclusive, transparent, and honoring of feminine ways of being. In this approach, Bowens work is presented with a feminist revision (Lerner, 1985, 1989; McGoldrick, 1998). First, the approach emphasizes sensitivity to issues of gender, race, and power (Ault-Riche, 1994; Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1997; Brown & Gilligan, 1992; Knudson-Martin, 1994; Lerner, 1985, 1989; McGoldrick, 1998; Miller, 1986). Second, it encourages the empowerment of the individual (Lerner, 1985, 1989). Rather than going to outside experts, students are encouraged to study their own families and make sense of their histories in their own terms. Tey are encouraged to become their own experts on themselves. Tey are encouraged to develop and strengthen their own voice. Tird, the use of story and narrative is important in this approach. Fourth, the value of feeling is acknowledged alongside the value of thinking. Transpersonal Aspects Tis approach incorporates various transper- sonal elements. It is holistic, encouraging integration of International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 123 Transpersonal Approach to Family Systems body, mind, spirit, emotions, creative expression, family, and community. It is transpersonal, encouraging aspects that go beyond the personal ego level of development. Te approach uses transpersonal modalities such as dreamwork, ritual, journaling, prayer, and meditation. It focuses on health as well as pathology and aims to cultivate transpersonal values such as love, wisdom, compassion, and mindfulness. A vibrant, contemplative atmosphere was devel- oped in the class in several ways. Confdentiality is established early on. Students are instructed that they may discuss their own family work any time they feel it is appropriate to do so, but they may not discuss any other students family work without express permission. Tey are instructed to bring compassionate, non-judging, and mindful attention both to themselves and to others who are presenting family histories or are reading portions of their journals. A contemplative atmosphere is fostered in the class through time spent in silence, journaling, and meditating together, as well as through compassionate listening to presentations of the multigenerational journeys of their classmates. Te Emerging Transpersonal Humanistic Family Systems Perspective Z innbauer and Camerota (2004) pointed out that although the discipline of transpersonal psychology has been working with the integration of spirituality and psychology for over 30 years, it is only recently that the mental health feld is turning attention to this matter. Tis trend has been seen in the discipline of family therapy as well. Walshs chapter, Beliefs, Spirituality, and Transcendence: Keys to Family Resilience, appeared in McGoldricks (1998) important book, Re-Visioning Family Terapy: Race, Culture, and Gender in Clinical Practice. Walsh discussed how core beliefs and spiritual connections are important sources of resilience that support clients in transcending adversity. More recently, Caldwell, Winek, and Becvar (2006), citing the growing acknowledgement of the mind/body connection both within and outside of medical settings, studied the extent to which marriage and family therapists were afected by and/or had an impact on this shift. Te authors, after conducting a survey of a random sample of 1000 clinical members of Te American Association of Marriage and Family Terapy (AAMFT) regarding their relationship with Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) practices, found that most of the respondents indicated knowledge of a variety of CAM practices (p. 110) and recommended CAM. Interestingly, a relatively small number of respondents indicated that they were qualifed to practice, supervise or teach relative to a specifc CAM modality. Such practices include relaxation techniques, guided imagery, meditation, diet/lifestyle changes, hypnosis, and prayer therapies (p. 110). Te authors concluded: Te fndings of this study certainly are comparable to the results reported by Barnes et al. (2004) regarding the high percentage of use of CAM services in this country. In the professional arena, it appears that MFTs and psychologists (Bassman & Uellendahl, 2003) also are experiencing a similar increase in awareness and utilization of CAM practices. (p. 110) Becvar, Caldwell, and Winek (2006) reported on a qualitative aspect of this study in which 54 respondents were interviewed. Notably, the respondents described a sense of a ft between CAM and marriage and family therapy: Tere is frequent agreement regarding the logical ft between the assumptions underlying family therapy and those on which complementary alternative medicine is premised. It therefore is not surprising that many MFTs seem to have established a comfortable working relationship with a variety of CAM approaches and thus are open to and desirous of learning more. (p. 123) I have certainly sensed this ft in my own work as an instructor and as a marriage and family therapist. Outside the mainstream of family therapy discourse, there have been some important contributions regarding the integration of transpersonal modalities in healing work with families. For example, Kenneth McAll (1982), a British psychiatrist, in his book entitled Healing the Family Tree, reported on his success curing psychiatric disease through the Eucharist prayer for troubled members of the patients family tree. Edward Bruce Bynum (1993) has been conducting Te Family Dreams Research Project, an ongoing national and cross cultural study in the relationship between dream life and family processes (p. 227). Bynum (2000) described a fascinating concept called the family unconscious: International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 124 Lazarus What we discovered was a feld of shared images, ideas and feelings in each individual within the family. Tis shared family emotional feld, which we call the family unconscious, is a shifting, interconnected feld of energy that does not obey the conventional rules of space and time in the waking state. Tis feld of interconnected energy, infuence, and information in many ways parallels some of the developments in sub-atomic physics. (para. 12) Psychotherapist Les Rhodes (2000), in her autobiographical account of dealing with Parkinsons disease, was very infuenced by both family systems work (she worked and studied with Virginia Satir for many years) and Jungian work (she was involved with Jungian analysis). Te book is an extraordinary account of her deep blending of the two traditions, including many of her own dreams, and the part they played in her journey toward wholeness. Te integration of dreamwork and family systems is an important aspect of the transpersonal approach to family systems described in this paper. Research Approach for this Preliminary Study of A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family Systems O rganic inquiry (Clements, Ettling, Jenett, & Shields, 1998; Braud, 2004; Clements, 2004) was developing at the ITP at the same time I was teaching there and working to develop what I now call A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family Systems (ATFAFS). According to Clements, Organic Inquiry is an emerging approach to qualitative research that is especially meaningful for people and topics related to psycho-spiritual growth. Ones own psyche becomes the instrument as one works subjectively in partnership with liminal and spiritual sources, as well as with participants who are able to relate their stories of the experience being studied. (p. 27) In discussing the origins and infuences of organic inquiry, Clements noted: In the spring of 1993, Dorothy Ettling (1994), Diane Jenett (1999), Lisa Shields (1995), Nora Taylor (1996), and I found ourselves searching for avenues of research where the sacred feminine might be included and in which the positive values of cooperation and interdependency were appreciated, where diversity would make us equals rather than causing a separation into leader and followers. Feminist research suggested the importance of balancing objectivity with subjectivity, in process as well as content. (p. 28) I developed the frst version of an interview protocol during a practice session in a class on organic inquiry taught by Clements in 1998. Organic inquiry seemed quite suitable to this preliminary investigation of ATFAFS as taught at ITP. ATFAFS aims to support psycho-spiritual growth. Students are invited to work subjectively in partnership with liminal and spiritual sources through their journaling, dreamwork, and meditative work in class. Prayer, meditative practice, meditative journaling, and dreamwork supported me all along in the development of this approach and in this investigation. Te feminist and transpersonal roots of organic inquiry suited the transpersonal, feminist aspects of ATFAFS. Organic inquiries are born out of ones deep personal experience. Alongside developing, teaching, and investigating ATFAFS, I have been immersed in my own process of healing and transformation within my own family. On August 11, 2006, I refected in my journal: I am struck by how important my mother is to this study. I recall that I wrote the frst rough outline of this study proposal in the Spring of 1998. I lived then in Menlo Park, California, and had come down to Los Angeles to visit my mother. I took her to Palm Springs, which ofered a climate that was soothing to her lungs (she has sufered from severe asthma since she was 5 years old). I wrote ideas for this study proposal while sitting by the pool at our hotel. Ten came my familys move to Chapel Hill. I thought I would have so much free time to write and work on this research project, but the work of transplanting myself, my family and my practice was consuming for many years. I slowly transcribed interviews and pored over data. I used this transpersonal approach to family systems in my work with clients. I began working more steadily on this article, however, when life brought me closer to my mother. A scary car accident in January, 2006, convinced my mother it was time to sell the house she had lived in for almost 50 years International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 125 Transpersonal Approach to Family Systems and move closer to family. Between December, 2005 and May, 2006, I made 5 week-long trips back to Los Angeles to help my mother heal from her car accident, prepare to sell her house, and then pack things up and move when the house sold. On the plane fights between North Carolina and California, and in the early morning hours at my mothers house when I was still on North Carolina time, I began working quite seriously on this article. As the days got closer to the move, all my extra energy went into assisting my mother, and the article waited. It is now almost 3 months since my mothers move. She has chosen to live in Chapel Hill and is now living with my husband and me while she gets her bearings and decides her next steps. I am on a two-week vacation from seeing clients, and I am devoting time to this article again. It is a labor of love. I wonder if I will fnish the article while my mom is living in our house with us. My relationship with my mother has not always been an easy one, but has of course, been a very important relationship in my work and in my life. Tese days together, while challenging, have been very healing days. In 1998, I began to work with a group of interested students to create an interview protocol with the aim of developing a preliminary description of ATFAFS. Over several weeks, we developed the protocol, refned it, and practiced by interviewing each other. Questions included the following: Please tell your stories of healing and transformation in your family in your own words. Include places of struggle and release, victories and defeats, light and dark. Were there any important dream images that potentiated your family work? Were there any important synchronicities? Were there any particular transpersonal modal- ities that supported or helped you in your family work? Were there any particular transpersonal experiences that supported or helped you in your family work? Please share any thoughts you have about drawbacks to the Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family Systems you were exposed to in your Innerwork Practicum/Clinical Practicum class at ITP. Please share any thoughts you have about benefts of this approach. Is there anything you would like to add? How has this process been for you? As a part of the protocol, participants rated diferent parts of the course/approach based on their perception of the helpfulness of various aspects of the course. Twenty interviews were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed. Subsequently, two global students who completed their distance education version of ATFAFS gave permission for their work to be included in this study. In addition, 22 students gave permission for portions of their fnal papers, which discussed the experience and impact of presenting their genograms to their classmates, to be included in this exploratory study. In the fndings reported herein, I also drew on my experiences teaching this approach, using it in my own life and in my work with clients. Participants Participants ranged in age from 20s to 60s. All met the criteria for admission to various graduate programs at ITP. All students had completed at least a Bachelors degree. Some had higher degrees as well. Some had extensive training and experience in the felds of psychology and psychotherapy; others were just beginning study. Some had extensive experience with their own families in therapy and recovery, while others had not. Te group was primarily Caucasian with some representation from the African American, Asian, and Hispanic communities. Invitations to participate were given to all students who had attended an ITP class in which I presented this approach to family systems. Participation was entirely voluntary. I did not look at the names of anyone who chose to participate until all grades were turned in for the last quarter I taught residentially at ITP. Although grades were pass/fail and all students in the class passed by virtue of completing their assignments, I took this precaution to protect students anonymity while I was writing evaluations. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 126 Lazarus Student Reports on the Usefulness of Various Aspects of A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family Systems T wenty students provided answers to the following question about various aspects they experienced in relationship to their family work: Please rate the following activities in terms of how helpful they have been in your processing of healing and transformation within your family. Rate the items on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 representing not helpful at all and 10 representing extremely helpful. In Table 1, results are presented in the order of amount of the students perceived helpfulness of class activities. Tis table also provides an overview of the mix of activities in which students were engaged. All activities received rankings in the helpful range. Te highest ranking (9.30) was given to preparation for the family presentation and the lowest (6.77) was given to dreamwork. Te three activities of highest rank related to family presentations: preparing for family presentations, presenting ones family to classmates, and listening to classmates family presentations. Tese are activities that are commonly used in the study of Murray Bowens (1985/1990) family systems theory and the high rankings tend to support Bowens assertion that the work of family investigation can be extremely helpful in working with ones own family of origin. Next highest were activities related to journaling: reading journal entries in class ranked highest, followed by listening to classmates journal entries, and journaling with the class. It is possible that the lower rankings for creative expressive work, prayer, and dreamwork have to do with the fact that not all students were exposed to all activities. Dreamwork was discussed in Innerwork Practicum briefy but not in Clinical Practicum. Students had exposure to dreamwork in other coursework at ITP. Creative expressive work was also ofered in separate courses at ITP. Prayer was entirely voluntary and was not a class activity. Harriet Lerners books Dance of Intimacy (1989) and Dance of Anger (1985) were required reading for the Innerwork Practicum classes taught to frst year doctoral students, and were recommended reading for Clinical Practicum students. Additionally, it is important to note that rankings are subjective and may change with refection. As Karen noted: Reading journal entries to class I ranked it as a 6. But now that Im thinking about it, it should probably be like a 10. Wow, I just never felt really accepted. I think thats what it is. I felt really accepted by the class and I think a lot of that has to do with Innerwork, because I really put myself out there. I think there was only 1 or 2 times when I didnt read. I remember always saying to myself, Other people are passing, but Im going to read. Upon reviewing the results of this questionnaire, I realized that there were several important activities in the class that were omitted in the questionnaire, and that I hoped to include in future studies. Tese include maintaining a non-judgmental stance, compassionate self-awareness, and compassionate listening. Illustrations of Important Aspects of A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family Systems T his section includes detailed examples of important aspects of ATFAFS provided by student accounts of their experiences. I selected the passages because of their ability to transmit various aspects of the process. Participants chose their own pseudonyms for the study. I changed certain details to disguise identities. Passages have been editing lightly for clarity and brevity. Table 1. Average Ratings of Class Activities in Terms of How Helpful They Were in the Process of Healing and Transformation Within Ones Family 1 = not helpful 5 = moderately helpful 10 = extremely helpful Preparation for family presentation 9.30 Presenting your family to classmates 8.98 Listening to your classmates family presentations 8.75 Reading journal entries to class 8.11 Listening to classmates journal entries 7.76 Journaling with class 7.61 Creative expression work 7.61 Reading Dance of Intimacy (Lerner, 1987) 7.36 Informal discussions with classmates 7.23 Prayer 7.19 Reading Dance of Anger (Lerner, 1985) 7.15 Dreamwork 6.77 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 127 Transpersonal Approach to Family Systems Janes Dream, Family Presentation, and Experience with Journaling Jane: [I had] one dream right before I gave my presentation. I hadnt thought it was going to be any big deal, giving the presentation. Id been preparing for this for about 10 years. About 10 years ago, I began asking my mother about the family. . . . My mother had some notes she had written. It wasnt very complete but at least it was something. So I thought, well, its not going to be any big deal and I was really looking forward to doing it. Like I said in class, who else is going to listen to this. So its kind of an honor to be able to tell these stories. But the night I gave my presentation, I had this dream about these grubby people. I told this dream in class. I was at a party, some outdoor party of some kind. I was with my friends, my people, my community, the people I socialize with. And in walked these grubby people. Filthy, dirty people with dirty clothes and dirty hair and everything. Fat. Tey werent bad looking, but they were just so flthy. It was sort of horrifying. Nobody was really saying anything about it. My friends were making conversation, were making nice with those people, and I thought, do you guys not notice that these people are incredibly flthy? I was the only one. I didnt even know who these people were. Tey werent my relatives, like anyone I recognized, but everybodys acting like, Teres so and so. Finally I asked my friend B., Who are these people? Why are they so flthy? And she said, Ill tell you later. But still people were being so kind to them. I woke up and thought, what a weird dream. I wonder who those people are. Tats so odd. And so it wasnt until I wrote that in journaling that I realized it was my family, that I had some sense of shame about who they were, their faws, their dysfunction. I never really felt that because I didnt feel any particular connection with most of them. I really didnt know them. Most of them were dead by the time I came along. And so I thought, thats really interesting that I feel that. And so, after I did the presentation, what I was also struck by, there was this huge, it was like a big release afterwards. It was very emotional afterwards. It was very emotional afterwards. I did this presentation on Tursday. On Friday, we had that closing ritual group practice. Tat whole day I was just a basket case. I was fne Tursday, but by Friday, I felt absolutely exhausted, spent emotionally. I think it was a rebound efect from doing the presentation. I couldnt stop crying. I just couldnt stop crying. Tis whole family presentation thing which I had determined was merely going to be a benign little exercise was tapping into feelings of which I was totally unaware. Tere is a big diference in sharing my familys story with people who are interested and care about me and sharing it with people who are not that interested. For one thing people who arent interested in me and my history wont sit and listen to all that. It makes them uncomfortable. It is an act of love to be willing to listen and empathically take all of it in. Presenting my family in that empathic supportive environment allows me to see and begin to drop some of those engrained defenses and contact some of that wounding as well as the feelings generated by that wounding. It also allows me to place myself not just in an historical context but in an emotional and psychological context. Tat part felt so big to me. Refections on Jane. I chose to begin this section with Janes account because it illustrates quite well many aspects of ATFAFS, demonstrating how many of the pieces ft together and support each other. Janes dream came right before her family presentation, and the dreams signifcance began to clarify for her during a class journaling session before the presentation. Jane noted that she underestimated the power of the family presentation, having been gathering family information for 10 years. Te dream is about grubby people. While journaling about the dream before class, Jane realized that these grubby people were her family, and she tapped into some feelings of shame about her family, feelings that surprised her as she had never met many of the people represented on her genogram. She said: Most of them were dead by the time I came along. Te dream and Janes commentary illustrate the class atmosphere that was intentionally cultivated over time: an atmosphere of loving-kindness, respect, curiosity, exploration, openness, and non-judgment toward all participantsself, family members, class members, and their families. Te kindness, acceptance, and non-judgment of her friends in the dream are remarkable to Jane, while in her dream, as the dreamer, she is so focused on her judgments: Tey werent bad looking, but they were just so flthy. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 128 Lazarus Jane commented: Presenting my family in that empathic supportive environment allows me to see and begin to drop some of those engrained defenses and contact some of that wounding as well as the feelings generated by that wounding. Here we see a beautiful example of Jane making sense of her family history in her own time, in her own terms. Te interplay between contemplating her dream through her journal and contemplating her family history seems to promote a deepening of understanding and a bridge beyond the intellect to deep feelings that had previously been unconscious. Sunshines Family Investigation, Journaling, and Listening to Classmates Family Presentations Sunshine: I think it was a good experience in that I had never really talked to my parents about their childhoods. I mean we had talked a little about them, but never really had gone into depth about them. It was a good process in terms of me asking them questions about their family life and childhood and getting them to open a little bit more because they were closed about disclosing their childhood experiences. Tey both had a painful childhood in a lot of ways. So it was defnitely healing for me to talk to them and gave me insight into what some of the patterns were. It was really helpful for me in terms of getting in touch with the unconscious. Te journaling, really, is like letting your unconscious take over. Teres space for that. And theres something about the class that helps to elicit it, I think. I never really journaled that much outside of class. I never really got much out of it. Te space kind of allowed the unconscious to open. So I think it is a great tool for getting in touch with your unconscious. Hearing other people share is a great way to build connections or intimacy. I saw sides of people that I had never seen in other classes. And the family presentations were really powerful tooI saw sides of people I would never normally know about or see. [Tese aspects] cannot really come out because there are some norms or something. I dont really know what it is. Its like a transpersonal thing. Te space is created for peoples whole self to come forward, which I guess is what the transpersonal is. It is a powerful approach because it does bridge the personal family history with the transpersonal. Transpersonal is not just focusing on your defects and pains and your familys problems but it is holistic. I think it is a really powerful approach. Refections on Sunshine. I was struck by Sunshines words, Te space is created for peoples whole selves to come forward. Tis was something I noticed as well, again and again, particularly during students family presentations. I often noticed a sense of students full presence and wholeness during their family presentations and afterwards, when I observed students relating to each other in class. Sunshine refected on the healing aspects of talking to her parents about their childhoods, which opened new conversations and avenues for exploration and helped her understand family patterns. Many students reported similar experiences. She described helpful aspects of journaling sessions in class, which particularly assisted her in getting in touch with the unconscious. Sunshine said, Te journaling really is like letting your unconscious takeover. . . . Te space kind of allowed the unconscious to open. Some of the writing exercises I presented, especially those developed by Ira Progof (1992) and Natalie Goldberg (1986), do have a quality of allowing one to open to and listen to the unconscious. It was my hope that journaling would also allow time and space for integrating the information and insight that came from the unconscious, as seen in Janes comments above. Sunshine noted that the class atmosphere allowed the unconscious to open. I believe this is true. I believe the atmosphere of compassionate, non- judging awareness of ones own words and of others sharing fostered the openness. I further believe that the presence of a group who are journaling together helps everyone in the group move more deeply, just as a group of meditators can support the depth of an individuals meditation experiences. Sunshine refected on the community-building aspects of ATFAFS: Hearing other people share is a great way to build connections or intimacy. Te opportunity to hear classmates journal entries as well as family presentations contributed to this sense of intimacy. Marys Creative Expressive Prayer and Genogram Work Mary: One of the things I did was to make a REALLY BIG CHART (genogram), and I lived with it on my wall. So there was this corner I would slip into to do my family work, and the three dimensionality of it was important, the spatial aspect. And lately what I have been doing is I have been casting the faces of my family in plaster and then International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 129 Transpersonal Approach to Family Systems pressing clay into them, so right now I am doing people that are closer to me. So I put their pictures around, and I work on the mask, and I pray about them, and I think about them, and I make other things around. And theres a lot of stress and struggle in this. Im doing my oldest sisters children right now. Shes going through a horrifc time. Its hard being so far away. So for me, its like laying down these prayers for them and decorating their faces with leaves of plants that are blooming. Its a trippy thing, but its been really good for me, you know. I woke up this morning. I spent a couple of hours working on L. And so, its like the same part of my room. Teres a way that spatially I feel likeI dont know. I havent articulated this yet. So theres a way that its signifcant for me to return to that part of my room, to start to put up on the walls further manifestations or explorations into my family. And its helping me open myself to them in a really good way. And theres a way I can touch those faces and be aware of myself with those faces that I am hoping to more and more be like. And when I frst started casting them, I didnt have any idea that it would turn out to be such a big heart thing for me, you know. I feel like, when Im working on the faces, you know how you tend a little kid when theyre sick, you wipe their face, just like that big heart thing. You know, I really feel this big heart thing for me to work on these. So heres something else. Im thinking out loud. Teres a way we have a family situation where the boys havent really helped us. And its an old pattern in the family where the men are very charismatic, very powerful, and theyre each in their own way crazy . . . . Tey have wild hair or they played too hard or like this man, he really has a screw loose. I feel like in doing these masks that I am fnding my way with thosethat feld thing again . . . spending that time and I love this. [It is] really prayerful, loving to do this work. I feel like myself. Im fnding a way in myself to be able to be congruent with whats going on. It also feels that the working Im doing three dimensionally is helping me fnd my way to this other part of the family that Im not . . . that Im fnding my way with this mask. Im fnding my way also into myself, like how to view the way I develop. Refections on Mary. I chose to include this excerpt because it provides a striking example of a mode of creative expressive prayerful work that one student developed for herself. Mary found that working in three dimensions was important for her. She lived with her REALLY BIG CHART (genogram) in a special corner of her house. She described a creative expressive, prayerful practice that she created for herself as she did her family work. Mary worked on a project of casting the faces of her family members in plaster and then pressing clay into them to create masks. As she worked with each mask, she surrounded herself with pictures of that family member, thinking about him or her, ofering prayers, and decorating the mask with the leaves of blooming plants. Tis is a modality that arose spontaneously for Mary, and its power surprised her. Mary said, When I frst started casting them, I didnt have any idea that it would turn out to be such a big heart thing for me. Mary found huge beneft in this practice. She touched a new part of herself she hoped to develop: And theres a way I can touch those faces and be aware of myself with those faces, that I am hoping to more and more be like. Sweetness Continuous Family Investigation: Compelling, Exciting, and Painful Sweetness: Yes, its been about 3 years. Its been a continuous three years of working. Tere hasnt been a time in which I said, OK, I need a break. Im not going to do anything on this. Tings have come about the family and pieces about the family and family dynamics continually over this three-year period of time, and I know that theres still this call to continue to do work with it. My father is very excited for me to come home this summer because were going to look up some more things. I have been sharing with him each step of the way what Ive been doing and hes very, very excited about it. Ive become more excited about it and keep doing things on the Internet. Interviewer: What kinds of things are you doing on the Internet? Sweetness: Finding birth certifcates, fnding death certifcates. Like I never really knew the history of Kentucky and where people came from and how the land was allocated originally and Kentucky was next to Tennessee, which was a state that we were not free in and couldnt be free in. So lots of people came to Kentucky with no sense of family, nothing, but just to get away from being in a slave state. Uncovering that piece of history and what Ive recently found out is that my mothers grandparents werent from Kentucky. So thats been really, really interesting to really start tracing International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 130 Lazarus and picking and fnding and delving into. And its been painful. Its been a really painful process. I got into some of the Archives of Kentucky and found some of the court hearings and where they would, a slave was trying to run away, of a plantation, they would be caught and sentenced to so many lashes, whippings. Reading this, the pain and the torment, it sometimes feels overwhelming, it feels a little much, and yet there is this push to keep delving and trying to locate this information and trying to make sense of it. Im not quite sure what all this means, but its been really important to share with the family. And everyone wants me to bring home the big sheet that I prepared for class, so I can hang it up. And everybody wants to be on it. Its like we all want to fnd where we are. Did you put this person in? Well yes, mom, of course I put them in. Oh, we were hoping maybe we could have a reunion when you come and everyone can see this. Teyre hoping that I have found some pieces of information about my mothers grandparents, which has been very difcult if you were African American. You didnt go on a census; you went on as property. Its those kinds of things, and peoples names changed. Oftentimes you had to take the name of the family that owned you. So its been that kind of holding thats been hard. . . . I feel a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. And I feel this research is part of the big piece. Refections on Sweetness. Whereas Marys family work drew her toward prayerful mask-making, Sweetness was drawn deeply into family investigation. In this transpersonal feminist approach to family systems, students are encouraged to follow a particular direction that has the most heart and meaning for them. Sweetness found much beneft in her chosen direction. It brought her closer to her family. She enjoyed sharing her work with her father at every step of the way. In addition, her family was interested in her ongoing exploration: And everyone wants me to bring home the big sheet that I prepared for class, so I can hang it up. And everybody wants to be on it. It also eased a burden she carried. Paradoxically, though some of what Sweetness uncovered was extremely painful (e.g., If you were African American you didnt go on a census, you went on as property), she felt a sense of lightening: I feel a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. She attributed a part of this lifting to her family work. As I witnessed students of diferent cultures and ethnicities share particular pieces of their family history, I perceived greater possibilities for understanding, empathy, and appreciation of diferences. It was as if we were each privileged to look through a very detailed and private window of life and experience at times so diferent, at times so similar, to our own. Tere was something very powerful and illuminating about seeing each person in the very deep context from which she or he came. Several students reported that this process was a start in the healing of past hurts that had happened in their relationships. Austins Somatic Response to His Family Presentation: A Heart Opening Austin: So it [my family presentation] was a very, very touching experience. I didnt know how touching it was, but I knew when I was asked how I was doing at the end [of the presentation] I couldnt say. I didnt know because I was so touched, too deep to really put a label or name on what it was. And then we did a Reichian experience [in my next class]. We were lying on our backs and loosening up the armoring in our bodies. I remember feeling a ping in my left lung. I didnt know what it was. I just remember feeling it go of, kind of like a small needle. I went through the rest of the day. I did a drawing while listening to class and it ended up being this drawing of a person sitting cross-legged and having a swirl coming out of the chest cavity. I did it completely unconsciously. I wasnt paying attention to what my hands were doing as I was listening to class. Ten I went home and came back the next day. As I was pulling up to ITP a song came on the radio, Elton Johns Candle in the Wind, the verse, youre like the candle in the wind, youve been blown out long before your legend ever did. At that instant my grandmother on my moms side fashed into my mind and I just saw so vividly my genogram and her children, all my uncles and aunts and my mother and myself as her lineage, and you know she was blown out so quickly in the car accident. I just lost it. I cried for the rest of the song. I had a little bit of time so I was going to go in and meditate. I went into the meditation room and my left lung started hurting again. And so I did some concentration meditation on that area to see what was going on. With every breath it started getting worse and worse and fnally I just stopped concentrating on my breathing because it was hurting so much. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 131 Transpersonal Approach to Family Systems I thought I had a defated lung and so I ended up going to the hospital. Te doctor said it wasnt a defated lung, that it was muscular, in between my ribs up against my lung something had pulled, supposedly. He was going to do an EKG on me because he thought I was having heart problems. But after checking me out he said he didnt think that was necessary because my heart was sounding strong. I hadnt even thought about it being over my heart. I just was thinking about my lung. So that was the frst indicator that maybe this was heart related. Within two weeks I was back in Aikido practicing and so that kind of ruled out strained muscles. It didnt hurt after that. Te only other time after that was when I was listening to someone elses family presentation, and I was being touched emotionally again. So really for me that was an opening up of my heart to my family and to myself and thats kind of my indicator. When I feel that little ping I know, Oh, that must be emotional. Something emotional is coming up. I havent felt it in quite a while because I am paying attention more now to my emotions. Its like when Im not paying attention that it goes of. Its my indicator light. It says, Pay attention to whats going on. Refections on Austin. Austin spoke to the power of the experience of his presenting his family to his classmates: I didnt know how touching it was, but I knew when I was asked how I was doing at the end [of the presentation], I couldnt say. I didnt know because I was so touched, too deep to really put a label or name on what it was. Te experience continued as Austin progressed through his courses that day. A Reichian experience in his next class focused on loosening body armor. He reported feeling a ping and unconsciously completed a spontaneous drawing of a person sitting cross legged and having a swirl come out of his chest cavity. I am reminded of Peter Levines approach to the healing of trauma, which he has termed Somatic Experiencing (Levine & Kline, 2007). Levine talked frequently about the healing efects of the discharge of energy that has been trapped in the nervous system after trauma. I wondered if Austin was experiencing such a discharge of energy, straight from his heart area. Austins experience continued into the next day. In response to a song on the radio, Austin reported, my grandmother on my moms side fashed into my mind and I just so vividly saw my genogram . . . and you know she was blown out so quickly in the car accident. I just lost it. I cried for the rest of the song. I wondered if perhaps more of what is called discharge in the somatic experiencing work was occurring for Austin. I also wondered if, in Reichian terms, Austin was feeling the beneft of a loosening of his body armor. Troubled by an intense pain in his chest area, Austin made a trip to the hospital, thinking that there was a problem with his lung. Austin was told that his heart and lungs were fne, and that the doctor suspected some sort of muscular strain. Austin noticed that the ping only happens when he is touched emotionally, as when he is listening to someone elses family presentation. He made sense of the experience in his own terms: So really for me that was an opening up of my heart to my family and to myself and thats kind of my indicator. . . . When . . . I feel that little ping I know, Oh, that must be emotional. Something emotional is coming up. Recent discoveries in neuroscience have pointed to the importance of mindfulness of emotion as a factor that supports neural integration. Siegel (2009) noted: We fnd that this fow toward maximal complexity occurs with integration and actually achieves the qualities we can remember with the acronym FACES: fexible, adaptive, coherent, energized and stable. (p. 157) Siegel further observed: Tis is how integration can be seen as the heart of healthin a body, a brain, a mind, a relationship, or a group such as a community or a society. When we emotionally process something within any of these levels of experience, we are altering the state of integration of our system. (p. 159) I believe the way Austin moved through his experience demonstrates the characteristics of the FACES fow: he described an experience that is fexible, adaptive, coherent, energized, and stable. It will be interesting to check in with Austin to see, years later, if he feels that experience contributed to an alteration in the state of integration of his system, as Siegel implied. Benefts and Drawbacks of A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family Systems M ajor themes from students comments about the perceived benefts and drawbacks of ATFAFS are presented in Tables 2 and 3, respectively. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 132 Lazarus Drawbacks Four main themes of pitfalls or drawbacks emerged from the data: possible hurts, class organization issues, critiques regarding approach, and critiques regarding the instructor. Possible hurts. I discussed confdentiality issues at the beginning of the class, and I asked that students respect each others confdentiality. Tere is, though, always the risk that there might be a breach. I was aware, when planning and teaching this course, that some deep and unpleasant material might arise, which might at times be overwhelming. Tough there was processing time in class, through dreamwork and journaling, I understood that this might not be enough for some students at some times. To address this concern, I made a repeated recommendation to students from the beginning of class that they arrange support for themselves through outside psychotherapy. Tere were quite a number of transpersonally-trained psychotherapists in the community during the time I was teaching. Additionally, as I became aware of how powerful an efect the family presentations could have on students, I regularly suggested that students plan for some time of rest and support after their presentations. During my last year of teaching, with the able help of my teaching assistant, we experimented with creating a way in which older students might mentor new students through this process. My teaching assistant held a number of support groups for interested students. Finally, due to the risks involved with bringing up trauma, some training and practice in trauma healing (Levine, 1997; Ogden, 2006) might be a useful adjunct to this curriculum to support the transformative aspects of the program. Class organization issues. Most comments in this category asked for more of various aspects of the course: more presentation time, more processing time, more theory. Critiques regarding the approach. More information is needed in defning this approach, which this article begins to address. It is interesting that for some there was too much emphasis on emotions/feelings, while for others this emphasis was seen as a beneft. Te approach does take time, though students can choose how much time they wish to devote. Te approach does involve taking a look at the past, but I would argue that the present can be greatly enriched when there is a fuller understanding of the past. Critiques regarding the instructor. I think there is some truth to the observation that I was in a process of reintegrating the feminist part of myself that did not have full expression in my spiritual life at the time. I think there is also truth to the critique that I had some issues with relationship to my own authority and Table 2. Students Perceived Drawbacks to A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family Systems Possible hurts Possible hurt from family members you contact/ are unable to contact Possible cut off from important family relationships Possible breach in confdentiality Group not supportive Possible physical repercussions Process can be overwhelming Not adequate support or container if someone has a spiritual or psychological emergency Process can take you to some very dark places Unpleasant memories Uncovering a family secret can create nervousness in the family Too much emotional processing for some without enough balance of practical work in the world. Class organization issues Would prefer separating family systems and journaling into two classes. More theory. More experiential work. More time to present. More family systems courses in curriculum for those who choose to go on. Presentation time too rushed Need more processing time Would have liked a smaller class with more processing time Critiques regarding approach Needs more information about the defnition of a transpersonal, feminist approach to family systems Not easy to evaluate statistically Lack of acceptance from the counseling world Not enough emphasis on emotions/feelings Takes a lot of time Past oriented Critiques regarding the instructor April: My experience is that shes bringing back the feminist side of her she had to push down in the spiritual part of herself. In coming to terms with this, I believe she is trying to integrate those pieces of herself. Mary to Irene: I question your relationship to your own authority. Irenes own biases and blind spots International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 133 Transpersonal Approach to Family Systems with fnding my voice. I do see this preliminary research and the writing of this article as a way of fnding and strengthening my voice. Benefts Te benefts described by students were substantial. Four main themes emerged: healing, empowerment, community building, and powerful. Te healing theme divided into the subthemes healing/ transforming of self, emotional healing, healing of important relationships, healing for other family members, and contributes to global healing. It is not surprising, and heartening as well, that healing was the major theme that emerged regarding benefts of ATFAFS. Tat the healing category encompassed strengthening sense of self, emotional healing, and healing of important relationships is also not surprising; this confrms my own experience with the work and my observations of students and clients over the years. I was delighted to see that the theme of empowerment emerged as a perceived beneft: fnding voice, strengthening voice, discovering for oneself rather from outside experts, and choosing ones own focus were all aspects that are consciously nurtured in this approach. Community building was another major theme that emerged, and again confrms my observations while teaching. A very special kind of community is described, one that I hope we as humanity are growing toward, where dark parts are seen and accepted, intimacy is increased, there is support for appreciation for diferences, as well as an increased feeling of being understood and accepted. Powerful was the fnal beneft mentioned, described by a comment as, working many levels at once. A major beneft not mentioned by students, but that I have enjoyed in my own life as a result of working with this approach, is something I call sturdiness. I have noticed a deep groundedness, which I attribute to an understanding and familiarity with my roots through the generations. I have, of course, worked with this approach longer than my students, and this sturdiness has developed over time. Final Words W hen I was on faculty at ITP, I participated in a retreat at which we talked about core values for the Institute. As I recall, we agreed on four values: mindfulness, compassion, discernment, and appreciation of diferences. I believe ATFAFS contributed to each Table 3. Students Perceived Benefts of A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family Systems Healing Healing/transforming of self Nurturing the coming out of aspects of self not yet been explored Insight into self/self understanding Seeing patterns Broadening perspective/seeing people in context Seeing self differently Stronger sense of self Creates an opening to the unconscious Making the unconscious conscious Emotional healing Allows dropping of engrained defenses Opening gates to emotional awareness and expression Being seen and accepted Weight lifted from shoulders Opening the heart Healing the heart Movement toward softer emotions (love, forgiveness) Acceptance Developing love and compassion Access to forgiveness Healing of important relationships Being more fully ones authentic self in important relationships Process of forgiveness Honoring people as they are Holding all people in a loving way Renewed appreciation for those who came before Appreciation for family members journeys Insight into important others Healing for other family members Contributes to global healing Empowerment Finding voice Strengthening voice Discovering for one self rather from outside experts Choosing ones own focus Community building Having dark part seen and accepted Increases intimacy Promotes appreciation for differences Feeling understood and accepted Powerful Working with many levels at once International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 134 Lazarus of these values. 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Te experience of beauty, body image, and the feminine in three generations of mothers and daughters (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, CA. Siegel, D. (2009). Emotion as integration: A possible answer to the question, what is emotion? In D. Fosha, D. Siegel, & M. Solomon (Eds.), Te healing power of emotion: Afective neuroscience, development & clinical practice (pp. 145-171). New York, NY: Norton. Speeth, K. (1982). On psychotherapeutic attention. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 14(2), 141-160. Vaughan, F. (1975). Transpersonal psychotherapy: Context, content and process. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 11(2), 101-110. Vaughan, F. (1982). Te transpersonal perspective: A personal overview. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 14(1), 37-45. Vaughan, F. (1991). Spiritual issues in psychotherapy. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 23(2), 105-119. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 136 Lazarus Taylor, N. (1996). Womens experience of the descent into the underworld: Te path of Inanna: A feminist and heuristic inquiry (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, CA. Zinnbauer, B. & Camerota, E. (2004). Te spirituality group: A search for the sacred. Journal of Transper- sonal Psychology, 36(1), 50-65. Notes 1. I am very grateful to the substantial contributions of Kathryn Lazarus Baron, with whom I developed this approach, beginning in 1989. I am also very grateful to Marianne-Ault Riche, June Singer, Robert Frager, Hillevi Ruumet, and Louis Vuksinic for their insightful consultation. Te works of Murray Bowen, Michael Kerr, Daniel Papero, Monica McGoldrick, Carmen Knudsen-Martin, Natalie Goldberg, James Pennebaker, Ira Progof, Fraser Boa, Marie Louise von Franz, Jill Mellick, Michelle Cassout, Larry Dossey, and Tich Nhat Hanh have been very infuential as well. I am grateful as well to all students who were present in my classes and those who chose to participate in this preliminary investigation. Special thanks to Darcy Horton, for her careful editing, and Marie Mae for her invaluable contributions as my teaching assistant. Special thanks to Ryan Rominger and Mary Zinsmeyer, who assisted in developing the protocol and also conducted and transcribed interviews and assisted in analyzing data. My thanks as well to Kathy Stannard-Friel and Monique Vazire who assisted in the developing of the protocol. 2. In the residential doctoral program at ITP, this approach was taught in a class entitled Inner Work Practicum; Creative Expression was taught as a separate course by Dr. Jill Mellick. In the ITP Global course A Transpersonal Approach to Family Systems (Lazarus, 1999), creative expression was included as part of the course. When students worked with this approach in Clinical Practicum, journaling, dreamwork, creative expression and other modalities were not a part of the course. Students used these modalities as they felt called to individually. Public disclosure of journaling, dreams, or family history is never required. Students may pass on reading journal entries and may elect to submit a paper on their family investigation instead of choosing to make a family presentation to the class. About the Author Irene Lazarus, PhD, maintains a private practice as a licensed marriage and family therapist in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Dr. Lazarus served on the faculty of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology for 24 years during which she taught in both the global and residential programs. Dr. Lazarus served as the Associate Editor for Clinical Matters of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology from 2002-2008 and as the Coeditor and Editor of the newsletter for the North Carolina Association of Marriage and Family Terapy from 2002-2009. She has presented at national and state conferences and to graduate students on A Transpersonal Feminist Approach to Family Systems. About the Journal Te International Journal of Transpersonal Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal in print since 1981. It is published by Floraglades Foundation, and serves as the ofcial publication of the International Transpersonal Association. Te journal is available online at www. transpersonalstudies.org, and in print through www. lulu.co (search for IJTS). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 137 Wheel of the Year as Spiritual Psychology Te Wheel of the Year as a Spiritual Psychology for Women
Valeire Kim Duckett Asheville, NC, USA Te Wheel of the Year is a name used to describe the cyclical progression of the seasons through time and most often described as part of Pagan, Goddess, and womens spirituality and/or Wiccan magical traditions. Tis article introduces the authors conceptual model of the Wheel of the Year as an earth-based psychology for women, one that is inherently feminist and also based in transpersonal psychologies. Women explore the turning points, or holydays of the Wheel, on both spiritual and psychological levels through a wide range of modalities that engage body, mind, emotion, and spirit. Te Wheel provides an overarching psychospiritual framework for recognizing, understanding, and responding to experiences and processes that may occur over the course of a womans life. A fter woman and spirit, feminist is the term I most often use to describe myself, my worldview, and my spiritual path. I believe I chose, on a spiritual level, to be part of bringing balance to the power dynamics between the sexes/genders on the planet at this time, and to that end, I have chosen and feel that I have been called to work specifcally in the area of female healing and empowerment. I have done this in a number of ways all the adult years of my life: as a student of feminism, as an activist for the prevention of violence against women, and through my thirty-year career as a womens studies teacher in university settings. Some time ago, even as I continued teaching in the university, my work with women moved from the academy back out into the community, where, like many feminists of my generation, my passion and advocacy for women began. Equipped with a solid foundation in academic scholarship about women, I have gone on to create environments, structures, and processes for women to acknowledge, retrieve, name, release, and heal old pain and anger, both as individuals and collectively, and to do so in ways that honor and celebrate women and womens ways of knowing and being. I call the container in which this is done circle, and the way that it is done ritual, both of which I consider to be remnants of ancient, long- buried spiritual psychologies that are re-emerging today. Although the technologies of circle, ritual, and the Wheel itself can be successfully applied to a variety of settings (Baldwin, 1998) and populations (Baker & Hill, 1998; Starhawk, 1999), I work exclusively with women in my professional endeavors and in theorizing, as I do here, regarding the Wheel of the Year and female development and psychology from a feminist perspective. 1
For over two decades I have ofered formal classes in Goddess and womens spirituality 2 and in this way, sat circle with hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of women, listening and learning about women from women. As a woman who also teaches classes in women and psychology in the university, I consider what I have learned from women in circle to be of equal value to what I have learned in academic settings. As with the work of other woman-centered psychologies, such as that of Carol Gilligan (1982; Gilligan, Ward, & Taylor, 1988), Jean Baker Miller (1986; Miller & Stiver, 1997), and now many others who have also listened to and researched the lived experiences of girls and women, I have gone on to apply feminist research by creating learning environments that are specifc to, and supportive of, women. For example, I have ofered a Womens Mystery School since 1997, with a three-year formal curriculum that ofers training in feminist (Christ & Plaskow, 1989; Christ, 1997) and Goddess spirituality based on my professional experience and training in womens psychology and spirituality and my work with Te Wheel of the Year. I now travel throughout the US teaching a year-long training called Te Wheel of the Year as an Earth-based Spiritual Psychology for Women through the auspices of the Re-formed Congregation of the GoddessInternational, 3 and I am currently completing a book on the subject. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 2010, pp. 137-151 Keywords: earth-based psychology, female development, womens spirituality, Wicca, feminism, transpersonal psychologies, psychosynthesis. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 138 Duckett Although my interests and work encompass all aspects of womens spirituality in general, and Dianic Goddess and Wiccan traditions in particular (e.g., Barrett, 2007; Budapest, 1989; Jade, 1991), for the last twenty years much of my work has focused on European, earth-based shamanic and magical traditions. Te centrality of the Wheel of the Year, or the Wheel of Life, in these traditions has become a beloved tool in my personal spiritual practice. I have also discovered, along with my sisters who have followed the Wheel together as a community for many years, that the Wheel is not simply a teaching or illustrative tool about the seasons, or planting, or a backdrop for the agricultural myths of antiquity. I have come to see it as yet another remnant of ancient psychologies as well as a spiritual path, and I teach it as such, as will be detailed below. Te reader will note that I have adopted instances of capitalization throughout this document to refect the conventions of usage adopted by the spiritualities that are foundational to the Wheel of the Year work (e.g., in relation to words that signify sacred and symbolic terminology and concepts in traditions such as Wicca or Paganism). Such use of capitalization is in keeping with traditional usage in mainstream religious and spiritual practices. In other instances I have capitalized terms and concepts that I have developed as a theorist and practitioner that are integral to the overall conceptual framework of this psychospiritual model. Te Wheel T he Wheel of the Year is a name used by those involved in contemporary European earth-based spiritualities, and now in common usage, to describe the cyclical progression of the seasons through time. Te turning points, or holydays, of these seasons have also been given names, though the names vary from culture to culture and in diferent time periods. Some of the most commonly known of these are: Imbolc, Spring Equinox, Beltane, Summer Solstice, Lammas, Autumn Equinox, Samhain, and Winter Solstice. 4 Some contemporary sources (e.g., Hutton, 1991) have asserted that the term Wheel of the Year is a fairly recent invention of contemporary Wicca and Neopaganism. Tese same sources stressed that there is currently no evidence that any one group of ancient peoples celebrated all eight of the holydays now recognized by contemporary European, earth-based groups. It may never be known what the ancient fore- mothers called the movement of the seasons through time, or how many seasons or increments of time they celebrated, or the names these special days were given. However, because of the work of Marija Gimbutas (1982, 1989, 1991, 1999), the eminent authority on old European cultures, and others (e.g., Marler, 1997) in the felds of archeology and archaeomythology, 5 it is known that these ancestors did in fact celebrate the seasons and experienced them, and human life itself, as cyclical. In Neolithic Europe and Asia Minor (ancient Anatolia)in the era between 7000 BCE and 3000 BCEreligion focused on the wheel of life and its cyclical turning. Tis is the geographic sphere and the time frame I refer to as Old Europe. In Old Europe, the focus of the religion encompassed birth, nurturing, growth, death, and regeneration, as well as crop cultivation and the raising of animals. (Gimbutas, 1999, p. 3) Just as the ancient foremothers did not separate them- selves from nature in the ways later patriarchal worldviews proscribed (Eisler, 1987; Stone, 1978), it is also likely that they, like contemporary transpersonalists, did not separate their experiences into separate compartments of spiritual and psychological.
Although I speak in passing about the idea that following the seasons may have been a psychology as well as a spirituality and a way of life for ancient Old European peoples and cultures, proving such psycho- spiritual suppositions or the antiquity of the Wheel in its present form is not the focus of this article. My focus instead is to introduce readers to the concept of Te Wheel of the Year as a helpful contemporary earth-based psychology for women and that it is, as I conceptualize and teach it, inherently feminist and also solidly based in transpersonal psychologies. To that end, after some contextual information and an overview of the Wheel of the Year teachings and format, I will explore in some detail a number of the holydays to show how I work with them as a spiritual psychology. Transpersonal and Spiritual Psychology T he Wheel as it is known today is seen or experienced mainly as an inherent part of contemporary, earth- based spiritualities, as in Wicca, Paganism, Goddess and womens spiritualities. As I previously asserted, my work shifts the focus of the Wheel to being a psychology, and specifcally, a transpersonal and spiritual psychology. I have always had an organic interest in psychology, though never in its traditional forms. My International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 139 Wheel of the Year as Spiritual Psychology early feminism taught me to mistrust much of psychology because of its inherent androcentrism (Baker, 1986) and, as I began to understand later, its limited scope. I encountered more expansive psychologies in the ideas of the transpersonal through my early experiences with holotropic breathwork and the accompanying theoretical frameworks of Christine and Stanislov Grof (1988) and elsewhere in my graduate program in transpersonal and spiritual psychologies. Only then did I begin to fnd and apply psychologies that made sense to me. Transpersonal psychologies recognize, study, and develop responses to experiences that are transcendent and spiritual, including those that cannot be explained fully by the biographical life of an individual. Tese can range from what Maslow (1983) called peak experiences to altered and non-ordinary states of consciousness, mysticism, trance states, and the like (Lajoi & Shapiro, 1992). Caplan (2009) asserted that transpersonal psychology addresses the full spectrum of human psychospiritual developmentfrom our deepest wounds and needs, to the existential crisis of the human being, to the most transcendent of our consciousness (p. 231). During my graduate studies in the 1990s, I encountered a trend calling for changes in transpersonal psychology to include more focus on the spiritual. Tis was the spiritual psychology described by Tomas Yeomans (1999). Te need to distinguish between transpersonal and spiritual psychology seems to have diminished today, and I continue to use the terms interchangeably. Central to both transpersonal and spiritual psychology is the recognition of the connection and overlap of the psychological and the spiritual, which is the basis of my assertion that the Wheel of the Year as I conceptualize and work with it is a spiritual psychology. It took me some time to realize that what I was already doing in my circles and rituals with women was, in fact, transpersonal/spiritual psychology. Tat realization came in the mid-1990s when I was introduced to the writings of Anne Yeomans (1984) and her work regarding psychosynthesis, which I will expand upon later in this essay. Te Wheel of the Year as a Spiritual Psychology for Women T he basis of the Wheel of the Year (WOTY) as a spiritual psychology is that of honoring both the seasons of nature and the corresponding seasons of womens lives. Although many womens and Goddess spirituality sources have made these same connections (Barrett, 2007; Budapest, 1989; Christ, 1987; Mountainwater, 1991; Starhawk, 1999; Teish, 1985), none have named or practiced the Wheel, specifcally or explicitly, as a psychology, nor have they recognized or explicitly made the case for the potential of conceptualizing, living, and teaching it as such. Most of these sources speak of and teach the Wheel as a part of Pagan or womens/Goddess spirituality and/or Wiccan magical traditions. I deeply honor, am versed in, and live these traditions myself and consider these and other women writers and thinkers my respected foremothers in this endeavor. However, because of my training and experience in womens circles, womens studies, womens psychology, and transpersonal psychologies, I believe my perspectives and theoretical model regarding the Wheel as a psychology are broader. Although there are many diferences, some of the works closest to my own perspective of the Wheel, specifcally as a psychology, include the articulations of Davis and Leonard (2002) in Te Circle of Life: Tirteen Archetypes for Everywoman and the tone of Judith Bergers (1999) work Herbal Rituals. Surprisingly perhaps, Laurel Ann Reinhardts (2001) book for young readers, Seasons of Magic: A Girls Journey, ofered one of the most profound psychological perspectives of the Wheel and the holydays that I have encountered. Perhaps this is not so surprising given that Reinhardt is also a practicing psychologist. In working with the WOTY, participants explore the psychospiritual nature of the eight holydays of the European earth-based Wheel as well as other holydays that have been identifed and added based on womens lived experiences. For example, this Wheel includes holydays related to Menarche, the Amazon, and the Crone. Whether it is in the monthly format of the Womens Mystery School or the quarterly weekend intensives of the WOTY trainings, all participants attend an initial eight-hour overview of Te Wheel as a spiritual psychology. Trough lecture, discussions, altars, theatre, music, and rituals, women begin to unlearn or expand upon much that they may have read or experienced about these holydays exclusively as related to spirituality. Simultaneously, they encounter the basics of this new and unique way of perceiving and experiencing the Wheel and the holydays as a synthesis of both psychology and spirituality. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 140 Duckett Tereafter, for each of the holydays, participants prepare by reading materials from a wide variety of sources, including those that describe traditional spiritual ideas about the holydays per se and readings from womens studies about womens lives and psychology specifcally (Kesselman, McNair, & Schniedewind, 2004; Maitlin, 2004). For example, for Spring Equinox (March 21/22), which in the WOTY is also the holyday of Te Divine Girl-Child, students read from Pagan, Goddess, Wiccan and womens spirituality sources about how Spring Equinox is generally thought of and celebrated, as well as from feminist sources that describe the reality of girls socialization and experiences (Gilligan, 1982; Gilligan, Ward, & Taylor, 1988; Kesselman et al., 2004; Maitlin, 2004). As a way of exploring each womans personal experience of Spring Equinox or the Divine Girl- Child holyday, participants are asked to take all of this information in and allow their own response to surface. From that response, women create a fve to seven minute ritual gesture that each woman shares/enacts when the group meets for the holyday. Like other contemporary non-dominate spiritualities (Cahill & Halpern, 1992), womens spirituality has expanded upon the defnition and experience of ritual that goes beyond the notion of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order (Oxford, 2002, p. 1170) to include rituals that are organic, individual, spontaneous, and creative (Miller, 2004). I have developed a methodology I use in the Wheel as psychology work that I call personal rituals. Individual personal rituals are gestures that speak about or to the emotional response that arises in a woman as she explores the readings and refects upon her own life experiences. Tey can include enactments, psychodrama, the creation of altars, readings, dance or movement, the honoring of items from that time period, shamanic healings, and the like, all done within a fve to seven minute timeframe. Although she may enlist the help of other participants (e.g., as in a psychodrama), these are neither group rituals nor performances, but rather deeply personal connective conversations among the participant, the aspect of herself she is working with, and Spirit. Often it is the emotional and developmental processes a woman goes through as she prepares her personal ritual that is even more signifcant than the actual gesture itself. Personal rituals done in this way are unique to this work and one of the main reasons women are drawn to follow the Wheel as a psychology. At each holyday, depending upon how many women are participating, the personal rituals take three or four hours, with women enacting their personal rituals one after the other. Although the group takes brief breaks in silence, the whole experience is considered a ritual in and of itself. Te intensity and power of 13 to 18 women, each speaking the truth about her life experience in the modality of ritual and gesture, rather than just word- saying, creates an environment of exponential healing and authentic celebration. All of this is done in what is called circle or circle culture, which has been best described by Christina Baldwin (1998) in Calling the Circle: Te First and Future Culture and popularized by Jean Shinoda Bolen (1999) in Te Millionth Circle. Circle is a way of being together 6
(Te Womens Well, n.d., para. 1) and includes the use of a talking item (a technique used by Native American and other indigenous, earth-based peoples to assure that each speaker in a circle may speak without interruption), guidelines for respectful, attentive listening and witnessing, as well as commitments to confdentiality and anonymity. Te personal ritual format described here is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful psychological tools I have ever experienced, applied, or witnessed. Since learning is not just an intellectual endeavor, in addition to the personal rituals, each time the group meets, women also invite learning through their bodies, emotions, and spirits using modalities such as personal processing, meditation, movement, journaling, visualization, creating art, divination, singing, chanting, drumming, trance dancing, shamanic journeying, and the like. Tose using transpersonal psychologies will most likely recognize these healing modalities. Using a large repertoire of methods helps assure that participants with diferent learning, experiential, or emotional styles are served. Tus, at every holyday juncture, each woman of the group encounters related material prior to the session and allows an emotional response to surface, and responds in the language of personal ritual. Te group then encounters further information and experiential exercises related to the holyday when they meet as a part of the Mystery School or WOTY weekend. In this way, women work throughout the year, and each year, with each life phase represented on the Wheel, including the Girl-Child, the Maiden/Adolescent, She Who Cycles, She Who Creates, Sustains, and Nurtures, 7 the Amazon, the Mid-Life Woman, the Crone, and so on. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 141 Wheel of the Year as Spiritual Psychology One can name and work with these encounters of the seasons of womens lives in many ways. For example, in psychosynthesis they can be identifed and worked with as subpersonalities (Rowan, 2001; Ruefer, 1996). Tese points on the Wheel and the corresponding phases of womens lives can also be experienced and worked with using shamanic techniques. I use the term shaman and employ shamanic methods with respect and care, being aware of and committed to an ethic I gained and maintain as a feminist, namely to take care not to appropriate the spiritual traditions of cultures other than my own (Tree Rivers, 1991). I have chosen to work specifcally with European, earth-based traditions such as the Wheel for that very reason, to ofer all women, and particularly women of white, European ancestry and backgrounds, an opportunity to explore and fnd their own indigenous, earth-based roots and shamanic traditions rather than taking the spiritual traditions of others. Sadly, at this time, just as the names the foremothers of Old Europe gave to the seasons or holydays remain unknown, so too the names they gave to those who embodied what is today known as shamanism have been lost. Although the full extent of their practices remains unclear, this situation is being partially rectifed by the work of Max Dashu (n.d.), Vicki Noble (1991), Barbara Tedlock (2005) and others. 8
Te WOTY itself, both as a spirituality and a psychology, can be conceptualized and experienced as shamanic in a number of ways, including using a universal commonalities perspective (Harner, 1990). Te standards used to describe or identify shamanic methods or experiences are many and include the following: they must incorporate a notion of the birth/death/rebirth cycle, be used for healing/wholeness, and include the notion of various dimensions of reality or places one can travel or visit for information to bring back to this reality, or another reality, for healing. In the model I am presenting here of the WOTY as a spiritual psychology, all of these factors are present including the notion that work with subpersonalities or developmental life phases can be considered other dimensions and worked with through the use of shamanic ritual. Shamanic rituals and transpersonal perspectives are fully integrated into the WOTY practice. For example, I believe that Western women have yet to fully acknowledge and grieve the loss of the Goddess cultures that occurred some 6,000 years ago (Gimbutas, 1991; see also Eisler, 1987); those feelings can and do afect Western women collectively and as individuals today. Tese unrecognized and unnamed transpersonal experiences or matrices can present in any number of ways, including serious and immobilizing psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, and others. Women in the WOTY practice learn about Goddess cultures and their loss in intellectual work with the Wheel, we do personal and group rituals of acknowledgment and grieving, and we may also use shamanic journeys to retrieve specifc information and memory in support of healing. As the ritualist and transpersonal helper or guide, I give the same kind of support and suggestions in these situations as one might when working therapeutically with a personal, repressed biographical memory, but with the added perspective of transpersonal psychology and methods. A similar situation often occurs as we study the Inquisition and the torture and murder of women en masse in what is known as the Burning Times
(Armstrong, Pettigrew, Johansson, & Read, 1990; Barstow, 1994). Women in general, and especially those currently involved in herbalism, midwifery, and other female healing modalities common during that historical period of Europe or those interested in or returning to or maintaining their earth-based roots from any cultural tradition, often have transpersonal experiences they have no way of understanding or working through within traditional psychological frameworks. Common transpersonal perspectives and methodologies such as visualization, ritual, past life regressions, shamanic journeying, and the like can be of great help in these situations. Tis has been one of the most fulflling aspects of the fusion of feminism and transpersonal psychology for me. Feminism, and the subsequent scholarship that has grown out of feminism, can give factual information about womens experiences, while transpersonal perspectives and psychologies can ofer not only a framework to contextualize collective non-biographical experiences but also methods inherent in that framework to respond to womens bodily/emotional/spiritual reactions to this information. As a longtime feminist educator and as a woman involved in womens psychology, often the only way I have witnessed movement and healing in womens psyches and lives has been through this application of transpersonal psychology, transpersonal/shamanic methods, or both. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 142 Duckett on earth cease to grow and produce until another god intercedes and Persephone is permitted to spend half of her time above ground with her mother. However, she must still reside the rest of the year in the Underworld with her abductor. If elaborated on at all, this story of abduction and rape continues to be proposed in world civilization classes as a story that the Greeks created and used to explain the seasons, specifcally Winter and Spring. When I recount this version of the story to women, they shudder, shake their heads, and roll their eyes (and often weep). All of us who share those moments are very clear that we would never tell our children, and especially our daughters, such a story to explain the naturalness and beauty of the changing seasons; nor do we believe that Greek mothers did this. Neither did Charlene Spretnak, one of the early writers in womens spirituality, who constructed an earlier version of the story based on the many artistic representations of Persephones descent that omit the rape (Downing, 1994, p. 106). Spretnak (1992) saw these as reminders of an earlier version of the story. Spretnaks version of the myth proceeds from her assumption that the story of Persephones rape and abduction was added to the Persephone traditions after the rise of patriarchy, indeed, that it is a disguised representation of the patriarchal invasion (Downing, 1994, p. 106). In Spretnaks (1992) rendition of the story, Persephone and her mother Demeter are living in beauty and peace. Persephone, however, experiences an internal shift when she sees the spirits of those who have died of in the distance, their faces drawn with pain and bewilderment (Downing, 1994, p. 110). She chooses to go and minister to them and in this way spends time in the Underworld. In this story, she also returns from the place of the dead in the spring to be with her Mother in the above world. She feels called to be in both worlds and goes back and forth voluntarily. Tere is no violence in this version, only the story of the natural cycles of birth, death, and rebirth. In work with the WOTY as a spiritual psych- ology, Spretnaks story and her notion of Persephones descent as voluntary is taken one step further, a step based on what can be readily observed in nature and in ones own garden. Te story is much the same, with Persephone and Demeter, the Goddess, having a wonderful time in the beauty of the world, marveling at all of creation and loving one another. One day, however, From Autumn Equinox to Spring Equinox: Te Underworld/Inner Time of the Year A lthough this is not the place to ofer an in-depth description of each of the holydays, I would like to focus on some of them to give the reader a sense of how they can be worked with as a spiritual psychology. In doing so, I also wish to highlight what I think is one of the most important aspects of the Wheel as a psychology for women and one that I later found echoed in the transpersonal psychology of psychosynthesis. To explain this further, I will return to the example used earlier: Spring Equinox. Earths peoples have always given names and personality forms to the energies they experience, and one of the names given for this time of year and its processes is Persephone. Her story involves voluntarily leaving her mother, Demeter, and the outer world ways of being, in the autumn of the year, to turn toward her inner life, to explore her soul-self and learn wisdom from her inner Wise One, Hecate. At Spring Equinox, one says goodbye to the inner time and returns to the outer time to create the world anew, guided by the wisdom gained in inner time refections/lessons. 9 Te WOTY has been used to describe the amount of sunlight reaching the Earths surface at any given time of the year, resulting from the tilt of the Earth, which in turn creates the seasons. Tis is of great importance to those who must be attentive to the light and the seasons: the farmers, gardeners, gatherers, fsherfolk, herders, and others involved in the growing or pursuing of food and other resources needed for the living of life. Tere are also many myths and stories that have been overlaid on the Wheel. Some use the lifespan of a deity, but others were created and used to explain and teach the lifecycle of vegetation, grain, animal life, and the seasons. One of the most ancient of these stories is that of Persephone and Demeter. In the patriarchal version of this story (Foley, 1994), Persephone lives with her mother, Demeter, in a world that is always sunny and beautiful. Tey pass their days together happily tending to Earths bounty and caring for one another. Persephone is exploring on her own one day when Hades, the god of the Underworld, creates a huge chasm in the earths surface and forcibly takes Persephone into the underworld to, as it was euphemistically framed in classical Greek versions of the myth, be his wife. Demeter, who does not know what has happened, grieves so deeply that all living things International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 143 Wheel of the Year as Spiritual Psychology Persephone has a feeling and wonders earnestly: Is this all there is? Is there more to life? By doing so, she names a restlessness or knowing that there is more to life than outer pursuits, a knowledge that she later chooses to heed by traveling to the Underworld for other kinds of learning and experiences. 10
It is not difcult to imagine that European foremothers, as well as those of other cultures, used these observable realities, the cycle of changing light and the growing seasons of both animal and plant life, and the stories they created about these cycles, to describe their own inner lives and the dynamics between and amongst themselves in human relationships and communities. Just as trees and plants stop their process of producing leaves, blossoms, and fruits in the Fall and move their energy downward to the roots to renew and resource by absorbing nutrients and slowing their life processes for Winter, so too might womens needs for rest and refection amid cycles of productivity and outward focus be conveyed by such a story. Tis account, which stresses Persephone going voluntarily into the Underworld, has other precedents in nature as well. In late Autumn, if left to fnish their cycle in the garden, plants drop their seeds naturally or, as it were, voluntarily. Tey fall to the ground to winter over until the light and warmth of the sun bring them to life again as fragile shoots in early Spring, and the growth cycle begins again. Food plants that grow where they were not planted or that appear unexpectedly in compost bins are commonly called volunteers. Ancient peoples saw this same process and may have used it as the basis of early pre-patriarchal descent psychologies and stories not reliant upon violence or abstract ideas. Contemporary Western women often respond deeply to this version of the story and its basis in nature. Many immediately relate to the story as that of a literal mother-and-daughter dynamic, and especially regarding the daughters need to go on her own adventures. In the spirit of others who also work with this story as a psychology for women (e.g., Carlson, 1997; Downing, 1994; Meador, 1993), I ask women to consider expanding the storys meaning to describe other relationships and psychologically complex situations. I ask, for example, about the scenario of being truly happy in a love relationship and with ones life and also wanting to travel on ones own or return to school. What about being successful and happy with a career but feeling called to make a change that will afect the status quo of ones life in some way? Women often nod gravely in response to these questions. Although such a dilemma is not an easy place to be, it is a situation women recognize, know, and are relieved to hear described as a natural part of their psychology, whether or not they choose to follow the call. In the work with the Wheel as a spiritual psychology, we honor that each year in the Autumn, or at other times in our lives or personal cycles, we as Persephone go voluntarily and naturally into the inner time of growth, often wearying of the always outer time. We understand our need to be more refective, knowing that it will strengthen us. We learn to know and respect that signifcant growth happens below ground and we seek it. We say we go to be with our Grandmother Hecate, the name we give to our own inner Wise One, a term and concept readily recognizable to transpersonalists who utilize shamanic or mythic tropes in their own work. In this psychology, Persephones return and our own are also voluntary and natural, the heeding of an internal call for both inwardness and outwardness. Tough adherents to patriarchal science claim to be the ultimate authorities on the processes of nature, who can really explain the confuence of factors that make a seed fall when it does, or what causes it to germinate, sprout, grow, and bloom? In the same way, who can know an individual womans corresponding internal rhythms and cyclical needs and patterns? Working with the Wheel in this way can help a woman to deeply know herself, and encourages her to fnd and eventually listen to and trust her own internal cycles and processes. We ask women following the Wheel as a psychology to step fully into this teaching story, to think of times they have been Persephone, Demeter, or Hecate. In this way, we try to honor that each of us has all of these aspects within us and to encourage ourselves to see the overarching wisdom inherent in the story as a psychology. Together we learn that each of us must go inward for refection, rest, and inner nourishment before coming out to grow and bloom, to be healthy women. In relation to this seasonal pattern, Spring Equinox and Autumn Equinox are the two crucial holyday thresholds. One can see them as the beginning of Autumn and the beginning of Spring but also, and more importantly as a psychology for women, the former is the beginning of a going-in time or experience, and the latter is a coming-out time or the Return from an inner or Underworld experience. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 144 Duckett Te WOTY as a spiritual psychology is not an abstract idea. Te Wheel is the name given to a literal natural phenomenon, the predictable but ever- changing fow of the seasons through time. While this work with the Wheel as a psychology asserts that there is great healing value in realigning ourselves with this chronological reality, it is also meant to be a psychological and developmental map or framework, and while it is one that is frmly embedded in nature, it can be experienced and used outside of the actual chronology. As a way of internalizing the map, we encourage women to follow the Wheel chronologically year in and year out, and in this way, the Wheel can ofer women practice in this psychospiritual framework for recognizing, understanding, and dealing with a range of situations that may arise in the course of their lives. Te focus here has been on the under time of the Wheel that begins with Autumn Equinox (September 21/22) and includes fve other holydays: Samhain (October 31), Winter Solstice (December 21/22), Imbolc (February 2), and Spring Equinox (March 21/22). 11 Te ffth, one of the created holydays of our year, occurs in November. It is the time of the Late Winter woman, the Crone, the older woman who is honored and revered as the Wisdom Keeper of her people. Although each of these will be mentioned briefy in the following discussion, the focus for now is on the two threshold holydays, the Autumn and Spring Equinoxes, and the season of Winter generally. Autumn Equinox has a multitude of meanings and psychological opportunities for those who follow the Wheel as a spiritual psychology. In the larger Pagan, Goddess, and womens spirituality communities, it is most often associated with the end of the growing season that culminates in harvest celebrations. While honoring the harvests of the year just past, or of a lifetime, may be part of what a woman feels called to ritualize at this holyday, as a developmental model, this time of the year is equated with the Autumn woman (Monaghan, 2002, p. 93). As such, it is a time of proactively taking stock, much as the foremothers did literally in the Fall, assessing their storehouses of foods. At Autumn Equinox, one encounters a corresponding time of assessment. We ask ourselves a set of pointed questions as we explore the spiritual psychology of a woman at mid-life and the Blood Mystery of menopause. Another focus of Autumn Equinox is what is called Persephones change in consciousness. Tis gives name to that poignant, complex moment in the story of Persephone and Demeter, and in real womens lives, when a woman fnds herself in the midst of situations of abundance but is also being called to something else. Tis poignancy can also intensify during mid-life and menopause when a woman grapples with a need to seek rest, refection, contemplation, and resourcing for the next half of her life as she simultaneously contends with the life she has already created. 12 Terefore, those of us who follow the Wheel as a psychology speak of and ritualistically enact Autumn Equinox as the time of going voluntarily into the Underworld or what is most often referred to as the Deep. 13
It is here that one can begin to discern the many ways to go in or fnd ones self in the Deep. It is possible to see that there are times in a womans life when she has been taken down, grabbed by Hadesor, in other words, by patriarchy. Tis describes those experiences that are outside of nature or the natural fow or experience of nature. Tese are caused by human social/political dominator systems and include such horrors as rape, incest, and chronic povertysituations outside the natural fow of plenty and scarcityand the many other experiences of being degraded, diminished, or limited that occur specifcally because one is female. Illness, separations, traumas, losses, and deaths are also things that happen in nature or in the nature of human life, and one can describe these experiences that can take us Down 14 as being grabbed by Hecate, and though devastating, can be seen as an integral part of the living of life. One can see being grabbed by Hecate as inner wisdom or Self-creating, serving the purpose of growth or good, situations that prompt a change in direction. Tese situations, though perhaps painful and confusing when one is in the midst of them, can ultimately serve as a guide to more authenticity or wholeness. A woman can still experience these situations as part of nature or as part of the natural cycle. It is also possible to enter the Deep voluntarily to work on issues that need attention. I suggest to women that they be alert to things that come up during the outward seasons in their lives, and to make note of them even when they cannot attend to them immediately, knowing that there will be a time, either seasonally at Autumn or otherwise, to focus on these issues. If these things are not attended to voluntarily, they will likely arise sooner or later, and often in devastating ways. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 145 Wheel of the Year as Spiritual Psychology Tere are other less dramatic ways to be in the Deep. A woman may simply fnd herself feeling out of sorts, disoriented, or restless and seeking time alone to check in on the direction of her day or life. She may withdraw to try to attune herself to the natural fow, for example, by seeking to spend the Winter as a time of rest and quiet refection or by taking time during her menstrual cycle to dream and journey. It can also mean making time in each week or day for a balanced mix of outwardness and inwardness. Te Wheel turns and with it, life and the seasons of womens lives continue. After Autumn Equinox comes Samhain and with it, the multitude of personal, psychological opportunities awaiting in facing and grieving the losses of the year or a lifetime. It is also a seasonal opportunity to work with and face the fact of mortality. In November, it is time to explore the notion and the reality of the Crone, to engage in personal rituals focused on aging, and to celebrate and honor female elders and strengthen the internal Wise One or She Who Gains Wisdom Trough Experience. Winter Solstice, which is probably the best known and the most appropriated of all the Pagan holydays, is celebrated by those who follow the Wheel as a time of rest and quiet. It is a time to imagine aligning ourselves with our ancient ancestors rhythms, who, after the tending and mending of post-harvest and the early winter days of resting and storytelling by the fre, may have moved into semi- hibernation for the months of deep winter, hunkering down into a shamanic sleep-dreaming-journeying state. Te lower level of activity and subsequent reduction of body temperatures among these ancestors may have stretched resources and at the same time created ample opportunity to dream and journey for ones tribe. Te latter begins to describe the time of year known as Imbolc (February 2), which in the Northern Hemisphere is usually the darkest and coldest part of Winter. Some cultures and traditions speak of Imbolc as the beginning of Spring, and it can, in fact, have those qualities. It is, however, this darkest, coldest, part of Winter that serves as the focus of Imbolc. When seen as the nadir of Winter, Imbolc signifes endurance in the face of adversity and scarcity of resources. It is a fragile time, when life is tenuous and uncertain. Based upon the clues that ancestors left in the activities and gestures suggested for this time of year, I have often imagined the rituals foremothers created for their communities in the darkest of Winter. I imagine that they sat circle in caves and cottages, with whatever sources of light were available to them, and listened closely to each member of the tribes description of how things were for them: this one with little food left, this one in need of a new blanket, and this one unsure if she will even survive the Winter. I imagine the priestesses, shamans, or healers responding to what they heard, making sure this one was fed, this one had the extra blanket, and that they spent time telling stories or enacting dramas of Spring and Return with the ones who spoke of despair and uncertainty. In this way, I speak of Imbolc as a time of faith, the real faith of earth-based folk living in and closely with the cycles of nature. Tis approach to teaching Imbolc is also refected in the work of Anne Yeomans (1984), specifcally in her articulation of psychosynthesis and transpersonal perspectives in the essay Self-Care During Dark Times. Her insights have now merged with and deeply informed the way we work with the Underworld or inner time seasons of the WOTY and is yet another example of the value I have found in the confuence of feminism and transpersonal psychologies. Te Wheel of the Year and Psychosynthesis A nne Yeomans (1984) described some of the basic tenets of psychosynthesis in the following way: As a psychosynthesist, I assume the existence of a natural process of growth within the individual. I also assume that the process unfolds in a certain direction. It tries to move from confict to integration, from partiality to a greater and greater wholeness. I also assume that the process of growth necessarily goes through some very difcult times. As well as times of integration and harmony, and peaks of joy and ecstasy, there are also times of disorientation, of falling apart, of struggle, of darkness, of crisis. I also assume a principle in psychosynthesis, often hard to remember in dark times, and that is there is help for us, both inner and outer. (p. 67) Yeomans named specifc processes that are described in psychosynthesis as destructuring, restructuring, and the place in between. Although it is not the main focus of her article, she later uses the seasons as metaphors for these processes. Yeomans (1984) described destructuring as experiences of coming apart, undoing, or what has also been called the positive disintegration (p. 69). Not surprisingly perhaps, she has also associated International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 146 Duckett destructuring experiences with Autumn. She defned these as times: when old ways are not working, where old symbols have a kind of emptiness and have lost their vitality and meaning. We are in a time when the usual habits and patterns of activity do not work quite as well, where things may feel awkward. We are not at one with our lives the way we might have been a month or two before. (p. 71) Tis describes the awareness or restlessness earlier referred to as Persephones change in consciousness and may also aptly describe ones experience of mid-life. Recall that Yeomans (1984) also described destructuring as those times of disorientation, of falling apart, of struggle, of darkness, of crisis (p. 67), and, in so doing, began to identify the other ways that going into the Underworld or the Deep can happen. While one may go voluntarily into Autumn as the inner world time to release or deal with issues that need to be healed or experiences that diminish ones life, Yeomans description aptly captured those intense experiences earlier described as being grabbed by Hades or by Hecate. Restructuring is a familiar concept. Destruct- uring, however, is something not only less known but also feared. When someone is in a period of destructuring, we say they are falling apart or breaking down. Tese are scary words, critical words. Our language indicates a lot. We rarely see these times with respect or as a necessary aspect of the process of growth. We hope they will be gone quickly. We hope they will not stay at all. We worry that people will not make it through. We worry we will not make it through. (Yeomans, 1984, p. 70) Yeomans (1984) also likened destructuring to dying, or the dying of certain ways of being, of certain patterns of coping (p. 70), which echoes the understanding of Samhain, the holyday that honors loss and death as an integral part of life. Before the restructuring time, here described as the time of Spring and Return, Yeomans (1984) spoke of the place in between as another part of the process.... Tis is the time between endings and beginnings, the time in between... the time in the Winter when you are not at all sure there is going to be a Spring (p. 70). Linda Leonard (1983), whom Yeomans referred to in this essay, also used the metaphor of Winter to describe what is being said here about the in between time: Soon it will be Winter, the time for accepting the cold outside and going inside, the hibernation and patient waiting which cannot talk of victory, but which can hold through and endure the dark (p. 176). Tis sounds much like the description of Winter and Winter Solstice ofered here and, although neither Yeomans (1984) nor Leonard (1983) made distinctions or spoke of the increments that those who follow the Wheel do, it appears that both spoke initially of Winter generally and then of Imbolc specifcally. For example, If destructuring is the Fall, then the time in- between is the Winter. It can be a time of great darkness and despair that tests ones faith deeply. It is often experienced as fatness, an emptiness, a time when one really doubts that there could ever be any light at the end of the tunnel. (Yeomans, 1984, p. 74) She then described the time in-between (as a time) which challenges our faith. the tools of prayer and meditation, and being with those people who have faith in these tools, who practice them honestly, can be very helpful (p. 77). Regarding spring and restructuring, Yeomans (1984) said: If we have lived through the falling apart, the breaking down of destructuring and the waiting, and the doubting and resting of the time in-between, the process takes us naturally to restructuring (p. 78). Leonard (as cited in Yeomans, 1984) warned, however: It would seem that this season Spring would be the easiest to accept, but we know that suicide rates are high in Spring. If one hasnt properly related to Winter, if one has fought it and not really accepted the possibility of both birth and death, or if one has gone into it too deeply, forgetting the passage of seasons, then one may not be able to accept the new and fearing change will cling to depression and the old. (p. 78) Restructuring/Return O ften I envision Spring Equinox and Return as a woman walking out of the woods, tired, clothes a bit tattered or mussed, gaunt perhaps, but also clear- International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 147 Wheel of the Year as Spiritual Psychology eyed. She has been on a vision quest. She has been to Hel 15 and back. She is worn out and in need of care and nourishment. She may want a hug, or she may still be too raw, and it may take some time for her to be comfortable around others. She has had experiences, often shamanic experiences, that have torn her apart and put her back together again. Hopefully, she returns more healed, more whole, or at least with more of the parts of herself integrated. She has at least learned a bit more about herself and encountered opportunities for wisdom. She has come out; she has returned. Tat is often a miracle in and of itself. And now, like Persephone, she is also a shaman, with one foot in one world and one in another. Remember, this thing she has just traversed (the being taken, or the going-in voluntarily to seek and address her own shadow self, the Winter and the Imbolc of her journey) has been tenuous, and she has made it this far. But as Yeomans (1984) reminded, she is not yet out of the dark (or woods) even now. Spring, re-entry, and restructuring can be tough and dangerous. It seems to be helpful to remember that we are working with the re-forming of a process that is deep inside us. We need to leave time to allow the new integration to take shape. It is a process that is deeper than the conscious mind can fathom. Something new is trying to reconstruct itself within us. We need to give it space and time. Tis does not mean waiting passively or limply, but being in a state of alert, aware receptivity. (pp. 78-79) Each year, in the Mystery School and in the WOTY weekend intensives, in addition to the personal rituals each woman does in honor of her Divine Girl- Child, the community creates and enacts a large ritual at Spring Equinox to honor this thing called Return, and what Yeomans (1984) described as restructuring. To create such a ritual it is necessary to know something about the psychological experiences of having gone through a destructuring time and the transition time of the in-between and of having returned from such an experience. How might one honor the complexity of going into the Deep or destructuring experience and the subsequent restructuring process? What is it like to come out of such an experience? What is needed for integration? What ought contemporary priestesses, shamans, or healers do to help prepare each woman for these experiences? Te answers are in the language of ritual. Te ritual of Return is created in a safe, wooded place in nature. Te women have a sweat experience, or bathe in the river or involve themselves in other deep purifcations before the movement toward Return. Tis is done to leave behind the dross of the work of the inner time. Each woman emerges from the river or the dark hut and begins a self-paced journey, walking the forest alone, guided by the path itself and directives along the way. Just being out in nature in the early Spring brings many gifts and may ofer women many instances of what Yeomans (1984) spoke of as the inner and outer help (p. 67): Tere are also interactive altars and experiences discretely incorporated into nature all along the way. Te journey continues down a slight incline. At the nadir of the path, there is a fnal meeting with Hecate, who is sometimes in the form of a woman, but most times in the form of an old tree. Here is the reminder that: Hecate is the name given to our inner Wisdom, the place where we go to listen, refect, hear, and to heal. Any time we need. And for earth-based women, we also actively seek this time of introspection and listening to our inner Self at the dark moon, or when we are bleeding/menstruating, and during the Winter season, the season just past. And at this time of year, at the Spring Equinox, we ritualistically leave this place, the Inner Time, to turn our energies to the next part of the natural cycles of our world, the Outward/Growing time. A part of that, then, is one last visit with Hecate, to hear what fnal wisdom She may ofer us and to say our goodbyes to Her, as we turn our faces toward Spring and new growth. 16
(Duckett, 2008) Participants then begin their ascent, at the end of which is a fnal ritual within the ritual, that of being greeted by Demeter: Demeter is that aspect of us and the Goddess that awaits our return from the Inner Time and who is here to not only greet us but to wholeheartedly welcome us back from our Inner, and sometimes dark and challenging, journeys to know our Selves. She is our guide in the Outward Time, teaching us how to grow and bloom, create and manifest. (Duckett, 2008, see n. 16) A Priestess, embodying this energy, takes each woman by the hand and says: Persephone, just as the seed must be planted in the earth, so too must you go into the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 148 Duckett Underworld, the Inner Time, for the nourishment of solitude, healing, and refection (Duckett, 2008, see n. 16), and ofers a piece of pomegranate, the fruit of the inner world. And, now, just as you were called to the time and gifts of the Inner World, you are now called to the Outer, to bring your gifts of wisdom, integration, and all that you have learned in the Inner Time so that you and your community, and the world, shall beneft from your Cycles, your Journey, and your Wisdom as you move from the Inner to Outer, and Outer to Inner, and through all the Turnings of the Wheel. (Duckett, 2008, see n. 16) She gives each woman a slice of apple, the fruit of the outer world. She continues, But for now, walk gently and surely toward rebirth, renewal, new growth, and Spring
(Duckett, 2008, see n. 16). She places an eggshell in each open palm, to hold, sheltered, as each woman continues her journey toward Spring. Each woman is led out of the forest, back out into a clearing. Here she is fed easy, nourishing foods and beverages. She is seated and cared for as she eases herself into the restructuring time, into Spring. Te Wheel continues to turn, for after the Return and Spring Equinox are the other outer time holydays of the Maiden/Adolescence, Menarche, Summer Solstice, the Amazon, Lammas, each with their attending spiritual psychology for women. Conclusion I believe that in her essay Self-Care During Dark Times, Yeomans (1984) accurately described the Underworld or inner time of the WOTY and did so in the language of a transpersonal psychology. She stressed that the processes she described are not well known or accepted by general society and said, We need to build a new thought form that says, for example, that destructuring is essential, that it is integral to restructuring (p. 70), and that the in-between time is also necessary. In psychosynthesis, all of these processes are seen as a part of life and the living of life in a conscious, meaningful way. I believe that the WOTY as an earth-based spiritual psychology as I have described it herein, is such a thought form, and one that is solidly based in the reality of nature and natures cycles and dynamics. Using the Wheel and its holydays in this way ofers women a language as well. I can say to a friend, Im feeling Imbolc-y, and she has some notion of what I am saying or how I am feeling and what is really going on for me. It means I feel a deep uncertaintynot the uncertainty of what to wear to the party tomorrow but a far more complex, I dont know if Im going to make it state of mind. Because the Wheel is not just a seasonal or chronological reality, it also serves as a developmental model for women and a map of psychospiritual processes that can be applied and followed at any given moment. As noted at the beginning of this essay, I believe that many of my foremothers, the writers and thinkers in Goddess and womens spirituality, have instinctively known that the WOTY is a spirituality that has psychological value. Yet, until now, no one has named nor developed it explicitly as such. Tose in my circles who have followed the Wheel as a spiritual psychology for many years have begun to apply it to their own work. For example, a psychotherapist used the WOTY as a spiritual psychology with female prison inmates for two years, meeting weekly to tell our stories and heal wounds (N. Vanarsdale, personal communication, May 13, 2010). A counselor of adolescent girls in an out-of-home care program ofered the Wheel in a course on healthy relationships. Te class ended with the young women creating a Menarche ritual for themselves, following the guidelines of all that they had learned throughout the year (S. J. Fussell, personal communication, January 18, 2009). It is my hope that in the coming years, as more and more women in Goddess and womens spirituality and in transpersonal psychologies encounter the Wheel of the Year as a spiritual psychology, that others will not only be able to apply it to a variety of settings, but will also join those already working with the Wheel in this way, in exploring, developing, and crafting a woman- centered, earth-based, spiritual psychology for women that will be helpful and healing. Blessed be! References Armstrong, M., Pettigrew, M., Johansson, S. (Producers), & Read, D. (Director). (1990). 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(Original work published 1978) Starhawk. (1999). Te spiral dance: A rebirth of the ancient religion of the great goddess (20th Anniversary ed.). San Francisco, CA: Harper. Sterling, S. (1994). Innana. Second chants: More ritual music. San Francisco, CA: Reclaiming Community. Stone, M. (1978). When God was a woman. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Tedlock, B. (2005). Te woman in the shamans body: Reclaiming the feminine in religion and medicine. New York, NY: Bantam Books. Teish, L. (1985). Jambalaya. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row. Te Womens Well (n.d.). Frequently asked questions: What is the focus of the Womens Well? Retrieved from <http://www. womenswell.org/faq.html> Tree Rivers, A. (1991). Cultural etiquette: A guide for the well intentioned. Indian Valley, VA: Market Wimmin. Wolkstein, D., & Kramer, S. N. (1983). Inanna, queen of heaven and earth: Her stories and hymns from Sumer. New York, NY: Harper & Row. Yeomans, A. (1984). Self-care during dark times. In J. Weiser & T. Yeomans (Eds.), Psychosynthesis in the helping professions: Now and for the future (pp. 65-80). Toronto, Canada: Department of Applied Psychology, Te Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Notes 1. Tere are many and conficting defnitions of feminism. For this discussion, I appreciate the work of bell hooks (2000) in Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Regarding psychology from a feminist perspective, please see the mission statement of the Association of Women in Psychology (AWP) (www.awpsych.org). 2. Womens spirituality, Goddess spirituality, and fem- inist spirituality are all related but distinct threads that developed out of the feminist movements of the 1960s-1980s and share the notion that women have the agency to defne spirituality for themselves. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 151 Wheel of the Year as Spiritual Psychology 3. Te Re-Formed Congregation of the Goddess, International (RCG-I) is the oldest ofcially recognized womens religion in the US (www.rcgi.org). 4. Although these particular names come from two diferent cultures (the quarter-days, or the solstices and equinoxes, are from the pre-Christian Germanic, and the other four, Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas, and Samhain are from pre-Christian Celtic traditions), both are recognized as part of the Old European culture described by Marija Gimbutas (2001) in Te Living Goddesses, and as such, may be seen as sharing a common, ancient spiritual heritage. 5. Archaeomythology is an interdisciplinary approach to cultural research of ancient societies, combining research methods and perspectives from such diverse felds as archaeology, folklore, art, anthropology, linguistics, and so forth. For more information, see the Institute of Archaeomythologys website (www. archaeomythology.org). 6. One of the best descriptions of Circle is from Te Womens Well, in Concord, Massachusetts (www. womenswell.org/faq.html). 7. Along with many others, I use the term She Who... based upon Judy Grahns (1977) poem, She Who. Alicia Ostriker (1987) described the usage as being the goddess as verb, in Stealing the Language: Te Emergence of Womens Poetry in America. 8. For further information about ancient and contemporary women and shamanism, please see Shakti Woman by Vicki Noble (1991), Te Woman in the Shamans Body by Barbara Tedlock (2005), and the work of Max Dashu, founder of Suppressed Histories Archives (http://www. sourcememory.net/womanshaman/names.html). 9. From the unpublished program (Duckett, 2000) of our A Year and a Day Sacred Mystery School for Women, Spring Equinox ritual, in Asheville, North Carolina. 10. Regarding other descent stories, please see Austen (1991), who identifed a number of such stories, Wolkstein and Kramer (1983) who wrote about the descent story of Inanna specifcally, and Marguerite Rigoglioso (2010) and her provocative interpretation of the Persephone/Demeter story in Virgin Mother Goddesses of Antiquity. 11. Troughout this article, I am speaking specifcally of the seasons as they manifest in the Northern hemisphere. Tey are opposite on the Wheel in the Southern hemisphere; for example, when it is Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere, it is Summer Solstice in the Southern hemisphere. 12. See Borysenko (1996), especially chapter eight, regarding womens mid-life metamorphosis. 13. Te use of the term the Deep in reference to going into or being in the Underworld comes from the lyrics of the song Inanna by Suzanne Sterling (1994). 14. From the same song by Sterling (1994), lyrics are She goes Down as we go Down, we follow her underground... 15. Hecate/Persephones equivalent in Norse mythology, the female ruler of the Underworld. 16. From the unpublished program (Duckett, 2008) of our A Year and a Day Sacred Mystery School for Women, Spring Equinox ritual, in Asheville, North Carolina. What is said at each of these junctures may change from year to year but the original sentiments come from a synthesis of womens voices in womens spirituality gathered by the author of this article. Capitalizations refect the spiritual foundations of the Mystery School and terms and concepts integral to the conceptual framework of this psychospiritual model. About the Author Kim Duckett, PhD, received her doctoral degree at Union Institute. She is an ordained Priestess, a beloved Teacher, and shamanic ritualist in the Dianic Goddess tradition. After thirty years as a Womens Studies educator, including the area of womens psychology, she now devotes her time to exploring, developing, teaching, and articulating psychologies for and about Goddess women. She travels throughout the US teaching the Wheel of the Year training and is currently completing a book on the Wheel of the Year as an earth-based psychology for women. She lives in the mountains of western North Carolina. About the Journal Te International Journal of Transpersonal Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal in print since 1981. It is published by Floraglades Foundation, and serves as the ofcial publication of the International Transpersonal Association. Te journal is available online at www. transpersonalstudies.org, and in print through www. lulu.com (search for IJTS). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 152 Grahn International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 2010, p. 152 ECLIPSE I through frozen branches the bright moon slowly darkens must it be so?
dreaming across the ocean as the moon and our last embrace fade piecemeal: even in Amsterdam hearing her voice I longed for Amsterdam II the sparrow alights and the bare branch gives way I am not resigned
losing both the friend and the city I love how dare she!
woke up this morning mote in my eye tearing and tearing III aap van n meid we called her monkeyfacethis no longer makes her laugh
should have kept up my Dutch on the phone, frst time ever, too tired for English
shes doing it her way full of grace and laughter but now, less laughter IV and when youre gone Ill refrain from what you call my Jewish opera no wailing, no railing and rending of garments but a true savoir faire
even the sweet moon herself fades after all utterly to black For your sake, dearest, Ill bow my head to it these things happen Judy Schavrien December 20, 2010, Walnut Creek, CA For Marianne in Amsterdam International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 153 Te Furies Demoted and Restored War and Nature in Classical Athens and Today: Demoting and Restoring the Underground Goddesses
Judy Schavrien Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Palo Alto, CA, USA A gendered analysis of social and religious values in 5th century BCE illuminates the Athenian decline from democracy to bully empire, through pursuit of a faux virility. Using a feminist hermeneutics of suspicion, the study contrasts two playwrights bookending the empire: Aeschylus, who elevated the sky pantheon Olympians and demoted both actual Athenian women and the Furiesdeities linked to maternal ties and nature, and Sophocles, who granted Oedipus, his maternal incest purifed, an apotheosis in the Furies grove. Te latter work, presented at the Athenian tragic festival some 50 years after the frst, advocated restoration of respect for female fesh and deity. Tis redemptive narrative placed the life of Athens democracy and empirein the wider context of Nature. Present-day parallels are drawn. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 2010, pp. 153-179 Much of this study was conceived during Spring of 2010, the time of the British Petroleum oil spill study concerns itself with two matricides, Orestes and Oedipus (the latter as the indirect cause of Keywords: Erinyes, Furies, Eumenides, mythological defamation, feminist, archetype, Athens, Minoan, Eleusinian, Clymenestra, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Oedipus, masculine, gender, ecology of f t he coast of Loui siana. Te Furies are said in Hesiods Teogony (ll 186- 7) to be daughters of Gaia, and are often portrayed with the wings of birds. Tey bring on madness for oaths foresworn and the spilling of kin blood. As I watched with horror images from the spill, pour- i ng through in the day and revisiting in my dreams, I knew it was time to ofer this homageto the Furies and to Gaia desecrated, in hopes of restoration. Te hi s mot hers suicide). On a present-day col- l i si on cour s e wit h nat ure, t he people of the world risk our own kind of matricide. Let the Louisiana gul l depi ct ed here serve as the tutelary deity of this study, stand- ing in metonymy f or t he pre- O l y m p i a n chthonic pan- Dedication Figure 1. Laughing gull coated in heavy oil from BP spill, June 4, 2010, on East Grand Terre Island. (Wim McNamee/Getty Images News/Getty Images) theonthe matristic network of the Furies, Gaia, Demeter, Persephone, and moreand for the living beings of the planet. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 154 Schavrien T his study examines, from a gendered perspective, the history of the Golden Age of Athens, from the early middle to the closing of the 5 th century BCE, from after the great Greek victory at Salamis over the Persians (472 BCE); through the solidifcation of the fedgling democracy of Athens; the rise and fall of its empire; and then the skitterish survival of the city-state after the Athenian defeat in the Peloponnesian War (404 BCE). A central focus is on the function and character of the goddesses known as the Furies, while reference is also included to the mother-daughter deities, Demeter and Persephone. Demeter regulated agricultural fertility on Earth or Gaia (Demeters grandmother); her daughter, Persephone, reigned part-time in the netherworld; both goddesses, like the Furies, claimed pre-Olympian incarnations. In contrast with the Mt. Olympus, sky- congregating gods, imported by Indo-European invaders, 1
Demeter and Persephone, along with the Furies, extended back to an earlier pantheon of earth and chthonic (pronounced kthonic) deities that preceded absorption into what became the pantheon of 5 th century BCE classical Greece, ruled by a martial Zeus of the thunderbolt. Due to this lineage, the goddesses help illuminate the interplays and oppositions of war and nature in the Athenian Golden Age, throwing onto them a pre-patriarchal light. Tere are ongoing controversies about the exact lineage of these goddesses; they stretch back indubitably to the Bronze Age or 13 th century BCE, and this study will suggest that they have roots in the Minoan Crete of approximately 15 th century BCE. It will analyze the goddesses, however, more locally as they are depicted within two sets of 5 th century BCE tragedies. One set, Te Oresteia, a trilogy by Aeschylus, captured frst prize at the sacred Dionysiac tragic festival in 458 BCE; the second set, known as Te Teban Plays, was a trilogy by Sophocles dealing in large part with the story of Oedipus. Tis latter was written over the decades stretching from the 440s BCE to the time when the empire saw its destruction in 404 BCE. Te last of the Teban plays was not produced until after the death of its playwright, then 90 years of age. By then, Sophocles had witnessed the rise and fall of his beloved Athens, and the proud imperial navy had been stripped down to two ships by the Spartan victors. Tus Te Oresteia trilogy and Te Teban Plays bookend the Golden Age. Te key works for examining the goddesses in question are Aeschylus last play of his trilogy, Te Eumenides, and Sophocles last play, Oedipus at Colonus although summaries of all plays in the trilogies will be provided as context. In Te Eumenides, Aeschylus chose to depict the underworld goddesses, the Furies, as preternaturally ugly. In the Coloneus, by contrast, these same goddesses manifested as an uncannily beautiful grove, one linking the weathered Oedipus not just to his own magical apotheosis but also to these goddesses and their earth-based network. As with Aeschylus, Sophocles lived within a primarily patriarchal religious and social tradition; why then did he heal his Oedipus through reconciliation with feminine and natural presence? Tis study proposes that his long overview of the rise and fall of the Athenian empire aforded him an augmented wisdom about the need to rebalance gender relations through restoring the status of females both in the fesh and in presiding deities. It is fruitful to examine the dynamic between social and religious structures of 5th century BCE Athens, rather than either the sociohistory or the religion alone. A gendered sociopolitical life interacted, in a reciprocal dynamic, with religious beliefs and practices. Gender roles in pantheon and society are neither due strictly to pantheons infuence on societyas in Dalys famous saying: If God is king in heaven, then man is king in the homenor to the projection of social mors onto the Greek pantheon (Harrison, 1903/2010). Te meeting point between the society and the religion is to be found in the gendered attitudes and values of Athenian malesas these had bearing on both actual women and feminine deities. Te work of the two repeatedly prize-winning playwrights must have aligned with that of the mostly male audiences at the Dionysiac tragic festivals; in return, the plays, as a crucial public media event, did more than refect citizen views, they shaped them (cf. Platos assertions in Te Republic, c. 380 BCE, 410c-412b, 595a-621d). While this reading requires inferences and assumptions, these opinions are informed by laws, historical accounts, popular religious and civic myths, and the testimonies of archeological remains that led up to and paralleled those times (cited along the way). How did the values and attitudes show themselves in history? How did they evolve? What efect did they have on the fate of the bold new Athenian city- state, cradle of democracy, and on the maritime empire which grew from it? How did the attitudes supply a context or even a dynamus for citizen behavior as Athens fell and in its subsequent moment of choice as to whether and how to survive the decimation of empire? International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 155 Te Furies Demoted and Restored Furthermore, there are likely parallels between the Golden Age and our Western contemporary times. David Grene suggested, although along diferent lines from my own, that our afnity with the political life of ffth-century Athens is striking (1950, p. vi). I will extend the parallel he draws into the 21 st century. Remarks on Methodology: Mythological Defamation Produces an Athenian Charter Myth B efore entering more fully into the content of the trilogies, it is imperative to introduce as context the dynamic of mythological defamation, the means by which Aeschylus promoted the thunderbolt god, Zeus, and downgraded the Furies in his Eumenides. He accomplished this defamation through a reframing of divinity, thereby crafting a charter myth that blessed Athens newly-fourishing democracy. Te Furies, seemingly placated, are forced into accepting a name- changethe title of Eumenides, 2 or Kindly Ones. It would seem that these older goddesses had been properly re-fashioned at the hands of the newcomer Olympian deities, made gentler, re-named accordingly. Yet this camoufaged a subversion. For two and a half millennia this story of a proper defeat and makeover Literary Events Dates Historical Context Aeschylus in Te Oresteia, Sophocles in Te Teban Trilogy, draw on established myths and pantheon fgures, vary them Written in 5th century BCE Myths refer to heroic fgures (Orestes, Oedipus) in Founding Times culture, 13th century BCE: Bronze Age During 6th-5th century BCE: Golden Age democracy solidifes Athenian empire rises and falls late 5th sees emergence and re-emergence of Mystery cultsDemeter, Persephone, Dionysus: counters secular/ rational developments Homer in Iliad and Odyssey, Hesiod in Teogony, coalesce myths and pantheon, projecting back to 13th century BCE heroic fgures of the Bronze Age and, in Hesiod, to Earth as creatrix Written in 8th century BCE Myths and pantheons have sources in pre-Bronze-Age and evolve through 5th century BCE Golden Age. May be traced through layers and eras: Matrifocal religionVestiges from 15th century BCE Minoan Crete and earlier, goddesses with a chthonic emphasis, earth and underground; Hesiod later absorbs them into his pantheon tales, acknowledging they created the world Patrifocal religion13th century BCE onward, Minoan/ Mycenaean syncretic religion forged by Indo-European invaders; invaders absorb Minoan goddesses, and other deities from East, to enhance the sky-congregating Olym- pian pantheon they bring with them into Greece; Olympians divide up the world they conquered, but do not create it Patrifocal religion extends into 5th centur BCE and beyondIndo-European pantheon of Olympians, with con- tributions from Doric invaders (the latter disputed), jells further during Homers 8th century BCE and carries over into Golden Age writings of Aeschylus, Sophocles Table 1. Chart of literary events with historical contexts, spanning Bronze Age through Golden Age International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 156 Schavrien of the goddesses was largely accepted at face value. Not until the late 20th century did such views come to be questioned, often by the feminist classicists, both female and male, or their sympathizers (Komar, 2002; Powers, 2000; Zeitlin, 1978; Campbell, 1991). Rather than being inducted into a superior identity within a superior socio-religious arrangement, the Furies were demoteda demotion that functioned to the detriment of what became an increasingly belligerent society, cut of from roots in nature and bloodline provided by feminine deity. Tere are three Ds that evoke the dynamics of demotion: mythological defamation, the demonization that helped to perpetrate it, and the historical distortion that ensued. Obviously Aeschylus in Te Eumenides was not creating single-handedly the demotion of the chthonic goddesses at the hands of Olympians. He pretended only to be documenting how such things occurred 800 years before his own contemporary moment (Table 1 clarifes the chronologies). One might picture Charlton Heston enacting the Moses tales from the Bible, advocating American values with a seemingly ancient and sacred underpinning. Te changes in values had of course been evolving for millenia before Hollywood seized on the story. Likewise with Aeschylus: What he pretended to transmit was a re-framing driven by agenda. Aeschylus was amplifying the efect of demoting infuences by constructing Te Oresteia as a propaganda piece for the increasing masculinization of the Greek pantheon; the masculinized religion he presented would do valiant service as a civic religion, peculiarly fashioned to the (imagined) best purposes of the newly ascending democratic city-state. Tis theatrical trilogy came to function as what Lillian Doherty (2001) has called a charter myth (p. 100)blessing a given arrangement through narrating its hallowed founding events. As David Grene has said (L. Doherty, personal communication, December 19, 2011): Watching Te Oresteia would be like witnessing what began in the Garden of Eden and ended with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Aeschylus trilogy is thus typical of a charter mythone which in this case made a defaming portrait of feminine deity its stepping stone. Countering the Tree Ds: A Feminist Hermeneutics of Suspicion I n using the acronym of three Ds to represent the dynamics of defamation, I extend the work of Joseph Campbell (1991) and Meredith Powers (2000). Campbells reputation fares better among transpersonalists than among classicists, due to the occasional lapse in detailed accuracy, unsurprising from such a far-ranging generalist; his methodology, however, contributes well in this instance. My own study, in the spirit of a feminist hermeneutics of suspicion (Gross, 1993), attempts to reverse the historical distortions by undoing the inevitable whitewashings perpetrated by a dominant population, those that give history as a tale told by the victors. Feminists aim to discover an accurate and usable past (p. 30), one which undoes androcentric bias. Feminist scholarship is often for women and about women, but based on a social vision of bringing women into full respect for the purpose of accomplishing the same for all beings. De-coding Defamation: Understanding Myth as Cluster Te originating myths from which the relevant Greek tragedies were constructed are not uniform narratives. Tese source myths are instead clusters of variants (Harrison [1903/2010] drawing on Durkheim); the tragedian then selects from the myth-cluster a variant that serves his or her aims, and sometimes even innovates to this end. Especially in Te Oresteia, both the selections and innovations helped shape a city-state religionto serve as prop and propaganda for a new civic ideology. Aeschylus contributed to the coalescence of a religious myth that afrmed new and recent institutions in the Athenian polis, or city-state, institutions that expanded the evolution into a male democracy while contracting the status and rights of women. Solons sumptuary laws initiated the confnement of women socially and politically in the early 6th century BCE; the Ephialtic reforms of 562 BCE, four years before the production of Te Oresteia, marked a step forward for the demos men in their challenge to aristocratic clans but, again, no advancement for women. Te Athenian polis, emerging triumphant from a war with the Persians, David to Goliath, was evolving its self-afrmations: We won because we are the freedom-lovers and they, those Persians, the tyrant-ridden barbarians. Froma Zeitlin (1978) identifed additional binary oppositions in Te Oresteia: We Athenians are not just Greek vs. barbarian but also light vs. dark, new vs. old, orderly vs. chaotic, reasonable vs. unreasonable, male vs. female. In short, the gods are on our side for all these reasons, and not just any gods either, but the shiny new patrifocal ones. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 157 Te Furies Demoted and Restored Campbell (1991), to illustrate mythological defamation, discussed the Mesopotamian myth in which Tiamat, primordial ocean goddess, decorates the chest of her frst-born, who is, in the usual early confguration, her son/consort, preparing him to war against challengers to her hegemony: Te reader will have recognized here the pattern of the Greek war of the Titans 3 and gods, the darker brood of the all-mother, produced of her own female power, and the brighter, fairer, secondary sons, produced from her submission to fecundation by the male. It is an efect of the conquest of a local matriarchal order by invading patriarchal nomads, and their reshaping of the local lore of the productive earth to their own ends. It is an example, also, of the employment of a priestly device of mythological defamation, which has been in constant use (chiefy, but not solely, by Western theologians) ever since. It consists simply in terming the gods of other people demons, enlarging ones own counterparts to hegemony over the universe, and then inventing all sorts of both great and little secondary myths to illustrate, on the one hand, the impotence and malice of the demons and, on the other, the majesty and righteousness of the great god or gods. It is used in the present case to validate in mythological terms not only a new social order but also a new psychology. (pp. 79-80) Tis late work of Campbell portrayed a sociocultural context that evolved in contrast with what might otherwise be misperceived as universal truth on the part of a religiously believing population. Campbell suggested, by contrast, a context and portrayal that morphs the archetypes, instead of keeping them static and universal. He also discerned the political purposes to which a patrifocal culture supplanting a matrifocal one would put its own new narratives. Further Socioculture Setting: Te Gender War in Athens as Pivotal Frederick Adam Wright (1923) opened his book Feminism in Greek Literature from Homer to Aristotle with the following remark: Te Greek world perished from one main cause, a low ideal of womanhood and a degradation of women which found expression both in literature and in social life (p. 11). Known through textbooks as the cradle of democracy, this city-state evolved, or rather devolved, into a society in ruthless pursuit of empire. In short, one might say that the Athenians developed a masculinity insufciently tempered by womens wisdom, a hypermasculinity. In the light of the historical analysis by Tucydides (411 BCE/1951), who was equipped with not only the military expertise of a general and the vantage point of a contemporary witness, but also, one may assume, a knowledge of at least some tragedies at Athenian festivals, Athens lost the Peloponnesian War due to its having grown in hubris. Te word, often translated to mean an insolence or blinding pride, was punishable by law and was understood by some to characterize tragic heroes. 4 Tucydides treated hubris as an overreaching while acting upon a longing for what one does not have [3.39.4, 5]; this may be matched with his later description of values in Corcyra [3.82-3.83]). Such fatal overreaching manifested in the Sicilian Expedition in 415 BCE, which contributed greatly to the empires downfall. Tis was reckless risk-taking, against the advice of Pericles before he died, undertaken more for the short-term repair of the bruised Athenian ego than for long-term prospects of lucre. Furthermore, the mistake was foreseeable; Athenian values had been careening downhill 5 (cf. Tucydides, 411 BCE/1951, Melian dialogue [5.17]; Corcyra analogous to Athens [3.82-3.83]). Te Oresteia: Te Olympians vs. the Chthonic Goddesses W hat follows are brief plot summaries of the three plays in Te Oresteia, with commentary both in the process and the wake of the summaries. Te accounts are cast in present tense, for the sake of vividness. Te Agamemnon Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, have ruled a stable Argos for more than a decade; nevertheless, the chorus of old male clansmen, left behind by the Trojan War, resent the man-minded woman (Aeschylus, 458 BCE/1903, l. 11). 6 Clytemnestra plans to avenge herself against Agamemnon, upon his return, for his having sacrifced their virgin daughter, Iphigenia, to put wind in the sails of the Greek expedition. Her paramour carries his own grudge; he is the surviving son of the man to whom Agamemnons father fed the fesh of his own children. In return, the paramours horrifed father pronounced a curse, bringing the gods into play. Here are themes of war versus natureAgamemnon the hero, returning from his Trojan expedition, vs. the bloodline ofenses that eventually enlist the Furies to execute kin justice. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 158 Schavrien Tere are complexities regarding Clytemnestras motives: jealousy as Agamemnon brings home a war booty mistress; lust for her own paramour, and so on. Which motives are uppermost? Aegisthus has underplayed a motive that afords her the greater dignity, her intent to avenge her daughters sacrifce. Nevertheless, she holds the stage as the most charismatic and complex character in the drama. She and Aegisthus kill Agamemnon, with the Queen taking the lead; she assures Aegisthus that they will rule and thrive. Te Libation Bearers Electra, Clytemnestras daughter, discovers that her exiled brother, Orestes, has returned in secret; they can now avenge the murder of their father. Most of the play occurs at Agamemnons grave. Te chorus of female slaves help the children gain resolve through drumming up with characteristic mourning, uncanny in its ululations, the angry ghost of the unavenged father (Holst-Warhaft, 1995). To say characteristic is to highlight that this resembled the way much mourning was handled in the purported era of Te Oresteia, through the hiring of professional women (for which the slaves stand in), women trained to lament with vehemence. Tis custom served in addition as part of the old justice system, the one for which the Furies were a cornerstone; the angry ghost once roused was the initiator of retributive actions, including the Furies maddening pursuit of a kin murderer. In the trilogy, there will soon be the depiction of a transition in the justice systemaddressing purgation from pollution and the redressing of blood-debt; that is to say, Te Eumenides will institute new deities and sociopolitical institutions, due to Olympian reframing, for presiding over purgation and justice. Clearly, however, in this second play of the trilogy, the old system prevails. Orestes manages, in the wake of the ghost rousing, to kill both Aegisthus and his own mother. But the end of the play sees himhaving satisfed and held at bay the fathers Furiesunable to reclaim the throne, beset instead by the mothers Furies, who attack his sanity. Te Eumenides Te third play, Te Eumenides, focuses directly on these underworld goddesses, still known, when the play begins, as the Erinyes, the furious ones. 7 As mentioned before, it tells the story of their forced conversion into subordinate and tamer powers, the Eumenides or Kindly Ones, under the new Olympian patriarchs. Te play opens at the Delphic oracle, with the priestess soon entering the inner sanctum and then recoiling in horror from what she has seen, crawling out. She stammers: A dreadful troop of women. / No, I wont say they were women, but Gorgons. / No, not that, either; their shapes did not seem to be / like Gorgons shapes. . . . Tese I saw now / were wingless, black and utterly repulsive. / Tey snored, the smell of their breaths was not to be borne, / and from their eyes there trickled a loathsome gum. (Aeschylus, 458 BCE/1989, ll. 47-55; Greek ll. 47-54) Aeschylus has conjured the Furiesindefnite in number though tradition would later curtail them to threeas a stunning and memorable theatrical premise; he even himself invented their horrifc masks (Verrall, 1908). Snakes for hair completed the picture, which Orestes had perceived as they pursued him, at the close of Te Libation Bearers. Aeschylus, I contend, was here stacking the cards against the old female gods and, by implication, the theacentric goddess network, including Earth, Demeter, Persephone, and all those, above and below earth, interconnected with the Furies. (I will eventually argue the relevance of the network.) After the scene at the Delphic Oracle, Orestes, with the Furies in pursuit, arrives to stand trial at Athens, even though, as he argues, he murdered his mother in obedience to Apollo. His motives, in truth, had been multiple, as were Clytemnestras; he aimed not just to obey Apollo and take vengeance but also to claim a patrimony. He and the goddesses are to undergo an adjudication over which Athenaportrayed as an Olympian (cf. note 1)will preside. Te Furies seem to give consent rather than collide with the new set of gods, holding back on what is usually their immediate and implacable retribution for kin murder, whatever the motives or circumstances. Athena will submit the issue to a jury, her novel invention for city-state life, but will make up the rules as she goes along; she warns that a tie means she casts the deciding vote. Te jury, naturally, ties. She votes to pronounce Orestes free and clear, 8 due to extenuating circumstances; but due, most of all, to what is newly declared in the course of the trial, the preeminence of the male over the female, even in bloodline matters. 9
In response to his vindication, the Furies threaten to blight the Athenian earth and wombs, as is within their power and purview. Athena musters all her persuasive charm, in a ritual back-and-forth with them, International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 159 Te Furies Demoted and Restored to reassure that they are not being insulted; they really and truly have received recognitionafter all, the vote was tied, and they shall, any minute, fnd themselves well recognized and recompensed if only they relent. She will grant them a localized shrine by the Areopagus, the now newly founded law court for homicides, with an underground portion, as would please them; she will grant them ultimate authority as guardians of the oaths taken in the court, of the oaths taken in marriage as well, and of womb and land fertility. In fact they will soon be seated in some metaphorical sense right next to the ascendant Olympian Zeus, glorying in their power, for they will preside over Fate (all the gods, even Zeus, shrink from overriding Fate; cf. the Homeric epics). Tey will enjoy this new description of themselves: Tey bring to perfection for all to see / what they have provided; / for some, occasions for song; / for others, a life rich in tears. (2010, ll. 952-954; Greek ll. 954-955). Tey need only relent. Tey only seem to assent without coercion, perhaps, because of the quantity of argument, as if they were already transported from the 13 th century BCE heroic setting of this drama into the world of 5 th century BCE Athenian law court and assembly debate (Ober & Strauss 1990, p. 238). Te play ends with their shedding old black garments for new red ones and accompanying an honorifc procession, mostly female, out through the theater audience toward their new sanctuary. To convert to their new status they need only leave to languish the ghost of Clytemnestra, who had appeared to them at the Delphi sanctum, spurring them on as proper avengers of matricide. Her matricideits importance, its cry of blood for bloodis now consigned to pre-patriarchal history, for the patriarchy has eclipsed her mother-right. Olympic vs. Chthonic: Shiny and Civilized Over Dark and Irrational? Aeschylus made choicesbecause, as explained earlier, there was not just one myth to dramatize but a cluster of variants, from which he selected and upon which he even innovated (e.g., creating the horrifc masks, also portraying them as wingless [cf. Jane Harrisons assertions, Prolegomena, 1921/1962, pp. 221- 232] that this too-human form made them all the more contemptible). Te Eumenides seemed to tell the tale of the triumph of the new young Apollonian and sunlit Olympians, advocates of reason, over the old haggish underworld goddesses. Te Olympians promised to bring with them a new system of purifcation (Grene, 1989), a new subtler set of legal considerations as to guilt and innocence, one that would acknowledge, quite rationally after all, extenuating circumstances. Example of a Variant Construction: Te Furies Just as Aeschylus had chosen from variant descriptions of ClytemnestraHomers, for instance, gave her a role as accessory rather than prime mover in the killing of Agamemnon, and aforded her stature by way of her landed backgroundso Aeschylus made choices as he characterized the Furies. To demonize is to exercise a certain creativity. Te Furies need not have been cast as frst and foremost promoters of vendetta. Tey might instead have been viewed as circuit-stoppers (Visser, 1980). In actual practice, a family could, by making suit to them at their shrine, lay the responsibility for retribution at their door; the family could thereby abstain from perpetuating a tragic intra-familial feud, like the one portrayed, for instance, in Te Oresteia. Also, were the Furies properly presented as embedded in their matrifocal network, rather than isolated as if they were a sheer monstrosity, they would disprove Apollos portrait of them as pariahs (cf. his attack: To such a fock as you, no god feels kindly [1989, complete version, l. 196; Greek, l. 197]). Implied throughout Te Oresteia is the battle between the new he-gods and the old she-gods. Te Furies, in the history and myth implied but mostly suppressed by the trilogy, are networked in the old pantheon with the well-loved Demeter, who tracks back to her grandmother and their mother, the oldest goddess, Gaia or Earth; the underworld extension of the network would include the maid as well as the mother, Kore / Persephone, daughter of Demeter, and include netherworld spirits such as the various keres (ghosts of the dead, with their roots likewise back in Minoan religion), whom Harrison (1903/2010) viewed as transmuting and expanding into the Furies. Te Erinyes or Furies sometimes had reciprocal resonance with Demeter, in, for example, the worship of Demeter Erinys of Megara, so characterized because of her fury in the wake of Poseidons having raped her while she desperately sought out her abducted daughter. Demeter is also called Demeter Chthonia. Te old chthonic goddesses, in short, embedded Athenians in an earthly and netherworld existenceand much of that existence had roots to be found in the culture of Minoan Crete (cf. note 17). Such fgures as Earth (Gaia, Ge) and her granddaughter Demeter were, in the frst instance, the very ground itself, giving birth to Titans, International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 160 Schavrien or were otherwise confated with what found root in the ground, given that Demeter presided over agriculture; such fgures as Demeters daughter Persephone, the Furies, and the Fates, lived part- or full-time below. Te Olympian gods, those sky invaders, most likely arrived in the train of invaders-in-the-fesh, pastoral warriors from the North and Northeast, the Indo-Europeans. Teir gods never pretended to have yield to the shift in status. But they, like Earth and Demeter, had already been accustomed to afecting the fertility of womb and land. If, for instance, unredressed kin blood polluted the earth, sterility in the land and womb would in fact result; so too would plague. One sees such consequences in Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus: unredressed patricide issues in plague. Tere is a sleight- of-hand, then, in the seeming generosity of Athena, created existence as Earth had created it. Tey were instead in- vading hunter-warrior gods, who divided up the spoils (Burkert, 1991). Zeus took heaven for himself, di s t r i but i ng t he w a t e r s t o o n e brother, Poseidon, and the underworld to the other brother, Hades . The gods raped and plundered in the spirit of the human crew who carried them into the conquered terri- tories; some critics would interpret their celebrated rapes as metaphors for con- quering and absorbing goddesses, one after the other, sometimes by ofering a pre- tense of marriage, s omet i mes not ; frequently propa- gating by the indi- genous goddesses to enhance the new pantheon (Campbell, 1991; Spretnak, 1992). In their old incarnations within the chthonic network, the Furies had already possessed the powers Athena pretends to award them in Te Eumenides. She catalogues consolations should they who awards to the Furies those powers of preventing or fostering fertility that they already possessed. Tere is mythological defamation as well in denying them both Figure 2. Greek Wine Bowl: Orestes pursued by the Furies. Circa 340-330 BCE. Retrieved from Southern Italian Greek colony. Orestes, with Fury above him, addressed by Athena. Apollo turns to a Fury wielding a snake, Clytemnestra, above left. (Trustees of the British Museum) International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 161 Te Furies Demoted and Restored their place in the theacentric network and their own power to ofer sanctuary (Visser, 1980); in Te Oresteia only Apollo or Athena, in their sunlit generosity, ofer the sanctuary that the Furies grant when Sophocles has later restored them to dignity. Te sanctuary they come to ofer Sophocles Oedipus was one they could also ofer in the historical religion (Visser, 1980). As to their sheer primitive ugliness, this too is a choice Aeschylus made. Pindar preceded him in this, but Aeschylus might have relied instead on a very diferent version bequeathed by his predecessor Heracleitus. Heracleitus portrayed the Furies as august enforcers of justice who exercised their power throughout what one might call his natural philosophy universe. Te Furies are that force which keeps each aspect of the universe in its proper path, confnes it to its proper function. Said Heracleitus: If the sun were to stray from its course, the Furies would put it right (B94).
In some sense, then, Aeschylus was innovating, not just by creating horrifc masks for the Furies but by associating the goddesses with the monster crew Gorgons and Harpies and so forth. After his horrifc portrayal, vase painters nonetheless chose to portray them as lithe and beautiful young women with wings on their shoulders or on their hunting bootsaiding in their swift pursuitssometimes with snakes for hair but not necessarily repulsive ones. Goddesses were often accompanied by snakes, especially in the old networks; this was the case even in the immigrating healing cultto which Sophocles attached himselfwhich had Asklepius as a healing (male) deity. Te Asklepian cult had a live tutelary snake which Sophocles was said to have hosted during a transition period, while the shrine was being moved to Athens. In the 2nd century CE, Pausanius (c. 143-177 CE/2001), touring Greece, remarked: He saw the Furies statue with snakes for hair, but the latter were not a perturbing sight (1.28.6). In the 4 th century BCE, a ceramicist portrayed Orestes, with Apollo and Athena fanking him, and Furies both above and to the side of Apollo; there is no hint of the ugliness suggested by Aeschylus (Fig. 2). How rational is rational? Tere are at least three arguments used by Athena and Apollo to beat down their chthonic opponents. One is slyly ensconced in Athenas more civilized blandishments and has been missed by too many critics: Athena lets the goddesses know that she herself is the only deity to have inherited the thunderbolt of Zeus her father (Aeschylus, 458 BCE/1989, ll. 827-829, complete version; Greek, ll. 826- 828). All the appearances of rational persuasion pale beside this veiled but decisive threat against them. Beyond this, having set up a juried court, Athena makes the rule that if the jury ties, she breaks the tie. Tey do and she does. She explains her tie-breaking vote in favor of Orestes as follows: I was born from Zeus forehead and have no mother; except for marrying one, Im all for the male. Terefore it matters less that Orestes killed his mother than that he was taking vengeance on his fathers behalf. I will vote for the male because that is what I do. 10 Apollo drives the nail home. He says: Further- more, the mother only nurses the seed; the real parent of the child is the father alone. Tis purports to be a presentation of the latest scientifc certainties. It establishes that the mother has no rights because the child is not hers. In addition, he rebuts the Furies argument that their job is to redress the violation of blood bond, not marital bond. He pronounces that there must be a primacy of the womans bond to her husband, the marital bond, over her bond to the children (Aeschylus, 458 BCE/1989, ll. 657-671; Greek ll. 667-666). Te legal arguments are on the whole taking place in abstraction: One might as well ask why Clytemnestra should feel bound to Agamemnon, a man assigned to her and not of her choosing, a man who, as myth had it (though not one selected for Te Oresteia), had killed both her frst husband and infant before claiming her in marriage. Agamemnon is a husband who sacrifced their virgin daughter, then went of to war for 10 years at a time and returned with his war booty concubine in tow. If one were to wonder what would attach her to such a man more than to her child, one might end up simply bafedunless one posited, as Freud (1924) did with a scientifc poker-face, that womans basic nature is masochistic. Apollos assertions ignore the fact that a woman risks her life to give birth. Adding salt to the wound, he maintains that the childs obligation, frst and foremost and without hesitation, should be to the father. Apollos foundational argument for this is that the womb is no generator, but a mere nursery; he purveys this notion as if it were the latest incontrovertible scientifc discovery. In fact this argument, and its counter-arguments, were a living controversy of the times, with diferent philosophical and medical writers chiming in for or against the mothers role in reproduction; at the heart International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 162 Schavrien of this controversy was the issue of whether Athenian women should have full citizenship (Wiles, 2002). Instead, Athenian women would continue to watch as each new layer of men, from aristocrats to oligarchs to common men, received voting rights, but neither full citizenship nor voting rights came to women. Te intensifed foreign exchanges that accompany war, as demonstrated in Aristophanes Lysistrata, would make accessible the knowledge that women in most Greek city-states other than Athens (and the rest of Ionia) enjoyed greater rights. By contrast, the one-third of the population who were male Athenian citizens rested their great freedom on the backs of the one-third who were women and one-third who were slaves and metics. Te womens increasing frustration with exclusion, with the mens misogyny and with their sheer incompetence in governing as they brought on increasing ruin through war, would eventually surface in Aristophanes three plays, Lysistrata, Tesmophoriazusae (Women at the Festival), and Ecclesiazusae (Women at the Assembly); similarly, it appears in the last Greek tragic play that survives from that time, Euripides Bacchae. Tis fnds resonance with what Sophocles had to say in his Oedipus at Colonus, at about the same time as Te Bacchae50 years after Aeschylus helped celebrate and shape the newly triumphant city-state. Te Sophoclean view on gender difered signi- fcantly. It not only rehabilitated and even foregrounded feminine deityin the personae of the Furies and the Eleusinian earth deities of Demeter and Persephonebut also rehabilitated fgures like the daughters of Oedipus, who brought their wisdom, courage, and support to the aged Oedipus, receiving praise from the same father who excoriated their brothers. One daughter, Antigone, had even earned, in an earlier Sophoclean play by the same name, her own place in heroic history. Returning to Te Eumenides, Apollos crowning argument is this: Athena stands before the jury as child of no mother, sprung from her fathers headtherefore mothers are superfuous. Tis is reasoning by way of fairy tale. No reader revisiting such arguments can honor the pretense that they usher in a bold new age of rationality. Tere is, however, one new thought-provoking argument by Athena: Te justice system should retain the Furies, in however subordinate a manner, because fear is a necessary cornerstone to civic life; otherwise citizens run amuck. In this way the Furies remain both in fction and in fact guardians of Areopagus oaths taken to abstain from perjury. A new era of judicial rationality. Here, by the way, is a real-life note on the leap of progress implied by the founding of the court: Recent archeology has turned up an area near the court flled with masses of carved shards inscribed with the names of defendants, and pronouncing curses on them and their dear ones (Hughes as historian-narrator in Copestake, 2007). Te curses, it seems, hedged the plaintifs bets; one might obtain results even should the rational prosecution fail, through enlisting divinities. It was also the case that prosecution of murder remained outside of the states jurisdiction. A family member of the murder victim still had to initiate a lawsuit in the court; this indicates that, frst and foremost, the unavenged kin blood was at issue. It was true that the crime could threaten the society; the pollution, which could be contagious, must be stemmed. Tis risk of contagion might be why the Areopagus murder trials were not held indoors but rather outdoors. At the same time, if the victim pronounced forgiveness before dying, the family could refrain from prosecuting and the state need not take action. Tus, if one follows the drama out into the streets of 5 th century BCE Athens, the notions regarding pollution and the setting right of a cosmic upset had not changed all that much. Te positive development refected both in Te Eumenides and later in Sophocles Colonus, is that extenuating circumstances pressing on the suspect were gaining relevance. For example, Orestes was merely obeying Apollo, and Oedipus was unaware of parental identities. Te relevance of both circumstance and intention were surfacing in the new justice system. Te negative impact was that the sophists, itinerant educators delivering philosohical perspectives and pragmatic tips that, together, comprised political education, had troubling lessons for the young men who would rise in Athenian politics, argue in the assembly, and prepare argumentation for plaintifs in the law courts; these lessons were about the persuasive argument, and not at all about scruples or truthfulness. An example of this can be found in Platos (380-360 BCE/2008) Republic, the sophist Trasymachus as he argued throughout in favor of unscrupulous manipulation of the populace (cf. Tucydides, 411 BCE/1951, 3:823:83). Socrates incessant campaign against the sophistic teachers had much to do with this destructive tack of theirs. Oddly enough, the Athenian populace prosecuted and International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 163 Te Furies Demoted and Restored ultimately executed Socrates because they mistook him for a sophistic-type teacher rather than a dedicated enemy to their ruthless doctrines. How rational then was the new leap into rationality? Was one instead leaping into an increase not in reasoning but in rationalizing? If something may have been gained by transition to the new order, certainly something was being lost. Te great new approach using the logos, the argumentation, entailed misusing it more often than not. What arguments persuaded the male demos to vote for military action during at least every other year throughout the 5 th century empire (Hughes, 2010, p. 139)? Te much-touted cradle of democracy had instead become a warocracy (term coined by M. Plazewski, personal communication, December 22, 2010), addicted to calculative reasoning in the service of self-furthering. Granted, an expanding Athens seemed to need ever more grainand land to grow it on. Te challenge was to discern between real need and sheer appetite, and to refrain from reading opportunity and seeming need as license to exploit. Chthonic Goddesses, Women, and the Political Use and Abuse of the Dead In the middle play of Aeschylus trilogy, Te Libation Bearers, one sees an old social dynamic that was being gradually suppressed, one associated with treatment of the dead and observance of the demands of underworld divinity. As already described: With their lamentations, the foreign women drum up Agamemnons angry ghost, rouse him to play his role in the redress of his spilled blood. Solons 552 BCE legislation (Holst-Warhaft, 1995) began to confne womens mourning to less loud, less public displays, in keeping with his eliminating women more generally from public life (Wiles, 2002). Eventually what replaced the lavish displays of grief was the kind of funeral eulogy given by Pericles during the Peloponnesian War (Tucydides, 411 BCE/1941, 2.35.1-2.43.1, if this re-construction of Pericles speech may be believed). Te eulogy was best suited for recruitment of new soldiers into ever-new military actions. In it Pericles praised the fne citizens and their fne city, uniquely worthy of defense; and the Athenians ability, though living a life various in its pursuits, to take resolute military action in search of renown. He then assigned to women their proper nature and role. Teir nature was to remain silent; their best behavior to earn commentary neither for ill nor for good. If those who were listening had lost sons in the war, they had best bear more sons to sacrifce. 11 In short, women of the Golden Age sufered a corrosion of their rights and roleas guardians not just of birth, but also of death. Additional Oresteian Examples of Mythological Defamation While not every instance of defamation in Aeschylus trilogy can be named, the following examples round out the evidence presented here. Example 1: Genealogy of ownership at the Delphic Oracle. Te last play, Te Eumenides, relies throughout on the authority of the Delphic oracle; as the play opens, before she enters the inner sanctum and views the Furies, the priestess of the oracle recites its ownership history. 12
First, in my prayer, I give to Earth frst place / Among the gods; frst prophetess was she. / Second, Eternal Lawsecond was she / To sit on her mothers oracular seat, as the story goes. / In third allotment, one more Titan / Daughter of earth sat there, / Phoebea willing successor, not perforce. / She gave the oracle to Phoebus, / A birthday gift his name, too, echoed hers. (Aechylus, 1989, ll. 1-9; Greek ll. 1-8) Te priestess asserts that Phoebus Apollo came into possession of the oracle through voluntary and amicable transfer from Phoebe. A feminist such as Spretnak (1992), or a mythologist with Campbells (1991) insights, might well object that the oracle was not gifted to Phoebus but rather conquered by him: Phoebe was a Greek Titanand the matrifocal Titans were overcome by the patrifocal pantheon in Greek genealogies. Tis kind of re-framing of charter myth by replacement of the female by the male occurred also in the Mesopotamian tales of Tiamat (Campbell, 1991); surely this was a conquest rather than a gift. Example 2: Clytemnestra defamed and demonized. Clytemnestra was demonized in Aeschylus telling of the tale in the trilogys frst play: She was the princess of a wealthy, landed family; her sister, Helen, was half-divine by birth and had a history, before patrifocal cooption, as a goddess in her own right. Tese women were established royalty, not the nouveaux riches to which Clytemnestra disdainfully refers in the course of the Agamemnon. It is a great paradox that at a time when womens rights were at their nadir, playwrights were creating very large female fgures such as Clytemnestra, Medea, Antigone, Hecuba, and Electra (cf. Zeitlin, 1990),. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 164 Schavrien What explains this paradox? In the case of Helen and Clytemnestra, if Sarah Pomeroy (1975) was accurate, the 5th century BCE fgures carried traces of women from the Bronze Age, 13th century BCE; these were women of greater stature, with their feet planted in a society more hospitable to their power. Teir stature survived even in the 8th-7th century Homeric epics (see Appendix A), in which the brothers Menelaus and Agamemnon seem to have gone to the realms of their prospective brides in order to claim Helen and Clytemnestra. Tis would suggest a matrilocal, even matrilineal system. It is possible that Menelaus had acquired lands and kingship through marrying Helen and then launched the Trojan War so as to retain them (Atchity & Barber, 1987). In other words, the Bronze Age times seem to have included matrilineal as well as patrilineal varieties of marriage (Powers, 2000). 13 Tese mixed social structures may have characterized Greek society as it evolved from the 13th to the 5th century BCE, not just in Clytemnestras Mycenae, but also in the environs of Athens. Foley (2002) has noted that in [such] narrowly oligarchic, aristocratic, or monarchic states, women who belonged to the elite have often wielded considerable power, even if illegitimately (p. 78). Athenian legislation gradually reduced the power of the landed aristocratic families (e.g., 462 BCE laws diluting their power in the Areopagus), diminishing at the same time the rights of such women. An additional but very diferent approach to this paradoxwomen of stature onstage, constricted at homecan be inferred from Te Glory of Hera by Philip Slater (1968). His version was psychological, but he addressed also a 5th century BCE social situation that had legalized social stratifcation by gender and class (Powers, 2000, p. 91): Te social position of women in Athens had reached its nadir. Respectable women, the mothers of Athenian citizens, lived in Oriental [sic] seclusion. Tey were allowed only limited social interaction, and had few legal or political rights. Tey were married prematurely [ages 12-16] into patriarchal families to husbands twice their age, cut of from their own kin, and subject to a system in which they could visit relatives only when veiled, could not remain in the main room of the house when their husbands entertained other men, could not even appear in the windows of their own homes. (p. 91) Womens wombs could be re-deployed if needed by their family of origin, and along with the ability to perform menial labor, were their primary recommendation to the families that acquired the womenprovided the wombs engendered sons, of course. Despite these contributions, women were characterized in the tradition of Hesiod and Semonides as parasitic. If aspects of Slaters (1968) psychoanalytic analysis of 5th century society were correct, one may infer the following: Te women, left behind in the locked quarters, with their men out for years at a time to war, would have both admired and resented inordinately the gender, the literal sexual equipment, of their sons; in the psyches of those same sons might well be the looming fgure of a mother too accessible with no rival around, too needed as support, and too dangerous as welltoo large altogether. Tis, then, is a second possible explanation for the large fgures on stage. 14 In sum, although the development of the newly ascending democracy in Athens should be assigned to a progress spanning 6th through 5th century BCE, with notable landmarks of military and legislative victories in the decade preceding the plays, still the Aeschylean formulation of a charter myth for the following developments gave them impetus: He asserted that a necessary subordination of the female fgures had occurred, making obsolete the rights of fesh-and-blood fgures, and the autonomous powers of the goddesses as well. Te latter were still to be honored as vestige goddesses in the patrifocal religionbut they would make way for the ascent and ascendancy of the polis. From Te Oresteia Trough Te Teban Plays: Te Historical Transition Toward Sophocles Last Play T he Periclean eulogy for the fallen in the Peloponne- sian War refected the transition from newly fedged victors in a defensive war against the Persians to rulers of an empire. Its focus was on an expansive pursuit of renown; few pretensions were made to being in the right. Here is where a hermeneutics of suspicion must question a textbook view of Athens. How just and fair was it as a culture? Surely it was admirable in some ways: admirable for the brilliant initiating of philosophy, the beginnings of science (some of it, such as Democritus atoms, quite sophisticated); the development of the various arts as well as of legal and political theorizing and experimentation. Yet inquiring into the dark half of the Athenian history serves an important purpose, contributing to a truer comprehension of democracy then and now. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 165 Te Furies Demoted and Restored For instance, was the Peloponnesian War necessary? As Tucydides portrayed in his best approximation of deliberations between Corinthians and their Spartan allies (411 BCE/1951, 3.36-50), the Corinthians were arguing that the decision to make war should not hang on minor Athenian provocations. Te decision should focus on the fact that Athenians had become a people who gave neither themselves nor anyone else any rest. Only from the outside could they be stopped. Te question here of the Athenian character bears centrally on my argument. I cite Tucydides and Sophocles to demonstrate that the increasingly distorted notion and embodiment of virility at the secular and sacred level, and a defcit as well of a counterbalancing female perspective and contribution, sent Athenians into a downward spiral. Tey certainly did not appear to advantage in the dialogue between their own envoy and the Melian rulers, as re- created by Tucydides (411 BCE/1951, 5.17). Te rulers of the little island of Melos were protesting as follows: You never have had any claim on us; you cannot just barge in and take us over; this would be unjust. Te envoy replies that justice plays no role whatsoever between a big power and a little one; it barely plays a role between two big powersonly when all other factors are equal. Melos must surrender or be decimated. (Tere has been dispute about how typical such a ruthless aftermath of conquest was for the Athenians: Bettany Hughes [2010, pp. 223-224] contended that the harsh treatment, either decimation or enslavement of males, and enslavement of women and children, was characteristic.) What is interesting about the envoys argument is that it lacks the usual political patina of respectability; it is bald-faced and brutal and speaks to an Athenian realpolitik evolved, or devolved, beyond all concern for appearance. Tis is reason taken down to sheer calculation, without an ounce of alignment with virtuevery much along the line of the most up-to- date 5th century sophistic teachings, as glimpsed in, for instance, Platos (380-360 BCE/2008) Republic. It is important to view the breakdown in morals as Tucydides (411 BCE/1951) examined it on Corcyra, for he meant this breakdown to apply to what was happening among Athenians as well. One can infer this from reading the text as a whole. Te reader will notice that Tucydides himself gendered these developments. His analysis portrayed virility gone wrong, associating this also with the denigration of kinship ties (often sanctifed by the female divinities): People altered, at their pleasure, the customary signifcance of words to suit their deeds: irrational daring came to be considered the manly courage of ones loyal to his party; prudent delay was thought a fair-seeming cowardice; a moderate attitude was deemed a mere shield for lack of virility, and a reasoned understanding with regard to all sides of an issue meant that one was indolent and of no use for anything. Rash enthusiasm for ones cause was deemed the part of a true man; to attempt to employ reason in plotting a safe course of action, a specious excuse for desertion. One who displayed violent anger was eternally faithful, whereas any who spoke against such a person was viewed with suspicion. . . . Indeed, even kinship came to represent a less intimate bond than that of party faction, since the latter implied a greater willingness to engage in violent acts of daring without demur. (411 BCE/1951, 3:823:83) A Psychospiritual Version of Gender Campbell (1991) traced these behaviors not just to their historical and sociocultural sources but to their roots in the psyche. Te characterizations need not be taken as absolute portraits of each gender for now and all time, but are nevertheless useful ones: Te battle . . . as though of gods against Titans before the beginning of the world, actually was of two aspects of the human psyche at a critical moment of human history, when the light and rational, divisive functions, under the sign of the Heroic Male, overcame (for the Western branch of the great culture province of high civilizations) the fascination of the dark mystery of the deeper levels of the soul, which has been so beautifully termed in the Tao Te Ching, the Valley Spirit that never dies: It is named the Mysterious Female. And the Doorway of the Mysterious Female Is the base from which Heaven and Earth sprang. It is there within us all the while... (p. 80) Te Teban Plays of Sophocles W hile Te Oresteia was written in 458 BCE, the authoring of the three Oedipus plays spanned from Antigone, in 441 BCE, through Oedipus Tyrannus, presented in 426 BCE, to Oedipus at Colonus, written circa 408-406 BCE (shortly before the death of Sophocles International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 166 Schavrien at 90) and staged by his grandson in 401 BCE. Antigone, though written frst, would, narratively, have happened last. Oedipus Tyrannus would go frst in terms of the narrative; then the Oedipus at Colonus, about the old man dying in a sacred grove in an Athenian suburb; then the Antigone in which his daughter, after his death, survives to address the miseries left behind at Tebes. Who Was Sophocles and Why His Vision? Sophocles had lived to see the victory over the Persians and the consequent strengthening of the fedgling democracy mid-century. He watched the maritime alliance, supposedly in defense against possible return of the Persians, grow into the tribute-collecting and, eventually, brazen empire of the Athenians; he watched the venture of the Peloponnesian War turn fatal with the overextension into Sicily, and the loss along the way of leaders such as Pericles and Alcibiades; he eventually witnessed the arc toward defeat. Now, as he wrote near his 90th birthday, all could see that Athens was doomed at the hands of the Spartan Alliance; soon after his death, the surrender treaty of 404 BCE was indeed signed. After that, at the tragic festival of 401 BCE, his last testament to Athenians was played posthumously, in the form of Oedipus at Colonus. Sophocles was in a position to view matters from a fresh and original perspective. He had been elected as a general for one of the expeditions but joked to his co-general, Nicias, about his own mediocre talents in this regard; he was perhaps less than enthusiastic about exercising military leadership. He had a reputation, on the other hand, as a bon vivant. He had room to view and re-view gender matters since, in addition to his wife and family, and a courtesan consort who gave him illegitimate ofspring, he enjoyed his beloved young men. He was clearly quite serious and devoted to his playwrights craft. He was likewise devoted to his position in the cult of Asklepius, with its sacred snake, a fgure of regenerative healing, that, as mentioned before, he hosted for a while in his own home. After his death, and after that last play about the Oedipus hero (and so, implicitly, about the Oedipus cult as worshipped in the actual grove of the Furies), the Athenians made Sophocles himself into a hero and instituted a cult. Tis extraordinary life renders us an extraordinary perspectivenot a womans perspective, yet given its incomparable scope, a crucial one. Oedipus Tyrannus Oedipus attempts to evade the Delphic Oracles prediction that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He changes venue from Corinth to Tebes and must solve the Sphinxs riddle, a foreshadowing of his urban career as king and his scripted rendezvous with the cosmos as prophet. One might interpret the healing of Oedipus to have begun at the same moment as did his terrible self-discoveries: Tere is the encounter of the young Oedipus with the feminine as devouring mother, the Sphinxhe must conquer or be devoured. Tere are the victory prizes he receives: Tey prove near- fatal because, accompanying the vacated throne, is the widowed queen. He assumes the kingship and mates with a woman who, unbeknownst to him, is his mother. He encounters feminine energies, not only by sleeping with that queen but again, years afterward, by coming into confict with the prophet Teiresias. Oedipus the King ends up cursing the revered prophet as blind, old, weak, and suborned to pretend to paranormal powers in the employ of some political faction. In outraged response Teiresias gives Oedipus what he has demanded and the prophet dreaded delivering; he points to the identity of a polluting murderer, the one who causes disease to ravage the Kings city: Teiresias delivers the clues to the unfortunate Kings own real identity as unwitting patricide and incestuous lover to his mother. Before long, replies Teiresias, you too will be old, blind, and weak, traits you mock in me. Teiresias fails to mention that along with the debilitation will come paranormal powers, genuine rather than fake ones. Oedipus will be a prophet like Teiresias himself. Teiresias, as told in myth well-known to the Athenian audience of the play though not mentioned in the play itself, had spent adulthood alternating between 7 years as a man and 7 as a woman. So Oedipus adds a new encounter with feminine energies, not just on the outside but also on the inside, as efeminacy. Te encounters have been high tragedy for Oedipus. Tis is in the middle period of Sophoclean production, well before Athens loses her nearly 30- year war with the Spartan-Teban Alliance but after a decimating plague such as the one Oedipus insists on curing through his inquiries into the cause of pollution. Oedipus falls like an oak and the universe seems to collapse with him. In the late years of Oedipus, however, and of Sophocles who would tell the old kings story in Te Coloneus, the healing actualizes fully in the heros dying, death, and afterlife. Te healing of Oedipus, including the augmenting of the hero to his destined size, had begun paradoxically with the seeming miseries, International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 167 Te Furies Demoted and Restored including those three encountersSphinx, mother, prophetwith the feminine. Te tyrannus in the plays title poses the question of how far the politically expedient purposes and actions of the despot can gogiven actions which challenge divinitys pre-eminence (Grene, 1991/1994). What is too much mastery, too much virility? On the other hand, Jocasta, the Kings older wife gives advice on relating to the feminine: Before this, in dreams too, as well as oracles, / many a man has lain with his own mother (1991/1994, ll. 980-982; Greek ll. 981-982); you must take this matter less seriously, leave of inquiring. Of course Oedipus disregards her warning, with perhaps too much masculine recklessness, perhaps too much attraction to the taboo feminine. He pursues instead, as he feels he must, the truth. She commits suicide. He plucks out his eyes. What follows is a summary of Antigone, and fnally of Oedipus at Colonus, which, written last, distilled the long retrospective of the Sophoclean vision. According to some, Oedipus Tyrannus paralleled Oedipus in his pride with Athens in her own heyday, towering above the other city-states, but then struck with a decimating plague (Grene, 1991/1994, p. xxii; Knox 1998; L. Doherty, personal communication, December 14, 2010). Oedipus at Colonus depicted an exhausted and battered Oedipus, perhaps resembling Athens near her fall after repeated Spartan invasions. Grene went on to observe that nevertheless old Oedipus is possessed of a mysterious inner strength and a spiritual power that receive ultimate recognition from the gentled, if still terrible, goddesses of the grove (p. x). Oedipus at Colonus portrayed a kind of survivalfor protagonist and polity both. Te Furies bear witness to it; and more, they are somehow benevolently implicated. Antigone Te Antigone is noteworthy because so frequently misinterpreted by critics. Granted, as critics say, the plot bears somewhat on individual conscience as it holds out against state dictum. Antigones brothers have fought for the throne of Tebes in the wake of their fathers exile and have killed each other, in accord with Oedipus curse on them. Creon, brother of Oedipus late royal wife and mother, inherits; he declares one dead brother a criminal and lays him out to fatten the vultures. Antigone instead defes Creons law, throws dirt on the body. Te point, however, is this: Her action, rather than primarily an individuating one, is taken in compliance with the chthonic pantheon and their family-afrming burial customs. Antigone clarifes this: Yes, it was not Zeus that made the proclamation [Creons against burial];/ nor did Justice, which lives with those below, enact / such laws as that, for mankind/ Tese are the laws [the proper religious ones] whose penalties I would not/ incur from the gods, through fear of any mans temper. (Grene, 1991, ll. 494-503; Greek ll. 450-460) Here, as in the Oedipus Tyrannus, a person, though he or she be head of state, may not concoct religious procedures, violating what the gods have stipulated, just as no king may fy in the face of the prophet Teiresias, aligned in Sophocles with both Olympians and the old gods. Creon brings punishment down on his own head. Tebes has its laws, says Antigone, not of today and yesterday; / they live forever; none knows when frst they were (ll. 500-501; Greek ll. 456-457). Te rulers hot temperchallenging the gods through challenging Teiresiasissues in his inability to put a timely stop to Antigones decreed death: Creons son then replicates the preemptive suicide of his beloved Antigone, and Creons wife follows suit. Te curses on the house of Oedipus, some of them self-levied, have worked their way through the family from top to bottom. Oedipus at Colonus I will deliver the synopsis, interspersing commentary along the waypointing out the visibles and the invisibles, the social dimensions and the sacred, that both ran through the play and put it in a larger context. Oedipus at Colonus provided a retrospective on the birth of democracy in Athens, and also on the polis rise and fall as the hub of an empire. It did so in seeming parable, in fairy tale, rather than in a history like that of Tucydides. But this was no simple parable; it was a late vision, coming from the 90-year-old playwright Sophocles, seen, in accordance with late style, in the light of death (Schavrien, 2009). It was likewise a late vision in terms of a cultures apogee and decline: It had the many earmarksa piece that tended to look backward and inward, in terms of historical foundations (being set in the Athenian Bronze Age of the 13th century) and of depth psychological foundations; at the same time it took a long look forward, prophetically, since the outcome of the plot supposedly ofered Athens invulnerability in war into the foreseeable future. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 168 Schavrien It ofered a true archetypal grasp as does many a late visionin this particular instance, it ofered the archetype of the hero in Oedipus and of the good leader in Teseus. It also left in place the seemingly irreconcilable threads in the fabric of life. In the Sophoclean vision, there was Oedipus astounding precision and accuracy in cursing his blood relations, who were nevertheless, as he rightly guessed, planning treachery; there were on the other side, the most intimate exchanges, with their poignant details, between Oedipus and Antigone: Lean your old body on my arm, says Antigone, it is I who love you (Grene, 1954, ll. 200-201). Both the acerbic and the tender gave naturalistic touches to the fairy tale, making this, again, a peculiarly late vision, in which imagination and daily reality mixed as almost equal partners. Te irreconcilables, expressed in Oedipus difcult character and refected in his terrible prior treatment at the hands of the gods, intersected with a mood of sweet serenity often found in late vision; Oedipus loving benevolence toward his daughters and Teseus, and the great blessing he bestowed on Athens, amplifed a mystery attached to the grove in which he died. He died in the grove of the Furies, with its nightingales that never stop singing, a grove as timelessly beautiful as nature could ever be; he died having seemingly outwitted a terrible outcome should his trespassing have proven taboo, and having aligned with the groves blessing instead. His alignment with the Furies, and through this with the feminine. ushered in a certain serene assurance for the Athens of the play. Te Athenians would identify: Tere were strands in the play that put the imperiled Oedipus into a parallel with the actual fn de sicle Athens; the latter would die, soon after the play was written, as an empire. As a city-state, when in 401 BCE the actual population came to view the play, Athens would be enjoying a momentary stabilization but would still sufer the threat of an outburst from internal factionshaving recovered its democracy after oligarchic takeover in 411 BCE and, again, after the oligarchic installation by their conqueror, in 404 BCE. Such parallels would surely have been appreciated by those who sat to watch the Sophoclean last testament. In sum, as to the late vision of the play, personal and cultural, it mixed the cantankerous with the serene: It was not purely a serene vision, as some late visions are, but did and does ofer a potentially serene vision in which to dwell, as one might dwell in the timeless grove; nor was the vision purely focused on the irreconcilables as are some other late visions. In this paradox Sophocles vision might be compared to that in Shakespeares Te Tempest: sophistication, even life-weariness, paired in both plays with a post-pollution return to innocence. Tere was the Eden that lived in the mind and it was no mere fantasy but a real force in human living. Both visions matched great sophistication with magic at the root. To convey that actuality and that magic, Sophocles brought the sacred invisibles and the secular visibles together; he intermixed them. Tis is, then, the venue for my ongoing exploration of a dialectic between facets of society and of the pantheon, as the former projected onto the latter and as the latter shaped the former. What are the Beings and Doings of Oedipus at Colonus? Te play was and is too strange to yield to a conventional plot summary. Although very much embraced by audiences at the time, it has been less popular since then; probably, as Markantonatos (2007) suggested, because moderns fnd it too episodic. Te unifying threads are not really those of plot. In his excellent book, Oedipus at Colonus: Sophocles, Athens, and the World, Markantonatos ventured the following about the grove which received Oedipus: Te sacred precinct of the Eumenides [Furies] has been aptly recognized as perhaps the most evocative of meaningful connections with ffth-century Athens in the context of Greek tragedy (2007, p. 74). He went on to say: Apart from the settings of Sophocles Philoctetes and the disputed Rhesus, which, we should think, present an unequal match to the shifting succession of awe-inspiring images of landscape simplicity and tranquility evoked in the last play of Sophocles, the setting also gradually shows itself to be another exceptionally important strand, woven as it is in the complex thematic web of the play. As the action unfolds, it will unpredictably prove to be extremely redolent of contemporary associations with foremost Athenian institutions. (2007, p. 39) In his view, the play highlighted two sets of institutions: the leadership of Athens; through Oedipus death in this grove, the moderate and decent, yet valorous leadership of Teseus was confrmed; furthermore, though a king, he nevertheless would sometimes consult with citizens. Rule by Teseus, one International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 169 Te Furies Demoted and Restored may infer, would serve as a model for Athenian handling of polis factions as it moved forward, stripped of its empire, but needing to regain stability as a city-state. Te other set of institutions cited by Markantonatos (2007) was the Eleusinian Mysteries, in which most if not all Athenian citizens were inducted once in their lifetime. Tese were Mysteries accenting the story of Demeter and her daughter Persephonethe daughters abduction by Hades, the mothers search and partial success in demanding her return from the underworld for most of the year; thus, the mournful sterility in one season and the regeneration in another. (Tere are controversies over what season is the setting for regeneration; desolation may have been in the heat of Summer and regeneration in Autumn, in keeping with agricultural cycles, rather than desolation in Winter followed by a fruitful Spring). Some have described the Mysteries as having involved the baby Dionysus, and the Eleusinian Mysteries intersected in Athenian religious life with Dionysiac and Orphic Mystery institutions as well. Tis study emphasizes instead their intersection with the goddesses providing the setting of the play, the Eumenides/Furies. Oedipus dies into these goddesses, while Persephone as the Dread Goddess is invoked to guide him; he is received on the whole by the older matristic pantheon: Te Furies grove and a kind of psychospiritual locus of the Eleusinian Mysteries (in real life celebrated by processions between Athens and Eleusis) join as one setting, hosting the death of the hero. In such a context, the Furies are inefably beautiful: Indeed, the graduated, suspense-flled series of landscape descriptions, which for all their apparent specifcity rebuf completely intelligible coherence, hassled an otherwise discerning critic [Dunn, 1992] to put forward the rather famboyant claim that: in a sense the drama is stripped down to a single aspect of stage convention: from the beginning to the end we are occupied in discovering what the scene represents. (Markantonatos, 2007, p. 77) A short and very selected version, of what happens in the play is that Oedipus, old, blind from his self-punishment, and in the midst of a long beggarly exile relying on the guidance of his daughter, Antigone, discovers himself in this mysterious setting. A local citizen informs the pair that he may not stay where he standsit endangers him and everyone; he stands in the grove of those referred to as the Kindly Ones (for fear, it may be inferred, that they should show their face as the Furies). Tis new name for them builds on the turnabout supposedly documented in the Aeschylean tragedy of 50 years earlier. (Aeschylus may not have been so much inventing the new name, as turning to his own uses the peoples habit of cautious euphemism). One hears in the citizens words the underlying terror of ofending the goddesses that all still carry. Oedipus is not yet revealed to the citizen as Oedipus indeed, but one would think that he above all should be terrifed to set foot in the grove, patricide that he is and, indirectly, matricide. On the contrary, Oedipus replies that, now that he knows where he is, he most certainly will remain in place. Te rest he promises to explain when Teseus, the leader of Athens and its suburb, Colonus, arrives. Oedipus himself knows that old oracles and new ones would have him die in this grove to bestow, with his bones, protective blessings on Athens, his newly adopted home. Athens would enjoy as his legacy invulnerability in war. Te action develops with visits from Creon, his brother- in-law, and Polyneices, his son, who aim to induce him to return to Tebes or even, in Creons case, to kidnap him so as to claim this same blessing of invulnerability. Tese visitors, especially Creon in his violent overreaching, serve as counterfoils to the good and moderate leader, Teseus. Tis does not mean, however, that only Tebes, whom they represent, is the bad city. Were Athens to behave this way, and in fact she had been behaving this way, she too would be condemned to defeat at the hands of her betters; it was a common theatrical device in the tragedies to use other cities to make indirect reference to Athenian woes and misbehaviors. In any case, the outcome of the plot sees Oedipus embracing Teseus as benefactor and heir. Replacing the rejected son, Polyneices, is this equivalent of a newly adopted son. Oedipus embraces as well a new city-statenot Tebes, the scene of his attainments and subsequent ordeal, but Athens. It is important that Oedipus also shifts, in his own perception and that of audiences old and new, the position of his daughters. It speaks to his own cosmopolitan learning, as one who has wandered Greece, and to Antigones excellence as a guide as well, that he says, Like the Egyptians, I have daughters who go abroad on behalf of their father and sons who sit at home. Yet, to reiterate, the heros sophisticated relativism cohabits comfortably with his ownand the playwrightsattunement to mystery and magic. Te episodic plot culminates in the old heros International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 170 Schavrien death by apotheosis; it is a secretive death not witnessed directly but heard tell of by way of a messenger. Te secretiveness of the death ties it in with the Athenian Eleusinian institutions highlighted by Markantonatos (2007). Te Demeter and Persephone of the Mysteries matter here; throughout, the Furies matter. Te threads of doing and being intersect in the choral song praising the grove. Te song illustrates the settings central importance, illuminates the contention that from beginning to end we are occupied in discovering what the scene represents (p. 75): In the gods untrodden vale Where leaves and berries throng, And wine-dark ivy climbs the bough, Te sweet, sojourning nightingale Murmurs all day long. No sun nor wind may enter there Nor the winters rain; But ever through the shadow goes Dionysus reveler, Immortal maenads in his train. Here with drops of heavens dews At daybreak all the year, Te clusters of narcissus bloom, Time-hallowed garlands for the brows Of those great ladies whom we fear. (ll. 668-685; Greek ll. 670-684) Tere is even an odd set of lines in a later scene (odd as they are translated by Fitzgerald [1954], though not by Grene [1991/1994]). Te lines provide provocative psychological insight. Fitzgerald (1954), as a poet-translator, took telling liberties when he translated this set of lines; they characterize the people of Athenian Colonus, who honor the god of the sea, who loves forever / Te feminine earth that bore him long ago (Sophocles, 441-406 BCE/1954, ll. 1070-1071; Greek ll. 1070-1073). Te rhythms suggest lovemaking: Note the waves-of-the- sea rhythms, with accents on god, loves, and the ev in forever, earth, long; the wave rhythms are also the thrust rhythms of a graceful lovemaking. Te poetry, then, invokes the (not infrequent) incest among the oldest gods, for whom the Mother pairing with son-consort is standard, as are incestuous versions of the Poseidon/Earth myth. 15 (Sophocles used Rhea rather than Earth [Gaia] as the goddess paired with Poseidon, but Rhea and Gaia are often confated). Tese lines juxtapose in a thought- provoking way with the drama at hand of purifcation and rehabilitation from an unwitting incest, as if, when the action is translated to divine realms, as Oedipus is about to be translated, such a primal coupling implies no pollution (Schavrien, 1989). Te sea, embracing his mother the earth (Poseidon as gaienokhos, Earthholder [L. Doherty, personal communication, December 19, 2010]), makes love forever to her. Te Eden is one of safety and loveliness, as the citizen chorus says, and one of an unstainable innocence. Te Hero and the Multivalent Goddess Tere is a Greek morality that diverges from that of contemporary Western culture. Oedipus at Colonus portrayed the transformation of the much- despised former king into not just a prophet but also a daemonic herostill worshipped in 5th century Athens (Grene, 1991/1994, xxvi) though his story occurred in founding times. Many critics have attempted to explain away Oedipus horrifc temper, not so much when it triggers his downfall in middle agehe would not yet have learned his lessonbut when as an old man he is about to transfgure into a demigod. He then displays this same horrifc rage toward both Creon and his own son; Oedipus sees through them at once and verbally eviscerates them, each in turn. His accuracy should be acknowledged, yet there is no explaining away the temper. Grenes (1991/1994) defnition of a hero lays out, instead, a uniquely Greek gestalt of the sacred, one which accommodates such a tension: Sophocles here draws on the complex of Greek reli- gious notions of hero-cult He himself received such a cult after his death. Heroes, in this technical sense, are mortal high achievers whose life-story is generally embedded in old myths or legends. Teir extraordinary force and passion lead them to actions beyond the limits of normal humanity and often bring them into confict with human and divine laws. Hence they perform great outrages as well as great benefactions. Tey generally come to a violent and mysterious end in which the paradoxes of transgression and greatness are enacted in a supernatural event like sudden disappearance or some other intervention by the gods. (p. xxvi) Oedipus life comes to a mysterious end. Te drama in the grove may have threatened violent destruc- tion for him, what with the attempts at intervention from Creon and Polyneices; but all of these are blocked by Teseus on the physical side and by Oedipus himself International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 171 Te Furies Demoted and Restored psychologically. After the victorious battles, the blind old Oedipus enacts his fate by leading his party of Teseus and daughters into the grove; he is for the frst time unguided and unsteadied by any arm. He then fnds, through his own prophetic knowledge, the designated spot for his transformation; hears his name called out by a deity impatient of delays; disappears either into the gaped earth or else into the arms of some god; and fnally, transmutes in the course of the transport into a daemonic hero. In the play ending the Oedipal narrative, though it was the frst one written, Antigone followed her father to become a heroine. What helped her qualify was the same terrible stubbornness, which nevertheless did not disqualify her from claiming hearts or having right on her side. She too aligned herself with chthonic deities when they were least in favor. Tis point matters because, as the reader gains insight into the old order goddesses, and especially the Furies, she should notice, even appreciate, their multivalence. Tey are feminine in the roundcurse, blessing, and all. To know them fully, one should know them in the context of their entire network. Tey are a remedy to the much diminished and disempowered goddesses of the present-day, such as Mary, sweet, forgiving, willing to intercede humbly with the greater masculine powers, asexual, and actually no goddess at all but merely human, as the Catholic Church ofcially maintains. In such a form, these goddesses bear the marks of a divide-and-conquer strategy, not just external but also internal: Tey are amputees, fragments of their former selves. 16 Tese amputated versions of the female misrepresent fgures that lived a more rounded life in their older forms (Spretnak, 1992): Hera, Athena, Artemis, and Hecate, for instance, had been chopped and diced for co-optation by the Olympian pantheon. Te preceding pantheon had been presided over by a Great Mother, with Demeter perhaps most related to that fgure, and a network of near-related fgures such as the Minoan Lady of the Beasts (who eventually translated into either Artemis or Gaia), the Lady of the Mountains, and so forth. Te frescoes and statuettes, plus correlations drawn with early Anatolian and Baltic pantheons, have provided the basis for suggestions that the Olympian goddesses found their roots in the Bronze Age culture and earlier, as did Demeter and Persephone (Stallsmith, 2008). 17
Athens, the Compassionate City of Refuge O edipus specifcally holds Athens to its reputation as a city of refuge (Grene, 1994, ll. 271-76). When the citizens fnd out his actual identity, they want only to rid the place of him. He reproaches them with reneging not only on the promise they had made to host him, before they knew his name, but also on their age-old reputation for compassion to the injured stranger. Fortunately, Teseus, their leader, overrides their rejection. Tis is signifcant because perhaps a polity is essentially the promises that the folk make to each other at its founding. Perhaps the real-life evolution of Athens from welcoming democracy to bully empire was targeted by Sophocles in this call for hospitable compassion. Te Glaring Paradox of the Sophoclean Bequest As Oedipus was leaving his bones, so Sophocles was leaving to the Athenians the bequest of this play. He left it in a time when the Athenians had overextended, having lost too large a feet by sending out the Sicilian expedition (415 BCE). Tere were ups and downs to come after that, but when Sophocles was writing, the pending defeat was clear. How, then, could he write a play, set in its founding times, that marked the bestowing of a heros grave that granted invulnerability to Athens? Was the play meant as a magical amulet, as suggested by D. Grene (personal communication, 1973)? Was it simply escapist, in the manner of the Busby Berkeley musicals on which Americans feasted during the Great Depression of the 1930s? In either case, one can comfortably argue that it gave this message to the public: If Athenians could rewind and re-do, they might have kept the brightest promises they had made to themselves as a folk, and their most grateful and pious promises to the deities. In fact the choruses portray an Athens in which there are not even competitions among the gods, as there are in myths such as the one that sets Poseidon against Athena in a competition for tutelary deity of the city. Te play, as Grene (1991/1994) described, juxtaposed chthonic and Olympian religions and thereby joined areas of family and city in exploring the larger theme of the human relation with nature and the gods (pp. xviii-xix). Tey all had their contribution to make to the Eden which was the Athenian Colonus: Old and new, male and female, sturdy olive tree, fsh aplenty, sky, sea, and earth, all dwelt in harmony and balance. Tis may well have been an equivalent of the Eden myth, but not as sheer fantasy; instead the Colonus myth conveyed an attitude of remembrance and attunement. 18
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 172 Schavrien Finally, to home in on the political dimension: Athens had certainly departed from its own charter promises of respectful governance and compassion. Te extraordinary way in which the Erinyes were showcased, however, and made beautiful while retaining their potency, celebrating the fertile features of their grove and surrounding land, accomplished the following: It embedded the story in an intimacy with nature and a gratitude for the land, ofering antidote to the cynical impiety and ambition of the times. Tere was, then, a political signifcance to this grateful acknowledgement of natural setting. Te political seconded what was clearly a personal signifcance as well. Te play was a lovesong, from a Sophocles facing his death, to Colonus, the land of his birth. Personal and political motives dovetailed. Although contemporary Westerners may owe great cultural gratitude to Athenians for their questing spirit, their actualized ambitions were just one side of a double-edged sword: As the Corinthians warned their hesitant Spartan allies, Athenians had to be stopped; their ambition was unquenchable, as indicated by their incessant imperial expansions. Te contrasting drift of Sophocles last play might be expressed in the words of a Dorothy weary of Oz: Teres no place like home; theres no place like home. Home was embedded in the dear land and sea that gave host to Athens. Finding Crete in Colonus: Te Signifcance of the Goddesses Lineage F or the purposes of this study, most crucial and astonishing in Sophocles fnal play was the reassertion of the sacred power and importance of the Furies themselves. At the same time, there was the reactivation of their chthonic Old Girls Network that included most notably Demeter and Persephone, central to the Eleusinian Mysteries and thereby to Athenian well-being. But the Mysteries had demanded utter secrecy from their many Athenian initiates; this enabled the patriarchal Olympian pantheon to remain in the limelight. Te Athenian women were, in fact, conducting many festivals dedicated to maintaining fertility of land and womb throughout the seasonal phases of the year (Zweig, 1993, p. 167). Still, given the secrecy surrounding the Eleusinian Mysteries, this relative invisibility bears on the feminist search for an accurate and usable history (Gross, 1993, p. 19; cf. pp. 19-22). Sophocles ofered some remedy by assembling a myth that linked potential Athenian healing to a foregrounding of the chthonic goddesses. Te Tree Ss: Secrecy, Survivals, Syncretism To characterize historical developments stretching from Crete to Athens, one might assemble three elements and dub them the three Ss: secrecy, which backgrounded Demeter and Persephone until they were, at least in terms of polis destiny, quietly foregrounded in the last Sophoclean play; survivals, which made their appearance as vestiges of the old religion in the new, such that, even if one tried to beat down the ancient goddesses, they inevitably sprang up elsewhere; and, fnally, syncretism, which could be found in the respectful solution to Athenian tensions, as Sophocles harmoniously combined the chthonic with the Olympian pantheon. It is true that Aeschylus had made his own version of such an integration, but it had entailed a contemptuous subordination. Sophocles, instead, restored all due respect. Te Sophoclean Dynamic: Restoration of the Feminine to Stabilize Athens Since Sophocles, a comprehending witness of the Golden Age, its evolutions and devolutions, saw restoration of the feminine (in deity, energy, creature) as crucial to the stabilizing of Athens, it makes sense to follow his lead. Markantonatos (2007) went far in teasing out the threads from a dynamic skein. Te present analysis adds to his a gendered perspective. He has argued that the play alluded vividlyat least for the sensibility of a 5th century Athenian who would catch the referencesto the Eleusinian Mysteries; the play in some sense echoed such a rite. Te plays hero, after encounter with a dark and frightening set of experiences (as some assign to the process of the Mysteries) meets then with the salvifc vision: In the time between, such portents as thunder and lightning (heard by Oedipus the hero as well as by the real-life initiate) keep the initiate thoroughly awake. Tere may be a few witnesses, but secrecy prevails. It is understood that the vision smoothes the way to both a regenerated life and, most notably, after-life to come. Demeter and Persephone have been alluded to in several places (e.g., Grene, 1991/1994, l. 1766, l. 1786) either by name or by an epithet both pointing to and disguising the netherworld daughter. Many other gods have appeared as well, all spread throughout the local landscape although, in this instance, all arranged in an implied relationship to the Furies, since these goddesses have been dominating the setting. In Oedipus prepara- tion for death in the grove, Markantonatos (2007) International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 173 Te Furies Demoted and Restored has deftly identifed syncretic threads of burial rites, purifcation rites, and sacrifcial rites; they variously combined in those last moments of Oedipus self- preparation for his transmuting death, and are extended after that by the mourning from his daughters. Te entire play would have invoked a syncretic pantheon and a syncretic participation-by-proxy in its ongoing ritual: It would concoct a potent brew needed to address the terrible circumstances in which the actual polis members, the viewing audience, found themselves. How does the analysis of Markantonatos (2007) lay out a path for redemption? Te point would be, frst of all, the point made in those Mysteries. An Athenian would very much need an alternative, ofered by the Mysteries, to the Olympian view of death: In the Olympian underworld one has neither joy nor light nor vitality. 19 As to the alternative: Te Eleusinian Demeter and Persephone trace back to Minoan times in Crete (Kerenyi, 1976). Both mother and daughter are implied in the title of Demeter Tesmophoros (Stallsmith, 2008), the dual goddess; while the Erinyes most probably trace back to Minoan ancestors (the keres) as well. Tat Minoan underworld, in which the three goddesses have a stake as earth and underworld goddesses, exists in analogy to the incubation phase in the farming cycle; in such a cycle, the seed has a hopeful dormancy in the earth. Tis cycle, then, plays a central role in Minoan culture and religion (Gimbutas, 1999, p. 136). Along the lines of a Minoan sensibility represented by survivalsvestiges of deities and their rituals into the Golden Agethe last scene in the Mysteries themselves entails the holding up of a cut ear of corn (or a sheaf of wheat): From seeming death in the earth comes regeneration. (For resemblances between Minoan and Eleusinian rituals, cf. Gimbutas, 1999, p. 136). Te mystical insight of the initiate may or may not be aided at such a moment by drug enhancements from the kykeon brew downed in the process; was it psychedelic? Tis is a facet that might also link the Mysteries with the Minoan poppy goddess (Kritikos & Papadaki, 1967). With or without the literal mystical chemistry of a potent kykeon, the insights would still be along these linesregenerativeafter dark encounters and death, comes the salvifc vision and life. Te Mysteries earthy, renewing orientation would have been desperately needed by the down-and-out Athenians; they needed both to believe in and accomplish such a renewal for themselves and their polis. Most crucial are the gender modifcation and rebalancing required, on the secular and divine levels. Markatonatos (2007) framed matters without a gendered reference. His insights, nevertheless, harmonize well with my own view. He added that this play tutors Athenians in returning to an old view that there can and should be traits and tendencies such as moderation, decency, and keeping ones word, even and especially in political leaders. Tis rings a salutary change on Tucydides (411 BCE/1951) description of virility gone wrong (cf. 3.82-3.83). Teseus served, then, as a model for the good leader. His mythical biography, interestingly enough for the argument of this study, intersected him with Minoan culture: Athenians, watching Oedipus at Colonus, would have had Minoan Crete at some level in their consciousness due to Teseus having encountered Ariadne there. References then, to the various earth- network deities, the Furies, Demeter, and Persephone, would have implied if not carried explicitly the long ago and far away overtones, extending the temporal telescope by yet another segment, from contemporary Athens to its founding days, from founding days to the Minoan pre-history of its chthonic deities (cf. n. 17). To return to Athenian politics: In fact, the democratic restoration (403 BCE), after an oligarchic interlude, showed much more restraint than had the previous administration; as if they were led by that mythical exemplar of moderation, Teseus. Athens herself managed to moderate, rebalance, and have her own kind of continuity into the 3rd century BCE and beyond. Perhaps Sophocles message, by way of the 401 BCE staging of the play, impressed itself on the citizens? Perhaps he was simply prescient. In any case, Athens, though dying as an empire, escaped death as a city-state from fractiousness and faction. Parallels with Contemporary Challenges: Retrieving a Home T here was a crucial female component in the syncretic pantheon of the 5th century BCE; the pantheon remained part Olympian, as imported by invaders, and part chthonic. At the same time, the earth-based and underworld fgures absorbed by the Olympian pantheon were defamed, as were the Furies, or downplayed, as were Demeter and Persephone. Te defamation and downplaying contributed to a faux virility which turned citizen against citizen, husband against wife, son against father. Te chthonic pantheon subsumed by Olympians, then, stood to beneft Athens through being both International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 174 Schavrien exhumed and foregrounded. Sophocles understood this, and the milder version of chthonic advocacy that appeared in his earlier play, Antigone, he threw into high relief in Oedipus at Colonus. His ability to root such advocacy in a psychology both deep and wide, spiritual yet also embodied, caused his sociopolitical critique to coincide with a psychospiritual and even psychoecological one. Such a foregrounding of the feminine held promise for an Athens then deep in crisis. It could come to the aid of the West today. Politics, socioeconomics, ecology and psycho- spirituality are threads in a skein. Both the United States and many multinational companies share traits with Athenians. Tere is the questing spirit unlikely to stop unless some outside force bridles it. Tere is the theory undergirding what has become a rogue capitalism, a capitalism that advocates incessant expansion to new markets, questing likewise, with only the thinnest semblance of morality, for unlimited acquisition of natural resources. As the Athenians felt there was no end to their need for wheat and the fertile ground that grew it, so modern forces seek access to oil with regard for nothing but the bottom line. It is clich to say that greed dominates the markets and, according to relatively unquestioned theory, greed makes the markets thrive: greed is good. How could such a premise provide for the upbringing of decent citizens, in the United States and abroad (L. Vacca, personal communication, April 11, 2011)? Like the Athenians, Americans and others may fnd some counterbalance in the frst and best promises that we, as various folk, made to ourselves at founding: For citizens of the United States, these would be the promises of those bent on hospitality, extending as well a reciprocal hospitality to the people and environment that have hosted us. Other folk might cultivate their own remembrances of their frst best intentions. Te caveat is that charter myths may be misused; they must be properly used, both to ofer a home and to retrieve a home. In his last play, Sophocles wrote for his chorus songs of reverence and gratitudeto both the ocean and the earth that held and sustained the culture. Likewise, this study bears witness on behalf of the oil-slicked gull of the Louisiana spill, who has served as its tutelary deity. Te earth calls for both a revived gratitude and a concerted commitment to turn away from destroying and toward sustaining. Such a solution, of course, is simple but not easy. Tere would be, in addition, a psychospiritual beneft to executing such good intentions: When Oedipus is fnally a healer rather than a polluter, he is simultaneously healing himself. How so? Te man cut of from the womb that frst ofered him a home, through his unwitting matricide, now fnds his home in a healed city-state and in the earthy cosmos as a whole. Ancient initiates into the Mysteries, and modern-day mystics, the grounded kind, seek intimacy with the whole. Teir feet walk the ground not as strangers on the earth but as those who belong. Tey have both retrieved and returned to a home. Tey have assuaged a longing to recover what might be called the primal intimacy. A mystics belonging need not be characterized as the opiate of the people, regression, or a lesser level of experiencing, as Marx, Freud, or Wilber (1995; addressing the indigenous brand) would have it. It may issue instead from a long and arduous healing, entailing commitment to the well- being of the whole. May my voice join the chorusgardener, citizen, artist, scholar, scientist, legislatorof those who promise the earth and its inhabitants both to cultivate and retrieve the sanctity of such a home. It is a cosmic home, so far and yet so near, to be discovered not only at the furthest reach of imagination, but also as the dear ground underfoot. References Aeschylus. 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(1993). Te primal mind: Using Native American models for the study of women in Ancient Greece. In Rabinowitz, N. & Richlin, A. (Eds.) Feminist theory and the classics (pp. 145-180). New York, NY: Routledge. Notes 1. Apollo and Athena are not so new as they would seem to be. Tey too have lineages that are pre- patriarchal. But, for the sake of simplicity, I take Aeschylus at his word regarding his binaries of these two as not the old gods but the new ones, coming from the he-god pantheon rather than from the she- god pantheon, as Tony Harrisons (1981) translation would have it. Aeschylus relied upon the revisionist portraits of them as Olympians, chronologically and personally young. 2. Te Erinyes in this play are renamed the Eumenides. Another title used, along the lines of avoiding specifcity and thereby a provocation of the deitys dark side, is the Semnae or Venerable Ones. Tere is some disagreement as to whether the Semnae are identical with the Eumenides/Erinyes but Harrison (1903, pp. 239-253) mostly does link them, as does Sophocles in his last play (Harrison, p. 254 as she quoted Sophocles l. 486, her translation). Visser (1980) in her dissertation seconded the view as have others. Harrison linked the Semnae to the Erinyes and to matriarchal roots as well. At another point she linked the Erinyes to Demeter, as in the Demeter Erinys (p. 240) and she rooted Demeter in Minoan Crete (p. 564). Tese links support the argument that the goddesses are pre-patriarchal, with roots in both Arcadia (for Demeter) and Crete. 3. Here the Campbell parallel is inexact because partially inaccurate: Te Titans were not produced parthenogenically (according to Hesiods theogony) as Campbell is asserting; one can view them as such only by confating them with the Gigantes (as the Greeks sometimes, in fact, did); the births of Ouranus and others, preceding the Titans, were parthenogenic, with Gaia only as the source. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 177 Te Furies Demoted and Restored Nevertheless, Campbells point about defamation still carries. In the wake of defeat, the early broods of both Tiamat and Gaia sufered defamation in the tales of the conquerors. 4. Aristotle named instead for those heroes something called hamartia, or an error of judgment [L. Doherty, personal communication, December 17, 2011]), so it is the Tucydidean reference to hubris that is relevant here. 5. Despite fare-ups of strength in the wake of the Sicilian expedition, the same factioningboth intra-city and intra-psychically, paralleling inter-city battles would make its appearance during the Sicilian expedition and the years that followed. Tere was, for the expedition, the confusing recall from battle of Alcibiades, its youthful inspiration and general, over his supposed mockery of the Hermes statues, protectors of new enterprise; Alcibiades purportedly perpetrated a round of phallus mutilations on these statues, distributed throughout the city, during the eve before the launching of the expedition. Tere were rumours too that he had been mocking even the Eleusinian Mysteries, conducting them in his home with friends, perhaps downing the kykeon. He was ordered by the populace, as the great Athenian naval expedition was nearing Sicily to do battle, to turn his ship around at once and head for Athens to stand trial. Instead he fed to Sparta, soon aiding and abetting the enemy; both the recall and subsequent betrayal debilitated the expedition to Sicily, which sufered a disastrous defeat. Te recall of Alcibiades issued from a factioning one can examine with gender in mind, phalloi of the Hermes statuettes and all. 6. Because I do not read the Greek itself, I compare translations and consult experts. I studied classics in translation during 5 formal years with the classicist, David Grene, and was mentored by him informally for decades. Describing Grenes expertise, the Nobel Laureate, Saul Bellow said, He was on a frst-name basis with Sophocles and Aristophanes, that was how he made you feel. My excuse for conducting a study with inevitable faws in expertise, in this one among fve felds I cover, might come from the mouth of any interdisciplinarian: Its a dirty job but somebodys got to do it. On the other hand, I welcome constructive critique. For Te Oresteia I consult mainly two sets of translations, the one in 1953 and that in 1989. One should additionally consult Peter Halls production employing Tony Harrisons (1981) rather free stage- oriented translation to get the closest to my own interpretations of the trilogy. 7. In scholarly articles and elsewhere, one repeatedly comes upon the translation of erinys, the adjectival version of the Erinyes, as furious. Demeter Erinys is angry or furious Demeter as well. Tis is probably an early Indo-European word rather than a word from the maturity of the Greek language; some consider it Arcadian. Further discussion of translations is in footnote 4, p. 251 of Johnston, 1999. 8. He had already gone through many purifcations so as not to carry pollution, but the retributionblood for bloodwas still to be taken (Visser, 1980). 9. Orestes seems cleared in Te Eumenides but a future play by Euripides portrayed him as nevertheless continuing to sufer pursuit by the Furies until such time as he performed yet another expiation. Te end of his story, then, is not captured in one simple version. 10. Athena, it may be noted, did have a mother, Metis, but Zeus upstaged his consort by swallowing Metis and giving birth to Athena from himself. Aeschylus bypassed these complications. 11. Speaking of rational or rationalizing: Tis is an odd stance for Pericles to takeif indeed he did take it rather than Tucydides who puts the words in his mouthsince Pericles had a notably unconventional relationship with the well-educated courtesan (hetaera) Aspasia: She is rumored to have helped write his speeches and he, rather scandalously, having divorced to live with her, regularly included her in his symposium evenings with the best of Hellenic male artists and intellectuals. 12. It is relevant that Aeschylus and others believed in this genealogy, giving feminine divinity primacy in ownership of the Oracle; there is recent debate as to whether the truth of something such as the genealogy can be justifed (cf. Christiane Sourvinou-Inwoods work, 1991). 13. Ever since Schliemann dug up the walls of Troy, previously considered a fctional city, scholars have felt some justifcation for using Greek myths as clarifying lenses for otherwise undocumented history; such a use however, is tricky at best; it goes in and out of fashion. 14. Slaters unfortunate viewsboth that the mothers overweening infuence on the son, and only this, issued International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 178 Schavrien in an Athenian homosexuality which, in turn, was necessarily pathologicalmay be assigned to more than one unexamined attitude and interpretation of the 1960s. His other insights remain illuminating. Orestes was brought up in exile but most men of the Athenian Golden Age were not. So the insights still indeed bear on the paradox that women loomed on stage (and in archetype?) in an age when real women seemed, by contrast, constricted. 15. Fitzgeralds translations of Homer are full of metaphors he imported into the text (L. Doherty, personal communication, December 14, 2010). Some fnd this passage too loose a translation in its suggestion of lovemaking between Poseidon and Rhea. Nevertheless, despite Hesiods clear separation of Rhea (Gaias daughter) from Gaia, Greek mythographers sometimes confated them; modern researchers have cited confation as well, such as Kerenyi, or Ruck and Staples, who viewed Demeter, Persephone, and Hecate as split of from an original great goddess fgure, Gaia or Rhea. Poseidon did in fact have children by Gaia; this might have been Fitzgeralds rationale for his song to the mother-son love afair between Poseidon and the sometimes-confated daughter of Gaia, Rhea. 16. Two additional points are relevant here: Mary, even in her diluted form, remains a light in the lives of millions. Also, in the polytheistic Olympian pantheon even the men are multiple, as if fractionedbut none are either confned to celibacy or incapable of a potent anger [L. Doherty, personal communication, December 19, 2010]. 17. Gimbutas (1999), in a posthumously published work, based Anatolian inferences on Mellaarts archeological work; see note 18 in defense of Gimbutas; see Berggren & Harrod, 1996, for rebuttals of characteristic attacks on Gimbutas. 18. A quote from Doherty (2001) communicates scholarly views of the unique Minoan society:
Gimbutas from a lifelong study of female fgurines, tombs, and temples of Neolithic cultures of the Balkan region (Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, and her native Yugoslavia), arrived at the conviction that goddess worship in these cultures was related to a higher status for women in a peaceful, egalitarian, and environmentally stable form of society. In her view, the cultures of Old Europe, which fourished from roughly 7000 to 3000 BCE, were partly destroyed and partly assimilated by the Indo-European invaders, who brought with them a male- dominated pantheon of gods to match their patrilineal and hierarchical social structure. (Doherty, 2001, p. 111) Gimbutas brings specifcally Minoan freedom from invasiondue to its being an island, while invaders were horsemendown to a date even closer to us than 3000 BCE, down to circa 1450 BCE. Doherty adds a review of recent skeptical rejections of the pax Minoica, the great Minoan peace, which Gimbutas and many feminist scholars maintain was prevalent for 1500 years or more, but scholarly counter-refutations include a consensus, at the archeological conference in Lige, Belgium, 1998 (Rencontre genne internationale Universit de Lige, 14 17 avril 1998), that scant evidence has been uncovered to disprove the pax. Tat there was human sacrifce has been the latest scandal about Minoan Crete, but, of the three sites that might have seen the sacrifce (nine bodies in all), only one might actually survive rebuttal (Gimbutas, 1999, p.140; Extended defnition: Minoan Civilization, Websters Dictionary Online, n.d.). In any case, perfection need not be claimed for the society, just a noteworthy cultural accomplishment of Minoan balance and peace. 19. In another way, the play may be aetiological, explaining the coincidence, in actuality, of these many gods, of especially the hero Oedipus and the Eumenidesat this actual place of sanctuary in Colonus. (Grenes [1991/1994] thinking bears on Oedipus in the Eumenides grove, and mine on the rest, Poseidon, Athena, etc.; see p. xxvi). Of the two explanations, however, Eden and aetiology, neither need exclude the other. About the Author Judy Schavrien, Ph.D., MFT, is core faculty and former chair of the Global Online Doctoral Program at Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. She team-founded the frst two degrees in the world in Womens Spirituality, MA and Ph.D., at California Institute of Integral Studies; there she created and taught a groundbreaking International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 179 Te Furies Demoted and Restored course in Feminist Transpersonal Psychology in 1991, having published in 1989 an article ofering feminist transpersonal critique in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology ( JTP). She publishes on late vision, which views life in the light of death, whether of an individual or an era, analyzing renewal through the feminine in the late visions of Shakespeare, Sophocles, and Ingmar Bergman. Tese studies (in JTP, IJTS, and elsewhere) inform her book in progress, Late Vision in Western Culture. New Rivers Press published her book, What Rhymes with Cancer? and she is anthologized as poet and scholar. She has received 16 awards as a scholar and in the arts (http:// judys.imagekind.com). Tese include most recently the feminist Pioneer Award from the Association of Women in Psychology. Contact: jschavrien@itp.edu About the Journal Te International Journal of Transpersonal Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal in print since 1981. It is published by Floraglades Foundation, and serves as the ofcial publication of the International Transpersonal Association. Te journal is available online at www. transpersonalstudies.org, and in print through www. lulu.com (search for IJTS). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 180 Abramson A Reply to Capriles
John Abramson Ulverston, UK International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 2010, pp. 180-186 Te Editors introduced Capriles 2009 paper, Beyond Mind III: Further Steps to a Metatranspersonal Philosophy and Psychology, as a thought provoking reframing of transpersonal theory from the perspective of Dzogchen Buddhism that challenges much of contemporary transpersonal studies and identifes Wilbers model as the most problematic among these. Te main focus of this brief reply to Capriles is to explore possible inaccuracies in his depiction of Wilbers theories. Both Capriles and Wilber have been, for over 30 years, Buddhist practitioners and within a variety of Buddhist traditions both are practitioners of Dzogchen (although this is not Wilbers exclusive practice). Tey have both, for over three decades, produced original writings relating to the feld of transpersonal studies. Very few of Wilbers other critics have such corresponding backgrounds. Capriles critique of Wilbers theories is therefore particularly noteworthy, and can be expected to encourage debate, particularly if Wilbers long standing complaint that many of his critics misunderstand and misrepresent his theories can be seen to be addressed. In fact, many of Capriles points seem to be insightful critiques of Wilbers model, but some are more applicable to the state of Wilbers understanding in 2000, when the work that Capriles summarized in his 2009 paper was originally written. Notable in this respect is: 1. Te absence of any reference by Capriles to Wilbers publications during the past decade means that some of Capriles criticisms are liable to be historically rather than currently correct. For example Capriles took no account of the Wilber-Combs lattice that completely separates stages of development from spiritual states (Wilber, 2006, pp. 88-93) and thereby overlooked the fact that Wilber now agrees with Capriles that a persons attainment of any spiritual state can occur at any stage of their development. 2. Te omission of reference to Wilbers (2001) end note 1 in Sex, Ecology and Spirituality. Tis 12,000+ word note is arguably signifcant in relation to some of Capriles important criticisms. It is concerned with Wilbers explanation of the Buddhist no-self but its relevance here is the way Wilber weaves some of his theories with an explanation of the Tantric and the Dzogchen Buddhist concepts of emptiness, and how this relates to the nondual state. For example, in relation to Dzogchen, and seemingly in accord with Capriles work, Wilber commented: Diferent meditation practices engineer diferent states and diferent experiences, but pure Presence itself is unwavering, and thus the highest approach in Dzogchen is Buddhahood without meditation: not the creation but rather the direct recognition of an already perfectly present and freely given primordial Purity (Wilber, 2001, pp. 730-731) Contrary to some of Capriles criticisms, note 1 can be read, to some extent, as making the case that Wilbers theories are consistent with both Tantric and Dzogchen Buddhism. In particular: a) Capriles dismissed Wilbers 7 th , 8 th , 9 th and 10 th progression of realization fulcrums, because [they do] not match any of the levels of realization that obtain in genuine paths I am familiar with (p. 80); and he supported this with a number of convincing arguments. Without detracting from the force of most of his criticisms, there are some possible sustaining arguments for Wilbers model. Associated with this,Wilber presented his concept of Ascending and Descending and argued this is equivalent to processes described by Tantric Buddhism. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 181 A Reply to Capriles b) Capriles argued that Wilbers 10 th nondual fulcrum involves subject-object duality but Wilber is clear in his note 1 above and elsewhere in his writings that subject and object disappear in the nondual. Capriles pointed to the central premise of Wilbers theories of spiritual attainment, namely, that they are based on developmental steps leading to Nondual state of Suchness, where some minimum level of attainment of each development step must occur before one can move to the next step. Capriles powerfully refuted this throughout his three part Beyond the Mind work (that commenced publication in 2000 and concluded in 2009, in the pages of this journal). Tis refutation draws on the doctrines of Dzogchen Buddhism according to which true Awakening results only from the spontaneous liberation of delusion. Tis spontaneous liberation, Capriles explained, will manifest generally among humans at the end of the current cycle of evolution by the mechanism of reductio ad absurdum. Prior to this the only mechanism for true Awakening is an authentic spiritual path such as Dzogchen. Te spontaneous liberation of delusion which can manifest in practitioners of an authentic path can occur at any stage of development and Awakening, which can follow repeated occurrences of spontaneous liberation of delusion, can also occur at any stage of development. Remarkably, considering Wilber had held the above view for at least two decades, by 2006 he had admitted it was wrong and his current theories, which make use of the Wilber-Combs lattice, imply he is in agreement with Capriles insofar as people in our present age 1 can advance to any spiritual state at any stage of their development. Michael Daniels (Rowan et al., 2009, pp. 14-15) explained Wilbers (2006) change of view: what [Wilber] is saying is wrong he made the mistakeand he admits this very explicitly in the bookof simply adding the stages of the Eastern meditation techniques on top of the stages of the Western psychological model. And he says it almost fippantly in the book: So what we did was simply to take the highest stage in Western psychological models and then take the three or four major stages of meditation (gross, subtle, causal, nondual) and stack those stages on top of the other stages East and West integrated! (p. 88). Wilbers change of view, which surprisingly, Capriles did not identify, is further clarifed in this extract about states and stages from an exchange between Wilber and Andrew Cohen: Wilber: Tose who have an understanding of ground, because theyve often gotten it through a traditional path that doesnt have an understanding of evolutionary manifestation, are taught to express their realization in rather static formsoneness with nature as is, or oneness with the now momentall of which is fne. But its really not an up-to-date version of what that satori could be. And so they tend not to get stages, and they dont get the evolutionary unfolding. Its a one taste, but its a very static kind of one taste. And then, on the other hand, if people get the evolutionary unfolding, they usually havent had that experience of prior emptiness or of the unborn or the changeless ground. And because of that, they tie their realization to an evolutionary stage. I have to be at this stage; then I can realize. And thats not it at all, because that ever-present state is ever present, and you can have that realization virtually at any point. But in order to stabilize and ground it, you do indeed have to then grow and develop. So they just understand the evolutionary side of form, and the other folks tend to have the emptiness understood, but very rarely do you get emptiness together with evolutionary form. (Cohen & Wilber, 2005, p. 57) Wilbers change of view helps explain what Capriles described as Sean Kellys brilliant denunciation of some of [Wilbers amplifed lamrim] contradictions (Capriles, 2009, p. 11). One of Kellys objections to Wilbers model was this: If it is possible for typhonic individuals to experience a transpersonal epiphany or infux (i.e., the psychic or low subtle realm) prior to the emergence of the mental ego, then it clearly makes no sense to conceive of the transpersonal as following the mental egoic in the same manner that the mental egoic follows the membership and typhonic [because] to do so would require an explanation of how it is possible for a supposedly holarchically higher structurein this case the psychicto transcend as it includes a lower structurein this case the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 182 Abramson mental-egoicthat had not yet emerged. (Kelly, 1998, as cited in Capriles, 2009, p. 11) Te Wilber-Combs lattice separates states (e.g., psychic) and stages (e.g., typhonic-magical, mental egoic) into diferent dimensions. Te psychic state is not therefore a higher structure of mental egoic, typhonic or any other stage and consequently does not incur the objection Kelly ascribed to it. Kelly noted that Wilber recognizes that the self can have access to temporary experiences from the transpersonal domains. But Kelly objected: If all levels of the Great Chain manifest the same principles of holarchical integration, why is it possible for transpersonal infuxes [i.e., experiencing transpersonal states] to occur at virtually any lower level of organization [i.e., any stage] whereas it is impossible for someone at, say, cognitive stage 2 (preop) to experience an infux from cognitive stage 4 (formop)? Clearly, the transpersonal levels as a whole are of a completely diferent order than the ones that precede them. (Kelly, 1998, as cited in Capriles, 2009, p. 11) What Kelly referred to as transpersonal levels are now acknowledged by Wilber a) to be psychic and higher transpersonal states, and b) to be of a completely diferent order than what Kelly referred to as ones that precede them which Wilber now acknowledges as stages. Wilbers (2007) explanation for being able to access any state from any stage of development started with pointing out, the three great states of consciousness (waking, dreaming, sleeping) are said to correspond with the three great realms of being (gross, subtle, causal) an idea found in Vajrayana (p. 1). According to Wilber, diferent worlds such as the three realms of gross, subtle and causal are disclosed by diferent states of consciousness, and any diferent state of consciousness is potentially available at any time and to anyone at any stage of their development, because all humans have access to the waking, dreaming, and deep sleep states. But, Wilber explained that stages CANNOT be skipped, because each stage is a component of its successor (this would be like going from atoms to cells and skipping molecules) (p. 10). Going from frst person perspective (magical/ typhonic stage) to second person perspective (mythic stage) to third person (rational stage) is a process of development where, according to Wilber and supported by researchers such as Jane Loevinger (1976), Robert Kegan (1982), and Susanne Cook-Greuter (2005), stages cannot be skipped. Wilber now acknowledges that an authentic spiritual path such as Dzogchen is required to understand emptiness, and this can be accomplished at any stage of development. But Wilber has gone further to suggest it is advantageous for practitioners to pursue higher stages of development. Where is Wilber going with this assertion? Two responses to this come to mind. Firstly, in his 2006 book Integral Spirituality, Wilber made the case that identifying an object in the Kosmos involves at least two factors: degree or stage of development (altitude) and perspective (one of his four quadrants). Tus Kosmic address = altitude + perspective. In doing this he is postulating that the comprehension of more complex aspects of samsara will require correspondingly higher stages of development. For example, the appreciation of ecosystems will only appear to someone at a high enough stage of development. Tus only people at post- conventional stage development will be prone to make sacrifces to tackle the ecological crisis because people at lower stages will not recognize the problem. Capriles concern with ecological issues was clear: Te spiritual systems I practice and propound, as all metaphenomenologically/metaexistentially descending Paths, are perfectly nondual; yet [also] descending in [the senses that] they have always been profoundly concerned with ecological, social, economic, political, gender, generational, cultural, and other related issues (Capriles, 2009, pp. 7-8) It would be therefore be interesting to know whether Capriles considers that stage development should be pursued in addition to following an authentic spiritual path. It is certainly illuminating to consider further why Wilber feels stage development is important, beginning with one way he feels it can be achieved. Wilber muddies the water by claiming that practising meditation is the best, or among the best, means of achieving stage development; in which case following an authentic spiritual path involving meditation practice would automatically result in stage progression, and the issue of pursuing stage development would be redundant. On the other hand, Wilber (2006) has controversially alleged that the Dalai Lama has an ethnocentric worldview, at least in respect of homosexuality, so that Wilber seemed to imply that however much meditation accelerates stage development, cultural factors can potentially be a dominant braking force. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 183 A Reply to Capriles Tis unfolding of Wilbers explanation of the importance of stage development which happens in samsara, and which therefore implies samsara has an importance beyond that Capriles ascribed to it (i.e., primarily to see through the relative into the absolute), gives no hint of its denouement. Based on Wilbers theory of Kosmic habits, Wilber, notably in his quarterly dialogues with Andrew Cohen, 2 asserted that the creative potential in emptiness can be actualised by practitioners being in touch with the ground of being (emptiness), and interacting together to co-create with Spirit, novel structures of consciousness that if repeated often enough lay down in the Kosmos new stages of consciousness stages that did not previously exist. Wilber and Cohen assert this process as a process in samsara that has a Kosmic purpose (i.e., co-creation of novel stages of human consciousness), and that pursuing this is as important as pursuing a path to spiritual Awakening: Te real key to this discussion, I think, is when you understand that the only way you can permanently and fully realize emptiness is if you transform, evolve, or develop your vehicle in the world of form. Te vehicles that are going to realize emptiness have to be up to the task. Tat means they have to be developed; they have to be transformed and aligned with spiritual realization. Tat means that the transcendent and the immanent have to, in a sense, favor each other. . . . Te best of a nondual or integral realization is that we have to basically work on both [the world of time and the timeless]. We have to polish our capacity, in a sense, to fully realize emptiness, moment to moment. But its the emptiness of all forms arising moment to moment. So we have to have a radical embrace of the world of samsara as the vehicle and expression of nirvana itself. (Cohen & Wilber, 2002 FIND PP at ITP) Te foregoing illustrates that by apparently overlooking Wilbers work over the past decade, Capriles does not address the contemporary position of Wilber. Capriles does not refer to the article-length end note 1 in Sex, Ecology and Spirituality (Wilber, 2001, pp. 717-741). For example, note 1 includes a number of citations from Geshe Kelsang Gyatsos 3 (1982; see Wilber, 2001, pp. 726-729) tantric meditation manual, Clear Light of Bliss. Wilber used Gyatsos descriptions of tantric progressive realization to illustrate how his model of progressive spiritual states (or what Capriles referred to as his model of progression of realization fulcrums, 7 th through to 10 th ) corresponds to the sequence of realizations on the Tantric path. Wilbers model of progressive spiritual states relates to progressively higher spiritual realms (e.g., gross, psychic, subtle, causal/very subtle), and the realm that spiritual states manifest in, as described by a range of spiritual traditions. Capriles argued that Wilber has used the Upanishads concept of gross, subtle, and causal realms and misapplied them to Buddhism by, for example, correlating these with waking, dream, and deep sleep states. Capriles referred to this as an example of trans-religious fallacy (p. 56) where Wilber has transferred elements of one tradition to another where they do not ft. Capriles has some convincing arguments to support the view that Wilbers descriptions of gross, subtle and causal states/realms do not appear to correspond to the nirmanakaya, the sambhogakaya, and the dharmakaya respectively. Tis fact should not entirely subsume the point that Wilber (2001) has demonstrated some measure of correspondence between his model of progressive spiritual states and extracts of Gyatsos descriptions of Tantric Buddhism (cf. pp. 726-729). Wilber noted that his Ascending model in which gross mind subsides during meditation, and subtle dimensions unfold in developmental sequence culminating in causal cessation, corresponds to Gyatsos description: Beginning with the ffth sign [of advanced meditation, which is called white luminosity appearance] the subtle minds are experienced. Tey manifest from the beginning of the mind of white appearance to the mind of red increase [which are both subtle-level illuminations] to the end of the mind of black near-attainment [causal cessation]. Each successive mind is subtler than the last. Each is classifed as subtle because during its arraisal there are no gross dualistic conceptual thoughts. (Gyatso 1982, p. 139, as cited in Wilber, 2001, p. 727) Tere is therefore support here for the similarity between Wilbers Ascending model and Tibetan Buddhist progression of experience in meditation as set out by Gyatso. Tis supporting citation concludes with a defnition by Gyatso of the Subtle level, which Wilber notes is very similar to his own in that it has no gross referents in cognition. Wilbers defnition of the causal level is similarly structured: it has no gross or subtle referents in cognition. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 184 Abramson While Capriles correctly pointed out that the nirmanakaya, the sambhogakaya, and the dharmakaya do not ft Wilbers model, it is interesting to note that Wilbers defnition of the Subtle and Causal levels provide a possible explanation for this being so. For example, in Capriles critique of Wilbers inclusion of nirmanakaya in his psychic (i.e., lower subtle) level, Capriles implied that while nirmanakaya may manifest in the gross level (which Wilbers psychic level relates to), it is also of the nondual level in the sense it is Buddhas body. Similarly this applies to the sambhogakaya, and the dharmakaya. Cosmic consciousness is another example of a spiritual state that Wilber asserts to be in his psychic level, but does not, for the same reason as above, appear to ft there. Tis can be deduced from Daniels (2005, pp. 200-202) discussion of its apparent misft where he pointed out that, although cosmic consciousness may manifest in the psychic level in the sense that it relates only to gross phenomena and not to the subtle or causal domains, it is otherwise indistinguishable from One Taste or Ultimate nondual consciousness which is of the nondual. Tus Capriles objection to Wilbers ascribing nirmanakaya, sambhogakaya, and dharmakaya to the psychic, subtle, and causal realms respectively can be reframed as a critique of the inherent limitations of Wilbers defnition of these levels. But equally, Wilber might claim that most of the spiritual states that he asserts belong to these realms are correctly placed because they do relate to his defnitions of those realms; in other words, the above examples appear to be the limited exception. Wilber further cited Gyatso to support his Ascending/Descending model: Te distinguishing factor of secret mantra [Vajrayana] is its assertion that the deluded mind of self-grasping depends upon its gross mounted wind. Tis gross wind developed from a subtle one which in turn developed from the very subtle wind mounted by the all empty mind of clear light. (Gyatso, 1982, p. 194, as cited in Wilber, 2001, p. 728) Wilber noted that Gyatso here provided a description that corresponds precisely with his defnition of involution/ Descending. As has already been shown, Gyatso also provided a description of developmental sequence that somewhat corresponds to Wilbers Ascending. Tus, in partial contrast to Capriles criticisms of Wilbers Ascending/Descending model, it does have some demonstrable correspondence to Tantric Buddhism. Another issue that Wilbers note 1 illuminates concerns Capriles argument that Wilbers 10 th nondual fulcrum involves the subject-object duality. Tere is insufcient space here to discuss the merits of Capriles argument but Wilber is clear in his note 1 and elsewhere in his writings that subject and object disappear in the nondual. For example, for the Madhyamika, the Real [nondual] is neither one nor many, neither permanent nor momentary, neither subject nor object . . . Tese are relative to each other and are equally unreal. (Murti, 1955, p. 239, as cited in Wilber, 2001, p. 720, emphasis added) Wilber, writing about the non-dual state: And thus, resting in simple, clear, ever-present awareness, I notice that there is no inside and no outside. Tere is no subject and no object. (Wilber, 1997, p. 292, emphasis added) Capriles argued that Wilbers universal map, constructed by piecing together descriptions that diferent traditions make available, wholly fails to correspond even to gradual or Lamrim paths. However, this appears not to take account of the evidence presented here. Capriles ofered a defnition of supreme spirituality that would ostensibly include all authentic traditions and overcome the problems presented in Wilbers model: all that is involved in the transition from samsara to nirvana (p. 15), But I have argued that Wilber would see such a defnition as partial. It apparently takes no account of Wilbers view that the generation of novel stages of human consciousness in samsara is part of the basic rule of spirituality which is the uniting of nirvana with samsara: But the basic rule is: resting as emptiness, embrace the entire world of form. And the world of form is unfolding. It is evolving. It is developing. And therefore resting as blissful emptiness, you ecstatically embrace and push against the world of form as a duty. (Cohen & Wilber, 2002 FIND PP at ITP). Capriles does not seem to consider this aspect of Wilbers model perhaps because, as mentioned earlier, Capriles does not appear to consider any of Wilbers work over the past decade. However, this, and the other criticisms presented in this brief response, relate to a relatively small part of Capriles profound and major work and similarly to his many insightful criticisms of Wilbers model. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 185 A Reply to Capriles References Capriles, E. (2009). Beyond mind III: Further steps to a metatranspersonal philosophy and psychology (Continuation of the discussion of the three best known transpersonal paradigms, with a focus on Washburn and Grof. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 28(2), 1-145. Cohen, A. & Wilber, K. (2002). Te future of God: Evolution and enlightenment for the 21st century. What is Enlightenment?, 21, GET PP at ITP Cohen, A. & Wilber, K. (2005). Te resonance of awakening: An ecstatic compulsion to transform the world. What is Enlightenment?, 28, 5057. Cook-Greuter, S. R. (2006). 20th century background for Integral Psychology. AQAL: Journal of Integral Teory and Practice, 1(2), 1-40. Daniels, M. (2005). Shadow, self, spirit: Essays in trans personal psychology. Exeter, UK: Imprint Academic. Gyatso, K. (1982). Clear light of bliss: Te practice of Mahamudra in Vajrayana Buddhism. London, UK: Wisdom. Gyatso, K. (2003). Ocean of nectar: Wisdom and compassion in Mahayana Buddhism. Glen Spey, NY: Tarpa Publications. Gyatso, K. (2006). Introduction to Buddhism: An explanation of the Buddhist way of life. Glen Spey, NY: Tarpa Publications. Gyatso, K. (2010). Modern Buddhism: Te path of compassion and wisdom. Glen Spey, NY: Tarpa Publications. Kegan, R. (1982). Te evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kelly, S. (1998). Revisioning the mandala of conscious- ness. In D. Rothberg & S. Kelly (Eds.), Ken Wilber in dialogue (pp. 117-130). Wheaton, IL: Quest Books. Loevinger, J. (1976). Ego development: Conceptions and theories. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Murti, T. (1955). Te central philosophy of Buddhism. London, UK: Allen & Unwin. Rowan, J., Daniels, M., Fontana, D. & Walley, M. (2009). A dialogue on Ken Wilbers contribution to transpersonal psychology. Transpersonal Psychology Review, 13(2), 5-41. Wilber, K. (1981). Up from Eden: A transpersonal view of hman evolution. New York, NY: Doubleday. Wilber, K. (1997). Te eye of spirit: An integral vision for a world gone slightly mad. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2001). Sex, ecology, spirituality: Te spirit of evolution. 2nd. ed. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2006). Integral spirituality: A startling new role for religion in the modern and postmodern world. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2007). Ken Wilber online: Sidebar G: States and stages. Retrieved at <http://wilber.shambhala. com/index.cfm> Notes 1. But not historical eras. Although Wilber has agreed that people of previous eras can advance to spiritual states irrespective of their stage of development, he has continued to posit (as in Up from Eden, 1981) that some of the most advanced spiritual states were not attained in previous eras. Tat is, the most advanced state increased from psychic in the magic era, through subtle and causal in succeeding eras, and only reached nondual in the current era. Tis is clearly completely at variance with Capriles degenerative view of evolution. Capriles would apparently maintain that true Awakening/nondual states were potentially available, in any era, to anyone, at any stage of development, following an authentic spiritual path such as Dzogchen. 2. EnlightenNext magazine (previously named what is enlightenment) has featured 25 dialogues between Ken Wilber and Andrew Cohen since the series commenced in the Spring/Summer 2002 issue. 4. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso has been a practitioner and teacher of Mahayana and Tantric Buddhism for over 30 years and is described in one of his books as someone who is born in Tibet and is a fully accomplished meditation master and internationally renowned teacher of Buddhism. Resident in the West since 1977, he is author of 21 highly acclaimed [Buddhist] books He has also founded over 1200 Kadampa Meditation Centres and groups throughout the world (Gyatso, 2010, back cover). About the Author John Abramson, MSc, has recently attained a Masters degree in Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology from Liverpool John Moores University in England. Now retired, one of his main academic interests is in the critique of some contemporary authors publications which he argues have partly misunderstood Ken International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 186 Abramson Wilbers work, particularly over the past decade or so. His personal ambition is to put into practice a too long delayed intention to fully take up a spiritual path. He can be contacted on johnabramson@btinternet.com About the Journal Te International Journal of Transpersonal Studies is a peer- reviewed academic journal in print since 1981. It is published by Floraglades Foundation, and serves as the ofcial publication of the International Transpersonal Association. Te journal is available online at www.transpersonalstudies. org, and in print through www.lulu.com (search for IJTS).