The Arts in Psychotherapy, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp.

243-254, 1997
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TRANSPERSONAL

ARTS PSYCHOTHERAPY:

TOWARD AN ECUMENICAL

WORLD VIEW

PENNY LEWIS. PhD, ADTR, RDT/BC*

The Transpersonal

Perspective

Transpersonally
speaking,
dysfunction
occurs
when individuals believe that all that exists is what is
empirically present. If I cant see it; it doesnt exist. Science has attempted to amend this assumption
by asserting that phenomena do exist by virtue of the
effect they have upon the observable, such as found in
subatomic particle research. However, most Westemers believe that a transpersonal view is a matter of
faith rather than anything that has scientific or experiential substantiation. Many transpersonal therapists
believe that this inability to experience the transpersonal in the West, or for that matter in any culture,
would inhibit ones capacity to unfold ones own
spiritual essence, karmic or soul path or to move beyond a self focus. Thus, techniques of active imagination through visualization, ritual, the use of the arts,
spiritual quests and awareness trainings as well as
Eastern meditational practices are encouraged in order
to avail individuals
numinous
experiences
of the
transpersonal. Such states as mystical or transcendental experiences,
satori or St. Francis-like
ecstatic
states are supported by many approaches as they serve
to awaken the person to greater consciousness or enlightenment. These states all have similar characteristics (Barber, 1976); among them are: an experience of unity, . . . a feeling of identifying with all
things, . . the experience of timelessness and spacelessness,
. . a sense of having been in touch with
ultimate reality . . . an experience of grace, joy and
peace, . . a feeling of the divine, and an inability to
put the experience into words (pp. 415417).

Unlike theoretical models that stem from psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral,

or even existentialhumanistic approaches, the transpersonal frame upholds that there is more to an individuals identity
than his or her intrapsychic or interpersonal realms.
Their view of the individual transcends empirical phenomena to include concepts such as soul, karma, spiritual connection and consciousness.
With a transpersonal perspective, the therapy process encompasses definitions from psychodynamic,
cognitive and humanistic approaches that address recovery from maladaptive and abusive childhood histories that lock individuals into dysfunctional
thinking, outmoded survival patterns, and a disconnection
to what the individuals
truly believe. These approaches see health as the ability of an individual to
be fully present, capable of discovering ones own
values and meaning in life, able to connect to and be
intimate with the self and others and to manifest an
ego-based objective engagement with the empirical.
Additionally,
a transpersonal perspective includes a
gradual shifting of the primacy of the ego to one in
which the individual disidentifies from the personal to
focus upon the greater good and the bigger picture-a
picture that moves beyond physical reality to espouse
other realities such as those found in energetic field
theory, connection with those in spirit and with what
has been identified as the pure Consciousness,
the
Light, the Source and/or God.

*Penny Lewis is Guest Editor of this issue, Senior Associate

Amesbury, Massachusetts.

Faculty at Antioch-New

243

England Graduate

School, and in private practice in

PENNY LEWIS

244

Many of the other traditional approaches in psychotherapy find the above altered states examples of
dissociative or psychotic episodes or, at best, reductively interpret them. I recall some fifteen years ago
having a casual conversation with a Freudian analyst.
I had mentioned that I was going to New York to train
as a Jungian Analyst. Why bother with that, he
There are many fine psychoanalytic
responded,
training programs here in Boston. Why dont you stay
here and go to one of them? Ill tell you why by
way of a question, I began. Some years ago I went
to a two-week long meditation retreat. One night toward the end I awoke and sat up in bed. I opened my
eyes and all I experienced was total white lightEverything, including myself, was part of this energy.
The experience was timeless, but when I returned to
this reality I felt profoundly moved, at peace and no
longer feared death. What do you make of that? I
asked this psychiatrist. Oh, he responded matter of
factly, You were probably longing for the breast. I
quickly said, . . . and that is why I am in training as
a Jungian Analyst.
History of Transpersonal

Psychotherapy

C. G. Jung and Individuation

Carl Jung is considered to be the first of the European/Euro-American
psychotherapists
to bring the
transpersonal into the field of psychotherapy. He expanded the psychoanalytic concept of the unconscious
as receptacle of repressed drives, split-off parts of the
self, and trauma to include an archetypal layer of the
unconscious. It is through the inner journey that the
analysand accesses the collective unconscious
and
taps into the universal pool of wisdom. This connection is seen outwardly through synchronistic phenomena such as astrology and the I Ching and events that
can not be explained by rational cause and effect logic
as well as through archetypal images, themes, sounds
and movement for which art, drama, music and dance
provide the sacred containers. The connection also
presents itself internally through dreams, visions, active imagination
and meditation
practices (Jung,
1969a).
Jung, unlike the Eastern-influenced
transpersonal
therapists, saw the process of therapy as individuation
(i.e., the process by which a person becomes a psychological in-dividual; that is, a separate, indivisible
unity or whole ) (1969a, p. 275). Instead of disidentifying with duality, Jung felt it was vital to be in

relation to the archetypal lest the individual gets too

close, identifies with it and becomes inflated. Myths
such as found in the motifs of Icarus, Medusa and
Prometheus point the way to the devastating results of
attempting to liken oneself to the gods. The danger of
inflation has also demonstrated itself with Hitler, Jim
Jones and the numerous priests, gurus and spiritual
teachers who, like Icarus, crashed because they felt
they were above human limitations and ethnics.
Thus, the concept of an ego-Self axis (Edinger, 1982)
is viewed as the ideal relationship to the transpersonal. This highly Western view maintains that one
should stay at a humble respectful distance or axis as
Edinger identified it. And yet Jung saw the selfactualizing power of the archetype of the Self, the
transpersonal organizing principle of wholeness, as
having a profound effect on the ego. He wrote:
The Self in its self-realization
reaches out beyond the ego personality on all sides; because of
its all-encompassing
nature it is brighter and
darker than the ego, and accordingly confronts
it with problems which it would like to avoid.
Either ones moral courage fails, or ones insight, or both, until in the end fate decides.
The ego never lacks moral and rational
counter arguments which one cannot and should
not set aside so long as it is possible to hold on
to them. For you only feel yourself on the right
road when the conflicts of duty seemed to have
resolved themselves, and you have become the
victim of a decision made over your head in
defiance of the heart. From this we can see the
numinous power of the Self, which can hardly
be experienced in any other way. For this reason
the experience of the Self is always a defeat for
the ego. (1963, par. 778)
This so-called defeat can shake loose all of that
which individuals have identified prior to the archetypal experience and move them into a liminal phase
where they are no longer who they were and not yet
who they will become (Lewis, 1993). This disidentification process reoccurs throughout adult life
stages. Each time individuals let go of more of their
egocentric needs, they are seen to gradually receive
universal wisdom.
Assagioli and Psychosynthesis
Although Roberto Assagioli was a contemporary
of Jungs, his work did not receive larger attention

TRANSPERSONAL

ARTS PSYCHOTHERAPY

until the 1970s. Psychosynthesis

is a name for the
conscious attempt to cooperate with the natural process of personal development
. . to perfect itself
(Carter-Haar, 1975, p. 116). This approach asserts that
each individual has a transpersonal
essence and
that it is each individuals purpose to manifest this.
Assagioli adopted Jungs concepts of the Transpersonal Self and the collective unconscious and added
the concept of the superconscious from which emerge
impulses for altruistic love and will, humanitarian
action, artistic and scientific inspiration, philosophic
and spiritual insight, and the drive for purpose and
meaning in life (p. 116).
Dysfunction occurs, in addition to those identified
in the psychodynamic,
existential-humanistic
and
cognitive-behavioral
Western frames, when an individual is unconscious of or unable to manifest his or
her sublime highest nature. Similar to the Jungian
view, transpersonal
stage work of psychosynthesis
can result in a person caring more about the community, the environment and the transpersonal and living
in a state of grace.
Maslow, Vaughan, Walsh, G-off and Tart and
Transpersonal Psychotherapy
It is unclear just who coined the term transpersonal. It appeared in the fifties but really acquired a
larger usage in the late sixties with the formation of
the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology and with
Tarts Altered States of Consciousness (1969). Out of
the humanistic
ideal of Maslows
(1968) selfactualizing person capable of so-called peak experiences evolved a foundational philosophy for an Association of Transpersonal Psychology. Influenced as
well by Eastern traditions such as Taoism, Buddhism,
Sufiism, Hinduism as well as Native American shamanic frames, a more culturally universal approach
continued to develop. From this synthesis, transcendental dimensions of existence and experience, soul
connected unfolding of what one is meant to do, the
involvement
in a spiritual
path and the disidentification with thoughts and limited world views
are seen as major concepts identifying health.
Regarding the need for disidentification,
Walsh
and Vaughan identify dysfunction as occurring when
individuals
believe that they are what they think.
Walsh and Vaughan (in Boorstein,
1991) wrote,
When the individual identifies with mental content,
this content is transformed into the context within
which he or she interprets other content, determines

reality, adopts a logic, and is motivated (p. 17). No

cognitive therapist would disagree with this assumption, but transpersonal psychotherapists do something
very different with this premise. Rather than utilizing
charts, rational discussions and behavioral techniques
with the goal of having the individual think something different, the transpersonal therapist supports
the individuals transcendence from all identification,
thereby lifting them from their own world view to one
in which the individual would presumably identify
with both everything
and nothing
(Walsh &
Vaughan in Boorstein, 1991).
Neo-Transpersonal

Approaches

to Psychotherapy

The first wave of the human potential movement of the sixties and seventies gave way to the
second wave of new age in the eighties and nineties. The belief in Buddhist and Hindu systems in the
first wave supported such approaches as mindfulness
and past life regression and therapy. Additionally,
shamanic practices from a variety of native cultures
around the world have rekindled spiritual channeling,
soul retrieval and active imagination
techniques,
which, like those of psychosynthesis,
draw the individual into contact with sentient beings.
Those who adhere to the existence of past lives
believe that individuals may at times need to heal
from abuse either they or others committed in former
lifetimes, thus expanding individuals consciousness
and clearing their karma. Utilizing much of the same
techniques that are employed in todays recovery
models (Lewis, 1993, 1996), therapists support individuals deeper discovery of the etiology of survival
patterns and the repeated re-experiencing of the same
karmic lessons. This healing is often at a soul level
and must always be respectful of the fact that karmic
clearing has its own time frame.
Shamanism, explored in a special issue of The Arts
in Psychotherapy journal (Vol. 15, No. 4), views individuals as capable of existing both in ordinary and
in non-ordinary states of reality. Vital for well-being
is the maintenance of ones personal power (Hamer,
1982). Individuals with diminished power are seen as
dis-spirited
and often experience harmful intrusions that can energetically reduce the individuals
life force (Eastern traditions refer to this as chi, ki, and
kundalini, and Western science as electromagnetic energy). Individuals are encouraged to employ active
imagination to enter into shamanic states of consciousness and channel power animals or more hu-

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PENNY LEWIS

man-like spiritual beings. Therapists such as those

trained in Lewis somatic countertransference
(Lewis,
1986, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1996) can draw connections
of this dance therapy technique to both psychoanalysis and shamans who would receive the dis-ease of
their patients and release them from their suffering
or possession.
Through projective
identification
and other forms of unconscious to unconscious connection the therapist can receive the toxic or split-off
psychic material of the client and detoxify or heal
the disidentified or wounded aspect and aid in its
re-integration.
Channeling, or the capacity to intuitively receive
on behalf of the client through non-ordinary means, is
receiving greater acceptance
and tolerance. Here
therapists empty themselves in a manner similar to
meditation preparation. Information can be received
through synchronistic events or simply as thoughts
that seem to intuitively emerge out of nowhere to be
utilized as the therapist sees fit in service to the healing and expanded consciousness of the client.

the collective unconscious and supra consciousness

and out through the creative portals of the clients
imagination. These so-called symbols and metaphors
of transformation
(Jung, 1969b) as well as rituals,
mythologems and rites of passage must with humility
be understood and properly utilized for the profound
vehicles of healing they are. Lewis (1993) has written:
When therapists sit in relation to the archetypal,
transpersonal
wisdom of wholeness can flow
into and through their body and into the therapy
vessel and help constellate the patients own
connection
to the wisdom of spiritual consciousness. Embodied expression from both the
personal and archetypal unconscious is needed
in order for transformation to occur. The dance
between the personal and archetypal is, thus, a
crucial pas de deux in anyones life who seeks
the human quest toward consciousness. (p. 175)
Clinical Examples of Transpersonal
Arts Psychotherapy

Role of the Arts Psychotherapist

A Shamanic-Christian
Cross culturally, numerous spiritual practices support the belief that experiences with the transpersonal
assist in an individuals healing as well as spiritual
awareness and unfolding. Various sects of Judaism,
Christianity,
Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism,
Sikhism as well as shamanic traditions all adhere to
this premise (Smart & Hecht, 1982). Since for the
Western world, psychotherapists
have for many become the modern priests and shamans integrating
mind, body and spirit, it is understandable that many
therapists are looking toward transpersonal psychotherapeutic approaches and, in doing so, are expanding their world view and adding a multicultural dimension to their work.
Indeed, not only do we have to be sensitive about
working with ethnically and culturally diverse individuals whose religious or spiritual beliefs are different from our own, but we must also recognize that,
when working within the creative realm, the expression of an individuals archetypal unconscious can
transcend the individuals
particular religion and
spiritual world views. The arts psychotherapist must
then be aware of and facile in a variety of religious
traditions, transpersonal
beliefs and spiritual practices. Additionally, the arts therapist must not only be
conceptually aware, but also knowledgable in the music, images, themes and dances that can emerge from

Frame

A man returned to therapy with me after a diagnosis of cancer was made with a removal of a metastasized tumor. With chemotherapy about to begin and
the possibility
of his own mortality facing him,
he wanted to understand more deeply what his path
was. Although raised as a Protestant, he reported having had very little interest in anything religious or
spiritual.
For several sessions synchronistic
phenomena
would occur during his therapy hour in the form of
animal appearances never before seen out my office
window. In his second session, two seals appeared at
rivers edge in front of us. Within a shamanic frame,
the unusual appearance of animals may suggest that
the individual may need to receive information from
those creatures who are in a deeper connection with
the nature of things on how to unfold ones own nature. With this perspective in mind, I suggested he
enter into the imaginal realm with the seals and dialogue with them. Be harmonious with nature, and
joy and pleasure will be yours, was their response.
In the next hour, he looked up to find a magnificent
8-point stag who appeared in the meadow out front
and stayed for his hour only. I knew from my research
that the stag is one of the major power animals of
shamans and is a symbol of Christ (Lewis, 1993).

TRANSPERSONAL

ARTS PSYCHOTHERAPY

Through dramatic dialogue with the buck my client

received, Get rid of fear. This is filling your mind
with useless thoughts. Get off your butt. Dont waste
time looking for outside guidance through books. Be
open now.
In the following hour, he reported a dream, I am
in a medieval inner courtyard-like
a circular paddock. The stag goes through a big dark wooden door.
I feel Im supposed to follow, but I dont want to.
Then Im aware there is a huge male figure dressed in
white robes. He is laughing.
He role-played the
white figure who is clearly a trickster psychopomp.
He told him he must go through the door. If he
didnt, all his suffering from the chemo will have no
meaning.
The client returned a month later racked with pain
and nausea from the chemo. He reported seeing two
hawks facing in opposite directions on the same
branch in the front of my office. He lay down and I
suggested he connect with the hawks. During this
time I saw wavy lines leaving his body. He later reported that the hawks helped him leave his body.
Now I know I have a body; I am not a body.
Yes, I responded, It is easier for people to be
willing to have out-of-body experiences if they are in
physical pain.
Three weeks later the client returned with the following dream: He is in monks habit leading a group
in the wilderness. He comes upon a rock impasse.
Before him appeared five angels. Each sent him their
names: Love, Compassion, Truth, Understanding and
Humility. He extends his hands and radiant beams of
light emanate. He then told me he is not religious and
feels unworthy. I instructed him to ask the angels. He
stretched out his arms and then began to laugh. They
say that is beside the point he reported. I then instructed him to re-enact his dream. During this drama
he began to cry. This may sound corny, he reported later, but to touch people . . . were all suffering . . . to touch with kindness. . . .
After a hiatus in which he was recovering from the
chemo, he returned. I suggested he imagine and reconnect with the animals that had appeared to him.
Moving about the room, he reported, The hawk is
circling above and the stag is entering a forest.
Follow him, I responded. He came to a circular
clearing with a 20-ft. stone circle and a fire in the
middle. He saw many faces in the fire. Step into the
fire, I said. He stepped in and reported, Im looking out. Everything is dark. I sense there is something
beyond, something green, but Im afraid of the dark.

247

My insistence was of no avail. At this point all the

electricity in my office went off and stayed off until
he left. By this time, an appreciation of the nonrational, non-empirical
was clearly present, for his
response was to laugh knowingly, and to apologize.
In the next session, I returned him to his incomplete journey. He stepped in the flame and reported a
dark hole in the middle not dissimilar to the earth
entry descent points in shamanic journeying. Reminding him to let go of his fear, he was able to descend.
The hole got smaller and still embodying the visualization, he crawled until he reported seeing large teeth
in front of him that kept him from proceeding. He said
finally, You know this is funny but if I were a snake
I could slither right through. Be a snake, I responded. He proceeded and learned he could shape
shift. The capacity to be a snake and survive among
them in a cave-like structure has been part of many
ancient mystery initiation rites such as those of Eleusis (Bruyere, 1994).
In his last session, he reported that the president of
his company wanted to place him in a managerial
position, one in which he would be speaking nationally. But he told me he was afraid of what he would
say. They might ask questions that I dont know the
answers to. I responded, Ask the angels. The
angels say, Its not what you say. Its your being,
your compassion and your love which is the message. He then said to me, All my life Ive always
judged myself as being a jack of all trades master of
none. Ive never reached the pinnacle of accomplishment in any field. Now I realize this is not the direction at all. It is not what you do; it is who you are.
Yes, I responded, Manifesting
your soul is truly
the most important accomplishment.
A Christian Fundamentalist

Frame

Another man who had a highly defined religious

faith began to work with me. He was concerned about
engaging in psychotherapy with someone who was
not of his church and asked me several questions
about my beliefs. Utilizing a Christian frame, I responded that we would work within his beliefs. He
then asked me if I believed in the existence of evil.
Absolutely,
I responded. He then reported going to
a well-known spiritual healer of his faith. Kneeling in
front of her he prayed for generational
healing.
Through the somatic countertransference
(Lewis,
1993, 1996), I began feeling deep sadness and pain.
He continued to say that he was prayed over and that

PENNY LEWIS

248

the spiritual healer saw a chalice in his throat. At that

moment my throat went into spasm; breathing and
speaking became difficult. The same thing happened
to the healer, he said, I feel terrible; what should
we do? Pray, I responded. I then looked heavenward. Tears-neither
his nor mine-flooded
my eyes.
Through his prayer, this sensation was released. He
then added that the cup had had claw-like feet and
shared family history that gave meaning to the image.
From this experience a trust in our relationship developed, and he ceased asking any further questions regarding my beliefs.
The therapy focused upon healing from a shamebased childhood with a controlling unattuned mother
and extended into the re-enactment of his childhood
relationship with his mother in his present life. In one
session I drew his attention from his head-based intellectualization
into his body and there he described
a bottomless pit in which he felt as though he was
falling forever. I responded that there was no one who
held his core self as a child and that he needed to catch
the child within. He caught the child but, with only his
parents as role models, he became irritated at his child
self and did not want to continue holding him. I then
asked, Could Jesus hold you holding your child?
He responded, I didnt think I needed Him. I responded within his religious frame, What hubris!
(i.e., to assume that he didnt need Jesus).
He then realized that his view of God was contaminated by his experience with his parents and a
highly judgmental minister. I suggested he use baptismal water to cleanse his personal associations so
that Gods love could emerge. He reported that this
was difficult. I responded, Open your heart to God.
Let Gods love fill you and connect you. He then
rose, expanded his chest and extended his arms; an
expression of bliss emanated from his countenance as
he walked around the office-studio. In the next session he reported he had gotten a book entitled Your
God is Too Small.
Neo-Transpersonal

Frame

The following example required a greater willingness to expand and join with anothers religious/
spiritual view than any other client I have had. For
three years I had to push and expand my beliefs and
face my fears regarding what were for me highly unusual circumstances.
I had heard of my next client
prior to her beginning recovery work with me. She
was a well-known highly respected medium and psy-

chic. I pondered what it would be like working with

someone who channeled spirits; what information
would she receive; how would this influence the
therapeutic frame? Jung had felt that unless both the
analysand and analyst are healed no healing occurs. I
believe that unless both the client and therapist learn
and grow from the therapeutic relationship, no growth
occurs for the person seeking help. I knew without a
doubt that I was going to grow from the relationship
with this psychic and that my consciousnessparticularly spiritually-would
have to expand.
The embodied arts of drama and dance/movement
are often the most powerful as the person is experiencing the healing process as it is happening. But with
this client, childhood physical and sexual abuse had
repeatedly violated her body boundaries and in her
case, as with others, embodiment was too powerful as
it can literally send the individual out of her body,
triggering the childhood survival pattern of dissociation. Thus, arts media that externalize trauma-based
complexes were far more appropriate. Through art,
poetry, story writing and joumaling my client could
distance herself from the events; then personifying
different aspects, she could interview them and begin
to put the pieces together in a way that did not tear her
apart in the process.
Dissociation

and Spiritual Connection

Where abuse is physical, either from torture in

war-tom countries, from a traumatic accident, from a
progressive debilitating disease or from beatings or
sexual assault, some individuals elect to leave their
bodies through dissociation in order to survive. Some
stay fairly close to their bodies, often floating above
and viewing the events cut off from their feelings.
Others elect to leave the proximity of their bodies and
access a different realm-a
realm where everyone is
in spirit. When these individuals return, many of them
maintain a spiritual connection and are identified as
psychics, mediums and channels. In the past, these
individuals were burned as witches; later they were
told they were insane; today they are accepted and
respected by many. I have the utmost respect for their
journeys and for their service to humanity (Lewis &
Greene, unpublished manuscript).
My Role
As part of my training in Jungian Analysis, I was
taught that it was the patients unconscious and not

TRANSPERSONAL

ARTS PSYCHOTHERAPY

the analyst who was the authority. Thus, it is the

unconscious with its access to the trauma held in the
personal unconscious
and the spiritual connection
through the archetypal unconscious that provides the
subject matter and the direction. My role is that of
midwifing consciousness. I encourage the process, but
also make sure that the birth is not traumatic or too
swift. I frequently use the metaphor of having an
appropriate amount on your plate. Too much material from the unconscious and the person can become
overwhelmed and the adult self or ego could metaphorically be flooded and lose consciousness, requiring hospitalization. On the opposite pole, overworked
survival mechanisms can keep a person from having
any access to the unconscious and result in the person
living in a psychic desert without any ability to find
the wellspring of potential awaiting them. With too
little on their plate, they go through life starved for a
connection to themselves and depth of meaning.
With individuals
who have suffered severe repeated physical abuse it is often an all-or-nothing
meal. Either their survival mechanisms have clamped
their childhood shut and the person cannot remember
anything, or the floodgates are open with flashbacks
of the traumatic events invading their dreams at night
and their waking life as well. When the latter happens
the triggers for this flooding can be what someone
says, the tone of voice, the surroundings, a smell, a
portion of their body that experienced the trauma being stimulated in some way or just the overwhelming
readiness of the unconscious to pour forth. At these
times I attempt to ground adult ego consciousness to
help it from drowning. Thus, instead of encouraging
access to the unconscious,
I focus on the nonimaginal. Concrete practical reality-based left brain
discussion along with interpretation ensues with the
goal of compartmentalizing
some of the flooding and
holding it in abeyance until their plate is less full.
Since the abuse occurred over many years my clients core child self was fragmented into many children of different ages. All of these inner children
needed to be rescued from the trauma within which
they were frozen in her now emerging memories. This
took several weeks. My client consulted with her
guides and reported that they helped in the rescue and
subsequent creation of a safe holding environment
(Figure 1).
Sometime later she brought in a dream about a
child who had no skin. The experience of being skinless is a frequent metaphor of individuals who have

249

I
I

Figure 1. Holding the inner children in safety.

had their body boundaries

her journal:

violated. My client wrote in

I had a dream about a child with no skin. She

was raw. Penny asked me to try to relate to the
child. I took away the covers and surrounded
the child with Light. I could not have a conversation with this child; I could only heal her.
Penny asked me to be this child. The child was
frozen with stark terror: stuck, iced up. I did not
like doing this. I felt numb and then I felt the
mothering part of me emerging wanting to help
this baby. Drawing the healing process brought
forth Figure 2: an angel holding the child.
Once the clients inner children were freed from
the abuse memories, they needed further releasing
from her childhood survival patterns that attempted to
protect her. Individually,
each child self emerged
from the wall (Figure 3) and frozen numbness of her
past. Each child told her story and was loved and
received by myself and my client. I would often put

250

PENNY LEWIS

Figure 2. Dream: Skinless child held by an angel.

the drawing of the child on my lap as if I were holding

the actual child; and with my client speaking for her,
she would tell us what she wanted us to know.
Once her present lifetime cleared sufficiently, very
different but very specific visual images began to appear in the clients flashbacks. Only these images
were not of this lifetime. They were of a child, in a
Nazi prison camp, whose job it was to shove hackedup bodies into the ovens. She put herself in front of a
bullet when she realized she would have to shove her
own sister into the flames.
Reincarnation was a concept that I had accepted as
a distinct possibility, but actually engaging in past life
therapy. . . . I had willingly left this form of therapy to
those new agey therapists lest I might be labeled as
a quack. Now, I had to look at my own prejudice
against acknowledging
this spiritual truth of this
woman and continue to assist her in her own recovery
process. I had to have the courage to step out of the
traditional world view of acceptable Judeo-Christian
beliefs and join with this woman. I felt I went through

Figure 3. The wall: Childhood

survival mechanism

a process described in the quote from Jung earlier in

this article:
The ego never lacks moral and rational counter
arguments which one cannot and should not set
aside so long as it is possible to hold on to them.
For you only feel yourself on the right road
when the conflicts of duty seemed to have resolved themselves, and you have become the
victim of a decision made over your head in
defiance of the heart.
Thus honoring and respecting the clients process,
we began to help heal this beleaguered child. She
began drawing her (Figure 4). The writing on the
picture reads, Blood ran between the bricks-like
earth worms running from the fires of hell. Parallel
to the emergence of this child came another hidden in

TRANSPERSONAL

ARTS PSYCHOTHERAPY
and, tell God how I THE ADULT
came not to be afraid
of our dark memories
that pop and pierce us
day and night

251

SOUL

and, tell all the pained ones

about the POWER OF GOD
that
I am finding in ME.
I give the children a mirror
to show them their own Light.
Dont be afraid, little ones.
You are in the remembering.
The Angels and all gentle spirits
guide us, help us, and
some people of the earth
love us
and heal us too.
Come away from the stinking-garage-of-fatherhell.
Come away from the fires of pain
to my garden where
my feet are whole
and planted among the flowers.

Figure 4. Child self from past life in concentration

a cave-like surround who later came

The Butterfly Soul Child (Figure
from one of her many poems speaks
spiritual belief that began to grow in

camp.

to be known as
5). An excerpt
to the powerful
her.

My adult self responds:

but ME-THE ADULT SOUL has feet
which, bare and complete,
penetrate into rich soil
to stand firm against
his ridiculous invasion
and hold up high
rescued bodies and souls of US
from that rotten
cement floor
to GOD

I AM THE ADULT SOUL AND I HAVE THE

POWER
OF GOD
IN ME
I AM THE BUTTERFLY
CHILD SOUL
There is fresh air-sunshine-loving
transformation
here.
Come little ones,
my arms are long and wide enough
to hold you.
This last drawing (Figure 6) is of the soul now
emerged from the cave bringing my clients child self
of the past life into the light. She looks down at her
feet now healed from the torture. There remain other
souls from those who died in the Holocaust still in the
cave not yet ready to emerge. It was after this drawing
that synchronistically
individuals began calling my

252

PENNY LEWIS

Figure 5. The Butterfly

Soul Child

TRANSPERSONAL

ARTS PSYCHOTHERAPY

Figure 6. The soul child brings past life self into the light.

client for readings. Many of them said that they knew

they had died in the prison camps in their immediate
past life and needed to heal and connect more deeply
with what they are meant to do.
Throughout her work with me the client channeled
drawings and messages into her journal from her
spiritual guides. Toward the end of the work, one
guide sent her the following message:
Breathe with conviction, yes. Breathing with
compassion is better. Just breathing in this moment is best. Compassion is the salve you seek
to relieve your pain. It is also the rock that you
search for to hold you securely above the floods
of time. Sometimes the winds may temporarily
cool the surface and cause you to wonder where
you are but it is your understanding of the fire
within and trust in its eternal light that will keep
you on your path, your rock of truth. Compassion is the heat of the soul. Let it be your breath
and the foundation of your life for every moment and every second of your existence.

Compassion is a very powerful soul voice

that automatically seals boundaries and allows
the soul voice to be heard. It is powerful medicine for accumulated pain and does not allow
anger and fear to dwell for very long in anyones life. Anger and hatred are the defense
mechanisms of the ego. Compassion is the way
of the soul and the only way to spiritually respond to life. You have learned about anger and
hatred from many lifetimes, especially during the
life in the German camp. You have carried that
deep bitterness into this life for healing. Do you
wish to continue carrying its heaviness further?
In societys terms you have a lot to be angry
about. To carry that anger into another second is
a mistake. Feel it, recognize it for what it is and
release it into the power of the eternal compassionate God within you and you will feel the
compassion and love for souls from all forms of
life. You will no longer let hate, anger, and fear
live in your energy field. You will have no desire to. Life is not as complicated as it seems.

253

PENNY LEWIS

254

If you dwell on sickness you will become it.

This is the lesson that you have to learn, that
beyond all of the physical and mental violence
there is still the soul, and the soul cannot express itself if it is surrounded by hate and fear.
The real work is the clearing of the energy that
surrounds your center of love. If your energy
field is filled with your souls compassion and
the gentleness and strength of its love, you will
have what you need to feel safe in your life. As
I said before, this is not a weakness, it is the
power of God becoming your presence. (Lewis
& Greene, unpublished manuscript)
In summary, when my client left her body, as many
do during physical abuse, she reaffirmed a connection
with souls that are in spirit. That connection maintained through her life has for some time evolved into
her lifes vocation. What was a means of escape in
childhood has become the foundation of her livelihood and the means through which she serves God
and her fellow humans.
The arts-drawing,
story writing, joumaling, poetry and dramatic embodiment-were
crucial to the
healing process. They provided the vehicle with
which to enter into the unconscious both personal and
universal-archetypal;
they provided the vessel within
which to rescue, heal and transform; and they provided the means by which the spiritual could enter
matter and be known.
Conclusion
From my training in Jungian Analysis I have come
to absolutely trust what emerges from an individuals
unconscious.
As I venture into the imaginal realm
with my clients it has continued to be affirmed that the
symbolic and metaphoric
have their own reality,
which must be respected as that which emerges holds
the key to healing. There is no question that my work
with clients has forced me to expand my existing
belief system. For what has emerged from their experience of the truth also demanded of me, and particularly of my rational analytical empirical left brain,
to extend my view of reality. My work with these
individuals required me to not just nod at some beliefs,
but be able to work within them and through them.
There is no question that spiritual beliefs through
institutionalized
religions and commercial packaging
of neo-transpersonal
systems were scooped up, projected and transferred into, ripped apart, devoured and
regurgitated. This article is not about exciting sensationalism. It is about beginning to establish a body of

knowledge about the union of the healing process and

spiritual/religious
beliefs. These transpersonal
phenomena may resonate with the individuals stated beliefs or may emerge from the symbols, themes, movements and sounds of the archetypal expressive arts
process. It is, therefore, vital that arts therapists have
an ecumenical transpersonal world view.
Further, In the beginning of civilization the doctors
of healing were also the priests and priestesses of their
community. It is thus vital for the therapist to not only
expand tolerance and acceptance of various cultures
spiritual traditions, but also be able to be a vessel for
and manifest the transpersonal in service to the patients own connection to the transformational
power
of spiritual consciousness.
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