Search | Site Map | Contact Us 

Sandplay Therapists of America

Ehlers, Lynne Berkeley, California. The Scarab in Sandplay Therapy  

Ehlers, Lynne, Berkeley, California. The Scarab in Sandplay Therapy

Volume 20 Number 2, 2011 (Volume XX, Number 2, 2011)

KEY WORDS: Egyptian scarab, dung beetle, Khepri, rebirth symbol, sandplay therapy, black sun, scarab dreams, the numinous, Self.

ABSTRACT: The sacred scarab, worshiped in ancient Egypt as Khepri, was equated with the morning sun, creation, immortality and resurrection—a classic rebirth symbol. The sun as a symbol of the archetype of the Self carries both a light and a dark side. The bright sun is the light of consciousness. The black sun is the sun in the earth, an ‘invisible sun,’ the sun within. Two clinical examples of women who chose the scarab in sandplay therapy are presented in this article. The women chose a paradox: the dark sun that could bear witness to profound abandonment and psychic pain; and the morning sun, holding the promise of transformation and renewed life.
 

Top of Page

Home | About Sandplay | About STA/Join | STA Associates | Sandplay News | Contact STA Therapists | FAQs | Sandplay Institute | Journal | Training & Conferences | Research | Books About Sandplay | Symbol Literature | Products & Classified | Links | Donations