Amatruda, Kate. The Sacred Journey

Sandplay Therapists of America

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Amatruda, Kate. The Sacred Journey

Volume 3, Number 1, 1993 (Volume III, Number 1, 1993)

KEY WORDS: shaman, shamanism, journeying, journey, clinical example, sandplay therapy, woman, asthma.

ABSTRACT: The Sacred Journey details a brief (five session) treatment in which a woman in her early thirties reconnects with her broken past. She has to use her non-dominant arm to play in the sand, as she broke her right arm a few days before therapy started. In the course of treatment, she reconnects to herself as a child with life-threatening asthma, and discovers that dinosaurs can turn into jewels. Shamanic literature is discussed through Lori's use of quartz, and in the context of a broken bone as a shamanic initiatory experience. Lori goes through the "night-sea-journey" and finds the Self. Symbols Lori used included dinosaurs, jewels, spiders, Barbie, feathers, moon, the tree of life, grapes, the mermaid, pillars, and the butterfly.

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