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Sandplay Therapists of America

Capitolo, Tessamarie. Black and White: Retrieving our Shadow  

Capitolo, Tessamarie. Black and White: Retrieving our Shadow

Volume 6, Number 2, 1997 (Volume VI, Number 2, 1997)

KEY WORDS: Black, white, shadow, sandplay therapy, clinical example, ambivalent symbol, color.

ABSTRACT: The hope of the writer is to effect a change in the reader, who the writer assumes is probably a white sandplay therapist. This effect could change the consciousness of the living psyche. “It is the fundamental law of the psyche that if the shadow is not found in the symbol, it must be found somewhere else.” Symbols are ambivalent, but hold the power of the projections that are placed on them. Black and white miniatures hold the polarity of the good and the bad, the dark and the light. The author regrets that these projections have been placed on people throughout our history. The therapeutic CO-transference in the sandplay process is affected by awareness of these issues. The author provides examples of cases that show the black/white interface the healing and integration, through confrontation with the shadow.

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