Baker, Clare
NAVAJO SAND PAINTING AND SANDPLAY
Journal of Sandplay Therapy, Volume 2, Number 2, 1993
KEY WORDS: Navajo sand painting, Blessing Way, ritual, symbolic healing, sandplay therapy, sand painting, psychic logjam, Changing Woman.
ABSTRACT: The comparisons and contrasts between Navajo sand painting and Sandplay therapy is considered by this writer. The Navajo Ceremony combines rituals of symbolism for several days. The central piece of the ceremony involves Changing Woman, the collective symbol of the life cycle. The similarity of these two expressions is the apparent loosening of the “psychic logjam” in symbolic form. The correlations are striking. Both provide the means for waking up images of the Collective, which prompt balance and healing.