Melker, Ilona
THE BLACK HORSE: EXPLORATION OF A SYMBOL
Ilona Melker, Princeton, New Jersey
Journal of Sandplay Therapy, Volume 21 Number 2 2012
KEY WORDS: horse, symbol, black horse, sandplay, analysis, shadow, anima, libido, instinctual energies, creativity, child, clinical example, ADHD.
ABSTRACT: In The Black Horse: Exploration of a Symbol, the symbolic significance of the black horse is considered. Natural and historical aspects of the horse are explored as well as its significance in a number of mythologies around the world, its rich and varied symbolic function in dreams and sandtrays, and its possible meaning in the sandtrays of a 9-year-old girl for whom the black horse had special significance in her process as she began to confront her shadow side. As the powerful archetypal, instinctual energies symbolized in the dark, shadow figure of the black horse appeared, its integration also became possible. In her three-year-long therapy, during which there was substantial ego development, the black horse symbol appeared somewhere in the middle, the client had shown signs that her imagination and creativity were binding the unruly energies, as she became a better student at school, appreciated for her art work and began making friends with those of similar creative interest.
In German
Das Schwarze Pferd: Untersuchung Eines Symbols
Volume 21 Number 2 2012
SCHLAGWÖRTER: Pferd, Symbol, schwarzes Pferd, Analyse, Schatten, Anima, Libido, instinktive Energien, Kreativität, Kind, Fallbeispiel, ADHD.
ABSTRACT: In: Das schwarze Pferd: Untersuchung eines Symbols wird die symbolische Bedeutung des schwarzen Pferdes betrachtet. Naturgegebene und historische Aspekte des Pferdes werden erforscht, ebenso wie seine Bedeutung in verschiedenen Mythologien der Welt, seine symbolische Funktion in Träumen und in Sandkästen, und die mögliche Bedeutung in den Sandkästen eines 9-jährigen Mädchens.