Zappacosta, Judy
STANDING IN THE MYSTERY: SANDPLAY THERAPY AS RITUAL AND CEREMONY
Judy Zappacosta, Monterey, California
Journal of Sandplay Therapy, Volume 20 Number 2, 2011
KEY WORDS: Arctic, ritual, spiritual, indigenous, cancer, crystal, ego strength, Self, Sila, landscape, feminine, sandplay therapy, clinical example, female, adult, woman, ego-strength, personal mother.
ABSTRACT: This is a clinical article about the verbal therapy and sandplay process of a woman born and raised in the northern Arctic. She used sandplay therapy as a way to reconnect with rituals and spiritual practices that supported and helped transform deeply rooted wounds associated with issues of alienation and abandonment. During the time she worked in a sandplay process, she rebuilt trust in what she came to call Creator, the one she spoke of who moved through her as she worked in the sand. She also discovered an inner strength within her own feminine nature that deeply reconnected her to the earth and her own indigenous perspective. This newly recovered strength helped to heal relationship with her personal mother and anchor a relationship with a more expansive and spiritual feminine presence in her life.