These blogs are a tongue in cheek look at the underbelly of our modern world, using myth and fairy tale as templates to explore the themes involved.
The blog started out as a few sample chapters of my books on self destructiveness and the individuation process but soon became something else. All by itself it morphed into a safari through fairy stories from around the world. Fairy stories are like paths through millenial undergrowth. They help us to appreciate how we got here in a way that histories never can. They also give us clues about ways forward, what’s required of us in order to be redeemed or find meaning and relatedness….
Psychotherapy sessions on Skype.
If you have enjoyed my articles and think you might like to work with me then you can contact me, andy@andywhiteblog.com . I charge an hourly rate of between £75 and £125 per hour depending upon your circumstances.
After my degree, I trained with the Psychosynthesis Trust in London where I also did their teacher training qualification in addition to post grad studies with the Richmond Fellowship, BCPC, and Regent’s college. I have over thirty years experience as a psychotherapist in private practice. I am currently completing further training with the Association of Jungian Analysts in London.
My main interest is in how we sabotage our own efforts and to what end. My book, ‘Going Mad to Stay Sane’, is a psychology of self-destructiveness that follows the story of the self-destructive King Midas and how he resolved his golden curse.
My more recent publication, ‘Abundant Delicious’, tells the whole story of the much maligned Oedipus, whose life from cradle to grave passes across every developmental threshold until we arrive at what Sophocles calls, ‘the Secret and the Mystery.’ Far from the limiting use to which this rich tale was put by Freud, Oedipus symbolizes the journey of self realization with all its trials and pitfalls, its suffering and its joy. I also contributed a chapter to the recently published, ‘Depth Psychology and Climate Change’.
Both books can be purchased by putting the title in the search bar.
Hi, I just read your commentry on our engagement with the thrill and horror of the Orange one (aka Donald J Trump). It was a “pleasure” to read and I agree with your insight on our fascination with his behaviour along with his cohorts in the Republican Party.
My (perhaps naive) hope is that our inquiry, mulling, discussion, examination, back & forth, will bring light into this dark part of our own souls-which, as you say, has been playing out for a few centuries. Following current machinations in the UK along with Russia, Israel, Egypt, Saudi, NK, etc I feel things are bubbling up to the surface, that have always been around and will always be a part of our natures-a distinct distancing from ourselves in the face of others who are in need or who demand at the very least an acknowledgement of their existence. Our vanity and self(ie) regarding society doesn’t allow for others to be in the picture frame. There’s a tenacious grip on old fantasies of society and history, but this will have to give way to reality: that there are other people who have identity and agency, which if they are denied will find a way to make themselves part of the picture.
I was born just after the 2nd WW and for most of my life, I have moved in and out of many societies all over the world (yes, as a privileged white woman, no doubt) but always had a feeling there were not the barriers between me and the people I was interacting with in no matter what country. Now I feel the walls (sic!) closing in and I feel it’s in the name of big money which throws out the emotive memes of sovereignity, autonomy, nationality, borders, “turn the clock back to an era that never was” in order to keep people’s attention away from their inner lives.
Given that we, all of us from all over the world, have the ability to watch from the sidelines as well as engage-even as we (or some of us) are manipulated by hackers and biases of various internet conglomerates-we do have an ability to “vote” in another way than the ballot box. However, since that is still the only way we can actually change things we have to wake up people to their/our situations.
I hope we can think of using our formidable internet abilities to bear on the voting system and eradicate the gerrymandering and manipulation of voting registration, which is rife in US and not far off in UK.
I could go on, but thank you for your post, I expect we are singing from the same hymn sheet!
PS Great image that accompanies your blog!
Hello, thanks for your message. Yes, we live in dark times. Hopefully it will have the effect of accelerating consciousness rather than simply consuming us. Once empires have been in place for a while folk get so comfy they don’t know what they stand for or what liberty means any more,… the route of least resistance yawns open. So the challenge of our times is not just to get out of our armchairs but to shake ourselves in the process, so that political action comes from existential questions of meaning and purpose such that the transformation of government is contingent on the transformation of oneself.