Journeys of a Pregnant Virgin

This feels like the beginning of my final stretch of time in Europe. Ursula arrives in a few hours and we will catch up and do some work in preparation for Body Soul Writing which begins next Sunday evening in Castelnau de Montmiral, in the sunflower-heavy, sun-drenched south of France. A new friend asked me recently, "What kind of work do you have to do? Can't you go in and teach it based on all of your previous experience? Well, yes, I could. But the process and the material would not be alive in me nor quickening my body and soul even before I walk into the first session. Preparing - first on my own and then with Ursula - gets me simmering and brewing, so that by the time we begin the course, I am on a rolling boil. Now I know that with the prospect of another very hot summer coming up this may not be the most appealing metaphor, but it is definitely how I experience the process. We will all boil together in both ways, if necessary.

Marion Woodman arrives in Zurich on Wednesday following her current "Black Madonna" lecture series in Einsiedeln, and Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday will be largely Woodman-oriented. Then Ursula and I leave on our twelve hour, four train journey on Saturday morning. When I return on July 13th, it will simply be to pack and clean and bid Zurich farewell, at least for now.

Yesterday I experienced one of the most exciting ISAP seminars to date. Ten of us plus the husband and wife analyst-teacher team met in their beautiful teaching studio in the lush rolling hills of Zumikon, just outside of Zurich, for an intensive day of Psychodrama. My closest previous experience had been the empty chair exercise in my Gestalt training (apparently Fritz Perls developed Gestalt therapy largely as an offshoot of Psychodrama) and Eleanor Barz's (the wife) Dream Seminar about 6 weeks ago where she used a bit of Psychodrama as well. My friend Kate in New York, a Psychodramatist herself, has long told me how deep and profound and fascinating this way of working with the psyche can be, and she is right. We did three psychodramas in the course of the day and the wonderful thing is that everyone was involved in each one, whether in a "main role" or just a part of the chorus (just to mix metaphors). I loved all of it, felt riveted the entire time without ever lagging even for an instant. I don't remember when twelve hours last flew by that quickly. We ended with a potluck picnic supper on their patio and drank lots of wine and laughed and got a little silly after the concentrated intensity of the day's work. I can hardly wait to do more. I may even volunteer to be the protagonist in one of the psychodramas next time.

I was impressed by the safe and respectful (dare I say loving) containing space Helmut and Eleanor Barz were able to create in the course of the day - no doubt in part due to their three decades of experience - so that the soul was never betrayed or injured, and the protagonist could stop at any point in the process if she or he so desired. I even loved the ritual elements of the process, which in themselves provide part of the sense of safety, signifying entry into a different kind of space.

Yesterday provided another richly-hued bead for my ever-expanding Zurich necklace. - And that is where I have been, inside and out.