A SOUND IMAGINATION

Based on the Alchemical writings of C.G. Jung, Paracelsus,
and James Hillman.

As an Ancestral Method of psychological/spiritual transformation,
C.G. Jung gave so much importance to Alchemy that he devoted
the last 45 years of his life to studying it, particularly the one
articulated by Paracelsus (1493–1541).

Early on in my life, I purposely chose to follow the wisdom that
urges us to study the teachers of our most fundamental teachers.
What follows is a brief account of what has been my path.

My training in Jung´s Analytical Psychology made it relatively
easy for me to appreciate the critical value of Alchemical Teachings
early on, as something of great value, needed more than ever for
meeting the unprecedented challenges of working creatively and
constructively with the traumas and fears that so much dominate
our emotional lives in today´s so uncertain world.

I was then fortunate to have been able to study “Alchemical
Psychology” directly with James Hillman, beginning with my
participation in the course that he gave at The Dallas Institute
of Humanities and Culture in 1982, very aptly called “The Art
of Working with Fire”.

After this, I began to imagine my consulting room to be a sort of
literal/metaphorical “kitchen”, where “prima materia” – one´s
passions, fears, challenges, etc. – can find a “container” that
can actually serve to “cook” (transform) very stuck places and
destructive habits into pro-active, constructive, creative actions.

Then, an experience in 1985 led me to unexpectedly recognize
how the Art of Transformation that we nowadays call Alchemy
mostly references the healing and spiritual practices of men and
women of wisdom during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance
in Europe – but is, in fact, nothing more than a relatively
well-known version of what are clearly Ancestral Healing
and Spiritual practices alive to this day in what we now
call “Curanderismo” (“Shamanism”).

So-called Shamanic Wisdom implies universal and eternal
truths that we also call Archetypal.

Given that I have spent my life discovering myself by following
the clues that life itself keeps putting in my path – rather than
trying and struggling to achieve some sort of mental plan –
I naturally began to seek and look out for native women and
men of wisdom in the furthest reaches of the American Continent.

In addition to pretty much all of México, my initiatory experiences
have taken place in the following locations and in more or less
the following sequence: Brazil, Perú, Ecuador, Argentina,
Uruguay, and Guatemala. In North America: North Dakota,
Arizona, and New Mexico.

My actual initiation into the Ancestral healing and spiritual
practices of Mayan and Zapotec/Mazatec/Miztec Curanderos,
which began in 1984 and continues to this day, is what allows
me to now share with those of you who are interested in The
Arts of Transformation a proven METHOD that, in my
experience actually“works”.

I of course always invoke the “spirits” that be to guide me
in sharing my particular blend of Jung´s Analytical Psychology,
a Somatic Consciousness and Awareness based on actual
experience, my understanding of what can accurately be called
Alchemical Teachings… or Ancestral Wisdom – two
different ways of talking about precisely the same thing !

What I love to do, at my 77 years of age, is to share with
those who are interested in – or in need of – an approach that
understands how external (outer) life experiences can be
fundamental guides for deep internal (inner) self-discoveries,
always at the service of both personal and transpersonal growth.

All that I share is what has worked for me to trigger processes
of transformation in which destructive behavior patterns are
converted into constructive and creative actions.

In fact, my teachings tend to be experiential, which can be
quite challenging for the individual interested in developing
a personal perspective that demands congruence, in both his
or her professional as well as personal lives. After all, at the
end of the day, we are what we do !

The Method of Alchemical Psychology that I offer blends
theory, called philosophy in Alchemy, with a practice,
both based on Universal / Archetypal principles.

The psychological aspect of “the work” involves personal
experience, always taking into account the urgent need that
we have these days for the essential congruence mentioned
above, based on the ancient admonition that above all, we
always want to “practice what we preach”.
The spiritual part of the work involves discovering hidden
inner resources, ones that help us go beyond ourselves in
breaking bad habits by actually doing things differently, in
order to actually be able to get different results.

In the language of the Alchemists, it is essential to remember
that “the work” is truly An Opus Contra Naturam.