This unique account by a dance and drama therapist is the first of its kind to integrate Jungian theory, creative arts therapy, and developmental object relations theory successfully. Using the arts as a psycho-therapeutic tool, trauma and addiction are explored and enacted, calling upon the imaginal realm of the arts as a vehicle for transformation and recovery. The author has a diploma in gestalt therapy and has taught the arts in psychotherapy for over 20 years.

Where the Shadows Lie

Where the Shadows Lie takes the reader on a journey through Tolkien’s Middle-earth, following the hobbits, their companions, and the characters they encounter on their quest. Along the way, Skogemann reveals the deep symbolic layers that are the source of joy and enchantment that many find in reading The Lord of the Rings. Aragorn, with the aid of Gandalf, Legoli, and Gimli, ascends to the throne and becomes the center of a great, unified kingdom—a symbol of the collective Self. The four hobbits, representing individual ego-consciousness, are transformed by the quest and acquire the psychological tools they need to renew the Shire—the small domain enfolded in the great.

Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious and the archetypes provide a key to understanding the forces of fantasy that are so powerful in Tolkien’s masterpiece—and thereby a key to understanding ourselves and the events of the outside world in our modern times.

Chiron 2009      232pp.      paper: ISBN 978-1-888602-45-6   $24.95