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May 3, 2024
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Alyssa Polizzi's avatar

It's reminiscent of what Marion Woodman speaks to regarding finding the symbolic/metaphorical component behind compulsive behaviors:

“I always try to grasp the metaphor at the root of an addiction. That varies. With food, it can be mother; with alcohol, spirit; with cocaine, light; with sex, union. Mother, spirit, light, union – these can be archetypal images of the soul’s search for what it needs. If we fail to understand the soul’s yearning, then we concretize and become compulsively driven toward an object that cannot satisfy the soul’s longing.”

Without that inner principle being recognize, we overly concretize, literalize the psychological impulse (somatically, behaviorally, etc). It's really helped me look at certain issues/desires/compulsions in a new way.

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May 4, 2024
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Alyssa Polizzi's avatar

I relate to a lot of what you've written here, Deryn. I first heard of the death mother archetype from my therapist, who worked with Marion. I wrote about some of those insights and ideas in this older post: https://www.theartemisian.com/p/gazing-in-a-reflective-shield

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