Description

Farming Soul questions theories and assumptions that date back to the days of Freud, assumptions that separate spirituality from psychology. Patricia Damery finds answers through unconventional teachers and her relationship to the land – answers that are surprisingly intertwined.During Patricia’s individuation process she experiences the importance of being rooted in a particular place, guided by the tenets of Rudolf Steiner’s Biodynamic® agriculture. Her professional journey to become a Jungian analyst is a path filled with review committees and unorthodox teachers.Farming Soul offers perspective on the complex dynamic of the therapist/patient bond and a personal account of when to rely on one’s inner authority. This is a book about soul embodied and the essential recognition that spiritual, ecological, and psychological exploration is essential to reconnecting to our deeper selves.Patricia Damery is an analyst member of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco and practices in Napa, CA. She grew up in the rural Midwest and witnessed the demise of the family farm through the aggressive practices of agribusiness. With her husband Donald, she has farmed biodynamically for ten years. Her chapter, “Shamanic States in Our Lives and in Analytic Practice” appeared in ‘The Sacred Heritage: The Influence of Shamanism on Analytical Psychology,’ edited by Donald Sandner and Steven Wong, and her articles and poetry in the San Francisco Library Journal, Jung Journal: Culture and Psyche, Psychological Perspectives, and Biodynamics: Working for Social Change Through Agriculture.From the Introduction:Quote:Goodness! What a writing! A deliciously compelling story, filled with profound insight concerning the most invisible, and therefore most significant dimensions, of life. I hope to entice you to read this book in a contemplative spirit, for it can reorient your life.The many stories within the larger story are filled with interesting, provocative, complex characters. I am most touched with the presence of one figure in particular, Natalio. See who touches you in this way, and he or she will be your soul guide through the beautifying imagination of Patricia Damery.You will discover the intertwining tales of a struggle to become “soul-certified” through analytical psychology training. There is also the joyfully painful story of combining the soul path of depth psychology with the wisdom of American Indian shamanism. This struggle is intertwined with the cultivation of the land, and Damery’s deepening sense of being one with nature. She is in training to be both a seer and healer, and a practitioner of Biodynamic agriculture.An invisible unfolding occurs that touches the deepest desire of the soul. The true author of Farming Soul is Soul herself. What differentiates this book from being an autobiography is the invitation to enter a unique form of initiation, one that seems so suitable to this age, this time, our given circumstances, now.ContentsCover Title Page Copyright Dedication ContentsForeword by Robert SardelloPreface to the Second EditionIntroductionLate JanuaryThe Dream PondMy Early Professional Life and Personal Analysis A First Teacher Early March NatalioCandidacy and InitiationAprilTroubleNorma T.Colorado Group: First Three YearsDifferentiationMay: Bees and the SoulColorado Group: Last YearsJune 10DescentJuly: Distillation, Donald, and Kant FireBlackthornAsh and the Fifth Season Bringing Down the Moon B.B.Compost and the VeilThe Seed: Passing OnEndings and BeginningsJanuary 6 – Epiphany: Three Kings PreparationAcknowledgmentsBibliographyNotesPaperback: 184 pagesPublisher: Leaping Goat Press; second edition (July 4, 2014)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 0991309820ISBN-13: 978-0991309825ASIN: B00M9NYG2O