The initiational therapy as the way to the man’s and female maturity (Инициационная терапия как путь к мужской и женской зрелости)

Перевод на английский Елены Коротковой

People began to address to psychologists with inquiries about improvement of relations with relatives more often last years. Especially actual motive for consultation of the psychologist is the problem of mutual relations between men and women in matrimonial and other partner pairs. People quite often «leave in illness », losing spiritual and physical potential because of they cannot cope with family conflicts, both situational, and chronic, independently. At the same time, it is widely known, as far as a healthy atmosphere in family is closely connected with a health of the nation as a whole.

There is no man and any woman who would not like to love and be loved among usual people. There is no person who would be sincerely indifferent to family happiness. All of us search love and happiness in our private life first of all; we aspire to composure and health, in spite of the practical purposes we to ourselves put daily. The person can severely suffer from personal loneliness and illnesses generated by it, even achieving heights of success and recognition, having abundance of material benefits. The love between the man and the woman during many centuries is a synonym of happiness, a reserved gold fleece in the western culture.

Owners of treasure of harmonious love and family happiness are a rarity. We closely peer at them, because in fact they are the usual people at first sight. Then why the majority of us only search for what they already have?

We (Russian psychologists — Vasilets T.B. and Romanova N.V. ) have attempted to investigate laws of harmonious relations between men and women and create the curative environment in which these relations could achieve health and a maturity. As a result a new psychotherapeutic program «the Man and the Woman » was created by us in Rostov on Don in 2000.

A concrete theoretical base and the rich practical toolkit, creating developing initiating environment for achievement the purposes mentioned above, were arisen as the result of long-term psychological practice. We worked with people, aspiring to get rid of loneliness or to adjust matrimonial or other personal relations with partners. Then we have decided to present our experience, having allocated it to a separate direction which was named initiational therapy.

Our variant initiational therapy is successfully used today not only in Rostov on Don, but also in Kiev, Volgodonsk, Stavropol, Krasnodar and other cities. We carry out client seminars — trainings «the Man and the Woman » and methodical seminars, training experts to a method initiational therapies, since 2000.

We used magic opportunities of fairy tales with happy unions of the in love heroes to create environment, curing and harmonizing relations of men and women. We have assumed that it is possible to get valuable experience of creation of harmonious relations if to imagine ourselves Fine Basilicas or Ivan-tsarevitch and than to overcome the fantastic obstacles, preventing their happy union, instead of them. Participants of initiations have an opportunity to take a role, for example, of witch or the fairy, king or queen. They, being Ivan-tsarevitch, have an opportunity «to battle against the Dragon» or «to let an arrow searches the fiancee», «to be released from charms » or «from a captivity of the villain », to take part in «Ivan Kupala’s holiday », to visit the «family or patrimonial archive » and many other things.

There is a harmonization of relations between men and women as a result of such work. Lonely participants of initiations find partners in due course, relations in married couples are optimized, relations with children improve, the degree of emotional dependence is reduced, the patrimonial consciousness develops.

The major function of fairy tales and myths is initiation of various maturity stages. It is known, that fairy tales and myths were created in creative workshops of national symbolical consciousness to lead our unconscious through fire, water and copper pipes of initiations, thus having prepared it to tasks of happinessconstruction.

Thus, our variant of initiational therapy represents practice of experiencing of a lot initiations, leading to spiritual steps of a man’s and female maturity.

There always were the ceremonies for young men and girls in ancient cultures. Their goal was overcoming of an attraction of the parental world duly and formation of consciousness of the corresponding sex (comprehension of its social and spiritual functions). Initiations always were the rituals creating the conditions for transition from one social status to another. A person may experience the three stages during the initiations: «exile» from a habitual environment; the tests corresponding to tasks of a sex which should be passed successfully, and returning to a usual environment with a new status.

The major task of growing up men is finding of skills of management by the natural aggression during tests. The basic skills of the girls are skills to create a household, aesthetic and spiritual atmosphere of comfort for restoration of man’s forces and healthy development of children. Initiations allow find such skills and make real steps to a man’s and female maturity.

Initiations-tests existed in ancient cultures by centuries. They helped young people to master man’s and female applicability at essential terms. Timeliness has a special role there. The civilized society possesses abundance of the material benefits guaranteeing a stable survival. So it may presume to ignore the initiational terms. But if an ancient person has not formed an ability to survive independently his family would perish as a whole.

Working with the initiational therapy we have becoming witnesses of unique plots of numerous internal fairy tales of participants. We have noticed the important laws accompanying processes of maturing of man’s and female aspects of a private world. Besides we have observed more and more harmonious mutual relations between internal man’s and female sources of person were becoming. K.G.Junga’s the greatest idea about an opportunity to achieve » a sacral marriage» was observed by us as a concrete symbolical reality.

As we have already noted, first initiations was based at classical plots of fairy tales, bylinas and myths. Then as a result of the analysis of a symbolical material of internal fairy tales seven man’s and seven female base archetypical characters was discovered. These characters symbolize the basic steps of development man’s and female sources of person. Therefore each character also became an archetypical theme for separate initiation.

Now initiational therapy suggests more than 140 individual and group initiations. Apart from these the program «the Man and the Woman » uses initiational space of medieval and antique myths, for example, myths «Psyche and Eros », «the Sacred Grail», «Tristan and Izolda», etc.

Man’s and female inside us

We suggest to consider our variant of personal structure. According to this variant there are man’s and female archetypical figures in internal space of the person.

Our theory was based on ancient east mandala In-Ian and Charles Gustava Junga’s heritage which state, there is the internal female beginning in everyone the man (Anima) and there is the internal man’s beginning in each woman (Animus) (K.G.Jung.

«Psychology unconscious ». M. 1994, p. 135). , We see the world of our soul as the certain symbolical egg. And we suppose it may be dividing into two equal parts — man’s and female (fig. 1).

We think the man’s part of soul consists of seven basic archetypical figures. After the known American pastor doctor Bruce Wilkinson (« the Bible portrait of a matrimony », M, 1995, page 41), we believe, that the man is the Scout, the Defender, the Supporter, the General (Husband), King (Tsar — father), the Healer (at the primary source — the doctor) and the Priest (the spiritual driver, the teacher, actually Spirit) when he has relation with the wife, children and members of household.

Functions of the General, who lead behind self, correspond to a role of the Husband. Therefore we have connected these two man’s parts. As a result we have find a functional archetypical complex named the Husband — general.

The man’s functions (the leader’s functions) were discovered by doctor Bruce Wilkinson as a result of numerous interrogations of women. Bruce Wilkinson tried to find out what women expect from men.

Female part of soul consists of seven archetypical female figures by a principle of symmetry. K.G.Jung specified two opposite poles which are in each woman. He spoke about the Witch and the Fairy, and also considered, that Queen lives in each woman. K.G.Jung thought these and others archetypical figures were included in an archetype of Great Mother which was deeply investigated by him.

If to range the basic female functions, there is the seven sacral female archetypical figures, appearing in the following sequence: the Witch, Amazon, the Geisha, Wife — mother, Queen, the Fairy, the Goddess. Such sequence of female parts shows a certain unconditional aspiration to ascension upwards, to more and more high steps of a maturity.

All fourteen archetypical functions were taken as the base of the initiational therapy. They are the basic archetypical themes for initiations.

1. the Scout	–	1. the Witch;
2. the Defender	–	2. Amazon;
3. the Supporter	–	3. the Geisha;
4. the General (Husband)	–	4.Wife – mother;
5. King (Tsar — father)	–	5. Queen;
6.the Healer	–	6. the Fairy;
7. the Priest	–	7. the Goddess.

Fig. 1. Base man’s and female archetypes in structure of the person.

Later, trying not only to reveal essence of fourteen functions of man’s and female beginnings in a private world, but also wishing to consider the communications of these functions, we have created a certain archetypical mandala, the original spiritual map, having two axes of coordinates (fig. 2).

The vertical axis symbolizes the movement from the conventional center upwards to a certain archetypical Sky. It is a vector of spiritual development, leading to the supreme I. It is an original spiritual «crone» of the person. The downwards movement means the movement to archetypical Earth. It is a vector of a survival, some kind of, «roots» of the person.

The horizontal axis is directed aside man’s (it looks as a vector going from the center to the left) and female internal spaces (a vector going to the right). Thus, all area of a map above a horizontal axis symbolizes the Sky, and under a horizontal axis — the Earth. The area to the left of a vertical axis represents man’s, and to the right — female in our private world

The Divine man’s (spirit, the priest) directs, develops	The sky The Divine female (the goddess, soul) inspires, revives, blesses
The Healer cures, keeps, rescues	The Fairy cures, will transform, gives
The King operates (family, people) establishes, allocates, judges	The Queen operates, continues, gets, allocates, specifies
The (General) the husband creates, takes the responsibility, heads, conducts	The wife (mother) create to the husband, cultivates, bears
The Geisha seduces, tempts, shines, decorates, carries away	The supporter extracts, builds, repairs, provides
The Amazon wins, achieves, extracts, resists	The Defender protects a life and honour, wins (kills)
The Witch knows, destroys, overcomes, builds, protects itself, revenges	The Scout preserves, opens, prepares, (is fond)
The Earth

Fig. 2. An archetypical mandala showing the nature of hierarchical connections between man’s and female beginnings of the person.

The hierarchical sequence the man’s and female archetypical functions, being described the archetypical mandala, represents the certain steps leading upwards from «Earth» to «Sky». The mandala is formed by two diagonals – the man’s and female. The man’s diagonal includes seven man’s, a female diagonal — seven female archetypes or the steps leading to the tops of a man’s or a female maturity accordingly. Each man’s archetype of a horizontal level has the correspondent female archetype which is settling down at the same level.

There were obvious certain laws, horizontal and vertical connections between archetypical figures and archetypical levels. In particular, everyone following archetypical character of a man’s or female diagonal includes the properties of all previous characters of the correspondent sex and use these properties most harmoniously. For example, Amazon has such features of an archetype of the Witch as aggression and absence of the constant partner, but, as against the Witch, Amazon possesses these features openly and in a pointed manner, strongly keeping physical perfection, an autonomy, an eternal youth and beauty.

Besides everyone archetypical function (character) possesses the certain internal space, having two classical polarities. For example, the negative pole of the Witch is the old hunched sorceress-anchoress. As approaching the positive pole the Witch looks younger, becomes more attractive and more represented socially. Being condensed, these properties lead female at the following step — a level of Amazon. Physical perfection, force and success of Amazon – are properties of higher female step.

One more law consists that the man’s and female archetypical characters of the same horizontal have certain sacral connections and ways of interaction, contain obvious and implicit analogies, but never duplicate each other completely.

The important feature the archetypical mandalas is that «terrestrial, root» man’s (the Scout, the Defender, the Supporter) and female (the Witch, Amazon, the Geisha) archetypical positions are in the areas opposite to space of their sex. So the Witch, Amazon and the Geisha settle down at man’s area and have some function which similar the man’s ones. A witch defends interests of the person militarily, Amazon is one of the advanced fighting resources of the person, and the Geisha is the greatest diplomat, keeper of the communications between the man’s and female worlds. Some functions of these female characters are similar to tasks of the man’s characters corresponding to them at horizontal levels. Therefore these female energy «penetrate» into man’s area.

Man’s «terrestrial», «root» tasks also have similarity with female ones. Risking himself the scout learns much, bravely and widely comes into contacts to the world for the sake of growth, development and well-being of for whom he answers. That is there are female sociability and irrepressible female curiosity. The defender protects women and children as a woman — mother protects her child certainly. And the Supporter provides the wards with all necessary for a life as well as mother. The fact these man’s archetypes are arranged in female area indicates that they are “mirror” of corresponding female levels.

Moreover, researches of many spiritual schools suppose that all considered «heavenly» (more spiritual) area is more man’s one as a whole, and «terrestrial» (more personal) area is more female one. Having considered the archetypical mandala from this point of view, we received one more sight on the man’s and female. There is the division. The Priest, the Healer, King (Tsar — father), Queen, the Fairy, the Goddess are belong to the spiritual — man’s sphere and the Witch, Amazon, the Geisha, the Defender, the Supporter, the Scout are belong to the terrestrial — female one. The archetypical center (the Husband — general — Wife – mother) is border and most likely concerns to both spiritual elements: both to «heavenly», and to «terrestrial». Thus the archetypical functions by the Husband — Wife are the binding, central functions of a person.

Mutual penetration and communication of the man’s and female energies is showed by ancient mandala In-Ian simple and precisely. The penetration is symbolized with small circles (fig. 3).

The length of curve, being border between the man’s and female spheres in this mandala, corresponds to the border between the man’s or female parts and an external world. Hence mutual relations of the man’s and female parts in a private world are not less important, than relations of these parts of us with the external world. In other words, the task of our life is not only to learn the external world and to adjust harmonious relations with it, but also to adjust relations of internal space, first of all, betweenthe man’s and female its aspects. The task of a person is to reach a sacral marriage. This internal task demands efforts as much, as tasks to survive and adapt to an external reality successfully.

Figure 3. Mandala Инь-Ян. The penetration of the female beginning (a dark field) into the man’s one (a light field) and the man’s — into the female.

Initiational therapy is one of the fascinating modern ways of internal work assisting to achieve this purpose.

Modern problems of Anima and Animus

Relationships between men and women suffer from a typical problem of the Western world today. We’ll try to describe it briefly.

The true man’s beginning of most persons having grown in western culture is seriously weakened now (the moment of finishing «coil» of patriarchy). Meanwhile the internal man’s beginning responses for function of protection, successful survival and development of a person as a whole. As a result there is an inevitable overstrain of the internal parent structure which is responsible for a survival too.

The parent structure solves a problem of protection instinctively by growing inside a person unreasonably. It «sends a signal sos» and «calls to the aid » the most intense energy of negative poles of the Witch and Amazon, which are ready to fight always. And the unprotected scared parent aspect contains great volume of natural fear and instinctive aggression. The parent structure involves suffocating authority of cold Queen (its most terrestrial pole) to be protected. Thus these female functions substitute the healthy protective man’s functions. Besides they operate the captured Geisha if they need. This fact explains the consumer attitude to aesthetics of female sensuality, peculiar the western culture.

As a result the protecting function is incurred the superintense female energies having a «terrestrial» origin there is the hyperparent complex — an internal Dragon. It is overflown with fear to not survive and so with derivative powerful aggression. The dragon fills in the basic space of the person and suppresses, oppresses the true man’s and female energies. The hyperparent complex has a huge energy potential of the pseudo-man’s nature. It separates the man’s and female parts and interferes with their sacral marriage (fig. 4).

Hypermother — Internal dragon

The true man’s — The true female

Fig. 4. Hyperparent protection in structure of the person (as to the field of man’s, arrows symbolize passive aggression. It means the men’s resists to overwhelming hyperparent structure is latent; as to the field of female, a double arrows show the true female is suppressed by passive — aggressive man’s and hyperparent components.

The true man’s part, possessing natural man’s aggression, tries to resist to a hyperparent complex at the same time. But it can not finish this opposition because it has not enough forces. There is this phenomenon in real relations. It was opened by Scott Vezler, American psychotherapist. This phenomenon was named the passive aggression (avoiding the responsibility, default of the role functions, infringement or a tightening of contracts, depreciation and ignoring of the partner, distortion of the facts, creation a fog of uncertainty in mutual relations, etc.).

The hyperparent structure is the protective mechanism. But it is rigid very much. Figure 4 shows the true man’s «presses» the hyperparent structure in turn as a result of passive resistance. As a result the hyperparent complex is only displaced aside female, suppresses it even more, but at all does not concede «own» space. Thus, there is a total suppression of the female beginning in internal space of the person. As to a megacultural level, this phenomenon is shown not only as jamming relations between men and women at infantile stages of development, but also as oppression of the intuitive life, sensual knowledge of the world, degradation of an emotional spectrum of relations between men and women.

According to S.Vetsler passive aggression is a scourge of modern men, but women suffer from it too. There is a lack spiritual man’s and female initiations in space of the western culture. Such lack results to that man’s natural aggression is not transformed to intrapersonal protecting function, and female remains similar Cinderella.

What are Anima and Animus of the modern western person?

Being overloaded with aggressive pseudo-man’s aspirations, the hyperparent structure in the person of a man concerns to his Anima (female part of a man). And his man’s beginning is reduced to the formula: «weakened true man’s». His anima is represented by hypermother and “suppressed true female” (female is at deprived condition). That is Anima of modern men is split up to two parts: the mannish stepmother and the stepdaughter. The hyperparent complex results during a real man’s life authoritative supervising women who are typical for the western culture. As the result the man is compelled to scoop his «pseudo-courage» from a hyperparent complex, being expansive by the nature. Thus, he receives replacing negative female features instead of true man’s ones. Such man prefers to choose the destructive ways at difficult situations. For example he protect the interests with passive aggression (intrigues, a rigid competition with women (not with men) where artful strategy of the Witch, unexpected aggressive intrusions of Amazon, suffocating supercontrol of Stepmothers and unapproachable punishing style of pseudo-queen are used.

Such man perceives the real woman as the screen for a projection of the hyperparent complex unconsciously, and he attacks her by the infantile passive way constantly. Thus, the man battles to the external woman sponsoring him desperately and selflessly instead to battle to the internal Dragon.

There are a lot of women with hypertrophied hyperparent structure in the western culture. They are rather various. Among them charming, but not only fatal sovereigns of destinies, and also general mothers holding all other people near by shackles of emotional dependence. All these features of man-female interaction are shown both in internal, and in external mutual relations.

A woman, having a masculine hyperparent complex in structure of the person, gets animus consisting of «weakened truly man’s + hypermother». Her true female energy are suppressed too and drag a pity life. Such situation makes the woman to create relations with a passive — aggressive man, suitable the most problem aspect of her Animus

(weakened energy of the true man’s part). Such men are alcoholics, addicts, workaholics, «losers», irresponsible infant men.

Initiational therapy was created and exists as one of effective ways of release true man’s and female energies of persons from suppression, as a way of overcoming of jamming of the person at infantile stages of development. As it was marked above, the release is possible if the person will pass the initiations, allowing the man’s part to appropriate protecting function.

A female receives unique experience of coauthorship, creation to man’s, healing a man’s and restoration of his forces during initiations. We have named these functions of the female — spiritual «bearing». A female are trained to trust a man’s during initiations. It is experience which precedes the supreme aspects of belief the world and its harmony. Anything can not inspire the man’s part as female trust can. The main feat of a man’s is the release of a female part from internal oppression. This feat inspires a man’s. Association of the men’s and female part into a sacred union (a sacral marriage) is impossible without winning internal obstacles separating them.

Initiation of maturing internal man’s and female energies reduces the hyperparent structure, giving to it the normal size. In other words, our approach promotes the success of an emancipating march of internal Ivan-tsarevitch to an unconscious empire for the sake of a victory over a notorious Dragon. This victory is necessary to achieve a man’s and female maturity. It is made for the happy association between our internal Ivan-tsarevitch and internal Fine Vasilisa, pining at a Dragon’s captivity. They form a regal couple (a basis of our internal integrity) only having overcome obstacles and having incorporated into the sacred union. The nature of happiness is those. It is a association of fundamental parts of the person: the man’s and female parts.

Practical experience of Initiational therapy

Initiational therapy uses the techniques of the кататимной psychodramas and the monodramas, the directed imagination, corporally — guided approaches, etc. Elena Voznesenskaja, a doctor of psychology (Kiev) uses the archetypical themes, suggested by us, for arttherapy and dancetherapy since 2002 successfully.

Today the archetypical themes are used by any type of psychotherapy if clients wish. As it was already mentioned, initiations are carried out both as the individual and the group work.

Sometimes we use the techniques of the katathym (кататимной) monodramas for an individual session. A client chooses an archetypical image and than experiences it with open eyes, using his active imagination. He may move if he want. He has opportunity to imagine himself, for example, Queen or Amazon, the Defender or the Healer, etc. When use katathym (кататимная) psychodramas the customer works with actual for him archetypical theme in group.

Individual initiational therapies is carried out as the directed imagination more often. Then the participant of initiation (or group of participants) experiences an image of archetypical theme which was chosen by him. He lays at a couch or sits at an armchair blindly, being weakened.

The corporally — guided approach allows to use the initiating themes of the program “Man and the Woman” in group work widely. For example, there are such corporal initiations as “Creation of the man and the woman by Gods”, «Spiritual blood circulation», «The corporal map of archetypes», «The work with the sacral centers», « Fight with the Dragon» etc. The participants of initiations often experience spontaneous dynamic meditations during such work.

All archetypical themes discovered by us are used both for men, and for women. However, the choice of their sequence should correspond to inquiries of participants of initiations in each case.

Today we may note the following practical results of initiational therapy:

• The lonely persons have found their partners and
• The families and unmarried pairs have restored of the destroyed relations;
• The participants of initiations have found the greater confidence of;
• Occurrence of stable internal balance, rest, pleasure;
• Increase the energy of organism in the general;
• Disappearance of depressive frustration, but also
• Reduction and disappearance of neurotic emotional dependence in relations with relatives (disappearance of the sensitivity, the high vulnerability, aggression, etc.);
• Stabilization of personal borders;
• Normalization of role functions the members of the family;
• Occurrence of more harmonious relations with a partner;
• The behavior of men have become more initiative and the responsible;
• The hormonal activity of women has increased (optimization a menstrual cycle, disappearance of negative symptoms of premenstrual syndrome);
• The external appeal of women has increased (people said the female charm of women — participants of the program has increased, some of them began to look more young, to perceive the problems of age more easy, some women have grown thin for 3-4 kg);
• The women have started to be interested in creation of a cosiness and comfort at the house more, they have found desire to carry out with relatives more time, they have started to prefer family leisure to other kinds of rest;
• Disappearance of some symptoms, having psychological reasons.

Besides there are some interesting effects:

• Attributes of patrimonial consciousness have appeared in consciousness of participants of initiations, namely:There is a sensation of connection with wildlife and the responsibility for it as a result of experience of initiations.
  • the interest to a history and destiny of the family and of the people has increased;
  • occurrence of more responsible attitude to the native;
  • participants of initiations have realized their influence on relatives, destiny the native and family, psychological and social connections with them more deeply;
  • they have found desire to bring the creative contribution to a history of the family.