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Click here to
download a pdf version of our distance learning kabbalah brochure (includes
application form)
Click here to download
a pdf version of our distance learning psychosynthesis brochure (includes
application form)
Kabbalah:
Kabbalah is a way of understanding all aspects of ourselves and is a rewarding
guide for personal and spiritual development.
Based on a map of consciousness called the Tree of Life, Kabbalah, or Qabalah
(an alternative spelling), is relevant to modern everyday life, offering
greater freedom and fulfillment through including the experience of both
our spirit and shadow sides.
Kabbalah:
Kabbalah is a way of understanding all aspects of ourselves and is a rewarding
guide for personal and spiritual development.
Based on a map of consciousness called the Tree of Life, Kabbalah, or Qabalah
(an alternative spelling), is relevant to modern everyday life, offering
greater freedom and fulfillment through including the experience of both
our spirit and shadow sides.
Want to know more about Kabbalah, Qabalah and the
Tree of Life?
What is the difference between Kabbalah
and Qabalah?
Is non-Jewish Kabbalah authentic
or not?
What group courses do you offer?
What books can I read about Kabbalah?
Do you have any articles I can read
about Kabbalistic topics?
What does Kabbalah say about sex
and parenting?
Is Kabbalah a kind of therapy?
What is the link between Kabbalah
and Christianity?
What are energy bodies and how
does Kabbalah describe them?
What does Kabbalah say mediumistic
or channeled material?
What links do you have to Kabbalah,
Qabalah and related topics?
Want to know more
about Psychosynthesis?
Psychosynthesis brings together the two traditions of psychology and mysticism.
Psychology is then infused with a sense of soul and meaning, whilst the
mystery traditions benefit from the grounding and reflective qualities of
psychology.
Psychosynthesis is a practical system which is not about the application
of techniques, but learning to live with a vision that comes from deep within
oneself.
What is Psychosynthesis?
(a longer answer)
What group based courses do you offer?
What books can I read about Psychosynthesis?
Do you have any articles I can read
about Psychosynthesis topics?
Can I have Psychosynthesis counselling
or therapy?
Do you have links to other Psychosynthesis
sites?
Anything we haven't covered, please let us know
Available Now!
The Something and Nothing
of Death
a source of inspiration,
enabling you to face
the prospect of death
with a new spirit
of inquiry
Available Now!
Psychosynthesis:
The Elements and Beyond
everything ypu need
to understand and use
the visions and technques
of psychosynthesis
People who are called magicians and witches often describe their path
as 'The Craft', the underlying intention of which is to know oneself. The
Craft, whether that of witches, alchemists, shamans, psychotherapists, freemasons,
magicians, or others following the path of soul-making is the same. Firstly,
to somehow uncover what has been previously covered or hidden, and secondly,
to increase connection to potential energy. The techniques used are usually
different, ranging from quasi-mystical gobbledygook (much of which goes
under the name of 'transpersonal psychology') to serious attempts to create
psychological and spiritual health (of which there is a lot more undertaken
by magicians and witches than many people realize.)
Of course, some witches stick pins in dolls and recite magical incantations
to disrupt and harm the lives of others (often disguised, of course, as
harmless 'folk craft'.) Some counsellors and therapists behave in a similar
manner (for instance when creating power bases within organizations and
denigrating others). But what the vast majority of practitioners of all
these disciplines perform are rituals and procedures that attempt to promote
healing. That is, they undertake the Craft. The craft is not the techniques,
it is not the training, it is not the obvious. It is not being a Gardnerian
Witch, an Adept of the Golden Dawn, or a graduate of a particular school
of psychotherapy. To be 'Crafty' is to see the 'something else' that is
inherent in everything. You may call that something else 'soul' or 'meaning'
for it is the language of insight and understanding.
People who are called magicians and witches often describe their path as
'The Craft', the underlying intention of which is to know oneself. The Craft,
whether that of witches, alchemists, shamans, psychotherapists, freemasons,
magicians, or others following the path of soul-making is the same. Firstly,
to somehow uncover what has been previously covered or hidden, and secondly,
to increase connection to potential energy. The techniques used are usually
different, ranging from quasi-mystical gobbledygook (much of which goes
under the name of 'transpersonal psychology') to serious attempts to create
psychological and spiritual health (of which there is a lot more undertaken
by magicians and witches than many people realize.)
Of course, some witches stick pins in dolls and recite magical incantations
to disrupt and harm the lives of others (often disguised, of course, as
harmless 'folk craft'.) Some counsellors and therapists behave in a similar
manner (for instance when creating power bases within organizations and
denigrating others). But what the vast majority of practitioners of all
these disciplines perform are rituals and procedures that attempt to promote
healing. That is, they undertake the Craft. The craft is not the techniques,
it is not the training, it is not the obvious. It is not being a Gardnerian
Witch, an Adept of the Golden Dawn, or a graduate of a particular school
of psychotherapy. To be 'Crafty' is to see the 'something else' that is
inherent in everything. You may call that something else 'soul' or 'meaning'
for it is the language of insight and understanding.
The magician's Grimoire (book of magic spells) is the grammar of this language,
and the words used are those of 'spell'-ing. The Craft is what is learned
in a counselling and psychotherapy training that does not fit into the prospectus:
it is the stuff of dreams and myths, of relationship and presence.
A magician works in a temple, the external universe as it is found. This
corresponds to the therapy room and the previously unexplored territory
of the new client's psyche. It is the sacred space of the shaman, or of
the goddess worshipping wiccan. In this temple a circle is drawn upon the
floor to define the limitations of the work, to create a container and to
announce the nature of the Great Work (of 'knowing oneself'.) This circle
is the appropriate boundaries the therapist keeps, and the vessel (or 'field')
in which the work of relationship unfolds. The circle is protected by divine
names (the therapist's ethics and own oath to Self.).
All Craft has tools to make it visible and effective. Within a magical circle
stands an altar, which is described as the solid base or foundation of the
work. It is the past experience of the client (and the therapist), upon
which all the work is inevitably based, and which offers a ground or base
for understanding. Upon the altar are a wand for will, a cup for love, a
sword for reason and a pantacle which represents the body. A magician uses
oil which consecrates everything it touches. The oil represents aspiration,
and in the Craft all acts performed in accordance with this are said to
be Holy. In the therapeutic container, it is the joint aspiration of the
therapist and client, working together to create a new future (which allows
for the 'Holy' presence of soul). A magician also uses a scourge to excite
sluggish nature (challenge), a dagger which calms too great a heat (support),
and a chain to bind the wandering thoughts (focused attention). These keep
the aspirations pure.
Above the altar hangs a light, representing the light of pure soul. It is
a reminder not to be too confident or clever, that something in the Craft
is always unknown and beyond '... and I am more than this.') For the therapist
it is a reminder to honour the divinity of the client. A magician also wears
a crown (to affirm his or her divinity), a single robe (to symbolize silence
and protection) and over the heart a special seal (to remind the practitioner
that the secret keys of power and love are found in the heart.) A magician
carries a magical record or journal (both the personal journal of the therapist
and the client notes), and a bell (which summons and alarms). For the therapist
the clock is the reminder of the passage of time (it summons the hour's
end and can be a timely reminder of the impermanence of all things.)
In an essay entitled 'The Witchcraft' written in the 1940s, John Parsons
(a magician and founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory) wrote: 'The way
we show is not easy; it is hard because to know one's self is always hard.
To break through the shell of the little world and undo the hypnotization
of generations is difficult. We have no soothing syrup...' and, later; 'in
fairy tales and playing cards, in myths and legends, in strange poems and
old songs, we hid the secret knowledge. Now and then an adventurer into
dark ways and lonely lands of the soul has come amazed upon the 'pearl of
great price'.' That pearl is the Craft embodied; it is the Great Work, the
work of the heart.
Will Parfitt is a UKCP registered psychotherapist and an experienced
and innovative group leader. Trained in Psychosynthesis, he has more than
thirty years experience of working with psychospiritual development, and
he travels internationally to run courses on a variety of subjects including
kabbalah and psychosynthesis. Will is author of several books
including 'Kabbalah for Life' and 'Psychosynthesis: the Elements and Beyond'.
© Will Parfitt 2008 (v8.1)