I have been working with Howard Teich, Ph.D., archetypal psychologist on his new book, Solar Light, Lunar Light. It is groundbreaking and illuminating to say the least. In summary, I've begun to see the world thru a new lens---that of solar and lunar influenced individuals - instead seeing people as masculine or feminine. The reason for this is that even the most enlightened observers in our culture have a gender bias that limits us as men & women. Here is a brief overview of Dr. Teich's work:
Dr. Teich's new book, SOLAR LIGHT, LUNAR LIGHT, Persepctives in Human Consciousness, courageously challenges the cherished assumption that masculine and feminine traits represent opposing forces. In fact, Dr. Teich shows how that entrenched belief has led to limitation and dysfunction in our human growth and development. Dr. Teich posits and proves in his new widely praised book that the masculine and feminine are actually cooperative partners, no less in harmony than the sun and the moon.
Dr. Teich convinces us to ditch our gender bias and recognize that men and women both are influenced by the sun and the moon. For example is that the moon, just like the tender feelings that have been associated with women, belong to the masculine side of human consciousness also. And the sun, which has been associated with the warrior male belongs to the feminine side as well.
Rather than being from two different planets (Mars and Venus, say), men and women are earthlings who embody both solar and lunar traits. Solar traits are expressed when one is direct, logical, and goal-directed, while lunar traits show up as emotion, intuition, and visioning. Denying either sex that dual influence deprives each the richer, more creative, and integrated life each deserves and sets the stage for emotional and psychological imbalances ranging from personal dissatisfaction to serious depression and dysfunction.
Dr. Teich studied volumes of world mythology and found that nearly every civilization—Hopi, Navajo, Aztec, Mayan, Iroquois, Zuni, to name a few—honored twin heros representing the sun and moon archetypes. In those cultures, the moon is both masculine and feminine, just as the sun is, unlike our culture, in which the moon is strictly feminine and the sun masculine.
SOLAR LIGHT, LUNAR LIGHT not only tells the reader how and why, but also includes a workbook with a survey of questions that readers can answer to measure their balance or imbalance of solar and lunar qualities. Please visit his website (http://solarlunar.com) for more info on his his “Quick Fixes” or practical tools that help readers measure and understand their own solar-lunar traits.
About Howard Teich, Ph.D.
Dr. Howard Teich has been a practicing psychologist for over 40 years. He has taught at the University of California and the California Institute of Integral Studies, as well as at Sonoma State University, the University of San Francisco and Esalen Institute. In addition to his private practice of psychotherapy, he consults widely with executives in corporations such as Microsoft, Intel and Wells Fargo Bank.
Advance praise for SOLAR LIGHT, LUNAR LIGHT
“. . . a skillful interweaving of modern psychology, mythology and ancient history . . .Howard Teich, offers a thought provoking thesis that these polarizing traits are actually cooperative partners in evolution’s dynamic dance. SOLAR LIGHT, LUNAR LIGHT is a healing journey . . .” —Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D., Cell biologist and bestselling author of The Biology of Belief, among others.
“Howard Teich has discovered a brilliantly simple and invaluable way of helping men and women move towards wholeness and healing.” —Richard Tarnas, Professor of Philosophy and Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies, author of The Passion of the Western Mind and Cosmos and Psyche
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