Keep me informed about the Tour de France possibility and I'll send it around to my friends, etc.

My sister lives in Somerset, so a meeting might just be able to happen, but I'll let you pick the pub.

Thanks for sharing your story. Mine comes out of a lifetime of having visions and feeling more affirmed by nature than by fellow human beings. The visions I quickly held to myself feeling that such would not be understood, no other child spoke of them. My love of nature came as a response to a need for emotional affirmation and I found that far easier to experience in the forest than in the home or classroom.

The "change agent" for me was cancer and a vision while in the hospital. I was in my 20's when the doctor came into my hospital room and said that tomorrow I would be tested and the results could range from, its going to be okay to my needing to get "my affairs in order." In that I was going through the beginnings of a divorce, my "affairs" were far from being able to be put in order.

I remember leaning back on the hospital bed after the doctor left and everything went black. Not a starry night black but a true, absolute darkness. I remember thinking that I should be scared, feeling an existential angst at the nothingness of life, but I felt nothing like that. The darkness was warm and inviting. I then realized that it was like the darkness when you close your eyes while being hugged by a loved one. A full-body melding. God/the universe/Psyche/Soul was holding me close and telling me that no matter what the end result of the tests might be, I was going to be fine. I "woke" with a peace that has very rarely reappeared since.

It was the early teachings of the many "layers" of nature, seen and unseen, that afforded me a better understanding that the "vision" I had just had, along with my earlier visions, only affirmed that the internal world was just as multilayered as the external world. From then on my path has lead down several paths exploring these levels of being. Depth psychology is the most recent path.

So, there ya' go. 

Happy New Year to you.

Ed

Hi Richard. Happy new year, and welcome to the online depth community.Thanks for reaching out and I, too, am fascinated with the ways in which depth psychology can be integrated into more traditional models (actually it's funny to say it that way because I subjectively think of depth psychology as the model that is traditional!). My apologies for being so late to connect with you. I just got slammed over the holidays with some hard and fast writing deadlines along with launching the book club. So glad you managed to get your profile photo changed and you seem to be making your way around the site a bit. I know it can be overwhelming.

Meanwhile, I very much look forward to meeting you--it would be wonderful to see you in Assisi! No doubt we'll find a way to connect in person somehow. I'm actively working on ideas to launch both Alliance web events as well as in-person meetups in various regions.

Meanwhile, I hope you're finding much to engage with as you browse the vast content and interact with others. You may want to consider joining the new online book club if you haven’t already—it’s just begun (with a new author each month!)—and you can participate at whatever level you wish. Meanwhile, it looks like you're managing fine, but in case you need detailed help on getting started and navigating the site, please use the following link-- http://www.depthpsychologyalliance.com/page/navigating-the-site --and please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions--I'll try to respond more promptly. Regards!~Bonnie Bright, Founder