There are major haters in life. And, they will get to you and drag you down if you let them. The problem is, we often close our eyes, dim consciousness, regarding the reality of haters and the phenomenon of the evil eye. Then, we're vulnerable, the psychic immune system having been compromised.



Melanie Klein, grand dame of psychoanalysis, explored the violence associated with envy. Jealousy desires what the other has; envy not only…

Continue

Over time, literal sacrifice became somewhat socially unacceptable. Legal executions, which had long been well-attended, public, outdoor events, went indoors after the Civil War. Government gradually came to the consensus that public ceremonies of state cruelty were not fit for decent folk. At the same time, lynching incidents increased dramatically, coming to a head in the 1890s, but lasting for generations. Eventually, even Southern politicians grudgingly accepted that the practice was…

Continue

“Home” is a word weighted with affect and associated with rootedness, attachment, belonging, shelter, refuge, comfort, and identity. When our relationship to “home” is considered in the context of depth psychology, the study of the unconscious pioneered by Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung among others, it stands to reason that our individual notions of “home” may impact us…

Continue

Sociologist Calvin Hernton wrote in 1966 that the image of the black sexual beast was so extreme in the mind of the racist that he had to eradicate it, yet so powerful that he worshipped it:

In taking the Black man’s genitals, the hooded men in white are amputating that portion of themselves which they secretly consider vile, filthy, and most of all, inadequate…(they) hope to acquire the grotesque powers they have assigned to the Negro phallus, which they symbolically…

Continue

Michael Brown, Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Andy Lopez – these are the well-known names. But to really understand America’s myth of innocence, we must see these tragedies in the proper perspective. Every 28 hours, an African-American or Latino is shot dead by a police officer, a security guard or a self-appointed vigilante (…

Continue

Carl Jung wrote, "Whenever the snake symbolism appears in dreams, then, it is always representative of the lower motor centers of the brain and of the spinal cord, and our fear of snakes denotes that we are not fully in tune with our instinctive lower centers; they still contain a threat to us."

The message in Jung's insight is that of fear and potential. When we're afraid, there's room for healing and growth. Snakes appearing in dreams…

Continue

I wrote this poem as I wept over the death of Robin Williams today:



In Memoriam for Our Fisher King

By Kayleen Asbo

The eyes so bright so twinkling, so merry

also saw through to the deep pain of the world.

Your gift, like Dionysus, was always to walk

between the twin worlds of comedy and tragedy,

Calling us to the melancholy just below the surface mirth

Navigating the rivers of tears to bring us to the shore's edge of sorrow -

Touched by hope… Continue

Part Two

Just let me get elected, and then you can have your war. – Lyndon Johnson

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was built on a foundation of lies. Contrary to what President Johnson claimed, there was no unprovoked “act of aggression” against the American destroyers that had been provocatively patrolling the area, and a second alleged incident never even took place. 

But the Johnson administration was looking for a pretext to escalate the…

Continue

Part One

I laughed to myself…Here we go. I’m starting a war under false pretenses. – James Stockdale, flying over the Gulf of Tonkin, August 1964

August 10th. This month we note many anniversaries. Thirty-nine years ago Wednesday, Congress passed the voting Rights Act. Forty years ago yesterday, Richard Nixon resigned. August 28th is the 51st anniversary of the March on Washington.

But today’s anniversary…

Continue

The following article is on a subject in which most clinicians have no concrete training: recognizing abortion-induced PTSD. I wrote it in layman's terms for the general population with the intention of helping them be more sensitive to this prevalent but under-recognized issue, and letting them know this form of PTSD can be treated.



I hope you will find it helpful in your life and practice. You have my permission to make copies…

Continue

I've decided to post this now after discovering a lovely poem by Silvia Behrend "In the Garden". What struck me was the synchronicity that I had written this on the same day Silvia posted her poem - I only discovered this when I opened my journal to add her poem to my own entry....

2014-7-15 Psychotherapy is a lot like Gardening

We live at a time in our history when the majority of energy is invested in quick fixes. It is interesting that not too long ago there were…

Continue

Sometimes folks feel bad because it's too scary to feel good! Especially when there's been chronic trauma in a person's life, feeling good can be scary. The good can be at any moment ripped away. That's what chronic trauma does to the head, makes a person afraid that what's good and feels good could at any second be pulled out from under foot.

The inner saboteur generates misery and drama. A dark figure surfaces in dreams as one who wreaks havoc on what is good. It's a terrible thing…

Continue

Last night the city of London was plunged into darkness at 10pm. I'm sure many other places were too. The #LightsOut campaign was a way for everyone to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, on August 4th 1914. The idea was to turn out our lights and light a candle in memory of those who gave their lives.

Many of you will be aware of the prophetic dreams - nightmares - that Jung experienced which were tantamount to premonitions of war.…

Continue