Indigenous initiations into adulthood sometimes ended in death. California Natives disposed of young misfits or “sociopaths” during ritual medicine ceremonies. Matriarchal kinship rules prohibited taking the life of a blood relative, but there are several stories of hiring a “poisoner” or shaman to dispose of unwanted people who could not internalize the culture’s rules of [...]
Archive for the ‘Movie Reviews’ Category
The Hunger Games
Posted in Initiation, Movie Reviews, tagged Myths, Psychology, The Matrix on March 24, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Hugo’s Steam Punk World
Posted in gnostic wisdom, Movie Reviews, Reincarnation, Spirituality, Theosophical Society, tagged Avatar, Gnostic, Indwelling Spirit on March 5, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
After the most destructive war in their history, people struggle to re-establish the life-style they remember. That is the setting for the movie Hugo. A wounded veteran of the First World War is the police authority in the Parisian train station. His world is the shops, vendors, the travelers, and the trains. He lives in [...]
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Posted in Dreams, Movie Reviews, psyche, Spirituality, tagged Balancing the Opposites, Indwelling Spirit, Myths, Self, Synchronicity, trickster on December 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Fantasy is another word for imagination, for the world of dreams and illusions. C. S. Lewis’ Narnia is such a place, where animals and mythological creatures speak our language. We understand their nonverbal communication. We hear them and understand their speech. Their words are intelligible. The scene is that of war between the forces of [...]
The Power Differential
Posted in Elder Activities, Movie Reviews, sexual conduct, tagged Psychology, Shadow, trickster on April 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Back in 1998 I watched the premier showing of Warren Beatty’s movie Bulworth. My daughter-in-law had been waiting to see the movie. She and my son took me out for the treat of my life. The main character, Senator Jay Billington Bulworth, had been a Kennedy democrat back in the day, and now had fallen [...]
Red Riding Hood
Posted in Movie Reviews, tagged Old Catholic Church, Shadow on April 5, 2011 | 1 Comment »
When I suggested we see Red Riding Hood, my almost thirty-year-old male graduate students said, “what, see a movie designed for twelve-year-old girls? No way!” I couldn’t convince them that they might need to understand an adolescent girl’s psychology, so I went by myself. Wow what a marvelous experience for a psychotherapist! Set in the [...]
Limitless Transformation
Posted in entheogens, Mental Health, Movie Reviews, psyche, tagged Alchemy, Psychology, Shadow on March 22, 2011 | 2 Comments »
The movie Limitless shows us a literal enactment of the psychic process of personal development. The hero, Eddie Morra, uses a magic potion to enter the underworld realms of the psyche. Although the movie seems to be about designer drugs and enhanced brain function, the hero must face dependence upon the grace of the gods [...]
Tere Bin Laden: Terroristic Humor
Posted in Movie Reviews, Terroism, tagged Humor, trickster on August 24, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Tere Bin Laden, in Hindi with English subtitles, was the funniest movie I have seen in years. They poke fun at everyone and everything, especially the USA and our foreign policy behavior. It is quite amazing how the journalist’s desire for the American Dream and emigrating to the USA, pulls together the most disparate characters [...]
Inception and the Unconscious
Posted in Carl Jung, Marie-Louise von Franz, Movie Reviews, psyche, Terroism, tagged Inception on July 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Inception is a teaching tool regarding dreams, paradox, and projection. It’s plot reflects a Freudian standpoint toward the subconscious. It is “ego centric”. Although diping into the unpredictable realm of dreams, the ego is the hero of the plot. He grows through encountering himself and others, through the struggle with the unconscious, but not in the way the wizard grows, through relationship with the Unconscious.
Karate Kid Too
Posted in Mentoring, Movie Reviews, Terroism, tagged alcohol abuse, Karate Kid on June 24, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Karate Kid brings up a universal theme in human development for both the adolescent and his teacher. It evokes the issue of alcohol and trauma, of symbolic structures in the psyche, and how love heals through grieving, through remembering and letting go.
Avatar 3D Making the Invisible Visible
Posted in Dreams, Initiation, Movie Reviews, Psychology, Spirituality, Synchronicity, tagged Avatar, Dreamwork, Indigenous, Psychology, Spirituality, The Matrix, Wisdom, Zeitgeist on December 25, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Art is prophetic and Avatar in 3D shows us how to manifest the future. Cameron’s visual feast demonstrates a very familiar story of conflicting values between the indigenous cultures and the conquering mindset. It also makes visible the relationship between us and our dreams, how we can be Dream Walkers in an alternate reality. The myth of Pandora structures the magical setting for Avatar. Her curiosity about what is contained within the mysterious box creates its opening. She releases pain, suffering, and death upon the people. What is the last gift in the box? Hope. That’s what Avatar is all about, hope for the future if we can act together to save our Mother Gaia.
