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Abstract
This work seeks to address a wounding that has occurred in the culture on both the collective and the personal levels as a result of a split between psyche and matter. Henri Corbin, the Sufi scholar, refers to that middle space between psyche and matter as the mundus imaginalis, and Jung speaks of it as the psychoid space. This is the space of synchronicities, visions, dreams, and the magic that occurs in everyday life, and yet we are often too busy to take notice. Opening our hearts to these imaginal experiences, we begin to heal the split through a recovery of a lost part of ourselves and our ability to access these other realms of consciousness. The imaginal world is as real as the worlds of the senses and of the intellect, and it is readily available to us through the often neglected doorway of our own imaginations.
Alchemical hermeneutics, which is derived from traditional hermeneutics and yet is more closely related to the new hermeneutics in that it recognizes the intimate connection between the researcher and the work, is a natural choice for doing research concerning the imaginal as it allows for the voice of the soul in the work. Jung has often stressed the importance of direct experience in moving us towards a true gnosis, and this is taken into account as the researcher relates, through the language of storytelling, examples of dreams, synchronicities, images, and active imaginations that are felt experiences of the imaginal world erupting into this one.
There are several themes that are important to the challenge of living the imaginal into the everyday. This work explores the importance of balance through attention paid to the image, particularly through an amplification of the image of the moon. It takes seriously the presence of imaginal figures and treats them with utmost respect as integral to the research. Hermes in his guises as the child and the trickster helps to give us a sense of both the energy of the imaginal world and also a way in which to approach it.
It is often difficult to articulate experiences of the imaginal world and, in addition, many have been silenced as to these experiences. The tradition of depth psychology assists in recovering and bringing light to what has been covered over creating balance between the worlds of the everyday and the imaginal, a balance that is sorely missing in our culture. This work seeks to address that loss by celebrating both worlds, as they are forever connected. Furthermore, this study, as an answer to an individuation call, is an example in itself, through its writing, of living the imaginal into everyday life.
