Synopses & Reviews
Greek myth tells how Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity, who forged civilization with it. In return, the gods fashioned the first women, Pandora, and sent her to bring death and disease to the Earth. Unknown to human beings, Pandora is a goddess; indeed, she is the Earth herself -- Gaia -- who brings not only the gift of suffering, but also the gift of healing. Yet for centuries we have seen only her destructive side and done everything we can to disown her and connect her with evil. Today, however, as the gods are returning, Pandora is revealing her true nature as the dark but fecund all-giving feminine with the power to heal our culture. She asks us to value cultural forms we usually identify with disease, death, and ferment. She wants us to see our world from the bottom up as soul. Her task is now to help us transform our overwhelmingly material civilization into an ensouled culture of participation in the living worlds of soul and spirit. In a word, she is asking seeing the world in a new way -- as the place of the presence of the gods. For this, she gives us a special tool: imagination. Gail Thomas, an archetypal psychologist and cultural activist, has been working with the archetype of Pandora for more than twenty years. Healing Pandora is the rich fruit of her labors. In two parts, the first uncovers Pandora's archetypal and mythic origins as the primal vessel of culture and city. The second part turns to the making and healing of culture in our time. Movingly written, and grounded in firm knowledge and deep experience, Healing Pandora is book to heal our cities and us.
Synopsis
The story of Pandora is one of the most resonant in Greek mythology. As
Healing Pandora shows, its also one of the most relevant. Psychologist Gail Thomas has used Pandora in her practice for two decades, often with profound results. Cast in popular accounts as the evil bringer of doom to humanity in divine retaliation for Prometheus stealing fire, Pandora, in Thomas view, is a much more complex character, with enormous healing powers as well as her better-known destructive capacity. In this revelatory book, Thomas shows Pandoras true nature as the dark but all-giving feminine, the archetypal vessel of culture and city with the power to heal our culture. Pandoras task is to help us transform our overwhelmingly material civilization into a culture of undivided participation and engagement.
Part one discusses Pandoras multifaceted persona as both beautiful evil and divine benefactress. Here Thomas contextualizes Pandora in the cycle of myth and archetype. In part two, the author proposes a series of healing rituals—“Healing Our Fear of Sacrifice,” “Healing Our Dis-Ease,” “Healing the Control of Patriarchy,” and others—inspired by Pandora. Both practical guide and inspiring study, Healing Pandora argues persuasively for manifesting our inner work concretely on the cultural, not just personal, level.
About the Author
Gail Thomas, PhD, is an archetypal psychologist and cultural activist, cofounder of the Dallas Institute, and director of its Center for the City. She is co-editor of several books, including Images of the Untouched: Virginity in Psyche, Myth, and Community. A longtime organizer for urban renewal and green design, she lives in Dallas.