Soul Medicine: Healing through Dream Incubation, Visions, Oracles, and Pilgrimage

Description

An in-depth look at ancient Greek practices for profound, lasting healing * Explores hidden soul-healing practices including dream incubation and interpretation as well as sacred pilgrimage * Examines how dreams, visions, and other non-normative events reveal the conditions needed to restore the soul and facilitate healing * Includes successful healing techniques, practices, and case studies to reveal how healings are achieved with these methods The modern practice of medicine and psychology grew out of the ancient Greek healing tradition, said to be founded by Asklepios, god of healing and dreams. For two thousand years the system spread all over the Mediterranean world and planted the roots of Western medicine and psychology by offering ritual and holistic practices that recognized that healing begins at the soul level. Yet, since that time, the spiritually based practices were cast aside, leaving behind only the scientific medical techniques that dominate health care today. Resurrecting and restoring the sacred, mythological, and cultural origins of medicine and psychotherapy, Edward Tick, Ph.D., explores the soul-healing practices missing in our contemporary health systems. He looks at the dream incubation tradition of Asklepios, sacred theater of Dionysos, oracle gifting of Apollo, special practices of warriors, and their roots in Neolithic shamanism and indigenous traditions. Demonstrating the ritual use of dreams, visions, oracles, synchronicities, and pilgrimage for healing and connecting to the transpersonal and divine, he explains how dream incubation is a technique in which you plant a seed for a specific healing or growth goal. Using both ancient wisdom and modern depth psychology alongside stories of healings from his more than 25 years of guiding Vietnam veterans on Greek pilgrimages, Tick explores how we all can use ancient healing philosophies and practices to achieve holistic healing today. He examines the interaction between mind and body (psyche and soma) and between physical illness and the soul to heal PTSD and trauma. He explains the art of making accurate and holistic interpretations of signs, symbols, and symptoms to determine what they reveal about the soul. Showing how dreams and other transpersonal experiences are essential components of soul medicine, the author reveals how restoration of the soul facilitates true healing.

Edward Tick, Ph.D., is a transformational psychotherapist, international pilgrimage guide, educator, author, and poet. A specialist in archetypal psychotherapy and the healing of violent trauma, he is the author of four nonfiction books, including The Practice of Dream Healing and War and the Soul. He lives in central Massachusetts.

"Soul Medicine is a love letter to the Greek wisdom traditions in healing and philosophy, literature, ritual, and the dramatic arts. In direct, passionate prose, the book is a plea to address the many wounds of twenty-first century Western culture by returning to its 3,000-year-old roots." * Elizabeth Nelson, Ph.D., author of Psyche's Knife and coauthor of The Art of Inquiry * "A bold, towering tree of a book: deep-rooted in a lifetime of personal learning and experience, richly nourished by ancient wisdom, and provides a compassionate canopy of hope and healing to the wounded and broken. This is a prophetic and eloquent book. Soul Medicine is a gift." * Robert Emmet Meagher, emeritus professor of humanities at Hampshire College * "Edward Tick sees connections, correspondences, and accords where we might only see a discrete series of persons, places, and presences. With Tick's guidance the reader will find a polyphonic voice that combines the wisdom traditions of ancient Greek myths, the elaborate history that supports them, and current healing passages that will aid fragmented souls, who have misplaced their lives of coherence, toward a more whole order of being." * Dennis Patrick Slattery, Ph.D., distinguished professor emeritus in mythological studies at Pacifica * "This timely book focuses on a revival of the practice of incubation and a reverence for ritual, ceremony, prayer, theater, immersion in myth, and dreamwork. Together, these themes invite the reader to gain access to the author's thrilling vision that all manner of suffering can be endured if treated as a numinous story." * Phil Cousineau, author of The Art of Pilgrimage and The Lost Notebooks of Sisyphus * "Edward Tick has devoted his entire career to the work of healing others. Soul Medicine is no exception. Beyond the most advanced "holistic" conceptions of mind and medicine, in the tradition of Socrates, Plato, Keats, Emerson, and Jung, Soul Medicine connects mythical stories with life's suffering and struggle ('mythology is where humans and divinity meet,' says Tick). Soul Medicine is full of stunning insights and delightful surprises for both professional and general readers alike." * Steven B. Katz, Ph.D., Pearce Professor Emeritus of Professional Communication and professor emeritu * "In his articulate, moving, and meticulously researched book, Edward Tick invites us to return to, engage with, and value the capacity of the soul to heal the psyche when we are traumatized, wounded, lost, or hopeless." * Martha Blake, MBA, NCPsyA, psychologist and senior Jungian analyst * "A wise elder, Edward Tick guides us on an extraordinary expedition to rediscover our sacred heritage. Here we find that soul medicine is available to all of us; it is our divine birthright." * Kathleen Webster O'Malley, author of The Healing Wisdom of Dreams * "A beautiful exploration of how dreams lay at the foundation of our Western medicine tradition. The wise wisdom of dreams has been relegated to the margins in our culture, and Tick shows us how we can access the healing power in dreams. He especially takes us on a fascinating pilgrimage through the old Greek healing tradition of Asclepius. A very worthwhile read!" * Machiel Klerk, author of Dream Guidance, therapist, and founder of Jung Platform * "The wisdom, purification, return to shared humanity, and healing that Greek warriors, playwrights, and actors brought to the communities of their time is what Edward Tick generously brings to us from across the ages in this very important and timely book. He guides us through the history so many have neglected to study and from which we seem not to have learned. He provides a gentle yet passionate reminder of what we know deep inside and need to call forth to live as true human beings, especially in dark times." * Gail Soffer, founder and executive director of Mindful Veteran Project * "Soul Medicine blends ancient and contemporary thought for both civilians and veterans as we seek to understand the forces shaping our past and present. From reconciliation with the enemy inside Vietnam to the temple at Delphi, we travel together with Ed the road we all must one day take if we are to become whole." * Brenton MacKinnon, Infantry, USMC, VN, 1967/68 and coauthor of Agent Orange Roundup * "Edward Tick brings us a revival of ancient soul medicine. His book educates, inspires, and offers hope. Rich with wisdom and profound experiences, Soul Medicine is just what we need during these challenging times." * Joanne Halverson, Psy.D., LMHC, psychotherapist, professor, author, artist, and spiritual guide * "My dear friend and mentor Edward Tick puts his heart and soul into his work. What a blessing and a gift for us and future generations that he has written this book. Ed has led pilgrimages to Greece and Vietnam for more than 20 years, bringing healing to the hearts and souls of combat war veterans with PTSD and to their families. I am one of those people, and I am forever grateful to have learned from such a gifted, loving, and wise human being." * Melanie Ryan, LCSW, founder and author of The Golden Shadow Method * "This text is a gift to modern society. Edward Tick so poignantly brings to life decades of dedicated study and practice in ancient mysteries and healing and in doing so offers a spiritual alchemy that reconnects us to what is whole, collective, and deeply human. I extend my most sincere gratitude for sharing this lifetime of soul work and realized dreams." * Courtney Rice, Psy.D., clinical psychologist and spiritual healer *