Navaho Symbols of Healing: A Jungian Exploration of Ritual, Image, and Medicine

Description

In this original and superbly researched work, a Jungian-trained psychiatristexplores ancient Navaho methods of healing--methods that use ritual andvibrant imagery to bring the psyche into harmony with the natural forcesthat surround it. Through his interactions with Navaho medicine men, Sandnerconveys the rigors of their training and the complexities of their purificationand evocation rites, including the use of sand paintings as healing mandalasand the esoteric meaning of the pollen path.andnbsp; Presents the basic principles of Navaho healing: Return to the origins, confrontation and manipulation of evil, death and rebirth, restoration of the universe and challenges Western medicine in its search for a more holistic and humane healing art.

Donald Sandner, M.D. is a San Francisco psychiatrist with a private practice in Jungian analysis. He is a former president of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco.

"In this well-researched volume the reader gets an authentic look at the combined power of Navajo religion, medicine and art." * The Book Reader *