Book Description

Mary Harrell unflinchingly greets a cast of imaginal figures who inhabit her life, and encourages all of us to welcome their wisdom into our own inner landscapes. These very real beings dwell in a realm between matter (nature) and mind (reason), appearing in dreams, intuitive callings, visions, feelings, and sometimes frightening events. Mary offers her own intimate experiences through which she explores and engages these figures, showing her readers how to host these beings as one would host invited guests. From the work of philosopher Henry Corbin, psychiatrist C. G. Jung, and psychologist James Hillman, we know that the name of the realm in which these figures dwell is the mundus imaginalis, or the imaginal world. As this is a work in which archetypes are grounded in experience, Imaginal Figures In Everyday Life: Stories from the World between Matter and Mind is both a path to individual transformation and, in the words of psychologist Robert Romanyshyn, “a therapy of culture.” Mary Harrell, Ph.D., a Jungian-oriented psychotherapist and New York licensed psychologist, received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, California. She is Curriculum and Instruction Associate Professor Emeritus at State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego. While at the university she taught education and psychology courses and served as Professional Development Schools (PDS) specialist, supporting the National PDS initiative, which builds bridges between elementary and secondary schools and the university’s School of Education. Her writings in the areas of educational reform, and imaginal psychology appear in four invited chapters in edited books. In 2014 Mary’s poetry was anthologized in Syracuse University’s The Stone Canoe, a Journal of Arts, Literature and Social Commentary, No. 8. She lives with her husband, Stephen, in South Carolina.