Old Friends The Psychological Perspectives issue with my article about the death of a beloved valley oak on our ranch, “When an Old Friend Dies,” had come in the mail the day before. As I sat down to look at the article in print, the phone rang. “I am not sure that you know, but Mary… Read more »
Dark side of Travel and Tourism
I love to travel. I have from as far back as I can remember. One of my favorite poems as a child was, Monday’s child is fair of face, Tuesday’s child is full of grace, Wednesday’s child is full of woe, Thursday’s child has far to go… I was born on a Thursday. I had… Read more »
Death of a Tree
Death of a Tree “When an Old Friend Dies” was just published in the June issue of Psychological Perspectives. The article details an experience my husband and I had when an ancient valley oak fell last year. It is a tree we both loved. It grew next to a little pioneer farmhouse that we lived in while we built… Read more »
On Being Grounded
On Being Grounded What is being “grounded”… a term so often used these days? “She is not very grounded.” “I need to get grounded.” We often use it to talk about people who are flighty or “not in their bodies”. But what does that mean? I received an “embodied” answer yesterday. I consulted a psychic… Read more »
Goats as Psychopomps!
Animals act as psychopomps between the worlds in dreams and everyday life. How many of us have a beloved cat or dog whose warm, soft body reminds us that we too are animals? My husband and I have two cheerful yellow labs, siblings, who have been with us for almost 12 years. Tending to their… Read more »
APAC: Nature Holds the Final Card
Comments to the Agricultural Protection Advisory Committee, APAC, on June 8, 2015 I am Patricia Damery, and I live at 3185 Dry Creek Road, in Napa County, where my husband and I are growers. I am also a Jungian psychoanalyst in private practice here in Napa. I want to read a quote from the psychiatrist… Read more »
Learning to Live with a Keystone Species!
Learning to live with a keystone species sometimes takes time! The four foot pyramid-shaped pile of sticks and branches in the understory of a canopy of coastal live oak immediately caught my eye. I had never seen anything like it. Obviously, something had built this structure, yet to my uneducated eye, there was no indication as… Read more »
Psychological Complexes and Soul’s Agenda
Psychological Complexes and Soul’s Agenda The thick, old valley oak in the cemetery by the vineyard is leaning, the one that has witnessed a hundred burials in the ground beside it these last 150 years. The ancient valley oak beside the little pioneer house fell last May, and then, on the other side of the… Read more »
Land and the Human Soul
Land and the Human Soul What damage do we do to our own souls when we treat the land as if we own it? This is a question that often inspires incredulous rage fueled by the assumption of the primacy of property rights. I remember a phone conversation several years ago with a new next-door neighbor whose vineyard… Read more »
Heaven in Earth: Earth Change
Bryce Canyon National Park: 8000 feet. Why is it that I feel haunted here? It is true that the rarified air brings memories of camping trips in the high country of Yosemite when my sons were young, of sipping black currant tea at the picnic table late afternoons while they napped in the camper. Yes,… Read more »
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