Sunday Workshop: Imaginal Dialogues
Sunday Workshop: Imaginal Dialogues
Part 2 on Active Imagination and accessible exercises for self-healing
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
-from “The Guest House” by Rumi
This Sunday at 10am PT: a mini-workshop on imaginal dialogues for paid subscribers. Scroll down to upgrade and/or register. This is the second part of a short series on active imagination—the recording for part 1 can be found here.
Important note: Please double-check the start time if you are outside the States, as our daylight saving time is this same morning.
Mary Watkin’s book Invisible Guests: The Development of Imaginal Dialogues begins like this:
In the Hebraic tradition human beings were distinguished from all other living creatures not by virtue of their capacity for reason but by virtue of their engagement in three kinds of dialogues:
Dialogue with neighbors
Dialogue with themselves
Dialogue with God1
Watkins goes on to express how rare the latter two types of dialogue are compared to the first. But Watkins was writing in the mid-’80s. As we approach the most fraught election in over a century, it strikes me that dialogue with our neighbors feels equally uncommon.
Today, all three such relationships—or even attempts—feel like rare gems to be sought after and cherished.
They’re also all connected. All forms of witnessing and dialogue enhance and mirror others when done honestly.
In our upcoming Sunday workshop, I’ll lead us through exercises in imaginal self-dialogue, taking a page from active imagination. We’ll work with whatever arrives with us, whatever pain, anxiety, grief, joy, excitement, or worry. Bring your journal and something to write with, and settle in for an hour of sacred time with yourself and others.
The registration link for the workshop is below for paid subscribers.
But first, in anticipation of our hosting inner dialogue on Sunday, here’s a poem by Rumi, a classic, wonderful poem that you’ve likely read many times before but that never gets old.
The Guest House by Jalaluddin Rumi
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.2
Workshop on Imaginal Dialogues: Sunday at 10am PST | 1pm EST | 6pm UK
If you are not yet a paid subscriber, you can upgrade anytime, and the registration link will become visible below.
If finances prohibit you from joining, reply to this email or send me a note at satyadoylebyock@ substack.com. I’m happy to comp you a subscription.
If you are already a paid subscriber, there is no additional fee to attend; these monthly workshops are a perk of your subscription. Just scroll down to register!
You can watch the video from part one on active imagination here.
All dates and links for our remaining 2024 workshops are here.