ART IN
THERAPY
Katherine
Rudolph
In water-colour painting, as applied and
synthesized from
indications given by Rudolf Steiner, I bring learning experience
beginning in the years 1979- 1984, when I received the Diploma from
The Goetheanum Painting School. My tutors were Gerard Wagner,
Elisabeth Wagner, and Erwin Thomalla. After teaching and
therapeutic experience in Sydney and Melbourne, I again returned to
Dornach, to complete a therapeutic Diploma in 2001. I am thankful
to this experience for, all my later work in water-colour painting,
and the various other colour mediums applied to therapeutic
work.
Colour wisdom consciously learned and applied. Many people who have
created the foundations for colour therapy have now passed over.
The teachings of J.W. Goethe, Rudolf Steiner, Gerard Wagner, and
Erwin Thomalla have helped me; indeed, the colour itself is the
teacher of healing, notwithstanding all the techniques of painting
or psychology that may exist. Henni Geck, Hilda
Boos-Hamburger, Margaretha Haushka, Lianne Collot-d’Herbois. In
Sydney and Melbourne, Anna Kundert, Margaret Piper and others have
helped to prepare and carry the grounds for colour therapy. It must
be remembered that all of these people I just mentioned are now
across the threshold. Those who have passed over are united now in
the spiritual world. Any errors, misjudgement or misunderstandings
that have occurred are in the past, so to speak; the spiritual
world creates the remedies in the course of reincarnations to
come.
I
was initially amazed in 1999, when Gerard Wagner died and I saw the
Notice at the Goetheanum, stating that two members of the
Anthroposophical Society were in the three-day process of death at
the same time. Collot d’Herbois and Gerard Wagner were together in
a sense, to go on in their journeys to the
life-between-death-and-rebirth. What is the meaning of such an
event? How can it help us unite in the battle for the good, in
which therapy plays such an important part?
There
are many other points of view now in universities today, relating
to Art Therapy. We gather the fruits and plant new seeds of
understanding, so that all truth may come to light.
Being true to myself, I must add that Anthroposophical Speech
Formation & Drama in which I earned artistic-pedagogical and
therapeutic diplomas, also form a part of my particular destined
path.
It is of interest to me that both Gerard Wagner, himself, and Erwin
Thomalla, a painting teacher, originally fromPoland, had
enthusiasm for the study of Speech Formation and Drama in the early
part of their work. Frau Elisabeth Wagner, who is alive and
painting in Dornach, studied Sculpture and later, Eurythmy.
Since my return to Melbournein
2004, my work has existed as an individual initiative
called
EXPLORING
THE WORD IN COLOUR AND SPEECH
THE
METAMORPHOSIS OF THE EYE
The EAR and the LARYNX have metamorphosed into the eye in the
development of the human being. The EAR has metamorphosed into the
INNER- EYE. The LARYNX has been metamorphosed into the OUTER EYE.
This is an indication given by Rudolf Steiner in the Natural
Science Papers. As such, it has been the guiding line of my
therapeutic path since the early 1980’s. I first came upon this
indication in a book by Albert Steffen, called The Artist and
the Fulfillment of the Mysteries.
In
the course of Human ART one can observe an alternation between
observing inner and outer manifestations. There has been a
continuous balancing of outer and inner, sense world and soul
world, impression and expression throughout the epochs of art. It
can be seen as a therapeutic balancing of human vision. The sense
world was first observed and painted on cave walls by the
Aborigional Initiates. Earlier, the etheric world was experienced.
Now we strive to paint and understand that etheric world and its
forming forces, having now become over-materialised, so to speak.
Through the balancing of extremes, mankind will finally come to
conscious clairvoyant vision, an evolved state of being at which
time there will be further metamorphosis. It is altogether a
healthy progression, although relatively slow to
progress.
Of course the inner and outer eye generally seem to be working
together in everyday life. However, painting can be a meditative
activity, alternating between two processes.
The concept of
the eye as a metamorphosis of the ear and the larynx
can help to understand a balancing process in painting therapy. The
ear has metamorphosed into the inner eye that contemplates
colour and retains the echo of complementary colours. It is a
passive experience in which one awakens to what has just been
painted, quietly taking in the whole of the painting at once. This
contemplation of colour is always a kind of hearing process. Both
the ear and the inner eye are receptive. A person who may be too
active in the limbs, maybe too warm, needs this moment of
contemplation. Rushing into the next stroke, one may miss the
beauty and quality of perception that will allow the following
brushstroke to create balance.
The earthy Melancholic, the watery Phegmatic, the airy Sanguinic
and the firey Choleric: all the human temperaments can be seen as
coming out of the forming forces or the etheric being that
gives life to our physical substance. This comes from the same
realm as the ocean of colour being. Each temperament needs
to find balance. Discovering colour we learn to know ourselves and
understand others. However we begin where we are, in our own
temperament , as in therapy, and from thence, go on to explore
other temperaments by means of the Colour-Word in a
social-therapeutic sense.
Certain persons have a constitution that is one-sided in nature.
They are drawn down into the metabolic, blood
circulationpole. They need to be more in control of their
movements. The metabolism may tend to dominate their consciousness.
An extreme example of this state is known as
Hysteria.
Painting
on a dry surface is a help to these persons if they have the
patience to let it dry again before continuing. Starting where they
are, in the limbs, one can apply the principle ‘Fire fights fire’.
A fire or a blossoming plant, where mixed, or impure colour become
consumed by the pure red to create a balance, can be therapeutic
for them, as well as the process of eventually cooling them down
with the blues. One must not be afraid of creating shades of
browns, and grey in this process. Learning to work with such
colours actively and objectively is therapeutic when applied at the
right time; although mixed-colour can certainly be brought into
balance with other rainbow colours besides red. When colour
dissonances are brought into balance they create drama in
painting.
A
kind of treatment, using the red of the consuming-flame against
cancer in the metabolic system, was initiated by Erwin Thomalla in
the 1980’s. This has been of benefit against
tumours.
Deaf persons can ‘hear’ the colours in a way. They can usually feel
and see more deeply in compensation for their loss of hearing.
Painting is very helpful for them. The spoken vibrations of intoned
vowel sounds that are related to the colours can also be
experienced while deaf persons are contemplating colour. The retina
always hears, in a sense.
Persons with severe rheumatic conditions who are allowed to
contemplate clear coloured glass, and rest directly afterwards, see
the complementary colours involved, sometimes they actually fall
asleep afterwards. When they awaken, they are often much restored
and less depressed. This therapy initiated by Marianne Altmaier
in Germany,
also uses the inner eye quality as healing. Cancer patints
also benefit from similar treatment with colour light. The strength
of the life forces can be augmented, also using the inner eye
experience.
STANDING BACK FROM A PAINTING AND ALLOWING THE COLOUR TO REFLECT
BACK AND HEAL SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED. THIS RELATES TO THE INNER
EYE.
Now in
the outer eye, is metamorphosed from the larynx. The
cilia muscles that move the lens are the same as those that
move the larynx. The outer eye sees and follows the movement of the
brushstroke. It is an active process whereby one is focussing and
refocusing constantly. For someone who is too much in the head,
one-sided toward the upper pole or the nerve-sense system, tending
towards coldness, seeing-rather than hearing, the process of
movement has to be encouraged. This kind of person might gaze
at a painting for hours before making one brushstroke. It might be
hard for them to change what is already there. First hand knowledge
about the truths of the colour world, through painting, helps them
to dispel doubt. The extreme conditionof this sort is known
as Neurasthenia. Many persons who are intrinsically
attracted to painting may tend towards such a condition. They may
be encouraged to use more water, if necessary.
Shortly we will understand how, in painting the relatively cold
nerve-sense process is warmed by the higher individuality, by the
Ego’s blood forces. In the case of a sclerotic condition, the
person may not even have enough strength to move the brush without
having a wet surface to paint on. Painting red is especially
warming to people with an acquired head- injury. They need to have
more circulation in the head.
Painting
is communicating. One can speak with the paintbrush, and indeed in
the case of mute-autistic persons, this can be a saving
grace.
A poetic story
that I wrote and illustrated for mute-autistic children is called
Leaves of the Lady’s Green Mantle. A sequence from this
story is exhibited here.
ACTIVELY
PAINTING, MOVING THE PAINTBRUSH, SEEKING BALANCE IN COLOUR AND
MOVEMENT IS A HEALING SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY, CONNECTED TO THE OUTER
EYE.
In
the activity of painting, there is a two-foldness; one part of us
knows the outer view of order and
direction,(the right sequence, the right technique, for example),
while another part of us feels the inner mood the right colour
gesture.
My experience in Visual Art Therapy, since 1984 has been
mostly involved with Curative Education, Persons
with Acquired Head Injury, Geriatrics, Adult
Education, -- and Children, in conjunction
with my work : Exploring the Word in Colour and
Speech. Later we will view some examples of the
work.
In this lecture, I will be giving a general
overview. I will be primarily, focusing on the aspect
of Visual Art Therapy. In the 21st
century, individual research is an integral part of each
therapist’s work. Therapy often has grown out of the impulse for
self-healing, as well as out of love for the health and well being
of others:
1
) First I would like to give credit to the universal world of
the planets those principles out of which Art is
born.
2) The Second
part will be an overview of Truth, Beauty, and
Goodness in relation to therapy.
3)The
third part will be a practical process containing Nine
Basic Steps for an individual or group. These are mostly based
on the Leading Thoughts for Documentation, given to me by
MarianneAltmeier who was earlier the leader of the Visual Arts
Section at the Goetheanum.
4)
Then a few prints
will be shown and you will also be invited to look at the exhibit
of work provided here.
THE
UNIVERSAL WORLD OF THE PLANETS
In
Spiritual Scientific Painting, Saturn and the Moon,
set the stage. Mercury carries medical understandings
concerning physiological aspects in the human being that have a
direct bearing on research into Painting Therapy. Mercurial Study
also concerns the Natural Scientific processes in the kingdoms of
animal, plant and mineral. Much is still to be discovered
concerning these interrelationships for the benefit of therapy.
In Venus live principles of beauty and social harmony in
colour manifestations.
There is much drama in the colour world. The role of the Colour
‘Red’ in the sequence of the Nine Nature Sketches
given by Rudolf Steiner is a key to how these sketches reveal the
forming forces in colour. Red is also the key colour for the
spiritual-soul influence of the planet Mars in its dynamism
and its connection to the art and therapy of Speech and Drama, in
the new compassionate courage that heals.
Now let us say that for process of training the
colour-wisdom involved in painting therapy, we are deeply
influenced by the planets Saturn and Moon, the father
and the mother in a sense. One cannot apply deep understandings of
colour for therapeutic purposes without first experiencing this
wisdom. All of our techniques are empty without the conscious
understandings involving colour itself. The faculty of Gnosis,
first hand intuitive knowledge exists in the Saturn principle
though Jupiter’s higher mind may be necessary to comprehend its
implications:
‘In the
beginning there was the Word’. The Saturn evolution marks
the beginning of the creation of the human being.
During my first week of painting with Gerard Wagner, he said quite
cryptically, after gazing at my painting, ‘Study the Categories
of Aristotle.’ I almost fell over, and was so amazed that I
could not even think to ask, ‘Why?’. Now I know how deeply
connected these categories are with the ordering influence of
Saturn. But that would be another lecture.
The order
of the rainbow, beauty and moral justice in the workings and
weavings of colour: such principles create the realm of the
artists, the art-pedagogues and art therapists who work in
Anthroposophy.
One must primarily hold everything in abeyance to begin studying
the spiritual scientific evolution of the human being in Steiner’s
Occult Science ; the initial contemplation of Steiner’s
painting sketches, whether it be the Nature Sketches, Motiv
Sketches, or Pedagogical Sketches also requires this free-will
decision to be open-minded. One might say, ‘They may or
may not represent true colour understandings, but in
order to begin, I must allow myself to believe in the possibility
that they do.’ For myself, and many others, the sketches have
become a basis for dynamic artistic and therapeutic colour
understandings: each sketch unfolds into a world of research for
art and therapy.
Now the Moon being is a planetary vibration
intrinsically connected to painting. The Moon evolution coincides
with the birthplace of the soul or astral body in the human
being. It is a Planetary Seal representing the Soul-Organ of the
painter in its a evolutionary aspect. The soul in a wider sense,
becomes the instrument in painting; We paint with our astral body,
according to the understandings in Rudolf Steiner’s Art in the
Light of Mystery Wisdom Colour is made visible on
the two-dimensional surface which represents the etheric world of
living, forming-forces behind the world of man and nature! The
Moon nourishes and nurses the painting, providing the right
colour medicine, the curative means of asking the painting
directly, ‘What do you need now your unfolding? What will
make you feel better? What will help the process of becoming?
And the choice of colour bears much potential for healing in
painting therapy.
In relation to giving painting: artistically, therapeutically and
for pedagogical purposes it is of great value to respect the
individual’s freedom. To let a person come to colour understandings
out of that person’s own initiative, and to know when to
give a teaching instruction is an ability that gradually grows. To
answer questions, speaking in terms that will be understood, not to
impose a concept if is not yet time for it to be taken in as
nourishment for the senses, not to give too many indications at a
time; all this is to be learned in the process of development. In
chapter 9 of Steiner’s Philosophy of Spiritual Activity,
these words are written:
‘Freedom!
Name that comprises all the most cherished aspirations of human
kind, and makes me the slave of no one. You don’t merely lay down
the law arbitrarily. You await what my moral love itself will
acknowledge as law - for in the face of every merely imposed law,
it will feel unfree.’
Indeed, all the planetary qualities play their role to a greater or
lesser extent. Venus, for example, is also active in the Phantasy
of Illustration for Fairy Tales, legends, and so forth, in the
aspect of beauty itself, as well as in the social harmony, that is
revealed in the colour world. Jupiter in its aspect of Logic is
revealed in choosing a sequence of colour in the process of
metamorphosis.
In this lecture I can only give a few aspects, a possible overview
of the scope of our topic. It does not represent the scope of my
individual work, as I said before, but it does represent that part
most related to Visual Art Therapy.
B. ANTHROPOSOPHICAL
ART THERAPY
n
TRUTH, BEAUTY, AND GOODNESS
What
does this mean, particularly for one having a foundation training
in theGoetheanumPaintingSchoolmethods?
In
order to understand this theme I would like to explore a little
about
The meaning of Art in relation to Therapy
1) Art is the manifestation
of a human ability or developing talent, as opposed to a
natural world phenomenon. J. W. Goethe would agree.
We are talking about human artistic creativity in colour and
form. We cannot claim to create the beauty of the bush, for
example…Yet man and nature are in great need of eachother.
In the etheric ocean, the colours can weave harmoniously forever,
but we humans must come in touch with this artistically
and therapeutically. Colour wants to become human in Mankind
and Nature: We will touch on this theme of the healing power
in colour in our experience, today and how it can benefit therapy
and unfold in the training of the therapist.
2)Art in Creative Therapy rests upon the therapists activity of
applying the universal principles of colour and the formative
processes to the healing impulse for the needs of the individual
person who is to benefit from the therapeutic art. Balance and well
being for the body and soul are to be gained through the process.
Patience, good humour, tact and right judgement are to be
maintained throughout the process to be of service.
3) Now what can be said about THE TRUE?:
TRUTH
lives in the laws of colour related to Goethean Science, Goethe’s
Theory of Colours was Rudolf Steiner’s preliminary research.
In depth understandings about colour can be made visible in the
process of studying the progression of the colour wheel, in
Goethe’s colour experiments, and especially for us, in Steiner’s
22 Sketches for painters and the 5 Pedagogical Sketches.
In the understanding of our own reactions to colour,
for example the warmth and the coolness, and how they reflect and
reveal our dispositions is a key to self-knowledge and knowledge
about others. We reveal our selves to us at every turn, in every
brushstroke. Learning to Know-Ourselves through colour ultimately
brings forth what each individual has to give. Each person’s gift
will flow forth from a mastery of the abilities being trained
through the application of consciousness. Sometimes this process
can involve more than one art. The arts are like brothers
and sisters. They help one another in therapy, as
well.
Truth and Wisdom come together in the Light of the
World. This can become evident in the choice and sequence of
the colours, for therapeutic work and research into metamorphosis,
or in the way of interpreting feeling into colour in
sequences, involved in illustrative art. Two paths of initiation
are Metamorphosis and Interpretation. Is a warm colour or a
cool colour more appropriate? Shall we choose lustre-soul colours
or picture-making colours? Is this painting more musical, does it
illustrate something, or reveal a spiritual-scientific
metamorphosis? Five years of training begins the process of
knowing.
When more than one person can gather in a painting session,
and each one acknowledges the colour truth that is being
shown, there is an intrinsic healing quality related to human
thought experience as perception. In a world where there is so much
value placed on subjective likes and dislikes, this uniting factor
is very important. As a question of proportion in colour this is
often the case. For example the amount of out-breath in yellow for
a certain proportion of vermilion-red centre has been agreed on
within millimetres in seven or eight groups of people in my
experience. This dispels doubt in the human being about the
existence of universal truths. Fortunately, it happens again and
again. Another instance concerns agreement about the feeling mood
or metamorphic possibilities brought about by a specific sequence
of colours. This spiritual scientific art and therapy
….
Certain basic truths of being, like the concept of body,
soul, and spirit have been distinguished since Plato’s time;
three-foldness as in the Upper Pole (nerve-sense system), The
Middle (rhythmic system) which is the realm of all art, and the
Lower Pole (metabolic system) was first made clear by Rudolf
Steiner.
There is also a more inclusive fourfold view of the human being,
that I will review, including:
1)The
Physical body, which would be lifeless without the
life-forces. 2)The Etheric body, the body of forming
forces,
3) The
Astral body, which is made up of 3 elements of the Soul of
the human being:
The
sentient soul, for the sentient perception
without which Art would not be possible!
The intellectual soul, for concepts, ‘brain
thinking’.
And, the consciousness soul, which allows one to understand
in depth, not out of book-knowledge, but from one’s own faculties.
(The consciousness soul allows our present evolution in art to be
possible. It is no longer necessary to be talented in order to do
art, but it is a question of applying the conscious will for the
understanding colour world truths. So-called ‘Talent’ can
metamorphose through this activity.
In the
inner-consciousness soul, as we can study in a book called
Theosophy, by Rudolf Steiner, there is a divine spark, known
as the EGO. It carries the fruits and the karma of our earlier
incarnations.
The EGO is the fourth key to a fourfold viewpoint. It opens
up into the spiritual faculties of imagination, inspiration
and intuition.
This fourfold viewpoint is a touchstone for documentation, used to
help to evaluate the qualities of each person undergoing therapy.
One can thus describe each person using these objective criteria
that are valid for all human beings.
What other elements of truth make up the viewpoint of
Anthroposophical Art Therapy? A spiritual-scientific
medical study of physiology belongs in this realm of necessary
truth, as well. For the doctor, there is often a question of
what artistic therapy to
choose.
The study of Physiology can play a part in making this
choice:
The PONS as Conveyer of Artistic
Activity
It is the, PONS, a tiny link or bridge that is adjacent to
the medulla of the brain, which links the activity in the
physiological process to several healing
arts.
While painting, the relatively cold nerve-sense process is
receiving sense impressions; it is being warmed with the blood’s
Ego forces through the pons. The Ego, as we know from
Steiner’s Art in the Light of Mystery Wisdom is the
instrument used by the poet for creative activity. Thus, the
Colour-Word can be communication in a deep
sense.
In
the process of creative writing, there is an interchange
between sense and nerve systems whereby the waves of nerves ‘roll’
into the senses, yet do not change into sense
impulses.
In
Rudolf Steiner’s lecture of May 5, 1918 in GA 271 is the teaching
about the pons in its relation to other arts as well;
because of its interesting connection to speech and music, which we
are also experiencing in this conference, I will mention further
effects of the arts on the physiology of the human being. The arts
are interrelated.
In Speech and poetry the Ego is the instrument, as the Soul
or Astral body is the instrument in Painting. Speech
Formation in one activity that helps creates order in the realm of
the Soul Development.
In
recitation (that is, speaking epic and narrative works), the
inhaled air penetrates into our body through the breathing rhythms,
into the movement of the cerebral fluid, which also fills the
spinal cord, right into the nerve- sensory apparatus of the brain,
where the organ of the eye is connected. This
can ultimately be very beneficial to create balance in a
constitution where the metabolic system is overactive.
Picture-making colours are important here.
The
breathing rhythm presses, so to speak, against the organs of mental
representation. The metre, derived from the breathing plays into
the verse. The colour world glows behind this. In declamatory
speaking, utterances straight from the heart, the will impulse
is linked up. The inner fire in the breath stream strikes up into
the brain, and descends through the spinal cord down into the whole
of the blood circulation. Our will-nature is mainly bound up
with exhalation. Someone whose constitution is oriented to
the nerve-sense system can ultimately benefit by coming out of the
head more into the limbs. Lustre colours may help.
In musical therapies a link is made between the spinal fluid and
the brain where the blood pulsates in such a way that, conducted by
the brain fluid, it vibrates the brain nerve. The whole circulatory
system is involved in composition. Musical paintings do not usually
have an illustrative aspect, but are all interweaving
colour.
When we follow Steiner’s indications we an understand something of
the therapeutic quality in each art. There are always exceptions to
each rule, but one may say that Speech and Sculpture generally may
tend consolidate the etheric body drawing it down into the
physical, as does Form- drawing and Goethean drawing from nature.
Painting and Eurhythmy generally can help to lift the etheric body,
thus allowing a person who may be too earth-bound to soften up a
bit. The following is a verse for painters from Rudolf Steiner,
which strengthens the Soul:
Paint to
me, O Muse.
Paint to me, O
Strength of Heaven.
Carry the Soul
for me;
Bring the Soul
into my hands;
That in my
hands, you may guide the brush.
The Colours of the Rainbow are related to various physiological
processes in the human organism. The warm colours work on
everything connected with the metabolic system; shades of purple
and blue correspond more to the nerve-sense processes. Green brings
harmony between the two, as it is related to the quality of the
rhythmic system.
In painting, there is a healthy orientation to be experienced not
only in the balancing of centre and periphery, and right and left,
but in the balancing of the above, middle, and below within the
two-dimensional space of the painting. This is knowledge that
underlies therapeutic painting even before colour wisdom as such
can become visible.
What is BEAUTY. Why is it therapeutic?
BEAUTY
as a healing quality can be made manifest. This we are exploring
presently throughout the conference. Traditionally, the ideal of
art is aligned with beauty more than with truth and goodness. In
fact, all art is primarily experienced in the middle sphere, in the
world of feeling. Goethe speaks of the colour world coming to being
between light and darkness. Feeling has a harmonising effect,
between thinking and willing. The asthmatic, the astral body works
too deeply from the head into the breathing. One can say the
asthmatic has become too blue in the middle. Leading from the
cooler colours into the warmer ones allows the metabolic forces to
gain ground. The cool-red and the blue can mesh in violet sunset
hues, where we all begin to breathe out into the night, and
are thus able to waken to a healthy in-breath of pure morning
air.
What is beauty? How is it related to feeling? The feeling soul is
like a weaving sea of colour. Floating in balance, it is a living
Chaos, in the Greek sense. This is a desirable state to reach in
painting. But according to Steiner, it does not equal beauty.
BEAUTY is achieved when Cosmos, or the order of the
World-All is brought to this Chaos. A constellation of points of
order, allows us to pluck the flower out of Chaos! This can mean
finding the trunk of a tree amidst the green, or discovering
moments of drama in a painting.
Colour dissonance brought into harmony creates beauty. Just enough
pure colour for the mixed colour in a blossom, for example. The
counterparts of proportionate Measure, Number and Weight are
brought into balance. We feel these qualities with our sentient
soul being.
Finding oneself capable of creating beauty is a healing experience.
The more one has to strive for it, the greater the joy in its
fulfilment.
In The Being of Art, a story by Rudolf Steiner, a woman who
forgets the physical cold in a winter landscape lives on because
she can appreciate beauty. Her expression ‘How beautiful everything
is’ actually warms her limbs and preserves her life, even in a
sleep where she meets a messenger from the spirit who comes
out of the sunset and declares, ‘YOU ARE ART’.
In her
inspiration, she is able to makes herself one with the various
arts. The abilities she gains when involved with the Phantasy of
painting are therapeutic as well as artistic: The first ability is,
‘In that which would otherwise be lifeless and soulless, she
would become able to recognise the soul quality… the
fleeting colours touched by the rising sun, the hues of
lifeless nature, you will teach human beings to hold
fast.’ In creative work experienced through painting the
elements, a soul quality in landscapes has evolved. It can be
especially valuable for those who need to experience the
nerve-sense being in the outside world. This kind of person may be
oversensitive to outside events, and have too much feeling and
in-breath. Through the forming forces, the innermost in the colour
experience is drawn out to the surface. They may learn to appreiate
the outside world by experiencing how colour shapes the
world.
The second ability attained by the woman has to do with how the
meeting of the past and future can bring forth an equilibrium in
the middle. Rudolf Steiner bring Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ as an
example from the realm of imagination. This theme has been often
painted by anthroposophical painters.
Red can be experienced as motion come to rest, the past and blue
can be experienced as the future. In the sketch ‘Light and
Darkness’ sometimes known as ‘Lucifer and Ahriman’, one has the
therapeutic meeting in the green of the middle being. In the midst
of change, be sure to stay in the centre. This can be a therapeutic
indication for persons in crisis in the study of biography, for
example. Recapture balance in time and rhythm. Capture time in
space. A minute or a century can be concentrated in a single moment
in portraiture. Of course this is not a beginning exercise; rather,
it is a step along the path. Movement and soul become
recorded on the countenance as expression. Emotion may be made
evident in the countenance through the art of colour. This can be
done with indications from one of the pedagogical sketches given by
Rudolf Steiner. Now for a patient who finds it difficult to express
feeling, the painted visage becomes animated with colour
communication. Seeing this first hand can be of great therapeutic
benefit in the course of training. Doubt is overcome. Colour wisdom
can be perceived objectively; this is healing for modern day
civilisation.
The
Good is revealed in the understandings of social life that an
occur within a painting. That is, studying the workings and
weavings of colour entails a long, perhaps never-ending process of
discovery, as manifested in the deeds and suffering of
light.
Clues to problem-solving are presented to us, for example in the
Sketches of Rudolf Steiner. The challenge is in discovering these
clues as they appear to us in our work as therapists, and
interpreting them correctly at the right moment in individual
therapy.
Making use of the colour wisdom for social regeneration became a
project from time to time for Gerard Wagner in the curative task of
painting murals or making paintings for schools and public
institutions.
We even studied
the problem of healing paintings for prisons, hospitals, and so on.
To heal an illness one strives to restore balance to the whole
human being. Gerard Wagner once said that to paint a healing
painting, one might first create an imbalance in the above, middle
or below. In any case we disturb the perfection of a pure white
surface by means of the first brushstroke; we always must create a
preliminary imbalance. A disturbing imbalance can be brought back
into balance as a painting exercise. Placing each brushstroke in
balance with the preceding one, can thus heal the ailment on the
painting, at least. Then, hang the painting in the appropriate
space, ( a hospital ward, for example). A new kind of therapeutic
artwork will eventually evolve.
In social life, art can enter and help bridge the gap in family
problems, and social rehabilitation. The Philosophy of
Freedom by Rudolf Steiner speaks of the motive and the driving
force. Groups who really want to meet and see ‘eye-to-eye’ might
seek therapy by painting together.
The Good is in the act of healing itself, be it with an individual
person, group therapy, in medical institutions, curative education,
geriatrics, education or colour work in the study of biography, or
social renewal. We may glean the means from the rainbow, the
etheric ocean’s colour-glorying, but applying that social wisdom to
the human condition is essential for mankind’s
development.
We
are not alone in our striving. To quote Albert Steffen in his book
Goethe’s Spirit of the Forming Forces:
“The
human being bears within himself the same Creative Word that
fashioned his body. He can feel the power of inspirition inherent
in it. At the same time, he experiences his own weakness, illness
and mortality.
In this
way he allows the Creative Logos, those beings who reign in the
realm of the Word, to perceive the imperfections of earthly
experience, of human destiny, of the whole evolution of history,
which the human being is part of, and for which he must help carry
the burden of guilt.
The
honest admission of how little the human being alone can come to a
transformation (even when he promises, again and again: ‘That which
lies within my capacities, I vow to do.’ – opens up the possibility
for the Creative Logos to reveal and mediate new impulses through
which the human being, in turn, becomes
strengthened.”
(The
awakening to this is part of the learning process. As thinking,
feeling and willing interpenetrate in our human activity all the
time, so truth, beauty, and goodness interweave in their various
qualities for Creative Therapy. The individuality of each therapist
is thus unique.
WHAT IS THE
PROCESS OF ANTHROPOSOPHICAL ARTISTIC THERAPY IN ITS PRACTICAL
APPLICATION?
Physical
and psychological diagnoses should be studied, preferably in
collaboration with an anthroposophical doctor. What the patient
expresses should always be carefully noted. The following 9 points
should come into consideration.
1. Is the
therapeutic environment comfortable?
2. Is
one-to-one therapy better, or is group therapy more
suitable?
3.What is the
time frame considered? (A rhythm of two sessions per week is often
recommended) How much time for each session?
4. What is the
general, then the more specific physical
description.
5. A further
description
a) The
etheric being, the sense of life, the temperament, the
movement,
b) The
astral being, the state of
soul, observations
c) The Ego
being, and the
individuality of the human being should be described as far
as possible during the whole process.
6)Then,
comes the Process involving the Therapy Itself --
meant to benefit the life-bodily, soul-spiritual development of the
person involved.
[In my work this may include colour work,
coloured-clay work and the modelling of platonic
solids. ( My individual path in recreation therapy, as I said has
also been evolved to bring together elements of Speech-Formation
and Drama, when applicable to the needs of the
patient.)]
Each
therapist must work to apply the faculties and understandings
which, he or she can best master; this is a matter of individual
destiny.
7. As the
course of the therapy continues the
following seven-fold process occurs - the colours involved
are seen as in an archetypal case:
a) Receiving -
The Beginning Phase—SATURN, Blue mood
b) Uniting
- The Support Phase—SUN, White mood
c) Deepening - The
Phase of Conscious Confrontation—MOON, violet
d) Standing
firm - The Phase of Maturation of the Self—MARS,
red
e) Independence-
The Phase of Self-Orientation—MERCURY, yellow
f) Letting
go - The Phase of Gaining Strength—JUPITER,
orange
g) New
Birth - The Phase of Individual Creativity—VENUS,
green
THESE
PHASES ARE ALSO CONNECTED TO THE Evolution
THE COLUMNS OF
THE GOETHEANUM GREAT HALL. They
are also related to the intervals in Music. The phases
REPRESENT A THERAPEUTIC PERSPECTIVE OF THE ENTIRE
EVOLUTIONARY PATH OF THE HUMAN BEING. (IN ANOTHER LECTURE,
THIS ASPECT MAY BE EXPLORED MORE THOROUGHLY) See Der
Kunsttherapeutische Prozess, Marianne Altmeier
The respective colour sequence may not necessarily be used in
each case. Other sequences are certainly possible. The
colours, as I said show the evolutionary process of the human
beings evolution. It is also not necessary for each patient to
fulfil all of the phases. Some
children, as well as many challenged people may remain at the
Support Phase, but they still benefit from the
therapy.
8. A Long
Term Goal may be set and reconsidered at intervals. In therapy,
the process of time and the moments of progress are often
unpredictable.
9. Finally
there is the Prognose. Should the therapy be resumed after a
pause? What is the therapist’s intuitive understanding. What may be
projected for the future in collaboration with the doctor. Should
there be a pause? Should another therapy be brought into
consideration?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This
has been meant to be an overview only. The aforementioned
experience should be documented in each case, and referred to in
later considerations. Internal Progress Reports can also be
of great benefit.
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