1st Edition

From Ancient Myth to Modern Healing Themis: Goddess of Heart-Soul, Justice and Reconciliation

By Pamela Donleavy, Ann Shearer Copyright 2008
176 Pages 24 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

172 Pages 24 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

176 Pages 24 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book is about the energy personified by the classical Greek goddess Themis, who brought her divine and natural 'right order' to gods and humans, and who still presides over law courts as the figure of Justice. In many Western countries today, the growing dis-ease in minds and bodies of individuals is often echoed in whole communities. Rather than coming together, they seem to split apart... Read more

Prologue. Birth of a Goddess. The Return from Tartarus. Themis Calls the Gods Together. The Language of the Blood-soul. The Voice of the Goddess. Yearning for Justice. Restoring Themis Energy. The Road to Reconciliation. Invitation to the Banquet. Notes. Bibliography. Index.

Biography

Pamela Donleavy, J.D. is a Jungian Analyst in private practice in Arlington, MA. She is a former state and federal prosecutor in Philadelphia. Pamela is the past President of the New England Society of Jungian Analysts, is on the Board of Directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, and is on the faculty of the C.G. Jung Institute–Boston, and the Assisi Institute in Vermont. She lectures widely, and is the author of several articles in Jungian journals.

Ann Shearer is a Jungian Analyst in London and former Convenor of the Independent Group of Analytical Psychologists, for which she still teaches. She previously worked as a journalist and international consultant in social welfare. More recently, she was a Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at Imperial College, London. Her published articles have particularly focused on aspects of mythology and psychology, and her books include Disability: Whose Handicap? (1981), Building Community (1985), Woman: Her Changing Image ( 1987) and Athene: Image and Energy (1996).

"In a world riven with dissent and anger, we more than ever need to understand and encourage the restorative process that works for healing, harmony and reconciliation. So I welcome this fine and hopeful exploration of the many ways this process is at work in individuals and societies and the hope it offers for the future." - Desmond M. Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus

"Rarely has so scholarly an analysis of a mythic figure been brought to bear so closely and imaginatively on the particular challenges of individual lives, and in such a way that both ancient myth and modern psychology are mutually illuminated. This is a beautifully written book, which makes a real contribution to the life of the mind." - Jules Cashford, Jungian Analyst, co-author of The Myth of the Goddess, author of The Moon: Myth and Image

"Thank the gods and goddesses that Pamela Donleavy and Ann Shearer are reintroducing us to Themis, whose presence and wisdom we desperately need as we struggle to forge a 21st century global community. Among her many boons, Themis as goddess of the social order is paradoxically the mother of Dike, the natural order--which reinforces the most urgent modern message that what we do in the human community sustains or destroys the natural order." - Thomas Singer, Psychiatrist and Jungian Psychoanalyst, San Francisco, USA

"Jung observed that myths reveal, dramatize the elemental formative energies that move persons and civilizations.  One of the most neglected "gods" is an ordering force field named Themis who seeks justice, reconciliation, balance, and whose neglect is manifest everywhere in our psychopathologies and sociopathies.  Donleavy and Shearer effectively argue for her re-membrance." - James Hollis, Jungian analyst and author teaching and practicing in Houston, Texas, USA

"From Ancient Myth to Modern Healing is an important book. Although relatively short, it is a dense, insightful text whose ideas, if conscientiously and carefully built upon, could assist in the development of a more intelligent era in legal practice and theory... From Ancient Myth to Modern Healing and the Jungian (psycho-social) insights contained within therefore constitute a rich natural resource for continued interdisciplinary dialogue between Jungian studies and legal theory." - Maja Groff, International Journal of Jungian Studies, Vol. 1 No. 1, March 2009