WORKING WITH FAIRY TALES

1. Fairytales are
fantastical stories
Of
Adventure

2. Fairytales are made up of many components
we may call these characters
characters

3. Characters in fairytales are archetypal in nature
(potential energy centres)
we may also call them symbols
Characters
As
symbols
Archetype
As
character

4. Archetypes are potential energy
centres accessed through the
release of energies held within
the symbols in
fairytales…………………………………
………………………...
Symbol/Archetype

5. Archetypes are potential energies gathered and
mainly stored in our emotional memory during our
life experience. So the older we are the more life
experience and the more potential energy centres
there can be. The younger we are the more we are
connected to the collective unconscious. Archetypes
that are universal in the consciousness of
man………………………………………………..

6. Symbols within fairytales carry energy and energy is released
by activating characters. Thought processes are then
expanded because parallels are drawn with reality during
processing.
Archetype as potential
Energy Centre
Character
As
Symbol
Energy released
Archetype released Through symbol and
From the unconscious into the
Through symbols conscious
Mind.

7. Processing is the part of the therapeutic
process in which the characters are looked at as
a group after the action of the Fairytale has
been played. by the group or individual.

8. The German for symbol is - Sinnbild,
and as such can be defined further by de-construction.
"Sinn" is defined as the meaning or semantic element
and is the
masculine or yang element of a symbol.
"Bild" is defined as the image or the physical
raw material of a symbol
and is the
feminine or yin element.
The symbol is the "transcendent function"

9. Yolande Jacobi (1959) states:
The Union of Opposites the Symbol as
transcendent Function, this function
creates a transition
from one attitude to another
"It is a synthesis of conscious
and unconscious material". (100)
Jacobi, J. (1959) Complex; Archetype;
Symbol: in the Psychology of C. G. Jung.
Bollingen: London ISBN-10: 0691017743

10. Another way of referring to
The combination of the unconscious and the
conscious combined processes is the
"self"

11. Archetype as
potential
The Self
As a
Conscious
Combination of
mind
all
processes The self
Collective Unconscious
unconscious mind

12. Deeply rooted in the Collective
Unconscious are Archetypes that
are universal
concepts…………………………….

13. Religion

14. Evil

15. Good

16. Love

17. Hate

18. Death

19. Birth

20. When activated they expand
thought process and consciousness
because they release energy through
and in the nervous system…………………
archetypes

21. Characters in fairytales can be :-
People,
Animals
or Inanimate Objects.

22. People

23. Animals

24. Inanimate Objects

25. Because we are working with fantastical material all
our characters whether animate or inanimate can have
a voice they all have the ability to
speak………………………………………………….

26. By giving characters a voice,
this in turn gives a client a voice
through the medium of the characters within
the story and can
create a parallel with reality….
.

27. Lets look at the parallel ………
Story Reality
Aspects of
a character Resemble
in a story qualities
carried in ones
own life event
history

28. Drawing parallels with energy
release through stories can enable
us to examine processes that may
otherwise remain hidden.
Stories allow us a direct route to
the unconscious thereby releasing
energy formations that we might
refer to as archetypes.

29. When playing characters we sometimes may
say poignant things that we may not say
unless we were in character or distanced
from our own
process…………………………………………………
……

30. Characters may also be able to do
remarkable
things………………………………………………
…………………..
Create Magic

31. Allowing characters to be magical
means that they have the ability
and can expand themselves.
Playing magical characters allows
us and enables us to use our
imagination ……………..

32. symbols/archetypes as Intra-psychic roles :
This is what takes place between energies in the
brain that may begin to relate to each other
internally after being activated or released through
play…………………….……………….

33. Symbols/Archetypes as
Interpersonal Roles….
Clients playing roles or
characters with each other,
experience the interpersonal
nature of the process and can
begin to see differences in
people and behaviour…………..

34. Jung (1996) 2nd.Ed, states:
"Hence the "explanation" should always be such that
the functional significance of
the archetype remains un-impaired, so that an
adequate and meaningful connection between
the conscious mind and the archetypes is assured.
For the archetype is an element of
our psychic structure and thus a vital component
in our psychic economy."(160)
Jung.C.G. 2nd Ed. (1969) The Archetypes
and the Collective Unconscious.
Routledge & Kegan Paul: London ISBN
0710062958

35. Essential role-types within fairytales would
be classified as distancing tools externalising
or projecting the process of thought into
an object, the "object of reference", the Fairytale,
before re-integrating with it as subject (Fairytale)
to object (the mind) and subject (the mind)
to subject (the Fairytale).
Again this is drawing parallels as we have seen
before. By creating this parallel we are distancing
one line from another. Creating a space in-
between. Creating space to think.
The Fairytale as The self as
subject object

36. "Moreover, the self is felt empirically
not as subject but as object
and this by reason of its
unconscious component,
which can only come to consciousness indirectly,
by way of projection. Because of its
unconscious component
the self is so far removed from the conscious mind that
it can only be partially expressed by human figures;
the other part of it has to be expressed by objective,
abstract symbols"(187)
Jung 1996 2nd ed
Jung.C.G. 2nd Ed. (1969) The Archetypes
and the Collective Unconscious.
Routledge & Kegan Paul: London ISBN
0710062958

37. If we take the character from a fairy tale
‘the valiant little tailor’,
he has a basic "archetypal form"
that of the Pauper/trickster.

38. Surrounding that form is a complex,
which is based on an individual’s perception
of what that little tailor is.
There is also a complex that the individual has
of the experience of that character
within his or her own life story.
1 3
4
2

39. "From the functional point of view
we may say that the resolution of a
complex
and its emotional assimilation,
i.e. the process of raising it to
consciousness,
always result in a new distribution of
psychic energy".
Jacobi (1959:11)
Jacobi, J. (1959) Complex; Archetype;
Symbol: in the Psychology of C. G. Jung.
Bollingen: London ISBN-10: 0691017743

40. "To define it from a functional point of
view we might say that the archetype as
such is concentrated psychic energy, but
that the symbol provides the mode of
manifestation by which the archetype
becomes discernible". (74)
Yolande Jacobi (1959)
Jacobi, J. (1959) Complex; Archetype;
Symbol: in the Psychology of C. G. Jung.
Bollingen: London ISBN-10: 0691017743

41. The four suggested developmental stages
of Dramatherapy charting the progression
through dramatic play.
Embodiment
Projection
Role
Role
Theory

42. Dr Sue Emmy Jennings suggests the EPR
model.
And
Dr Robert Landy suggests the Role Model.

43. When we experience the energy of
characters in fairytales we embody
the energy in our body and mind.

44. During the processing of our
embodiment of characters in
fairytales we Project our
personal and interpersonal
experience onto those
characters.

45. When we play characters in fairytales
we are playing Roles.

46. When we play roles we
embody and project
Role-types.

47. A behavioural method of Dramatherapy
incorporates all of the suggested
developmental stages as a whole package .

48. Marie Louise Von Franz a colleague of Jung has
researched fairytales and says that:-
“Most fairytales do indeed contain a kind of
natural morality, which is elucidated in the
course of the action-an ethic of “appropriate”
behaviour, which leads to a happy end, in
contrast to inappropriate behaviour, which leads
to disaster”. P76
Archetypal Dimensions of the Psyche (1999)
Von Franz, M. (1999) Archetypal
Dimensions of the Psyche. Shambala:
Boston and London. ISBN 1570624267

49. So the model offers the opportunity to look into
the behaviours of the characters within the stories
and assimilate their actions and interactions on a
physical and a metaphysical level.
Therefore we may reflect that characters and other
symbols in fairytales are representative and are
intra-psychic as well as interpersonal role
symbols; these may be evolved into "role-types" or
"parts" and can be representations of our inter-
personal "role-system" and relationships.

50. We are hypothesizing a bridging effect so
that we recognize behavioural patterns
within the fantasy of our fairytales and
within the reality of a group experience, our
behaviour and interactions within the
group.

51. The importance of reference groups as an
anchoring point for attitudes is implicitly
recognized by those who wish to change radically
the beliefs and attitudes of people.p.147
Social Psychology (1983)
Raven and Rubin et.al. 2nd Ed (1983)
Social Psychology. John Wiley and Sons:
New York. ISBN 0471062251

52. It is reasonable to say therefore that in order to
recognize oneself and ones behaviour it is
preferable to identify with a reference group.
Within this group we try out different behaviours
that others and we respond to. Adopt certain things
that we like from others and them from us. In this
way we begin to form our personality or persona.
The parallel
The environment of the fairy-tale provides the
dramatic medium of the group. The group of
characters who move through the journey of the
story. Duplicating the Reference Group.
Relating back to the journey of the group
experience perceived by the group.

53. Dramatherapy group as reference group
Characters within stories as reference groups
Social perspective-taking within Dramatherapy
group
Social perspective taking between characters in
stories
Moral development of characters through event
history of story
Moral development within the actuality of the
group process

54. We are establishing the behaviour of the psyche as
an entity within itself and the way that the
distinctions therein relate and behave to external
stimulus and the behaviour that is exhibited through
those distinctions.
Thus moving towards a behavioural model that looks
at how subjects respond to stimulus. The object of
the fairy-tale to the subject the minds of people
within groups.
By working within these extremities, we are
automatically stretching thought processes because
of the dynamics of the opposing forces.

55. CC. Alix Harrow
December 17thth 2012