Studio Sessions

Profound relationships such as marriage and friendship inspire us to bring our best selves forward, yet lurking in the shadows are thoughts, feelings, and behaviors we would prefer to hide or deny. That is why accompanying every vow is a shadow vow, representing our unacknowledged assumptions, agreements, images, and expectations. Shadow vows—rarely conscious or voiced—bind the partners to each other and to the relationship until the pain of feeling trapped, crippled, or exhausted from trying to live by them forces its way into awareness.

   In this six-week Studio Sessions series, Dr. Elizabeth Èowyn Nelson, author of Psyche's Knife (Chiron, 2012), shows how a much-loved, much-discussed tale in the Western tradition, Eros and Psyche, has something fresh to offer anyone interested in the vicissitudes of love. She presents a complex and compelling analysis of Psyche who is far more than a simple, naïve, and beautiful young woman. Through examination of key moments in the tale, an authentic portrait of the soul emerges in which love and power are not the opposites conventional thinking supposes them to be. We shall see that Psyche embodies kinds of power necessary in loving another, without which love is anemic.

   The sessions will offer a blend of theory and experiential work to stimulate participants’ thoughts, challenge their assumptions, and create a kind and loving space to question when and why they fall silent rather than speak up in personal relationships. We also borrow an idea from David Whyte to creatively explore the idea that marriage is a metaphor for other durable commitments in one’s life—to a job, an organization, a home, a community—and that shadow vows are present there, too. By the end of the six weeks, participants will be more fully and disturbingly aware of the invisible and unvoiced promises they make, which bind them as tenaciously as the vows they speak aloud.