Up: [[Other Forms of Active Imagination]] Created: 2024-07-18 Updated: 2025-05-09 Course: Image or Art with Nora Swan-Foster ![[Two images of horses.webp]] In a course with [[Nora Swan-Foster]], Jungian analyst and art therapist, Nora showed us these two images of a horse, asking us to choose either one of the images or a specific part of one of the images. This is limited [[Choosing a Seed Image]], and less effective because the image isn’t coming from psyche. Nevertheless, it can give a taste of the basic [[Steps of Active Imagination]]. The next step she gave us was to soften ego, centre down into the belly, lower consciousness, and pose a question or comment. Wait to hear back from the unconscious: from the overall image, the animal or figure you’ve chosen. No response is common at first. If there is a response record the dialogue in words or another image. And recognize that the ego doesn’t just agree to everything. A real dialogue needs to happen. See [[Active Imagination Warnings]] Agree to take something back to the world from the dialogue. That honours the unconscious. Lots of people have trouble working with Active Imagination. Nora didn’t say, but it’s because [[Active Imagination is a Skill]] that requires practice. If you don’t want the pure form of Active Imagination, there are [[Other Forms of Active Imagination]] that don’t require practice. For me, now that I’ve immersed in learning about Active Imagination in its pure form, I really want to develop that skill. ### My Brief Dialogue During Class I chose the horse on the right. Horse - I am hiding. Ego - Why? Horse - I’m afraid of the dark and the mystery. Ego - You look like you’re making yourself small. Horse - Yes, the smaller I am, the easier to miss. Interesting that later someone said they saw the same horse as an embryo.