Psychomagic: The Healing Wisdom of Alejandro Jodorowsky

“Psychomagic” is the power of using your imagination and creativity to heal yourself. The term was first popularized by Alejandro Jodorowsky, who is most known for being a Chilean-French filmmaker in the 1970s, with his avant-garde films El Topo and The Holy Mountain.

There’s a lot more to Jodorowsky than filmmaking though. He’s worn many different hats over the years including being a poet, artist, novelist, comics writer, musician, philosopher, puppeteer, and mime….to name a few. He oozes creativity and inspiration.

Recently, I got the chance to check out his eye-opening book Psychomagic: The Transformative Power of Shamanic Psychotherapy, which has been on my wish list for awhile. It’s a collection of interviews and anecdotes where Jodorowsky describes his experiences with “psychomagic,” including how he developed it and how he applies it to himself and others.

One of the main tenants behind “psychomagic,” is that we must transcend our hyper-rational, hyper-critical, and hyper-materialist mindset toward the world. Psychomagic focuses on the hyper-subjective… the world of art, symbols, images, emotions, experiences, and dreams.

I was really excited to read this book because I’ve become more interested in avenues for self-improvement that I call “irrational change,” and much of Jodorowsky’s philosophy behind “psychomagic” aligns with my own findings and beliefs over the years.

In this article, I will draw a few key comparisons between Jodorowsky’s work and some of the mental tools and exercises I’ve explored in my own life.

One of Jodorowsky’s first connections between art and therapy was as a theater director. He saw theater as a way of blurring the lines between reality and fiction and – most importantly – expanding our perspective of life outside of our singular and narrow point-of-view.

Acting (or “role-playing”) is a way of stepping outside of our limited perspective and seeing the world with a new set of eyes. Jodorowsky quickly realized the therapeutic and healing qualities of this approach, and developed a program for many people that would come to him for help.

Here’s a quick excerpt from Psychomagic where he describes this approach:

“I establish a program, an act or a series of acts to accomplish in life a given time frame: five hours, twelve hours, twenty-four hours…An elaborate program based on their problem, designed to crack the character with whom they have identified themselves in order to help them reunite with their deeper self. For an atheist, I made him adopt the personality of a saint for a few weeks. For an indifferent mother, I assigned the duty of imitating maternal love for a century. To a judge, I have the task of disguising himself as a tramp and go begging at a restaurant…

I thus created a character intended to establish itself in daily life and to better it. This is how my theatrical research gradually began to take on a therapeutic dimension. From being a director, I turned into a theater counselor, giving people their directions to take their place as a character in the comedy of existence.”

One thing I love about this approach is how he challenges people by having them take on a role that is the complete opposite of their typical personality, such as asking the atheist to play the role of a saint.

By taking on new roles, especially ones that are drastically different than our average self, we can often learn to see ourself in new ways and discover aspects of ourselves we didn’t know exist. Sure, the atheist may not become an actual “saint,” but he may become more saintly – and that could be a step in a more positive direction for that individual.

In my own work, I’ve discovered a great power in pretending to be someone else – and, in fact, I’ve even recommended the specific exercise of imagining the “opposite version” of yourself.

The “magic” behind this approach is that it requires a bit of imagination, creativity, and play. It’s not a rational process, but an experimental process. It’s sort of like going shopping for new clothes, you need to try on different ones before you see what fits you best.

Children naturally go through this process when they are young and trying to discover themselves, but as adults we often forget that we can continue to expand and change our “self-concept”. through the exact same process.

Rituals are one of the main engines behind Jodorowsky’s development of “psychomagic.”

His experiences working with a Mexican shaman known as Pachita were life-changing for him. She was an old, frail woman who would allegedly get “possessed” by the spirit of a powerful Aztec emperor and then perform “psychic surgeries” on her patients to heal them from psychological pain and trauma.

Many of these “psychic surgeries” would mimic the effects of actual surgeries (where she would simulate the feelings of a person being operated on and having something “removed” from them). Most of the stories are quite graphic and vulgar, so I’d rather not get into too much detail here.

The “magic” behind these rituals is completely symbolic and suggestive. In a way, it’s a type of hypnosis, where Pachita operates on a hyper subjective level to help transform a person’s unconscious mind.

Often, the symbols were physical objects. For example, if a person feels trapped in feelings of grief or loss, Pachita would “operate” to remove a physical item that symbolized the negative feelings and pain.

By performing these “psychic surgeries,” – which, of course, had no actual “medical value” whatsoever – she gave her patients the suggestion and the permission to “let go” of a psychological pain or trauma and “move on” from their troubled pasts.

Sometimes her “psychic surgeries” helped physical ailments as well, such as leg injuries or chronic back pains. While skeptical people may be quick to point out this is a placebo effect, I find the “placebo effect” is in-itself evidence of “psychomagic” and the healing power of your mind.

Were Pachita’s practices real or not? According to Jodorowsky, the question doesn’t make any sense:

“It is our belief in an ‘objective’ world, our modern, self-stylized rational mentality that makes this kind of question torment us. We always allege to place ourselves as detached observers of a supposed exterior phenomenon, and so the mechanisms should be clearly defined. In the ‘shamanic’ mentality, to contrast, this kind of problem is not even posed. There is not a subject-observer and an object-observed; there is the world as a dream swarming with signals and symbols, a field of interaction where multiple forces and influences meet. In this context, to know if Pachita’s operations are ‘real’ or not proves illogical.”

Again, this touches on what I’m calling the “hyper-subjective.”

In the Shaman mentality, there is no “subject” and “object,” distinctly separated, but a whole field of interaction of physical and psychological forces melting together.

In the hyper-subjective, a rose isn’t just a rose, it’s a symbol of love. A fire isn’t just a fire, it’s a symbol of transformation. A bath isn’t just a bath, it’s a symbol of cleansing.

These experiences with Pachita opened Jodorowsky up to a whole new exploration into ancient wisdom and magic:

“I concerned myself with the function of magic in all primitive cultures. I read hundreds of books on the subject to try to glean some universal elements that I could use in a conscious way in my own practice. I do not want to belabor this, but I want to give you some examples. All cultures have an idea of the power of the word, the conviction that desire expressed in a healthy way leads to fulfillment. But often, the name of God or the spirit is reinforced by its association to an image. The ancients knew intuitively that the unconscious is receptive not only to the oral language, but also shapes, images, and objects.“

By playing more with the hyper-subjective, we can bypass our rational and critical minds and communicate with our unconscious minds in a direct and constructive way.

As someone who grew up with a very rational and skeptical mindset, the introduction to “psychomagic” into my life has been very slow and gradual.

Self-hypnosis and visualization were my first experiments with psychomagic. They allowed me to play in the world of imagination and symbols without feeling “too silly.” For example, in my multi-stage meditation, I do a short visualization of myself as a huge fire in a cave emanating light and warmth. I feed myself affirmations and watch the fire grow bigger and wilder.

It’s a little thing, but it motivates me and gets my energy flowing. There’s no doubt that a powerful visualization can change your attitude and mindset, especially if it’s something you repeat and continue to build new meaning and symbols into.

However, it’s even more powerful to combine this type of symbolism with real-world action.

Observing the small rituals of professional athletes was definitely a turning point for me. It’s a direct application of “psychomagic” in a real-world, results-oriented setting.

Many athletes perform little rituals (“symbolic behaviors”) such as kissing their necklaces, or making a gesture, or making the sign of the cross before stepping up to bat in baseball, or shooting a free throw in basketball, or hitting a golf shot. Studies show these small habits can help boost confidence and decrease stress, leading to better performance overall.

I’ve been trying to integrate my own symbols into my daily routine, for example:

• Candles: Before I write or make music, I light a certain candle that symbolizes “creative energy” for me. Subconsciously, my mind has now built an association between that smell and doing creative work. It helps set the tone and environment to get me in a particular mindset.
  

• Plants: When I first moved into my new place, I got a bunch of little succulents. For me, they have come to symbolize the beginning of a new chapter in my life and “hope.” One risk of using plants as symbols is that they might die, but I will use that as another symbol of transformation and entering the “next chapter” in my life.
• Baths: This is a new one for me, but baths are an age-old symbol for “cleansing” and “starting fresh.” I’m trying to step up my “bath rituals” by doing one per month and integrating other symbols of mine (plants, candles, music) into the routine.
• Creativity: The activity of making music is also a huge symbolic behavior for me. When I make music, it is a very spiritual experience where I get to channel my feelings and experiences in a non-verbal way that gives them more meaning and significance. All creative hobbies can be a potential avenue for creating “psychomagic.”

These are just a few ways I integrate symbolism into my daily life, but it’s something I will be exploring a lot more in the near future.

“Psychomagic” is about self-exploration and self-discovery. I can’t tell you what exact symbols or rituals to do, but I wanted to at least share some of the things I’ve been experimenting with in my own life. Ultimately, it’s about finding what works for you and what symbols resonate with you most.

What symbols do you already have in your life? How do they influence you? How can you apply those symbols in new ways to improve your life?

I want to end this article by sharing a little personal story. As I mentioned before, I’m trying out new “bath rituals.” I was actually reading Psychomagic during one of my most recent ones…

Before I jumped in the bath I looked at the time…it was 11:11 (“make a wish…” already a symbolic time…) I thought to myself, “It would be really interested if I happen to end this bath at 12:12…”

I put down my phone and didn’t look at it again for the entirety of the bath. I did some reading. I meditated a little. I reflected on my life and where it was going. It was all pleasant and relaxing…

As soon as I got out, I looked at the time again…it was exactly 12:12!

OK…maybe that’s not that interesting to you, probably just a “coincidence” you’re thinking. But in my hyper-subjective world, it was symbolic and meaningful. And that’s what psychomagic is.

I think “synchronicities” (or “coincidences”) like this can be a powerful avenue for seeing magic in our everyday lives, and we shouldn’t hesitate to see the meaning in them when we can.

As Alejandro Jodorowsky says…

“For me, all events are intimately bound to each other. A psychomagic act well carried-out reverberates on the ensemble of reality.”

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