Transforming the Inner World of Pregnancy Through Image

Pregnancy is a feminine initiation that transforms a woman’s psyche. Because she is engaged in a creative process that fulfills itself through her body, the pregnant woman becomes visible to the world and vulnerable to projections and acts of power; however, her transformative psychological and emotional processes typically remain hidden and unknown. Within a psychotherapeutic setting art and dreams are used to encourage the pregnant woman to explore, document and engage with her pregnant imagination and non-verbal aspects of her creative journey that ignite and transform her maternal identity. We will see that during this in-depth process, unconscious patterns associated with her feminine initiation often spontaneously surface to facilitate this transformation, emphasizing the direct relationship between creativity and feminine authority. The art and dreams from pregnant women who have undergone a conscious pregnancy will be used to illustrate the healing power of images that emerged during their pregnancy.