Books and Ressources on the Use of Stories for spiritual or therapeutic Purposes

[Lokabrenna]

<looks at Amazon page> <winces> I'd say "cheap used copy" is the way to go here - it sounds like the whole thing is likely to be steeped in the goddess-centric flavor of monomythology. It could well be quite useful for the purposes at hand, but a buyer would need to save some money to pay for the necessary salt and filters.

I have this book, and it's pretty much how you put it. Some of the stories I like, others are...different? Let's just say some of them are more in line with the more conventional myths than others. (In the Isis story in particular, the author seems to have confused Horus and Osiris.) I personally like the story where Athena invents plumbing. It makes sense in context.

[catja6]

Just a side note, is there anything bad (short of murder) that Bettelheim has not done?

Probably not! I can think of shitty research, plagiarism, an approach to therapy that consists of "blame mothers for EVERYTHING," all underpinned by raging misogyny -- and that's just off the top of my head.

[Sperran]

Probably not! I can think of shitty research, plagiarism, an approach to therapy that consists of "blame mothers for EVERYTHING," all underpinned by raging misogyny -- and that's just off the top of my head.

Add child abuse and fabricating parts of his biography. Grr.

[Leanan Sidhe]

Do you know any other good book or ressource about the use of stories for spiritual or emotional growth (for adults)?

I can only think of

- Clarissa Pinkola Estés: Woman Who Run With the Wolve. Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype

Try:
Coyote Wisdom: The Power of Story in Healing by: Lewis Mehl-Madron. It's very similar to Women who run with the wolves. Except it is written by a man, and it is not focused exclusively on women. But as I recall, there are very few masculine studies in it.

[Waldhexe]

The only one I can think of off the top of my head is The Storyteller's Goddess by Carolyn McVickar Edwards. I haven't read the entire thing but what I have gleaned from its contents is that if you're comfortable with using a goddess-oriented book then it could be pretty beneficial.

I'm glad I bought it, it has some nice stories in it. Thanks for the recommendation!

[Waldhexe]

Try:
Coyote Wisdom: The Power of Story in Healing by: Lewis Mehl-Madron. It's very similar to Women who run with the wolves. Except it is written by a man, and it is not focused exclusively on women. But as I recall, there are very few masculine studies in it.

This sounds interesting, although I must say I don't connect so well to NA-stories, if that's what it's focusing on. But it still might be interesting.

[Leanan Sidhe]

This sounds interesting, although I must say I don't connect so well to NA-stories, if that's what it's focusing on. But it still might be interesting.

The stories he uses as examples are mostly Native American, but not all of them are. In fact, there's an instance where he uses the plot from the movie "Shrek" as therapy. The other bonus is that it's not just the stories themselves -- he goes into pretty decent detail about the how and why of using storytelling as healing.



Also, it's not a book, but here's the link for a blog post on the subject by Jesse Wolf Hardin (be forewarned, the post is almost long enough to be a book.):

http://animacenter.org/blog/?p=2931