Welcome to Imagery International

Presenters at the 2022 Conference

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Friday Evening, October 21st, 4 to 6 pm (including orientation and welcoming ceremony)

Melting Mountains: Allowing the Imagery of the Unconscious Mind to Transform your Mind, Emotions & Possibilities with Natalie Hill, MA
1 CE

Our mysterious unconscious holds our unlimited potential . . . as well as anchors holding us back. Accessing the normally hidden realm of the unconscious allows us to quickly, almost miraculously change whatever has been keeping us rigidly stuck and opens us up to realms of creativity and possibility not available in our stuck state.

In this session we will experience a simple, easy, quick and fun process that allows us to go from stuck to free by allowing the unconscious to provide the imagery, we bypass the logical mind and our psychic sensor, letting change and resolution happen without reliving or retelling our painful past.  Allow the imagery of the unconscious mind transform you, your emotions and possibilities!

Learning Objectives for this session:

1. Discover the Melting Mountains process.
2. Explore an internal image of a difficult situation in life, then witness the transformation of the image through the Melting Mountains process.
3. Identify at least 2 applications where we can use this process in real life.

About: Seasoned expert in inspiring and leading people to do “the inner work that makes their business work,” Natalie Hill helps mature entrepreneurs get their wisdom to the world so they can make money and make a difference without a job or a boss.

Saturday, October 22nd, 8:30am to 5pm (including optional morning and afternoon activity+social hour)

Deep Knowing: Entering the Realm of Non-Ordinary Intelligence with Kim Hermanson, PhD
1.5 CEs

Breakthroughs don’t happen through effort. They happen when we open spaces we didn’t know existed. Artists, creatives, healers, mystics, social activists, and policymakers all focus their attention on important and complex issues. But what matters is HOW those issues are addressed. In this workshop, we will take a shamanic pilgrimage into the intelligent field to discover resources and possibilities that can’t be revealed any other way. The images you receive will not be OF you. They come from a living field of intelligence that wants to shift you into your highest self, unlock your greatest gifts, and connect you with Divine wisdom. Ordinary humans have the ability to connect with a field of intelligence that lies beyond our thinking mind. We just haven’t known how. Developing these new capacities of learning and knowing has massive implications, both for you to live your most authentic life and for our world.

Learning Objectives for this session:

1.    Examine metaphor as another way of knowing in every day life to affect change, individually and collectively.
2.    Define the concept of Third Space.
    3.    Experience, through a guided imagery process, how metaphor connects us to the Divine and the “Intelligent Field.”

About: Kim Hermanson, PhD is a visionary educator pioneering new ways of learning and knowing. She's on faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute where she teaches courses on image and deep creativity. Kim is known for her skill in quickly shifting people out of spiritual and psychological difficulties into a place of profound beauty, healing and creative flow.

Visionary Kabbalah: Using the Western Mystical Path of Imagination to Heal Body, Mind and Soul
with: Phyllis Kahaney, MSW, PhD and Rachel Epstein, L.Ac., JD
1.5 CEs

The Western mystical traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam consider the heart the axis point to the imaginal realms and the seat of intuition connecting mind, body, and spirit. All three traditions engage in imaginal practices to both connect with the divine and for self and societal healing. Visionary Kabbalah or Kabbalah of Light is a branch of this Western mystical tradition of healing, passed down orally and experientially from teacher to student. In this introductory workshop, students learn a brief history of this unique mind-body method and how to apply it in daily life, to enhance their health and wellbeing. Together, we learn to build a body of light by bringing this Divine light into ourselves for quieting, cleansing, and self-illumination. Participants will leave with: an understanding of how western mystics used the imagination for personal and communal healing; several exercises to use for themselves and their clients for emotional and physical healing; and how to create imagery exercises based on a person’s unique inner dictionary of images.

Objectives for this session:

1. Examine one Western mystical tradition, called the Visionary Kabbalah, for use in self and societal healing.
2. Experience 3 imagery exercises to address emotional distress and physical illness.
3. Create their own imagery exercises based on their own inner dictionary of images.

About: Phyllis Kahaney, MSW, PhD, a social worker, and Rachel Epstein, L.Ac., JD, the Director of the American Institute for Mental Imagery, co-authored Reversing the Trauma of War: PTSD Help for Veterans, Active-Duty Personnel, and Their Families. They currently maintain private, whole health practices specializing in imagery for physical and emotional healing.

Imagery and Tarotpy as a Pathway to Guidance and Healing with Lauren Zemelman Schneider, MFT
1.5 CEs

Pioneered in 1983, Tarotpy® integrates psychotherapy, hypnotherapy and dreamwork with the rich symbolic imagery of Tarot, Dream Cards, SoulCards, and other oracle decks. Image, the root of imagination, is the language of the unconscious. By using imagery, Tarotpy lays the unconscious on the table, stimulates imagination, and accesses inner wisdom for insight and creative problem solving. You need know nothing about tarot or symbolism. Reflecting upon images without preconceived ideas shifts rational thinking to intuitive awareness. Imagery provides a safe medium and a projective tool to open deep conversation. Metaphors and associations arise spontaneously. Also, there appears to be an invisible mastermind at play in the “random” selection of specific decks and images. By way of synchronicity, we awaken to a greater sense of connection to our innermost Self and Higher Consciousness. Tarotpy is an awe-inspiring experience as a clinical tool and a personal, contemplative practice. Please have a tarot or oracle deck on hand to participate in this activity.

Objectives for this session:

1. Name 3 underlying principles for using symbolic imagery for guidance and insight.
2. Experience the “Tarotpy Method” of selecting images for guidance into personal and unconscious material.
3. Explore 3 techniques for relating to images and gaining insight into its symbolism.

About: For over twenty-five years, Lauren Z. Schneider, MFT, facilitates workshops and trainings in dreamwork and her innovative method, Tarotpy®, which integrates imagery with depth psychotherapy for guidance, healing and transformation. She has compiled awe-inspiring case studies and practical exercises in her award-winning book, "Tarotpy: It’s All in the Cards" (2021).

Sunday, October 23rd, 8:30am to 3:45pm (including optional morning activity and closing ceremony)

Applications of Cross-Cultural Fairy Tale Imagery with Jonathan Young, PhD
1.5 CEs

Slowly, we take our places around the campfire. Then, the village elders begin the ritual telling of the tales. These are the accounts of people, like us, making their long journeys through this life. We listen closely. There is much to learn.

This session is a visual exploration of a folktale from the Bayous. The Talking Eggs is about recovering from trauma through the help of a magical mentor, known in Creole and Cajun legends as a Conjure Woman. Focus will be on unpacking the imaginal metaphors to tap the wisdom of the unconscious. Methods include storytelling, guided fantasy, and expressive writing. The balance is half experiential, half presentation (including guidance for clinical applications).

Objectives for this session:

1. Detect the meaning of symbolism in cross-cultural stories.
2. Recognize plot patterns as unconscious scripts within a fairy tale.
3. Discuss applications in clinical practice for using images from stories.

About: Jonathan Young, PhD is a psychologist who assisted mythologist Joseph Campbell at seminars and was founding curator of the Joseph Campbell Archives and Library. He teaches at the Pacifica Graduate Institute and maintains an online practice from Santa Barbara. Dr. Young appears on documentary series for the History Channel. His articles and chapters on clinical uses of imagery from stories are posted at folkstory.com.

Uses of Imagery in Expressive Writing Therapy with Anne Bach, LMFT
1.5 CEs

Engaging the imagination helps reveal unclaimed dimensions of emotional experience. This workshop demonstrates using imagery to prompt writing for inner exploration and how to recognize the unconscious in the imagery of reflective writing. Activities include brief spontaneous writing activities with discussion of how writing in response to images opens awareness of the stirrings of the unconscious. Spontaneous written expression can help build compassionate perspectives towards ourselves and others. 

Objectives for this session:

1. Recognize the unconscious process in the imagery of reflective writing.
2. Discern how the inner life can be enriched through expressive writing.
3. Demonstrate at least 2 techniques useful in stimulating the imagination.

About: Anne Bach, LMFT is a specialist in uses of writing in psychotherapy. She gives presentations at major conferences on imagery as inner process. She also conducts frequent trainings on the psychological dimensions of expressive writing. Her clinical background includes poetry therapy with seriously mentally ill patients.

Body As Timer: An Imagery Journey to the Moon with Aureal Williams
1.5 CEs

Our cosmos is our playground! In this session we will experience an intuitively guided imagery journey, and travel to the Moon for a direct experience of communication with Her about Her phases. The dates of this conference occur during the last week of a Lunar Cycle, when the Moon is dark. This Dark Moon phase is the most fertile for sacred, intuitive, inspirational receptivity. It is during this time that we empty into the stillness as we prepare for rebirth with the New Moon. Just as we connect with our domestic animals, or talk with houseplants, so too, our connection with cosmic bodies is interactive and bidirectional and can be accessed through intuitive guided imagery. 

Objectives for this session:

1. Explore the 8 phases of the Moon and how they relate to the Human Growth and Development cycle.
2. Experience a Relaxation/Guided Imagery journey.
3. Integrate insights gained from the experiential journey into day-to-day life through group sharing.

About: Aureal Williams is an intuitive working with Deep Space Astrology and Guided Imagery. She is the author of 5D, Ordinary Descriptions of an Extraordinary Shift, and weekly blog posts. Her focus is on helping people live an Intuitive Life through embodied sovereignty.

The content of this virtual conference meets the qualifications for 10 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. Provider #138749. You MUST attend the entire conference live on zoom to earn CEs.

Imagery International is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs. Imagery International maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content.

Imagery International is also approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (Provider #16504) for 10 contact hours. You MUST attend the entire conference live on zoom to earn CEs.  Note: for nurses outside of California, please check with your individual state Board of Nursing whether California contact hours are accepted for your license renewal.

Conference Fees and Registration