Ann Amberg, M. C. S., M. A. - Jungian Consultant & Guide
The Sacred Container: Weaving a Life 

This basket that I made with my hands is imperfect. It is a squashy shape and some of the weaving is loose, twisted and bunched. It was my first basket. When I made this cedar basket many years ago I felt a sense of accomplishment and I was a bit annoyed that it was not exactly right. The other basket makers in the group worked quickly and their baskets were strong, the cedar bark woven solidly, structured in a traditional square shape. I was the last to finish my basket and was struggling with it long after the rest of the group went to lunch. But I did finish it and was proud.

This red cedar bark basket is a practical item, representative of the native Coast Salish tradition of the Pacific Northwest. I enjoyed the making; I concentrated, as artists do when they are completely focused on one thing in the present moment. The concentration centered me. I worked with the materials as if they were a part of my body and mind. I had harvested the raw cedar bark from the tree, cut it into strips, soaked it, and assembled my materials, taking instruction from an elder Lummi basket maker. With my touch it gathered to itself a certain shape and character and was born, a new being. Today, I still use my basket for picking blackberries and mountain huckleberries in season.

What I realized later is that this basket is plain, it is imperfect and real in the same way my being is; it is neither special, or not-special. It is neither medicocre nor beautiful. Because I made it with my hands with help from my heart, imagination and soul, it lives on in this way, an animate basket that breathes. In the Medieval alchemical tradition it could be seen as a metaphor for the feminine vessel that actively holds and refines the prima materia (primal matter), the unformed potential to be refined by life. This basket is also a living image that reminds me that life is in and of the world. Sometimes life is imperfect, boring and mundane. Nothing very exciting happens. Or too much happens and we experience stress and trauma. But what is phenomenal is that we are fragile and human and alive, and most of all, we are peculiarly unique. Our consciousness is a biopsychic phenomenon; it is of the body (soma), and of the psyche, or soul-mind. It is radical, incredible and outrageous that we are alive, for a short time, holding the tension between boring and exciting, earth and spirit, knowing and not-knowing, struggle and ease. We ourselves are sacred containers for life.

In archetypal depth psychology and quantum physics we learn that consciousness emerges out of the background generativity of the unconscious and returns back into mystery in each moment. Our attitudes and perceptions are informed by collective (impersonal) archetypal patterns that are, as C. G. Jung wrote, “irrepresentable” (1954/1990, para. 6), yet we can see the traces of their influence through the symbolic images produced in dreams and in conscious, guided imaginal practices.

I invite you to experience Deep Imagery, a modality of Jungian active imagination that links you with nature guides in the wilderness of your own imaginal realm, connecting conscious with unconscious. As a complementary modality I also offer Jungian psychological Type Assessment and Analysis to support you to become familiar with the archetypal patterns driving your everyday psychic functions. 

I look forward to accompanying your inner exploration into new territories of the imagination, and discerning right alignment as you navigate everyday consciousness. As a trained depth psychology advisor with 20+ years of experience in teaching, Jungian dream work, guided visualization, leadership training, archetypal healing, ritual and nature-based soul inquiry, I offer you a safe, nurturing container to build trust and new capacities for inner and outer relationship as we transform old patterns into new vitality for life.