ABSTRACT
Any history of analytical psychology would not be complete without a discussion of the technique of Sandplay. Sandplay is a specialized form of non-verbal therapy which utilizes a tray of very specific dimensions (28.5 × 19.5 inches with a depth of 3 inches, standing at a height of 30 inches), the inside of which is painted blue to give the impression of either water or sky. Usually there are two trays provided, one for wet and the other for dry sand. The tray, as described by its founder, Dora Maria Kalff, constitutes a “free and protected space” where no judgment is made on the quality of the picture. The client, either child or adult, chooses figures from open shelves which he/she then places in the sand to make a picture. The method is a specialized form of active imagination and was encouraged by Jung, who himself went through a period of playing in the sand along the shores of the Lake of Zurich during his “confrontation with the unconscious” (1913). The role of the analyst is to be a participant observer in the process, but interpretation is not central to the method; rather, the direct experience of the symbols is the most important aspect of the therapy. For some it is a way of evoking archetypal material, which frees the patient to do verbal analytic work. For other patients who may be trapped in verbal content, it is an auxiliary method to access inner imagery more directly. One question has been whether the analyst should also be the Sandplay therapist. Whatever mix of therapies or therapists one wishes to choose, the experience in the sand has been shown to have healing effects upon the psyche. Sandplay has also been used in school systems, family therapy, and experimental situations other than therapeutic ones. However, that takes us beyond the scope of this book. The method has grown immensely in popularity both within the Jungian community and outside. In 1985 Dora Kalff founded the International Society for Sandplay Therapists (ISST) to provide training and certification in Sandplay, and its members include many Jungian analysts, but also many others who are not trained analysts. Archives of the case histories can be found in Zollikon, Switzerland, and at the library of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco.
