ABSTRACT
In this chapter I plan to consider an idea central to the concept of transference, the main pivot of psychoanalytic theory, that is, the idea of the magical transferability of attributes and states. This idea was evoked by reading Cassirer's, (1955 and 1957) Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, particularly Volume II, Mythical Thought, I have used, and I hope not abused, Cassirer's work for my own purposes rather than doing justice to his ideas. In this chapter I consider the idea that the picture is the object of a transference in art therapy, and subject to this transference, it subsequently may become a scapegoat. This may be considered, as was the original scapegoat, a positive enactment, as opposed to a negative acting out.
