ABSTRACT
The concept of nature has become reified by Western consciousness and has become a thing to be othered. Given our original attachment to the Mother Goddess, our relationship to her in the ecological crisis can be understood as an attachment disorder. Development of a healthy attachment to mother, or someone in a mothering role, is essential during the first few months of life. Attunement to the ecological system to which a species belongs is seen throughout nature. It may be an adaptation to limit population size to the availability of food, but it seems more an understanding of their place in the web of life. The Ego–Self axis is operating in the relationship between our collective consciousness and the Self as originally experienced in our relationship with our Mother God, then transformed to ‘mother nature’. Shamanism offers a mode of healing Western consciousness has largely forgotten, and which is particularly pertinent to the ‘lost soul’ of Western consciousness.
