Holding Flames: Women Illuminating Knowledge of s/Self-Transformation

I n January 2000, I was still struggling with a densely and painfully written dissertation in clinical psychology on what women found transformative in the psychotherapy process, when I dreamt that the exposed brick wall of my verandah-sized therapy office was hung with many tiny hearth-places. These firelit miniature openings were humming with vivid moving figures. I knew I was looking into the lives of the women I work with, the chattering “community in my head” of clients, colleagues, and women friends whose experiences shape my own awareness and, through my daily praxis, each other’s. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.