In the Spanish speaking world, Alejandro Jodorowsky is probably known more as a spiritual teacher than as a filmmaker. I hesitated writing spiritual teacher because it's not a label that he would accept--but then again--people who operate in this space do not have convenient labels, often resorting to a number of boxes, ie. "author, visionary, philosopher" because these souls can't be contained in our ordinary labels.
Jodorowsky advocates psychomagic as a form of psychological healing. If you have a psychological or interpersonal issue, say, you always end up in abusive relationships, Jodorowsky would advocate some form of ritual to get over it. Jodorowsky puts forward some outlandish examples, for example, a person who suffers from agoraphobia (fear of open spaces) is to be carried in a naked inside a sleeping bag within public space by a troop of friends and then set down to be "birthed", which is acted out in public.
Jodorowsky argues that our sense of magic is ancestral. We don't need to believe the ritual will cure us (though it helps), but the motions help the psyche find the closure it needs to overcome whatever issue is bothering us.
The issue that bothers me is this: most of the men on my father's side of the family are free spirited nice guys. Most of the women who they married to are controlling, strong willed women. I myself have felt the comfort of being under the wing of a strong woman. There's a healthy, symbiotic version of this arrangement and also a parasitic, psychotic version of it; but I don't want either.
I want to contain both energies within me. I do not become complete by adding an external force that constrains my freedom, nor do I become complete by being completely free, but I push and pull between freedom and control not in a struggle but in a dance. We don't want to be come unhinged nor tethered, but to become elastic, that our leashes extend to the very limits of our curiosity without the risk of snapping.
This ritual came about spontaneously: I was going outside and it was cold. I didn't bring any warm clothes, so I went through the closets to see what I could find. A vest from grandma. Not warm enough. What else? A light cashmere sweater from grandpa. Ah, I see, just one is not enough, but both will keep me warm. Same thing with my energies, I will incorporate and transcend them so that they become one.
