The Soul's Place of Healing

Reflections on the places that replenish our souls

Ψ Υ Χ Η Σ    Ι Α Τ Ρ Ε Ι Ο Ν

PSYCHES IATREION

Healing-Place of the Soul

This phrase was a gift during a visit with a friend at the end of September.

My family traveled to Charlottesville to see an exhibit, The Univerity In the Eye of an Architect featuring the work of Werner Sensbach. His etchings, woodcuts, and watercolors were on display at the University of Virginia. Werner served as the UVA Campus Architect from 1965 until 1991 and taught classes in Urban Planning.

After his retirement Werner became an art student, studying painting, drawing and printmaking with undergradutate students like myself. He was inspired by the landscape around Charlottesville, loved working outside, and enjoyed conversation with students about art making as well as other areas of study and interest. One year, I did a project interviewing friends and family about their thoughts on creativity; Werner was my first interview. The interveiw conversation prompted many further conversations in the studio about creative process, communication styles, educational philosophies, and structures of cities and society. As a peer in the studio, Werner’s teaching came through sharing stories.

It was only after Werner’s death in 2015 that I really understood the scope of his professional career and the impact his work had on the city and university where I studied. Werner would have turned 100 today, October 11, 2023.

An etching of Fayerweather Hall (home of the art department during my student years) by Werner Sensbach.

Werner’s wife, Angelika Powell Sensbach, currated the exhibit and visited it with us.

At one point, Angelika connected with another viewer who had come to see the work. They had met at Shrine Mont, a retreat center I know and love.

As we were speaking, Angelika turned and introduced me saying, “Oh, and Shrine Mont is her psyches iatrion.” I didn’t understand and asked her to repeat herself, which she did adding, “You know, your soul’s pharmacy, the place where you go to to refill and replenish your soul.”

Upon my return home, Angelika sent me more information. The phrase is inscribed over the entrance to the library at the Abbey of St Gall in Switzerland. The translation on the wikipedia site reads, “the soul’s place of healing.” I was delighted to learn this is inscribed over the entry to a library and the wooden doorway and warm space beyond look so inviting and enchanting. You can see a photo of the abbey here.

Naming and Marking the Soul’s Place of Healing

Once home, I continued to think of this phrase, to picture it as I crossed threshholds or walked through doorways. If I were to inscribe these words, would it be over my front door, the door leading to our screened porch, or my cozy office/studio?

I thought of my walks at Huntley Meadows Park and how my breath slows and my body relaxes as I step from the parking lot to the wooded path. I could incribe the phrase on the back gate of my fence, the entry to the narrow path I’ve worn walking through the woods to stand at the foot of an oak tree.

Could all these places be places of healing for my soul?

And then what about the ocean, the river, the libraries and museums I love?

The following Friday I met with my creative sharing group. I told them about this phrase and all it had prompted and inspired in me. I described how Angelika told me she hopes I will visit and see it for myself one day. I learned that my friend Janice has visited the abbey. She showed me a postcard that she keeps propped over the doorway to her office with the inscription and described her desire to stencil the words over her door.

As we spoke about journeys and threshholds, Janice also mentioned my labyrinth touchstones and how she often held hers in her hand while meditating. It made the concept of a journey something that could be held in the hand for reflection.

This prompted the idea to press these words in clay on a small slab, something that could be held in the hand, propped over a door, placed on the ground to step over, a small portable threshhold.

Here are my first two experiments…

In-process clay touchstones along with a postcard of the Abbey of St Gall Library.

I would love to hear, where would you put this marker? Over a doorway? At the entry to a place you love? Is there a person whose presence offers this to you?

It can help us to care for ourselves and to refresh and refuel to know the places and people that help to replenish our souls. This soul care is central to creative work.

Visiting and Discovering Soul Spaces

This weekend, I visited the Textile Museum at George Washington University. Walking to the third floor, an installation “what color is divine light,” prompted an immediate sense of wonder.

The contrasting color threads seemed to vibrate and emmanate light. The space was open and quiet, inviting a pause. It was unlike anything I would have expected to see in a textile museum and yet, it belonged. It was made of thread and it was the arrangement and assembly of those threads that created the piece.

Another psyches iatrion.

You can see a video of the installation and space and hear the artist, Anne Lindberg speak about her work at this link.

I would love to hear about your experiences of spaces, people, or experiences that refill and replenish you. When have they come as a surprise? How have you found them or how have they found you?

Thank you for reading and being a part of creative community through this newsletter.

With a grateful heart,

Kathryn

Angelika Powell Sensbach and me with her Japanese Maple tree.

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