The Sacred Path Beyond Trauma

One of Graham Greene’s characters famously said, “I suffer, therefore I am,” suggesting that pain is an inescapable, and perhaps incurable, part of the human condition. But must this be so? Ellen Macfarland argues otherwise in The Sacred Beyond Trauma. Through the use of mythology, stories from film and fiction, real-life examples, and her personal history, Macfarland shows that healing trauma is indeed possible, using rich resources near at hand, in nature. The book explores major symbols of healing nature that can provide an impetus for personal transformation. One of the case studies profiles Monty Roberts, a well-known horse trainer who overcame significant childhood abuse by working with horses and eventually fostering some forty children alongside his own biological family. The key, says Macfarland, is using these and other natural symbols such as yin yang to balance the tension between trauma and numinosity (sacredness, transcendence), resulting in the creation of a new way of being in the world. Understanding this and the book’s other nature-based symbols can turn the distressed mind into a fertile field of spiritual awareness, empowerment, and lifelong growth.“Ellen Macfarland’s book The Sacred Path Beyond Trauma is a fascinating and insightful exploration of the healing power of Nature in experiences of trauma.”
—from the foreword by Dr. Robert Romanyshyn, author of The Soul in Grief

“Dr. Macfarland elegantly weaves the reciprocity between the individual and nature. This dance between the individual and nature is the delicate tao that is essential to the very survival of the human soul and the fragile planet that we inhabit.”
—Ashok Bedi, MD, Jungian analyst and author of Path to the Soul and Awaken the Slumbering GoddessEllen Macfarland practiced psychotherapy for twenty years. She leads popular workshops nationally on the healing of trauma from a depth perspective. The founder and director of Brookfield Counseling Services, a nonprofit agency providing mental health care for those unable to pay, she lives in Big Sky, Montana.