Introduction to the writings of the students ITI Writing
This first edition of the ITI Writing course is coming to an end. It was a journey where each stage was traced by maps that we creatively inhabited and where each encounter inspired the next in respect of a structure defined a-priori but flexible and open to introducing unexpected elements.
Writing is a dialogue between a structure and a content. A compositional structure that requires grace, rigor, passion, beauty, fluidity, creativity, respect for a law. The content is the inner process of a soul that goes to inhabit that structure as if it were a temple ready to host a sacred ceremony.
To fully understand the meaning of the transpersonal experience we must enter the realm of the timeless, of the place beyond the place, in the famous dimension of "once upon a time, a long time ago in a distant place ..." or of the myth, where the protagonists they were the cosmic forces of the universe in person, in fact. In other words, in the dimension of “oral” culture which embodied a participatory dialogue at various levels of complexity between man and universe, micro-cosmos and macro-cosmos.
The fable and the myth represent, in my opinion, the literal plane of transpersonal writing. A way of access to identify the fundamental stages of the evolution of consciousness or rather, to paraphrase Erich Neumann, the history of the origins of consciousness.
Telling stories belongs to a long ancient tradition and no one knows the soul in its innumerable expressions like the ancients. The stories represent a transitional playful space: a linus cover on an intellectual level. They are a bridge between logos and daimon: voice of reason and voice of the soul, reality and imagination. They bring us teachings that come from the realm of ancient images of the collective unconscious and speak to us in a metaphorical language of the mysteries of the psyche.
It happened to me some time ago to change the ending of the story of Little Red Riding Hood during a counseling job. The inspiration that came to me at that moment completely transformed the outcome of that experience and partially inaugurated the vision of this project. Hence the idea of proposing it as a methodological practice to the participants in the writing course.
The first work we present is by Andrea Gentili who has chosen to revisit the well-known fable "Sleeping Beauty" by Charles Perrault, in the light of the evolutionary stages of the Hero / heroine's journey.
Andrea goes my most sincere emotion and gratitude for the commitment, the passionate and proactive participation during the course.
Happy reading
Simona Vigo (Philosopher and Transpersonal Counselor Trainer, Head Coordinator of UNIT ITI WRITING)
Sleeping beauty in the woods - reinterpretation of "Sleeping beauty in the woods" by Andrea Gentili.
Without having paid any particular interest in the tale of the beautiful Aurora or Rosaspina, however, I recently found myself willing to dissect this infamous tale of the triumph of idyllic and ineluctable love. There are several versions: Walt Disney has developed one that, compared to the original collection by Charles Perrault, seasoned with elements of antagonistic struggle between the prince and the evil witch, and with a subtle romantic plot that at least gives a sense to love. blossomed between prince and princess.
The original is basically an emotional flatline, the fulfillment of a curse and prophecy without any involvement of the characters. An angry fairy at not being invited to the princess's christening celebrations, she curses the princess by prophesying that she will prick herself with a spindle at sixteen and die. Fortunately, a pretty fairy, but weaker than the "evil" one relieves the curse by proclaiming that yes, Rosaspina will sting herself, but she will fall into a hundred-year-long sleep at the end of which she will be awakened by the kiss of true love. So it will happen, the handsome prince kisses her, after a century's sleep from which she wakes up and they get married. Long live the love.
Stop a moment: I accept the wickedness of an old and resentful fairy, I accept the bland help of the good fairy, but at least the king and the queen could have informed the princess of the spell without her going away nicely to sting herself with the first spindle found, not subject to ban by the father king. At least a shred of free will could be recognized in poor Aurora. And then, a hundred years pass and the first handsome hunk to pass, having learned of the legendary beauty of the beauty asleep in the woods, decides to visit her and the day after waking up from the "nap", they get married. I'm fine with love at first sight, predestination, the archetypal divine marriage, but what do these two know about themselves and each other? Where is the passion, the transport and the suffering, the game of opposites? The falls, the traps, the deceptions, the wonder, the abyss, the mutual discovery of Anima and Animus and the triumph of love over all this? So let's try to rewrite a few things.
“Once upon a time there were a king and a queen who wanted so much to have an heir and who finally had a little girl, to whom they gave the name Aurora.
They organized a big party and invited all the rulers of the neighboring lands and all the fairies of the kingdoms, except the Fairy of the Mountain, so old that no one remembered her presence anymore.
The fairies began to give the magical gifts to Aurora: beauty, grace, kindness, intelligence, sympathy, the ability to do everything. It was almost the turn of the seventh, which she should have pronounced on love, when the Fairy of the Mountain arrived.
She was offended for having been forgotten and so she said "You didn't invite me, but I too want to give the princess a gift: she will be the most beautiful princess until she is sixteen, when she will prick herself with a spindle and die". That said, the fairy disappeared in a black cloud.
The parents were desperate, but the seventh fairy said: "I cannot undo her spell but I can add mine: if she stings herself she will fall into a hundred years of sleep, from which she will be awakened by the kiss of true love".
(https://www.filastrocche.it/contenuti/la-bella-addormentata-nel-bosco-2/)
Up to here everything is as original. But then it happened that the king had all the spindles of the kingdom destroyed but one. In fact, he decided to keep it in a glass case as resistant as steel to allow his daughter to grow up knowing her prophesied enemy at the right distance.
But she grew up with no little sense of anguish, she did not really know the origin of such a threat that loomed over her life. To calm and make his little girl feel safe, protected and nourished, the king had a wooden house built in the woods in front of the castle, where he took her to play and sleep on days when the presence of the spindle in the castle case was unsustainable. for her.
One evening, the week before her sixteenth birthday, Aurora was alone in the little house, trying in every way to dispel the terrible anguish she had never felt so strong.
As he was about to fall into a restful sleep, a small stormy cloud appeared two palms from his face, soon giving way to the figure of a blue fairy, who said to the incredulous princess: “Aurora dear, what sadness it takes me to see you so broken! Once, as your seventh fairy godmother, I helped you with my magic, but now nothing is in my power to keep you awake from the sleep that is about to take you with it ”. The princess did not have time to ask her for explanations, when the door of the house opened, the fairy disappeared and her father king entered.
At her daughter's insistent demands for truth, the king told her of the spell cast by the Mountain Fairy and the counter-spell of the seventh fairy godmother. Aurora frowned, but everything about her was moving towards the acquisition of meaning. She in her heart she knew that she had to make up for what had happened.
So she decided to prepare for the journey to face the Mountain Fairy. At night she left her rolled up sheets in place of her body in her bed, so as to cover her escape.
She wanted to go to the little house in the woods that had protected her so much to greet her when she heard a noise coming from inside. Without delay she opened the door and discovered a young boy of matchless beauty, dressed in rags and with a walking stick.
He told her that he had fled from the court of the Mountain Fairy, to whom he was a slave and from whom he had heard about the prophecy, to seek out Princess Aurora and save her before the curse came true.
She, not trusting herself to reveal herself completely, told him that she was just about to leave for the Mountain to remedy the curse and that she was the most trusted companion of the princess's court.
The boy, unable to resist Aurora's beauty, despite knowing the danger they were facing, proposed to accompany her and she accepted. He knew the way to the castle of the Mountain, he had already traveled it but did not know that the return would be different.
They set out on their way into the woods. Soon the path disappeared and they found themselves treading on ground that was becoming more and more muddy. The boy was about to sink, but Aurora, who was lighter, managed to support him and rescue him. They ate what the princess had brought with her from the kitchens of her castle.
Continuing to walk, tried by the sleepless night and thirst, they came to a shining lake. The young man plunged his head headlong into the water to cool off and drink but was immediately seized by an illness and fell unconscious under Aurora's frightened eyes.
Then a little troll appeared from a small putrid pond hidden in the bushes and regretted asking the princess to dip her hands and collect the water from the point where it had emerged, and to drink it and make the boy drink it if she cared about it. his life.
Overcome the first reluctance, Aurora followed the directions with confidence and her travel companion woke up and embraced. They shared the bread that the young man had stolen before fleeing and built a refugee with dry branches to spend the night.
They soon resumed their journey and found themselves displaced by finding their way blocked by a torrent of lava.
Aurora was about to fall prey to despair, when the young man remembered that the stick he had with him was the gift his father gave him before he died, telling him that he would make his path safe and steady.
He then with his stick touched the incandescent river that solidified in front of his feet, turning into a small path that the two crossed, filled with new hope.
They went on and reached an enchanting clearing in the wood furrowed with green meadows. They found every good thing they could want to eat. They ate by picking fruit from trees that were full of them.
Most of the trunks dripped with a honey-like nectar, with an entrancing sweetness that overwhelmed the two young men. Lying side by side they fell asleep and dreamed.
The princess was surprised by voices that told her not to trust that nameless slave who accompanied her while the young man was disturbed by others who told him that he had forgotten the princess and that following the unknown woman he would return to the place from which he had wanted to escape. .
Upon their awakening, the lush meadows had become a dry expanse battered by whipping winds.
They both got up from their restless dreams, looked at each other timidly and suspiciously, but they had to seek shelter because the winds turned into a storm. Eddies and eddies of air crashed down on them and as they were being carried in opposite directions they shouted: "I don't know your name!"
After the fury of the storm, the young man found himself facing the path that led to the summit of the Mountain. He felt lost. He was saddened that he could not find, so he thought, and save the princess. And now he was even separated from the one he had felt united with as never before in his life.
What remained for him to do was to return, even alone, to the Fairy of the Mountain and give her an account of all the evil it had caused. So he took the path that led to the castle.
Aurora also woke up in front of a path, another path that led to the top of the castle where the Fairy of the Mountain was waiting for her.
The princess felt lost by the sudden detachment from the young traveler who, despite not knowing each other, had come to help her and had shown a great heart. Aurora had never known anything like this before and supported by such strength, she too took the road that led to the castle.
After a grueling climb, they found themselves facing each other on the top of the mountain and in front of the castle gate. They did not have time to run to meet each other as they would have liked to find themselves magically transported to the throne room.
The fairy immediately said: “Aurora are you here, with what foolishness did you come to me, just today that you will find death as I predicted? And you, William, ungrateful son, how dare you show yourself again and ally of this disrespectful one? "
Upon hearing this the boy was amazed, he had not realized that he had always had Princess Aurora beside him. And she could not believe that he was the son of the one who had always wanted her dead.
Guglielmo, before escaping from the castle, had managed to steal a protection ring from the witch his mother and used it to make a magical barrier that protected the princess and him from the attacks of the furious fairy.
The young man said: "My princess, it is time". At which Aurora proclaimed: “Good evening my lady of the Mountain. I came here to ask your forgiveness for my parents' disrespect. They were so happy with my birth that they did not think of doing her any offense. I am here now to thank you. The curse you threw me was the best gift I ever received. She made me leave for this journey in which I met true love ”.
The two young men kissed and the fairy wept and smiled. On the day of the princess's sixteenth birthday, the spell was broken by the strength of the two adventurers and lovers who, once they returned to Aurora's castle, married without forgetting the Fairy of the Mountain.
Download and read also “The True Story of Little Red Riding Hood” by Simona Vigo
Read also the story “The goddess who unties knots” by Stefania Giudici
Discover ITI WRITING - CREATIVE WRITING IN A TRANSPERSONAL KEY
and the next courses with Simona Vigo 2019/2020.
