Category: Orphancy & Archetype


Here, we tend the sacred ache of Orphancy
The archetypal or literal state of being severed from one’s roots. Through the Trinity of Separation, we trace the path from the initial fracture to the long season of unbelonging. These essays bridge the gap between child welfare ethics and the deep psyche, inviting the ‘stranger to their own life’ to stop wandering and begin the holy work of reclaiming their true psychic inheritance.


  • Lost

    Lost

    Children who weren’t loved, but were left unprotected, don’t know the voice of the good shepherd—the inner guide who calls the soul toward wholeness. Trained instead by parents who mirrored the shadow’s thieves and hirelings—they became attuned to the discordant voices of betrayal.

  • In Session, Part 8: Termination

    In Session, Part 8: Termination

    Sometimes people give in to compulsions because they’re not finished living their wounds. This is called a repetition compulsion. Only a determined few eventually learn healthier, more functional, behaviors.

  • In session, Part 7: Disconnected

    In session, Part 7: Disconnected

    Patricia had never really wavered from her plan to give her baby up. Though at times she expressed typical motherly feelings toward her unborn son, more often she appeared indifferent. It was as if she was already carrying someone else’s child.

  • In Session, Part 6: Deliverance

    In Session, Part 6: Deliverance

    Instead of deep healing, the client performs a “slap-dash remodel” to appear functional. Still an orphan at heart, they avoid the work needed to stop perpetuating their childhood abandonment and loss.

  • In Session, Part 5: The Analyst is Analyzed

    In Session, Part 5: 
The Analyst is Analyzed

    To prevent the re-orphaning of the client, the analyst must refuse to become the ghost; holding the boundary that the original mother could not. Thus, the “wrong way” of habitual trauma is corrected by the “steady hand” of the conscious witness.

  • In Session, Part 4: Dream Work

    In Session, Part 4: Dream Work

    In dream work, the dreamer becomes the expert on her own dreams, rather than looking to the analyst to decode what belongs uniquely to her.

  • In Session, Part 3: Message in Blood

    In Session, Part 3: Message in Blood

    In the dream, she chased a cat through thick fog and twisting alleyways. No matter how fast she ran, she couldn’t catch it. The setting changed—white walls, grime, and something lurking just beyond sight. When she woke, her body remembered what her mind tried to forget.

  • In Session, Part 2: Client & Therapist Meet

    In Session, Part 2: 
Client & Therapist Meet

    Client and therapist meet as a single mother plans adoption, seeking psychotherapy for the emotional road ahead—and marking the beginning of a deeper journey.

  • In Session, Part 1 : Considering Adoption

    In Session, Part 1 : 
Considering Adoption

    Considering adoption for her son was a gift, not an abandonment—to give him a better life.

  • In Session: An Introduction to Tales of Transformation

    In Session: An Introduction to Tales of Transformation

    Knowledge isn’t enough. While resolving emotional wounds seems simple in theory, the path to healing is rarely linear. Through Patricia’s story and case study, we witness how long-standing patterns of abandonment finally come into view—and begin to shift—within the therapeutic relationship.