Tag: Orphancy

topographia

Orphancy
From the Greek orphanós (ὀρφανός): “bereft”
Orphancy is a profound condition of severance from origin, kinship, and identity. A revival of a 16th-century term, it denotes not merely a loss of parentage, but an archetypal “unbelonging” and a deprivation of free status. As the wound of the abandoned self, it manifests as a sense of being untethered or unguided. The work of this lens is to move the soul from a state of bereavement toward a reclaimed psychic inheritance.

  • Orphan Quest: Finding One’s Myth

    Orphan Quest: Finding One’s Myth

    Jung wrote, “I am an orphan, alone,” because orphanhood is at the core of every human being.

  • Bread of Life

    Bread of Life

    The incense is heady, frankincense and myrrh, recalling a bone-deep connectedness to ancient rites and mysteries as old as humankind. Modern research has discovered that burning frankincense activates areas of the brain that relieve anxiety and depression.

  • Lord, Hold Us in Your Mercy

    Lord, Hold Us in Your Mercy

    In adoption we have many competing interests. We have two sets of parents, two families, but only one child. The adopted person so often feels torn. There’s the difficulty of trying to resolve much that’s deeply held.

  • Jim Crow Love

    Jim Crow Love

    A child should never feel like an outsider in their own family, never be expected to settle for something ‘less.’ This is what I feel most deeply about love and adoption.

  • Family Tree Assignment

    Family Tree Assignment

    Not every adopted child was placed as an infant, and their day of birth wasn’t always a cause for celebration. Nor is adoption, as commonly idealized, a universally cherished event.