Imaginal Figures In Everyday Life

Mary Harrell unflinchingly greets a cast of imaginal figures who inhabit her life, 

and encourages all of us to welcome their wisdom into our own inner

landscapes. These very real beings dwell in a realm between matter (nature) 

and mind (reason), appearing in dreams, intuitive callings, visions, feelings, 

and sometimes frightening events. Mary offers her own intimate experiences

through which she explores and engages these figures, showing her readers

how to host these beings as one would host invited guests. From the work of

philosopher Henry Corbin, psychiatrist C. G. Jung, and psychologist James

Hillman, we know that the name of the realm in which these figures dwell is

the mundus imaginalis, or the imaginal world. As this is a work in which

archetypes are grounded in experience, Imaginal Figures In Everyday

Life: Stories from the World between Matter and Mind is both a path to

individual transformation and, in the words of psychologist Robert

Romanyshyn, “a therapy of culture.”


Mary Harrell, Ph.D., a Jungian-oriented psychotherapist and New York licensed

psychologist, received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with Emphasis in Depth

Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, California. She is

Curriculum and Instruction Associate Professor Emeritus at State University of New 

York (SUNY) at Oswego. While at the university she taught education and psychology

courses and served as Professional Development Schools (PDS) specialist, supporting

the National PDS initiative, which builds bridges between elementary and secondary

schools and the university’s School of Education. Her writings in the areas of

educational reform, and imaginal psychology appear in four invited chapters in

edited books. In 2014 Mary’s poetry was anthologized in Syracuse

University’s The Stone Canoe, a Journal of Arts, Literature and Social Commentary, 

No. 8. She lives with her husband, Stephen, in South Carolina.