These essays are reflections from a lifetime of listening, to dreams, fairy tales, symbolic images, and the unfolding life of the psyche. Together they explore grief, imagination, consciousness, and the wisdom hidden within ordinary experience.

Rembrandt, Philosopher in Meditation: an elder seated by a window beside a spiral staircase

Rembrandt, Philosopher in Meditation, 1632. An elder, a window of light, a spiral staircase. Enter through The Library Within the Spiral Staircase

Featured Essays
New Series

When Old Tales Awaken

Fairy Tales for the Life We Are Living Now

Old fairy tales meet contemporary life. Through Sleeping Beauty, The Golden Bird, Frau Holle, and Kevin the Mouse, Lois explores retreat, silence, procrastination, and elderhood, and what these ancient stories still know about the lives we are living now.

  1. IntroThe Library Within
  2. IContemporary Life
  3. IIThe Voice Goes Quiet
  4. IIIThe Golden Bird
  5. IVThe Moon Does Not Retire

Take a book from the shelf to open it.

  1. Otto Ubbelohde illustration for Sleeping BeautyIContemporary Life and Fairy Tale WisdomSleeping Beauty
  2. Otto Ubbelohde illustration for The Six SwansIIWhen the Voice Goes QuietThe Six Swans
  3. Otto Ubbelohde illustration for The Golden BirdIIIThe Golden Bird: When Thinking Becomes the Golden CageThe Golden Bird
  4. Otto Ubbelohde illustration for Frau HolleIVThe Moon Does Not RetireFrau Holle

Illustrations by Otto Ubbelohde for the Grimm tales, 1906–1909.

Begin the Series
Book Review

Hermetic Philosophy and Creative Alchemy

A depth psychological assessment of Marlene Seven Bremner’s study of Hermetic philosophy, alchemical symbolism, and the transformative role of imagination. Less a book about Hermetic thought than a book about cultivating a symbolic attitude toward existence — moving from explanation to participation, from analysis to imagination.

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The Sky Speaks

An exploration of UFOs, AI, synchronicity, and Jungian psychology that asks what these images reveal about the human psyche. Rather than debating whether extraordinary phenomena are literally real, the essay explores how symbols orient us toward meaning, reverence, and a consciousness larger than the ego.

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Writing with Inner Figures

An exploration of imagination as a living psychological process through the figures of Kevin the Mouse and Solis. Drawing on Jung, Hillman, von Franz, and the Holographic Mind Model, Lois argues that inner figures are not fantasies to explain away but symbolic companions that deepen relationship, creativity, and the unfolding of consciousness.

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Holding Tears

A reflection on grief, caregiving, and the symbolic power of fairy tales. Through Kevin the Mouse, Lois explores how stories can accompany sorrow, not by resolving it, but by helping us remain present with what cannot yet be healed.

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The Meadow and the Dog Park

A reflection on integrating numinous experiences into everyday life. Using the image of a meadow and a dog park, Lois explores how genuine spiritual and symbolic encounters are fulfilled not through escape, but through faithful embodiment in ordinary living.

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The Ethics of Symbolic Containment: Sigils, Images, and the Responsibility of Holding

When a dream, symbol, or sacred image appears, our first instinct is often to explain it. But what if its true purpose is not interpretation, but containment? Lois explores the ethics of symbolic life, and why the deepest images ask us to remain present rather than rush toward certainty.

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The Wisdom Found in Chaos

Chaos is often treated as something to escape. But what if it is the very place where wisdom begins? Drawing on alchemy, Greek mythology, and depth psychology, Lois explores how uncertainty can become the fertile ground for transformation, discernment, and hope.

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The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale Series

Fairy tales are more than children’s stories, they are enduring maps of the human psyche. Through newly translated Brothers Grimm tales, original illustrations, and Jungian commentary, this series uncovers the timeless psychological wisdom hidden within these classic narratives.

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Anxiety

Anxiety is more than a diagnosis, it is often the psyche’s attempt to communicate fear. Drawing on depth psychology and decades of clinical experience, Lois explores how understanding the meaning behind anxious symptoms can foster resilience, growth, and lasting healing.

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