The Raincloud of
Knowable Things
By Ian Gordon-Brown with Barbara Somers
Editor Hazel Marshall

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY

The Raincloud of Knowable Things is the third book in a series. All of them contain profound material presented by the authors as experiential workshops long before that term became familiar. What is important is that the material taps into something hard-wired and archetypal, containing timeless stuff. It continually communicates to new audiences and I believe it deserves a wider readership. Personally, I have found that the workshops do not date but survive the test of time: in being run steadily over the years since Ian’s death they have proved their continuing excellence, working well for participants, myself included. Thanks to Hazel Marshall’s sensitive editing they can now be published as nearly as possible in their original form, preserved for the future.

Ian Thorp, Publisher

PART I: INTRODUCTORY WORKSHOPS

Chapter 1 – APPROACHING THE SELF WORKSHOP I
Maps of the psyche – The traveler on life’s journey – Sub-personalities – Symbols – The four functions – Experiencing the Transpersonal – The inner sanctuary
Chapter 2 – THE MASCULINE AND FEMININE WITHIN WORKSHOP II
The cup and the sword – The feminine and masculine principles – Marriage as a psychological relationship – Developing intuition – Symptom as symbol – ‘Who am I?’ The grounding exercise
Chapter 3 – CYCLES AND STAGES WORKSHOP III
The pattern of your life – The seven-year cycle – Self-image exploration – Projection - Control patterns – Polarities – Change – Core archetypal energies – The sanctuary
Chapter 4 – INITIATION & THE MYTH OF THE JOURNEY WORKSHOP IV
The story of Buddha – Stages in the life of Christ – The door and the cave – Rites of passage – The water of emotions – Initiation and therapy – The return – The desert and the mountain – The initiates
Chapter 5 – THE OTHER SELF WORKSHOP V
Singing Stone – Directions, elements and functions – The inferior function – The door and the mirror – Alchemy and the elements – Journey to the other self

PART II: INTERMEZZO – EMPHASISING THE PRACTICAL

Chapter 6 – IMAGING AND THE TRANSPERSONAL
Transpersonal psychology – Active imagination – Mental imagery techniques in analysis and psychotherapy – Using guided imagery – Spot imaging and the full guided daydream - Running transpersonal workshops – Designing and giving imaging explorations

PART III: ADVANCED WORKSHOPS

Chapter 7 – ARCHETYPES
Of what stuff am I made? – Archetypal images – Mapping the archetypes – Archetypes of the self – Archetypes and psychotherapy – Spirit of place – Communities and locations - Life-cycles of groups and organisations
Chapter 8 – THE CHAKRA SYSTEM
Energy in the human body – A short exercise in consciousness – Working with the chakras - The chakras and their symbols – Chakras and health – A first aid exploration for panic, fear and anxiety – Chakras, places and organisations
Chapter 9 – INTUITION, INSPIRATION AND THE WILL
Energy-threads – In search of your Intuition, the consciousness thread – In search of your Inspiration, the creative thread – In search of your Will, the life thread
Chapter 10 – THE RAINCLOUD OF KNOWABLE THINGS
The personal and the planetary – Four explorations for groups: My personal place of creation – The group and the ashram – The temple in the sun – Orienting the Self – Some ways to the centre of life – The universal blessing of Buddhism

What others are saying about this book

Ian Gordon-Brown - joint founder and co-director with Barbara of the Centre for Transpersonal Psychology, was in private practice as a psychotherapist and consultant psychologist. He read psychology at Cambridge, and was involved in industrial psychology until 1976. He worked with the Lucis Trust for fourteen years, becoming director and an international trustee. He created the workshops, along with Barbara Somers, on which this book is based, and ran them from 1978 until 1995. His interests included ways of expanding individual and group consciousness, esoteric movements and social networks. He died in October 1996.

Barbara Somers - joint founder and director with Ian of the Centre, is a psychotherapist. She worked previously in personnel, as a literary editor, and for nine years with the Society of Authors. She is fascinated by dream-work, symbolism and mythology, the interaction of psyche and soma, and Eastern systems of spiritual development, especially Tibetan and Zen.