Fairy Tales: Lecture by Vivian Deitz

Fairy Tales represent many different meanings to people and to Vivian Deitz they represent a connection to the soul essence as well as a connection to the Inner Child.  She believes that in everyone's lives there is a "genie" or transformation awaiting to happen that will heal oneself as well as bring them peace in their life. Without imagination there is no will to hope or dream, and fairy tales give us the creative edge as well as the hope that there is something better in our lives. Albert Einstein also had the some viewpoint, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Carl Jung spoke of the conscious mind and unconscious mind and how it is connected throughout the world.  Deitz then spoke of how our brains work.  There is a left and right side, and the left side is more logical and analytical while the right side is the initiation of creativity.  She spoke of how most people these days are left brained and hardly use their right brain as much as children.

Deitz also spoke of magic and how it is a metaphor for the power of the human mind overcoming all obstacles.  Fairy tales amuse us with magic and all the events that occur in a fairy tale because there are so many unlike in our normal lives of, waking up, going to work/school, eating dinner, going to bed.  Through fairy tales we hear a wild story that captures our attentions as well as with magic which amazes us because it is unusual in our world. She then went on to talk of our personal genies.  Our personal genies represent our talents possessed but not used.  When we don't acknowledge our personal genies we ignore our authentic self.  We all need to acknowledge our personal genies so we can free ourselves and  follow our feelings.  She then went on to talk about Aladdin the velveteen rabbit fairy tales.  Aladding was all about how children act out their depression and are given the chance to start over, it also acknowledges his imagination and ability to use the talents he secretly possessed but never used. The velveteen rabbit was about the transformation of anxiety to optimism.  How after a transformation the child is well and grown up, and the use of his genie or transformation initiator also got a pat on the back and became real.  Deitz then talked about the different stages and conflicts that children deal with at certain ages, which makes it difficult for them to get along in life but it also gives them certain stories to read to help them get through their conflicts.  Overall I enjoyed the lecture very much, especially hearing about the velveteen rabbit because it was one of my favorite childhood stories.  I am fully ready to open up to my own personal genie.