Today, let’s go for a city walk, and do a psychomagic act inspired by the work of the avant-garde filmmaker and mystic Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Psychomagic is a healing art developed by Jodorowsky that draws on the power of dreams, theatre, and poetry to heal unresolved mental, emotional and even physical issues. It consists of performing carefully prescribed symbolic or poetic acts in daily life that speak directly to the unconscious mind, creating transformation through concrete gestures rather than analysis or words. Normally, these acts are carefully tailored to a person’s unique story and often involve the participation of others. What I’m offering today is a non-personalized but deeply individual act, a city walk that invites the unconscious to reveal itself through the living poetry of the streets.
For this psychomagic act, you will need to be in a city that is made for walking. The weather and your footwear should be such that you may stroll comfortably for a minimum of one hour, and possibly an entire afternoon. You will not need a destination or an itinerary. You may enter a shop or two, or get a little snack, but know that this is not a shopping or sightseeing or errand running expedition. You will walk without objective, without hurry, with no fixed route. Somewhere along your travels is an object that is meant for you. You are not on a quest to find it, yet you will know it when it presents itself. Simply begin walking slowly, with no goal and no agenda. Stay open and present to the streets, the atmospheres, the sounds, and the small details around you. There is nothing to seek or hunt for. The object will appear when it appears, you only need to recognize it when the city offers it to you.
Once you encounter the object, pick it up. No need to analyze or understand it. Continue walking as before, carrying the object, perhaps for another twenty minutes or more. Let yourself feel its presence as you move through the streets and notice how it subtly changes the experience of the city around you.
Just as the object appeared on its own, so will come the place where you will leave it, or possibly offer it to someone. If it is a place, leave it there without concealment or display. If it is a person, allow the transfer to occur in a way that remains ordinary and unremarked. Do not explain the gesture. Trust the instinctive knowing of where and how. You will know intuitively when the moment is right. Once you have released the object, the psychomagic act may feel complete. You may continue to drift through the city, or choose to make your way home.
