The Way of Imagination

A detailed guide to the theory and power behind psychomagic

Through films, books, comics, and art spanning seven decades, legendary filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky has offered his singular surrealistic perspective on the fundamentally dreamlike nature of reality. This perspective also underlies his healing technique known as psychomagic, which uses the symbolism of the unconscious to understand and mend reality as if it were a dream.

In The Way of Imagination, the master offers a detailed exploration of the mechanisms by which psychomagic works to heal our most pressing emotional and spiritual wounds. He examines the development of this magical form of shamanic healing and its roots in the work of René Daumal, Éliphas Levi, filmmaker Luis Buñuel, psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, Mexican curanderas, and others. He describes the four maladies of the soul, the initial stages of psychomagic’s development into a practice, and how he crafted the first psychomagic prescriptions to speak directly to the subconscious through the language of dreams. Above all, Jodorowsky explains, psychomagic is a therapy of action, rather than one of words.

Sharing passionate correspondence between himself and patients and admirers, the author demonstrates how people have successfully used psychomagic to make profound changes in their lives. He shares detailed accounts of how he uses Tarot readings to determine a diagnosis as well as how he uses a trance state—what he calls “psychotrance”—to access his subconscious mind to discover the most suitable psychomagic remedy.

Presenting a complete immersion in the techniques of psychotrance and psychomagic, this guide allows you to work with the dreamlike nature of reality and move forward on the path to healing.