IFS and the occult

[Dona]

Why are so many occultists talking about IFS (Internal Family Systems) therapy? Can someone tell me what's the link ?

 

[Dascent]

Why are so many occultists talking about IFS (Internal Family Systems) therapy? Can someone tell me what's the link ?

Emm... it is a bit the other way around. The terms are new because the science and pseudo-science is catching up with holistic and some esoteric perspectives.
I will not get into this subject as it deserves a space on its own but in simple terms what psychology and psychotherapy is mapping is in fact what we define as "face your demons" or shadow work from esoteric, holistic perspectives.

As already mentioned, it sounds different because it has a more scientific background and uses terms from these time period rather than arhaic interpretation which can be a bit more intuitive rather than logical in nature.

Can I explain the entire body of science in a simple example? Not to brag but to show the connection.

When you are at home with your family, around the dining table, you are using a specific persona, a mask which is not 100% you but one which is much more appropriate with your true self. (I don't know, maybe you fart when you eat alone and you don't need to "be excused" , stuff like that)
When you dine at a restaurant with a couple of friends and a cousin who came to visit, then your persona will be different from the one dining at home.
When you are invited by your boss to his wife's birthday dinner, well my friend, guess what, you will use another persona.
The very same act is eating/dining but the environment and the context changed therefore, personas adapted, evolved or they were created.
Ego creates personas which are used in various circumstances and if you are a bit older (like me), maybe The Pretender tv series will help you explore this subject even more.

As I've said, science is behind some knowledge. Sometimes the gap is ... hmmm around 1000 years in some cases. Take vedic knowledge for example.
IFS is doing a wonderful thing in expressing and offering a more "up to date" framework to what is called as shadow work (even this is a newer term)... oldest being in fact a wise suggestion "Know thyself" ...

 

[drumways]

Richard Schwartz has been pretty open about IFS being a product of him engaging with clients rather than academic theory. That said, I believe cryptomnesia is a frequent occurrence where science intersects with long existing practices (or closely related ones) which is why it feels so similar to some really old stuff. I can't really speak to what books he's read, fringe seminars he's attended, or conversations he's had that may have influenced him in ways that he's either not open about or simply influenced him subconsciously.

It certainly is familiar lol... Entering an intentional space, summoning an internal entity, and then doing a process of negotiation, transformation, unburdening, releasing, and/or integration. There's even some elemental visualization associated.

Who knows, maybe in a few years we'll have Symbolic Integration Therapy. "Yeah hun, therapy was good, we just talked about identifying desired outcomes, then we did some creative games to create an artistic representation of it, and now he wants me to think about the doodle while I touch myself. How was work?"

 

[AbammonTheGreat]

Its important to point out that psychoanalysis, psychology, and psychotherapy are disciplines rooted in the occult and esotericism. Similar to the relationship between Astronomy and Astrology or Chemistry and Alchemy. Freud was a hypnotist, Jung was an alchemist and his mother a tarot reader, Imhotep was a hypnotherapist... this discipline runs back thousands and thousands of years under different terminology and more holistic contexts.

As a modern magician your role in the community and to those you will help and guide will often have an intersection with what might be classified in modernity as "therapy". There is a reason for this. A large part of the work and occultism deals with the same issues psychology and psychotherapy deals with. Its right in the name, psyche is the Greek word for Soul.