Where the Sand Remembers, Liela Abramovitz

Twenty-Four Years of Experiential Sandplay in Our Annual Sandplay Day Circle

Some connections begin in silence.

In 2002, our journey began almost by chance, in an introductory Sandplay Therapy workshop led by Lenore Steinhardt, for art therapists who came with questions and a shared curiosity about Sandplay Therapy. For four days, we studied sandplay theory, spoke about Jung and the psyche, about symbols, and about what longs to be born through hands playing in the sand long before words can give it form. As each of us created her own sand pictures, we never imagined that a unique bond was also quietly taking shape between us, that we would continue to meet for one day each summer for twenty-four years.

Each summer, we step away for a moment from our daily lives, clinics, families, worries and joys, and travel from every corner of the country to meet once again in the same circle. We arrive carrying the content of an entire year and share our news, sometimes joyful, sometimes weary. We know the setting well, individual sand trays, thousands of miniatures and natural objects. We create personal sand pictures. We first enjoy breakfast together. Then we play in the sand, and forget time. We observe, listen and hold one another's stories with care. Sometimes the words come before the sand pictures; sometimes they emerge only afterward.

This annual gathering has accompanied us through the many seasons of life. Marriages, births, losses and partings, professional beginnings, questions, crises, longing, and renewal. Each passing year adds another layer of shared witness. Within this unique space, something remarkable happens. The images reveal what the soul cannot express in words. Our circle gives us the strength to hold these stories together. Each sandplay circle gently closes, and we return home carrying the echoes of everyone's sand pictures, and with the quiet reassurance that we will meet again and resume our dialogue, with words, and together, in the sand.

Additional comments from group members

Anat C. Gilad: Our yearly sandplay day is like a force of nature, created from the connection between a group of mature women with life wisdom, a connection between material and spirit, nurturing body and soul. I don’t always understand the meaning of the sandplays I do each year but they stay with me for a long time and sometimes continue their work in my dreams. To know that this annual meeting will take place, a kind of ritual that appears when summer arrives, is important at the end of the work year.  The communal ritual of our meetings over many years accompanies the changes, ups and downs, and developments in all our lives - “same time next year.” It is a great privilege to be part of this powerful circle of women.

Nona Orbach: There was much symmetry and simplicity in our sandplays this year. It was a very powerful and emotionally touching day that reinforced our special ongoing connection.

Mireille Gruner: Thank you everyone for the deep emotional session yesterday, and for sharing everyone’s personal journey during the year and future plans. For me this sandplay circle is an anchor and promise of a continuing process for more than 20 years, being curious about the meeting with myself, year after year, in a supportive, understanding environment.

Sari Eitan: For me our sandplay circle is a container that resonates and holds, and gives me the freedom and space to be, to experience the created image itself and the experience, together with the group, things that come into existence as if by themselves, without effort or planning.

Edna Schori: Each year when summer arrives, I wait eagerly for the invitation to our meeting. This enchanted circle of women, sandplay therapists of different ages, are welcomed with open arms into the warm home of Lilach, for 24 years, into a pleasant, safe place that enables me to create sandplays freely. Thank you, Lilach, for your generosity, and to all the group, a big hug.

Yael Bruno: Within the temenos of this holding circle of women, contained within Lilach’s studio, one can sense the long processes of each of us. Like an invisible Chinese meridian, hidden in the body, that can be reached with a Chinese needle at specific points, to discover energies and healing for the body and soul, so each year, I visit repeatedly, descend into the “well”. Each sandplay joins another along a timeline of an invisible life journey. 

Lilach Galkin (our hostess):  With willingness and love I am happy each year to receive our group of “old” sandplayers. I have the space and place to give each one a sand tray to create her world. I am happy that my miniature collection meets hands and eyes that know how to touch, choose, caress, express emotions, sculpt sand and place miniatures. I am excited to see worlds being built, prayers and wishes embedded in the sand. Future, present and past become solid precise form in the sand. I give and receive so much from our being together, without effort. Thanks to all of you for being a part of my life.