Drawing it Out: Befriending the Unconscious (A Contemporary Woman's Psychedelic Journey) [Paperback]

Sherana Harriette Frances (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2001

This unique text shows us that the path of self-understanding and higher consciousness may not be revealed through words but through images. The author has presented us with the images coming from the depths of the unconscious and has eloquently described their eventually integration into her conscious life through careful attention to their details. It is not only an important contribution to the psychology of the unconscious, but a fascinating personal chronicle.

Editorial Reviews

Review

I do not know of any document illustrating the healing and transformative potential of psychedelics like this one! -- Stanislav Grof, M.D., Former President, International Transpersonal Association and Scholar-in-Residence, ESALEN Institute, Big Sur. Author, LSD Psychotherapy.

About the Author

Sherana Harriette Frances is an award winning painter and print maker. She has also studied music therapy and has pursued concurrent careers as an art teacher, legal secretary, partner in a book store, and as the founder/director of "Artists Proof Graphics Workshop". She is the mother of two adult children and the grandmother of four. Her hobbies include belly dancing, exploring books on quantum mechanics, and listening to music. She currently resides in the bay area of San Francisco, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (November 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966001958
• ISBN-13: 978-0966001952
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,155,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suicide is painless ..., April 23, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Drawing it Out: Befriending the Unconscious (A Contemporary Woman's Psychedelic Journey) (Paperback)

"Drawing It Out" brings to mind the closing lyrics of the
title song from "Mash":

"'Cause suicide is painless.
It brings on many changes.
And I can take or leave it if I please.
...And you can do the same thing if you choose."

Like Suicide, Self Procreation/Re-Creation "brings on many
changes," but it's hardly ever Painless, as Ms. Frances'
gripping chronicle of her odyssey makes overflowingly clear.

The text is deceptively plain-spoken. Until well after the
fact, I scarecely realized how deftly she conveys complex,
elusive notions and feelings as if in a treasured letter
from a dear friend.

As for the images, words can't describe them. Powerful,
moving, disturbing, revealing, truthful, tormenting --
toss a stack of such adjectives into a hat and cook until
you concede that words can't describe these drawings.

"Drawing It Out" is an enthralling exhibit of a
Spiritual Epiphany -- "a sudden manifestation of the
essence or meaning of something" (American Heritage Dictionary).

Don't read "Drawing It Out" unless you're prepared to risk
the challenge of searching-out the Epiphany of YOUR Self...
Pretty Scary Thought, eh?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Beautifully written, beautifully drawn.", January 16, 2002

By 

Nancy Parker (Ashland, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drawing it Out: Befriending the Unconscious (A Contemporary Woman's Psychedelic Journey) (Paperback)

In this deeply moving and courageous account of personal transformation, artist Sherana Frances offers the reader a unique glimpse into the psyche of the creative spirit. In the 60's, Frances was part of a controlled study of the effects of LSD. During that experience, she drew from herself a kind of artistic expression that became her own unique path on her journey of self-discovery. She literally and figuratively drew it out. The astonishing a sensuous series of sixty-one drawings, created at that time and over the decades that followed, is accompanied in this book by a poignant, intensely personal written account of her life challenges and the evolution of her consciousness. It is not unusual for people to use journal-writing as a tool of personal exploration. Frances, however, has chosen drawing as her tool, resulting in an entirely unusual process of epiphany and self-revelation. This book is as beautifully written as it is beautifully drawn, and the candor of her account reveals the author's uncommon courage. Explaining his own artistic motivation, Andrew Wyeth wrote, "I think one's art goes as far and as deep as one's love goes." Nowhere is that more evident than in Sherana Frances's DRAWING IT OUT.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wouldn't have missed it for the world., May 6, 2002

By 

Patricia Garlan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drawing it Out: Befriending the Unconscious (A Contemporary Woman's Psychedelic Journey) (Paperback)

There is a freshness about this work-in-two-media. With the rendering (and rending) of the artist's soul there is also, thank goodness, the reassurance of language-like a bridge over it's troubled waters. As a word person myself, I am particularly facinated by the picture part of the work, but also by the interplay between the two.

The essential candor of the visions demands from the artist an equal openness in the text, so that the two potentiate each other, so to speak, like the gin and vermouth which become something else in a successful martini. It is powerful stuff.

And then, too, William Blake, a master in two media, comes to mind. The probing and the sharing of the inner workings of a human being are about as intimate as one can get, aren't they? And yet, the artist's own determination to give an honest portrayal allow the work to transcend the wrenching experience of it's raw, very raw materials.

I wouldn't have missed it for the world.