After I had chosen the cultural pieces, I realized that the times in which these popular cultural pieces were created archetypally reflected the archetypal aspects of play that I was exploring, and showed the distinctly different qualities of these pieces and these times.  And they fit astrologically as well.  For example the difference between the 1950s and the 1960s is very clear, and I was particularly struck by the descriptions of the 1960s, all of which spoke in terms of revolution.  Everywhere I turned, that was the overriding description used.  Another example that is illuminating was my research for the turn of the Twenty-First century, all of which was gathered from the Internet. In looking for the top news stories of the years involved, 2000-2004, I was surprised at the shadowy quality of the events that was in evidence.

I hope that as you explore the information with me these synchronicities and archetypal accordances will perhaps open you to become a bricoleur of this information—if you find it useful, that is all that is important, whether it is true matters not.

Layout of the Kaleidoscope of Culture

The "Kaleidoscope of Culture" is divided into six different chapters.  In the first chapter, "Introduction to the Kaleidoscope of Culture," we will see what was going on in culture at the turn of the Twentieth Century, “how the world was gathered” at this the time when many of the different things that we have been considering and will continue to consider began: depth psychology, quantum physics, chaos theory, cinema, and play were either discovered, were born, or became more prominent.  Two of our cultural pieces look back to this time, too: Disneyland and Mary Poppins (Stevenson, 1964).  We can also take an astrological excursion and see how the sky was gathered at that time and introduce the different planetary archetypes alone and in combination, reflecting what was “up” at the time. This chapter also considers the idea of popular culture itself. 

Our next four chapters concern the cultural pieces—Chicago (Marshall, 2002), Disneyland, and Mary Poppins (Stevenson, 1964).  Chicago focuses on the shadow side of play, while Disneyland focuses on play’s promise, and Mary Poppins focuses on the transformative power of play.  Wait, that is only three cultural pieces and there are four chapters—Why?  Well, Disneyland, reflecting the more Neptunian side of play, decided to dissolve the boundaries and took up two chapters, very galumphantly, I might add.  Disneyland’s extra chapter is filled with extra excursional essays that show in greater detail how the different planetary archetypes play out there. 

Three of the chapters in the "Kaleidoscope of Culture" share a common structure—the main chapters that discuss the cultural pieces.  In these three chapters, we will look archetypally through the lens of astrology at how the sky was gathered, and then we will turn to what was going on in culture at the time—as van den Berg would say “how the world was gathered” (metabletics).  Then we will explore the cultural pieces themselves, and finally we will look for the lessons—what might it all mean.  Along the way a running commentary between Rick O’Shea and Tele Sphoros is occurring behind the scenes, which shows ways to apply these different aspects of play in your own life.  Whenever you see a ∆RC you can click on it and see what they have to say. 

Part of the methodology for this dissertation is called metabletics, which is how van den Berg (1961) looked at what was going on in the culture at the times that he was studying various different phenomena.  Through seeing how the world was gathered, he was able to see different themes.  Both the metabletics parts and the astrological parts do this and show us fascinatingly, that these two things reflect each other. The cultural pieces too reflect these archetypal themes.  Since this dissertation focuses on the “archetypal aspects” of play, at the cosmic level, I think that seeing the various themes as they play out at these different levels is very appropriate.  It is also really interesting to see what was going on during these times.  Since many people are not old enough to remember these different times, having information that situates us as to what was going on in culture at the time, adds to the richness of the cultural pieces, and we can better appreciate those times as well as our own.

The last chapter, “Parting Shots” is a conversation between Rick and Tele, wrapping it up as it were, as they discuss bricolage, the stone, and other topics of interest, as well as the limitations of the dissertation and areas of future study. 

As previously mentioned, each of the chapters and the major sections have link outlines in blue that allow you to immediately link to the different parts of the dissertation.  They also serve as an orienting device, and give a general overview of where the chapters or sections are going.  Just by looking at the different titles of the links, you can get feel for what went on during the different time periods, and by doing this, you do not really have to read different sections if you are not interested in them.

So without further ado, let us proceed to explore the different archetypal aspects of play as they appear in the different turns of the "Kaleidoscope of Culture."

End of chapter, proceed to Introduction to Kaleidoscope of Culture