Hedgehog symbol in art therapy

 

Hedgehog – wise fussy serpent fighter – a symbol of the Sun , a guarantor of survival and self-defense

Hedgehogs are unique creatures in many ways. Their distant ancestors inhabited our planet 65 million years ago. And in the form in which we know them today, hedgehogs lived in forests and fields, steppes and deserts already 15 million years ago. Thus, these animals are among the oldest mammals that have survived to this day. And this means that their vitality contains many reasons to use the image for psychotherapeutic purposes in the process of creative self-expression. This would be especially useful for children with such requests:

 

– violation of security boundaries;

– an additional motive (“Help” is the main one) in working with fears;

– building confidence and courage;

– removal of phobic processes at different stages.

 

And so let’s see how this can be done:

 

1. The hedgehog, as a solar symbol, can be used to gather the child’s inner strength. After all, the needles of a twisted hedgehog look like the sun.

Draw with your child “Solar Hedgehog” , useful in all symbolic respects.

2. The hedgehog can also be found in the heraldry of some ancient European families, for example, on the family coats of arms of the Polish gentry of the 16th-17th centuries. It symbolized resistance and protection, as well as the fight against evil. As you know, hedgehogs are not afraid of snakes and boldly enter into battle with them. At the same time, they are not subject to the action of snake and many other poisons. Perhaps, in the imagination of people who watched such fights in the past, the hedgehog acquired the image of a kind of snake fighter.

Try to use this symbolic base and draw a miracle motif for self-defense “My hedgehog guard”

 

3. In Akkadian mythology, the hedgehog was assigned the role of an attribute of the militant goddess Ishtar. And among the Slavs, the owner of hard and sharp thorns, gave advice to the Almighty on the improvement of the world around us.

Why don’t we use this ancient basis of animal totemicity and create, for example, from clay with a child an art therapy figurine “Hedgehog against fear”

 

4. The hedgehog is an unconditional symbol of self-defense, as well as the protection of one’s property. It has a rounded shape, which allows it to release spines in all free directions. With his needles, he can hurt any animal that attacks him and defend himself without too much help.

Try making a hedgehog toy with your child for self-defense when you feel scared or in danger.

 

 

I will say quite responsibly, the hedgehog is a wonderful symbolic image in the work of a children’s art psychologist and it can be safely used to help our little ones , sometimes prickly clients. Hedgehog for all of us, friends!

 

Victoria Nazarevich© 2018

Series “Symbols in the work of a psychologist”