A Crucible

Coaching relationships—and other therapeutic encounters in which people meet with the intention of bringing about change—are containers where ingredients, mixed together, produce a new substance: a new quality, a new insight, a new perspective. One and one form three.

It is a collaborative process of bringing forth what has been hidden, plucking it from the depths of one’s mind, heart, and soul, and temporarily placing these carefully extracted findings on display in the space in-between. There, they are explored by the observer and often shaped into new potentialities—potentialities that pave the way toward transformation.

This space, much like a crucible, is tightly sealed. It protects the internal from the interference of the external so that what newly emerges can be tried out, safely experimented with, put on like a new garment before it is shown to the world. In this process, symbols and imagery serve as a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious, between the visible and the invisible, between what is real and what is real-to-be.

We enter these coaching relationships not knowing what we will find. Often, we leave holding metaphorical talismans—objects of meaning that help us place our feet on the ground of everyday life with greater trust in ourselves and in the world around us.

After all, it is in the nature of crucibles to invite the mystery of uncertainty.

Painting by Hilma af Klint, Group X, No 2, Altarpiece, 1915