Home: Our Inner and Outer Sanctuary

In this 2024 conversation with Justine Willis Toms, Valerie Andrews explores the complex dimensions of home, including its physical, psychological, and emotional aspects. She says we carry a sense of place and identity with us wherever we go, and that the time of sheltering in place gave us time to assess our circumstances when it came to our home. Was it a safe place with nurturing roommates? Was it a pleasant place that offered inspiration and beauty? Or was it cluttered, unsafe, or upsetting? She also enlightens us about the human need to find a home in nature, saying ”Once you find a home in nature, you are never lost.” We are made of the same matter as earth; breathing the breath of forests, our tears and blood the salty ocean. This deep dialogue includes how home is a laboratory for understanding ourselves. Andrews also shares insights on the caretaking of family members and other loved ones wanting to age in place including those who choose to die at home.

Valerie Andrews is a writer, editor, and seminar leader specializing in Jungian psychology and the inner life of home. She is a graduate of the Guild for Spiritual Guidance and the editor of the digital magazine Reinventing Home: Culture, Creativity, Character. She is the author and editor of these books:

• A Passion for This Earth (Harper Collins 1994)
• Sanctuary: The Inner Life of Home (Editor) (Chiron Publications 2024)

Interview Date: 7/19/2024 Tags: Valerie Andrews, Jungian psychology, Sisyphus, Kaiser ACE study, plus-one proton, Ursula Le Guin, aging at home, Peggy Fleming, In the Evening of Life, Grassland Woman, Mary Reynolds Thompson, Eckart Tolle, James Hollis, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Gilda Frantz, storage lockers, Bayo Akomolafe, Starhawk, Community, Personal Transformation, Psychology