The Sevenfold Journey

“Every time a person faces a new and challenging experience, they may feel alone and without a map. A serious, life-changing illness is one of the most difficult experiences to navigate. Melanie has written a book about such an experience. Her biography and years of working with the insights of Rudolf Steiner, as well as her own work as a counsellor, map this experience. The way she has written about her illness lifts the personal up to the realm of the universal. This gives her own illness meaning and makes it possible for others to do the same. To share her story makes us see that we are not alone, and we, too, can endure and find meaning.”

— Deborah Ravetz

“Melanie unlocks delicate and evocative images whilst also provoking reflection and close reading of the meaning making processes. This bridging of the biographical and spiritual journey sheds new light on very concrete experiences that can encourage and inspire the reader in their own steps on the journey.”

— Diogenes Mock, Psychotherapist

“A real privilege to read, with deep insights and a golden thread to encourage us all.”

— Ann Addison, child and family counselor

“This gripping account outlines a deeply moving personal description of how a seemingly tragic and outwardly disabling life event became the catalyst for an inner journey of spiritual awakening. Melanie’s story reveals how her power of determination, personal initiative and spiritual commitment became a transformative agent, not only for her own life but also in her quest to inspire others in social renewal through engaging in therapeutic group work.”

— Dr James Dyson, retired anthroposophic physician, psychosynthesis psychologist, adult educator, and author of Soul Size

C O N T E N T S:

Chapter 1. Childhood in Cornwall
Chapter 2. The Crisis and Mystery of Illness
A Life-changing Event
Chapter 3. Seven Life and Learning Processes
Transpersonal Experience
Reframing and Acceptance
Life Processes – Learning Processes
Analysis through my reflections on the Seven Life and Seven Learning Processes
A Pilgrimage
Chapter 4. The Spiritual Archetype of the Journey
A Significant Tale
Seven stages of a journey’s archetype
Further reflections on Building Bridges
Names and themes of the three Pathways of Oasis

Melanie Taylor

Melanie Taylor (b. 1955) attended Wynstones School, a Steiner Waldorf School in Gloucestershire, being fortunate in having Rudi Lissau as a teacher. After leaving school, she completed a BA (Hons) at Canterbury College of Art in 1977 and went on to marry and have a family. After a severe illness left her permanently disabled in 1993, she trained initially as a teacher, gaining a postgraduate diploma in Professional Studies in Education at the Dyslexia Institute in Kent in 1998 and later as a therapeutic counselor, receiving an MSc in Integrative Therapeutic Counseling from the University of Greenwich in 2006. She also audited the foundation year program and first year of training in psychosynthesis psychotherapy at the Institute of Psychosynthesis, London, between 2004 and 2006.

Between 2004 and 2016, she was invited to become a faculty member and presenter on a CPD Seminar for Mental Health, ananthroposophic training sponsored by the Medical Section at the Goetheanum, designed to meet the needs of mental-health workers, social therapists, and therapeutic educators, subsequently held at Emerson College, Sussex.

Melanie went on to develop her own original programs in adult group work, especially designed for those in search of spiritualmeaning in their lives, many of whom were also living with chronic illness. These interactive groups, inspired by her studies and enriched by her understanding of Rudolf Steiner's descriptions of the Seven Life Processes, also included storytelling and creative artwork. In 2010 and 2012 respectively, she founded and directed Oasis Group Facilitation, two training programs designed to promote succession. She was co-founder and executive director of the Elysia Therapy Centre in Stourbridge from 2012 to 2021.