Abstract: This piece addresses personal and collective symbolism surrounding the White Rabbit. Through descriptions of associative and analytic modes of thought, in artwork, sandplay, and research from a post-modern, feminist perspective, the author explores this symbol up, down, and through, paralleling Alice’s dream state adventures and adding to the body of literature on the White Rabbit, curiously absent in the field of sandplay.

Keywords:  white rabbit, symbol, sandplay, feminist, mid-life, subversive, literature, curious, Alice, Wonderland, Jung, Kalff, Nietzsche

The White Rabbit: Sacred and Subversive

The White Rabbit has always been a symbolic companion of mine. Since I was a child, I have collected Alice in Wonderland and Through the Lookingglass (Carroll, 1865/1871/1960) memorabilia, most of it given to me as gifts from loved ones. From porcelain figurines and embellished teacups, to indie theater posters and interpretations in perfumery, White Rabbits dot my home and studio (see Figures 1- 3).

I have often remarked over the years that the spirit of the White Rabbit guides my life, pulling me with curiosity, like Alice, to my next adventure. Now approaching mid-life, transitioning personally and professionally, it seems fitting to deeply visit the White Rabbit, taking yet another dive “down the rabbit hole”.

Preparing for A Reintroduction

Having spent the past few years intensely engaged in earning my Ph.D. in counselor education and supervision, where I engaged in a personal sandplay process and studied the creativity in sandplay therapists for my dissertation (McRoberts, 2020), I found my life in transition. During the COVID-19 pandemic I had reached my terminal degree, and both my children had graduated from high school. It seemed strange to be reaching such milestones while cloistered in lockdown, not unlike a rabbit’s clutch. With encouragement from beloved mentors, I decided to begin writing my first symbol paper towards certification as a sandplay therapist through the Sandplay Therapists of America (2019). However, I felt a bit stuck creatively, psychically, and in writing about my beloved symbol. While so powerful and dear to me emotionally, when I attempted to write, my thoughts and words were jumbled, so I avoided it for some time. I was aware, through my recent creativity research, that I had been over exercising my analytic mode of thought, and held my associative processes in a sacred space that was somewhat intimidating to transverse alone, especially in the early stages of creation here.

To embrace the White Rabbit fully, I knew I needed to let go. But I knew that by following the White Rabbit, I, like Alice, would be, to a degree, abandoning my traditionally accepted studies, my older sister/teacher/self, and the life that I knew.

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