About Synthesise
The inspiration for Synthesise came from a variety of sources and individuals but the vision was held for a number of years by John Shiers and Judy Benson who worked together as organisational consultants in the field of children and young people’s services with colleagues in the Phoenix Group. (www.phoenixgroup.co.uk). Both John and Judy were committed to bringing the principles of spiritual intelligence to the many people seeking personal, social and organisational change.
In shaping Synthesise they were influenced by a range of events and experiences that they took part in. These events included an International Conference for Organisational Spirituality (ICOS), the Be The Change conference, a European Transpersonal Association Conference and conferences at the Findhorn Community in Scotland. On one of their long journeys back to Manchester they decided to put energy into finding ways of having similar experiences without travelling so far. John is also a psychosynthesis psychotherapist who had trained in London and was keen to make transpersonal psychology more available in the North.
Although their enthusiasm never wavered Judy became ill and John was fully occupied with his psychotherapy practice, consultancy work and other training commitments. This made progress slow at first, but once some seed money was found and Liz Clarke was appointed, the organisation was able to develop its infrastructure and a full programme of events.
The Alchemical Process
We chose the symbol of the Alchemist to represent Synthesise. Much of the work we planned to do carried a sense of transformation and we chose the Alchemic archetype as one that would express the essence of Synthesise.
Having the Alchemist archetype at the core of the Synthesise organisation means that the work that is developed and delivered through the organisation carries the essence of transformation. Ancient alchemists were experimenters holding the connection between all life in the idea that transformation was possible. This alchemical archetype gives Synthesise wonderful metaphors to work with. It is represented visually in the name where the ‘Y’ in Synthesise is shown as a crucible and the gold pool, representing both the result of transformation and the elixir of life.