The Rorschach inkspot test

The Express on Sunday Magazine
3^rd January 1999

The ink spot

Uri Geller

The celebrity spoon-bender reveals his yearning to get to the heart of existence. He also believes that we are not alone in the universe. Psychologist Martin Lloyd-Elliot analyses

URI’S INK SPOT

1 My pet greyhound, Jon-Jon, his ears flapping. He often chases rabbits.

2 A rabbit’s head with long pointed ears.

3 The Vatican Cross. It reminds me of the school I attended in Nicosia, Cyprus as this was the boarding school’s symbol.

4 The shadow an alien with its egg-shaped head and narrow shoulders.

5 A slice of the human brain.

6. Lundy, off Devon.

Uri’s responses to the ink blot are fascinating: he goes on a journey from the natural world into the mystical, then outer space, then to the mind and finally, back to nature.

He sees the complete blot as “a slice of the human brain” Uri is preoccupied with trying to understand the working’s of the human mind. No wonder, for this is at the heart of the meaning-of-life quest: the greatest mystery of all.

Uri sees his pet greyhound Jon-Jon, his ears flapping behind him. Uri is sensitive to nature and is alive to the energy and animating quality of his animal. He also imagines the head of a rabbit – this is a serene image. Then he sees the “Vatican Cross”: it was the symbol of his school in Cyprus. In the ancient world the cross was considered the ideal shape, a blueprint for man’s existence. Because of its central point it joins and balances all aspects of mankind’s precarious life. The symbolic power of this image is at the centre of Uri’s projections on to the ink blot. He is still affected by the teachings of his childhood.

From here the “large head and narrow shoulders of an alien” appear for Uri. With utter conviction he believes in the existence of alien life. Finally he sees the island of Lundy. When someone has celebrity they often long for a place to which they can escape. When someone’s life is full of strange para-psychological experiences they seek solace in remote locations.

Uri’s novel Ella, published by Headline £4.99 and Uri Geller Magician or Mystic? written by Jonathan Margolis, published by Orion £17.99, are both currently available from all good book shops.

Uri’s response I’m astounded how correct the analysis is. Everything is absolutely spot on – I would have thought he’d used his psychic powers to draw this picture of me. It’s fantastic.