This Jungian Life Podcast &#8211; Joseph Lee, Deborah Stewart, Lisa Marchiano

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SHADOWLAND: Relentless Pain - the story of Jean Campbell Sep 05, 2024

JEAN CAMPBELL is a supermodel who from the outside looks to be living a fairy tale life. Stunningly beautiful, she has modeled on the international stage for brands including Alexander McQueen, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton and Burberry. Of course, nothing is ever so simple (especially in fairy tales).

After experiencing a traumatic injury at a young age, Jean had to learn how to live with chronic pain. She underwent multiple surgeries, and confronted despair induced by the extreme physical and emotional challenges she faced.

Shadowland is our This Jungian Life forum for exploring the lives of people who exist in the hidden places of our culture. Life with chronic pain is one of those hidden places: for many it is characterized by loneliness and fear. At home and at work, people with chronic pain conditions are often asked to mask the reality of what they’re experiencing.

In this episode, Lisa and Deb explore the gulf Jean experienced between persona and shadow. In private, Jean searched for ways to cope with physical pain and suffering, whilst in public she built a successful career based on her exceptional physical beauty.

According to Jean, embracing and befriending pain has been key in her path to healing. This is explored through a discussion of A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, in which the protagonist, Ged, must confront and befriend his shadow:

“Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, only in dying life: bright the hawk's flight on the empty sky” (A Wizard of Earthsea).

Listen to Jean Campbell’s podcast, https://www.if-podcast.com/

Follow Jean Campbell: https://www.instagram.com/jean_campbell/

You might also be interested in our This Jungian Life episode on https://thisjungianlife.com/episode-68-chronic-illness/

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Demure Social Media Trend: Elegant or Oppressive? Aug 29, 2024

Does the Demure social media trend offer a path to true elegance or reinforce restrictive norms in an extroverted world?

The Demure social media trend has become a countercultural movement that seems to promote elegance, modesty, and introspection in stark contrast to the flamboyant exhibitionistic behaviors often seen online. It forces us to question whether its rise signifies a return to refined values or a subtle form of oppression, as it compensates the extroverted behaviors that dominate modern society. By prioritizing simplicity, restraint, and authenticity, the demure trend resonates with introverts who value inner peace, emotional well-being, and a connection to tradition. While it offers a sense of self-control and empowerment, it also raises questions about elitism and the reinforcement of traditional gender norms, making it a complex and multifaceted phenomenon.

Prepare to discover what the Demure social media trend reveals about the intersection of cultural values, modesty, and self-expression, how the trend influences personal identity, emotional regulation, and the balance between public persona and private self, which aspects of the trend empower individuals and which may reinforce traditional or restrictive norms, whether embracing the Demure trend aligns with authentic self-expression or succumbs to societal pressures, why the Demure trend resonates deeply in a world increasingly dominated by extroverted ideals and superficiality…and so much more.

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Loyalty to Self and the Death of Illusion Aug 22, 2024

Loyalty is deeply tied to our identity and evolves unconsciously, shaping our relationships and expectations.

This evolution is influenced by attachment styles and can be manipulated in political contexts, distorting our sense of fairness. Disillusionment occurs when our loyalty to people, institutions, or ideas meets harsh reality, leading to the painful but necessary process of individuation. Mourning the loss of illusions requires taking responsibility for our lives and listening to the wisdom of the unconscious. Choosing Self over the system—whether through personal decisions like coming out, whistleblowing, or defying societal norms—demands courage and authenticity. This choice often comes at a great cost but is essential for true personal growth. Embracing our uniqueness and living authentically leads to true freedom and belonging. Loyalty to Self is about identifying and following the wise voice within, despite external pressures. It involves facing the consequences of stepping away from collective norms and rejecting external expectations. Ultimately, it is through this loyalty to Self that we align with our true purpose in life.

Prepare to discover what drives the unconscious forces of loyalty and the impact of disillusionment on personal growth, how to navigate the complexities of choosing self over societal expectations and align with your true nature, which patterns of attachment influence your relationships and decisions, leading to either authentic or misguided loyalties, whether embracing individuality and rejecting illusions can lead to true freedom and belonging, why it is essential to confront and integrate the unconscious for personal authenticity and fulfillment…and so much more.

FIND THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/loyalty/

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VOLCANO: ARCHETYPE OF CREATION AND DESTRUCTION Aug 20, 2024

Volcanoes appear in our myths, movies, and dreams. Their awesome destructive power fascinates us and serves as a reminder that we are not in control of nature’s primordial forces. Offering access to the earth’s molten core, volcanoes have been believed to be the entryway to the underworld or Hell. The Greeks believed that the fiery bursts from volcanoes were the sparks flying from Hephaestus’ forge, thus underscoring the creative aspect of volcanoes – Hephaestus created items of incredible beauty and power in his underground workshop.

Volcanoes create new rocks and new land mass. Their mineral-rich output fertilizes the surrounding soil, producing abundant and delicious crops. The volcano serves as a potent image of the unconscious – unpredictable, sometimes explosive, powered from the depths – but also capable of bestowing its fructifying blessing upon us.

FIND THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/episode-234-volcano/

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The Secret Life of a Woman's Soul Aug 15, 2024

What is unique about the evolution of consciousness in the female psyche?

Hilary Morgan, filmmaker and granddaughter of Christiana Morgan, created the documentary "Tower of Dreams" to lift up her grandmother's significant contributions to analytical psychology and her exploration of the feminine psyche. Christiana's visionary art and collaboration with Carl Jung, particularly her influence on the Vision Seminars, were pivotal in clarifying how archetypal forces emerge in the psyche and eventually adopt human forms. Her tower embodied her individuation process and created sacred space to experiment with expanding Jung's work through intimate relationship. Despite societal repression and personal struggles, Morgan's legacy endures through Hilary's efforts to restore and celebrate her grandmother's work, ensuring her contributions continue to inspire future generations.

Prepare to discover what distinguishes Christiana Morgan's contributions to Analytical Psychology; how she contributed to significant psychological tools like the Thematic Apperception Test; which aspects of her life and work exemplify female individuation; whether the insights derived from her life can provide meaningful perspectives on contemporary issues of female psychological development; why Christiana's legacy is essential for understanding the power of creativity and visionary experiences in shaping both individual lives and psychological practices…and so much more.

LEARN more about The Tower & HELP Publish Christiana's Journals: https://www.towerofdreamsdoc.com/support

TAKE ACTION to Save the Tower on the Marsh: https://www.thegovernorsacademy.org/academics/morgan-tower-project

FUNDRAISE: To Join the experienced fundraising team with Hilary Morgan, reach out to her: hilarymorgandp@gmail.com

READ: Translate This Darkness: The Life of Christiana Morgan by Claire Douglas, https://a.co/d/5FPFEz7

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UNLOCK THE POWER OF SYMBOLS Aug 08, 2024

Author, teacher, and Jungian analyst Murray Stein helps us unlock the power of symbols.

Symbols, as the keys to unlocking psychological forces, have the transformative potential to heal our suffering and restore our relationship to the center of our being. These images connect our waking minds to the unconscious reservoirs of creativity and emerging potential. From historical religious practices to modern everyday life, symbols evoke powerful emotional and psychological responses that can guide or manipulate us. Whether through dreams, visions, or cultural contexts, symbols bridge the material and spiritual worlds, restoring our instinctive sense that we live our lives from the inside out.

Prepare to learn what symbols are and their significance in Jungian psychology, how to engage these images through techniques like active imagination, journaling, and creative expression, which symbols carry significant psychological and emotional weight, whether symbolic experiences can lead to transformative psychological insights, why symbols are essential in bridging the material and spiritual worlds and so much more…

FIND A COPY OF THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/unlock-the-power-of-symbols/

Learn more about Murray HERE: https://www.murraystein.com/wp/

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LUXURY BELIEFS: Has social class shaped your mind? Aug 01, 2024

What unconscious beliefs alienate us from those who are less privileged and what can we do about it?

Rob Henderson, author of the best-selling book "Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class," explores the concept of "Luxury Beliefs." Raised in poverty by a drug-addicted mother and navigating a series of painful foster care homes, Henderson found outward success through the military, Yale, and Cambridge but never resolved his inner suffering. His self-reflection led him to identify "Luxury Beliefs," attitudes prevalent among his affluent peers that serve as social status indicators rather than practical principles. These beliefs, such as dismissing traditional marriage, advocating laissez-faire parenting, and drug decriminalization, are manageable for the wealthy but destabilize poorer communities. By understanding luxury beliefs, society can foster empathetic conversations across socioeconomic lines, ultimately recognizing that the upbringing and environment we provide for children shape our future culture.

Prepare to discover what hidden socioeconomic doctrines influence our beliefs, how affluent philosophical tenets shape societal norms and affect different social classes, which beliefs serve more as status symbols than practical principles, whether luxury beliefs genuinely injure the impoverished, why understanding these concepts can foster empathy, bridge cultural divides, and inspire positive policy changes…and so much more.

Learn more about Rob here: https://www.robkhenderson.com/about

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Is it Love or Abuse of Power? Shadow and Archetype in TELL THEM YOU LOVE ME Jul 25, 2024

Can we protect ourselves and others from powerful projections that confuse reality and make us vulnerable in ways we cannot imagine?

In honest and open discussion, we meet with director Nick August-Perna, whose controversial documentary, "Tell Them You Love Me," has set off a firestorm. Rutgers professor Anna Stubblefield claimed to unlock Derrick Johnson through facilitated communication. Debate erupted about whether Johnson, a nonverbal Black man with cerebral palsy, could give consent. Was this true love, or an abuse of power? Race, informed consent, the personal autonomy of people with intellectual disabilities, and overwhelming archetypal dynamics must be grasped to understand the complex forces at work in their relationship, and the reactions others felt when it was discovered.

Prepare to discover what disrupts the balance between love and power; how personal biases and psychological projections shape our interactions and ethical decisions; which societal attitudes towards race, disability, and consent need critical examination and reform; whether facilitated communication can authentically reflect the thoughts of nonverbal individuals or merely the facilitator’s fantasies; why we need multiple voices, divergent feelings, and cultural tensions to surface without simple resolutions to expand consciousness.

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ARE YOU TRACKING TWISTERS? The reckless charm of creating tornados in our lives. Jul 18, 2024

How can understanding the symbolic power of twisters help us navigate and transform the chaotic forces in our lives with resilience and wisdom?

Twisters symbolize the spontaneous upheaval in the ordinary affairs of life that can be annihilating or transformative. These swirling vortexes are manifestations of the sacred, expressions of celestial and generative power that were communicated to the terrestrial realm. From Kiowa legends to Jungian analysis, tornados personify an aspect of the unconscious capable of volatility and violent acts of destruction, yet the same forces provided life-giving rain. These wild archetypal storms signify inner turmoil, grief, and erotic passion. They symbolically evoke psychic tension gradually building to the bursting point or more sudden in-breakings of highly charged transpersonal energies. If we can face the power of these vortices of force, inner and outer, we will come to know the source of our own life.

Prepare to discover what deep psychological insights can be drawn from the symbolic power of tornadoes in our lives, how diverse cultural interpretations of storms can enrich your understanding of personal and collective challenges, which archetypal elements resonate with your own experiences of chaos and transformation, whether the metaphor of twisters can be a guide for navigating life's emotional and spiritual upheavals, why the storm, as a potent symbol, captivates the human psyche and represents the balance between destruction and renewal…and so much more.

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PERSONAL SHADOW WORK: Where is your dark twin hiding? Jul 11, 2024

Where are our lost talents and disowned powers hiding?

PERSONAL SHADOW WORK: Where is your dark twin hiding? Helps us identify parts of ourselves pushed into the unconscious due to conflicts with our family of origin and misalignment with cultural and family norms. We first encounter shadow by projecting it on others. The despicable traits we cannot stand in others point to similar qualities we refuse to acknowledge in ourselves. Self-confrontation and honest introspection can help us say, “I am the one who hides this terrible flaw inside myself. I am the one who rejects my inner dark twin.” When we can approach reclaiming all parts of ourself with good humor, patience and courage we discover a reservoir of intense energy, talents and creativity.

Prepare to discover why we dream of figures who hunt and chase us, whether it is safe to face our inner darkness alone, how to identify our most vilified characteristics, when it’s the right time to prioritize shadow work, what is pressuring us to accept our inner dark twin and where will this courageous process lead us…and so much more.

HERE'S SOMETHING SPECIAL: You're invited to JUNG'S AMERICAN MUSE: THE VISIONS AND ART OF CHRISTIANA MORGAN, a live podcast recording on Saturday, July 13th, at 2 pm EST. Tickets are on sale now for $5. Christiana Morgan's visions and art were pivotal to Jung's understanding of the nature of the feminine. We're thrilled to welcome her granddaughter, filmmaker Hilary Morgan, as our guest. Hilary will share Tower of Dreams, her short documentary, and then discuss her memories and reflections on her grandmother's life. BUY YOUR TICKET HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jungs-american-muse-the-visions-and-art-of-christiana-morgan-tickets-928055668487?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl.

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Did Jung and Tolkien visit the same psychic realms??? Jul 11, 2024

How can the shared imaginal realms of Jung and Tolkien empower us to navigate our personal journeys and transform our understanding of self and community?

In exploring the uncanny shared imaginal realms of Jung and Tolkien, author Becca Tarnas uncovers a profound intersection of depth psychology and mythopoeic literature, revealed in their seminal Red Books. Amid the early 20th century's upheaval, both authors undertook personal and universal journeys into the psyche, employing active imagination to engage archetypes such as the shadow, anima, and hero. Their works, brimming with symbolic meaning and mirroring profound psychological truths, beckon us to contemplate transformation, individuation, and the potency of the feminine principle within. By crafting intricate narratives and psychological insights, Jung and Tolkien charted the inner landscapes of human experience, underscoring the universal struggles and spiritual depths that bind us all. Their exploration of nature, the environment, and the darker facets of the psyche showcase the transformative power of literal and metaphorical journeys, guiding us toward enlightenment and self-realization.

Prepare to discover what the psychological and creative processes behind the works of Jung and Tolkien reveal about the universal journey of self-discovery; how to access and interpret your own imaginal realms to deepen your understanding of the personal and collective unconscious; which aspects of Jung's and Tolkien's methodologies can be applied to enhance self-awareness and artistic expression; whether the challenges and insights presented in their works have parallels in contemporary psychological practices and personal development; why the exploration of imaginal realms is crucial for personal growth and the cultivation of a richer, more connected sense of community…and so much more.

READ A COPY OF THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/shared-imaginal-realms-of-jung-and-tolkien/

Rebecca Tarnas is an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her research includes depth psychology, archetypal studies, literature, philosophy, and the ecological imagination. She is an editor of Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology and author of Journey to the Imaginal Realm: A Readers Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (https://a.co/d/7zIUX4K). She is researching and writing a biography of Stanislav Grof, a co-founder of transpersonal psychology.

For more information about Becca, check out her website: https://beccatarnas.com/

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Can Art Heal Us? The role of imagery in Jungian Analysis. Jul 04, 2024

Can spontaneous art-making harness the power of imagery and symbols to promote emotional healing and self-discovery?

Mark Dean, Jungian analyst, professional artist, professor, and art therapist, helps us explore the profound connection between art-making and psychological growth, using imagery, metaphors, and symbols as bridges between our conscious and unconscious minds. Rooted in Analytical Psychology, this approach helps us identify and process complex emotions, experiences, and foundational attitudes, promoting positive change in our relationships and psyche. This work emphasizes the dynamic relationship between our inner and outer worlds and the limitless creativity this can bring forward.

Prepare to discover what Jungian art therapy is and its role in individuation, how imagery and symbols facilitate emotional healing, which techniques and methods are most effective, whether art can really serve as a bridge between your conscious and unconscious mind, why integrating creative expression into all areas of our life is essential for well-being…and so much more.

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HERE'S SOMETHING SPECIAL: You're invited to JUNG'S AMERICAN MUSE: THE VISIONS AND ART OF CHRISTIANA MORGAN, a live podcast recording on Saturday, July 13th, at 2 pm EST. Tickets are on sale now for $5. Christiana Morgan's visions and art were pivotal to Jung's understanding of the nature of the feminine. We're thrilled to welcome her granddaughter, filmmaker Hilary Morgan, as our guest. Hilary will share Tower of Dreams, her short documentary, and then discuss her memories and reflections on her grandmother's life. BUY YOUR TICKET HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jungs-american-muse-the-visions-and-art-of-christiana-morgan-tickets-928055668487?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl.

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SELF-SABOTAGE: Why we do it and how to stop it. Jun 27, 2024

Can understanding self-sabotage empower you to overcome hidden barriers and transform your life?

Understanding Self-Sabotage is crucial for unlocking our true potential and overcoming barriers to personal growth. We can identify the unconscious complexes that hinder our progress by exploring internalized negative beliefs, fear of success, unresolved inner conflicts, and defense mechanisms like avoidance and self-handicapping. Through dream analysis, active imagination, and creative expression, we can transform self-sabotaging behaviors into opportunities for growth.

Prepare to discover what self-sabotage is and how it manifests in your life, how to identify and address unconscious drives and defense mechanisms that work against you, which Jungian concepts and therapeutic strategies can help transform self-sabotaging behaviors into personal growth, whether your fears and conflicts are rooted in internalized negative beliefs or unresolved inner conflicts, why understanding self-sabotage is crucial for achieving a harmonious and fulfilling life…and so much more.

HERE'S SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL: You're invited to JUNG'S AMERICAN MUSE: THE VISIONS AND ART OF CHRISTIANA MORGAN, a live podcast recording on Saturday, July 13th, at 2 pm EST. Tickets are on sale now for $5. Christiana Morgan's visions and art were pivotal to Jung's understanding of the nature of the feminine. We're thrilled to welcome her granddaughter, filmmaker Hilary Morgan, as our guest. Hilary will share Tower of Dreams, her short documentary, and then discuss her memories and reflections on her grandmother's life. BUY YOUR TICKET HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jungs-american-muse-the-visions-and-art-of-christiana-morgan-tickets-928055668487?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl.

READ A COPY OF THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/self-sabotage/

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Does AI Dream Interpretation Really Work? Jun 20, 2024

TRY OUT THE TEMENOS DREAM INTERPRETATION APP FOR FREE: https://inf.temenosdream.com/eiNh/tjlmeta

Can the synergy between AI technology and human expertise revolutionize dream interpretation, promote personal growth, and ensure ethical considerations in the age of digital psychology?

John Temple's AI dream interpretation app TEMENOS decodes dreams, providing insights into the unconscious. The app captures and analyzes dreams, offering immediate detailed feedback, relevant myths, images, and information on specific symbols while highlighting recurring themes. AI's ability to process large datasets allows a swift comparison of your dream series, revealing hidden patterns. While AI excels in objective analysis, human interpreters bring depth, non-rational insights, and emotional connection. Combining AI’s efficiency with human empathy may offer a holistic approach to dream interpretation. This synergy may open new pathways for exploring the unconscious, enhancing personal development, and enhancing analytic interventions. The future of dream interpretation may lie in balancing AI technology with human connection for a deeper understanding of dreams.

Prepare to discover what AI dream interpretation reveals about the unconscious mind, how AI and human insights can complement each other in dream analysis, which benefits and limitations AI brings, whether AI can replicate human intuition, why integrating AI technology with traditional methods might enhance personal growth and self-awareness…and so much more.

TRY OUT THE TEMENOS DREAM INTERPRETATION APP FOR FREE: https://inf.temenosdream.com/eiNh/tjlmeta

FIND A COPY OF THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/ai-dream-interpretation/

HERE'S SOMETHING SPECIAL: You're invited to JUNG'S AMERICAN MUSE: THE VISIONS AND ART OF CHRISTIANA MORGAN, a live podcast recording on Saturday, July 13th, at 2 pm EST. Tickets are on sale now for $5. Christiana Morgan's visions and art were pivotal to Jung's understanding of the nature of the feminine. We're thrilled to welcome her granddaughter, filmmaker Hilary Morgan, as our guest. Hilary will share Tower of Dreams, her short documentary, and then discuss her memories and reflections on her grandmother's life. Buy Your Ticket Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jungs-american-muse-the-visions-and-art-of-christiana-morgan-tickets-928055668487?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl.

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EXPLORE DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY WITH OUR COMPREHENSIVE STUDIES - TRANSFORM YOUR UNDERSTANDING

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MALIGNANT NARCISSISTS: they're closer than you think Jun 13, 2024

How can recognizing and mitigating the psychological effects of toxic leadership protect people from regressing and aligning with dangerous leaders before it's too late?

Understanding the effects of toxic leaders is crucial for fostering healthy organizational and societal dynamics. Malignant narcissism and large group regression can lead to destructive leadership, but by integrating psychological insights into leadership training and policy formulation, we can create environments that resist such toxicity. Education, ethical leadership, and community engagement are powerful tools that can counteract the negative influence of toxic leaders. Through informed action and collective effort, we can build resilient communities and organizations, ensuring a healthier and more harmonious society for all.

Prepare to discover what specific behaviors and traits define toxic leadership and its impact on group dynamics and individual well-being, how to identify signs of malignant narcissism in leaders and implement effective strategies to counteract their negative influence, which leadership styles foster healthy organizational cultures and promote emotional intelligence and ethical practices, whether your current organizational environment is affected by toxic leadership and what steps you can take to initiate positive changes, why understanding the psychological effects of leadership styles is crucial for personal development and the overall health of organizations…and so much more.

FIND THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/effects-of-toxic-leaders/

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Can mythology really save our kids? Jun 06, 2024

Can myth-based storytelling transform urban youth?

Kwame Scruggs joins us to discuss how mythology can save our kids. He discovered urban youth development thrives through the transformative power of mythological storytelling. He engages young minds by connecting their experiences with universal themes. His programs incorporate myths that foster emotional healing, personal growth, and a sense of community, guiding youth to see themselves as heroes in their stories. These initiatives offer a holistic approach to education and empowerment by integrating analytical psychology and relevant cultural elements. The insights gained from myths help youth navigate their challenges, instilling hope and resilience.

Prepare to discover what transformative power mythological storytelling holds for urban youth development, how myths foster emotional healing, personal growth, and community, which methods effectively integrate myth and analytical psychology in educational programs, whether myth-based approaches can facilitate meaningful change, why storytelling is a vital tool for instilling hope and resilience in young people's lives…and so much more.

FIND THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/the-power-of-myth-in-urban-youth-development/

Learn more about Kwame here: https://www.kwamescruggs.com/

Learn about Kwame’s live mentor training in New York City on June 22, 2024. https://www.alchemyinc.net/rsvp

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Psychodermatology: How Skin Communicates Unconscious Conflicts May 30, 2024

How do skin conditions give voice to silent suffering in our souls?

Our skin serves as a canvas for our emotional and psychological states, manifesting internal conflicts through visible conditions. The symbolic meaning behind skin conditions can reveal deep-seated emotional issues. Self-inflicted lesions highlight an individual's internal turmoil, serving as a cry for help. We all understand how blushing and sweating provide outer clues about our psychological landscape. Skin, a boundary between ego and the external world, exists as a threshold organ where experiences enter us and responses are displayed. Applying Jung’s symbolic attitude to our body can lead us to hidden meanings in our skin that may release us from suffering.

Prepare to discover what your skin can reveal about your unconscious conflicts; how a symbolic interpretation of specific symptoms can lead to a meaningful dialogue with the unconscious; which therapeutic approaches can effectively decipher the language of skin symptoms; whether addressing emotional well-being can improve chronic skin issues; why some of us are more vulnerable to somatic symptoms like skin reactions…and so much more.

FIND THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/skin_communicates_unconscious_conflicts/

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IDENTITY CRISIS: When Our Story Falls Apart May 23, 2024

How can understanding and reshaping our personal narratives help us navigate and overcome identity crises during major life transitions?

A Narrative Identity Crisis occurs when the evolving story we create to make sense of our lives—integrating past experiences, present realities, and future aspirations—becomes disrupted, leading to profound disorientation and psychological distress. This crisis can be triggered by significant life changes, traumatic events, or conflicting social and cultural pressures, causing our coherent self-narrative to fragment. Memory, meaning-making, and emotional regulation are all impacted as we struggle to reconcile our self-concept with new experiences. Addressing a Narrative Identity Crisis involves reflection, support, and often therapeutic intervention to rebuild a stable, adaptive narrative that restores our sense of meaning, direction, and psychological well-being.

Prepare to discover what a personal life story is and how it integrates past experiences, present realities, and future aspirations into a coherent sense of self; how individual narratives shape our psychological well-being, influence our emotions, and guide our understanding of life events; which cognitive and emotional processes contribute to constructing and maintaining a coherent self-narrative; whether disruptions in our self-concept can lead to identity crises and the potential for growth and transformation through these crises; why engaging with and reconstructing personal narratives is crucial for emotional regulation, resilience, and overall psychological health...and so much more.

THE DREAM WE ANALYZE IS HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/identity-crisis/

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Can We Transform Fear into Joy? - learn the secret in the Six Swans fairytale May 16, 2024

How can we harness inner strength and resilience to transform personal fears and adversities into growth and joy?

In our "Six Swans Jungian Analysis," we explore how a fairytale reveals profound insights into transformation, resilience, and the complexities of human emotions. Through a sister's silent endurance, a king's protective instincts, and the ultimate triumph of truth, we can also discover our own inner strength, sacrifice, and personal growth. The fairytale "The Six Swans" teaches us about the enduring human spirit, the transformative power of love, and the journey toward individuation and wholeness, offering valuable psychological insights into fear, joy, and resilience.

Prepare to discover what inner strength and resilience genuinely mean in the face of adversity; how to navigate and transform personal fears into opportunities for growth; which psychological and emotional strategies can foster enduring change; whether embracing silent perseverance can lead to personal empowerment; why understanding the balance between good and evil within ourselves is crucial for achieving wholeness…and so much more.

FIND THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/six-swans-jungian-analysis/

FIND THE GRIMMS TALE HERE: https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm049.html

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Encounters with Light: Jung's near-death experiences May 02, 2024

How can near-death experiences challenge and expand our understanding of consciousness and its connection to the transcendent?

Carl Jung's near-death experience profoundly deepened his understanding of the psyche and its connection to the universal consciousness, reinforcing his belief in life beyond physical existence. During this transformative episode, he observed Earth from a distance, encountered mystical figures, and experienced a temple-like structure within a meteoric stone, enriching his theories on the collective unconscious and archetypal imagery. This experience left an indelible mark on his professional theories and personal philosophy, intensifying his exploration of human consciousness and the continuity of life after death.

Universally consistent across cultures, Near Death Experiences (NDEs) are marked by out-of-body sensations, encounters with entities or deceased relatives, and environments filled with light, highlighting a shared psychological process at the boundary between life and death. Research efforts have effectively verified these phenomena, especially those corroborated in clinical settings, which challenge traditional views on consciousness. The transformative impacts of NDEs are profound, often leading to a diminished fear of death, increased spirituality, and a broader sense of self that integrates with universal consciousness. Open discussions enrich our understanding of NDEs within various cultural and historical contexts and provoke deeper reflections on consciousness as potentially expansive and eternal, aligning with modern and ancient perspectives on the human experience.

FIND THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/near_death_experiences/

Prepare to discover what profound transformations can occur as one hovers between life and death; how psyche might extend beyond the physical realm, suggesting our consciousness is capable of surviving bodily limits; which elements of near-death experiences (NDEs) resonate across different cultures; whether personal transformations following NDEs typically lead to significant life changes; why NDEs captivate scientific and spiritual communities, as they offer a glimpse into the potential expanses of human consciousness and provide a narrative that can bring solace and meaning…and so much more.

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MARTYR COMPLEX: Selfish or Selfless? Apr 25, 2024

How can understanding different aspects of martyrdom help us navigate personal sacrifices and societal expectations in our search for a meaningful life?

Individuals with a martyr complex often seek validation for their pain and suffering, which can be a source of protection and nurturing. It can also be a form of manipulation where personal suffering is used to influence or control the reactions of others. This behavior can be harmful, leading individuals to persist in unhealthy relationships or dangerous situations under the guise of nobility or duty. It is important to distinguish between healthy self-sacrifice and detrimental martyrdom by gaining a reflective understanding of our motivations and aligning our actions with healthy self-sacrifice. Resolving the complex involves examining personal motives, societal values, and psychological health to foster healthier ways of being and interacting in the world.

Prepare to discover…what complexities and interpretations surround the concept of martyrdom, revealing its multifaceted nature in both historical and personal contexts; how individuals interpret and internalize the idea of suffering and sacrifice through personal experiences and cultural narratives, shaping their worldview and psychological responses; which factors contribute to someone being viewed as a martyr, including the interplay of religious, cultural, and personal elements that influence the perception of sacrifice; whether the actions associated with martyrdom are motivated by genuine selflessness, psychological needs, or external influences, examining the blurred lines between heroism and victimhood; why the theme of martyrdom resonates deeply across different cultures and epochs, serving both as a source of inspiration and a tool for social and political change…and so much more.

FIND THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/martyr-complex/

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ECLIPSE: archetype of awe, wonder, and triumph Apr 18, 2024

Encountering a total eclipse can evoke a primal connection to nature and the infinite, constellating a deep sense of belonging to the universe and each other.

Eclipses profoundly impact observers, evoking awe, transcendence, and a shared sense of unity. These celestial events encourage deep personal reflection and stronger social connections among those who witness them. They transform ordinary moments into extraordinary ones, re-enchanting the world and reinforcing the bond between humanity, nature, and the cosmos. Mysterious and awe-filled, in ancient times, Eclipses inspired myths and religious rites that shaped culture, politics, and even war.

Prepare to discover...how human beings engage with and interpret awe-inspiring events; what effects awe, mystery, and the numinous have on the human psyche; where individuals and societies find meaning and transcendence in natural phenomena; whether events like eclipses can re-enchant a disenchanted world; which aspects of human nature are illuminated by our reactions to eclipses; why the human response to eclipses and similar events can be a profound source of insight into our collective and individual psyches, revealing deeper truths about our fears, hopes, and the interplay between consciousness and the cosmos...and so much more.

FIND THE DREAM WE INTERPRET HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/eclipse/

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What if we could force people to dream about us? Apr 11, 2024

How do dreams intrude upon our Psyche, our roles in others' lives, and our societal identities?

Actress Kate Berlant gives us an inside view on the filming of "Dream Scenario." It's a thought-provoking new film that explores the uncanny power of the collective unconscious to shape culture and be shaped by it. In the movie, Nicholas Cage's character Paul mysteriously starts appearing in others' dreams across the globe. He grapples with the fear of being randomly celebrated by the collective and later demonized. Kate Berlant's role in the film and insights into Jungian analysis and dream interpretation launch our conversation into the growing presence of Jung's insights in art and film. We explore the effect of instant and unwarranted celebrity through social media and the power of archetypal roles to change the actor and activate the collective. Kate reveals her personal connection to analytical psychology and the path her inner work has taken her.

Prepare to discover… who explores the depths of dreams and societal perceptions through the lens of cinema, when a film and its thematic discussions intersect with contemporary Jungian perspectives; how art, personal experiences, and the unconscious contribute to our understanding of identity and celebrity; what insights into the nature of dreams, fame, and the Self can be gleaned from the synthesis of film narrative and psychoanalytical insights; where the boundaries between personal identity and public persona blur; whether dreams serve merely as reflections of our Psyche or as vehicles for collective forces; which Jungian concepts illuminate the complex interplay between our inner lives and persona; why the exploration of dreams, both literal and metaphorical, is crucial to understanding our roles in the world and the narratives we construct about ourselves and others…and so much more.

FIND THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/kate_berlant/

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Why We Make Others Feel Bad: understanding projective identification Apr 04, 2024

How do we invisibly transfer our emotions to others, and what magic lies in revealing this unseen dance?

Projective identification is like unconsciously tossing our feelings into someone else, a behavior first noticed in babies with their moms. It's an invisible way we influence others based on our buried issues, avoiding dealing with our tough emotions by making others express them for us. Facing up to this pattern can help us understand ourselves better and grow. Often, this cycle kicks off with blaming others, triggering a domino effect that reveals deeper, hidden struggles within us.

Prepare to discover…Melanie Klein's pivotal role in defining projective identification through her studies on infants and maternal interactions; when its relevant to personal dynamics and psychoanalysis; how projective identification works as a defense mechanism; what projective identification involves, its mechanisms, and its manifestations in daily relationships and therapy; where projective identification occurs, from personal to clinical contexts, highlighting its broad applicability; whether projective identification is conscious or unconscious; which theoretical perspectives and analysts contributed to the understanding of projective identification; why projective identification is significant in understanding human behavior, particularly in emotional communication, relationship dynamics, and therapeutic interventions…and so much more.

FIND THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/projective_identification/

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Everyday Animism: Did Jung speak to his pots and pans? Apr 01, 2024

How do our interactions with the seemingly mundane objects around us reflect and influence our deeper psychological processes and connections with the broader universe?

Jung held a fascinating belief in the soulful essence of inanimate objects. He engaged in daily greetings with his kitchenware at Bollingen Tower, expressing a unique form of animism that extended deeply into his personal and professional life. His collection of beer steins, each with its name, served not only as vessels for drink but as partners in dialogue, reflecting his practice of active imagination. This relationship with objects underscores Jung's broader theories on the collective unconscious and synchronicity, suggesting that everything is interconnected and ensouled. His approach, echoing through the practices of figures like Marie Kondo, invites us to reconsider our relationships with the material world, hinting at a deeper, more mystical interaction with the everyday items that populate our lives.

Prepare to discover…who Jung truly was beyond the textbooks: a visionary who conversed with the soul of the world, from the kitchenware in his hands to the beer steins that whispered archetypal secrets; when the curtain between the animate and inanimate thinned for Jung, revealing itself in the quiet dawn at Bollingen Tower and in the sacred routine of morning toast preparation; how Jung transformed mundane interactions with objects into profound dialogues with the unconscious; what depths of meaning Jung found in the ordinary, where beer steins became the custodians of myth and a toaster named "Gemütlich" embodied the alchemical transformation; where Jung's theoretical explorations took physical shape; whether Jung's practices were mere quirks of genius or essential keys to unlocking the mysteries of the psyche; which of Jung's possessions were not just objects but talismans, each named beer stein and the cherished toaster "Gemütlich," serving as conduits to deeper understanding and self-realization; why Jung embraced such a mystical relationship with the material world, illuminating his belief in a universe where every particle, every object, speaks the language of the soul, urging us to listen and learn from the symphony of the seemingly silent.

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VULGARITY: What's Its True Power? Mar 28, 2024

How does the interplay between vulgarity and societal norms reflect and shape the human experience of freedom, creativity, and psychological depth?

Our collective fascination with vulgarity, obscenity, and profanity lies in the thrill of transgression and the need to articulate the unspoken aspects of human experience. As we navigate social acceptability, the vulgar mirrors our deepest shadow and wildest laughter, a space where sacred and profane dance in the liminal light of truth and rebellion. Engaging vulgarity challenges the rigid confines of propriety. Embracing discomfort and delight, it forges connections, releases pent-up emotions, and confronts the complexities of existence. In the laughter that follows the shock, the shared glance of understanding, and the relief of tension, we discover the power of vulgarity to unite us, to reveal our shared vulnerabilities that bind us as a community. By acknowledging and exploring the collective allure of vulgarity, we embrace a deeper understanding of ourselves and each other, where we discover the full spectrum of our humanity with all its messiness, beauty, and transcendent potential.

Prepare to discover…when societal norms around vulgarity have shifted, revealing the acceptance and rejection of vulgar expressions as mirrors of cultural transformations; how vulgarity serves as a complex tool for challenging, mocking, and sometimes reinforcing societal norms, acting as both a disruptor and a reflector of cultural attitudes; what roles vulgarity plays in humor, rebellion, and the psychological exploration of shadow; where vulgarity is variably accepted or condemned; whether vulgarity acts merely as a social faux pas or plays a more profound role in challenging taboos and sparking necessary dialogue; which aspects of vulgarity transcend cultural boundaries to be universally recognized; why vulgarity continues to be a potent and dynamic form of human expression, serving not only as a mirror to society’s evolving values and limits but also as a catalyst for reflection, dialogue, and change…and so much more.

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WAS JUNG ANTISEMETIC? Mar 21, 2024

How do we interpret and evaluate C.G. Jung's complex legacy in light of his interactions with Jewish individuals and the allegations of antisemitism, considering the nuanced historical context in which he lived and worked?"

Ronnie Landau helps us unpack allegations that Jung was antisemitic. Assessing Jung's possible antisemitism is complex and requires a nuanced understanding of his historical context and personal relationships. His involvement in psychoanalytic societies during the Nazi era has led to accusations of antisemitism, yet his actions and writings suggest an intimate, dynamic, and protective relationship with Jewish colleagues and theories. Jung tried to shield Jewish analysts by leveraging his position, indicating his efforts to mitigate the impacts of Nazi policies on his Jewish colleagues. His correspondence and professional interactions with Jewish individuals, including Freud, show admiration, critique, and misunderstanding, reflecting the complicated dynamics of early psychoanalytic circles. Critics and supporters of Jung need to consider the evolution of his views over time, acknowledging both problematic aspects of his work and his contributions to psychoanalytic thought that transcended racial and ethnic boundaries.

Prepare to discover…who Carl Jung was, his relationships with Jewish individuals and communities, and the controversy surrounding allegations of antisemitism in his work and personal beliefs; when Jung's significant interactions with the Nazi party lead others to question his allegiances; how Jung's theories, were influenced by and, in turn, influenced Jewish scholars, demonstrating a complex interplay between Jungian psychology and Jewish thought; what specific allegations of antisemitism have been made against Jung, the evidence for and against these claims, and the broader implications of his work within the context of 20th-century antisemitic movements; where Jung stood in relation to the Nazi regime and antisemitism, including his professional and personal actions that have been scrutinized for either complicity or opposition to antisemitic policies; whether Jung's interactions and theoretical disagreements with Sigmund Freud, as well as his comments on Jewish psychology, can be considered antisemitic or reflective of the era's complex cultural and scientific dialogues; which aspects of Jewish mysticism and philosophical thought, particularly Kabbalah and Hasidism; why the narrative surrounding Jung's work, his alleged antisemitism, and his relationship with Jewish intellectuals remains a subject of intense debate, reflecting the challenges of disentangling a historical figure's legacy from the socio-political context of their time…and so much more.

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IS IT BETTER TO BE or FLEE THE BIG BAD WOLF? Mar 14, 2024

Can we grow by facing and integrating our ferocious instincts?

The Three Little Pigs isn't just a children's tale; it's a sharp commentary on resilience, preparation, and the strategic mindset required to navigate life's challenges. This story strips back the layers of our decision-making processes, questioning whether we opt for quick fixes or invest in durable solutions.

Prepare to discover…who embodies the stages of ego development, from initial vulnerability to mature resilience; when the processes of ego fortification and psychological maturation are catalyzed by the confrontation with and integration of our shadow; how the engagement and assimilation of unconscious drives within the psyche contribute to the development of a more integrated and resilient ego structure; what the symbolic elements of the Three Little Pigs fairytale reveal about the universal struggle with internal fears and the path to self-realization; where within the psyche the battle between fleeing from versus confronting one's deepest fears and instincts unfolds; whether the developmental journey towards self-awareness and ego strength is more profoundly influenced by facing one's internal wolves or by avoidance; which themes of resilience, shadow integration, and ego development are exemplified in each pig's approach to building their house; why the integration of instinct and shadow is essential for psychological wholeness and personal empowerment…and so much more.

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THE PSYCHOLOGY OF STRIFE: What Lies Beneath Our Conflicts? Mar 07, 2024

How does resolving inner conflicts enhance external relations?

Conflict, both inner and outer, is a fundamental part of the human experience. We engage in conflicts externally with others and internally within ourselves, reflecting the complex nature of human relationships and the psyche. Our external conflicts often mirror internal struggles, serving as manifestations of unresolved or unacknowledged inner turmoil. Recognizing the projection of our inner conflicts onto external situations can lead to deeper self-awareness and understanding. Delving into inner conflict necessitates introspection and the willingness to confront uncomfortable aspects of ourselves. This involves exploring our desires, fears, and contradictions to gain insight into our true motivations and feelings. Experiencing ambivalence—holding conflicting desires or feelings simultaneously—signals the presence of inner conflict. Acknowledging and exploring this ambivalence can be a path to understanding and resolving internal struggles. Projecting our inner conflicts onto others can obscure their true source, leading to misunderstandings and unnecessary external conflicts. Recognizing projection as a defense mechanism allows us to address the root causes of our struggles. Engaging with and working through inner conflicts can lead to significant personal growth and development. This process can enhance our relationships, increase our self-acceptance, and contribute to a more balanced and fulfilling life. Cultivating self-awareness is essential for effectively navigating both external disagreements and internal dilemmas. Understanding our own part in conflicts enables us to approach them with greater empathy and insight. By resolving our inner conflicts, we can improve our external relationships. A clearer understanding of our inner selves allows for more authentic and harmonious interactions with others. The process of understanding and resolving inner conflicts is ongoing. As we grow and change, new layers of the Self emerge, requiring continuous exploration and integration.

Prepare to discover…who explores inner and outer conflicts, including Carl Jung's insights; when inner conflicts require deeper introspection across one's life stages; how inner conflicts are projected externally and the importance of self-awareness; what differentiates inner from outer conflicts, focusing on personal struggles with ambivalence; where conflicts appear, in relationships and within, showing the interplay between internal and external worlds; whether conflicts are internal or external, underlining the need for introspection; which methods, like Jungian analysis, help resolve conflicts for growth and better relationships; why confronting inner conflict is key to a balanced life and transformative for self and relations…and so much more.

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ARE YOU INTERESTED IN A SERIOUS STUDY OF JUNG?

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Did Jung understand gay identity? Feb 29, 2024

Can Jungian psychology shed light on the archetypal forces shaping gay identity?"

Our guest, Robert Hopcke, examines how Jung and Jungians have regarded homosexuality both clinically and theoretically, demonstrating that within a great diversity of opinion, there exist many ways to deepen an understanding of the lives and loves of gay men and lesbians. Hopcke proposes a view of homosexuality that is archetypally based, empirically supportable, psychologically profound, and spiritually evocative.

Jungian psychology has a fresh take on integrating the shadow and the individuation process for LGBTQ+ folks. It encourages everyone to embrace their identity to achieve authenticity and wholeness. Reinterpreting Jung's anima and animus concepts challenges the traditional binary notions of gender and sexuality, leading to a more fluid and inclusive understanding of these concepts. Dreams and fantasies can help people understand themselves better, showing them the archaic strata of desires, conflicts, and potentials hidden within their psyche. By engaging with the collective unconscious and its archetypes, LGBTQ+ individuals can better grasp themselves, fostering a sense of belonging and connection to the broader human experience. Jungian psychology recognizes and validates the complexity and diversity of human experiences, offering a framework that acknowledges and explores the many ways LGBTQ+ identities manifest and evolve.

Prepare to discover...who was the first researcher to investigate and publish Jung’s writings on homosexuality; when Jung challenged heteronormative psychology and introduced radical ideas of femininity and masculinity; how ruthless dreams and the collective unconscious become the battlegrounds and playgrounds for individuals embracing their unique desires; what Jungian concepts empower us to explore varied expressions of love and gender to sculpt identity narratives beyond binary constraints; where Jungian psychology challenges and enriches our collective understanding of human complexity and the quest for authenticity; whether Jung's writings embrace or alienate LGBTQ+ identity formation; which aspects of Jung’s writings offer a beacon of understanding and acceptance;why Jungian thought enriches the discourse on identity beyond heteronormativity, fostering a universal narrative of integration, acceptance, and the celebration of the self in all its diverse manifestations…and so much more.

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THE VITAL SPARK: Reclaim Your Outlaw Energies and Find Your Feminine Fire. Feb 22, 2024

Deep in each of us, a Vital Spark fights to free us and set us back on the path.

Lisa, Joe, and Deb were joined by more than 300 audience members for their first-ever live podcast to celebrate the launch of Lisa's new book, The Vital Spark: Reclaim Your Outlaw Energies and Find Your Feminine Fire.

The "Vital Spark" is the core essence of our innermost fiery qualities—creative aggression, fiery sexuality, emboldened disagreeableness, sharp-witted trickery, burning desire, clearsighted shrewdness, empowering anger, and bold authority—that fuel creativity, assertiveness, desire, and personal power. It is the crucial energy and passion necessary for fueling one's true Self and facilitating personal growth. We achieve this by reclaiming and embracing these once-outlawed or neglected aspects of Self that transcend societal constraints. We are called to confront and integrate shadowy, fierce, and raw qualities. Through this transformative journey of acknowledgment and integration, the Vital Spark seeks to guide individuals toward a life marked by heightened consciousness, power, and agency, enriching their experiences with vibrancy and authenticity.

Prepare to discover:

Who can embody the transformation from pleasing to authoritative, navigating generational conflicts and self-assertion. When it is crucial to confront and integrate shadow aspects of Self to reclaim power and agency in one's life. How to engage with and harness one's aggressive capacities for personal growth and authenticity. What constitutes the vital spark within and the importance of embracing one's full spectrum of qualities, including those deemed dark. Where internal and external journeys of self-discovery and confrontation with one's fate can lead to transformation and fulfillment. Whether it is possible to change one's fate by courageously facing and integrating aspects of Self that have been neglected or exiled. Which qualities and traits are essential for breaking free from limiting roles, enabling a richer, more empowered existence. Why loving one's fate, including embracing the challenging process of self-integration, is key to living a life of depth, purpose, and authenticity...and so much more…

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UNREQUITED LOVE: Can Eros be revived? Feb 15, 2024

When we offer our heart and it is refused, even the gods become angry.

One day long, long ago, Aphrodite was a new mother. Her son, Eros, was the living symbol of her endless passion for his father, Aries. Despite her divine gifts, Eros failed to thrive. Desperate, she brought the goblet to the ancient mother, Themis, who knew the boy was dying at once. Aphrodite was instructed to bear a second child who, when presented to Eros, would cure him. Dutifully, she lay with Aries and begot a second son. She brought them close and was astonished to see her new son leap toward Eros, who met him in midair. In a tremendous exultant cry, they rolled and laughed—Eros grew strong. His brother was then named Anteros, whose name means 'Love Returned.'

Even the God of Love cannot survive without love's return. Are we so different?

The arrows of Eros strike our hearts, and we are filled with wild love. Psychotherapists call this limerence, that initial stage of love when all we ache for is found in one person. This projection can carry us into a new relationship with intrepid confidence for a time. If that love is unreturned, a second archetype, Anteros, is called forth to punish those who reject love. Armed with his lead club, he strikes the unloving and drives them to ruin.

From time immemorial, the human heart, once filled with passionate fantasy, if rejected, turns to vengeance.

Prepare to discover the intricacies of unrequited love and its psychological underpinnings; how unrequited love is illuminated through Jungian psychology; what constitutes unrequited love, including its symptoms, psychological impacts, and its potential for personal transformation; where this discourse positions itself within the realm of psychological study and mythological exploration; whether unrequited love serves a destructive or constructive purpose in one's life; which myths and psychological theories illuminate the experience and consequences of unrequited love; why unrequited love is pivotal, acting as a catalyst for deeper self-knowledge…and so much more…

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THE LAST AWAKENING: Death Anxiety and Its Role in Psychological Transformation Feb 08, 2024

How do the varied human experiences, beliefs, and practices related to death and dying illuminate our understanding of life's meaning and help us face the end of life with peace and a spirit of adventure?

The death instinct (Thanatos) and the life instinct (Eros) symbolize the internal conflict between self-destructive urges and desires for creation, reflecting the psychological struggle with mortality. Religious traditions across the globe, from Buddhism's focus on impermanence to Christianity's belief in eternal life, offer diverse approaches to mitigating the fear of death, demonstrating the universal quest for peace in the face of mortality. The root of death anxiety in early childhood and the later development of defense mechanisms highlight a deep psychological battle against the awareness of death from a young age. Efforts to delay death through medical and lifestyle advancements juxtapose with spiritual teachings on accepting life's transience, underscoring the human endeavor to navigate the reality of mortality. Psychoanalytic and existential treatments for thanatophobia emphasize the importance of acknowledging and integrating death into life for mental health.

Prepare to discover who explores the complex nature of the fear of death, when the fear of death becomes a central concern in people's lives; how different life stages and experiences shape our understanding and reaction to the concept of mortality; how psychoanalytic theory, religious practices, near-death experiences, and modern research offer methods and perspectives for confronting and alleviating the fear of death; what strategies and beliefs offer for coping with and understanding the fear of death, where discussions, research, and practices related to the fear of death and its treatment take place; whether there are effective treatments or approaches for mitigating the fear of death…and so much more…

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SPEAKING TRUTH: Is it Venom or a Cure? Feb 01, 2024

How do we navigate the complex interplay between personal truths, societal norms, and psychological well-being to foster individual growth and societal progress?

We examine the multifaceted nature of Truth and its impact on individuals and communities. We touch on the challenges of speaking Truth to power, the psychological dynamics of scapegoating and being disbelieved, the role of psychotherapy in uncovering and dealing with personal truths, and the significance of narrative and perception in shaping our understanding of reality. We underscore the importance of discerning and integrating these elements in a way that promotes healing, understanding, and constructive change within individuals and society.

Prepare to discover who stands at the epicenter of mythic battles and societal upheavals, when the age-old quest for Truth collides with pivotal historical moments, how the delicate balance of Truth and secrecy forges our identity and reshapes societies, what hidden forces lie beneath the facade of our collective existence, where the crossroads of personal revelation and collective destiny demand bold choices, whether the pursuit of Truth is a path to liberation or a labyrinth of deception, which stories dictate the course of our lives amidst chaos, and why venturing into the treacherous terrain of Truth and illusion is the ultimate gamble in our search for meaning…and so much more…

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Promethean Inflation: Will our creations destroy us? Jan 25, 2024

Are we inadvertently summoning forces beyond our control in our relentless pursuit of innovation and progress? Can we harness the power of our creations without unleashing terrible consequences upon ourselves and our world?

Prometheus and his brother, Epimetheus, were tasked by Zeus with fashioning all living creatures. They granted animals remarkable abilities - feathers for flight, claws, fangs for hunting, tails for balance, and gills to breath underwater. When it came to humans, they had no gifts left. Still, Prometheus loved his human creations and daringly stole fire from Olympus to provide them with warmth and protection. This act of defiance has inspired and cautioned humans for millennia as they reflect on Prometheus’ punishment.

Prometheus embodies the eternal struggle between conscious and unconscious forces within psyche. His act of rebellion, like the ego's desire for independence, results in detachment from its unconscious origins. Wild archetypal forces become impossible to contain and chain him to a rock where an eagle eats his liver each day. Prometheus's liberation by Heracles represents the relativization of the estranged inflated ego with the unconscious, fostering growth and humility.

The relentless pursuit of Promethean treasures propelled figures like Oppenheimer and Madame Curie, Louis Pasteur, George Washington Carver, Henry Ford, and Elon Musk. As they extended their grasp into the boundless skies of human potential, these brilliant minds bestowed upon humanity invaluable gifts and some brought risks they could never have imagined.

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ARE DREAMS THE TRUE SOURCE OF SPIRITUALITY? Jan 18, 2024

How do dreams influence and reflect our spiritual beliefs and experiences across different cultures and historical periods, and what does scientific research reveal about this relationship?

Kelly Bulkeley, PhD, is a global expert on dreaming and the psychology of religion. We explore his latest book "The Spirituality of Dreaming: Unlocking the Wisdom of Our Sleeping Selves."

Dreams universally function as essential gateways to spiritual understanding, a truth echoed across cultures and eras. Modern sleep and dream research confront and expand upon the traditional views revealing a more complex nature of dreams. These dreams, whether as visitations, flights, or nightmares, reflect our existential questions and actively shape religious beliefs and practices. Merging empirical research with mystical interpretations, dreams are clearly more than mere reflections of waking life; they are direct conduits to deep spiritual insights.

Prepare to discover who historically engaged with dreams in spiritual contexts; when these interpretations have been significant, from ancient times to the present; how dreams connect with spiritual experiences, often seen as divine messages or reflections of the soul; what types of dreams, such as visitation or flying dreams, are spiritually significant; where across different cultures and traditions dreams are valued for their spiritual implications; whether modern scientific research supports historical beliefs about the spiritual nature of dreams; which aspects of dreaming, like vividness and metaphorical content, shape religious beliefs; and why dreams remain a source of intrigue in understanding human spirituality and its relation to the divine…..and so much more…..

FIND THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/kelly-bulkeley/

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Learn to interpret dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

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WATCH HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/kelly-bulkeley/

DIVORCE: How can heartbreak lead to transformation? Jan 11, 2024

How does the experience of divorce lead to personal transformation and self-discovery?

The journey of divorce is emblematic of a profound personal transformation, often unveiling the paradoxical nature of human relationships where deep trust and love coexist with the potential for betrayal and disillusionment, reflecting the intrinsic human struggle between connection and individuality. This individuation process during and after divorce constellates a metamorphosis, where confronting the shadows of a broken relationship becomes a gateway to self-discovery, self-acceptance, and a deeper connection with one's authentic self, leading to a more grounded and conscious existence. Loss, grief, and rebirth emerge as universal experiences, underscoring the resilience of the human spirit in facing life's adversities. While uniquely personal, the experience of divorce echoes the archetypal journey through cycles of despair, enlightenment, and resurgence, revealing that in the heart of suffering lies the potential for profound insight, healing, and the reclamation of one's path. At its essence, divorce acts as a catalyst for introspection and existential reevaluation, challenging inherited and societal constructs of marriage and relationships and inviting individuals to redefine their understanding of love, commitment, and self-fulfillment to pursue a more authentic life.

Prepare to discover who experiences divorce's deep impact, when it typically unfolds, how it leads to transformation, what emotional and psychological processes are involved, where it can lead individuals, whether it's a mere dissolution or a transformative experience, which aspects of the self are most affected, and why it can be a profound opportunity for personal growth and self-realization…..and so much more…

Find the Dream We Analyze here: https://thisjungianlife.com/divorce/

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Learn to interpret dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

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Three Jungians on Psychedelics: Is Tripping a Valid Path of Self-Discovery? Jan 04, 2024

How can combining psychedelics and Jungian psychology enhance our understanding of psyche?

Psychedelics may help us access deep layers of the unconscious, revealing aspects of psyche that are often inaccessible through traditional psychoanalytic methods alone. Jungian analysis, with its focus on archetypes and the collective unconscious, provides a framework for interpreting and integrating the complex, symbolic experiences often encountered in psychedelic states. The combination of psychedelics and analysis could facilitate a more profound and holistic healing process, addressing not only individual psychological issues but also connecting with broader, universal aspects of human experience. This integrated approach could accelerate the therapeutic process, allowing for quicker breakthroughs and more profound insights than can be achieved through either method independently.

Find the Books We Suggest in This Episode Here: https://bookshop.org/lists/a-jungian-approach-to-psychedelics

Prepare to discover which of the TJL hosts tripped their balls off in their twenties, whether psychedelics can guarantee illumination, when we should be cautious about ayahuasca, why psychedelics may facilitate psychological change, what kind of attitude we should cultivate when approaching psilocybin, how to interpret hallucinations brought on by plant medicine, who should avoid cannabis, where miraculous claims are exaggerated and so much more…

Find the Dream We Analyze Here: https://thisjungianlife.com/psychedelics/

Try new stuff:

Learn to interpret dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

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CAN DREAMS CONNECT US TO THE ANCESTORS? Dec 28, 2023

Jung's concept of the collective unconscious emphasized the universal psychological substrate common to all humans. While he acknowledged the effects of the cultural unconscious, his work, at times, fell into the trap of perpetuating oversimplified and racially prejudiced stereotypes. Jung's writings that refer to Africanist peoples, in particular, suffer from offensive assumptions. Dr. Fanny Brewster, Jungian analyst and author, searches for the healing cultural elements in the dreams of the African diaspora. Dreams have always been important in traditional African cultures. In Zimbabwe, the traditional healer, or sangoma, is called to the work by a dream that features a snake. For the Xhosa, dreams were how the ancestors communicated their wisdom. Today, most of us are cut off from our ancestors, but they remain a potential source of strength and healing. Dr. Brewster has undertaken the work of renewing and widening Jungian thought to include Africanist perspectives. She addresses the importance of community as we go about the necessary work of evolving consciousness.

Fanny Brewster, Ph.D., M.F.A. is a Jungian analyst, Professor of Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and member analyst with the Philadelphia Association of Jungian Analysts. She is a multi-genre writer who has written about issues at the intersection of Jungian psychology and American culture. Her most recent book is The Racial Complex: A Jungian Perspective on Culture and Race. (Routledge, 2019).

Learn More about Fanny Brewster, Ph.D. HERE: https://fannybrewster.allyou.net/5026448

Check Out Her Books HERE: https://bookshop.org/lists/fanny-brewster-dreams-the-ancestors-and-community

Try new stuff:

Learn to interpret dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

Please support us on Patreon (keep us free of corporate influence): https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

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SOLSTICE: Why is the longest night so magickal? Dec 21, 2023

Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, calls us to brood and turn within. Retreating to the unconscious is a psychic wintering, calling our life force down into our archaic patterns. It can trigger a sorrowing that helps us adjust to inevitable losses, just like the forest that silently drops its foliage without lament. At the nadir of darkness, light is reborn, and each successive day grows longer. Ancient and modern rituals celebrate the light’s triumph over darkness. No matter our background, attunement to light is woven into our bodies, for we are all part of the cosmic progression.

Prepare to discover who interacts with the winter solstice, from ancient to modern cultures, how solstice triggers introspection and transformative mourning, what cultural and psychological themes it embodies, whether solstice is a profound inner experience or merely an astronomical event, which aspects of culture and psychology are connected to the solstice, why winter solstice has such historical reverence, and so much more…

Find the Dream We Analyze Here: https://thisjungianlife.com/solstice/

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Learn to interpret dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

Support us on Patreon (keep us free of corporate influence): https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

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Yascha Mounk: Why Society Crumbles When We Obsess Over Identity Dec 14, 2023

Yascha Mounk is a political scientist and author focused on the challenges facing liberal democracies and the rise of populism. As a Johns Hopkins University professor and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, he critically examines identity politics in modern society. His influential works include "The People vs. Democracy" and "The Identity Trap."

In an era where identity politics reshapes global narratives, the urgent need to balance diversity with universal human values becomes clear. The melding of postmodernism, postcolonialism, and critical race theory raises a provocative question: Can embracing universal principles truly bridge our deepening societal divides? This challenge calls for a bold reimagining of our approach to social harmony and equality, urging a critical reassessment of how we navigate identity and inclusivity in a complex, interconnected world.

Prepare to discover who is masterminding the seismic shifts in identity-driven discourse, when the wave of identity politics surged reshaping societal norms, how esoteric academic concepts ignited a wildfire in sectarian ideology, what the contentious core and fiery critiques of this identity-centric dogma are, where the shockwaves of these philosophical upheavals are most profound, whether the rise of ethno-cultural politicking is a unifying force or a divisive storm, which intellectual giants and paradigms are the architects of these doctrines, why an intense focus on identity might unravel the fabric of collective values and societal harmony and so much more…

Find the Dream We Analyze Here: https://thisjungianlife.com/yascha_mounk/

LEARN MORE ABOUT YASCHA HERE: https://www.yaschamounk.com/

Try new stuff:

Learn to interpret dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

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SURVIVING MASS TRAUMA: How did Jung process catastrophic events? Dec 07, 2023

The great catastrophe of Jung's generation was the rise of Nazi Germany and WWII. His insights into the collective psyche of nations remain relevant today as we grapple with war and violence worldwide.

Prepare to discover how collective hysteria and moral downfall lead to loss of individual responsibility and susceptibility to authoritarian control, whether collective guilt and the psychological impact of evil affects not just perpetrators but entire societies leading to collective moral crisis, when national fixations on power and technological prowess compensate for deep-seated inferiority, why lack of introspection leads to catastrophic consequences, the value of internal reckoning and moral awakening, which societal reforms are futile without individual psychological transformation and so much more…

Find the Dream We Analyze Here: https://thisjungianlife.com/catastrophe/

Try new stuff:

Learn to interpret dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

Support us on Patreon (keep us free of corporate influence): https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

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NIGHTMARES: How do I stop awful dreams? Nov 30, 2023

"The monsters that chase you in dreams are not trying to hurt you. They just want to reunite with their creator………...… that's you, dummy." (Quoted from an unnamed Jungian analyst overheard at a cocktail party.)

Today, we analyze four nightmares submitted by listeners: BBQ Cats, Blood Red Sky, Tsunami, and Malevolent Presence.

Our dreams are always trying to correct our waking personality. They are a kind of psychospiritual medicine tailored just for us. When we avoid healing advice from the dream maker, pressure builds in our unconscious. Gentle suggestions become urgent pleas, which over time become fierce demands that insist on recognition. Once we recognize we are running away from essential insights, we can turn around and embrace them.

Prepare to discover who is causing our nightmares, whether nightmares simply replay traumatic events or help us process unresolved emotions, what sets post-traumatic nightmares apart, when to seek help to address chronic nightmares, which techniques are effective in resolving them, why they occur more frequently in certain individuals, where the nightmare is set reveals essential information and so much more…

FIND THE FOUR NIGHTMARES WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/nightmares/

Try new stuff:

Learn to interpret dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

Support us on Patreon (keep us free of corporate influence): https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

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DO WE INHERIT OUR PARENT’S FEARS? Nov 23, 2023

What wisdom do fairy tales hold about childrearing in our modern world?

Briar Rose is the foundation for the familiar fairytale Sleeping Beauty. It addresses the complicated consequences of unconscious parenting. While it is understandable we wish to protect our children from harsh realities, too much shielding can hobble them later in life. We may hide our shadow from ourselves and our children, but it will irrupt uninvited one day, casting the family into chaos. Instinctive reactions often hold us in suspended animation, but they may also offer a way toward healing.

“Parents too easily content themselves with the belief that a thing hidden from the child cannot influence it.” CG Jung CW 18, para 1793

Prepare to discover where fairytales intersect with modern parenting, what impact avoiding shadow has on the family, whether parental fears affect child development, why understanding psychological stagnation is essential, how symbolic stories help children face challenges, and so much more…

Find the Dream We Analyze Here: https://thisjungianlife.com/briar_rose/

Try new stuff:

Learn to interpret dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

Support us on Patreon (keep us free of corporate influence): https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

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DUMBO'S FEATHER: Are there hidden messages in Disney cartoons? Nov 16, 2023

What hidden messages make Disney cartoons so impactful and enduring?

Disney cartoons were groundbreaking. They introduced synchronized soundtracks in 1928, and today, they create extravaganzas that sweep audiences into tears and laughter, offering role models of virtue. Archetypal themes, often drawn from fairytales, thrum through the storylines appealing to the archaic levels of our psyche.

Prepare to discover where Hermes is hidden in one of the characters, how childhood trauma activates archetypal helpers, whether Dumbo is a symbol of hope or a defense against maturation, how separation of the mother is required to actualize one's potential, why symbols are necessary to bolster ego strength and so much more…

FIND A COPY OF THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/dumbo-2/

Hey everyone, our upcoming episode will focus on Nightmares, and we're looking for your input. If you've had a nightmare that significantly impacted you, we're interested in hearing about it. We'll select a few of these to analyze and discuss in the episode. Share your nightmare with us HERE: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfDE8UKFJfpVM-CIUKP4ObfyztH6GnzOxfPLOb4NjwZZArJcw/viewform

Try new stuff:

Learn to Interpret Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

Support Us On Patreon (keep us free of corporate influence): https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

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Aaron Balick – Why does social media weaponize our reactions? Nov 09, 2023

Aaron Balick is a psychotherapist, speaker, consultant, educator, and author of The Psychodynamics of Social Networking.

Social media invites snap emotional reactions, muddling clear thinking and escalating global tensions. It feeds on our anger, oversimplifying complex problems which blocks our ability to empathize. Nuanced explanations are demonized as if seeking to understand was an affront. If we learn to pause and reflect, we can overcome social media's divisive influence and discover middle-ground solutions in both personal and world affairs.

Prepare to discover where emotional reactivity has been weaponized in social media, what geopolitical consequences are still felt from impulsive reactions, how to distinguish between a reactive and responsive attitude, whether expressing an understanding of complex issues will get you cancelled, why platforms simplify and sensationalize issues and so much more…

HERE'S A COPY OF THE DREAM WE ANALYZE: https://thisjungianlife.com/aaron_baylick/

Connect with Aaron Baylick:

Twitter and Instagram: @DrAaronB

Aaron's Website: https://www.aaronbalick.com/

Aaron's Books: https://www.aaronbalick.com/books

Articles

Psychoanalytic reflections on Google, social networking, and ‘virtual impingement’: https://www.aaronbalick.com/_files/ugd/1259db_01c6c18517364bbfa1947db34847ff58.pdf

Social Media, Identity, and Careful Culture: https://www.aaronbalick.com/_files/ugd/1259db_6341c94972f34694b39722901c5534cd.pdf

On The Failure to Understand: The Psychology of Weaponised Reactivity: https://www.aaronbalick.com/post/on-the-failure-to-understand-the-psychology-of-weaponised-reactivity

Try new stuff:

Learn to Interpret Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

Support Us On Patreon (keep us free of corporate influence): https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

Share Your Dream With Us (we might use it on a podcast): https://thisjungianlife.com/share-your-dream/

Suggest A Podcast Topic: https://thisjungianlife.com/podcast-form-topics /

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FAME: Why Do We Create Icons Then Destroy Them? Nov 02, 2023

Today's technology allows us to be seduced by the possibility of fame and celebrity tempting the ego to claim what does not belong to it.

In earlier times, fame was garnered slowly through work in the arts, scholarship, religion, and the military. Today, unprecedented, almost instantaneous communication has made fame a commodity in itself. Novelty performers, entertainers, influencers, and sports stars—especially if young and glamorous—can become the victim of "audience capture."

Fame tempts the ego to claim what does not belong to it, and the person may become identified with his or her role, especially as others have an urge to find a hero, wise man, leader, or transcendent figure. Jung wrote about the mana personality—a larger-than-life person with charismatic power and energy. Magicians and priests, infused with special knowledge and god-like capabilities, are emblematic of mana personalities. Followers are then imbued with the mana person's special qualities, as we see in audience reactions at concerts or rallies.

Fame also has costs. As the British royal family knows, the celebrity press is relentless. Criticism abounds, and those in the spotlight receive threatening calls and letters, lack privacy, and may have to contend with stalkers or insistent fans. Celebrities are almost four times as prone to suicide as others; others have died early: Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Judy Garland, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, John Belushi, and River Phoenix. When a star is accused of wrongdoing, fans can be quick to turn, delighting as much in their idol's destruction as in success. Celebrities are the sacrificial victims of our projections, from veneration to evisceration.

Jung says, "We stand with our soul suspended between formidable influences from within and without, and somehow we must be fair to both. This we can only do after the measure of our individual capacities. Hence, we must bethink ourselves not so much of what we 'ought' to do as of what we can and must do." To live meaningfully in the world and achieve a sense of kinship with men, gods, and beasts is the work of a lifetime.

HERE'S A COPY OF THE DREAM WE ANALYZE: https://thisjungianlife.com/fame/

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Learn to Interpret Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

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JUNG'S PARANORMAL ENCOUNTERS: Why did strange events follow him? Oct 26, 2023

If we lean into strange experiences with gentle curiosity, we may discover a level of psyche that acts directly on objects.

Many of us have uncanny coincidences like thinking of a friend at the exact moment they ring us on the phone, but what about physical things breaking apart for no reason or luminous apparitions at our bedside? We often explain them away to reduce our anxiety, but Jung found them fascinating. He maintained a scientific attitude while accepting strange phenomena he could not explain. Eventually, he created a psychology of radical acceptance that creates space for the unexpected, including each person's unique soul.

Prepare to discover where Jung’s interest in the paranormal came from, what strange psychic events changed his relationship with Freud, how Jung used a séance to complete his university degree, which strange spiritual experiences changed Lisa and Joe’s beliefs, whether the collective unconscious plays a part in extra-sensory abilities and even more…

HERE ARE THE FULL SHOW NOTES and a COPY OF THE DREAM: https://thisjungianlife.com/paranormal/

Try new stuff:

Learn to interpret dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

Support us on Patreon (keep us free of corporate influence): https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

Share your dream with us: https://thisjungianlife.com/share-your-dream/

Suggest a podcast topic: https://thisjungianlife.com/podcast-form-topics/

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Talk to Us:

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LOW ENERGY: Where can we source the drive to take action? Oct 19, 2023

Lisa, Deb, and Joe, Jungian analysts and co-creators of This Jungian Life podcast, have introduced thousands of clients to an inner world with unexpected resources.

Many people just can’t rally to do what’s necessary and improve their lives. Is it possible they just don’t carry much vitality, or is some inner conflict blocking their access? We share personal stories of ‘energy loss’ and offer insights into purposelessness. Jung tells us inner energy flows according to its own laws, but if we can’t harness it?

Prepare to discover why some people are naturally low-energy, which aspects of your psyche might be leaking energy, how over-aligning with cultural norms can cut off access to instinctive vitality, where we can look for solutions, and much more…

HERE’S A COPY OF THE DREAM WE ANALYZE: https://thisjungianlife.com/low-energy/

Try new stuff:

Learn to Interpret Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

Support Us On Patreon (keep us free of corporate influence): https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

Share Your Dream With Us: https://thisjungianlife.com/share-your-dream/

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REUNIONS: Is there value in remembering our younger selves? Oct 12, 2023

Deb and Joe are Jungian Analysts, authors, training analysts, and co-creators of This Jungian Life Podcast. [Lisa was away lecturing this week.]

Most of us feel anxious at the thought of reliving the complicated and often painful experiences of our youth. When we receive a school reunion notice, we might be tempted to ignore it. Yet, on an archetypal level, we are drawn to re-unifying our current and past identities. If we accept the invitation, we may find unexpected joy and forgotten memories that restore something inside us.

Prepare to discover why we plan and attend reunions, whether healing comes from reexperiencing our younger self, how Deb and Joe were affected by attending their reunions, whether it's worth the effort to reconnect with school friends, what's the best attitude to bring to a reunion, and even more…

HERE ARE THE FULL SHOW NOTES and a COPY OF THE DREAM: https://thisjungianlife.com/reunions/

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Donald Kalsched – Can running our minds like a democracy save us? Oct 05, 2023

Don Kalsched is a Jungian Analyst, an expert on treating trauma, author of two books, The Inner World of Trauma and Trauma and the Soul.

Jung discovered our inner world is populated by various imaginal figures representing powerful psychological forces. If we treat our minds as democratic spaces, it can safeguard us from internal and external authoritarian influences.

Prepare to discover the parallels between a balanced mind and a healthy society, whether viewing internal conflicts through a democratic lens is healing, which insights foster harmony, why democratic philosophy is transformative, how to build resilience against absolutism and extremism, how trauma and power-seeking are related, and even more…

FULL SHOW NOTES ARE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/donald-kalsched-saving-democracy/

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Learn to interpret dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

Support us on Patreon (keep us free of corporate influence): https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

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Suggest a podcast topic: https://thisjungianlife.com/podcast-form-topics/

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Meet Lisa: https://www.jungcentralohio.org/event/the-power-of-dreamwork-friday-night-lecture-and-saturday-workshop-presented-by-lisa-marchiano/

Learn more about Don Kalsched: https://www.donaldkalsched.com/

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Why Do We Push People Away? Understanding our Defenses Sep 28, 2023

Defense mechanisms function as unconscious psychological strategies we deploy to navigate reality and sustain a consistent self-image. They act as a shield, guarding against feelings of anxiety, shame, and vulnerability. They are feeling states that prompt us to avoid contact and trick us into thinking they protect us against emotional harm.

Ancient philosophers recognized the human tendency to evade uncomfortable truths. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, he vividly depicts individuals shackled in a cave, seeing only shadows and illusions. Upon being freed and confronted with the light (truth), some retreat to the familiar darkness, unable to bear the illumination of reality. Aristotle wrote about akrasia, which meant a weakness of will that drives one to act against their better judgment, in essence, rejecting reality as unbearable. The stoic philosopher Epictetus noted that people have fantasies of controlling external events and directing them inward to choose how they respond instead.

Defenses are affective states that can interfere with our clear, reality-based functioning. They may be complex reactions that muddy our perception of reality, effectively shielding us from feelings or knowledge we find intolerable. They can take the form of denial, regression, rationalization, and even altruism. These are not merely intellectual barriers; they are emotional walls that can keep us from connecting with our own experiences and the people around us.

The most common inner conflicts arise from thwarting our instincts. These foundational systems generate intense feelings to guide us. Jung identified multiple instincts: creativity, reflection, activity, sexuality, and hunger. He added the religious instinct to describe how humans naturally generate symbolic systems to link their waking state to the deep unconscious. Freud detailed the multiple symptoms that arise from repressed sexuality, from phobias to hysterical blindness. Jung agreed but understood that thwarting any one of our natural responses would rob us of vitality and distort our adaptation to reality.

Cultural expectations, individual trauma, religious demands, and family patterns can convince our waking personality that any one of our instincts is dangerous. When we are overwhelmed by these inner conflicts, we will likely deploy primal defenses like dissociation or acting out. If we can find a more adaptive stance, we will likely intellectualize the conflict or even find it humorous. The goal is not to banish all defenses; we need to manage our exposure to the intensity of life but to discover self-management strategies that allow us to remain effective even under stress.

A COPY OF THE DREAM IS HERE

MEET LISA IN COLUMBUS OHIO on October 13 & 14, 2023: The Power of Dreamwork – Friday Night Lecture (October 13 from 7 to 8:30 PM) and Saturday Workshop (October 14 from 9:30 AM to Noon): CLICK HERE.

UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF YOUR DREAMS: Dream School provides a gently paced program with live interactive webinars, an uplifting online community, thought-provoking audio modules, and guided journaling to deepen your experience. Lisa, Deb, and Joe crafted the program with you in mind and companion you through the process. “Step-by-step, we’ll teach you how to interpret your dreams.” Join the revolution of consciousness! Join Dream School and Transform Your Sleep into the Greatest Adventure of Your Life: CLICK HERE

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SELKIE FOLKLORE: Should we force soul to serve us? Sep 21, 2023

The Selkie swims ashore at night, sheds her seal skin, hides it, and delights in her human form. In Celtic lore, she is the wild feminine soul, a creature of land and sea, innocent and beautiful, who cannot thrive in domesticity.

In folklore, the seal-folk are discovered by humans. Their natural, joyous spirit, grace, and affection invite contact. Humans are drawn to them, but if they touch, parting is unbearable. Many a young man, desperate to maintain the life-giving embrace of nature, steals a Selkie’s seal skin, locking her into a human form. Helpless, she is led into domesticity and motherhood. Isolated from the sea, in a role alien to her nature, the Selkie diminishes until her seal-skin is reclaimed. Called home to the sea, she leaves all behind and is restored to her authentic being.

Theft of a Selkie’s skin is a kind of archetypal initiation we all may face. Our naive spirits are all too often robbed or captured through lack of foresight. We lose touch with our wild spirit as we accept our assigned social roles, accommodate marital expectations, and forget what we once loved. Drained and disaffected, midlife may cast us into our inner wilderness to renew and restore our original being.

We lose our connection to life-giving instincts slowly. Attending the family alma mater, selecting a sensible career, and sacrificing our wildness to corporate culture can leave our souls withered. Deprived of the water of life, we may abandon everything once we find our true skin and smell the brine carried on the east wind.

In the ancient stories, seal-folk were male and female, and either might find themselves trapped through naïve curiosity. For young men and women, innocence is unrewarded in the adult world and often leads us into harsh agreements that force us to abandon our intuition and accept domestication. We turn from our inner world and stare only at the culture. Deep desire is replaced by snacking on what has been advertised. Our uncouth delight is curated into meticulous etiquette.

When we neglect our animal side, the unconscious howls at us. Injured animals surface in our dreams, along with roaring vague creatures that chase us and savage impulses prompting us to bite and claw. If we linger too long in alien domesticity, emptiness, exhaustion, and neglect may drive us to chew our way out of our current situation. But actions of last resort might be avoided by learning to listen to the wild one within.

Carving out time in nature, setting unyielding boundaries, and questioning societal expectations are vital to protecting our true nature. If we are sons and daughters of the open water, we need time off, solitude, and uninterrupted periods of self-reflection. Art, music, and poetry can call forward our animal nature, granting us deep relief.

Listen to your seal-song and answer it.

A COPY OF THE DREAM IS HERE!

UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF YOUR DREAMS: Dream School provides a gently paced program with live interactive webinars, an uplifting online community, thought-provoking audio modules, and guided journaling to deepen your experience. Lisa, Deb, and Joe crafted the program with you in mind and companion you through the process. “Step-by-step, we’ll teach you how to interpret your dreams.” Join Dream School and Transform Your Sleep into the Greatest Adventure of Your Life: CLICK HERE

INITIATIONS: universal processes that spark transformation Sep 14, 2023

The archetype of Initiation is primordial, and its force guides our transformative transitions. For Jung, this change reshapes spiritual, emotional, intellectual, behavioral, and social dynamics. Rooted in his anthropological studies, Jung emphasized the vital role of formal ceremonies in fostering separation from parental influences and facilitating integration into adult communities. These ceremonies marked a clear transition from childhood and established an essential connection with the adult community, promoting the collaborative culture by containing unconscious forces. Derived from the Latin "initium," Initiation carries the power of new beginnings, urging us towards greater consciousness and understanding. This journey transcends personal experience, reverberating universally through significant life milestones that act as gateways to realms of human experience, driven by archetypal activations inherent to all. Initiation contains three universal elements: separation, liminal space, and reintegration. This process is approached through a structured and ritualistic path in modern Mystery Schools. It begins with transitioning from our outer lives, then identifying what is alien to our true nature, followed by a dedication to a greater vision. Once ushered into a sacred space, we are helped to recognize the price of being unconscious. When our character flaws are personified and confronted, a Hierophantic figure reveals sacred objects, symbols, and teaching. These, along with various practices, seek to activate the archetype of transformation. Embraced into a community dedicated to mutual growth, Initiates re-enter their daily lives, tasked to integrate a more expansive attitude of themselves and life. The loss of most formal initiations in modern culture leaves these archetypal forces with no aesthetic process to affect the individual. Expressed unconsciously, they emerge as fraternity hazing or surviving a violent gauntlet to gain gang membership. Various mythopoetic movements have attempted to restore initiations for sons and daughters, bar mitzvahs carry ancient themes into contemporary life, and Freemasons strive to maintain ceremonies that make good men better. The archetype of Initiation is still alive and potent, perhaps struggling to find modern idioms and values to carry its transformative power forward.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“Someone is telling me my therapist has passed away; I'm shocked. They showed me a very brief obituary that showed she was 44 years old. I am saddened.”

RESOURCES:

Philadelphia Association of Jungian Analysts, ADVANCED CLINICAL PRACTICE PROGRAM: A case seminar for experienced clinicians to read, explore, and apply Jung’s concepts to clinical practice: CLICK HERE

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN A SERIOUS STUDY OF JUNG? Enroll in the Philadelphia Jungian Seminar 2023 Fall Semester and start your journey: CLICK HERE.

BECOME A DREAM INTERPRETER:

We’ve created DREAM SCHOOL to teach others how to work with their dreams. A vibrant community has constellated around this mission, and we think you’ll love it. Check it out.

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Hey folks -- We need your help. So please BECOME OUR PATRON and keep This Jungian Life podcast up and running.

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SUBMIT YOUR DREAM HERE FOR A POSSIBLE PODCAST INTERPRETATION.

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The Barbie Movie: Can it Dismantle an American Myth? Sep 07, 2023

[Spoiler Alert.]

In the opening scene of the Barbie movie, listless little girls dressed as drab Dust Bowl mothers play at ironing as they tend plastic babies until a gigantic cosmic Barbie appears on the landscape in a vogue pose. Her presence inspires the girls to smash their dolls and cast off their pretend chores in a whirl of rageful frustration. While this scene spoofs 2001: A Space Odyssey, it unknowingly dramatizes an archetypal event in the collective American psyche. In 1959, the Barbie doll hit the market and created a stir. American mothers objected to her sensuous form, so Mattel marketed it directly to children, a tactic never used before, and it worked. The maternal archetype of Hera, sentinel of the social order, goddess of childbirth, and protectress of the home, was supplanted. Aphrodite, the captivating goddess exuding an aura of beauty, desirability, and persuasive allure, had arrived. Dolls don't command a culture, but when a new primary archetype rises in the collective unconscious, it will potentiate available images that reflect its qualities—Barbie was the perfect representative. The new goddess encouraged a generation to flirt with fashion, aesthetics, autonomy, and self-expression. With her ever-changing wardrobe and perpetual grace, she became the diminutive totem dominating current social media. Her representatives help maintain an era where beauty is a currency, a tool, a language all its own, and men are revisioned as her companion-child, Eros or Cupid. In this perfect pink world, Barbie-Aphrodite lived with millions of girls, imagining endless possibilities as they donned the costumes of various roles and professions. The creators of the Barbie Movie want to change all that, but their retelling of Pinnacho, the puppet who becomes a real boy, struggles to carry the power and depth of an archetypal event. Burdened by a giddy blend of social commentary, kitsch, archetypal imagery, a touch of nostalgia, mythical narratives, child-like fantasy, Freudian psychosexual theory, the allure of capitalism, a bow to classical fairytales, a dash of glamor, a sprinkle of kiddy-kamp, drenched in a layer of surreal satire sauce—it’s power to call forth a transformative process is diluted.

The ending of The Barbie leaves the collective psyche unchanged; the pink world is restored to its original state after a few ideological tremors. One doll escapes, perhaps a representative of every-woman, who now resides in the real world, with responsibilities and vulnerabilities. Her final scene, with broad smiles and flat feet, might leave us all humming a new tune:

What if Barb was one of us?

Just a slob like one of us

Just a stranger on the bus

Tryin’ to make her way home.

It also leaves us with a lingering question: Does this movie herald a change in the collective psyche, or is it a spoof to laugh at ourselves for taking the current cultural tensions too seriously?

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I'm in the hallway of my new rental place. I see my new flatmate vacuuming the hallway carpet. I see a small amount of white dust he sprinkles on the carpet. As he vacuums, the dust keeps growing and growing. I realize it's actually snow! It keeps billowing out of the vacuum cleaner, and soon, it becomes clouds of snow. The more he vacuums, the more snow he makes. We both grab some snow and make snowballs. Then we both start throwing them and have a snowball fight. Then I wake up.”

REFERENCES: What If God Was One of Us by Kate Colston & Robin Morris

RESOURCES:

BECOME A DREAM INTERPRETER: We’ve created Dream School to teach others how to work with their dreams. Check it out: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

PLEASE GIVE US A HAND: Hey folks, we need your help. Please become our patron and keep This Jungian Life podcast up and running: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

From SHAMANISM to JUNG: Understanding 'Loss of Soul' Aug 31, 2023

As Jung’s anthropological studies expanded and his international travel exposed him to new cultures and ideas, he was taken by the concept of ‘loss of soul.’

A collapse of energy, a strange sudden alteration of personality, or episodes of blinding rage could signify a loss of soul from a shamanic perspective. The soul carries the animating and regulating forces as well as memory. In most traditions, it was expected to fly away upon death, much like the Egyptian Ba, depicted as a bird with a human head. Because the soul had an independent life, it might flee suddenly, leaving a listless body behind. The shaman’s task was to retrieve and escort the wandering soul into the body again.

In Michael Harner’s book The Way of the Shaman, he cataloged various ancient practices and distilled a small set of universal techniques. Soul retrieval involves tying a red string on the patient’s wrist and, with the help of one’s spiritual power animal, traveling to the inner worlds, identifying the lost soul by the red string also on its wrist, bringing it back to the waking world and blow it into the patient’s body. Loss of soul in this contemporary system is often associated with trauma, and the imagery is congruent with modern conceptualizations of dissociation.

Jung linked shamanic descriptions with the work of psychiatrist Janet and called “abaissement du niveau mental.” Jung described this as “a slackening of the tensity of consciousness, which might be compared to a low barometric reading, presaging bad weather. The tonus has given way, and this is felt subjectively as listlessness, moroseness, and depression. One no longer has any wish or courage to face the tasks of the day. One feels like lead because no part of one’s body seems willing to move, and this is due to the fact that one no longer has any disposable energy.”

In modern psychiatry, several clinical descriptions might be assigned to such despair and collapse, but those may not capture the psychospiritual depth of ‘loss of soul.’ For Jung, the soul carries creativity and grants meaning; it links us to the divine and represents all we could be if wholeness were possible. Whatever the cause, to be abandoned by one’s soul is devastating, and to be reunited, the greatest gift.

RESOURCES:

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN A SERIOUS STUDY OF JUNG? Enroll in the Philadelphia Jungian Seminar 2023 Fall Semester and start your journey: CLICK HERE.

BECOME A DREAM INTERPRETER: We’ve created DREAM SCHOOL to teach others how to work with their dreams. A vibrant community has constellated around this mission, and we think you’ll love it. Check it out.

PLEASE GIVE US A HAND: Hey folks -- We need your help. So please BECOME OUR PATRON and keep This Jungian Life podcast up and running.

SHARE YOUR DREAM WITH US: SUBMIT YOUR DREAM HERE FOR A POSSIBLE PODCAST INTERPRETATION.

SUGGEST A FUTURE PODCAST TOPIC: Share your suggestions HERE.

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, LINKEDIN, TWITTER, YOUTUBE

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HAGITUDE: Sharon Blackie on the power of aging Aug 24, 2023

Sharon Blackie calls us to the ancient archetype of the Hag as a figure of unapologetic emergence from cultural pressures that lock us into outworn roles and limiting beliefs.

Drawing upon her transformative experiences in menopause Blackie grounds the mythic figure of the old woman who fashioned the world in her fierce determination to dissolve and reconfigure her professional and personal life. Identifying and rejecting cultural pressures to look and act a certain way as she ages, she claims the second half of her life for a post-heroic journey of intense creativity and unapologetic self-expression.

Ancient Celtic fairytales, myths, and folk stories carry the spirit of the Cailleach, the divine old woman who shapes the landscape and scourges it clean through winter storms. This Queen of Winter is sharp and wild. Those who discover the Cailleach within carry her ruthless truths as unavoidable facts that demand acknowledgment. Her stark reality strips away one's inner illusions and avoidance of death, leaving her sharp eye facing outward. Tending the web of life becomes the great task, and acting to restore balance to the community, the central role.

The path to the Hag is hidden in stories. Blackie reminds us that reviving ancient themes and images expands our imagination and helps us recover the dark woods we once knew well. Wise old ones revive awe and connection. Trees and plants, rivers and crows have secrets to teach us that require a depth of listening undisturbed by collective gibbering.

Elderhood can be a time to shed the roles assigned to us. Menopause can be welcomed as a rite of passage with the Hag silently waiting for us to see her. If we have learned how to recognize her, renewal and reclaiming is possible. The stories of those who have gone before us carry a strange beauty that can stir a memory in our soul and set us on the path.

REFERENCES:

Sharon Blackie

Order her book: Hagitude. Reimagining the second half of life

RESOURCES:

Philadelphia Association of Jungian Analysts, ADVANCED CLINICAL PRACTICE PROGRAM: A case seminar for experienced clinicians to read, explore and apply Jung's concepts to clinical practice: CLICK HERE

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN A SERIOUS STUDY OF JUNG? Enroll in the Philadelphia Jungian Seminar 2023 Fall Semester and start your journey: CLICK HERE

BECOME A DREAM INTERPRETER: We've created DREAM SCHOOL to teach others how to work with their dreams. A vibrant community has constellated around this mission, and we think you'll love it. Check it out.

PLEASE GIVE US A HAND: Hey folks -- We need your help. So please BECOME OUR PATRON and keep This Jungian Life podcast up and running.

SHARE YOUR DREAM WITH US: SUBMIT YOUR DREAM HERE FOR A POSSIBLE PODCAST INTERPRETATION.

SUGGEST A FUTURE PODCAST TOPIC: Share your suggestions HERE.

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, LINKEDIN, TWITTER, YOUTUBE

YES, WE HAVE MERCH! Shop HERE

THREE VOICES, ONE SONG: Lessons in Friendship Aug 17, 2023

The essence of friendship is visible in its linguistic root: ‘to love.’ Cicero wrote, “Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief." In modern times the art of friending seems lost. We have replaced shared experiences with Facebook posts and quell our loneliness by scrolling.

With high spirits, we three revisit our first meeting and reflect on the discovery of kinship between us. Our experiences of trust, reciprocity, and shared hardship marked by endless conversations and abundant laughter forged our bond during analytic training. Yet it reflects more than our shared life; friendship is archetypal.

Vigorous bonding is mysterious. It emerges unexpectedly and carries aspects of positive and negative shadow. This tension seemed evident in Jung and Freud’s famous friendship. Their instantaneous bond led to thirteen hours of conversation at their first meeting. It would end six years later, leaving Jung devastated and struggling with overwhelming inner states. The story of Rumi first meeting Shams, which led to thirty days of deep conversation, carries a similar passion. Rumi lost Shams to death, and Jung lost Freud to his struggle for autonomy. Both found solace in the inner world where the memories of their friend merged with its archetype – Shams’ image carried Rumi’s love of the divine, and Philemon’s image carried Jung’s love of wisdom.

For us three, the essence of lasting friendship lies in tending mutual creative purposes. Aligning with common goals allows most friendships to flourish and impact the world positively. It’s not enough to recognize we like someone; that’s just the beginning. We must learn to nurture the bonds that make us more than we were alone.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“There is a vast plane with a deep, wide, and steep hole. From the center of this deep pit, a high tower stands. A figure physically throws me across the expanse to the tower, where I am suspended against the building. The perspective stays with the figure who is wearing a black cloak that covers their form. Their arms, legs, face, and skin are under the black cloak. There are two white marks on the fabric denoting eyes, but they aren't actual eye holes like a mask. They slowly turn and walk off after I've been thrown. The dream repeats the throwing, but the perspective follows me across the expanse. The thread I am suspended from is a single piece of spider silk. Where I am hanging, I am face to face with a guardian of the tower. It is an anthropomorphic lizard, light green, wearing golden armor. It raises its sword, and instead of attacking me, it cuts the silk thread, and I fall quickly but safely. I notice open windows one could sneak into on my way down. Safely reaching the base of the tower, facing underneath where the cloaked figure and I were, I see a large tunnel and know I need to enter. I begin to walk towards it when I awake.”

REFERENCES: Jamie Krems, Ph.D. The evolutionary psychology of friendship research project. CLICK HERE

RESOURCES:

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN A SERIOUS STUDY OF JUNG? Enroll in the Philadelphia Jungian Seminar 2023 Fall Semester and start your journey: CLICK HERE

PLEASE GIVE US A HAND: Hey folks, we need your help. So please BECOME OUR PATRON and keep This Jungian Life podcast up and running.

SHARE YOUR DREAM WITH US: SUBMIT YOUR DREAM HERE for a possible podcast interpretation.

SUGGEST A FUTURE PODCAST TOPIC: Share your suggestions HERE.

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, LINKEDIN, TWITTER, YOUTUBE

YES, WE HAVE MERCH! Shop HERE

You're Not A Fraud: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome Aug 10, 2023

Imposter syndrome constellates the gut-wrenching fear of being exposed as a fraud no matter how much we have learned or the successes we have demonstrated. In 1978 two researchers identified and explored a painful phenomenon among some high-achieving women. Despite their high levels of success, they were convinced they were not as competent, intelligent, or skilled as others might think. Instead of identifying with their capabilities, they often attributed their success to luck, personal persuasion, or an unanticipated burst of energy. Further research revealed this struggle was equally distributed among men and women.

Some common elements were identified:

Perfectionism: they often set remarkably high expectations for themselves and over-emphasized any slight mistake, disturbing their sense of competence.

Overworking: to hide their perceived deficiencies, they often worked harder and put in excessively long hours. This was done to prevent others from discovering their alleged incompetence.

Rejecting praise: they frequently discounted their successes which interfered with their ability to internalize their accomplishments despite ample proof of their abilities. They would brush off compliments and attribute talents to external factors.

Undermining achievements: they thought they had managed to deceive others into seeing them as more intelligent and capable than they believed themselves to be. Their avoidance of acknowledgment deflected proper credit for work they had rightly generated.

Fear of failure: they would excessively monitor for any evidence of failure, fearing that acknowledgment would expose them as cons.

Imposter syndrome has subtle intrapsychic dynamics. Its underlying inferiority complex is obscure and often based on early life experiences. It is natural for children to feel vulnerable and less capable than the adults around them; this usually motivates them to grow and develop competencies. They may fail to identify with their own agency if their efforts are scorned, ignored, or grossly mischaracterized. When these negative experiences are internalized, the relationship between their actions and results is fragmented. Interference between the child's mobilized intentions and the visible outcomes they generate constellates a field of unknowing that leaves them anxious and unsure.

To compensate for feelings of anxiety and vulnerability, they can become overly ambitious, perfectionistic, and aggressive, striving for power and control. Unconsciously, they are simply trying to claim and internalize what they have legitimately created. The chronic interference with their natural capacity to place themselves accurately in the world can extend into many domains of life.

Healing from imposter syndrome begins with confessing their fears of exposure and accusation. They have desperately hidden the secret that they do not belong in the life they have created. Once they share the depth of their alienation, a new narrative can begin that includes being seen by another—through that, they can finally see themselves.

Philadelphia Association of Jungian Analysts, ADVANCED CLINICAL PRACTICE PROGRAM: A case seminar for experienced clinicians to read, explore and apply Jung's concepts to clinical practice: CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION

PLEASE GIVE US A HAND: Hey folks -- We need your help. So please BECOME OUR PATRON and keep This Jungian Life podcast up and running.

FRIEND or FOE: The AI Debate with Michael L. Littman, PhD Aug 03, 2023

The uses and abuses of ChatGPT artificial intelligence language model have taken the collective imagination by storm. Apocalyptic predictions of the singularity, when technology becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, frighten us as we imagine a future where human intelligence is irrelevant. Prof. Michael Littman joins us to contextualize the advancement of artificial intelligence and debunk the paranoid rhetoric littering the public discourse.

Michael has made groundbreaking research contributions enabling machines to learn from their experiences, assess the environment, make decisions, and improve their actions over time in real-world applications. His later work expanded into multi-agent systems, investigating how several AI entities can learn to cooperate, compete, or coexist in shared environments. Picture a team of robots in a factory, each with different tasks. The challenge here isn't just for each robot to do its job effectively but also to collaborate with the others, avoid collisions, and adapt to changes in real time.

Emerging concepts of 'intelligence' in artificial intelligence aren't about building machines that can perform tasks faster and more accurately than humans; it is about building machines that can think, learn, and adapt - machines that aren't just tools but collaborative partners.

If we examine our resistance to this emerging technology, we might catch glimpses of our unconscious fear of regression and dependency. Observation suggests most people fall into one of two groups, those who idealize a world where they are free of demands and another where they are enslaved by superiors. When we realize the fear or fantasy of regression is not the likely outcome of artificial intelligence, we are free to imagine the innumerable creative applications of the new technology and the machines that use it.

MICHAEL L. LITTMAN, PhD

Michael L. Littman is University Professor of Computer Science at Brown University, where he studies machine learning and decision-making under uncertainty. He has earned multiple university-level awards for teaching and his research has been recognized with three best-paper awards and three influential paper awards. Littman is a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and the Association for Computing Machinery. He is currently serving as Division Director for Information and Intelligent Systems at the National Science Foundation. His book "Code to Joy: Why Everyone Should Learn a Little Programming" (MIT Press) will be released October 3rd 2023.

Michael's WEBSITE

Order Michael's book: Code To Joy, Why Everyone Should Learn A Little Programming by Michael L. Littman, CLICK HERE TO ORDER

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The Conjunction of Art and Life with Peter Kramer Jul 27, 2023

"Death of the Great Man" by Dr. Peter D. Kramer offers a glimpse into the character disordered alpha narcissist. It is more than a satirical political commentary on Donald Trump. It points us to a broader discourse on power dynamics in the collective psyche, the potential for authority to corrupt our humanity and the dangerous ways we escape from freedom by surrendering self-responsibility.

The unique blend of psychiatric insight and literary narrative brings an unusual depth to the work. The narrator, psychiatrist Henry Farber, places the reader at his side, admitting his negative reactions, offering psychotherapeutic framing, and struggling to bear the suffering the Great Man inflicts on him.

The reader is quickly shifted into the traumatic constellation of the fictional universe. It functions like a dream within a dream. The clarity of the narrator’s perspective can only be achieved by later reflection and metacognition, processes Dr. Kramer invites forward in the reader through the great indirect tradition of fairytales and storytelling. Striking images of the psychological toll of oppressive rule, mental illness, desperation, and dissent, force the reader to face their vulnerabilities. The reality principle, a center point in Freud’s theory, calls us to adjust to the demands of the outer world with minimal evasion. Kramer’s novel invites the reader to tolerate facing the recent cultural/political tumult through the safety of fiction—offering a way to bear the anxiety of declining democracy.

Paranoia is passed from character to character throughout the novel, like a burning coal. The array of character responses subtly educates the reader. The inflation of the Great Man, the fawning of Naomi, the opportunism of Beelzebub, and the grief of Henry are like a cast of inner figures in the reader's mind differentiating the range of defenses and compensations any of us might experience when placed in intolerable circumstances.

Ultimately, we find ourselves reflected not just in the characters but in the underlying human realities they represent: our thirst for power, our susceptibility to manipulation, our struggle with identity, and our ongoing quest for truth and resilience in the face of adversity. The book questions our understanding of the world and ourselves within it. It underscores how we are at once actors and spectators in the theatre of life, continuously influenced by and influencing the world around us. His narrative is an insistent reminder of our shared humanity, our collective responsibility to safeguard democratic values, and our capability to challenge and reshape narratives imposed upon us. We are reminded that resilience is not just a personal quality but also a societal one. We learn that identities are not fixed but fluid, forged in the crucible of personal experience and societal pressure. We are shown the insidious danger of unchecked power and the corrosive effects of manipulative propaganda. Ultimately, we can learn to be more discerning about the stories we tell and accept, more compassionate about the shared trauma we may encounter, and more committed to safeguarding the principles underpinning our society.

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Meeting Shadow on the Spiritual Path with Connie Zweig Jul 20, 2023

Award-winning author, depth psychotherapist, and guide Connie Zweig shows us encountering darkness is a necessary part of our spiritual journey. In the first half of life, we disown aspects of ourselves to fit in and navigate our world more smoothly. Over time we realize all aspects of ourselves must be recalled and befriended. Integration of these shadow aspects lays the foundation for spiritual awakening.

Through careful introspection, dreamwork, and self-confrontation, we can see beyond stereotypes and projections, avoiding the pitfalls of black-and-white thinking. Jung reminds us,

"…we shall, by carefully analyzing every fascination, extract from it a portion of our own personality, like a quintessence, and slowly come to recognize that we meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the path of life."

Navigating the complex psychodynamics between spiritual students, the teachers they choose, and the disciplines of the path they tread can be more complicated than most people imagine. The inherent power dynamics in many spiritual traditions can encourage students to dismiss their agency and silence their ambivalence. Idealizing their teachers through projecting the Self upon them or contracting to be unquestioningly obedient can leave students disoriented and vulnerable to exploitation.

Falling into moral idealism and accepting standards of spiritual perfection, students may split off essential aspects of their unique personality, hobbling their developmental progress. Spiritual bypass may be encouraged by certain spiritual teachers leaving the leader and the student blind to harmful impulses and minimizing destructive behaviors.

Confronting the flaws and failures of the teacher can help students place their spiritual center back inside themselves. Accepting the limits of many spiritual traditions may free students to rediscover their autonomous inner guidance.

Connie's work can help us understand why some are drawn to charismatic leaders, unconsciously surrendering parts of their psyche to them or the system they represent. In worst cases, students suffer abuse and betrayal that alienates them from their spiritual instinct, blocking them from the very experiences they long for. Shadow work and depth psychology can be key tools in breaking free from denial, projection, and dependency.

With support, time, and corrective action, it is possible to recover one's inner connection. Connie's stories of renowned teachers like Sufi poet Rumi, Hindu master Ramakrishna, and Christian saint Catherine of Siena exemplify the different paths that can support spiritual yearning.

Meeting the shadow, internally or externally, is a painful but inevitable stage on the path to a more mature spirituality. We can use spiritual shadow work to separate from abusive teachers or barren traditions and reclaim inner spiritual authority. It's about navigating the narrow path through the darkness toward the light, reigniting the flame of longing, and engaging once more in fulfilling spiritual practice.

ABOUT CONNIE:

Connie Zweig, Ph.D., is a retired therapist and coauthor of Meeting the Shadow and Romancing the Shadow. Her award-winning book, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul, extends her work on the Shadow into midlife and beyond and explores aging as a spiritual practice. Workshops, Blog, Videos, Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The Dance of Darkness and Light in Our Search for Awakening

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REVIVING TOLERANCE in Cancel Culture Jul 13, 2023

In a world reduced to digital exchanges and swift judgments, reviving tolerance has become vital. Toleration comes from the ancient Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to carry,” a capacity collapsing in current culture. We stumble into extremes when we lose the strength to carry the tension of opposite ideas and feelings. Exaggerations of discomfort and hyperbolic comparisons pepper media messages and inflame the underinformed public--the collective psyche lists from topic to topic. In the vertigo of confusion, we make terrible decisions and strike out blindly.

Disorientation is not new, and the wise have tried over and again to help us restore inner balance. The Greek Stoics differentiated the internal functions we can tame from the outer circumstances we cannot control. Their goal was to maintain a serene disposition in every circumstance. Buddhists venerate equanimity, or a balanced mind undisturbed by life’s phenomena. They practice Metta, establishing a flow of loving kindness to all life. It creates a new attitude where those who create suffering are only unskilled, always capable of gaining the skills of kindness. In the 20^th century, Existentialists emphasized individual freedom, choice, and responsibility. They encouraged us to navigate the absurdities of life with calmness and courage, understanding that life’s fluctuating circumstances are inherent in human existence. Cultivating these attitudes can equilibrate cancel culture’s mounting costs - social polarization, intellectual stifling, economic repercussions, and psychological distress.

The value of constructive self-regulation is multifaceted - from personal resilience and effective interpersonal interactions to societal harmony and progress. In facilitating discourse on provocative topics, ‘safe spaces’ prove therapeutic and societal value. They allow for non-judgmental exploration of thoughts and feelings, bridging societal divides and fostering social cohesion. We must ensure these spaces promote growth and understanding, not simply comfort and echo-chamber formation. A shift towards tolerance, equanimity, and safe spaces can provide an antidote to the ills of cancel culture and intolerance, fostering a more empathetic, understanding, and harmonious society.

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HEALING the RIFT: Anima Mundi in a Disenchanted World Jul 06, 2023

Is every object alive? Are wind, oceans, and mountains sentient? Jung, inspired by Anima Mundi or world soul, believed so. This concept, rooted in ancient philosophy, originates with Thales of Miletus, who envisioned the universe as interconnected and alive. Plato furthered this, proposing the World Soul as a bridge between ideal and physical realms. Born into a religious family in 1875, Jung strived for a fusion of science, psychology, and esotericism. He lamented that excessive intellect had stripped humanity of meaning. Although ancient beliefs might not resonate with modern minds, he felt that dreams could reawaken our world and called this spirit Anima Mundi. Jung moved the gods from external to internal realms, calling them archetypes. He associated the disconnection from these myths with societal ailments. “The gods have become diseases,” he stated, suggesting that disregarded psychic content still governs us, appearing as neuroses. The quest for soul in matter inspired alchemists. Jung proposed that merging ego with the imaginal spirit or anima/us yields a new personality type, the alchemic Lapis. Ian McGilchrist defines this as “unity of the hemispheres.” Reenchanting the world involves seeing ourselves within a responsive life web and resisting the view of nature as an object. This reawakening symbolically reflects our actions, revealing our interconnectedness. Understanding that our actions ‘sing into’ objects reinstates feelings. It is indifference, not evil, that fills our relationship with nature. This indifference permits destructive actions. The world soul isn’t a belief, but an inner response, always communicating with us. It provides a mirror to our actions, enriching our lives with feelings that urge us to pause and reflect.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“My husband was offered work by his older brother and agreed against my judgment and advice. They had a contract to refurbish the tour bus of an esteemed opera singer. She was glamorous and bohemian but haughty. The bus was dilapidated and strangely decorated. There was a sense that much debauchery had happened there. It even smelled of sex. The job finished without issue, and my husband was told by his brother to call later regarding payment. When my husband called, somebody told him that his brother was not home and he was working late, an obvious lie as both finished work early. I was frustrated at my husband, but he remained hopeful that his brother would pay up.”

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Hypochondria’s Havoc and the Quest for Reassurance Jun 29, 2023

Illness anxiety disorder (IAD), formerly hypochondriasis, is characterized by excessive worry about a severe illness, persisting despite medical evaluations and reassurances. Individuals with this challenge tend to misinterpret normal bodily sensations as serious symptoms, magnifying minor sensations like a cough into signs of lung disease. The key distinction between IAD and cautious health concerns lies in the intensity of worry and its debilitating impact on daily life. The Greek physician Hippocrates coined the term " hypochondria, " referring to the region beneath the ribs housing vital organs. He associated black bile, found in the spleen, with melancholic symptoms similar to contemporary understanding of depression. This link between physical and mental health laid the foundation for hypochondriasis. Sigmund Freud later classified hypochondriasis as a neurosis arising from unresolved conflicts between unconscious desires and societal limitations. Healthcare professionals have recognized the spectrum of health anxiety and introduced related diagnoses such as Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD) and Illness Anxiety Disorder (IAD). While the former involves distressing somatic symptoms, the latter entails excessive worry about severe illness with minimal or no medical evidence. Existential fear of death intertwines with hypochondriasis stemming from a fixation on mortality. This leads to cycles of dread and extreme reassurance-seeking behaviors. Anxiety surrounding illness may be an attempt to gain control over mortality, driven by fear of the unknown, loss of autonomy, body control, and the desire to preserve identity and relationships. Considering internal and external factors, Jung viewed each psychological symptom as an attempt to address an underlying issue. He saw repression as a partial dismissal of aspects of oneself, giving rise to neurotic symptoms. By exploring the symbolic nature of hypochondriasis, we can view it as an expression of soul calling us to map our psychic bodies. The energy disruption caused by the fear of illness can guide us to a new life direction, revealing unconscious opposites that demand attention. The fear of disease often masks hidden desires, such as a longing for attention and empathy, a quest for a unique identity, a need to evade unpleasant emotions, or an internal drive for perfection. Unmet needs for nurturance, a desire for certainty amidst chaos, and escaping isolation can also contribute. A deeper understanding can pave the way for healthier alternatives: cultivating nurturing relationships, finding personal significance outside of health status, developing emotional resilience, fostering a balanced perspective on success and failure, nurturing independence, practicing self-forgiveness, recognizing uniqueness beyond health, promoting open communication, and learning to cope with uncertainties. The path to unraveling Illness Anxiety Disorder may be complex, but recognizing the exaggerated fears as a means to divert attention from deeper truths can be instrumental. Relaxing into the fantasies born out of panic can lead to unexpected insights, unveiling new meanings and offering potential avenues for resolving misplaced dread.

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OUR MORAL COMPASS: Understanding Guilt, Remorse, & Atonement Jun 22, 2023

A sudden pang in the chest, a quiet voice persistently whispering at the back of our mind, we experience guilt when our actions, or deliberate lack thereof, infringe upon our personal ethical code or societal norms. Our shared experience of guilt, intertwined with personal and societal expectations, stands out among the wide spectrum of human emotions. As we cross the lines of standards crafted by inherited beliefs, imparted values, and personal experiences, guilt sounds a vigorous warning. Within our interactions, it has a dual role; it can serve as a bond to strengthen societal norms, or act as a barrier, fostering alienation and resentment. As it evolved with culture, guilt regulated behavior and maintained societal order. It serves as a societal adhesive, fostering group cohesion by promoting altruistic behavior, thereby ensuring community survival. Guilt is bivalent, misdirected, or disproportionate; it can be destructive, leading to anxiety, depression, and impaired decision-making. Alternatively, it can stimulate self-improvement, reminding us of the social contracts we participate in and guiding us toward moral maturation. From a psychological perspective, guilt's origins vary widely. Some theories suggest it arises from self-judgment, others propose it originates from problematic early childhood experiences, or it may stem from distorted or absolutist thinking. Recognizing and acknowledging guilt requires considerable strength, or it will discharge through projection and scapegoating. Guilt's interpretation can vary widely; Christianity views it as a consequence of sin necessitating redemption, Buddhism sees it as an opportunity for compassionate wisdom to correct unskilled behavior, and indigenous cultures regard it as a communal responsibility. Ancient philosophers maintained guilt arises from actions contrary to rational nature, causing internal disharmony. Distinguishing between guilt, shame, and remorse provides a clearer understanding. Guilt targets specific behaviors, shame attacks the self, and remorse evokes empathy towards those affected by our behavior. This distinction highlights guilt's potential to motivate reparative actions, whereas shame leads to paralyzing self-loathing. Remorse initiates transformational suffering. Guilt, remorse, and atonement are a recognition, regret, and repair cycle. This arc, although uncomfortable, is vital for understanding ourselves and others. Restoring the balance between ego and Self, individual and society, requires atonement. Thoughtful reparations can empower us to transform guilt into constructive action and bring peace to our souls.

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BEAUTY, her BEAST, and the BLOSSOMING SELF Jun 15, 2023

The tale of Beauty and the Beast is at least 4,000 years old, perhaps second in popularity only to Cinderella. It has generated many print versions, animated films, a Broadway show, and a Disney film. What about this tale continues to ensure its popularity? And what is this tale really about?

Beauty and the Beast is a metaphor for the development of the feminine, symbolized by an animal bridegroom—who, of course, is an enchanted prince. It’s tempting to see this tale as an example of women treated as chattel by misogynistic males, but as our archetypal bones, fairy tales show us universal problems, patterns, and psychic realities. Beauty’s task is to relate to her instinctual self, represented by the beast. Each of us has an inner other, often imaged as opposite sex, who possesses qualities that seem utterly foreign yet compel attention and interaction.

The tale begins with Beauty’s father stealing a rose for his favorite daughter from the beast’s garden. Outraged, the beast demands retribution: either the father or one of his daughters must agree to live with the beast. Beauty, described as “loyal and modest,” loves her father and insists on sacrificing herself to the beast, who they believe will kill her. A seemingly simple rose comes at a high price, and representations of masculine figures are negative: feckless father and fiend. However, the rose is a mandala. It opens like the lotus from a center and holds the promise of wholeness.

We see the interplay of opposites at the outset and throughout: Beauty’s innocence and self-sacrifice contrast with the beast’s domineering will. Beauty’s seemingly loving father is powerless and unable to protect her, but the beast provides for her every want despite her nightly refusal to wed him. In the beast’s domain, naïve and compliant Beauty discovers her power of self-determination: she stands up to the beast as she did not do with her father, and the beast agrees to let her visit her family. Given freedom from obligation, she chooses to return to the beast.

Beauty’s realization reflects her newfound ability to base loyalty on character and consciousness rather than reflexive filial duty. She needed to access autonomy, and her primal inner other—the beast--needed to relinquish control. Beauty and the Beast is a heartening tale of hard-won wholeness—and at its center is love.

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EMBRACING THE OUTCAST: Understanding Homelessness Jun 08, 2023

Homelessness, as a stark and multifaceted symbol of disconnection, extends beyond the mere absence of physical shelter, embodying a complex interlacing of unconscious conflict, socio-political forces, and rapidly shifting societal values. The shift from small interdependent nomadic communities to the social stratification of nation-states like Ancient Rome fractured the expectation of mutual care. Over centuries alienation was normalized alongside urban development, socio-economic upheavals, and now the empathic failings of our contemporary society amidst unprecedented wealth. On a psychosocial level, homelessness arises from a tragic matrix of precipitating factors – soaring property prices, inadequate welfare systems, mental health disorders, substance abuse, family conflicts, and structural inequalities that leave vulnerable groups grappling with the fragility of their socio-economic status. Psychodynamic perspectives suggest a substratum of unresolved traumas, defense mechanisms, internalized stigma, and grief, exacerbated by fractured interpersonal relationships, contributing to the cyclical nature of homelessness. At the center of this complex is the archetypal Outcast – carrying collective fears, dysregulation, and unintegrated shadow. Yet within this figure lies a transformative potential, a mirror reflecting our shared vulnerabilities and the enduring resilience of the human spirit. The plight of the homeless presses us to acknowledge these multisystemic dynamics and see in them a call for collective empathy, understanding, and movement toward an equitable future. As the specter of homelessness grows, it forces us to confront our prejudices, challenge us to revive society’s protective role, and create an inclusive, accepting world where every individual is acknowledged for their inherent worth and supported to actualize their potential.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I was at my younger sister’s house, and she woke me up in the middle of the night crying and crying. Her face was completely contorted with agony, but I had my earplugs in, so I couldn’t hear her say what was wrong. Then my mom came in too, and she was crying. I took the earplugs out, but I still couldn’t hear anything or understand them to know what was wrong; everything was still muffled. It was absolutely heartbreaking not to be able to understand them or comfort them in their immense grief.”

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UGLY DUCKLING COMPLEX: the painful path of transformation Jun 01, 2023

We all understand the Ugly Duckling complex because we lived it at one time or another. Hans Christian Anderson’s famous tale paints a poignant picture of a child’s experience of rejection only because he’s born in the wrong nest. People who seem different or have not yet matured into their natural beauty endure a kind of scorn that can bring them to despair. The ugly duckling’s capacity to endure and find refuge once he is recognized by fellow swans can hearten us during the long winters of our lives.

As an individuation metaphor, the tale dramatizes how many of us feel essentially different than our playmates and family. The combination of alienation and desperation drives us to merge with others’ feelings and paradoxically escape into fantasies. When the Self finally activates, it drives us toward the reality principle—only through regarding ourselves accurately and meeting the eyes of others can we discover our true nature and feel welcomed. As Jung suggested, we need relationships to feel whole despite the fear of being hurt. The Ugly Duckling shows us the archetypal theme from misery to fulfillment.

Born into the crushing poverty of Odense, Denmark, Andersen, too, felt marked by his stark divergence from the norm. His father, a cobbler with an affection for literature, instilled the young Andersen with a zeal for reading, an enthusiasm not shared by most of his peers. His narrative of becoming was intertwined with his homoerotic identity, a fact that he could neither fully express nor openly explore in the conservative climate of the 19th century, which amplified his sense of estrangement. His unreciprocated affections, extended towards both men and women, nurtured a profound isolation that catalyzed his writings, infusing his narratives with empathy and personal experience. His genius resonated with every underdog and ostracized child who yearns to break the chains of circumstance and find a place of acceptance.

Like Hans Christian Anderson, we may find ourselves alien in our own homes. We may flee only to discover the world cannot understand us. Yet one day, perhaps in the nadir of despair, something greater will claim us from within. Then, quickened and set aright in the world, our true kin will recognize us, and in their embrace, we may understand our suffering as a process that eventually enabled us to fly.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I was eating at a restaurant with a familiar group of people, though many of them were just familiar dream people, not people I know in real life. I felt something on my foot and thought I had dropped a piece of food, so I looked down. It was a small frog jumping across my foot. I picked it up and recalled feeling repulsed by it. I started cutting it across its back and pulling its legs off, but it was dying; it remained alive and kept looking at me, almost as if it was begging me to stop. Suddenly, I thought, “Why am I doing this?” “Why didn’t I just take it outside and set it free?” then, I knew I couldn’t fully kill it, so I asked someone at the table to come outside with me, and I wanted them to ‘finish the job’ and kill the frog so it wouldn’t suffer anymore. The dream ended with the other person killing the frog and me crying uncontrollably at my callousness and gratuitous violence towards the frog.”

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SHADOWS & HIGH STAKES: understanding gambling May 25, 2023

Understanding gambling illuminates the amalgam of desire, risk, and reward that defines our interactions with a capricious world. The lure of gambling, entwined within the fabric of human history, irresistibly draws us to its mesmerizing dance of fortune and chance. Exploring the gambler's psyche, we'll discover the psychospiritual elements that pull us towards Lady Luck. Gambling's allure is steeped in mythology. The concept of chance, the Moirai of Greek lore, the Roman Goddess Fortuna, and the I Ching from ancient China evoke the numinous aspect of luck, symbolically guiding us through its enigmas. This mythological lens offers a universal perspective. The Gambler, a mercurial figure inhabiting conscious and unconscious realms, represents our inherent wish to transcend known boundaries. Presenting in various forms - the trickster, dreamer, and adventurer - the Gambler embodies the tension between control and surrender, resonating with our struggle to balance familiarity and novelty. Eros and Thanatos, the opposing drives of life and death, fuel the gambling world. The lure of infinite possibilities animates Eros within the gambler, who, in his euphoria, overlooks his vulnerabilities—fear and desire mix, producing a potent cocktail. Temporarily, the gambler escapes this reality through the exhilarating throws of chance, finding aliveness in this tension. The capricious Fortuna, goddess of luck, fate, and fortune, reigns over the gambling world. Her symbol, the Wheel of Fortune, reflects the perpetual rise and fall of fortunes, echoing the rhythm of life itself. In her dual nature - benevolent Fortuna Bona and disastrous Fortuna Mala - she challenges the gambler to confront control's limits and embrace uncertainty. Tyche, Greek counterpart to Fortuna, carries a cornucopia of rewards for life’s risk-takers who dare to pursue success, a heroic vision central to the modern entrepreneur. In the end, the gambler’s relationship with chance is a mirror that reflects the essential human condition, for we are all, in a sense, gamblers, poised on the precipice of the unknown. As we journey through life, we must learn to embrace the uncertainties and risks that define our existence, for it is in the very act of embracing the gamble that we find the courage to forge our destinies.

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WHISKERS of WISDOM: A Jungian Analysis of ‘Puss in Boots’ May 18, 2023

Something about a cat wearing clothes has captured our imagination for over 500 years, so it’s about time we tackle a Jungian analysis of Puss in Boots.

Anthropomorphized felines have enthralled us for half a millennium, making Puss in Boots perfect for our discussion. From enchanting fairytales of yore to modern viral videos, our fascination with pets in human attire and mannerisms persists. Whether a parrot blurting expletives or a dog groaning human words, we’re captivated. Through Puss in Boots, we might better comprehend this instinct to imbue our pets with our psychological traits.

This tale can be traced back to various oral traditions, but the rendition most recognized in the West is Charles Perrault’s adaptation during France’s fairytale golden era in the late 1600s. In this period of societal flux, with feudalism dissolving, bourgeoisie emerging, and royal power consolidating, Perrault’s cat symbolizes a social opportunist reflecting the aspirations of the rising middle class. The cat’s shrewd maneuvering through societal ranks and achieving change through cleverness rather than lineage resonated with the changing society.

While these socio-political shifts were relevant, they don’t fully explain the tale’s longevity. The enduring appeal of the shrewd, charming cat and his moral dilemmas suggest deeper, archetypal themes. Historically, cats have been associated with supernatural instincts, independence, adaptability, and boldness. Puss’ attributes echo these, drawing parallels to the feline goddess Bastet from ancient Egypt, renowned for her protective, nurturing powers and ability to speak like humans.

As modernity progressed and Cartesian dualism prevailed, animals and their symbolism lost their depth and voice. In studying the silent afflictions of the nervous system, Freud gave voice to suppressed instincts. Jung, however, restored their wisdom.

Fairytales, through symbolic imagery and archetypal motifs, still convey ancient wisdom our conscious minds have forgotten, appealing to our personal unconscious and reviving dormant truths. Puss in Boots epitomizes this restoration of life-affirming instinct.

The story starts with an old miller dividing his estate among his sons. Through a Jungian lens, we can see that physical and psychological inheritance shapes each son’s destiny. The eldest son inherits his father’s life, forsaking his individual path. The middle son aligns with the donkey’s value of unthinking hard labor. The youngest, bestowed the cat’s independent instincts, sets forth on a journey that will surprise him.

When our ego feels isolated, and the world’s promises seem hollow, we may finally turn to our instincts, symbolized by the feral barn cats of our unconscious. As we reconcile ego and instinct, our inner creatures are granted voices. This process translates archetypal images and emotions into thoughts and plans. Puss’ first request, boots, signifies the alignment of ego and instinct, marking the start of a spirited life journey.

The instinct to survive often overrides moral judgment, bringing forth the Trickster archetype. This is seen across the natural world as creatures employ deception and evasion for survival.

The war between human ideals and animal instincts defines us. An imbalance can have repercussions. The ultimate goal is an integrated stance that promotes a fulfilling life while contributing to civilization. The miller’s youngest son’s journey from despair to royal rule symbolizes the process of individuation encoded in the symbols of this enduring fairytale.

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ARCHETYPAL IMAGES: the soul's language May 11, 2023

Thomas Singer, M.D., Jungian Analyst and president of The Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism joins us to decipher Archetypal Images and explain the essential role of A.R.A.S. in collecting and curating them.

Archetypes, as cosmic blueprints, dictate universal patterns of the collective unconscious, transcending personal experiences and cultural variations. They mold our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Archetypal images are their visible expressions, emerging in dreams, myths, and cultural narratives, providing a visual language linking psyche to self. They adapt and evolve across cultural contexts.

Archetypal theory traces back to Plato's theory of Forms, which proposed transcendental ideals, or "arkhetypos" (first-molded), as the pure essence behind physical manifestations. The Swiss psychiatrist CG Jung linked these archetypes to the collective unconscious, profoundly influencing our experiences.

Archetypal images carry universal resonance, stirring deep recognition within us. Iconic images, on the other hand, reflect temporal cultural dominants. Archetypal imagery identification involves recognizing recurring symbolic patterns with deep cultural or psychological significance.

In the therapeutic relationship, archetypal imagery offers a stage for the drama of the unconscious. The analyst’s role includes identifying the universal patterns in the analysand's dreams and fantasies. Interpreting these influences can free the analysand from the grip of debilitating complexes.

Archetypal images are also prominent in culture and commerce, shaping narratives and influencing behavior. They find use in brand narratives, films, religious and spiritual traditions, and even political leaders' narratives. However, they can both inspire and manipulate, highlighting the need for discernment and critical awareness.

Archetypal imagery also aids in expressing complex emotions and experiences. Expressions such as "Pandora’s box," "Siren’s call," and "Promethean knowledge" exemplify this influence on language and culture.

A.R.A.S. (www.ARAS.org) was initially assembled by Olga Froebe-Kapteyn, who collected illustrations of ancient symbolic artifacts at her estate on Lake Maggiore in southern Switzerland. These images illustrated the annual meetings of the Eranos Society, conducted by Froebe-Kapteyn from 1933, with participation from renowned scholars such as Heinrich Zimmer, Károly Kerényi, Mircea Eliade, C.G. Jung, Erich Neumann, Gilles Quispel, Gershom Scholem, Henry Corbin, Adolf Portmann, Herbert Read, Max Knoll, and Joseph Campbell.

In 1946, Froebe-Kapteyn donated her collection to the Warburg Institute in London, with duplicates given to the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich and the Bollingen Foundation in New York. Jessie E. Fraser, librarian of the Analytical Psychology Club of New York, expanded the archive beyond its original scope, leading to the creation of the Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism. The collection was acquired by the C.G. Jung Foundation of New York and copies were also kept at the C.G. Jung Institutes in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I was walking down a scenic nature trail and felt awed at the sight of ducklings and their mother in a tree. Then a great owl swooped down and snatched the ducklings from their mother, flew to a nearby tree, and started gorging them while the mother could only stare in horror.”

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MEDUSA’S MANY FACES: The Evolution of a Myth May 04, 2023

The symbolism of Medusa, one of three Gorgon sisters in Greek mythology, has fascinated artists, writers, and philosophers for centuries. Initially a monstrous creature with snake-writhing hair and a petrifying gaze, Medusa has undergone numerous transformations.

The earliest known account of Medusa appears in Hesiod’s Theogony (c. 700 BCE), where she is portrayed as a mortal Gorgon sister with a deadly gaze. Ovid’s Metamorphoses (c. 8 CE) ascribes Medusa’s monstrous appearance to a curse from Athena, punishing her for desecrating the temple with Poseidon. Medusa’s terrifying image persisted for centuries, eventually finding its way into Roman wine goblets as a delightful decoration.

Sigmund Freud suggested that Medusa’s visage symbolizes castration anxiety, while Jungian analysis views the myth as a development of the anima, the feminine aspect of the male psyche. By incorporating Medusa’s head into his arsenal, Perseus metaphorically assimilates her power, integrating the darker elements of his anima.

The myth also reflects the evolution of the father-bound virginal feminine principle. Athene, unfailingly loyal to Zeus, demonized Medusa, a figure related to ancient fertility goddesses. Medusa’s killing power, once uncontrollable, was ultimately transformed into a symbol of instinctive sexual power and reintegrated into Athene.

Medusa’s story also explores humanity’s relationship with nature and the cosmos. As a Gorgon, Medusa embodies chaos and destruction, reflecting the untamed aspects of the natural world. Her petrifying gaze is a reminder of the inherent danger within the natural order, further reinforced by her connection to the sea god Poseidon.

Contemporary thinkers and artists have reevaluated Medusa’s image as a symbol of female empowerment and resilience. French feminist philosopher Hélène Cixous argued that Medusa’s transformation into a monster represents the subjugation of women and their sexuality. She encouraged women to reclaim the Gorgon’s image as a symbol of female empowerment.

Medusa’s evolution demonstrates the power of reinterpretation and the resilience of archetypal symbols. From her monstrous origins to her contemporary status as a feminist icon, Medusa defies expectations and continues to challenge. Her ongoing transformation attests to the malleability of myth and the enduring appeal of characters that embody transformation, resistance, and power.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I was alone in an unfamiliar building and going to give birth to twins, but they were crocodiles. I was afraid and trying to escape this building, but a midwife appeared and kept finding me when I tried to escape. She would tell me I had to give birth and wouldn’t let me escape. She was firm but wasn’t mean. Then the building morphed into a hospital, and I gave birth to the crocodiles in a hospital room. I was terrified I was going to have to breastfeed them. (This stands out as the scariest part of the dream.) I was scared holding two baby crocodiles with their mouths open, their teeth exposed, and I was getting ready to breastfeed them.”

MEET JOSEPH in NEW ORLEANS ON MAY 5^th 2023.

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The DARK TRIAD: tracking wolves in our midst Apr 27, 2023

Understanding the Dark Triad can help us navigate mysteriously troubled relationships in all spheres of life. Psychologists coined the term to describe a trifecta of malevolent personality traits: narcissism, machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Although less sinister than any one full-blown personality disorder, it still affects the soul plagued by it and those in reach of its host.

Narcissism has become a widely-discussed topic, often misused to describe anyone who is frustrating or displeasing. At its core, narcissism is a soul-sickness, with individuals exhibiting entitlement, devaluation of others, and a lack of empathy. They suffer deep self-esteem wounds, alienation from their true selves, and an inability to connect with others.

Machiavellianism is inspired by the strategies in Niccolò Machiavelli’s famous book, The Prince. It promotes the idea that the ends justify the means, an approach that may be increasingly appealing in today’s virtualized world, where others may seem less human and more like avatars.

Psychopathy disturbingly captivates us, as we see in numerous films depicting violent, manipulative, and sensation-seeking characters. Driven by an intolerable emptiness and a desire for omnipotent control, psychopaths are often recast as heroes, despite their harmful actions.

Dark Triad types are subtler than their full-blown counterparts yet still identifiable by their disagreeableness, dishonesty, lack of empathy, and social exploitation. They may initially find success in our current cultural climate but are often forced to move on as they fall from grace.

The anonymity provided by social media allows these individuals to act with little consequence, even finding communities that celebrate their destructive behaviors. Skilled in manipulation, they may appear to champion a cause only to exploit it for their own ends.

To recognize the Dark Triad, look for callous indifference to the suffering of others. These individuals often project their dark traits onto others and manipulate the vulnerable into serving their agendas. In the end, those who need help remain unserved.

In Gravity and Grace, the French philosopher and political activist Simone Wiel offered a profound insight to help us discern the way forward. She wrote:

The false God changes suffering into violence.

The true God changes violence into suffering.

She means that violence in all its forms is only a way of discharging our anguished feelings but does not address our wounds. Instead, suffering requires a soulful engagement with what has happened to us and a struggle to master the pain and confusion left in its wake.

MEET JOSEPH IN NEW ORLEANS on Friday, May 5th 2023

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The concepts of Jonathan Schedler Ph.D. are referenced in this episode.

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SYMBOLIC MEANING of HAIR: what's your look saying? Apr 20, 2023

The symbolic meaning of hair is both personal and cultural. It serves as an expressive medium through which we silently communicate. Sporting bed-head might convey a carefree attitude, while a polished prom-night hairstyle expresses maturity. Hair carries various announcements to our community. Its historical significance reveals ancient values that continue to influence our self-presentation. It is a malleable medium. Unlike body parts such as fingers or feet, it constantly grows, allowing for continuous transformation, and it resists decay. These universal attributes make hair an archetype. Haircuts often feature in rites of passage, like a baby’s first trim, symbolizing a transition from innocence to cultural accommodation. Since hair grows directly from our bodies, it’s seen as an immortal extension of one’s self; imbued with primal magic, it retains its form on mummies or in lockets. Voluntary hair removal can signify sacrifice, as seen with monks and nuns shaving their heads to submit to religious constraints and a return to purity. Conversely, uncut, untamed hair represents casting off sexual restraints and embracing instincts, as observed during the 1960s Hippie movement. Depending on the era, body hair has been perceived as virtuous or demonic. Early 20th-century beauty standards associated minimal body hair with femininity and high moral character, while substantial beards indicated masculine virility. In various cultures, hair possesses spiritual power. Samson’s uncut hair connected him to God and, when removed, left him helpless. Hair has also denoted status and roles throughout history; Samurai hair knots commanded respect, Roman women wore wigs to display wealth, and medieval women let their hair flow freely to indicate marital availability. From vibrant punk rock mohawks to a baby’s soft curls, from intricate Mesopotamian royal braids to beehive hairdos, hair continues to captivate us. It speaks on our behalf and changes along with psyche.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I am in the garden of the house where I grew up, looking at a huge blooming flower bed with my mother, who is telling me how to garden while she is away for some time with my father. It is an extremely hot summer day, and she wants me to remember to eat the ripe oranges and yellow tomatoes. When I first look at the tomatoes, I think some of them are rotten, but it tums out that they are perfectly ripe. She also wants me to replant a blackberry bush, which I do immediately. I go inside the house, up the staircase, and get frightened. Suddenly a weird little creature (knee height) crawls up the staircase after me. It is black and has a tiny faceless head on a broader body. I know it is a mutated blackberry. It reaches out for me and begins to crawl my leg, I kick it down, but it keeps coming. It is needy and begins to lick my leg like a tiny dog. It wants me to take care of it, but I don’t want it to depend on me. Finally, I feel desperate and call for my mother’s help.”

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THE WHALE: a film about trauma, obesity, and the undying hope to connect. Apr 13, 2023

We are born with a drive to connect meaningfully with our caregivers. When that is thwarted by fate, deprivation, or hostility, our psyche rallies, it redirects our instincts to the imaginal world where archetypal forces can care for us, and our intolerable feelings can be hidden in a cast of inner characters. We still long for compassionate connection, but the inner figures of our caregivers are intolerable, so sometimes the archetypal mother hides in food—and we follow.

In the recent film “The Whale” starring Brendon Frasier, we meet his character Charlie, an English teacher trying to motivate his online students. With his camera off, his disembodied voice admonishes them to communicate clearly with him. This foreshadows his great struggle to make contact. When the class finishes, the scene expands, and we slowly see Charlie, a 600-pound man struggling to meet the last few needs he permits himself.

Unresolved relational trauma is like a slowly shrinking room. Year by year, in tiny increments, without noticing it, we give up choice after choice until we are boxed in. The few thin channels of life that can reach Charlie are his friend Liz and his online students. The remaining totally unobstructed channel to take in goodness is food, his lifeline beyond the shrinking room.

Unlike his troubled caregivers, food can be controlled and so rendered harmless; it’s allowed in and brings relief and pleasure. All of us cornered by trauma find a secret tunnel through which some small goodness can touch us. Throughout the movie, life tries to rescue Charlie, walking through his front door despite his frightened protests. Characters storm in, demanding acknowledgment. Through these encounters, Charlie is forced out of his shrinking life.

Obesity is never a choice; it is a sign that other paths to receive have been ruined. Many fight their way free, some are rescued by love, and some seek promising new medications. Charlie fights for love and finally resurfaces, drawn by his daughter’s fierce eyes demanding engagement.

“The Whale” depicts a real-world problem and is also an allegory, a contemporary retelling of an epic story. When we learn to see beyond the surface of people’s specific struggles, we can recognize the great human endeavor we all share-- to love and be loved, to know and be known.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I just moved to my childhood neighborhood with my best friend, and I wake up before dawn. As I walk home to school, my legs melt, and I fall to the floor. A classmate finds me lying on the floor and takes his chance to try and have sex with me. I beg him to please carry me home. Inside, my ex-boyfriend and family became concerned about my state. I need to rest; everything is fine. This new house is big and has a beautiful light, yet it seems old and dusty. There are several pieces of wood of unfinished furniture that I cannot work on now. I leave the house again; everything seems nice, but on my way home, my legs stop working, and I desperately start to crawl. Now I seem not to find the door to the house; luckily, a cleaning worker comes up to help me, then she hands me a caterpillar having babies. She tells me had I been lying on my bed for more time, I would have woken up surrounded by them.”

REFERENCES: THE WHALE (film, 2022)

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PAN: archetypal source of panic disorder Apr 06, 2023

Piping through mountains and glens, the great god Pan carries the relentless procreative power of nature. He symbolizes the archaic level of psyche from which all wild instinct rises; feared during war as his panic could undo even the Titans and attacked in the Common Era as the image of the devil.

Half man and half goat, Pan’s untamed sexuality evoked rapture and impulsivity. As the god of shepherds, he ushered young men into puberty, introducing them to the spring rut in their flocks and their own bodies.

In the first 30 years of the Christian era, Plutarch wrote that a sailor heard a divine proclamation, “The great god Pan is dead!” This foreshadowed the fate of natural sexuality as it encountered the ascetic demands of Christianity. The anthesis of Christ’s innocence and virtue, the lustful goat-foot-god, was recast as the prime cosmic offender.

And so, Pan-ic was slowly redirected from fear-driven flocks racing from danger to the human conscience fleeing from the evils of the flesh. The triumph of ego control over instinct was the goal of many religions and philosophies. Civilization itself rose from repression and redirection of primal instincts. The great god Pan was yoked to the engine of art and industry, providing seemingly endless energy.

Freud named the cost of strangling Pan’s lust as he developed his concept of the pleasure principle and psychosexual theory. Neurosis was the strange revenge of cut-off sexuality creating symptoms from hysterical blindness to intolerable moods. Jung understood that banishing images and rituals representing archetypal forces left humans vulnerable to dangerous affects both individually and collectively.

Today, mass Pan-ic dances through social media setting off one frenzy or another. The renewed demonization of sexuality and the deification of malignant innocence is an old tactic made new again. Panic disorder has its roots in the same inner conflict. Jung warned that cutting off conscious access to archetypal forces leads to the rise of fascism and other rage-driven mass movements.

If we can welcome the renewing powers of nature and restore the medicine of healthy instincts, we may yet avert the worst repercussions of killing Pan. It is not enough to champion ecological causes in the outer world; we must extend that to our inner landscape. The divine beasts that graze in our imaginal meadows and the strange gods that beckon in our dream forests also require careful tending. The way we treat Pan inside us is mirrored in the way we treat nature around us. Then we might join the poet Eleanor Farjeon and say,

“Arcadia! it is the very music

Of the first spring-tide rippling its first wave

Over the naked, laughing baby world ...

Come again, thou sparkling spring-tide, come again,

Rush in and flood this autumn from my soul!”

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CAN JUNG’S HOME WITHSTAND REPURPOSING? Apr 01, 2023

It seems that an intrepid consortium of impact investors, real estate developers, and the Swiss Tourism, Farming, and Dairy Products Oversight Authority have created a juggernaut heading for Jung’s home in Kusnacht and his famous tower in Bollingen. The enterprise called Große Böse Wölfe Hinein Unterwäsche has announced its plans to finalize the acquisition of Jung’s estate and transform it.

The modernization of revered sites is familiar across the world. Saddled with mounting maintenance costs and increasing government regulation, British Estates have been repurposed as luxury hotels and sacred temples into coffee houses. Ineligible for inclusion as a UNESCO world heritage site, the Jung properties were placed in a precarious position and seemed to be headed for a similar fate. The consortium has leaked plans to position the properties within a large compound inspired by the successful Disney Adventureland highlighting fairytale motifs.

While Jung himself might have delighted in bringing the archetypal themes in the Grimm’s tales to life, it is hard to imagine he would have tolerated the intrusion into his sanctuary, Bollingen. Analytic psychology has long understood the role of liminal spaces that straddle two states of consciousness. One could argue that the developer’s plans will likewise provide a transitional space between the quaint blend of medieval and Heimatstil Architektur of the original buildings with innovative technology and luxury hospitality.

Like Jung himself, this venture suggests a battle between the Voice of the Times and the Voice of the Depths. To capture the interest of the modern collective, focused on boutique experiences, the creative team is including a luxury hotel compound, a spa centered on historic Swiss folk remedies, children’s camps inspired by Jung’s boyhood experiences, and an immersive virtual reality-enhanced tour based on Emilie Preiswerk’s spiritualist practices.

Perhaps to mollify the expected outrage, the consortium plans to support the Analytic community by digitalizing the Jung library and reproducing artifacts from the homes for sale abroad. Finally, as a bow to the Voice of the Deep, there are plans to organize a nonprofit extension of the new corporation that will fund quantitative research into the efficacy of Jungian Analysis—a long-awaited tool to protect the integrity of analysis.

Holding the tension of the opposites, modernization vs. heritage, may help our community envision the transformation of the Jung properties as a kind of symbol that blends both values without diminishing either. Or we may find our memories, dreams, and reflections trampled by monetization and exploitation. Only time will tell.

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SCHADENFREUDE: Why do we enjoy seeing others fail? Mar 23, 2023

Schadenfreude, the joy in someone else’s misfortune, is a common human experience. We often feel it when someone we believe deserves it embarrasses themselves or is caught in a scandal. Nietzsche once said, “Humor is just schadenfreude with a clear conscience.” This is true, as many comedic scenes involve some form of hilarious undoing. However, when this pleasure becomes malicious, it can be troubling.

Some rules govern schadenfreude. We feel pleasure when an envied person is shamed because it tarnishes their status, making them seem less superior. We delight in the failure of the opposing team because we feel enhanced by the success of our side. Distributing humiliating information about a public figure across social media delights certain influencers, and those who pass it on feel a secret joy in expanding the denigration. Dehumanization is at the core of this kind of schadenfreude.

Children as young as six display signs of pleasure in seeing peers fail but are pressured to hide their glee. Compensation restores inner balance when we go too far, and we’ll dream of arriving naked for a test to put us back in our place. Contemporary culture encourages schadenfreude when historically unsuccessful groups, carrying painful feelings of inferiority, externalize their anger towards a competing group. When the latter is harmed, rage can convert to pleasure. It temporarily relieves inner anguish.

However, we should feel sobered by all antisocial qualities and meet them with ethical restraint. Religious texts offer warnings that suggest the unconscious will react to unrestrained schadenfreude.

“Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth…”

(Proverbs 24:17-18, King James Version).

Delight in our enemies’ harm can turn the Self away from its preserving and protective role, leaving the ego vulnerable to collective shadow and unpredictable tumult. The only remedy for schadenfreude is empathy.

When we outgrow our feelings of inferiority, rage, shame, competition, and malice, we may discover a grace that emanates from the Self. A spiritual quality of kindness that grants us the ability to suffer-with. Grounded in understanding, we can find the power to stand side-by-side with the accused, the misfortuned, the scapegoated, the exiled, the abandoned, and the shamed. Offering them comfort and good counsel as they go on to what lies before them.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I am in my childhood bedroom with my boyfriend. He is lying on the bed, and I am standing facing him. I wear lingerie, white fishnet stockings, and a cobalt blue lace bra. I felt good about how I looked, and I felt desired by him. There was sexual energy and anticipation. I said I’d be right back; I needed to go to the bathroom. I exit the bedroom, turn the dark corner, and stumble upon a creepy doll in the darkness. She was hand sewn, looked like a kind of rag doll or like Sally from A Nightmare Before Christmas, and she notably had two embroidered circles on the top right of her head, which were unfinished, the needle and thread still hanging from there. I wasn’t scared of how she looked, but this doll evoked a faint sense of horror in me. Her presence felt jarring, emotionally charged, and possibly ominous. I turned around the corner with it in my hands to show it to my boyfriend.”

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The PIED PIPER & the terrible costs of rejecting shadow Mar 16, 2023

The Pied Piper story holds a dark secret that has repelled and fascinated us for over 500 years. It asks, "What does it cost to banish our shadow?"

At its surface, it looks like a simple morality tale cautioning us to be prudent and fair. Rats overrun a town, and the locals are beside themselves. A magical piper vibrantly dressed offers a solution too good to be true. His pipe weaves a tune that leads rats to their doom – and they drown in the ocean so neatly. Thrilled at first, then cunning and foolish, the town leaders refuse to pay the piper for his service. In turn, he entrances all but three children and takes them away forever.

Historians wonder if the account is an artifact of a devastating plague. The Lueneburg manuscript from about 1440 CE records the following event: “In the year of 1284, on the day of Saints John and Paul on June 26, by a piper, clothed in many kinds of colours, 130 children born in Hamelin were seduced, and lost at the place of execution near the koppen.” But tragedy was common in the middle ages, and death a constant companion, so why has this account remained vital?

The enduring interest in the Pied piper lies in its symbolic resonance with psyche. When we place the events in our imaginal world, our curiosity is liberated, and our questions become more interesting. What are the pestilential rats inside us? What happens when we ask another person to solve our inner problems? How does the unconscious react when we trick and devalue the inner and outer figures who help us along our way?

Rats populate our inner and outer world. We use them as pharmacological proxies and share about 69% of the same DNA. We keep them as pets even as others work tirelessly to exterminate them from our buildings. In some cultures, they represent prosperity and are tended to as the reincarnation of family members. But foremost, they are survivors and adaptors living side by side in every human endeavor.

We project much shadow on rats accusing them of spreading disease and taking our food without permission – those ratfinks. They hold our unsavory instincts; like all shadow-invested objects, we want them gone! But why are we thankless when someone helps us achieve that? Freud’s Taboo insights suggest anyone associated with our ‘filth’ becomes impure, so degrading them engenders relief.

Complications with money play another part. We’re quick to promise payment when our need is aroused but grim when it’s time to write the check – our mounting credit card debt bears witness to that. Paying the piper evokes dread when we fail to imagine the complete cycle of exchange, and our inner infant is indignant being charged for restoring comfort. Shouldn’t it be free?!? We project our psyches into money and use similar terms for its fluctuations – inflation, depression, and devaluation. Handing over our cash feels like we’re sacrificing an inner potential, surrendering it to our creditors.

This may be a key that unlocks the fairytale.

Perhaps it’s warning us that there’s a cost to banishing our shadow. Strangely, rats, money, and children carry a similar symbolic valence. They all suggest unrealized potential. The vitality in our rat-shadow could have fueled a midlife renewal. Money could have turned our desires into realities. And our children could have carried our hopes into the future.

Perhaps demonizing any aspect of our potential puts all of it at risk, and banishing it to the unconscious may trigger strange, irresistible compulsions that can lead us astray.

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The ORPHAN: symbol of eros, pathos, and hope Mar 09, 2023

The archetype of the orphan, closely related to the hero, evokes powerful feelings of abandonment, deprivation, and hope. From Harry Potter to Little Orphan Annie from Daenerys Targaryen to Cinderella, orphans who triumph over adversity remind us that healing the inner child is possible.

The factual history of orphans is frequently heartbreaking. In the ancient world, unwanted infants were subject to abandonment or death through exposure. In the US, Orphan Trains moved 200,00 children from NE coastal cities to live with farm families between 1853 to 1929. Journalists exposed the nightmare of Romanian orphanages in 1989, rousing adoption efforts and fundraising efforts. The Canadian government forcibly took native children and placed them in Christian boarding schools under the pretense of assimilation. This tragic history lives on in the collective unconscious.

Many of us have inner orphans. The unloved parts of us shipped off to the unconscious exert a powerful influence over our moods. Our adult selves may feel resilient and resourceful most of the time, but a cruel tone of voice as we’re dismissed from work or a cold shoulder from a lover can awaken our inner children putting us in a tailspin. When threatened by abandonment, they can trigger profound feelings of dread and even panic.

In the grip of our inner orphan, we may find ourselves pining to rewrite our childhood, including a cast of perfect parents. Some of us may even question whether we’re adopted because the feeling of belonging somewhere better haunts us. We can suddenly feel desperate and likely to starve even though we have substantial assets in our accounts. Finally, and most painfully, we can feel unloved and unlovable.

We may scramble to find reassurance from outside sources – asking our family if they really do love us or fawning over a new acquaintance in hopes they’ll stick around. We might hoard food or money, reassuring ourselves that we won’t need to rely on anyone, which is best because no one stays with us anyway. In the grip of this complex, our bodies ache, and we may even feel invisible or unreal.

Working through these feelings seems daunting at first because a moat of distress surrounds the inner child. But if we persevere, we may find an inner treasure. On the far side of our remembered suffering is a part of us that recalls how to love and be loved. And when they return, we will wonder how we ever forgot.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I am in an orphanage. There are many other children with me as well. I am the oldest of the group; I feel responsible for the group’s well-being since I am the oldest. We are together in a room with wooden floors and ceiling. Suddenly an evil man and strange appears out of nowhere. He is our master. He teargases us; we cannot see or breathe. The gas makes what is in our pockets fall out, knick-knacks, little toys, memorabilia, coins little notes on crumpled paper. What is in our pockets does not have high monetary value, but it is meaningful to us since we are orphans and have nothing else. The evil master collects our belongings that are falling to the floor from the gas. He makes them his. I ache with sadness to lose what was the only remnant of our identity. Suddenly, Komitas (he is a famous Armenian composer and ethnographer) breaks through the door of the room we are in. He charges aggressively toward the evil master. Komitas has a gun; he points and tries to shoot at the evil master. He misses. Komitas turns toward me. His eyes are full of rage but feel vacant and maniacal. I feel Komitas is in a psychotic state. Komitas takes my hand and places it on the gun. He is standing behind me, I am holding the gun, and he is holding my hands. He points the gun at the evil master. He asks me, “Is this the man? The one I need to kill?” I say yes in agreeance. I know this is what needs to happen. I am sad and afraid.”

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PASSING THE TEST: embracing the refiner’s fire Mar 02, 2023

The word test originally referred to an earthenware vessel in which metals were smelted to separate ore from dross. Like ancient vessels holding the heat of the refining fire, our task is to contain the tension of the test. Tests smelt fantasy from the ore of reality and force us to adapt. If a test feels arbitrary or unfair, we may be failing to dissolve the dross of inadequacy, limitation, or shame. Tests require us to develop the ego strength to put our courage, morals, and perseverance on the line—and withstand the ego wounding of failure. Ultimately ego itself is put to the test. Jung says, “Only if we know that the thing which truly matters is the infinite can we avoid fixing our interest upon futilities, and upon all kinds of goals which are not of real importance.” The archetype of the Self undergirds testing, first to help distinguish ego from unconscious, and then to relinquish ego’s illusion of supremacy.

HERE'S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I’m in our living room hanging up laundry, when a large bird (maybe half my height) flies through the open glass door to our terrace and perches on a cupboard. It looks into my eyes, and I look into its eyes. At this point I think, I’ve got to tell my wife about this. I run into our bedroom and tell her about the bird. She looks through the doorframe, sees the bird, and says, “Oh, that’s a type of penguin.” I had thought it must be a hawk or an eagle. (In retrospect, it looked like neither of these, but was sort of lanky and cartoonish.) I reply, “Are you sure”? She says, “Yes, do you see how its mouth is open like that”? I look at the bird and see that its mouth is indeed open, in a strained, fixed, almost comical way. For whatever reason this was proof to me that it is, in fact, a penguin.”

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Arlene Landau. Tragic Beauty: The Dark Side of Venus Aphrodite and the Loss and Regeneration of Soul.

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AWAKE TO THE WORLD: Jung’s Ethical Stance Feb 23, 2023

Despite volumes written on morality and ethics, how do we determine what’s right? Values distilled over time by family, faith, and nation define and denounce wrong, but the effort to banish shadow only allows it to emerge as projection onto others. We decry in ‘them’ what we deny in ourselves. Jung says, “The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality…for to become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects [of oneself]…as present and real.”

We have all faced a moral dilemma at some point in our lives, questioning our own judgment and rectitude. This internal conflict is a result of our shadow self, the parts of ourselves we keep shamefully hidden and refuse to acknowledge. In order to make ethical decisions, we must discover our shadow and integrate it into our decision-making process. This is called shadow work, a psychological practice that requires facing our fears, insecurities, and doubts. We can genuinely understand our moral philosophy only when we engage our inner conflicts.

Sages have long debated the nature of ethical decision-making. Some argue that morality is objective and universal, while others argue that it is subjective and relative to each individual. The ancient Greek philosophers reasoned it is crucial to consider the impact of the decision on others, both in the immediate situation and in the broader community. This involves empathizing with those affected by the decision and seeking to minimize harm while maximizing societal benefits. Jung believed that religious codes provide an initial framework for the developing child and facilitate cultural adaptation. As our ego individuates from instilled norms and submits to the Self, our allegiance shifts, and our attitudes become increasingly unique.

Making ethical decisions is not always easy. We often face conflicting duties and obligations, and we must weigh the consequences of our actions. In these moments, it is essential to approach the situation with humility and consciousness. We must recognize that our decisions may have unintended repercussions and be willing to take responsibility for our actions. Careful deliberation requires us to embrace uncertainty and trust our intuition.

The definition of morality is not fixed but rather constantly evolving. It is influenced by cultural norms, religious doctrine, personal beliefs, and individual experiences. As such, it is vital to approach ethics with tolerance, curiosity, and courage. We must be prepared to challenge our own beliefs and biases and be open to new perspectives. Only then can we make truly ethical decisions that are grounded in empathy, insight, and compassion.

Jung’s ethical stance is rooted in recognition of our disowned qualities and the influence of the emerging Self. Morality may be relative but requires thoughtfulness, humility, and a willingness to explore ambiguity. As we navigate the complexities of decision-making, we must approach the world with an open mind and a readiness to learn. Only then can we awaken to the world and make truly ethical decisions that honor our larger Self.

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IRRESISTIBLE INVITATIONS: the powerful seduction of possibilities Feb 16, 2023

Invitations are a subtle siren song, tapping into our primal human need to be chosen combined with our thirst for novelty, making them an irresistible force.

When you receive an invitation, it is a moment of recognition, an invitation to be a part of something greater, to feel wanted, valued, and accepted. In the hierarchy of human needs, the sense of belonging takes a top priority, surpassed only by our basic requirements for survival.

There is power in inviting and being invited. The myth of Baucis and Philemon, who innocently invited Zeus and Hermes to dine in their humble cottage, and were blessed for their generosity, reminds us that the right invitations can bring abundance and joy into our lives. But, like the cautionary tale of Sleeping Beauty and the curse of the uninvited fairy, withheld invitations can also be dangerous, hiding the potential for envy and retribution.

An invitation can be a fateful call to action, tapping into our innate desire to be heroic and admired. It’s difficult to resist such a call. But, just as the hero must leave the safety of their home and venture into the unknown, so must we when we accept. Invitations promise a world of possibilities, whether we’re being asked to join a cause célèbre, fight for change or seek personal meaning.

However, not all invitations are created equal. Some are manipulative, depending on our naivety, susceptibility to feeling special, or sense of obligation. Some may only lead to an evening of mind-numbing boredom. Therefore, it is essential that we take a step back and evaluate each invitation objectively, wisely, and carefully considering the implications and outcomes before accepting. We must understand that invitations are not simple requests but symbols of growth and possibility.

So, join us as we explore the unpredictable consequences that come with each invitation and embrace the opportunities that await us. The irrefusable invitation awaits, and the choice is yours. Will you accept?

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“Me and three old friends are at a fair-like event. One of the friends comes to the three of us and suggests that we should try out the batting cage, which we are all excited about. We start heading to the batting cage and the friend that suggested we go is not going with us. We get to the batting cage and the guy running it says the speed of the balls is 91 mph and asks if we can hit that. My other two friends seem confident, I am not. I was never a good hitter when I played baseball. We head to the batting cages, I notice everyone else is paying in tickets and we didn’t. My friends get slightly ahead of me and a worker points me towards a ladder that is going up about three stories. I am terrified of heights. I climb up the ladder and I’m at the top but there is a worker’s desk right there. She seems nice and unbothered by the fact that I’m climbing up a ladder to get over her desk. I try for several minutes, while at the top of the ladder, to climb over her desk to get to the floor with the batting cages. I am unable to do it. My leg is not flexible enough to reach over the desk. I wake up breathing heavily.”

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APHRODITE’S SHADOW: Drowning in Beauty Feb 09, 2023

When the goddess Aphrodite claims us too fully, over time, our bodies become abandoned temples of physical perfection, sexual allure, and romantic passion.

Her seductive archetypal power has captivated us for eons, but in today’s world, the enhancements of fashion, beauty, and physical appearance have intensified veneration of this goddess. However, her enchantments can have profound consequences, particularly when it comes to aging and the pressures of perfection.

In this episode, we delve into the mysterious realm of the archetype with guest Arlene Landau, Ph.D. - a Jungian analyst, mythologist, lecturer, and author of Tragic Beauty: The Dark Side of Venus Aphrodite and the Loss and Regeneration of Soul.

An intricate and complicated relationship exists between women and the goddess of love. Arlene fills a gap in Jungian literature from the female gaze, providing a reflective 21st-century examination of the Aphrodite archetype’s dark shadow. When pressured to concretize Aphrodite symbols -- pursuing beauty can be a treacherous path, especially for women in the entertainment industry who must always be young, beautiful, sexy, and attractive. In addition, body dysmorphic disorder and anorexia are common challenges among the daughters of Aphrodite.

Arlene shares her Hollywood experiences, including a declined opportunity to date Elvis Presley. In addition, she sheds light on the tragic fate of “dead blondes” like Marilyn Monroe and Anna Nicole Smith, who over-identified with Aphrodite goddess of love.

Fairytales warn us the aging Aphrodite type may feel bitter and dangerous as her beauty fades. She prompts us to engage in extreme beautification measures leaving us vulnerable to disfigurement or grotesque approximations of her qualities. She can poison our hearts against seeming rivals, leaving us hollow and alienated from love. Men are not immune to her demands for perfection either.

To balance the psyche, we explore embracing the goddesses sisters Athena, Hestia, and Artemis and developing a relationship with them to counteract the hold of Aphrodite. Finally, we explore an alternative to her excesses - to nurture character and embrace the beauty of selfhood and laughter as we age.

Seeking wisdom offers a crucial balance in our appearance-driven, youth-oriented culture. Arlene writes: “I have had to carry powerful Aphrodite energies, along with a numinous yearning to learn—holding both. It is my task to understand Sophia not just from my mind and animus but from my imagination and soul”.

Join us as we embark on a journey of exploration, navigating the perils and pleasures of Aphrodite and discovering the hopeful path toward the regeneration of soul.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I’m looking down from the terrace of a house, which could be the house I grew up in as a child. Down in the front garden, I see two men cooking something in a bucket. The two men are chit-chatting and mingling with a certain ease. I have this packet of beans with me that I want to cook, and I’m tempted to try to toss the beans down into their bucket without them noticing but abandon that idea as impractical. In any event, when I finally tear the package of beans open, I realize they are dry beans, not soaked. I’m a bit daunted now. So I decided to microwave them for ten minutes to soften them up and try to eat them.”

REFERENCES:

Arlene Diane Landau. Professional Website.

Douglas Stuart. Shuggie Bain: A Novel.

Jean Shinoda Bolen. Goddesses in Everywoman: Powerful Archetypes in Women’s Lives.

Walt Whitman. Eidolons: a poem.

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Sacred Marriage: A Fusion of Instinct, Spirit, and Grit Feb 02, 2023

Marriage is a mystery woven into the fabric of time. A 4,000-year-old contract etched in stone bears witness to its timeless significance. But what is the meaning behind this union of two souls?

Jung saw the definition of marriage as an alchemy of instinct and divinity, a blending of the physical and the spiritual. It is a bond that extends beyond legal and familial ties into the realm of the sacred.

The purpose of marriage is a journey of individuation, a chance for each partner to grow and flourish within the embrace of a supportive union - it is a crucible of transformation. Tempered by our shadow, it can forge us into our best selves.

In marriage, we embark on a dance with our beloved, discovering new parts of ourselves with each step. But as time passes and our projections fade, we must pass through disappointment and conflict.

But as Jung saw it, these difficulties are opportunities for internal work, leading to the transformation of emotional connection into conscious relationships. The purpose of marriage is not just to provide comfort and security but to nurture personal growth.

We can see marriage as a symphony, where each partner's individual growth is intertwined with the growth of the relationship, and view it as a sacred bond, where each partner maintains their unique identity while being strengthened by the union.

What is marriage? It's a journey through the wilds of the human soul, a union that brings us closer to our true selves. This podcast episode explores the complicated and layered world of marriage through a Jungian lens.

Join us on a journey to the heart of this mystery, where the definition, purpose, and meaning of marriage are waiting to be uncovered. Let us answer the question, what is marriage together?

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I am parking for an open mic at a dive bar that I frequent. However, when I exit the car, I am on a residential street situated across from a church. I immediately panicked, not being where I believed I had just driven to, but think "I just need to park closer" and return to the car. I am then in my bed, alone in the camper I live in with my partner. This is how I fell asleep so at first I believe I've truly awoken. I look at my phone, no notifications but it is 8:50. I am disastrously late to meet a friend I record a podcast with. I get in my car and start towards his house. It doesn't occur to me that I am lost until I reach a pair of train tracks that once passed lead onto a road that goes through a trailer park filled with nice, white mobile homes shrouded in deep red light. I attempt to use my brakes right before passing over the tracks. On my dashboard a warning flashes that I can't read. I then lose control of my vehicle and it begins slowly sputtering over the train tracks closer and closer to the trailer park. This leads to another false awakening. I am relieved for a moment that what had occurred was only a dream. Again, I am home alone in my bed. The time on my phone is 8:51. I realize once again that I am late for the podcast. On the drive, I quickly become lost once again and am led back to the same train tracks and trailer park still drenched in red light. This time I know once my car crosses the tracks something bad will happen to me. Out of one of the mobile homes walks a man, slender and attractive but quite old. He is approaching my car, I slowly drive down the street. The man gets taller as I near him and his body is covered in eyes like an angel. He is acting almost like a zombie. I am scared until I tell myself, in a moment of lucid dreaming, "There’s a gun in my hand.” And just like that, there is. I get out of the car and shoot the creature three times before it falls dead. This leads to one last false awakening. This time my boyfriend is in the camper with me. I begin explaining the dream to him. I am then truly awakened by my alarm.”

REFERENCES:

C.G. Jung. Collected Works, Vol. 17: Marriage as a Psychological Relationship. https://a.co/d/9KZj3fN

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The Schizophrenia Complex: How Do We Love Those in Chaos? Jan 26, 2023

Guest Eve Maram, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst in Orange, CA. Her book, The Schizophrenia Complex, presents a clear-eyed and compassionate understanding of our encounters with severe mental illness.

The submergence in unconscious chaos that defines schizophrenia triggers negative emotions in others—yet Jung on psychosis showed that we are different from those patients only in degree.

Significantly his Word Association Test proved that the unconscious influences everyone’s daily life in multiple ways.

Moreover, Jung’s psychiatric work with psychotic convalescents led to his ground-breaking discovery of the collective unconscious, humanity’s mythopoetic substrate.

Understandably we shy away from people in psychosis because they are living out our own radical and universal mad parts. But, instead of turning from the schizophrenia complex, we can acknowledge our shared darkness and stretch into connection.

Then, as Eve Maram’s story depicts, we may find eros has the power to constellate hope, courage, and tenacity in the face of chaos, helping us discover that we are more than before.

Here's the dream we analyze:

“I am about to play tennis on a public outdoor court with 4 or 5 other guys and a coach. As we are walking onto the courts, I ask "are there any tennis prodigies from the neighborhood who play here?" Coach says no and I am a little disappointed. We spread out on the courts to get ready for a drill, and I step into a big pile of dog poo. I am disgusted, and I yell out to the other guys. They don’t hear me but they do notice that I am walking off the court. Just outside of the court, I stomp and scrape my shoe in a small grassy area, but I can’t get the dog poo off. It is clinging to my shoe with claws-it is actually a furry brown creature. At first, I think it is dead but as i stomp it comes alive and starts to fight back.”

REFERENCES:

Eve Maram. The Schizophrenia Complex. https://a.co/d/9NORqZJ

John Weir Perry. The Far Side of Madness. https://a.co/d/gxpIuXu

Nathan Filer. This Book Will Change Your Mind about Mental Health. https://a.co/d/atN5Syv

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Bipolar Disorder: A Jungian Perspective Jan 19, 2023

Imprisoned by the sea with his son Icarus, mythological craftsman Daedalus constructed wings to escape. Beeswax held feathers in place, so Daedalus told Icarus not to fly too high or too low: the sun’s heat would melt the wax and sea spray would weigh the wings down. Elated, Icarus flew too high--and fell. Like Icarus, the moods of people with bipolar disorder swing from soaring into mania to sinking into depression. This disorder affects at least 2% of the population worldwide, with genetics by far the major contributor. BP is a major cause of disability and can also be a factor in creativity; it often brings with it anxiety, substance abuse, migraines, and more. Treatment includes medication, attention to lifestyle, and psychotherapy that includes relating to archetypal polarities. Jung says, “It is not a matter of indifference whether one calls something a ‘mania’ or a ‘god.’ To serve a mania is detestable and undignified, but to serve a god is full of meaning and promise.” Bipolar individuals soar between opposing archetypes leaving them exhausted and confused. Myths help ground the ego in a larger perspective.

Here's the dream we analyze:

“I am in a restaurant busy with people standing and moving around. I too am standing and have been given a seafood dish in an opaque glass (at first like a fancy stemmed glass for cocktail shrimp) and I slurp some of it down. Looking into the vessel I realize I've been eating raw seahorses. I continue to eat, one and then another, not wanting to be rude. They are slimy, room-temp, and gray. I look again into the vessel, which now is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom as if the seahorses, barely submerged in a grey liquid, are in a dark pit that I have to peer into, and I do realize that some of them are still moving, puckering their lips trying to breathe. I decide I cannot keep eating them. I go to where murky puddles have formed in the cement by the melting ice and crab parts of the kitchen's seafood prep. I assume the puddles to be brackish, or at least can provide a more bearable end of life for the seahorses, so I throw them in by flicking the glass. There are still more seahorses stuck to the bottom of the glass, my flicking hindered by its strange shape. People are standing and talking around the puddles now, so it's discreetly that I quickly flick the rest of the seahorses out, not wanting to be seen doing it and not wanting the seahorses to be seen in the puddles.”

REFERENCES:

Buzz Aldrin. Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon. https://a.co/d/j1IQZID

Jason Thompson. A Jungian Approach to Bipolar Disorder: Rejoining the Split Archetype. https://a.co/d/fZS821Y

Kay Redfield Jamison (multiple books): An Unquiet Mind; Manic-Depressive Illness; Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament; Exuberance: The Passion for Life.

S-town podcast. https://stownpodcast.org/

Werner Herzog (film). Grizzly Man. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_Man

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Inside the Mind of the Scam Artist Jan 12, 2023

Conned, swindled, or bilked, about 50 million Americans were ripped off by scammers in 2020. What deadens a person to preying on another? Tricksters commit crudely constructed fraud. Jung said they are “not really evil [but do] the most atrocious things from sheer unconsciousness and unrelatedness.” Cheaters may have behaved decently until tempted by need and opportunity and then become caught in a web of deception. Narcissists exploit others due to an inflated need for admiration and status that forecloses empathy and relatedness--and crooks turn predation, power, and risk-taking into a career. They lack authentic affiliation with others and an abiding sense of self; egotism and performative grandiosity substitute for feeling and being. The scammer unwittingly scams himself by seeking false gold in the external world. Real gold lies within.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I’m with my family in a grand dining room, around a large table with lots of food on it. It’s going to be dad’s funeral. I hear that mum is really upset because she wants to see dad’s body before they bury him. Some men bring dad’s body directly past the table where we are sitting, and as they bring the body past, I recite the lyrics to the Kenny Rogers song “The Gambler” to my brother. I look at him sincerely, and I clearly say: “On a warm summer’s evening, on a train bound for nowhere, I met up with a gambler, we were both too tired to sleep. We took turns in staring out the window at the darkness Until the boredom overtook us, and he began to speak. He said, “Son, I’ve made a life out of reading people’s faces Knowing what the cards were by the way they held their eyes. And if you don’t mind me saying, I can see you’re out of aces, and for a taste of your whiskey, I’ll give you some advice. You’ve got to know When to hold ’em, Know when to fold ’em, Know when to walk away, Know when to run, You never count your money When you’re sittin’ at the table, There’ll be time enough for countin,’ When the dealin’s done, Now every gambler knows, The secret to survivin,’ Is knowin’ what to throw away, And knowin’ what to keep, ’Cause every hand’s a winner, And every hand’s a loser, And the best you can hope for Is to die in your sleep.” Then I stop, and we start to eat the food.”

REFERENCES:

Bernie Madoff, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Madoff

Elizabeth Holmes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Holmes

George Santos, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Santos

John Carreyrou. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. https://a.co/d/3Gv3NMJ

Maria Konnikova. The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It Every Time. https://a.co/d/gWd18xR

Podcast: Dr. Death. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/dr-death-s1-dr-duntsch/id1421573955

Sam Bankman-Fried, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried

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Best of This Jungian Life 2022 Jan 05, 2023

New Year is a global time of celebration and self-reflection. We let go of what’s worn out and cheer on what’s new and emergent. Here at TJL, we raised our glasses in gratitude. We crested 8 million downloads, implemented major enhancements to your Dream School experience, started crafting our first book, The Key Dreams, and expanded our creative team. It’s been a year of dynamic growth, and we couldn’t have done it without you! Our mission to share Jung’s life-enhancing wisdom is advancing through your patronage, soulful participation, and kind-hearted enthusiasm.

Your experiences are important to us, and we noticed the 2022 episodes you liked best. So to honor that, we’re sharing some gems from those conversations.

In Reality as Medicine, we explore the task of adapting to the truths of our inner and outer worlds. Finally, in Vocation: Answering the Call, we deepen Jung’s comment, “In the final analysis, we count for something only because of the essential we embody, and if we do not embody that, life is wasted.”
In Amor Fati: Love of One’s Fate, we discuss the transformational shift that occurs when we embrace our fate and say the great “YES!” to our lives.
In Forgiveness or Fury: Finding a Way Forward, we offer a psychological definition of forgiveness and suggest that we can accept apology and remorse—if it’s accompanied by introspection and greater self-understanding. We clarify that forgiveness is less about the other than self-liberation from the victim paradigm.
When Jungian analyst Donald Kalsched joined us, we discussed Trauma and the Informed Heart. Don’s wisdom, depth of understanding, and kindness move all of us.
Connie Zweig led us through a profound exploration of The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul. She lifted up the archetypal transition from Hero to Elder or role to soul. We learned this begins by releasing the ego’s over-identification with doing and reorienting toward the transpersonal center Jung called the Self.

REFERENCES:

Donald Kalsched

Connie Zweig

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SEX and its Undeniable Power to Fascinate Dec 29, 2022

Sex fascinates us. Whether we turn toward it, flushed and excited or away from it, tense and disquieted. Archetypal images of sex adorn the thresholds of ancient temples and inform most mythological systems. Shiva and Shakti, in their union, create the universe – she’s providing all forms for his undifferentiated light. The gods beget gods as they mate, giving rise to infinite imagistic permutations of cosmic and personal qualities. These religious images of creation and pleasure inform our individual psyche granting sexuality a numinous intensity.

Human culture shapes our initial attitudes toward sex. When infused with monotheistic religious feeling, sex is held as a sacrament subject to the rites and rituals believed to protect the couple from its overwhelming power and god’s jealous monitoring of the behavior. Polytheistic religions generated a multiplicity of god-forms and related myths to reflect a wide variety of possible relationships to sex and its outcomes. Pan, the lusty fertility god of the rut, Aphrodite the mistress of beauty and refined passion, Anteros the god of love returned, and Pothos, the god of sexual yearning – the infinite diversities of sexual expression, were held by related images and protectively tended by their devotees.

With the age of enlightenment that inevitably led to the current juggernaut of science and empirical attitude, we disposed of the archetypal images of sex, driving them into our personal and collective shadow. Defenses like shame and resentment keep the gods of sex at bay. At war within our bodies, they cause genital tissue to ossify and choke off requisite blood flow.

Freud was foremost in the battle to understand and liberate trapped sexual forces. As a neurologist, odd cases of functional disorders came to his attention – a patient who mysteriously could not feel a limb or a loss of sight without organic cause. His rigorous exploration of symptoms and personal narrative led him to a theory of psychosexual development which clarified how sexual energy, when thwarted, could lead to a host of mental and physical suffering or neurosis. Jung expanded the theory, suggesting there were many kinds of psychic energy, in addition to sex, that produced symptoms when trapped by unnatural attitudes or traumatic interference. He accepted the creative reality of sexuality and was an early champion of sexual diversity and self-determination.

As moderns, we have tried to liberate sex by reducing it to a transaction, making it subordinary and thus non-threatening. Kinsey championed the natural fluidity of sexuality by surveying and analyzing personal erotic experiences and publishing them – he tried to restore consciousness to the diversity of sexual themes, hoping it would broaden modern attitudes and cultivate acceptance. The chorus of explainers now spans widely from biopsychosocial researchers to evolutionary psychologists, gender role theorists, to social constructionists. Add to that list theologists, talk show hosts, and podcasters, and we can all agree – we can’t seem to take our eyes off sex.

Here’s the Dream We Analyze:

“I was running a marathon in the desert. First, I saw pueblos, familiar from an old dream. Then I saw a sleeping dragon, then a stack of rainbow-colored rocks. Finally, I entered a taqueria, and the man behind the stand gave me a sugar-covered tortilla. Then a woman with a veil came in.”

REFERENCES:

From Freud to Jung: A Comparative Study of the Psychology of the Unconscious by Liliane Frey-Rohn. https://a.co/d/63atnIv

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: The Classic Guide to Understanding the Opposite Sex Paperback by John Gray. https://a.co/d/4ZWjSmW

The Kinsey Institute, https://kinseyinstitute.org/

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HOLIDAY HAUNTINGS, or Who are these people?!?! Dec 22, 2022

Holiday homecomings kindle hopes of achieving a domestic ideal, though family gatherings are also likely to evoke old roles and emotions. Families open a portal into the patterns of the past, and unfinished business can cause repetition of disappointing dynamics as if one more replay will yield a different outcome. John Gottman, renowned interactive researcher, states that authentic relationships have more positive than negative interactions, creating an emotional bank account to draw on when difficulties arise. If relational deposits are low, it may be time to face the disappointing reality of what should have been and may never be. It’s time to start something new. We can engage the task of making a home within instead of seeking it from others. When we are at home with ourselves, we are free to enjoy relationships for what they have to offer.

Complicated family dynamics are not modern affectations but part of the original fabric of human psyche. Fairy tales offer a wellspring of archetypal images that capture elements of collective experience curated over thousands of years. These stories help define universal problems and offer attitudinal solutions. For example, Nordic tales frequently include trolls that embody unrestrained primal instincts that disrupt the peace, make uncivilized demands, and, once sated, return to the wilderness, often with a promise to return. The Norwegian tale, The Cat on the Dovrefell, helps us understand how we collude with disruptive holiday dynamics and what might be required to keep them at bay.

From the ancient wellspring of fairytales to the insightful observations of current researchers, one thing remains constant – challenging dynamics constellate when families gather for the holidays, requiring accurate recognition and skillful intervention. With this in hand, we might artfully disrupt old family patterns and bring forward the warm experiences of love and connection we hope for.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“It’s nighttime, and I’m at the airport with my mom, in line for security. I have my cat with me, and as I’m about to go through security with him, I suddenly realize we are outside on the tarmac. I’m worried about pulling him out of his carrier because I know that if he escapes my arms, I’ll never find him out there. I can’t bear to lose him; the thought fills me with dread, and I start to panic. Upon seeing this, the TSA worker lets me keep him in his carrier. I get through and get on my flight. Upon landing, I find myself in Berlin. I make my way to the hotel, where I meet up with several friends. We are all tired from traveling, and it’s snowy out, so we decide to stay at the hotel and rest before exploring the city. We head to the pool, where the bar is very crowded with old people. One of my friends decides to go swimming, even though it’s very cold out. She plunges in, and a hotel employee scolds her, telling her it’s too cold, and she must get out. She doesn’t listen. More of my friends have arrived and are now also jumping into the pool. I stand at the edge, looking down at the water, unsure if I want to go in. Suddenly, an impulse takes over, and I need to feel the cold water on my body. I realize at this moment that I have a migraine, and I know the shock of the cold will heal it. I jump in and am surprised by how deep the pool is. I’m underwater a lot longer than I thought I’d be. When I resurface, I suddenly remember that my cat and my ex’s cat are in my hotel room, and I’m struck with a need to go check on them. I couldn’t bear to lose them and need to make sure they’re okay. Back in my hotel room, I find the cats are safe, and I also discover that my ex is in the room like he’s been waiting up there for me. I get into the bed, which is large and has a fluffy white comforter, and he joins. I am suddenly nervous as I realize we haven’t shared a bed in months, and I’m not sure what to do. But we quickly fall into place, and he’s holding me tight. It feels secure and warm, and we fall asleep like that. When I awake, we are back in our hometown together.”

REFERENCES:

John Gottman. The Relationship Cure. https://a.co/d/6vj3fUj

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THERAPISTS on the SILVER SCREEN: fantasy or fact? Dec 15, 2022

In psychoanalysis, a screen memory covers up a deeper, more emotionally charged issue. Similarly, movie and television screens both shield and open us to human complexity through fiction. The opportunity to peer into shadow and secrets from a safe distance is irresistible. Depictions of psychotherapists and therapy can range from the malevolent Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) to psychic empath Deanna Troi (Star Trek). Most on-screen therapists, however, like their real-world counterparts, are wounded healers doing their best to help despite sometimes substantial fallibilities. Bruce Willis (Sixth Sense) doesn’t realize he’s dead; Jennifer Melfi (The Sopranos) denies her mobster client’s sociopathy, and Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) embodies the mercurial power of humor that grants perspective. Jung understood the value of the analyst’s capacity to suffer as they led the way; he writes, “…it is his own hurt that gives a measure of his power to heal.” During the painful tumult of the COVID pandemic, growing demand for therapeutic support piqued public curiosity in the mechanisms of psychotherapy, opening the way for Jonah Hill’s vulnerable documentary STUTZ, filmed with his ailing therapist Phil Stutz. It invites the public to witness the wisdom, mutual vulnerabilities, and authentic affection that fuels the healing process. As Freud wrote in a letter to Jung, “…psychoanalysis in essence, is a cure through love.”

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I was attending a drag show, but I put on a costume and began to perform on stage. I was a background performer for someone else, and I was just walking around the stage. I felt like I wasn’t wearing the costume that I wanted to wear. I didn’t feel comfortable or confident. I also felt like I wasn’t getting cheered on by the crowd. I got off the stage and felt unseen. I remember seeing a pill bottle, and not knowing what it was, I took a pill. It was someone’s else’s medication that I stole. I spent the rest of the dream trying to hide in shame from taking someone else’s medicine and anxiously waiting to see what the pill was going to do to me.”

REFERENCES:

Frazier (TV series, 1993-2004). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frasier

In Treatment (TV series, 2009-2021). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Treatment

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (film, 1975). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo%27s_Nest_(film)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV series, 1987-1994). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation

STUTZ (Film). (2022); Jonah Hill, Phil Stutz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKCmefQdplI

The Sixth Sense (Film, 1999). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Sense

The Sopranos (TV series, 1999-2007). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sopranos

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REVOLUTION: the way of radical renewal Dec 08, 2022

We tend to think of revolution as a people’s push-back against perceived oppression—a reaction to rulership that has rejected fairness, change, and accessibility. When a rigid power structure reigns supreme—often presenting as idealism, spirituality, or cultural integrity—it can generate opposing force as an effort to restore rightness and realize renewal. For Jung, revolution “is not conversion into the opposite but conservation of previous values together with recognition of their opposites.” He adds that to quite a “terrifying degree, we are threatened by wars and revolutions which are nothing other than psychic epidemics…modern man is battered by the elemental forces of his own psyche.” For revolution to be more than warring between opposites requires the capacity to mediate conflicts within ourselves and establish a new internal order.

You say you’ll change the constitution

Well, you know

We’d all love to change your head
You tell me it’s the institution
Well, you know
You better free your mind instead

The Beatles: Revolution

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am in some sort of tech office. Someone is here who is trying to steal data. My goal is to discover their identity, get the disc they are trying to smuggle and get out. At one point, a female friend from church is standing across the room from me. She has a sniper rifle with a scope on it, trained on me. I think maybe I can try to duck or run quickly behind something, but I know that I won’t get there in time, and she will shoot me. I am not sure what is going to happen. I also sense that she is friendly toward me, she may even be smiling, but she still has the sniper rifle trained on me. Then she is right in front of me. I take the barrel of the rifle and hold it up to my forehead and tell her it is okay, she can shoot me if she needs to. I close my eyes and am genuinely unsure of what is going to happen. Time passes. She decides not to shoot me after all. I am vaguely aware that there is a studio audience watching all of this like it is a reality show or a game show of some kind, and I’ve won “sympathy points” by doing this. The church friend has disappeared, and I continue looking for the infiltrator. I see a guy I noticed earlier, and I think it can’t possibly be him; that would be too easy. But then I see he has a CD under the cushion of his seat--it is him. When he is not looking, I retrieve the CD. I am very nervous to do this, but I do not get caught. Now I need to get out of the building with the CD. But the sense of terror is gone. I am sure he is not going to catch me, and I can probably leave as I please. I am weirdly sad that the sense of apprehension is gone.”

REFERENCES:

Joseph Henderson and Dyane Sherwood. Transformation of the Psyche: The Symbolic Alchemy of the Splendor Solis. https://a.co/d/3D98biA

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MELANCHOLY: the exquisite ache of life Dec 01, 2022

Melancholy evokes images of poets and artists for whom suffering and giftedness go hand in hand. Creative ability as compensation for affliction is depicted in Greek myth by the god Hephaestus. Rejected by his goddess mother and cast out of Olympus, alienated Hephaestus forged magnificent, magical objects for the gods. Such archetypal imagery can inform our understanding of the kind of depression that seems intrinsic but may have roots in early, adverse childhood experiences of emotional deprivation or rejection. Early loss, separation from a primary caregiver, or relational abandonment can have lifelong repercussions. Such disruptive events, though not available to consciousness, nonetheless infuse adult attitudes and attachments. To name the void creates space for mourning and healing, and like Hephaestus, finding the inner fire to forge something new.

Here's the dream we analyze:

“In my dream I am walking, I think toward a house. I'm walking through a wilderness area that has many, like at least 2 dozen, dead rabbits. They are dismembered. And I look at them, but when I do, I feel that I have violated their death. I'm not sure. I know a wolf got them but I never see the wolf. I see one of the rabbit's faces, and even though it is missing it's lower half (and is quite bloody), I know its soul is still alive, though its body is dead. I don't ponder this for very long in the dream. After that, I pass the rabbits, and I'm in the yard of what I think might be my home. But it is flooded - the aftermath of a flood. There is a large (80 foot) oak tree in the middle of the flood waters. Next to it is a tower of toadstools, each growing on top of one another. They are beautiful. They are lime green and white, almost glowing. I never go into the house because I'm amazed by the mushrooms. I take picture after picture of them from various angles.”

REFERENCES:

Film: Melancholia; Kirsten Dunst, Alexander Skarsgard. https://play.hbomax.com/player/urn:hbo:feature:GYVLQ2wCF_6TDXgEAAACc

The Ultimate Rumi Collection. Three books by Coleman Barks, https://a.co/d/c99kiYA

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GAMES: a metaphor for life Nov 24, 2022

Humans have played games since prehistoric times. Games bring us together and pit us against each other. We agree to rules, take turns, develop tolerance for frustration, and learn to win and lose. We develop skills and submit to chance. Games range from luck to skill, from a throw of the dice to acing it at tennis. Games regulate aggression: only one can win, whether on a gameboard or the court. Shadow is sanctioned within the rules, creating monikers like The Black Death of chess and Boss of the Moss of golf—and in the heat of a game, shadier traits may also be revealed. But “playing games” in relationships is universally condemned as cheating. Games introduce us to conditions of life, for we must play the hand we’ve been dealt. Confronted with the limitations of ego and understanding, we may discover that games are metaphors for the movement of a mysterious cosmos.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I dream of this place that is dark and largely empty. The doors to the place are open. Inside there is a void, and in the void, particles. They are ominous. Dark. They exert impact on things inside this place. There is nothing inside this place except cut-outs of what look like humans. They float eerily and move through the air quickly, like ghosts. As one approaches the window through which I am looking in, the cut-out impresses as very human-like, even though it is not. It is eerily human-like. I am startled. All of a sudden, there are humans inside this place. I become aware of a lady with a shaven head. Her head reminds me of the Borg [Star Trek reference]. These particles have been affecting her and have caused her to be gone. She is alive but no longer a human--cannot be reached. Her condition cannot be undone. I am now in a room with a male human. He is not gone to the particles yet. He presents me 4 books quickly. He says they will soon be stolen. That everything in this place is stolen quickly. He says to remember the headings of books as this is the only way to keep the information, namely in one’s memory. The particles in the dream are rather ominous. The place is ominous. There is such hunger in this place, a kind that cannot be sated, hence the stealing of things.”

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STAY-AT-HOME DADS: Emerging Potentials in the Father Archetype Nov 17, 2022

As our bonds to historic roles loosen, fathers are finding new ways to express themselves within the family dynamic. In 2014 Pew Research Center identified two million stay-at-home-dads in the United States. Those men tell us that tending their children is more rewarding than chasing a paycheck. Being liberated from the hunter-gatherer role has allowed more men to incarnate aspects of the Father archetype infrequently seen since the industrial revolution. Being caregiver and homecreator does not diminish their experience of masculinity but rallies inner resources that had been set aside. Despite the national call for a redistribution of family duties and liberation from traditional paradigms, at-home dads face isolation, suspicion, and stigma.

Historically, as father’s left the home to work at factories and offices, their presence in the family psyche dimmed. Children often lost touch with the significance of their fathers, and family courts consistently relegated them to providers of income. Poet Robert Hayden captures this ambivalence and regret in his poem Those Winter Sundays.

Sundays too my father got up early

and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,

then with cracked hands that ached

from labor in the weekday weather made

banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.

When the rooms were warm, he’d call,

and slowly I would rise and dress,

fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,

who had driven out the cold

and polished my good shoes as well.

What did I know, what did I know

of love’s austere and lonely offices?

Growth and change are central to Jung’s ideas. Making room for the incarnating Self in all its complex diversity is the task of humanity. When we muster understanding and support, cultural and personal transformation might be a little less painful

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am in New York with my sister. We are in the reception of a hotel, and it is cavernous, with walls and arches made from rich brown marble. The light is golden. We are taken to our room, and we are jetlagged and tired. This feels OK; we didn’t have anything planned in our itinerary anyway. Our room is big, but we go into the small bedroom and get into the bed, one of us at each end. Later, I go to a Victoria’s Secret in a mall. All the clothes are really expensive: the sale rack is not really reduced, and I find it annoying. Other people don’t seem to mind, and they are clamoring for the clothes. I return to the hotel room and find that I have accidentally stolen some underwear: I have no idea how it got into my bag. My dad has arrived, with some of my friends and my sister. The bedroom feels really cramped. Everyone seems to be in New York. I’m embarrassed about the ‘stealing,’ and everyone tells me I have to take it all back. I don’t know how to do this surreptitiously without getting into trouble.”

REFERENCES:

Dad Saves the Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6YmKIoUdZc, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEPq2rGLKZU

Farrell, W. (2019). The boy crisis: Why our boys are struggling and what we can do about it. BenBella Books. Available on Amazon: https://a.co/d/abRKOzW

Hayden, R., & Glaysher, F. (2013). Robert Hayden: Collected poems. Liveright. Available on Amazon: https://a.co/d/ay0nLoi

National At-Home Dad Network: https://athomedad.org/advocacy/statistics-on-stay-at-home-dads/

Pew Research Center: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2014/06/05/growing-number-of-dads-home-with-the-kids/#:~:text=Just%2024%25%20of%20stay%2Dat,%2Dat%2Dhome%20mothers).

Warren Farrell: https://warrenfarrell.com/

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SEWING: Stitching a Life Together Nov 10, 2022

Humans moved from stitching animal hides to sewing cloth, from necessity to fashion, and from handwork to factory. To sew is to repair, alter, and create. If a rip or tear is sewn unthinkingly, the garment will be too tight or unsightly. Alterations have limitations, and uncut cloth is the prima materia for the alchemy of construction. Sewing requires dexterity, knowledge, and judgment. Sewing transforms parts into wholes— meticulous stitches render possibility into product, and scraps store memories in the pattern of a quilt. We hold the opposites of design and detail with attention and patience, and can’t resist embroidering our garments, stories, and lives. What we sew has a limited lifespan, as do we. Stitching our inner and outer lives together day by day, we can create raiment for the soul.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am walking up a stairwell together with what feels like a close friend, and we enter an apartment which I assume is mine, even though I have never seen it before. The hallway is quite spacious and sterile; there is no furniture or curtains. As we enter, my white pet ferret rushes toward me and wants to be cuddled. I pick her up and hold her in my arms. I am so happy to see her, but at the same time, I feel bad because I know I have neglected her and left her alone in the apartment for far too long. Suddenly I’m horrified as I notice that she has a large lump on her right eyelid! My friend takes the ferret from me and carefully examines her eye. After a while, she says, “Look, the lump is covering her eye, and she will go blind if it continues to grow. Actually, you used to have a lump like this on your eye a while ago, but you removed it. She must have caught it from you--it’s a virus, you know.” I can’t recall any of this, but I trust my friend is right, so I’m instantly relieved. I feel so grateful that we discovered it in time to save her, and I promise myself to take better care of her in the future.”

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Matthew Quick on Jung, heartbreak, and healing in his new novel We Are the Light. Nov 03, 2022

Matthew Quick, author of The Silver Linings Playbook, shares himself and his new book, We Are the Light. Writer’s block led Quick to This Jungian Life podcast, analysis, and letter writing as a literary device. Letters free us even as the privacy of the page dares us to reveal ourselves, risk intimacy, and express our longing to be received. Lucas, the main character, rediscovers himself through faithful letters to his former Jungian analyst after a movie theater shooting takes 18 lives, including his wife’s. Fragile, valiant, and humorously naive, Lucas Goodgame plays the game of life that Jung termed individuation. Lucas plays with all his heart, and his alliance with an alienated teen ignites the magic of healing in surprising ways. Did Quick create Lucas—or was Lucas waiting for Quick to unblock and let him in? Our conversation sheds light on the relationship between author and character, creativity and healing, Jungian analysis and soul. This book is about the angels and grace that lead us from grieving to living—and love.

REFERENCES:

Learn more about Matthew Quick: https://matthewquickwriter.com/

Sign-Up for Matthew’s monthly personal letter: https://matthewquickwriter.com/contact/#personal-letter

Purchase a copy of We Are the Light https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1668005425?tag=simonsayscom

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Zombies: a call to consciousness Oct 27, 2022

Zombies have recently risen from mythological depths to menace modern-day culture. Zombies image the horror of vulnerability to dehumanized existence. They exist in a meaningless void marked only by insatiable appetite; they are our collective’s pathological shadow. The undead alarm us--and can also awaken us. We are summoned to contend with dark and deadening powers through vigilance, consciousness, and action. Jung says, “If you will contemplate your lack of…inspiration and inner aliveness, which you feel as sheer stagnation and a barren wilderness, and impregnate it with the interest born of alarm at your inner death, then something can take shape in you, for your inner emptiness conceals just as great a fullness if only you will allow it to penetrate into you. If you prove receptive to this ‘call of the wild,’ the longing for fulfillment will quicken the sterile wilderness of your soul as rain quickens the dry earth.”

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I was in a dark house with animals in large enclosures next to each other with glass screens. We opened them all to let them move around as we’d been somewhere all day. The person with me was a shadowy stranger I didn’t identify; it felt like their house. There was a beautiful little hawk that was very tame and had a feeling of wisdom and kindness. Then there was a giant pinky-purple “Spanish” snake, bulging, heavily pregnant, on the floor, asleep. I wasn’t scared of the snake but found it repulsive and knew it was dangerous. A blue jay flew in and started chasing the little hawk, and I got a bad feeling that continued to build. The jay was squawking loudly and was much bigger than the hawk. Then the snake suddenly stretched up and bit down hard on the hawk. The hawk fell to the floor, the noise of the birds stopped, and the jay flew off. The stranger took the hawk, and we saw it was dying; they then proceeded to pull off its legs and wings and then wring its neck.”

REFERENCES:

C.G.Jung. CW 14, para 189

Dawn of the Dead (1978 film), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_of_the_Dead_(1978_film)

In The Flesh (2013-2015, TV Series), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Flesh_(TV_series)

Night of the Living Dead, (1968 FILM), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Living_Dead

The Walking Dead (2010-2022 TV Series), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead_(TV_series)

Wells Hanley, Zombie Say Hey (song). https://wellshanley.bandcamp.com/track/zombie-say-hey

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The Problem with Problems: solve or avoid? Oct 20, 2022

Problems can pester, persist and plague. They range from short-lived to chronic, bothersome to heart-wrenching, resolvable to unalterable. Problems cause what Jungian analyst and author James Hollis refers to as the three As: ambiguity, ambivalence, and anxiety. Ambiguity arises when a problem is complex and confusing, demanding action without certainty. Ambivalence is a state of conflicted feelings, often related to immediate versus long-term gratification. Anxiety is worry and doubt about whether we can meet a challenge or achieve a desired outcome. Problems confront us with a basic choice: action or avoidance—but action without analysis can also be a form of avoidance. We must accept the situation, tolerate the tension, and observe external and internal factors before identifying options. Jung says, “The most intense conflicts if overcome, leave behind a sense of security and calm that is not easily disturbed. It is just these intense conflicts and their conflagration which are needed to produce valuable and lasting results.”

Here’s the dream we analyzed:

“I was pregnant, and I went to a cafe with my husband. I went away and had my baby. I went to a party where some family and friends were welcoming the baby. I cradled a small plastic box with a transparent plastic lid. There were about six spaces pressed into the foam of the box and my baby, which was a tiny bee, was in the right bottom corner of the case. As the party was ending, family members encouraged me to let the bee out of the case. My husband said to do what I thought was right. I opened the case, and we left the party hall, the bee flying above us. When we got outside, it flew away. I ran to keep up with it, and it flew to a huge wooden and plexiglass hive on the lawn. My baby bee flew to a bigger bee, circled it, and was imitating it, even getting onto the big bee’s back while it flew. I wanted to catch my bee but was intimidated by the bigger bee. They flew off in a swarm with others. My husband told me it was time to go. I walked away, and we drove away with my in-laws. When we were alone again, I couldn’t stop crying. My husband took me to the same cafe, but I could hardly walk because I was crying so much. The server said I looked good for just having had a baby. I went to the bathroom, sobbing and feeling very swollen all over. I looked at my puffy face in the mirror and felt like I looked new.”

REFERENCES:

Edwards Deming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming

Video: It’s Not About the Nail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4EDhdAHrOg

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OCD: The Distress of Repression Oct 13, 2022

Obsessions are unwanted, intrusive thoughts; compulsions are unwarranted, involuntary behaviors. Though different, they often go together, for compulsions pose as protection from the imagined bad consequences of obsessions. They tend to escalate, demanding more time and attention: spontaneity is sacrificed to schedule, desire surrenders to compliance, and aliveness is stifled by stiffness. OCD’s insistence on “rightness” attempts to deny feelings, especially anger, neediness, and desire, displacing them onto rigid exercise routines, midnight phone scrolling, finicky dietary convictions, and other attempts to serve performance and perfection. Marie-Louise von Franz, Jung’s close collaborator, says, “Every content of the unconscious with which one is not properly related tends to obsess one, for it gets at us from behind…You can either be possessed by a content constellated in the unconscious, or you can have a relationship to it. The more one represses it; the more one is affected by it.” When the unconscious is denied, it turns to unwanted forms of expression.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am standing in a field in winter. The earth is cold and hard. I have a simple, woven cloth wrapped around my head and am carrying a basket in the crook of my arm. I am in the field harvesting potatoes. I work slowly and methodically, moving up and down the rows, but at some point, I realize that the crops I am harvesting are upside down. The potatoes sit neatly atop the earth, and it is only when I pull them up that I can see all the green parts of the plant. This realization doesn’t phase me, and I continue to harvest. As I work, I am aware of a sense of great peace. I bend to pick up yet another potato and realize there is no resistance, for the potato has no stem, leaves, or roots. It is a solitary object. I stand and hold the potato in the palm of my hand. It is fairly small and somewhat paler than the rest. All of a sudden, the potato sprouts small white wings, which begin to flutter. The potato hovers above my hand for a few moments and then flies away. I watch it against the sky and am suddenly aware that the sky has become a brilliant blue, whereas, in the beginning of the dream, it was a heavy, pearly grey that threatened snow. I awake with a feeling of enormous well-being.”

REFERENCES:

Nancy J. Dougherty and Jacqueline J. West. The Matrix and Meaning of Character: An Archetypal and Developmental Approach. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415403006/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_CWV9HCTBJT9N9CPJZN7N

Nancy McWilliams. Psychoanalytic Diagnosis: Understanding Personality Structure in the Clinical Process. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1462543693/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_ZADS2EPQNM082KGVM76Z

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The Inferior Function: Opening to the Interior Sep 29, 2022

There is a crack in everything / That’s how the light gets in. LEONARD COHEN

Jung’s system of typology—our characteristic way of orienting to the world—led to the creation of the widely used Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Jung observed four essential ego functions. Thinking and feeling are rational functions of assigning value and making decisions, and intuition and sensation are non-rational modes of perception and attention. Ordered hierarchically from most to least developed, our inferior function lies closest to the unconscious. It tends to manifest through tasks, people, and situations that throw us off balance: we feel confused, overloaded, and unable to get a grip. The inferior function pushes in through the cracks in ego’s efforts at supremacy and opens us to what is unknown and unlived. For Jung, however, this seeming weak spot in the personality was also “the treasure hard to attain,” for it is also the source of our aliveness, freedom, and fun.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I was swimming in the ocean at nighttime. I was surrounded by a school of gigantic, hot-pink jellyfish the size of hot air balloons. They were almost bioluminescent. I looked down and saw a massive sea creature rising from the depths. At first, I thought it was a blue whale. As it got closer, however, I realized it was the size of several blue whales and shaped almost like a man. I was filled with terror and awe and swam away to the shore. On the shore, I was talking urgently with Doctor Who. Suddenly, we were attacked by Daleks (a fictional alien species). As they flew toward us, we ran away toward the ocean. We didn’t go underwater; however, we ran on top of it. As we ran across the sea pursued by the Daleks, the jellyfish and whale man from before rose out of the water, running and flying around us to protect us.”

REFERENCES:

Lenore Thomson. Personality Type: An Owner’s Manual. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0877739870/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_1EXKNRD8Y9YNCHJH7AND

Marie-Louise von Franz, Lectures on Jung’s Typology. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G2CBJ0K/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_CWHRP65RJ41W03JKQW8N

Ann Ulanov. The Danger and the Treasure of the Inferior Function, Psychological Perspectives, 52: 9-53, 2009.

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Theory of Enchantment: Chloe Valdary Sep 22, 2022

Could the antidote to racism be enchantment? Chloe Valdary thinks so. Theory of Enchantment is a radical approach to anti-racism rooted in understanding that celebrates the complexity of the human spirit. Since racism derives from deep insecurities projected onto others, the work of enchantment includes shadow, acknowledges personal complexity, and affirms right relationship with self. Diversity need not be division, and inclusion does not discount differences. Empathy does not ‘fix’ but accompanies another’s suffering, and criticism can be used to uplift and empower. Valdary’s fulsome framework—from workshops to a self-paced online course--includes myth, literature, religion, and Jungian concepts. Theory of Enchantment reaches beyond conflict resolution for connection with universal principles of humanity, healing, and wholeness. It is a life practice and personal discipline that teaches that we can--actually—root everything we do in love and compassion.

REFERENCES:

Theory of Enchantment: a diversity training and inclusion program that teaches love: https://theoryofenchantment.com/

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THE QUEEN: Archetype & Individual Sep 15, 2022

Queen Elizabeth II is mourned around the world. The world saw stages of life live in and through her: from maiden to mate, mother to matriarch, elder to aged. She inherited her title but grew into her role, becoming a unifying image of virtue, service, stateliness, and constancy--wrapped in dedication and devotion. Above the skirmishes of ego-driven politics, the Queen balanced the mystique of majesty with human presence. She bore difficulties and disappointment with dignity, and in the 70 years of her reign modeled a standard of nobility that enabled her to preside over tumult and change. Elizabeth II first governed herself, enabling authentic representation of the archetype of queen in its beneficent aspect: steadfast, valiant, and faithful to enduring ideals of sovereignty. Queen Elizabeth II fulfilled the promise of the crown, ancient symbol of exalted life, conferring its possibility and promise upon subjects and admirers worldwide.

In Memoriam:

Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of

Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am in the passenger's seat in a car with my partner. He is driving and seems anxious about something--talking and gesturing, but I can't remember what he said. We are going uphill on a tarred road--it is an unfamiliar setting. Suddenly a bird flies into his side window. He quickly opens the window and shuts it close again, tearing one wing off the bird. I am shouting at him "You have broken its wing," as we watch the bird fly away with only one wing. My partner is startled, and I am very sad and shocked. I am awakened by this shocked feeling. “

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ROAD TRIP: outer journey, inner mission Sep 08, 2022

The open road beckons: bigger, better, boundless. To see and to seek is a mythological theme with an American stamp, from wagon trains to memoirs and movies. Progress and mobility have long been associated with forging ahead and hitting the trail. Cars are personal capsules of autonomy and freedom: load, stop, and go according to wish or whim. Passing through and possibility are part of the road trip’s drift and direction. The traveler may hope for treasure, pleasure, or revelation—or be in flight from stasis, failure, and alienation. A road trip can be planned or spontaneous, solo or partnered, an initiation into the next stage of life, or an effort to evade it. Many are about relinquishing ego’s desire for a well-mapped destination and opening a path to psyche and Self. A road trip is an inner journey in the outer world. What will we encounter that reveals us to ourselves?

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I was sleeping in my apartment in Brooklyn when I heard someone trying to break the door into the hallway from outside. I stood in front of the entrance door, waiting for whatever would come, thinking it was better to face it. The door opens, and two figures walk in: one is my father (dead by then), another a shape of a man covered feet to head by a black overall.”

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HATRED: a way to hide our secrets Sep 01, 2022

Hatred is a universal human emotion related to distancing and destroying. Hatred is anger, disgust, judgment, and contempt cemented into implacable permanence. Obsessive and inflating, hatred dupes us into feeling righteous and wrathful instead of small and wounded. Hating tricks us into projecting our disowned qualities onto an outer other, making the object of our hatred into an avatar for our own split-off instincts and desires. Our fixation fuses us in a darkly intimate way with “other,” the holder of a secret we are compelled to uncover, a truth we demand to rule. Hate hides the dread of discovering the depth of our own shadow—for it is self-hatred that we seek to encapsulate and eradicate. We can face our hatreds, let them inform us, and transform them into what is brighter and more alive.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am walking and find a door that leads to a stairway. I am entranced by the stairs as they look like winding, ancient stone castle steps like in the movies. I enter and see that lining the walls up and down the stairs are cages - each cage contains a snake. As I walk down the dimly lit stairs, the snakes come alive and begin slithering, dancing, and reaching their heads up and out until a good third of each snake is out and getting closer to me. I am surprised to realize that the holes in the cages are big enough for the snakes to escape, but I am not afraid. I know the snakes will not escape completely or harm me, and I wonder why the snakes have cages at all. As I get to the bottom of the stairs, I am in a large room with books, jars, shelves, and tables. It is wonderous room, like Merlin’s workshop mixed with Dumbledore’s office. There is an older, tall man standing next to a younger woman, and they are looking at a book. I have interrupted them, they were not expecting me, but neither is startled. They both look at me with curiosity. I know I have nothing to fear but also don’t understand why I am there or where, exactly, I am. I am then standing next to them, and the young woman cries, “It has drawn blood! There is blood! Blood is drawn!” The man says nothing and calmly looks at me. I raise my hand and see a few drops of blood on my palm and know that I have been pricked by a needle. I didn’t feel the prick, and it does not hurt; I am surprised to see the blood. I suddenly know that the young woman is excited as the blood indicates that it’s her time to move on to the next level and that I am to take her place as this man’s apprentice. All of this knowledge washes over me as I look at the blood. I then become woozy, and my knees fail as I faint and fall gently to the floor.”

REFERENCES:

Robert J. Sternberg. The Psychology of Hate.

Joshua Coleman. Rules of Estrangement: Why Adult Children Cut Ties and How to Heal the Conflict

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1529350824/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_QQAC0BW1X9177KHY07W2

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Donald Kalsched: Trauma & the Informed Heart Aug 25, 2022

Dr. Donald Kalsched, Jungian analyst, teacher, and author, discusses his acclaimed work on childhood trauma; (see www.donaldkalsched.com for upcoming programs). When there is unbearable emotional pain in childhood, archetypal defenses dismember such experience and banish parts of it to the unconscious, where it remains as unconscious suffering. Such suffering is manifested as pathological symptoms, i.e., dysfunctional relationships, addictions, narcissism, and more. The defensive system that takes over--a ‘self-care system’--is both protective and persecutory of the innocence and vulnerability hiding in the inner fortress, and thus the trauma survivor leads a false, generic life instead of a true, personal one. He/she is unable to feel and be fully alive in the world—especially in intimate relationships. The potential for such aliveness lies dormant, like a seed in the prima materia of unconsciousness, waiting to be awakened and restored to the ego—but against great resistances thrown up by the defensive system. Often dreams lead the way in this process of self-recovery, reconnecting the dismembered parts so that exiled aspects of ourselves can come home and wounded hearts can heal.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I enter my parents’ kitchen, where a group of people are ready to cook lion meat for me to eat. I’m not sure who the cooks are. They show me the different ways they can cook the lion’s meat (minced, in a stew, steak, or raw, sashimi style). Afterward, they show me a mask made of the lion’s face, which I have to wear after I eat the lion’s meat. I never get to actually eat the meat or wear the lion’s mask in the dream.”

REFERENCES:

Donald Kalsched. The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415123291/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_TTDKA7RX9NAHYNRGAFDJ

Donald Kalsched. Trauma and the Soul: A Psycho-Spiritual Approach to Human Development and Its Interpretation. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415681464/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_ENFCXEKS1T3FV61WRMP7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

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COMPARTMENTALIZATION: Coping with Contradiction Aug 18, 2022

Compartmentalization is like a home electrical panel that separates power into different zones. It allows us to separate the charge carried by ideas, feelings, and actions without risking system overload. Compartmentalization lets us express concern about climate change yet fly overseas for a family vacation or care about animal rights and ignore factory farming. Such incompatible values and incongruent reasoning usually bypass the zone wired for emotional activation, allowing many daily activities and attitudes to operate smoothly. At the other end of the spectrum, compartmentalization can become denial, hypocrisy, or pathology, as when someone professing religious dedication engages in immoral or illegal practices. Our psychic wiring operates automatically much of the time in the interest of waking life governance, protecting us from the circuitry overload of indecision, doubt, and disorder. We also have the capacity to reflect on our values and activities, bringing them to consciousness and choice.

Here’s the dream we analyzed:

“I am seeing this scene from the sky. There is a city in a desert. This city looks like a Mihrab or a prayer rug. It is like a niche, and it has a circle in its center. In my dream, at the top of this niche, there is a hidden or a secret door. Only some can go through this door, which opens to an exclusive world/chambers. I see a Monk in black robes going through the city and through this door. Then I hear, “the name of this city is Minoo.”

[In all of the ancient world, including South Asia, when they spoke of “City,” they meant Minoo. Cities in dreams are also Minoo, an old Farsi word that means the heavens or realm of spirit. Mihrabs in ancient Persia were the birthplace of the Sun. They were caves where the goddess Anahita, the great water deity, gave birth to her son Mithra. Anahita was the original virgin mother, some scholars believe. These Mihrabs were often caves with water running through them and were temples of worship of Mithra and his mother.]

REFERENCES:

Carl Jung. Memories, Dreams, Reflections. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004FYZK52/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_RP4X5WF6HJTZXKNS280D

Mihrab: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihrab

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Episode 226 - HERMES: Divine Trickster Aug 11, 2022

Karl Kerenyi collaborated with Jung in demonstrating the psychological meaning of Greek mythology. Kerenyi found in Hermes a representation of “a third way of living life, besides the Apollonian rational and the Dionysian irrational. God of jokes and journeys, thieves and magicians, the tricky Guide of Souls” arrives as a surprise. Like the quicksilver that is his Roman name, Mercury/Hermes appears on winged sandals, heralding the new. Hermes disdains regulation and law to deliver new ideas, dissolve opposites, and provide decisive experiences. Just as he alone traversed the realms--from the heights of Mt. Olympus to the underworld of Hades--Hermes now swifts his way from the unconscious to ego awareness. Hermes is the symbol of a living reality seeking conscious acknowledgment, the agent of creativity and transformation. How we perceive his message is not his interest. He is already gone.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I’m on a piece of inhabited land, by the shore, with many others in a beach town. Some of the people I know, some I do not. Across the water is an island. It looks like Devil’s Tower in Wyoming (the one in Close Encounters of the Third Kind), but this island is lush, tropical, and Jurassic. It’s a beautiful day, close to sunset, and the view is gorgeous. All of the sudden, we all realize there are three enormous boats that look like cruise ships balancing on the edge of the top of the island. They’re huge, a third of the height of the island. One looks old, two look new. No one knows how they got there. There is a theory they went ashore when the water level was higher, but we all know that doesn’t make much sense... we would have seen them there long ago, but in this case, they just appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. We all realize they’re about to fall as they’re balanced precariously. As we anticipate an enormous crash, we take shelter. I can see them fall slowly off the top of the island to the base. There is a lot of destruction - so much dust and debris, and the sky gets very hazy. But I am safe. The next morning, we wake up, and it’s a beautiful day. The shape of the island across the water is totally different. It’s been totally reconstructed by the crash of the boats (which are no longer visible). The island looks a lot less ominous in shape. I look to my left and see that some of the debris from the island has landed in the water, which allowed for a bike path to be built from our land to the island, across the water. I realize perhaps this crash has actually improved things for the better, and everything feels calm and beautiful.”

REFERENCES:

Karl Kerenyi. Hermes: Guide of Souls. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0882140949/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_FWG6RQ37RTQYF4X0MZGN

Rafael Lopez-Pedraza. Hermes and His Children. https://www.amazon.com/dp/3856307354/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_VA65WSXZ59B9ZECAREVK

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PAJA Advanced Clinical Practice Program: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/assets/2022-2023-advanced-clinical-practice.pdf

Episode 225 - Archetype of the Wave: image of energy and motion Aug 04, 2022

Images of earth’s perpetual restlessness waves gently rock us, lift us up for an exhilarating ride – or inundate us in the terrifying phenomenon of a tsunami. Surfers surrender to the rhythm of waves, an embodied metaphor of attuning to the rising and falling of unconscious forces. Poseidon, Greek god of the ocean, was also the deity of destructive tidal waves, which can sweep us away and show up often in dreams. In physics, a wave is a disturbance that travels through space and matter, transferring energy from one place to another and, therefore, part of the fabric of the subatomic universe. From playful white caps on a summer’s day to waves that pound the shore as they break, waves are a potent image of energy and reflect inner psychic processes.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am paddleboarding with my ex-boyfriend and several other people, mostly older adults. We are in a mountain lake, with an evergreen, tree-covered mountain rising from the lake behind us. The sun is out, and the water is calm. It feels pleasant. After some time passes, I notice several people quickly swimming to shore. The sky has suddenly drastically darkened, and I think it’s either about to rain or the sun is setting, so it’s time to leave. The water gets rougher now, too. My ex and I swim to shore, and I am surprised by how quickly and easily I am able to swim. When I get to shore, I notice that the older adults are struggling in the water. I want to help them, but my ex stops me. It is now that I notice that the dark sky is actually due to the fact that the mountain is completely on fire, and the fire is rushing down toward the water. I have to stand and watch, hoping all the older adults make it. The fire reaches the water, and the last of the older adults are thrust to shore. It is very dark now, and there is something beautiful about the fire. I want to get a closer look but am wary of getting near the water, which I know will be scalding. I get closer and try to take a picture, but at the moment I go to capture the image, the smoke obscures my view.”

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Episode 224 - The Way of Kabbalah: ancient map of the psyche Jul 28, 2022

Kabbalah is an ancient Jewish mystical tradition that has captured the imaginations of people from widely diverse backgrounds, including Jung himself. Three weeks after his heart attack in 1944, Jung had an ecstatic vision, “…Everything around me also seemed enchanted…I myself was in Pardes-Rimonim, in the pomegranate garden where Tiferet and Malchut married. I also imagined myself as Rabi Shimon ben Yochai, whose mystical marriage was celebrated now. It looked exactly as the Kabbalists portrayed it. I cannot tell you how amazing it was…” Though Jung did not live long enough to explore the Kabbalah fully, his psyche was deeply affected by the images and philosophies which played an important role in his life during this crisis.

Like analysis, Kabbalistic methods cultivate an extraordinary receptivity to Self that illuminates the inner dimensions of the human soul, its unexplored potential, and our relationship to the divine. Its first written fragments surfaced in the 13^th century, but the oral tradition reaches back millennia. Its primary symbol, the Tree of Life, reflects a rich cosmology that maps the progression of archetypal forces in the outer and inner world. It helps us track the flow of psychic energy as it descends from its animating source to archetypal image, thought, and finally to action. Like all images of the Self, it invokes the transcendental ordering principle that heals and facilitates individuation.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I’m in Putin’s inner circle. It’s attached to some other business place that I’m working in. I’m wearing a suit. He’s got an office, like in a 1920s socialist apartment building with tall ceilings. It’s not particularly high security, and I’m in it. The place is a bit messy. Putin is thin; he looks like the younger Putin, not the rounder face. One we see on TV. He’s getting medication out of boxes, and I see their statins, and I figure he’s got heart trouble. I take a seat on a sofa, and we’re talking; I’m thinking about how vulnerable he looks like a nice man; actually, I’m sensing that he trusts me, we have a good easy rapport. I’m wondering whether he knows I’m queer and what he would make of that; given the state of LGBTQ rights in Russia, I figure out that there are two pollutants, this real one behind the scenes and the one on TV. The one on TV has a body double, but the rest of the world doesn’t know that. I wonder how I’m going to keep this from the world and whether it will ever come out that I know him and how I would justify that to the media. I go to the bathroom off his office, and Putin’s bath is running. I gather that he is going to have a bath. I go back into the office, smoke a cigarette on the sofa, and we talk some more, and then I leave. I go to another room or to my friends are out of affection. I kiss my friend A repeatedly on the face, whose name I get wrong. She tells me her name is something else. It’s the first time I’ve heard her tell me the name that she says she is hers. I know her by at least two other names. I accidentally kiss her on the lips. The other friend B is there too, and then I realized that I have kissed B, not A. B asks me whether I’ve been smoking cannabis because there is a really strong smell on my breath. I think about the cigarette I smoked in Putin’s office and wonder how it could have left such a strong smell, and for context, she says the future feels unclear.”

REFERENCES:

Dion Fortune. The Mystical Qabalah. https://www.amazon.com/dp/157863752X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_CNHVRG5XVEK52RWZMASB?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Erich Neumann. The Essays of Erich Neumann, Volume 3: The Place of Creation. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691603871/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_TMA84417K13TPNWG4DGV?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan. Meditation and Kabbalah. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0877286167/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_0HVCPYAXXW8DKHKYXMJJ

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PAJA Advanced Clinical Practice Program: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/assets/2022-2023-advanced-clinical-practice.pdf

Imp of the Perverse: struggling with our fiendish shadow Jul 21, 2022

A fiendish inner spirit can prompt behavior that defies self-interest and even common sense. In Edgar Allan Poe’s story, the protagonist acts on his diabolical urge to commit murder, followed by a self-destructive urge to confess it. Jung says, “If he has done it secretly, without moral consciousness of it, and remains undiscovered, the punishment can nevertheless be visited upon him…” The impulse to take irrational and even immoral risks can cause inner torment and lead to damaging actions. The trickster within tempts us to yield to impulse, succumb to negligence, or be recklessly perverse—simply for the sake of indulging the foolish or forbidden. Posing as merely mischievous, the imp of the perverse proffers a sense of power and grandiosity. He challenges us to meet him with the power of self-reflection, ego strength, and restraint, the components of conscious choice.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am with my wife and child on the North pole. We are in a small cabin. I don’t know why we are here or how we got here. It is not a familiar place, but I’m not surprised to be here. There is a blizzard raging outside. Inside it is dark; a fire is burning in a traditional cast iron stove. We huddle together by the fire. I am responsible for the fire. The door blows open, and I can see the white blizzard outside. I fear that my daughter will somehow be sucked into the blizzard. I manage to close the door. I search for firewood, but the cabin is dark and unfamiliar. I venture out into the storm and find some firewood. I return inside to tend to the fire. I find my wife and daughter asleep by the stove.”

REFERENCES:

Edgar Allan Poe stories online: https://poestories.com/read/imp

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Seminar in Jungian Studies: Philadelphia Association of Jungian Analysts:

https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/seminar.shtml

Episode 222 - Hansel and Gretel: Overcoming Trauma Jul 14, 2022

Fairy tales are fierce narratives of human shadow and its transformation. Hansel and Gretel depicts raw childhood trauma: parents abandon their children in the forest in order to feed themselves. Then the children discover a magical, edible cottage, only to be entrapped by a cannibalistic witch. Everyone is starving, a metaphor for psychic insufficiency. The children’s loyalty to one another gives rise to strategy and bravery, yielding riches and redemption—the reward for engaging danger with valor. Marie-Louise von Franz, one of Jung’s closest collaborators, recognized that fairy tales are maps of everyone’s unconscious. This tale invites us to consider how we handle our internal hungers. What might we be starving for? Have we abandoned inner children to the wilderness of the unconscious? Does a witch within threaten to devour tender potential? Or can we, like Hansel and Gretel, rise above our primal forest with consciousness and courage and find the treasure of wholeness?

Here's the dream we analyze:

“I’m on an ocean beach looking out to my one-room house that juts out on a dock above where the waves break. The house could use some work and a coat of paint, but there’s a feeling of pride as I gaze over it. I look down and notice I’m wearing a peasant dress, which is not at all my style and better suited for a little girl. A craggy cliff looms to the left side of the beach. From around the cliff, two sea monsters appear swimming, nearing my house on the water. I wasn’t afraid of them, but watched them calmly. As they approach, they begin to rock the walls of the house, and I continue to watch powerlessly as they wrest it from its dock and tear it out to sea. The sea monsters retreat over the horizon and the house begins to sink. I am then inland but not far from the beach, at a pub in a seaside town. I see my parents in a booth, engaged in a fiddle contest. They are my parents, I know this to be sure, but they are monstrous apparitions, soft as puppets and with frightfully large heads. I try to tell them about my house and that it is gone, expecting some kind of comfort or perhaps an invitation to stay with them. They glance my way but they don’t acknowledge me or that I’m in distress. The fiddle contest goes on uninterrupted. The barkeep tells me that if I’m not there for the fiddle contest, then I will have to leave. The dream ends as I struggle to breathe.”

REFERENCES:

Night Shyamalan Film: The Visit, : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfQnRjkuvaY

Erich Neumann: The Origins and History of Consciousness. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691163596/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_050QS0734HKDZG2S7BJD

John Hill. At Home In The World: Sounds and Symmetries of Belonging. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1685030211/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_E3T32X59A0E42D239D26

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Episode 221- DAIMON: Demon or Destiny? Jul 07, 2022

The daimon, a guiding spirit of individual destiny, was discussed by ancient Greek philosophers and still surfaces in books and movies like The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. Daimons were particularly linked to creativity and life force and described as lesser deities, divine messengers, and determinative fates. For Jung, “daimon” was a synonym for that part of the unconscious concerned with life purpose, and it spoke through intuition and dreams. Ego’s task is transforming the autonomous power of the daimon into authentic expression in life. Jungian analyst and author James Hillman says, “The soul of each of us is given a unique daimon before we are born, and it has selected an image or pattern that we live on earth. This soul-companion, the daimon, guides us here; in the process of arrival, however, we forget all that took place and believe we come empty into this world. The daimon remembers what is in your image and belongs to your pattern, and therefore your daimon is the carrier of your destiny.”

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am sitting in the front row of an academic lecture in a large auditorium. I can see my father sitting way back in the last row. A speaker is introduced. He begins to perform miraculous feats. For example, although he is an older man in his 60s, he successfully bench-presses over 500 pounds on stage. Next, he begins to levitate. While flying through the air, he proclaims that he is Jesus. He demands that everyone in the audience pray to him in worship. I do not pray to him. He goes around to each audience member and requests a prayer - all obey. When he appears in front of me, he demands a prayer. I hold up two sticks in the shape of a cross and denounce him. I state angrily that “Christ protects me” and that “this old man is not God.” At this point, I notice that my father (in the back row) is the only other person in the building not praying to the fraud.”

REFERENCES:

James Hillman. The Soul’s Code. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0182Q5VQ6/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_PQMPE5QJ2S9FWVB3CTAK

Andrew Solomon. Far From the Tree. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743236726/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_47WXXPMBZNTE88VHYTC7

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Episode 220 - Can We Consider Abortion? Jun 30, 2022

The word consider derives from Latin considerare, “to look at closely, observe.” Con means “with, together,” and sidus refers to “heavenly body, star constellation.” Observing the marvel of the stars with another is very different from engaging in conflict, “to contend, fight, or struggle.” Conflict summons rigid polarities: for or against, right or wrong, and winning or losing. Significant issues like abortion test our ability to tolerate ambiguity and anxiety without activating the polarizing defenses of judging, moralizing, or demonizing the other. Pregnancy, the archetype of potential life, carries profound emotions--and the shadow of what could be is limitation. Lack of internal or external resources limits our ability to birth many of life’s potentials. Bowing to life’s limitations also holds potential for conceiving new life.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am in a dressing room/anteroom getting ready for my wedding. My mother steps in and makes some critical remark to me…something along the lines of “you’re never ready on time” or “you always leave things for the last minute.” Then she exits, leaving me alone with my father. We are getting ready together for the wedding. I ask him what all the guests are going to do while they’re waiting for us, and he reassures me that the rabbi of my synagogue will keep everyone entertained while we get ready. I then hear the rabbi leading all the guests in Jewish songs from outside. Back in the dressing room, my father and I are putting on tuxedos. I take out a box of studs for the tuxedo shirt and lay them out across some kind of table with a soft surface (like a little bed or mattress). The golden studs are spread out across this surface, and I begin to sift through them, but I’m unable to distinguish which studs belong to me and which ones belong to my father -- they look identical. I examine them in the palm of my hand and grow frustrated, being unable to pick out which one is which. Then I realize that I am not clean-shaven -- I have the same stubble that I currently have in my waking life -- and grow even more frustrated, feeling a sense that my parents never leave me enough time to get the things done that I need to get done. Then I wake up, asking myself: Why am I blaming my parents for my own time management problems?”

REFERENCES:

Katie Watson. Scarlet A: The Ethics, Law and Politics of Ordinary Abortion. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0190051728/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_3Q7EQVAVDHD0P85C2ZZ4

Jonathan Haidt. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics and Religion. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307455777/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_G79D9A2H4D384SDT8QVA

Daniel K. Williams. Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement Before Roe v. Wade. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0190053321/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_R1DFMY0C5YZW30F4W4T9

Sarah Hrdy. Maternal Instincts & How They shape the Human Species. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345408934/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_J5M6DPS90SQ71WHWAGXC

Diana Greene Foster. The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, A Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having—or Being Denied—An Abortion. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1982141573/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_B8F181E6ZEZTVDRDCG7H

Edward Edinger. Ego & Archetype. https://www.amazon.com/dp/087773576X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_BY4RK04790ZKXVHPMVV7

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Episode 219 - Archetypal Aspects of School Jun 23, 2022

Schools have existed across cultures and throughout time; the knowledge they transmit leads us out of childhood, shapes our values and world view, and grooms us for citizenship. Schools help us build ego strength and adapt to cultural norms, the goal of the first half of life and the first stage of individuation. School experiences also wound us, as Jung recalled in his memoir. Collective schooling instills the uniformity needed for a cohesive culture, but individual uniqueness may be lost. Individualized education—including home life--can enhance personal uniqueness or compensate for special needs, but lacks universal principles and methods. Education by example allows the influence of the unconscious to be most openly included—whereas in other methods its power may be unacknowledged or denied. Jung says, “I would say, in the light of my own experience, that an understanding heart is everything in a teacher, and cannot be esteemed highly enough.”

Here's the dream we analyzed:

“I am participating in some sort of arts class where most of the students are younger and less experienced than me. We are assigned a project where two art works are placed on each of the four walls. The teacher/facilitator puts on some very interesting music that I like and the students/participants are to dance around the space and interact with the art works in a semi-choreographed dance. There are art materials available if they choose to add to the works, or they can choose to just interact through semi-choreographed dance (pointing, touching, etc.) I make a conscious and intentional choice to sit to one side and observe and absorb rather than to actively participate. During the dance, only one of the participants, a black female, chooses to use the art materials to make changes to one of the paintings. She is frustrated when her colored pencil breaks almost immediately so all she can manage to do is sign her name to the painting. The song ends and the teacher/facilitator immediately expresses her frustration that I did not actively participate. She treats me as though I am a hostile, unwilling participant who chose not to participate out of fear, which is simply not true. She refuses to understand or believe that I had made a conscious and intentional choice. I offer multiple times to explain myself and she refuses to hear me, saying instead that we will move on to the next activity and I better participate this time. I become quite agitated and angry that she won’t listen to me, and say so: “Since you aren’t listening to me, I’m going to FORCE YOU TO!!” I then tell my story angrily in such a way that she and the class have no choice but to listen. I tell how in my readings and studies, I’ve come across two stories that are the reason I’ve done what I’ve done. The first is a story of a man who lived in Greenwich Village in the 70s or 80s who would throw huge, elaborate parties in his apartment, inviting 20-40 intentionally cultivated younger men. He would provide the food and the drugs and the music. Decades later, multiple people who had attended these legendary parties would all describe the scene the same way: that this man would never actively participate, but only sit in the middle and observe and absorb the goings-on. “Don’t you understand,” I scream to my classmates/participants and the teacher/facilitator, “You can’t observe and absorb if you’re focused on participating!!! There was a second illustrative story but I’m too worked up right now to remember what it was!”

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Episode 218 - Dream Incubation with Machiel Klerk Jun 16, 2022

Guest Machiel Klerk has worked with dreams and healing traditions worldwide; his new book is Dream Guidance: Connection to the Soul through Dream Incubation. Religions, shamanic practices, and depth psychology have recognized the significance of dreams and sought their aid. Dreams open into a deeply intelligent source Jung called the two-million-year-old man. This inner companion is interested in our development and life purpose, and he transports us nightly to worlds of vivid images, fulsome feeling, and embodied experience. Dream incubation invites these encounters into consciousness through a well-defined process: identify a problem, develop a question, and create a ritual of receptivity. Questions related to life direction are especially likely to elicit response. Record the dream immediately upon waking, reflect, and relate its wisdom to waking life. Everyone dreams, everyone is connected to this mysterious source, and everyone has something meaningful to live and give. Our dreams are willing to help us.

Lisa’s Dream Incubation Question: What is the most important thing I should bring forward for this podcast?

Lisa’s Dream

“There is a guy who is maybe on a skateboard; I am maybe on a bike and with Deb. We are following him. He is enjoying the speed bumps and the twists and turns in the road. I have a somewhat superior attitude. I am going very straight. I think that we are exactly the wrong people to be following him because we have such different approaches. He seems to really be enjoying himself. When we stop, he comes over and is speaking to me. It is clear he is attracted to me, flirting and telling me I’m beautiful. It is hard for me to hear, but I make myself stay with it. I make myself continue to meet his eye. I make myself say “thank you” and accept the compliment. I know he is totally sincere. He says he knows that one day I will be tucking him into bed. I respond that I don’t think that is going to happen, and he says he knows it will happen. I know that our lives are very different and he can’t really understand mine. I mention something about almost having gone to college in the South, but there were no gothic universities. This man asks me what that means, and I am noticing how “out of his league” I am. Still, I can feel his real sincerity and my own surprising attraction to him.”

REFERENCES:

Machiel Klerk. Dream Guidance: Connection to the Soul Through Dream Incubation. Hayhouse, 2022. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401968198/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_8EYVRAMB69SR8HFWQSJA or at: https://machielklerk.com/dream-book/#order

Book Depository: Free worldwide delivery of Machiel’s book: https://www.bookdepository.com

Jung Platform Free Online Dream Summit, https://jungplatform.com, June 23-26, 9:00 am PT – 12 pm ET. Click Summit, Dreams & Your Personal Journey.

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Episode 217 - DEATH: A Jungian Perspective Jun 09, 2022

Awareness of death can help us create an intentional life—one that serves the movement of soul toward wholeness. Jung realized that although we experience death as “a fearful piece of brutality,” the unconscious images death as celebration. On a night train, after his mother died, Jung reported that “during the entire journey I continually heard dance music, laughter, and jollity, as though a wedding were being celebrated.” Our limited capacities and the conditions of earthly life preclude certainty about life after death, but Jung’s recognition of universal mythic patterns led to his theory of archetypes and a psychic reality beyond our grasp. We glimpse it in dreams, visions, precognitions, and synchronicities, and it can inspire connection with the infinite, which Jung considered life’s decisive question. For Jung, death was “an archetype rich in secret life, which seeks to add itself to our own individual life in order to make it whole.”

REFERENCES:

C.G. Jung. Memories, Dreams, Reflections. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004X19L3E/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_BZYJF184D3ZSXT9WR3ZF

C.G. Jung. Collected Works, Vol. 8: The Soul & Death. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691097747/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_38HYESF2JQ13FB49H0E9

Von Franz, Marie Louise. On Dreams and Death. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812693671/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_ND8DQF0VKRXW8GQ9P9R7

Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers. The Power of Myth. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0385418868/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_SB4EJWY02WJ8XGWCRF42

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Episode 216 - Hans Christian Andersen: Persona & Personhood Jun 02, 2022

While many of Hans Christian Andersen’s 19^th-century stories have moralizing motifs, their universality and depth places them among ageless fairy tales. Although The Princess and the Pea and The Emperor’s New Clothes are social satire, they also depict psychic dynamics. A young prince searches but cannot find a mate—until a princess arrives one stormy night, soaking wet and mind-blowingly over-sensitive. Do opposites attract, or are they only contrasting representations of superficiality and entitlement? Andersen’s pen next delivers the famous emperor an even more pointed jab: a child, innocent of the contrivances of social status, blurts truth: he has no clothes! Perhaps each of us has an inner emperor whose shadow is on unwitting public display—and a wise child. If Andersen has little regard for self-aggrandizing conceits, The Ugly Duckling depicts compassion for suffering and the downtrodden. Despite abuse and exile, the ugly duckling responds to springtime’s jubilant beauty. He takes wing, answering the call to transcendence—which reveals his transformation. Swans are the divine bird—a royalty we may rightly aspire to.

Here’s The Dream We Analyze:

“I am walking and see a headlight lying on the road (on a bridge) and a baby crawling beside it--the baby narrowly escapes from being hit by cars. I see a black and red Bugatti parked (owner of the headlight) and denounce the driver to my football coach, who is also a policeman. I remember the car’s number plate. I get a lot of attention due to this, and I greatly enjoy this. I start murdering people to get more attention. The first murder is with a pistol, the second with a revolver. I try to steal a gun from the football cafeteria for the third one, but I fear being found out by my trainer/policeman, so I end up throwing the gun into the changing room. I confess to him that I am the murderer. My trainer accompanies me to a field nearby where some of my classmates from school are celebrating my birthday. There is a pool. On our way there, I explain to my trainer that I committed those murders because I had become addicted to the attention and adrenaline. It is dark, and suddenly my trainer starts walking faster. There is a donkey chasing us. We manage to evade it and climb the fence. The donkey jumps over the fence and attacks me. I crawl underneath the fence and arrive at the spot where my classmates are.”

REFERENCES:

Hans Christian Andersen. The Complete Fairy Tales & Stories. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1626860998/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_86034741H5DFNZAHMH8D

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LISTEN: https://thisjungianlife.com/episode-215-poison/

Episode215 - POISON: Toxic or Transformative? May 26, 2022

Pharmakon, the ancient Greek word for drug, can mean both “remedy” and “poison.” There is a close connection between poison and cure. Poison is stealthy, and takes us by surprise, whether through an unseen snake’s venomous bite or a ripe apple’s alluring disguise. Psychological poison glides past our defenses, pervades our being, and wounds us where we are most vulnerable. We participate in our poisoning through our own unknowing, from toxic cognitions and rigid fixations to self-doubt and self-sabotage. Poison can transform us by stinging us into building the immunity of increased consciousness and insight. Reason and objectivity can act as antidotes, allowing old attitudes to dissolve and new awareness to arise. Whether a poison is injected or ingested, we can use it for cure.

Here’s The Dream We Analyze:

“I am "cooking up" a batch of Xenomorphs (from the movie Alien) for a "client" in an underground lab. I'm mixing chemicals in a vat, and realize I missed a step...I call the client and am reassured it will still work, it will just take some extra time. The chemicals coagulate into a pink goo. The next day, I return to the lab and see swimming in a pool of water four adolescent xenomorphs. A male lab assistant tells me "This shouldn't have worked. They mutated and can only breath flesh." I see the adolescent aliens all have a caul of pink ectoplasm over their faces. The next day, I return to the lab and there is only one xenomorph, an adult, chained as if crucified to the back wall of a cell, wreathed in shadow. I peer at it from across the cell, and a white dove appears and flies across it. The alien's claw shoots out and snatches the dove from the air and crams it into its mouth. There is a great sucking sound, and I realize the alien is breathing the dove's flesh. My vision zooms in to the alien’s face. It regurgitates the dove's carcass, which inverts into a black cage of bone, and the alien screams. I am shocked awake.”

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Episode 214 - HOMESICKNESS: Longing & Belonging May 19, 2022

From Homer’s Odyssey to the Wizard of Oz our native soil draws us home, whether home is a small Greek island or a simple Kansas farm. The soul has a natural longing to return to the place of its beginning and belonging. Home is a state of safety and changelessness; it is our foundational experience of original completeness, containment and care. As we mourn the loss of the familiar and face the unknown, homesickness generates neural activity similar to physical pain. Its underlying intent is to spur us into detaching from the familiar and investing in the foreign. Homesickness asks that we bear leave-taking and loneliness in service to belonging to a wider world, building new relationships, and the eventual realization that the soul’s true home is a transcendent source of personal being.

Here’s The Dream We Analyzed:

“I am walking up the street toward my apartment at night. Near my building I see a man with a small dog on a leash. The dog is a tiny Yorkshire terrier and the man is very large. He is wearing a long, dark trench coat and has wild black hair. He looks a bit threatening. The dog is on one side of the sidewalk, the man is on the other, and the leash is between them, blocking my path. I try to step out into the street to go around, but as I do, the man swings around and the dog runs around my legs. I get all bound up in the leash and am pressed up against the man. He puts his face right up to mine, like he might try to kiss me, and I see that he is the Devil from the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. He begins to blow some kind of smoke into my mouth. I think he is trying to get inside of me--to possess me or steal my soul. I blow the smoke back into his mouth and it forms a kind of ring that circles between his mouth and mine. I know that I won't have the strength to keep him out for very long.”

REFERENCES:

John Hill. At Home in the World: Signs and Symmetries of Belonging. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1685030211/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_VBGPAMVEX5X2DA2XB3HQ

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Episode 213 - VOCATION: Answering the Call May 12, 2022

Vocation, once associated with serving God through service to others, is now most strongly associated with a career having personal worth. Vocation spans a range of needs and values: commitment to making ends meet, striving for material rewards and social status, or the more internal satisfaction of research, helping others, and artistic expression. Freud considered love and work the cornerstones of our humanness, and Jung said, “In the final analysis, we count for something only because of the essential we embody, and if we do not embody that, life is wasted.” A discernment process is essential to determining the difference between a true calling and ego ambitions, what we want versus what we can have, and distinguishing dream from dedication. Ultimately, however, vocation is a state of being—so perhaps we can invest the work we have with a sense of call.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZED:

“I was at the beach with my mother and grandmother. My mother was driving a red car. My grandmother in the passenger seat, me in the back. It was stormy; the waves were wild and aggressive. My mother was determined to drive as far as possible to find old family members who we no longer speak to, to enact revenge. I was silent. The waves were angry, the wind swirled and howled and rocked the car. She was on a mission.”

REFERENCES:

James Hillman. A Blue Fire.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060921013/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_M7PXWF54T0MRBEBPETQM

James Hillman. The Soul’s Code. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399180141/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_DKSW982XDDP53F2WM610

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Episode 212 - THE PRODIGAL SON as Shadow, Ego & the Self May 05, 2022

Jung interpreted religious traditions from the viewpoint of their psychological significance. The allegorical tale of the Prodigal Son illustrates Jung’s basic understanding of the structure and development of the psyche. The young prodigal epitomizes shadow qualities of ignorance, arrogance, and impetuousness. His dissolute indulgences show a lack of ego strength and land him in a pigsty. Repentant, he returns to his father’s estate, hoping for servant work. Instead, his father celebrates his homecoming. At this joyful reception, the older brother is aghast; he has been dutiful yet never so acclaimed. He is the embodiment of a respectable persona and adaptation—yet his ego-oriented sense of self seems to have a less enlivened connection with the father. Symbolizing the transcendent Self, the father provides redemptive eros and safe haven. Each of us has a shadow, an ego that tends to believe it’s our totality, and a transpersonal center that can welcome us home.

HERE'S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I am on the second platform of a four-tiered structure leading from a dock on the river to the top of a cliff. There are ladders and obstacles connecting each of the platforms. I am looking down at the water, which is raging and ebbing with monstrous waves. The water is a beautiful color of indigo blue, vastly wide and immensely deep. Boats are being tossed in the waves with the owners tethered to them by rope, desperately attempting to climb aboard but ultimately becoming swallowed by the crashing waves. I notice a small park ranger dinghy boat come out from a crack in the cliff face and set into the raging water in an apparent attempt to save the other boaters. The driver of the boat appears timid and frightened. I shout to a man next to me, "I used to have that job!" The boat is immediately capsized. I begin climbing up to the third platform and become paralyzed with fear as I climb the wooden pegs jutting out of the side of the cliff. I am aware that a slip would result in certain death. I realize that I have done this many times before and struggle before ultimately pulling myself up and over. A young Afghan boy comes after me, effortlessly scaling this obstacle and the next, reaching the top of the cliff. I realize that I was holding up a line of people! I think of the capsized park ranger and determine that I must go save him. I look into the water from on high and see his body, curled in the fetal position, bobbing in the water. I am transported down and reach my hand in to gather him and perform CPR. I am confused to find that all I pull out of the water is a long-expired cartridge from a firework or rifle. I begin the climb up to the second tier and at the threshold, there is a tangled web of rope that ensnares me. I am panicking when I hear little voices from below: "Wear it like a dress!" I ponder this for a second and then slip through the rope web as if putting a dress on and am securely on the second platform. I look below and see a dozen young girls; aged about five years old, all wearing matching black and white dresses. I realize that I must help them up and demonstrate the climbing technique: “Pretend you are a pirate!" I shout to them and demonstrate in an animated way the technique. They begin to climb, and I reach down, gathering them two at a time and pulling them to the second platform.”

REFERENCES:

Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version, Luke 15:11-32.

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SHADOWLAND: DETRANSITION – THE STORY OF BETH Apr 28, 2022

Beth underwent gender transition from natal female to trans male and has since de-transitioned. In her early teens, Beth felt she was not like other women and began to question her gender. She saw people who were nonconforming, but although she adopted a non-binary identity in college, people still saw her as a woman. Beth became drawn to a masculine identity and associated transitioning gender with empowerment: she would be free from the perceived social constraints and physical vulnerabilities of womanhood. Beth’s parents, the therapist she saw a few times, and the surgeon all affirmed her desire to transition. Beth underwent testosterone therapy and top surgery to remove her breasts, sacrifices in service of liberation. In time, however, Beth discovered that physical changes did not transform her inner world, and her post-surgical chest remains numb. Beth says, “de-transitioning brought me down to earth” and into adulthood. She feels some of her urges to transition were healthy, and some were self-annihilating—and wishes she had had more help in differentiating her inner world from her gender expression. Beth hopes to be a voice for the complexity of gender transitioning.

Here’s Beth’s dream:

“I met a woman in a lush forest. The forest was filled with strange relics—an abandoned child’s playground, a little home, and abandoned campsites. I knew she was a detransitioner, but unlike me, she was proud, unabashed, and free. She told me I could be free like her once no one knew where to find me. Then she ran off into the jungle. There was an exhilarating feeling of freedom and hope.”

BEYOND THE BREAKING POINT

Music and lyrics by Wells Hanley ©2021
You were my lost lover
I tried for so long
just to find you here beside me
I was so wrong
I wandered darkened highways
I turned every stone
far beyond the point of breaking
but I was never alone
So afraid I would die waiting
How I hoped you would be there
and that you’d find me
out beyond the breaking point
So I swam in shark filled waters
I swam in despair
My flesh was eaten, bruised, and beaten
My blood was spilled everywhere
And as I sank down to the bottom
and my life began to fade,
you opened up your eyes
out beyond the breaking point
And as we gaze into the heavens
where we dwell among the trees,
you’re always with me

here beyond the breaking point

_____________

Singers: Laura Ann Singh at www.lauraannsingh.com and Rei Alvarez at www.reialvarez.com

https://www.iwrotethissongforyou.com/

https://www.patreon.com/iwrotethissongforyou

NOTES:

Currently, there is limited research on the factors that correlate with detransition and the percentage of individuals who chose to detransition. Of the available studies, methods and definitions vary, suggesting a need to establish standardized criteria in the future. Five studies are mentioned below. One concludes, of 17,151 who identify as transgender and gender diverse people, 13.1% reported a history of detransition or going back to living as their sex assigned at birth. Another concludes that only 0.2-0.3% of patients expressed post-operative regret and requested reversal surgery. In another study, 6.9% of patients detransitioned. Additional research is necessary to understand these phenomena more fully.

Boyd, I.; Hackett, T.; Bewley, S. Care of Transgender Patients: A General Practice Quality Improvement Approach. Healthcare 2022, 10, 121. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare100 10121

Hall, R., Mitchell, L., & Sachdeva, J. (2021). Access to care and frequency of detransition among a cohort discharged by a UK national adult gender identity clinic: Retrospective case-note review. BJPsych Open, 7(6), E184. doi:10.1192/bjo.2021.1022

Littman L. Individuals Treated for Gender Dysphoria with Medical and/or Surgical Transition Who Subsequently Detransitioned: A Survey of 100 Detransitioners. Arch Sex Behav. 2021 Nov;50(8):3353-3369. doi: 10.1007/s10508-021-02163-w. Epub 2021 Oct 19. PMID: 34665380; PMCID: PMC8604821.

Narayan SK, Hontscharuk R, Danker S, Guerriero J, Carter A, Blasdel G, Bluebond-Langner R, Ettner R, Radix A, Schechter L, Berli JU. Guiding the conversation - types of regret after gender-affirming surgery and their associated etiologies. Ann Transl Med 2021;9(7):605. doi: 10.21037/atm-20-6204.

Turban JL, Loo SS, Almazan AN, Keuroghlian AS. Factors Leading to “Detransition” Among Transgender and Gender Diverse People in the United States: A Mixed-Methods Analysis. LGBT Health. 2021 May-Jun;8(4):273-280. doi: 10.1089/lgbt.2020.0437. Epub 2021 Mar 31. PMID: 33794108; PMCID: PMC8213007.

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Episode 210 - Causal or Creative: Is History Destiny? Apr 21, 2022

The Roman god Janus had two faces. They looked in opposite directions, representing dualities, especially beginnings and endings, past and future. Psychotherapy often begins by facing the past and understanding its influence on the present. Belief in the past as unalterably determinative, however, can imply that personal history is a single, all-powerful god—as if Janus fixed on yesterday. Jung took special interest in psyche’s purposive and creative energy—the face Janus turned toward the future. Incarnating our innate potential, which Jung termed the individuation process, is the process of engaging our capacity for growth and wholeness. Life’s road ahead has new possibilities, which is why we launch the new year in honor of Janus, for it is he who presides over all new beginnings.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

The Magic Gown

“I’m in a dress boutique, watching as teenage girls try on bright prom gowns. They giggle, twirl, and take selfies. I need a dress too because I’ll be attending the prom as a chaperone. I go into a private changing room that doubles as a small bedroom. The dresses hanging for me to try on make me think of Little Bo Peep. Reluctantly, I select the least offensive option, a ribbony mauve number. I’m sure it’s going to look ridiculous, but when I step into it, it becomes bespoke black lace, elegant and perfect. I want to send a selfie to my husband. I try to frame my image in the full-length mirror, but a bed is in the way, and I can’t move it or figure out the angles. Meanwhile, my husband texts sweet portraits of our dog who recently passed away.”

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Episode 209 - THE GETHSEMANE ENCOUNTER Apr 14, 2022

The Garden of Gethsemane is the place of life crisis; it permits no escape or compromise. There, we suffer the agony of choosing between personal will or willing submission to something greater. Jesus’ companions could not stay awake, and God did not answer his prayers to be spared. We suffer dark and harrowing Gethsemanes alone. We may have to give up familiarity and safety for the unprecedented and unpredictable. We may ache from anguish and abandonment. Yet, to surrender voluntarily and consciously is to bow to a greater truth and yield to a higher power. In doing so, we transcend despair, resentment, and victimhood--and may find ourselves transformed. Gethsemane is a universal human story. If we can keep vigil and stay awake, we can hear the voice within. And say yes.

Here’s the Dream We Analyzed:

“I am on the youtube show, Good Mythical Morning. The two hosts are dumping buckets of spiders on me. They start with daddy long legs. I hunch over and can feel them tickling my back. Then a bigger black type of spider. Then the last bucket is scorpions. I stay hunched over, covering my head. With each bucket, I can feel the insects tickling me, but that’s it.”

REFERENCES:

This American Life (podcast): Shoulda Been Dead, https://www.thisamericanlife.org/50/shoulda-been-dead/act-one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndZ6B1EaJEs

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Episode 208 - MORAL INJURY: Violation of Meaning Apr 07, 2022

Moral injury violates our sense of justice, loyalty, and meaning—and creates a storm in the soul. Those who directly affect others’ lives are most at risk of suffering irreconcilable conflicts between behavior and belief: military, police, medical, educational, and other human service providers. The purported “cost of doing business” also calls us to confront institutional shadow--moral injury does not belong to the individual alone. The integrity of organizational and community values plays an important part in condoning morally distressing situations—and should play a role in healing the injured. Conflicts between actions and values are inevitable in life, and the core of being human is our unique capacity for choice. There is no way to escape shadow, and we are more than our mistakes. They are neither our totality nor our destiny.

Here’s The Dream We Analyze:

“I am standing near a well. I have to go down into it. When I am in the well, I am me, but I am also a slightly younger, stronger man. The cylindrical walls of the well are grim, dark. There is a cylindrical metal structure, and on the outside of this are two dead babies/toddlers and a slightly older one who is not quite dead but needs resuscitating. The water has been polluted as a result of the bodies. I shout, “Rocket up.” This is so the babies can be pulled up. I wake up and feel dark. As I think about the dream, it occurs to me that “Rocket up” could have been “Rock it up.” However, in the dream, although I didn’t see the structure move up, I imagined it going up at great speed.”

REFERENCES:

Jonathan Shay. Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0684813211/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_FVEHY95SXRA73DWABH7M

Film: Quo Vadis, Aida? https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B08YP6238S/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

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Bonus Episode - Jung & Freud: From “Bro” to Broken Apr 01, 2022

We welcome Jungian colleague, psychiatrist, and historian Dr. Bert Price, whose research in Vienna during a 2019 international conference led to the discovery of new facts regarding the famous friendship—and break-up—of Jung and Freud. Following lively correspondence, the two men met in Vienna and talked for 13 hours. They continued over the next three days, and after attending the Wednesday night meeting of Freud’s Vienna circle, took a “spirited” walk to a tattoo parlor, stirred by the mythic significance of “marking" their newfound bond.

The tattoo artist, Stefan Otto, was an Austrian sailor who had learned Chinese ink techniques while recovering from wounds in Tientsin (Tianjin), port city of Peking (Beijing), after the Boxer Rebellion. When Otto returned to Vienna, he was one of several tattoo artists in the Brigittenau District, home to an Austro-Hungarian naval river flotilla. Dr. Price discovered Otto’s tattoo catalogue while visiting the Heeresgeschichtiliches Museum, and saw it contained images of dragons remarkably like those in Jung’s later Red Book. Further examination of Otto’s log book (then a legal requirement) recorded a visit on March 6, 1907 by Herr Professor-Artz S. Freud and Dr. C.G. Jung. Both received "Kleine Drachenn Tatowwierung" (Small Dragon Tattoo). Dr. Price shares details of his important finding, providing new depth and understanding of the historic relationship between Jung and Freud.

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Episode 207 - Hunting: An Archetypal Perspective Mar 31, 2022

To hunt is to engage the opposites: the hunter must attune and align with nature in order to kill part of it. According to mythographer Joseph Campbell, “the basic hunting myth is of a kind of covenant between the animal world and the human world.” Myth and rituals of sympathy, sacrifice, and gratitude honor the age-old bond between man and animal: one dies so the other may live. If the hunter imposes will alone, hunting becomes ego dominance--sport or slaughter. In traversing the realms from human culture to nature’s archaic terrain, the huntsman echoes and honors the relationship between ego-consciousness and the unconscious.

For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear...they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth. -Henry Beston

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“My extended family were in the process of relocating to a city named Boreham Wood in Tunisia (I checked, it doesn’t exist). It was a sort of fairytale paradise, blue skies, palm trees, and low-standing terracotta houses. They asked me to help with the move by driving my grandma’s electric scooter from Scotland through the desert. Strapped to the sides were two bags filled only with ice and rum. Once I arrived at the new house, I unloaded the alcohol but immediately felt the urge to leave and explore the area. It was clear my family wanted to celebrate my highly anticipated arrival, but I knew couldn’t stay. Instead, I took the scooter and drove into town, winding through the cobbled streets, past gothic arches and flocks of tropical birds. As I approached the city center, a large, dark castle rose in the skyline. At the gates, a young woman was weaving mushrooms from a hook to sell to tourists. I stopped and watched her but didn’t buy anything. I parked the scooter and entered the castle gates. The courtyard was bustling with young families eating lunch from long tables. I wandered around until I stumbled upon a group of disheveled-looking men dressed in grey robes and animal furs. They didn’t pay me much attention, but I was fascinated and struck up a conversation with what appeared to be the leader. He explained that they were a tour group from America called Warriors of The Soul that had been doing annual trips to Boreham Wood since 1992. I could see they had self-inflicted cuts all over their arms, some openly bleeding onto the table. He (the leader) explained that they were mostly vets, recovering addicts, and environmental protesters who were on a journey of healing together. I asked the leader if I could spend the day with him and was immediately invited back to a tower in the castle to see his studio. We left the group and walked to the base of the tower; from there, we climbed a seemingly endless spiral staircase, dilapidated and strewn with trash bags. I remember taking note of the exit signs. Once at the top, I was ushered into the studio. It was dark, cold, and filled with primitive paintings made from human blood. He drew his knife and explained that the canvases were waxed paper, as that allowed the blood to move more freely across the surface, unlike regular paper, which is far too absorbent. He then asked if I would donate blood for his next painting. At that point, I noticed a dead body under the drawing desk and tried to move the conversation back to the wax paper. I asked if the toxins were harmful if used when baking. This seemed to work, as he began extolling that yes, never use wax paper when baking. At this point, I turned on my heels and ran back down the stairs, bounding three at a time. He sprinted after me, brandishing the knife and laughing. I knew I’d be safe if I got to the exit signs, but they didn’t appear. Instead, the staircase began to climb again, twisting and turning like a rabbit warren. He started gaining on me and nicked my thumb with the knife, but eventually, I came to a window with a Brooklyn-style fire escape. I smashed the glass and shimmied down the ladder, my legs and thumb bleeding. As I descended, he laughed at me continuously. Once on the ground, I ran back to the scooter, only to realize I didn’t know how to get home. I couldn’t call because I didn’t have my phone and I couldn’t buy bandages for my cuts as I didn’t have a wallet. Then I awoke.”

REFERENCES:

Anna Braytenback, Animal Communicator. https://www.animalspirit.org/

The Great Dance: A Hunter’s Story (documentary). Craig Foster and Damn Foster. https://www.amazon.com/Great-Dance-Hunters-Story/dp/B074G43NYT

Eleanor Wilner, Hunting Manual (poem): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42971/hunting-manual

Eric Fromm. The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. https://www.amazon.com/dp/080501604X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_JAETSJ4S52DE4N19XYC5

Yuval Harari. Sapiens. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0063051338/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_M4XT8Y4VQWPN43JZ8PEF?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Henry Beston. The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140043152/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_YG8701XC4Q358473D67A

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Episode 206 - FAILURE as TEACHER Mar 24, 2022

We first encounter failure in learning to walk—we fall down, the root definition of failure. Coming up short is a lifelong experience that stretches from mishaps and lapses to shock waves that shake our lives. Failure can make us doubt our worth, shatter certainties, and fill us with shame. Failure punctures ego’s false sense of sovereignty. When we are out of alignment with inner or outer life, a gap opens, and we fall victim to ambition, misjudgment, or impulsivity. Failure is a call to self-confrontation, humility, and resilience. We can recognize the limits of our conscious attitude and our dependence on the unconscious. Failure can imbue us with a higher sense of purpose that is in service to a greater good, including our own.

Here’s The Dream We Analyze:

“A woman (like my wife, but more mysterious and mischievous) and I were given a mission. The Sun was setting, and we were told that if we traveled toward the sunset, or rather—since we were to leave in the morning—with the rising Sun to our backs, we would reach Norway. We came to a narrow, concealed canyon with train tracks, and the woman caused a cave-in that forced the train to stop. It was carrying some sort of ore. We met the crew without raising their suspicions, and they took us through the canyon’s closed, concealed entrance into their country. One of the crew pointed out in the distance a harbor full of the end product of the ore: beautifully and skillfully crafted boats. You had to be a citizen of their country to own one, but people from around the world came to rent them. He then took us into a wood-paneled room (like from a club in Edwardian England) and showed us a rapier and broadsword, also made from the ore. As he demonstrated how to use and care for them, I felt intimidated or unsure about being able to use them myself.”

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Episode 205 - CAUGHT IN THE CONFLICT: The Tension of Opposites Mar 17, 2022

Holding the tension between opposites was one of Jung’s foundational precepts. Although contradictory views are often a better witness to truth than one-sided conviction, beliefs and decisions often serve to relieve ambiguity, anxiety, and threat. Jung says, “The ego keeps its integrity only if it does not identify with one of the opposites, and if it understands how to hold the balance between them. This is possible only if it remains conscious of both at once. However, the necessary insight is made exceedingly difficult not by one’s social and political leaders alone but also by one’s religious mentors. They all want decisions in favor of one thing, and therefore the utter identification of the individual with the necessarily one-sided ‘truth.’” We need to suffer the tension a plurality of voices and views produces. Holding the tension of opposites grows consciousness, wholeness, and soul.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I dreamed I had a little bird like a cockatoo who was my friend. He would press his head into my face to warn me of floods and bad storms. I hadn’t seen him for a while. I was at the cousins’ house in America and was reunited with my bird. We were affectionately putting our faces on each other when he stopped and pressed his head into my cheek for a really long time. I took this as a warning of a huge flood/storm. The house had a big safe room, and everyone went there. I realized that the furniture in my bedroom (in my own house, that I share with my boyfriend - except a very pastel version) wasn’t secured and threatened the integrity of the safe room. I ran to fix this. There was a time limit; a curtain would close, and a door would shut, leaving me locked in the bedroom if I didn’t get out quickly enough. The room was tilting up, and to tidy bits away, I had to climb the bed, which was hard to get a purchase on, and up the chest of drawers, which had all the drawers pulled out like stairs. Time was running out. On my way down the bed, I decided to close the drawers to stop the contents coming out. As I finished, the time ran out and the door shut - I was locked in the bedroom, alone, to weather this huge storm without any provisions or comfort. I wished my bird was with me but was also glad he was safe.”

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Episode 204 - Amor Fati: Love of One's Fate Mar 10, 2022

In Greek mythology, three Fates represented life forces beyond our control. One spun the thread of life, another determined its length, and the third cut it. Jung, however, understood that fate was also the external expression of an internal situation that had not been made conscious. In other words, we may unconsciously participate in creating our own misfortune and call it bad luck, injustice—or fate. How we orient ourselves to what happens to us is crucial, and working toward self-awareness helps us find a path between feeling powerless and seeking control. Ultimately, however, we are called to embrace life as it is, not as we wish it to be. This means moving beyond ego-consciousness to discover the inner center Jung called the Self. If we know we are part of something larger, we can accept our authentic nature, say yes to life in the face of uncompromising reality, and love our fate.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am standing looking in the bathroom mirror over the sink. A man, who is now deceased, a former boyfriend from when I was 19 with whom I had a romantic relationship, comes up behind me and puts his arms around me. I lean back and relax into his chest. He is tall and strong, and it feels like we are a safe harbor for one another, even a part of one another. We share a feeling of complete trust and peace. I seem to know in the dream that he is no longer physically alive. Then the scene changes, and I am with another man in an apartment with clothes and musical instruments lying about. We are looking into the whites of one another’s eyes, trying to see one another’s souls. Our faces are so close our foreheads are almost touching. It feels like we are connecting soul to soul. It feels sublime to connect in this way. He is also tall and strong, but not someone I ever had an intimate relationship with. He was a member of my extended friend group, a musician who writes scores for movies, and who other musicians in our group referred to as a musical genius, but I have not seen him in years. Still, I don’t seem to be surprised in the dream to be sharing such a spiritual connection with him. The depth of feeling between us sweeps away everything else. I wake up from these two encounters feeling whole and fulfilled.”

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Episode 203 - Trust: The Bedrock of Relationship Mar 03, 2022

Intimate attachments, workplace effectiveness, and stable social systems depend on our ability to rely on one another. Trust is the foundation of social exchanges and benefits, from affection to achievements. Erik Erikson mapped stages of human psychosocial development and found that establishing basic trust in the first 18 months of life was formative for later life.

Caring we can count on prepares us to go into the world with optimism and confidence, able to accept life’s uncertainties, manage anxiety, and tolerate ambiguity. Throughout life, relationships rest on being able to trust that the other is dependable, plays fair, and can safeguard our secrets and shortcomings. Trust does not make us naïve--it enables us to make commitments, attend to the world--and ourselves.

Here's the dream we analyze:

“My cousin and I were in a fast-food restaurant. There was a “bar” at the front where the workers worked behind the tills. We sat and ate the most disgusting food at the bar and watched the workers rush around. I thought to myself that this was a very unpleasant experience, watching people in a minimum wage job make disgusting food. Who would think to put stools at the checkout point? A man and his wife appeared on the stools beside us. He gave us a creepy smile then sneakily grabbed my cousin’s butt. She looked at me and whispered what just happened. I screamed at the man, saying something like, “Did you just sexually assault my cousin?!” Everyone in the restaurant looked at us. It felt threatening. He didn’t expect me to speak up. I threw my burger down, grabbed my cousin, and left. Something may have happened in between these scenes that I don’t remember, but my cousin and I ended up in a police car with two policemen. We told them what had happened in the fast-food restaurant and they asked for a description of the guy. We realized that the guy had followed us to the police car. The officers knew him and told us to stay in the car for safety. They drove us to a safe house which was a small, one-story, decrepit-looking building. Inside, the curtains were old, maybe from the 70s, and falling off the window. The place felt rotten and unpleasant. The cops said we’d be safe here. They were also staying here. I think they were in some sort of trouble. I looked out the window at the small garden, which reminded me a lot of my Nana’s back garden, which was surrounded by neighbors and a nice community.”

REFERENCES:

Erik Erikson. The Life Cycle Completed. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393317722/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_QGAGVQSDVVRDM7M1Q5MX?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

RESOURCES: Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Special Re-release: The Archetype of War Feb 24, 2022

Recent events in Ukraine have again put war at the forefront of collective consciousness. War’s destruction belongs to the mythic realm. Mars, the Roman god of war, was a primordial force whose altars were placed outside city gates. Although acknowledged, he was not accepted. His paramour, Venus, is warfare’s seductress, offering spectacle, pageantry, and glory.

Like all the gods of Mt. Olympus, Mars and Venus live in us as opposing forces of aggression and eros. We are charged with holding the tension of these impassioned opposites and making them conscious, lest we project shadow onto designated enemies or wage war internally as neurosis. We can stand in the complexity of conflict, suspend action, and allow the gods a place inside our psychic city gates.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I had a dream me and my boyfriend adopted a child and were living in a rundown apartment full of darkness that resembled a studio we rehearsed in. Then we went to the balcony to watch missiles falling and exploding in the sky; my boyfriend was aloof to the situation. My first thought was, “this must be very exciting for the child because it’s like fireworks,” Then I realized that it’s actually really dangerous and life-threatening, so I grabbed the child and ran inside, leaving my boyfriend outside gazing at the sky. The room was pitch dark, and I could hear the voices of my mother and my brother talking about me; they were saying, “how is the baby going to survive without a shell”? Then I realized the kid has turned into a round egg in the palm of my hand, and the shell was dissolving like wet paper, leaving a bubble of fragile liquid with a fetus inside. I knew that any sudden movement could burst the bubble and kill the baby, so I tried to be as gentle and careful as I could.”

REFERENCES:

A Terrible Love of War by James Hillman. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143034928/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_46A683TF2489P8WNSC8Y

Depth Psychology and a New Ethic by Erich Neumann. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0877735719/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_7W8QHPPGHMJ6SJ6RYS9R

The Moral Equivalent of War by William James. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1445529866/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_JF75M92ZS5N96ST1M49G

A Story Waiting to Pierce You by Peter Kingsley. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1890350214/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_BHEFTMVSZCJ6JF0X86N7

A Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M2YED0C/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_KGW7PQX1J4DH4WB2HQCF

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 202 - Forgiveness or Fury: Finding a Way Forward Feb 17, 2022

Forgiveness has long been the province of morality, virtue, and religious values. Psychologically, forgiveness requires the capacity to hold both the magnitude of the injury and the humanity of the injurer. There are doable steps toward this goal, beginning with acknowledging and mourning the wrong yet forgoing retaliation. Righteousness and anger provide only illusory power and can be chronic and corrosive.

Blame can thwart our ability to understand unconscious personal dynamics and prevent acceptance of universal human flaws and vulnerability. We can accept apology and remorse—especially if it has been accompanied by introspection and greater self-understanding. Forgiveness is less about the other than it is about liberation from victimization. Even when we can’t solve a problem with another, we can increase our inner resources and enlarge our hearts.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I was a shepherd carrying a sheep that had been born, but it was obvious it was not going to live. I was taking it to a pond to drown it, to put it out of its misery—but I knew this was actually an act of love. The pond was in a Botticelli ‘Elysian field’-like environment, and most of the water of the pond was frozen over—so much, so a horse was slipping around on the surface. There were other birds and animals all around me, like a Botticelli painting.”

REFERENCES:

Robert Karen. The Forgiving Self: The Road from Resentment to Connection. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0385488742/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_51MKHP5J0RNCC401GZDN

Edward Tick: Warrior’s Return: Restoring the Soul After War. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1622032004/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_CXPVMY2VVQBS66JD3T52

Hannah Arendt. The Human Condition. https://www.amazon.com/dp/022658660X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_JNEGRBZWC01ND6MCKY5X

The Forgiveness Project. https://www.theforgivenessproject.com/

Robert Enright. The International Forgiveness Institute. https://internationalforgiveness.com/

Desmond Tutu. Truth and Reconciliation Commission. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Truth-and-Reconciliation-Commission-South-Africa

RESOURCES: Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 201 - DUPED: What Makes Us Gullible? Feb 10, 2022

Jung says, “The more one turns to the light, the greater the shadow behind one’s back.” Unacknowledged shadow can increase vulnerability to coercive dealings and regrettable decisions. We may find ourselves scammed, ripped off, and left holding the bag. Why didn’t we see it coming? Mostly because our denied fears and desires create blind spots others manipulate. Advertisers, hucksters, and con men prey on our fear of danger and disapproval and our quest for security and status. Gullibility is marked by misplaced trust and willful witlessness. We may not pause to reflect, research a decision, or seek neutral counsel. It is often relieving to trust an external authority rather than bear the anxiety and responsibility of choosing. When we fail to see our own shadow, we may be unable to recognize it in others.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am in a shopping mall with my wife. We pass by a booth that is an archery range, and I notice on a sign that I can fire off one arrow for free, but as I grab an arrow, my wife rushes me along, and the booth attendant says it’s not free. I’m disappointed but return the arrow. We then immediately walk into a store; the merchandise is not apparent. In a second, I am leaving the store alone. Near the exit, I realize I have a golden blade, like a letter opener or small dagger. I think to return it, but instead decide that since I almost walked out with it and stole it accidentally, I may as well pretend that’s what happened.”

References

Stephen Greenspan. Annals of Gullibility: Why We Get Duped and How to Avoid It. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0313362165/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_5H0NDZJGST9PMC1GB1R9

Erich Fromm. Escape from Freedom. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BPJOC7W/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_P8AYDQWYQKPRF9TKJ3D5

Science Daily https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060523072353.htm

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 200 - Reality as Medicine Feb 03, 2022

The nature of reality may be a complex philosophical question, but from a psychological viewpoint, reality is largely a question of adaptation to the truths of our inner and outer worlds. How well do we manage psychic life and the electric bill? Science fiction writer Philip Dick pithily states: “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” Multiple realities challenge us. We live in shared social realities, from embracing niceties to being steeped in beliefs and a need to belong. We also may access the objective realities of verifiable facts and scientific data. And we experience subjective realities of emotion, intuition, and unconscious influences. We can feel our feelings, differentiate between levels of reality, and choose which to apply to a particular situation or decision. Unclouded acceptance of reality is medicinal.

Here’s the dream we analyzed:

“I found myself somehow back living in the attic of a property I managed years ago, an old parish house. I was very comfortable with this and glad to be there. A high school sweetheart came to visit unexpectedly, and we fell into our old way of being together rather quickly. We had been very close when young, and in real life, we maintained contact for years, though at the time of this dream, we had not spoken for a long time. I was excited at the prospect of rekindling our relationship anew as adults and was a little nervous. She asked where she could smoke a cigarette, and I suggested the roof. It was a warm, inviting night, and although I had quit smoking decades ago, I felt young again and accepted her offer of a cigarette. We were on a flat roof with a parapet. She went to sit on the parapet wall and purposefully leaned back, intentionally flinging herself off of the roof. There was a dreadful moment of suspended time before I heard her body hit the ground many floors below. Terrified, I started running down the flights of stairs toward ground level. At one of the landings, I encountered the building’s plumber, an older man I had known for years who was working on some old piping. I started to tell him what just happened, but he knew already, and with incredible calm, told me there was nothing to be done and to just forget about it. This hardly registered as I continued my frantic flight down the stairs, only to discover that the stairwell never ended or that I was somehow lost, even though there was only one way down. The further I went, lights were burnt out and the steps increasingly irregular, forcing me to slow down and test each step."

REFERENCES:

C.G. Jung. The Function of Religious Symbols. Collected Works, Volume 18.

William Glasser, M.D. Reality Therapy: A New Approach to Psychiatry.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060904143/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_YDK0SZAZS3Y5JB8X5QYJ

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 199 - Contagion: Pollution, Protection & Purity Jan 27, 2022

When the archetype of purity is activated, science and psychology intersect. Fear of contamination has deep instinctual roots, evidenced in universal facial expressions of distress and disgust. Religious rules and rituals of riddance have long been practical and symbolic protections against pollution, whether the threat is pathogenic, environmental, or moral. For Jung, this psychological dynamic “is the dissolution of the ego in the unconscious, a state resembling death. It results from the more or less complete identification of the ego with unconscious factors, or, as we would say, from contamination...we then feel in danger of being swamped or poisoned by the unconscious.” The antidote to contamination is often a form of cleansing. Today’s sanitizers kill germs and also restore a mental state of purity long associated with sacred inviolability. An ego strong enough to straddle the opposites of the physical and archetypal worlds can help us chart a balanced course between external threat and internal anxiety.

Here's the dream we analyze:

“I am in Mexico traveling with my mom, my dad, and my brother. We are invited to a child’s birthday party. As a gift/decoration, I bring 12 golden retriever puppies. They are all tied together on a long, thin, blue nylon rope. The rope is looped around each puppy’s belly, and there are a couple feet of rope between each puppy. When we arrive at the party, which is in a domestic courtyard, my father hangs the rope of puppies high on a wall in a square spiral shape. I express my concern that the puppies are hanging from their ropes, at which point my dad shows me that he has placed a brass-colored nail into the wall at each puppy node. The nails stick out from the wall a few inches; he explains that the puppies can sit on the nails. I agree with him, though it seems unrealistic to me that a puppy could be comfortable balancing on so small a surface. As I look at them, they are struggling to keep their perches though many of them are still wagging their tails. My father criticizes me for bringing home these 12 puppies and asks me what I am going to do with them. I realize I have nowhere to take them as we are all staying in a hotel room, and the smell of their pee and poop would overwhelm the rest of my family. I realize with some horror that i am going to have to kill them or just release them onto the streets, where they will suffer and slowly die of starvation and neglect. I wrack my brain for the right execution method. Drowning? Put them In plastic bags in the freezer? I am horrified at either prospect. I sit down at a table to discuss this with other party attendees. No one is taking me very seriously, but someone does scornfully point out that I have several other kinds of animals in groups of 12 that I also have to figure out how to dispatch in some way. I can’t remember now what all those animals were except a group of mice which are already shrouded and drowning slowly in a large glass ashtray on the picnic table. There is also a group of four dolphins--they are only toys, and their heads are like finger puppets. When I submerge them in a bucket of water, they seem to come to life. I continue to agonize about my responsibility to “do something” with all of these dozens of little animals and announce to the group that my inclination to kill the puppies is at least merciful and correct because they have been exposed to jet fuel which has permanently damaged their abdominal organs. Someone, an adult man I don’t recognize, points out to me that their abdominal organs are actually being dislocated and harmed because they have fallen off their impossibly small perches and are hanging from the little blue ropes. I take one off of the wall and look at his belly, which is red and distended, especially on one side. I feel sick with guilt and totally overwhelmed with my inability to either take care of or murder these sweet, patient, naive little dogs.”

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 198 - PORN: Technology, Consumerism & Soul Jan 20, 2022

Nearly every civilization since ancient times has portrayed explicit sexual acts. Sexuality’s numinous aspect has long brought it into close association with spirituality and religion. The powerful potential of sexual arousal is central to being human and has seized today’s collective via the Internet. Porn is symbolic of the widespread merchandising of desire, from toys to trucks. The unprecedented power of image in today’s world can now drive what Lost Goddesses author Giorgio Tricarico terms our “desiring multiplicities” and quest for limitlessness. Pornography can be addicting, and Jung maintained that “There is no illness that is not at the same time an unsuccessful attempt at a cure.” Pornography could also be an attempt to achieve a sense of integration and wholeness through reconnection with the archetype of the goddess.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“The Dragon Queen, a young blonde woman, was not the rightful queen and needed to be tamed. Everyone said to throw her in the furnace, but I couldn’t do that to her. She had become a sort of friend and had come to trust me. I came to her through a room where archery practice was taking place, a cave to the kingdom. An old friend was a centaur, and he was teaching me to shoot the bow and arrow. He had many tiny arrows, which he shot into the queen’s cave and missed. She came out and said, “Let me show you how it’s done.” I then captured her by tackling her with a black sheet. Then I sat on her and started massaging her legs vigorously. She started to relax. I then went to her arms and belly. She completely relaxed. Then I uncovered her, and she was ready to learn how to live in our society. One of the guys in the archery group took on the job of teaching her how to eat. He showed her a vision of all kinds of foods and nutrition but started with feeding her only sweets—all kinds of candy. I was worried and said so. He said that because she was a dragon, we needed to start out with feeding her that way.”

REFERENCES:

Giorgio Tricarico. Lost Goddesses. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1782205322/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_PBJVC0D9VDDC2TYZW516

Sharon Blackie. If Women Rose Rooted. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098CXQLLH/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_3AQDWXGFMVJA105QAT1T

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 197 - The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul Jan 13, 2022

Dr. Connie Zweig, Ph.D., retired Jungian-psychotherapist and author, joins us to discuss her new book, The Inner Work of Age. She extends her well-known work on shadow into midlife and beyond and provides a map for uncovering obstacles to aging consciously. The transition from Hero to Elder, or role to soul, begins with releasing the ego’s identification with doing and reorienting toward the transpersonal center that Jung called the Self.

As we let go of outworn personas and roles, harvest the wisdom of our long lives, and break free of unconscious shadows, the Elder’s gift of authenticity naturally emerges. In this way, individuation, the deeper dimension of age, can be expanded along with our expanding longevity. This renewed purpose is the hidden promise of late-life.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I was sitting at the front of a moving bus that was full of a friend’s family after a ceremony, maybe a wedding or a funeral. I was sitting facing backward so I could be part of the congregation. They announced they would shortly bring out my friend’s grandmother’s exhumed body for the dancing ritual. I wasn’t sure I’d have the guts to take part but wanted to wait until I saw her grandmother to make my decision. She was brought out in a sheer black veil, through which I could see her body had shriveled to a tiny frame, almost a skeleton but preserved as if she had been embalmed. Her family took turns joyously and carefully waltzing down the aisle of the bus with her, and everyone gazed upon the ritual with loving delight. I decided I would just watch this time. My friend was gently handed her grandmother’s corpse whilst sitting in her seat behind me. She held her in her lap and we had a conversation, during which my friend’s face and her grandmother’s became indistinguishable. My friend appeared both living and dead at the same time, her face hollowed and decomposed but animated and lively.”

REFERENCES:

Connie Zweig. The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1644113406/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_ZCW0Z73PAQTREBXS1206

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 196 - LEGACY: Living Toward the Long Future Jan 06, 2022

Is the future relevant? Can we suspend immediate satisfaction in favor of our descendants’ quality of life? Legacy comes from the Latin root legatia: one who is sent on a mission [into the future]. It is an act of benevolent imagination to accompany our choices forward in time and take responsibility for their fruits – by facing the long future we have set in motion, we can choose wisely.

We are like King Midas, who nursed the satyr Selenius and was rewarded by the god Dionysus with one wish. Seduced by the fantasy of limitlessness, he wished that all he touched turned to gold. His elation gave way to horror as his touch turned fruit, meat, and wine into gold. Lacking foresight, he could not feel the reciprocity between the present and the future.

Late in life, Jung struggled with a vision of the future – humanity would ultimately destroy itself. Bearing this, he hoped analytical psychology could intervene. If only people would turn within and embrace the autonomous forces of the unconscious, the ego could be set in right relationship to the Self and the earth.

"Rather seek for yourself and your fellows the healing vessel, the servitor mundi, which you urgently need. For your state is perilous; you are all in imminent danger of destroying all that centuries have built up.”

CG. Jung,Memories, Dreams, Reflections

Once we accept the temporality of the ego and embrace our fragile mortality, we can find meaning in what we will leave behind for future generations. We come to understand that we can, in essence, become immortal through our legacies.

Here’s the dream we analyzed:

“On the way to our new house, big rocks are scattered across the way. When we approach the building site, we come to a man in his 50s who looks like a fisherman. He holds a snake and shows it to us. Then I see lots of snakes around him on the ground. I am really scared and try to move out of the situation as soon as possible. The man looks amused as if he challenged us. There is also an old woman beside the man, but her age is not determinable. I find an alternative way to get to the house with my husband. The other way is a bit longer. We climb big rocks where there is some water falling over the sides. I Don’t know whether we finally get out of the situation or not.”

REFERENCES:

CATAFALQUE: Carl Jung and the End of Humanity, by Peter Kingsley https://www.amazon.com/dp/1999638417/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_FTK8MZ6AC8J76ND77QTJ

MEMORIES, DREAMS, REFLECTIONS by CG Jung https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BW37JXE/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_GW7CM3KWS2CA3WHPHRQK

THE LONG NOW FOUNDATION, https://longnow.org/

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 195 -- Jonah & the Whale: a dream for our time Dec 30, 2021

The Bible as sacred text serves as a source of revelation and wisdom about the divine. As mythology, the Bible establishes norms for daily life and organizes psychic life forces. For Jung, mythologies and religions are symbolic expressions of archetypal patterns that foster the development of consciousness. Mythology reveals the dreams of a culture just as dreams bring personal mythology to light. Jung said, “We must read the Bible or we shall not understand psychology.” The Bible is not psychological only, but unless it is also psychological, we may not be able to relate its contents to our personal lives. We, therefore, engage the mythos of Jonah and his whale of a tale a dream. Orienting to Jonah as dream in the world, a dream for the world, and a dream of each of us can help us better understand ourselves in the context of a greater whole.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I’m at my girlfriend’s apartment, standing in a hallway with several doors. All of them save one are closed. Behind them, I sense a tremendous power. I stop in front of one of the closed doors and open it, but I don’t cross the threshold. It’s either my girlfriend’s childhood room, or it is mine. I guess that I first believe it to be hers but then understand that it’s mine. The room looks quite innocent, but I sense a trap inside. I somehow understand that I may ask one question to the presence that lingers in the room and that the question will be answered. I also understand that if I enter the room and the force is benign, I may exit and come back as I please, but if the presence is not benign, I will never be able to leave once I enter. So I need to construct a question that operates on two levels at the same time: it must seem to be an innocent question, but with a hidden purpose to determine the nature of the force. I start to think but draw a blank. Then a question very clearly “drops down” into my mind, and I examine it. It’s not only a good question, it’s the perfect question, and I put it forth: “How can one know when it is enough?” The answer comes quickly, accompanied by the sound of gnashing teeth and crushing boulders, and all too clearly reveal the nature of this entity: “It can NEVER be enough!” I then understand that it is the devil who dresses his frustrated angst in these words, and the answer makes me completely uninterested in entering the room. I decide instead to continue; I’m done with the things that are here. So, I go to the room with the open door, and after a short period of preparation, I fly away. When I fly through the window, a strange thing happens: as I pass through the glass, I feel that my amber body is being cleansed. It is as if all the impurities that it has accumulated during the entire ordeal were stopped from passing through as if the glass was some sort of filter. As a result, I feel more free as I continue my journey.”

REFERENCES:

Joseph, Diele, FCR. Jonah: The Story of Us https://www.amazon.com/dp/1556053924/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_8SGRSZT47FB9YA4RN6PV

Hollis, James. Tracking the Gods: The Place of Myth in Modern Life https://www.amazon.com/dp/0919123694/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_VZMCVWT0D7FQ0880MW1W

Stein, Murray. The Bible as Dream: A Jungian Interpretation

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1630516686/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_HW0D3QRPE2HH0X20PM3V

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 194 - Mr. Grinch on the Couch Dec 23, 2021

Dr. Seuss’ case history of the Grinch presents him as “uncheerful, unhealthy, unclean.” We hope that adding an analytic perspective will be helpful in understanding this clinical condition. Alfred Adler would note the inferiority complex underlying the Grinch’s defensive attempt at superiority and power, and Melanie Klein would detect infantile rage and envy. Freud might diagnose the Grinch with Thanatos, the death drive, evidenced in his sadistic attack on Who-ville. Additional obsessive-compulsive traits impelled him to steal every toy, treat, and tree. Dr. Jung’s archetypal perspective notes the absence of eros, affirming Dr. Seuss’ summation of the Grinch’s disorder: “his heart was two sizes too small.” Fortunately, the community of Who-ville provided treatment: demonstrating that “Christmas came just the same” grew the Grinch’s pinched heart three sizes that day. No matter how you celebrate this holiday season, we—and the Grinch--wish you irresistible moments of joy.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“My male housemate and I were on a train, being taunted by two teenage boys. The train stopped in the middle of a grassy clearing in the forest, near a cliff-face. As we were leaving the train, the two boys rudely brushed past us, and then I lost my temper and, in a heavily-worded outburst, told them to get lost. They then ran away toward a corner in the cliff-face. At that moment, an old man appeared from behind the train, with a hunting rifle, who I felt was on my side. The old man was dressed as a hunter with a European hunting hat and had a dog following him. He chased after the boys and disappeared around the corner. When I caught up with them, the boys had run up to the top of a hill and were standing there with an old woman and a dog of their own while we watched with the old man from the bottom of the hill. I somehow knew that the woman was the old hunter’s wife of many years and that the two loved each other deeply. There was a brief standoff. Then suddenly, one of the boys took out a handgun and executed the wife, taunting the old man. He then shot the old man’s dog. The old man broke into tears of heartbreak, then retaliated by shooting the boys’ own dog before vowing to get revenge on the boys themselves. My housemate and I were standing on the sidelines watching the conflict. I woke up, feeling uneasy before either side won the coming battle.”

REFERENCES:

Dr. Seuss. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! https://www.amazon.com/dp/0394800796/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_3DKX1HK491XGEA6A314E

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 193 - Libido: Tracking Inner Energy Dec 16, 2021

Jung understood libido as psychic energy: desire, will, interest, and passion. Libido includes instincts for fulfilling bodily appetites and engaging developmental tasks. Although energy infuses all human activity, it is not a function of ego alone; for many, a worthy goal has lacked the libido to achieve it. Feelings and actions can veer into symptoms, such as neurosis or addiction. Low libido is often a form of depression, and libido that is too high can be mania. Most often, a problem with libido is experienced as “stuckness,” the stasis produced from conflict between our natural, instinctual selves and familial and cultural expectations--internalized “shoulds.” We can face fear and engage desire, for acknowledging the truth of where attraction lies creates pathways along which life energy can flow. Psychotherapy could be considered a quest for each person’s authentic psychic energy. The innate direction of libido, the enlivening wellspring of the soul, is in service to individuation.

Here’s the dream we analyzed:

“I am walking around a garden, praying. I’m not sure whether I’m praying to God or to the earth or the trees, but I’m expressing gratitude for the beauty around me. There are two huge beech trees next to each other at the end of the garden. The knotted and gnarled trunks make each look like a laughing face - two friendly giants. I look up at the canopy high above - they almost seem to fill the sky with leaves. Then I notice that one tree is rocking in the wind, and there is a crack at the base of the trunk that opens and closes as it does so. I am concerned that the tree will fall. Behind the trees in the neighboring garden is a large, modern house which looks rather austere and forbidding. I wonder if I should warn the people in the house about the tree. Now two men in dark blue boiler suits arrive to examine the trees. Each reaches out a hand toward a tree, but before they can touch them, both trees fall over with a crash. I am sure the house will be smashed, but instead, the trees fall neatly onto two flatbed trucks which happen to be waiting. The men examine the trees and shake their heads. The trunks were hollow, and it’s clear they were not attached to the roots at all. The trucks drive off. The garden is left looking empty and forlorn.”

REFERENCES:

Murray Stein. Jung’s Map of the Soul, https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812693760/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_S64J8AW68TCD7VC7D5N8

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 192 - The Archetype of the Crocodile Dec 09, 2021

The crocodile and its alligator cousin appear regularly in the dreams of people far from warm, wet habitats. In ancient Egyptian mythology, the divine crocodile Sobek was honored, especially at riverbanks, the threshold of land and water. The Egyptian earth god Geb was depicted as a crocodile guarding the gateway to the underworld. Thresholds mark the entry to the unknown, a realm where usual rules do not apply—an apt parallel to the boundary between the ego and the unconscious. Primordial force, seemingly submerged in psyche’s ancient riverbeds, can erupt to drown, dismember and devour the ego’s claim to autonomy. Moments of dissolution in trauma or periods of psychosis have power as crushing as the crocodile’s terrible teeth and gaping maw. The unconscious source of consciousness also has the power to consume it. Crocodile is danger, death, and life’s relentless urge to realize itself.

We Analyze Several Crocodile Dreams To Explore A Variety Of Ways The Archetype Presents.

REFERENCES:

Erich Neumann. The Great Mother, translated by Ralph Manheim https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691166072/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_DBFKM4HWBS5VAK5N8W4P

The Book of Symbols. Reflections on Archetypal Symbols. Taschen. https://www.amazon.com/dp/3836514486/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_FSZEWSEQ8A2KAFSJSC1H

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 191 - Archetypes and the Creative Process: A Discussion with Third Coast Percussion Dec 02, 2021

The creator, the hero, the explorer: these are just some of the archetypes made famous by Carl Jung that inspired the latest album from Chicago’s Grammy award-winning Third Coast Percussion. Created in collaboration with classical guitarist Sérgio Assad and composer-performer Clarice Assad, Archetypes is a sonic exploration of the human experience. Taped live at the 2021 Chicago Humanities Festival, our conversation with musicians Clarice Assad and David Skidmore features an exploration of the creative process and an interactive discussion on David’s dream. Clarice Assad is a Grammy-nominated composer, celebrated pianist, inventive vocalist, and educator. David Skidmore is a performer and Executive Director with Third Coast Percussion, a GRAMMY Award-winning percussion quartet based in Chicago.

REFERENCES:

Third Coast Percussion: https://thirdcoastpercussion.com/

Archetypes: https://thirdcoastpercussion.com/music/albums/archetypes/

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

LISTEN: https://thisjungianlife.com/episode-191-archetypes-and-the-creative-process-a-discussion-with-third-coast-percussion/

Episode 190 - Falling in Love: Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered Nov 25, 2021

Jung says, “Love is a power of destiny, whose force reaches from heaven to hell.” Falling in love is an initiation into the divine—light, and dark—as personal and archetypal forces combine and combust. In thrall to the magical other through whom we experience newfound parts of ourselves, we fall into a reality that transcends and possesses us.

Ardor takes us by surprise and opens us fiercely and intimately to our inner world, exposing us to ourselves. Passion must pass, whether it leads to commitment and partnership or casts us into disillusion and heartbreak. We need to know and grow a capacity for loving that makes us more whole and more able to love the other in another. We shall become kinder and wiser…and bow to the excitement and aliveness of falling in love.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am looking at myself in a mirror in my waking-life bathroom. I lean close and notice that my two upper front teeth appear to be loose and crooked. I touch one, and it skews out of alignment. I panic! I try to realign the tooth, and it falls out with a gush of blood. I touch my other tooth, and it too falls out. I hold the teeth in shaking hands as I try to fit them back in place. They won’t stay in. I am horrified and unable to do anything. The teeth seem to grow larger in my hands, looking more like an animal tooth--like a sealion canine tooth I have in my waking life. I wake suddenly with the intense urge to check my teeth to make sure they are still there and okay.”

REFERENCES:

Aldo Carotenuto. Eros & Pathos: Shades of Love & Suffering.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0919123392/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_PEWYNA6PB0E8W9BB1KXP

Jan Bauer. Impossible Love: Why the Heart Must Go Wrong.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1626549737/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_Y5THBGJ83K0VX5EF1Z3E

James Hollis. The Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0919123805/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_06AWPRX8XXFMZG097EXR

John Haule. Divine Madness: Archetypes of Romantic Love.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0877734836/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_7645741FXE5PM5J721AJ

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 189 - A Well-Aligned Mind: How to Be Alive Nov 18, 2021

Guest Iain McGilchrist is a renowned psychiatrist, researcher, and author. His 2009 book, The Master and His Emissary gained worldwide fame for showing how differences between brain hemispheres affect our perceptions - and guide our lives. Each hemisphere has a radically different ‘take’ on the world: the left sees what is in the theater spotlight, whereas the right hemisphere understands the whole play.

Both are part of the theater of our lives, but the narrowly focused left hemisphere has increasingly taken over in the modern world. The right hemisphere offers a more spacious perspective: connectedness, complexity, and creativity - and has a direct and demonstrable effect on physical and mental well-being. Jung says, “One must never look to the things that ought to change. The main question is how we change ourselves.” McGilchrist shows us how: paying attention to what we are paying attention to reintroduces us to who we are - and aliveness.

REFERENCES:

A 10,000 essay and summary of McGilchrist’s ideas is available free on Kindle. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008JE7I2M/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_8QPW3VT6QMZQ08C7VK9T

Iain McGilchrist: The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World. Kindle Edition only. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KY5B3QL/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_RP260867DNVHG84JYANK

Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World https://www.amazon.com/dp/0300245920/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_7JP0MQCZ71W0PJ5HGVM4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 188 - Humanizing the Hero Nov 11, 2021

Mythological heroes defend, protect and quest. They range from warriors, adventurers, and saviors to magicians, loners, and rebels, but one way or another, they battle bad for the sake of good. They have courage, skill, and strength, but never a troubling moment. Although we still delight in heroes with might and shine, modern times have given rise to a new ideal: the everyday hero.

From Harriet Tubman to Anne Frank and Frodo Baggins to Huckleberry Finn, these are heroes of happenstance. Circumstances demanded more of them, and they accepted the challenge to surmount loss, accept uncertainty, and take principled action even in a crisis. Unlike mythical heroes, everyday heroes struggle—and living fully into a larger purpose serves their personal development. Recent history has humanized the archetype of the hero and brought it down to earth. The new myth is about every man’s heroic energy for individuation and meaning.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“It’s a bright clear day, and I’m in a forest. I’m walking around when I spot these hybrid creatures, both boar and human, or humans wearing boar heads as helmets. They are absolutely terrifying, and I try to hide from them in the brush. I watch them. Suddenly, one veers off from the rest and leans over and defecates or vomits from its chest. It’s violent and disgusting. The creature seems weakened, sick. Then I’m walking again, trying to get away from the creatures, but they spot me-- at least one of them does. I am not afraid now and assume we will fight. There’s a group of swords on the ground--more like big serrated knives--, and I pick one up. The creature and I duel, and I cut it several times. I’m confident in my victory, but then I’m nicked on the face. I’m worried about this; maybe it’s worse than I know. Then the dream jumps, and I’m in a dark bathroom examining the cut in the mirror. It’s a scratch. The boar creature is here with me, but she’s a beautiful brunette woman, and it’s clear we’re lovers. The feeling now is very light and romantic and easy.”

REFERENCES:

Robert Hayden poem: Those Winter Sundays

Leonard Cohen song: Joan of Arc

James Hollis. Mythologems: Incarnations of the Invisible World. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1894574109/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_94JC2C9MJ644DRC9X76Q

C.G. Jung. The Red Book. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393065677/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_HRQR02F9ATSSCXRAM8PA

Ernest Becker. The Denial of Death. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0684832402/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_ZDVC08FKDFDW7SS6QE5X

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 187 - The Fiery Furnace of Ambition Nov 04, 2021

Ambition is a fire whose flames first rise in the first half of life when hopes and dreams are fueled by possibilities in the external world. It takes creative audacity to seize a dream, develop a talent, or commit to a calling. Ambition can also be fueled by narcissism, power-seeking, or striving to overcome inadequacy.

Too much fire can consume and corrupt us; insufficient heat forsakes potential for flickering fantasies. Jungian scholar and author James Hillman writes that each of us has an innate blueprint for becoming in The Soul’s Code. Ambition can best be the discovery of our authentic purpose in the world, a combination of character and call that provides the heat needed to find and pursue our destiny. Integrity is the true source of energy for pursuing a goal, persevering in its attainment, and allowing desire for distinction in the external world to serve development in the inner world.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am in a contest to kill a baby by throwing a ball at it. I have to stand on a lawn chair while I throw the ball. I am moving the chair here and there, trying to get the right angle. The baby is very far away, hard to see. Many people are watching me, some rooting for me, some against me. Then someone brings the baby much closer because of some new rule. But now I can see its features. “It's harder to kill a baby when you can see its features!" I cry. I consider quitting the contest. But finally, I do throw the ball - and miss. Everyone is disappointed. I was neither noble (by quitting) nor powerful (by winning).”

REFERENCE:

James Hillman. The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character & Calling. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399180141/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_5YHDGK5T26N1FH5T4RD1

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 186 - The Archetype of the Witch: Dangerous, Denied & Dishonored Oct 28, 2021

It’s witching season, the time when women of all ages embrace a mythical image of unfettered feminine power. The witch may cast spells, seek vengeance, or wreak creative havoc—as she pleases. Flying the night skies of psyche, the witch brings primordial realities into culture’s brittle convictions.

Like all aspects of the collective unconscious, the witch lays low when times are fine but rises when times are tense. Her archetypal power then infects humankind, inciting mass hysteria and the horrors of persecutory epidemics. The witch symbolizes our fear and vulnerability to the Great Mother in her dark, heartless aspect--and her power remains. Jung says, “On a primitive level, people are afraid of witches; on the modern level, we are apprehensively afraid of microbes.” If we can face the witch and acknowledge her power to depose ego and order, we can also face our choices and the freedom to make them.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“My family has rented a house in an affluent area of my city for a celebration. I borrow my dad’s keys afterward to get something out of the car before planning to return quickly to the house. I’m wearing a yarmulke for the occasion. On my way back, I step onto a concrete block overlooking an SUV with an alarm going off. Despite there being a man in the car, a plainclothes policeman approaches me to say I’m being taken in for questioning because the car was stolen. The police officer refuses to let me call my father to tell him what happened. I am questioned by two officers, now in their uniforms, at the back of a luxurious synagogue. I am outraged and trying to profess my innocence with confidence, but my body and voice are shaking. The other officer lets me call my dad, who speaks in a gentle voice with sadness and almost disappointment. Then I am brought to a university-type study room to be questioned by a group of teen police officers, some of whom I recognize as people I went to high school with. On the way to this room, I see a friend and explain what is happening, but she seems apathetic and keeps walking. In the room, the teen police group is being irreverent and making jokes and creating distractions, looking at their phones, playing games, not listening to my expressions of anger and fear. At the end of the dream, Amy Winehouse appears in the room, and we all sing her song “Love is Blind.” I strain my voice to sing loudly and distinctly.”

REFERENCES:

Erich Neumann, Fear of the Feminine, https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691034737/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_S0QDMDBFG7FN0ECGSZD1

Geoff Shullenberger, “Karen” and the Maenads, Outsider Theory, https://outsidertheory.com/karen-and-the-maenads

Madeline Miller, Circe. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316556327/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_KVNV5H79CCQ8HDHFVSR0

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 185 - Assessing Our Psychic Inheritance Oct 21, 2021

Jung said of the parent-child relationship: “Nothing exerts a stronger psychic effect upon the human environment, and especially upon children, than the life which the parents have not lived.” Jung understood that parents could unconsciously compel children to fulfill parental dreams or compensate for disappointments. Parental shadow creates an urgency to purge, perfect, or prolong a psychic legacy. It may manifest by taking on a parental aspiration, making up for a parental deficit, rebelling against parental constraints, or being subsumed by parental dictates. When personal libido is tied to parental needs, energy for life is hijacked by anxiety, ambivalence, and ambiguity - and it is up to us to reckon with it. If we do the work of differentiating from our parents, we discover ourselves. By doing so, we may truly redeem them and free ourselves. We serve life best by claiming it.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am in what seems to be a decrepit apartment building, and I get the sense that the rooms of the building are interconnected and continuous. There are emaciated animals roaming the rooms, and there are two figures aside from myself: a large grotesque man sitting at a dining table and a tired-looking baker. The grotesque man seems to demand food and the baker brings him cake and other food. The large man begins eating like an animal, with his bare hands, throwing scraps behind, resulting in the animals fighting over them. In a climax, from the door leading to the other rooms, I can hear the sounds of hundreds of footsteps and the screams of children running toward the door into the room. The dream ends just as hundreds of hands begin to pass the threshold of the door.”

REFERENCES:

Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143133586/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_Y8GCS800QBTD9A8Z3DRE

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 184 - Does Analysis Work? A Conversation with Jonathan Shedler, PhD Oct 14, 2021

“Talk is powerful medicine.” Renowned researcher and clinician Jonathan Shedler, Ph.D., joins us to discuss the effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapy. While so-called evidence-based therapies—brief treatments conducted by instruction manuals—offer benefits for some, their status as the “gold standard” of treatment for mental distress is undeserved.

Dr. Shedler’s 2010 paper, “The Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy,” is the most widely read psychoanalytic paper of our time. It’s been downloaded more than a quarter of a million times and has been cited by thousands. He discusses this influential work with us, including the finding that those who engage in psychodynamic psychotherapy not only improve by the end of treatment but continue to make gains even years after therapy is finished. According to Shedler, “psychodynamic therapy sets in motion psychological processes that lead to ongoing change, even after therapy has ended.” Jung tells us that we don’t solve our problems so much as grow larger than them. There is good empirical evidence that psychodynamic psychotherapy does indeed help us to grow.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am in a snowy place with my mom. We are leaving one chalet to go to a different one to meet up with other family members. While packing up to leave, I am preoccupied with a lost sweater. My mom is angry at me for wasting time. I love the sweater; it’s beautiful, and I wanted it for a long time before I got it. I gradually accept that the sweater is now gone, but I’m really sad about it. Then we get into the car. We are both in the back seat of the car talking to each other, and it takes a few minutes before we realize that the car is driving itself. I am not bothered by this; I seem to intuit that the car will take us to the right place, or at least that it knows where it’s going. But my mom is once again angry at me for not driving it. I cannot drive it because my leg is injured. It is this anger--as she realizes that I’m not driving the car--that seems to make the car stop, and then we are stranded in the middle of the road.”

RESOURCES:

Dr. Shedler’s website

Seven Principles of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (video)

That was then, this is now: An introduction to contemporary psychodynamic therapy

The tyranny of time: How long does effective therapy really take?

The Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Follow Dr. Shedler on Twitter

Learn to analyze your dreams at Dream School

Episode 183 - JUSTICE: The Struggle for Balance Oct 07, 2021

Principles of fairness and justice have deep roots in the human psyche: we want to receive our fair share and a fair shake. When man injures man, we may protest, strive for redress, and measure wrong with morality—but what about godly misfortunes? Life, myth, and religion are rich with issues of injustice. Whether personal injury, social inequality, or divine mystery, over-insistence on fairness can lead to depression, resentment, and fixation.

Instead, we must distinguish injustice from loss, recognize what can and cannot be changed, and orient to the future. Imprisoned in a concentration camp, Viktor Frankl later wrote, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way.”

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I stood opposite my husband as he told me he’d found somewhere else to live, and with a mystery woman. I paced around; we were in a busy place. I reached for my phone, unsure whom to phone or text. I felt panic as I realized I wasn’t sure who I could rely on, aware of a sense of burden. I didn’t have a job yet; how would I support myself and our children? In the dream, I was aware there was a separation that felt as if I had instigated it in order for him to realize our marriage was worth saving. However, him moving on so swiftly made me feel as if I’d made a huge mistake. As I returned home, my neighbor invited me to a cafe to talk. I felt hungry, and junk food was placed in front of me. She wanted the gossip. I felt the urge to share but knew everyone would soon know about my husband leaving.”

REFERENCE:

Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006IU470/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_8Q0BT8KHK0WD6CCPAHWJ

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Link to Lisa’s lecture and workshop October 15-16, 2021: https://ofj.org/event/another-whom-we-do-not-know-dreams-as-the-voice-of-the-inner-companion/

Episode 182 - Confronting Shadow: The Work of Self-Discovery Sep 30, 2021

Psychotherapy is essentially the work of making shadow conscious—all that we have not discerned then disowned, or projected onto others. We seldom welcome shadow, for it is marked by emotions and motivations that deflate, disturb, and dethrone ego. From family scuffles to political hostilities and outright war, we most often meet our shadow in others. Its presence is signaled by a strong urge to take action, with feelings ranging from judgment to antagonism, from pity to self-sacrifice, and from obsession to disgust. If we have the courage to face and relate to the inner world of another, we experience and expand our own inner world. Shadow is the dark doorway to renewal and development, creativity and compassion. Jung said, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am in the backyard of my grandparents’ house. It’s night and very dark out, and I can see the lights on in the house. I have a bird feather in my hand that is luminescent with green and purple. I stick it in the ground, and a bird appears—a dove, I think. It flies away, and I stick the feather in the ground a second time. Another bird appears and flies away. I do it a third time, but this time I take a feather from the bird that appears and replant it in the same spot. When I do this, the ground trembles. Something big is happening, and I’ve started something I can’t stop. The third bird flies back to me and tells me to find a swan to make something called svala. Then I’m at some sort of school party, like a reunion or homecoming. I see an Indian woman I knew and used to be friends with. We haven’t seen each other in a long time and are no longer close, but I think she might know the meaning of svala and how I am supposed to make it, and what it will do. I keep trying to talk to her, but things keep getting in the way. Finally, she invites me to her room. There is beautiful music playing in the background, and her room is full of soft, golden light. I tell her about the dream with the feather and needing a swan to make svala and that I don’t know what it’s about. She laughs and says, “What is a swan but transformation? The hardest part in making svala is finding the swan.”

REFERENCES:

Swamplands of Soul: New Life in Dismal Places by James Hollis. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0919123740/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_GNTQ1XCB9YT354TFFPDS

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Link to Lisa’s lecture and workshop: https://ofj.org/event/another-whom-we-do-not-know-dreams-as-the-voice-of-the-inner-companion/

Episode 181 - Self-Reflection: What Was I Thinking? Sep 23, 2021

Jung says, “There is another instinct, different from the drive to activity and so far as we know specifically human, which might be called the reflective instinct.” Self-reflection is correlated with consciousness and is arguably humankind’s unique and essential competency: a meta-cognitive capacity that is aware of its own awareness.

If this is lacking, we may share the fate of Narcissus, who fell in love with his image, mirrored in silvery water--but every time he sought an embrace, his loved one retreated. Because he was unable to reflect on his reflection, Narcissus wasted away from psychic starvation. Many of today’s cultural forces make image supreme and tempt us to identify with reflections and appearances. Instead, we can choose to turn inward and observe ourselves, using consciousness to unite outer and inner worlds, feeling, and thinking. Only seeing into ourselves can clarify motivation, make meaning conscious, and bring our scattered parts into harmony and wholeness.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I had a dream that I was in a half-abandoned house; it looked old and needed to be renovated. It was spacious with many rooms and corridors. My younger son, four years old, was by my side. He was occupied with something, and I was getting frustrated as I needed to go to the toilet to relieve myself (to do #2). I was getting frustrated as he wasn’t listening, and my urge was becoming greater. I left him behind and started looking for a toilet. I was entering some rooms, and they looked like abandoned, old, destroyed, non-functioning toilets. I realized that I can’t take it any longer, so I decided that the next door I open, I will relieve myself. I opened the door and the room looked disgusting: some feces were just on the floor. I don’t remember seeing an actual toilet; everything looked as if it was abandoned many years ago (e.g., paint peeled off the walls, dust). I stepped into some shit, and somehow it landed on my cheek (I didn’t feel too disgusted but more annoyed, as I just needed to receive myself. I felt “I can’t hold it any longer,” as I started to squat, about to relieve myself. The floor collapsed, and I started to fall down. I had to grab onto something with my hands and to pull myself…and woke up (feeling a bit scared).”

REFERENCES:

Classical Tales of Mythology: Heroes, Gods and Monsters of Ancient Rome and Greece by Thomas Bulfinch

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1839406631/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_PJKRPY1X5QCMHDNHZQJ8

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Lisa will be giving a zoom presentation on dreams for Oregon Friends of Jung on October 15. Link to sign up is here.

Episode 180 - INFLUENCE: Connection or Contagion? Sep 16, 2021

We have always been subject to the influence of others—it’s how we learn language, become socialized, cooperate and collaborate. It’s also how we exclude, denigrate, and assault others. Today, we are subject to unprecedented social influences. Multiplicities of media shape our ideas, identities, beliefs, and values--and foster connections and communities around the world. If tulip mania took hold in 17th century Holland—perhaps the original speculative bubble--today we have non-fungible tokens and cryptocurrencies. “Heretics” are now exiled via “cancel culture.” Cultural contagions and psychic epidemics are not new—they just come dressed in the flashy new garb of social media and telecommunication. Amid so many influences, it is newly necessary to engage in the discernment and differentiation crucial to individuation, the fulfillment of our innate potential. Consciousness cannot be held hostage to intellectual simplifications or emotional reactivity. Each of us can uphold social norms that rest on foundations of fact, reflection, and spaciousness.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“It’s nighttime, and I’ve traveled to France with my immediate family and also a woman I’ve known who has a lot of money involved in the fashion industry. We arrive at where we are supposed to stay for the night-- a very run-down part of town. We come to a pink house with bars on the windows. My company, used to five-star accommodations, hesitatingly agrees to stay at these dodgy houses. The next scene: I’m in a twin bed, with my brother asleep in the twin bed next to mine. I know my parents are asleep in the room next to ours. All the lights are out, and it’s dark. A darkly figured shadow man enters the room, an intruder. I’m at once frightened and also intrigued. I gasp, and he notices I’m there and turns to leave. As he leaves, I ask, “who are you?” He turns for a moment from the door, and I feel his gaze. I’m overcome by a sense of longing for him and he leaves. My father enters the room moments later and tells me he saw him, too.”

REFERENCES:

C.G. Jung, Collected Works, Volume 10: Wotan, pp. 179-193.

From Paralysis to Fatigue: A History of Psychosomatic Illness in the Modern Era, by Edward Shorter. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0029286670/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_SCTDD834KQH02VXCS5DY

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

SHADOWLAND: Prostitution - the story of Kay Sep 09, 2021

This is Shadowland, a new podcast experience from This Jungian Life that explores the lives of people who work and take refuge in the hidden places of our culture. Lisa, Deb, and Joseph collaborate with songwriter Wells Hanley, creator of I Wrote This Song For You podcast, to bring insight, compassion, and understanding to the darker side of human experience.

Nietzsche wrote, “I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses.”

In that spirit, we meet Kay, a 21-year-old single mother who works throughout the American southwest as a self-described prostitute. We explore how she found her way to that life, what she aspires to, and how she holds the complicated tensions between herself, her clients, and the current culture.

Here’s Kay’s dream that we analyze:

“I am in a pet store with my best friend and my daughter, who is in a stroller. The woman proprietor went in the back. I saw an alligator in a cage eating a piglet and looked at my daughter’s stroller -- she wasn’t in there. Then I am somewhere running through halls trying to find her. I see a lot of kids about her age running around [but she isn’t among them]. I think she is in the ventilation system because she likes to crawl around. I tell someone to hide the weed that’s in my car so we can call the police.”

We shared this interview with Wells Hanley, who was moved to create a song for Kay. We hope you’ll be as touched by her story as we were.

You can support Wells Hanley’s creative work by becoming his patron here: https://www.patreon.com/iwrotethissongforyou

His website is here www.iwrotethissongforyou.com/

SONG: PART OF THE PLAY

I will listen

receive you

affirm you in every way

And I will hold you

but as I’ve told you

it’s just part of the play

I will undress you

and then impress you

we’ll make a game of predator and prey

I’ll be unrestrained

but as I’ve explained

it’s just part of the play

She is hiding in the walls

she is watching through a screen

She is frightened to come out

so she lingers there unseen

calling, “Mama, help me!”

I’ll be your Echo

a kind of mirror

your missing Helen I am willing to portray

And you may long to claim me

but you’ll never tame me

I’m too refined for that cliché

You see, my heart is never part of the play

See her high above the crowd

see her fall into the cage

See her flee into the walls

as she steps onto the stage

crying, “Mama, help me!”

You call me princess

tell me I’m beautiful

I’m not immune to the things you say

But when the curtain falls

I walk these empty halls

and even though I can never go, I can show you the way

and I will swear that everything’s ok

Hush little baby, don’t say a word

about what you’ve seen or about what you’ve heard

There’s a fat, hungry beast in need of a meal

so don’t ever share

no, don’t tell a soul what you feel

Singer: Ali Thibodeau at https://linktr.ee/deaueyes

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjunhttps://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/gianlife.com/enroll/

REFERENCES:

The Book of Symbols, published by Taschen

Kalsched, Donald. The Inner World of Trauma

SHADOWLAND: a new podcast experience – September 9 on TJL Sep 02, 2021

On September 9th, This Jungian Life will launch a new podcast experience - SHADOWLAND. In this series, we meet soulfully with people who live and work in the hidden places of our culture.

Walk with us and discover the voice of psyche on unexpected paths.

Episode 179 - The Archetype of WAR Sep 02, 2021

Recent events in Afghanistan have again put war at the forefront of collective consciousness. War’s destruction belongs to the mythic realm. Mars, the Roman god of war, was a primordial force whose altars were placed outside city gates. Although acknowledged, he was not accepted. His paramour, Venus, is warfare’s seductress, offering spectacle, pageantry, and glory.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

REFERENCES:

A Terrible Love of War by James Hillman. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143034928/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_46A683TF2489P8WNSC8Y

Depth Psychology and a New Ethic by Erich Neumann. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0877735719/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_7W8QHPPGHMJ6SJ6RYS9R

The Moral Equivalent of War by William James. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1445529866/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_JF75M92ZS5N96ST1M49G

A Story Waiting to Pierce You by Peter Kingsley. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1890350214/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_BHEFTMVSZCJ6JF0X86N7

A Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M2YED0C/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_KGW7PQX1J4DH4WB2HQCF

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 178 - The Music of Metaphor: Healing in Therapy & Life Aug 26, 2021

Guest Mark Winborn is a clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst who teaches in the U.S. and internationally. Author of three books and numerous articles, Mark is an active member of the IRSJA and the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich/Kusnacht. Psychotherapy is talk therapy—but what kind of talk are we talking about? The most fundamental medium of our knowing is language, and metaphor imbues language with music.

To understand and engage another’s internal world requires language which speaks in harmony with the unconscious. Metaphor speaks beyond ego and traverses the realms between past and present, bodily sensation and feeling, conscious and unconscious. It infuses lived experience with connection and creates shared space for healing. Jung says, “Whoever speaks in primordial images speaks with a thousand voices; he enthralls and overpowers, while at the same time he lifts the idea he is seeking to express out of the occasional and the transitory into the realm of the ever-enduring.”

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am in the bathroom of a hotel room where I am staying. I may have just gotten out of the shower. I see a fat, red, slimy worm-like creature several inches in length crawling along the floor. I am horrified and think that it is a snake. As I inspect it more closely, I notice a tiny pair of limbs along the upper portion of the body. At this point, I wonder if it is a baby alligator. I find this idea less repugnant than a snake. My wife comes into the room and tells me that it is actually a bird. As I study the tiny limbs, I begin to think that these must be embryonic wings. At this point, I begin to ponder how I should nurture this creature, wondering if it would be best for it if I took it outside.”

REFERENCES

Website: www.drmarkwinborn.com

Edinger, E. (1991). Anatomy of the psyche: Alchemical symbolism in psychotherapy. Chicago: Open Court

Meltzer, D., & Williams, M. H. (1988/2008). The apprehension of beauty: The role of aesthetic conflict in development, art, and violence. London: Karnac.

Siegelman, E. (1990). Metaphor and meaning in psychotherapy. New York: Guilford

Winborn, M. (2018). Interpretation in Jungian Analysis: Art and Technique. Routledge.

Winborn, M. (2014). Shared Realities: Participation Mystique and Beyond. Fisher King Press.

Winborn, M. (2011). Deep Blues: Human Soundscapes for the Archetypal Journey. Fisher King Press.

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 177 - Splitting: Understanding What Divides Us Aug 19, 2021

We seem hard-wired to split the world into polarities: right/wrong, either/or, victory/defeat, Democrat/Republican. Infants and toddlers have not yet achieved the developmental capacity for complexity; they are believed to split their feelings toward caretakers into “good” and “bad,” depending on whether their needs are being met in the moment.

Although it distorts reality, splitting reduces anxiety by locating the problem “out there,” allowing us to reject what we find aversive and affirm our own virtue, self-worth, and blamelessness. The capacity for ambivalence—the ability to hold opposite feelings—requires more differentiated cognitive skills and emotional range. Can we bear anxiety in the face of what seems intolerable without retreating to the fortress of one-sided (usually righteous) certainty? Doing so can increase capacity for objectivity, self-reflection, and ability to bridge the split.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I was in a room full of people, not sure where or with who, but I suppose they were all friends of mine. I was walking past the couches of people, and I stumbled upon this table. Underneath the table was a head of a person who looked a lot like Sigmund Freud. I approached the sort of “floating head” and said, “you look a lot like Sigmund Freud.” He was smiling at me greatly, and he said, “that’s because I am.” Then his head disappeared like a ghost disappearing into a wall. I jumped back, gasped, and looked around the room to see if anyone saw what I just witnessed. No one had, they all were busy talking, and so I just stared at the spot where his head was trying to make sense of what I saw.”

REFERENCES:

Kaplan and Sadock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry Eleventh Edition by Benjamin J. Sadock https://www.amazon.com/dp/1609139712/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_FXHRS2XVKGW5Q17ZR2K7

Love, Guilt and Reparation. By Melanie Klein https://www.amazon.com/dp/074323765X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_ZK5F7D7B07XRKH5XJBJ4

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 176 - The Wounded Healer Aug 12, 2021

There are three major models of healing: medical, shamanic, and psychoanalytic. In the first, the doctor does it to you; in the second, the intermediary does it for you; and in the third, Jung’s dialectical process, we work together to discover “the curative powers in the patient’s own nature.” Just as every wounded patient has inner health, every healer has an inner wound. If consciously known and borne, the analyst’s wound serves the healing process.

In Greek myth, Chiron symbolizes the wounded healer, a term Jung originated. A wise and noble centaur, Chiron suffered a painful, incurable wound—and inspired many a Greek hero to reach full potential. Psychotherapy and psychoanalysis attract wounded healers. A recent survey shows that 82% of applied psychology graduate students and faculty in the U.S. and Canada experience mental health conditions. We must be willing, like Chiron, to embrace the darkness of our painful places if we hope to help others embrace theirs.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I had just moved into a house with new roommates. One of the roommates was an African American social media personality, and the other roommate was a Latinx man. As a white woman with a privileged background, I felt like an intruder, but was excited to be living with them. In the first week, I get back to the house, and no one is home. In one of the shared spaces, the ‘social media personality roommate has left out materials for one of her projects where she has two mason jars that have been fermenting and infusing for weeks. Both jars are filled with a clear liquid, where the top half of the liquid is red, and the bottom half is blue. One jar is labeled “separated,” and the other doesn’t have a label. Since I’ve seen her video about this on social media, I know that if the labeled jar is shaken, the colors will stay separated, and with the unlabeled jar, they will mix into a purple. Without thinking, impulsively, I grab the unlabeled mason jar and tip it over, watching the colors bleed into each other. I give it a shake, and it turns into a gorgeous, bright, light, almost neon purple. Immediately I realize what I’ve done and that I can’t separate the colors again. I’ve destroyed my new roommate’s weeks of patient work. I feel horrible. I pray for it to reset, but I know it’s too late. I’m in a fancy German University library with my boyfriend. I’m a mess, confessing what I had done. I need to tell my roommate that I am sorry and that I promise I will never touch her work again, but I don’t actually know her real name or phone number. My boyfriend and I are scouring all sources to find a way to contact her: emails, texts, social media, but she uses multiple monikers, and we can’t figure out her real name. I’m sobbing and self-conscious of making noise in the uptight library. My boyfriend tries to lighten the mood and loudly says, “If I’m ever going to have kids, I’m going to do it when I’m 27, not when I’m 34” as a type of joke, which causes a stir in the quiet library and generates some laughter. I’m embarrassed and feel helpless. I know what I want to say to her to apologize, but I am missing key information to be able to contact her.”

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 175 - Tarot, Divination & the Symbolic Life Aug 05, 2021

Guest T. Susan Chang is a writer, podcaster, and teacher of tarot, the most commonly recognized modern form of divination. The archetypal symbols in the tarot’s 78 card deck offer gateways to meaning and mystery. Jung says symbols act as transformers—life energy is converted from a lower to higher form by the amplification that consciousness provides. Tarot divination is intended to break from the mundane and court the numinous. It asks that we set logic aside, surrender doubt, and step unafraid into the space between realms. As with dreams, whatever arises will tell us something we don’t know and can use. Jung said that the “redeeming symbol is a highway, a way upon which life can move forward without torment and compulsion.” By opening ourselves to the inexplicable, we set forth on that highway with the intent of discovering our unique pattern for personhood and purpose in the world.

A Two-Card Tarot Reading

This week, in lieu of a dream interpretation, Susie agreed to do a two-card Tarot draw for all of us. The question we chose was dealing with uncertainty. The cards, visible on camera, were spread out face down, and she gently moved them around, picked up a few, and selected two. Turning them over revealed the Queen and Page of Wands, two court cards. As the Queen of Wands has an outgoing nature, she creates networks. This card indicated that we can seek support from others in a time of uncertainty. The youthful Page of Wands, at whom the Queen seemed to be gazing, has a quality of innocence and optimism as he looks outward. Altogether this draw indicates that we can choose our attitude toward uncertainty. The Queen of Wands suggests the possibility of connection with others, and the Page conveys a spirit of adventure.

References

www.tsusanchang.com

Podcast: Fortune’s Wheelhouse

Books:

https://www.amazon.com/Tarot-Correspondences-Ancient-Secrets-Everyday/dp/0738755125/

https://www.amazon.com/36-Secrets-Decanic-Journey-through/dp/1716325099/

Tarot Deciphered

https://www.amazon.com/Tarot-Deciphered-Decoding-Esoteric-Symbolism/dp/0738764477/

https://www.amazon.com/Divination-Synchronicity-Psychology-Meaningful-Studies/dp/0919123023/

Episode 174 - Time & Truth About Its Use Jul 29, 2021

Guest Oliver Burkeman states in his new book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, that “outrageous brevity is life’s defining problem.” At age 80, you’ll have had a paltry 4,000 weeks. Such brevity is breathtaking, so we create defenses against the reality of finitude. We distract ourselves with the belief that fulfillment lies in the future, that plans and goals prove purpose, and that we can achieve almost any number of things by being more efficient/motivated/healthy—or just overall exceptional. Paradoxically, embracing life’s limitations can open us to what Jung called “a new attitude”—an inner pivot from the daily grind to seeing and seizing life’s possibilities. Time is not our adversary, the present is not hostage to the future, and we can choose to be alive while we’re alive.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“Had a dream about a close friend. She had committed a murder, and there was a police detective asking her questions. She had some sort of tracker device that she was holding in her hand most of the dream. She lied to the detective and said she only had it because of her work, and she hadn’t even turned it on yet. The policeman wanted to check her tracker to confirm she wasn’t at the scene of murder. She kept making up excuses as to why she couldn’t give it to him. She kept coming and going in her car from this house that we were in sometimes with the policeman; other times it was just busy with different unknown people. My friend was terrified and turned to me for help. At one point, she was wailing and pleading with me to help her, saying, “please don’t let them take me away.” I was holding her and comforting her and saying I wouldn’t let them do that.”

REFERENCES:

www.oliverburkeman.com

Burkeman, Oliver. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. https://www.oliverburkeman.com/books

Burkeman, Oliver. The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking

Burkeman, Oliver. Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 173 - The Cosmic Meaning of Consciousness Jul 22, 2021

In Answer to Job, Jung states, “Whoever knows God has an effect on him.” If, as Jung claims, individual human consciousness affects God, what we are matters monumentally. When we serve our neuroses, the gulf between ego and Self widens. Pursuing individuation not only sets our personality in right order, it permits our personal experiences to enrich the collective unconscious – who we are is added to God. When Jung visited the Navajo, they told him they helped the sun, their father, cross the sky each day, a spiritual observance that sustained the world. Jung said, “I had envied the fullness of meaning in that belief and had been looking about without hope for a myth of our own. Now I knew what it was, and knew even more: that man is indispensable for the completion of creation, that in fact, he himself is the second creator of the world….” Human consciousness weaves meaning into the dance of life. Our psyches companion God crossing the sky each day and so participate in creation. As we confront the mystery of our lives and uncover the unique meaning unfolding in us – we become conscious co-creators.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZED:

“I stand up from the couch and move toward the hallway. Three older women have entered the house. They look to be in their 50s or 60s, with long, draping clothes. They look like ordinary women and do not appear threatening, but I immediately feel menacing energy. I ask them who they are and what they are doing in the house. The women brush off my questions and mock me for my concern, suggesting that I am frightening the little boy. They have pushed past the hallway and are now in the kitchen. Their forcefulness tells me that they are here with ill intent, and I fear that they are here to rob the family. I grab the little boy and take him upstairs to hide him in his room while I deal with the old women, but when I am closing the boy’s bedroom door to go back downstairs, the women are already on the second floor of the house, entering all the rooms, opening drawers and cabinets, and taking things. They seem to be everywhere, and yet their movements are not chaotic but very controlled and methodical in a way that is unsettling to me. They seem particularly intent on taking books, paper files, and personal documents. I begin to think about what the family might have that the women want, what value is here that I had not known about. I remember or realize that the father is a famous novelist, and I wonder if maybe the women are trying to steal his work. I try to stop them, but they won’t listen to me, and I wonder how I am going to explain this to the family later. After following them around for a bit, I take the boy back downstairs. I decide to call 9-1-1 and leave the house until help arrives. I am barefoot and carrying the boy on my hip as I walk away from the house. While I wait for the 9-1-1 responder to answer, I realize that I do not know the house’s address. The dream ends before I find out whether help arrives.”

REFERENCES:

King, Warrior, Magician, Lover. Robert Moore

Memories, Dreams, Reflections. CG Jung

Answer to Job, CG Jung

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 172 - Archetypes Jul 15, 2021

Although the concept of archetypes has philosophical ancestors, Jung’s theory was developed over time and rested on a foundation that was scientific and empirical. Research and experiment enabled Jung to establish the autonomous activity of the unconscious.

He was then able to posit archetypes as a predisposition to form representations of universal human experiences and mythological motifs, such as marriage, the hero’s journey, and death/rebirth. For Jung, archetypes are innate psychic organs that “have a positive, favourable (sic), bright side that points upwards [and] one that points downwards…” Archetypes manifest spontaneously. In the collective, they are the driving force behind mass movements; in individuals, archetypes manifest most frequently as dream images that feel numinous and ‘other.’ Jung says, “The impact of an archetype, whether it takes the form of immediate experience or is expressed through the spoken word stirs us because it summons up a voice that is stronger than our own.” The power of an archetype can either possess us or inspire us.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“Early morning dream, just before waking, and eerily similar but not the same as one I had several years ago about being shot in the heart and stomach area and killed by a stranger. This time, I was at home in my home office and heard someone entering through my back door. I may have wondered if it was my boyfriend, but he does not live with me, and I wasn’t expecting anyone. I went into the hallway to see who it was, and a man I’ve never seen before walked in. He had the energy of an intruder, and I felt scared. He looked right at me. His hair was white; his clothing was gray, his skin nearly colorless or ashen. His eyes and face were emotionless, without expression. He was oriented above me in my dream as if suddenly I had shrunk to the height of a small child looking up at him. I either asked or was about to ask who he was and what he was doing here. Without changing his blank expression, he pulled out a handgun and shot me, point-blank, in the stomach. This time, I woke up from the dream before I felt the bullet. The feeling was adrenaline-filled, fearful, angry, surprised, and confused. I had/have no idea who this man is or was, or what he represents.”

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 171 - Paying Attention: What Are You Spending It On? Jul 08, 2021

We plainly pay attention, using the finite currency of time and energy issued in the 24-hour increments that add up to a life - well spent? We have choices and constraints about how we allocate our attention, and today’s world competes fiercely for it in unprecedented ways. No wonder, for power is the ability to command or hijack attention, even if it warps reality with untruths.

Jung particularly valued the attentional dimension of “dreaming, or fantasy-thinking” experienced in reverie, dreams, and creativity. And like mothers, lovers, and psychotherapists, we can give others the unconditional attention that brings soul into being. All we have to do is practice paying attention to what we pay attention to.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“A large lesbian woman, Sally, has four adopted boys. Their home is the top floor of a brick industrial building (like a power station) in the shape of a square, with a quad in the middle. They are visited by Kirsty and Phil (hosts of British TV shows about property/home improvement), and the first room they visit floods with seawater as the tide rises and falls, leaving tide marks on the furniture. One of the boys (aged 9) insists that the room is not fit for purpose and tugs on the sleeves of the adults, but Sally says it is OK. The other boy runs around like he has ADHD. As they move around the building, Kirsty and Phil discover all kinds of problems. There is an industrial kitchen covered in grease and grime. The roof leaks and the home isn’t warm or protected. In the one habitable room, two boys (one black, one white) are stored in a Walls ice cream freezer. Kirsty and Phil worry that the freezer is on, but they touch it and think it is off. The boys both have their eyes open. Kirsty and Phil realize that their cheerful, anything-is-possible attitude won’t work this time. They don’t sugarcoat things for Sally, telling her that the building is condemned and they need to move. They suggest that she sell at a loss. Sally nearly argues with them: she is angry and feels betrayed, but then she comes ‘round. Sally is a life skills coach, and Kirsty and Phil ask her for a session, which she says she will provide for free, but they want to pay her in full. This will allow Sally to recoup her losses and find another property. The 9-year-old anxious boy should have been listened to.”

REFERENCES:

Marzel, Charlie, “I Talked to the Cassandra of the Internet Age.” The New York Times, 4 February 2021 by Charlie Warzel. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/opinion/michael-goldhaber-internet.html

The Social Dilemma. A docudrama filmed by Jeff Orlowski in 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Dilemma

Ian McGilchrist. The Master and His Emissary. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0300245920/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_1W6M13WYQRW5X006XFHW

Daniel A. Hughes, Jonathan Baylin, and Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. Brain-Based Parenting. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393707288/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_SG8Q283NW3NSTAV3BQBP

John Gottman. The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553447718/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_8XM6QBQMXNJ8M7K8X9GR

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your Own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 170 - Letting Go: When Is It Time? Jul 01, 2021

In the first half of life, we strive to develop ego strength and achieve our dreams. To want, will, and work is worthwhile and adaptive--until a life dream, relationship, or identity fades or fails. Should we hang in and hang on - or let go? When does perseverance become pointless, or hope turn rancid in refusal to accept disappointment, defeat, or depression?

In letting go, we relinquish our hard-won, heroic “I” and yield to an encounter with the unconscious. Jung says that although “I was afraid of losing command of myself…I let myself drop.” He came to realize that “This identity and my heroic idealism had to be abandoned, for there are higher things than the ego’s will, and to these one must bow.” Jung discovered, as may we, that in letting go something greater can meet and sustain us.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I’m in a dining room. It’s in an older house with rooms like boxes for different purposes. There is the requisite brown wood dining room table. I’m not sure I should be in there. It feels old and used, and the air feels stale. I look up at there is a plain dark four-blade fan. It’s motionless. But I’m awe-struck by the ancient golden raven perched on the fan blade closest to me. I immediately knew it was the ancient raven. It was looking at me. It was large and had multiple layers of ancient golden feathers. Some big. Some small. Its many golden feathered tail hung down from the fan like a peacock. We just stared at each other. I knew deep inside this ancient raven was connected to me.”

REFERENCES

C.G. Jung. Memories, Dreams, Reflections

Randolphe M. Nesse, M.D. Good Reasons for Bad Feelings

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 169 - Threshold: Moving Between the Realms Jun 24, 2021

In medieval times, the threshold was a plank that kept barnyard “threshings” outside the house. In the sciences a threshold is the limit of magnitude or intensity that must be exceeded for a definitive change to occur. In human development life stage thresholds are marked and recognized through ritual. In psychoanalytic work the symbol is the threshold—a visible but not literal representation that calls consciousness to apprehend a larger, unseen reality.

Science fiction, mythology’s modern descendant, has richly storied this process as transition into a new world. The ambiguity and disorientation of this liminal situation requires the sacrifice of old attitudes and willingness to surrender to a new reality—a space of potential enlightenment. The ultimate goal is to recross the threshold and bring the symbolic experience home to consciousness.

Here's the dream we analyze:

“It is late at night and I find myself lying in a dark alleyway at the foot of a tall building. It seems I have just got married as I am dressed as a bride, in a bejeweled white dress. A fat woman with a very round face is looking over me with mean eyes. She is pulling my bridal jewelry off me, one by one. She tears my earrings away making my ears bleed, then the big nose pin, then my neck piece and so on. The woman looks into my eyes and says that my husband is dead. As she’s tearing the jewelry off of me, my bridal dress begins to wear out. I am unable to stop her. Suddenly, I find myself in the entrance hallway of what seems like a palatial old house. It is dimly lit. I am feeling drained. My bridal dress is all rags now, I can’t feel my feet. I look down and notice that both my feet are missing, it seems that they have been wrenched off of my legs. I am floating. I can sense that I’m in a watery world. My breath is draining out through my legs. I manage to float to the edge of the grand staircase and hold onto the post at the bottom. I look up and try to call out to my sister, who I know is sleeping upstairs. My voice is stuck. I am dying.”

REFERENCES:

Arnold van Gennep. Rites of Passage. https://www.amazon.com/dp/022662949X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_10TZ7PBV2KD9PBZ14DVJ

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

The Unspoken Wounding of Men Jun 17, 2021

Jung’s earliest dream, at age three or four, preoccupied him all his life, “in an underground chamber, a giant phallus stood erect on a golden throne.” Majestic and luminous, it struck him with terror that intensified as his mother’s voice cried out in warning. Phallos, the central archetype of a man's psyche, was once worshipped as sacred. Its urgent, dynamic, and fertilizing power was split off with the rise of ascetic monotheism and banished to the unconscious. Misplaced and maligned, it surfaces as resentful passivity, fear of passion, confusion of values, and reluctance to take action. Phallos is neither reducible to physicality nor synonymous with the patriarchal structures that have alienated men from their vulnerabilities and locked entire cultures into rigid hierarchies. When properly understood, Phallos can revitalize a man’s spirit and set him in vigorous relationship to himself and others. When wounded, it palls his potential.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I’m in a taxi, on my way to an old friend’s wedding on the high street where I live. I had on a great suit which everybody loved, but I had forgotten my tie. I realized I didn’t have time to go back home, so I went into the back room of a thrift shop which only had a selection of boring ties. As I came out, the shop was filling up with wedding guests. Then I found myself in a different, very gloomy, very cluttered thrift shop with no windows or seemingly a door. In it was a blonde woman, who I asked about ties. She pointed to a corner, and I found a couple more boring ties. I picked them up and laid them on a circular, cluttered table to get a better look in the gloom. I then realized on the table was a larger pile of ties, and to my astonishment, they were ones I had once owned but must have given away to the shop years earlier, still lying there. I told the woman, but she just shrugged. I went through them and found my favorite, which was a dark background with white circles on it. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do.”

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

REFERENCES:

Iron John: A Book about Men by Robert Bly.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0306824264/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_H4265W9BKGA44JC3WJMW

Under Saturn’s Shadow: The Wounding and Healing of Men by James Hollis.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Y2U9ARS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MX6Z6GB2933NNM78FM47

Phallos by Eugene Monick.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0919123260/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_Z2J86A205EYN5EK4T7FR

Episode 167 - Extroversion Jun 10, 2021

Although Jung’s theory of typology is the foundation of various personality assessments, it is important to appreciate its profundity as Jung’s theory of consciousness. The four functions of consciousness - sensation, intuition, thinking, and feeling--are governed by two attitudes, extraversion, and introversion. Jung defines extraversion as “an attitude type characterized by concentration of interest on the external object.”

Since the movement of psychic energy is outward, extroverts find gratification in social and collegial interactions. Extraverts, therefore, need to distinguish individual goals from relational expectations and cultural norms lest they sacrifice inner reality to outer influences. A vital sense of life direction and the unconstrained pursuit of goals requires differentiating outer from inner and is central to Jungian theory. Knowledge of one’s typology can enlist consciousness in psyche’s quest for balance and wholeness.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am perhaps 4 or 5 months pregnant, and I am at my grandad’s house. I am miscarrying. There is blood and tissue everywhere, and I can feel it happening very viscerally. My grandad and a woman I don’t know are helping to clean it up. There is going to be a party, and I don’t want anyone to know what has happened. Family has arrived now, and I am distracted and worried about people finding out. My grandad can see this and says to me, “why don’t you go up to my room?” This is so I can hide the bucket full of blood. When I get upstairs, the bucket is almost completely clean, just some remnants, but anyone finding it wouldn’t know what had happened. Suddenly my aunt enters the room, and I kick the bucket under the bed to hide it. She talks to me urgently and intensely, I’m not sure what about, but I am distracted. Later, a miscarriage happens again, but even more intensely. This time I see a noticeable baby, small, long, pale blueish. I think I should call the hospital, but I don’t want to. I worry that it might be a medical emergency, but I am still resistant.”

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 166 - The Power of NO Jun 03, 2021

Toddlers have ready access to no as they discover the power of me—the start of a lifelong process of differentiating self from all that is other. When are personal needs, desires, and selfhood the priority? When does caring about others, the need to belong, and toeing the line take precedence?

Fear of social rejection, workplace retaliation, or family conflict can erode our healthy no, leading to resentment, an uncertain sense of self, and inability to answer the call to life. We also need to be able to say no to our own bad habits, rigidities, and avoidance of challenges. No is robust, and can open space for self-determination and authenticity. When we find our no we also discover that yes has been waiting for us, and it is alive and inviting.

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I am enrolled in a graduate program in a beautiful tropical tourist destination. The first part of the dream I remember is getting the syllabus on the first day of one of my classes. The professor is male, in his 30s, slender and unassuming. The class is relatively small (8-12) and comprised of people the same age or slightly younger than myself. I don't read the syllabus. On another day of class, we are given a break, and I take the chance to go on a walk through a beautiful nature area. I meet with my wife and son who are staying with me in this idyllic, vacation-like locale. We spot a cafe that I have memory of trying to eat at before, but they were closed. This time they are open, and I estimate I have time to get a quick bite before class resumes. We do, and after a pleasant but short meal, I leave them and return to class. I check the time and see that I have actually missed almost twenty minutes (I think the time was 7:17). I slide back into the classroom, and the class is watching videos that they apparently made in the time I was gone - a group project that seems like it was fun and interesting to put together. After class, I go to the professor's office to apologize. He avoids eye contact and is rather dismissive of my apology, calling me out for having not read the syllabus. Our discussion continues, but now we are in a popular outdoor spot--a dock by the water along a path surrounded by tropical vegetation. The sun is setting in front of us. Another professor (or school administrator) of mine is also there, a woman also in her 30s. Apparently, I also missed another school activity for a personal reason, and she is attacking my character somewhat aggressively--a contrast to the despondency of the male professor. She is there with two of her friends, like they are going out for the night; in contrast the man is alone. Neither is acting in a professional manner. The woman calls me a liar. I am defending (though still apologetically) my inclination to give time to my family, and my wife appears and tells me to ignore the criticisms. At about the same time, the eyes of both of the school figures begin to change: the woman's turn into black and white pixilated emoji eyes; the man (who has been sitting to my left with his legs dangling off the dock this whole time) makes direct eye contact with me for the first time. His mood has changed with this direct more aggressive look, and he no longer has glasses, but his eyes are large, perfectly round, and subtly glowing purplish-orange (it makes me think of an alien). The woman begins to leave with her friends, and I wake up."

Episode 165 - Risk & Reality: When Fear Traps Us May 27, 2021

We can’t help knowing that something bad could happen if we do X…or Y…or maybe Z. Like Odysseus steering his ship between sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis, we must navigate between risk avoidance and recklessness. One keeps us out of life; the other jeopardizes wellbeing. In pre-modern times life in the external world was fraught with danger and risk; in the modern world, the consequences of risk are more often internal.

Possible disappointment, shame or failure may feel intolerable, but not constitute actual disaster. Assessing risk requires willingness to engage inner conflict--and discern, then answer, the call to enlarged life. When Odysseus’ ship later sank, he clung to the roots of a fig tree. He, and we, have access to psychic roots that can support us. And the day came when the risk to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. Anais Nin

Here's the dream we analyze:

"In the countryside I find a baby crawling on the side of a road with some cars driving by. I saw the mother earlier and I judge her for being so irresponsible. It enrages me but I fear expressing my rage. I do not want to provoke drama from her. I pick up the baby and bring it to where she stays with her family in a holiday home. The family doesn't take her so seriously, but when I place the baby with them they are not even surprised or shocked about that. She seems unimpressed as well. I still worry for drama coming from them but it doesn't seem to come. The baby appears unbothered, too."

Episode 164 - Assessing Your Values: Meaning & Motivation May 20, 2021

There is value in examining your values, the powerful emotional and cognitive attitudes that underlie large and small life choices. Although values are initially acquired through family and institutions, an essential task of adulthood is consciously embracing traditional or individual values.

Values are the wellspring of libido: they motivate action toward goals. Unless preferred values are in alignment with the underlying flow of energy, unconscious agendas may prevail. Our actions reveal our values, and dreams depict conflicts between conscious and unconsciously held values. The work of Shalom Schwartz, available in an online values assessment (see below), can help identify core values. When values are authentically aligned with goals, they allow libido to flow naturally toward action, and we feel at home with ourselves and right with the world.

Here’s the Dream We Analyze:

“I am on my school oval, playing volleyball with my peers, though I am not a teenager anymore. I’m not very good at playing; I often miss the ball because the sun is in my eyes, or I unknowingly break a rule. Each time I fail, I expect everyone to criticize me (like they would have in the real world), but instead, they are quite friendly and understanding. Eventually, I get the hang of it and have fun. Suddenly I notice a huge cherry blossom tree that’s caught fire just behind the volleyball court. Despite the bark turning black like charcoal, the flowers remain vivid and beautiful and untarnished. I am struck with this beautiful sight against the cloudy white sky, and I reach for my phone to take a photo, but I cannot find it, so I simply sit and watch it with awe.”

REFERENCES:

Values assessment based on the work of Shalom Schwartz: www.discoveryourvalues.com.

Schwartz, S.H. An Overview of the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1)1. https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1116

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 163 - INTROVERSION May 13, 2021

The terms introversion and extraversion, now cultural staples, originated with Jung and describe the overall direction of life energy. The widely used Myers-Briggs Typology Indicator (MBTI), now available online, is drawn directly from Jung’s theory of personality types. Although extraverts direct their energy outward, introverts direct their energy inward. External-world relationships and events tend to pale in comparison to ideas, internal images and reflective processes.

The German poet Rainer Maria Rilke expressed this idea pithily: “I am in love with you and it’s none of your business.” Introverts are not shy, reclusive, fearful, detached or avoidant—they simply find their inner world enlivening. Introversion places a high value on receptivity, quietude in a busy world, and relationship with oneself. Jung, himself an introvert, valued the ability to claim inner life, freedom and independence.

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I'm in the central square of my native city with my grandmother and my cousin (he and I are in our teenage years). We hear a deep rumbling as though a huge mass of water is approaching. We look around trying to figure out which way it is coming from. I see a gigantic wave crashing over the clock tower which looks more ancient than the one in my real city. The three of us stand facing the wave. My grandmother grabs both of our hands and says, "We hardly have a chance." I think that it might be the end but still hope to survive. The wave hits us (I often dream of huge waves but never been hit by one before). I'm holding my breath under water. It is dark. Then the water subsides. Now it's completely gone. People walk around as though nothing much happened. I meet a couple of my classmates who are not at all surprised that they survived."

References:

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. Susan Cain. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307352153/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_Q0RT7W8KQSFTGYZYG0GF

Episode 162 - Tending the Ego-Self Axis: Reconnecting with Source May 06, 2021

Erich Neumann publicly proposed the concept of the ego-Self (or Self-ego) axis and began to sketch its implications in his 1952 Eranos lecture, "The Psyche and the Transformation of the Reality Planes. Edward Edinger popularized the concept writing, "It portrays the developmental relationship between the ego and the Self, Jung’s term for “the totality of the conscious and unconscious psyche [that] transcends our visions…”

As infants, we embody an original wholeness, or Self-hood, out of which ego (a sense of “I”) gradually emerges. The connection to the Self may be damaged if the ego believes itself the sole source of identity and life or if the ego has been depleted through trauma. In either case, reconnection to the Self is essential to life vitality. A living relationship with the Self can be sought through work with the unconscious: we can attend to our dreams, develop self-reflective capacity, and learn to see meaning and magic in everyday occurrences.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I was taking part in a marathon. At first, I was doubtful I could complete the race. As I started running, I realized I was not losing my energy too quickly, and my hope I would reach the destination was growing within me. Toward the end of the race, I still had plenty of energy, so I decided to accelerate a bit, even though I could see so many people were ahead of me, and I, therefore, had no chance of winning. As I reached the end, I checked the results and noticed I was around the 14th person to arrive. I was, however, the first among female participants. I was very excited and wanted my partner to see the results. Then I somehow started running back along the same route, still full of energy. While I was running back, someone was announcing the prizes, and I knew I would be offered a pram and could choose out of three types. One of the prams offered as a prize was a “German” pram that had a seat for the baby that could be turned around so that the baby is either looking forward or looking back at the parent who is pushing.”

REFERENCES:

Linda Leonard. On the Way to the Wedding.

https://bookshop.org/books/on-the-way-to-the-wedding-transforming-the-love-relationship/9781570627118

Edward Edinger. Ego and Archetype.

https://bookshop.org/books/ego-and-archetype/9780877735762

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 161 - When Words Lose Their Meaning Apr 29, 2021

In 1543, Andreas Vesalius dissected a corpse, thereby inaugurating a scientific attitude toward the human body. This new attitude taught us to stand aside from our identification and connection with the body and see it as a lifeless subject of inquiry. Such an approach brought obvious vital advances in science and medicine, but it also came at a cost. In the 20th century, philosophers such as Foucault and Derrida did for language what Vesalius had done for the human body. Their careful dissection of language laid bare formerly hidden assumptions and revealed the ways that language shapes our thinking.

We are joined on the podcast by Dr. Bret Alderman, author of Symptom, Symbol, and the Other of Language: A Jungian Interpretation of the Linguistic Turn. We discuss alienation and dissociation that results from the Promethean project to deconstruct language and its meaning.

Foucault, Derrida, and the other postmodernists contributed valuable insights to our understanding of the role of language in determining our assumptions. Still, their desire to sever the meaning of words from those things that words represent is symptomatic of a profound dissociation from our embodied, instinctual selves. Jung was aware of the perils inherent in such a project. "This rupture of the link with the unconscious and our submission to the tyranny of words has one great disadvantage: the conscious mind becomes more and more the victim of its discriminating activity, the picture of the world gets broken down into countless particulars, and the original feelings of unity, which we integrally connected with the unity of the unconscious psyche, is lost. This feeling of unity, in the form of correspondence theory and the sympathy of all things, dominated philosophy until well into the seventeenth century."

The ideas of the postmodernists have permeated culture in ways that are not always obvious. Current movements to redefine certain phenomena as social constructs are evidence of the inroads these philosophies have made. Though there are benefits to looking at this world this way, these ideas may also be giving rise to a "rootless consciousness."

Here's the dream we analyze:

"There are tarantulas stuck on my skin the way ticks would be. They are big and hairy. Strangely the tarantulas are hidden in small boxes, which hang on my body. So their legs are digging into my skin, but I can't see them unless I remove the boxes. My mother is helping me to remove the spiders, but they keep coming back. They don't crawl upon me but rather seem to be born from my skin. All of a sudden, my mother is gone, and I'm alone with some spiders still hanging on me. I can't remove them myself because I'm too scared to touch them. I am terrified and helpless."

REFERENCES:

Dr. Bret Alderman. Symptom, Symbol, and the Other of Language: A Jungian Interpretation of the Linguistic Turn. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0815359136/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_9HK34JAF7WEVYR1JQS5V

Cave of Forgotten Dreams. (Movie). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWbqBNKZ-aU

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

You can contact Dr. Bret Alderman at https://www.aldermancoaching.com/

Episode 160 - The Dark Side of Mothering Apr 22, 2021

Our colleague Puddi Kullberg, author of The Bad Mother, joins us to acknowledge motherhood’s shadow. A link to her paper is below. Our culture idealizes motherhood, but mothers everywhere have experienced themselves as bad in varying ways and to various degrees.

Jung suggests that even truly harmful mothers can expiate their actions by becoming conscious of what they have done. If we can face even grievous mistakes, we can deepen into our ordinary, sometimes dark humanity. Confrontation with our negative mothering leads to experiencing emotions that were previously unrecognized or denied. We can mitigate isolation by getting help. We can be known, our experience is understandable, and we can choose the life that lies before us now. We may also discover new capacity for compassion and presence—and moments of genuine joy.

Here's the dream we analyze:

“I climb a gigantic rock. In the carrier on my belly, I carry my son. I am trying to reach the tree that stands solely on top of the rock, which feels like the ceiling of the world. The tree is bigger than any tree I have ever seen. It is, in fact, so big I feel it to be the world tree. I am desperate to reach it, for I feel I need to be there; it is essential. The tree is wildly moving its gigantic trunk from left to right all around its circumference. There is no wind, so I feel it must be moving from itself. Its crown is damaged by what seems to have been lightning. It feels overwhelming how big the tree is. I know that I have to reach the base of the tree when it is moving its trunk into the other direction. Although there is a risk of its branches hitting me and my baby, I know there is a certain time span for me to quickly reach its base before the trunk will change direction again. Suddenly there is a figure that attacks me as I climb upwards. He hits and tries to throw me off the mountain. It feels like he is from space, for he has a strange appearance, metallic-like. I know I will have to fight him; it is too important to reach the tree. I feel a sense of overcoming this figure, but there is no real image of that. I am very aware of my baby on my belly during the fight.”

REFERENCES

Lisa Marchiano. Motherhood: Facing & Finding Yourself https://www.amazon.com/dp/1683646665/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_14TP3MBSAKD72A2JSV36

Puddi Kullberg. The Bad Mother: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00332925.2019.1564512

Daniela Sieff. The Death Mother as Nature’s Shadow: Infanticide, Abandonment, and the Collective Unconscious: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00332925.2019.1564513

RESOURCES

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 159 - The Alchemy of Writing Apr 15, 2021

The wellspring of consciousness has long been located in word. Once words were etched on clay or inked on papyrus, a new way of knowing was born. Writing ordered and expanded language, captured ideas, bloomed imagination, and preserved human experience.

Writing is an encounter like no other with oneself and inner others, light and dark. Whether we meet the page in a personal journal or as professional necessity, we discover that ego alone does not do this job. Some days words leap like dolphins; other days find us becalmed on a flat sea. To create through writing is to encounter self and depths, and Lisa shares experiences of writing her forthcoming book, Motherhood: Facing and Finding Yourself. Her words for the creative and challenging process of mothering map a path to soul and greater wholeness.

Dream

I was attending a house party, and I was in the kitchen. I was wearing a skirt and all of a sudden I realized I had pooped without realizing it and the poop was on the floor of the kitchen. It was like a long light beige dinner roll in size and shape, and there were large batteries in the poop. I quickly picked it up, hoping no one saw me and turned to put it in the toilet, but there was someone in the bathroom, so I wrapped the poop in a yellow garbage bag and dropped it in the garbage can.

At some other point in the dream, I had to collect many things I had strewn about in the home because I had to leave to make a train journey. I often have elements of my dream where I'm hustling to get somewhere to be on time for a leaving train or bus, but I can't find my belongings. At another point I was in a van with many people driving along a bumpy dirt road. For the majority of the dream, I was surrounded by people but feeling alone.

References

Lisa Marchiano. https://www.amazon.com/Motherhood-Finding-Yourself-Lisa-Marchiano/dp/1683646665/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Lisa+Marchiano&qid=1617802506&s=books&sr=1-1
Barbara Hannah. Encounters with Soul. https://www.amazon.com/Encounters-Soul-Active-Imagination-Developed/dp/1630513504/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Barbara+Hannah&qid=1617641735&s=books&sr=1-3

Rollo May. The Courage to Create. https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Create-Rollo-Market-Paperback/dp/B011MEFW4Q/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3AJL6UOTYR5O5&dchild=1&keywords=rollo+may+the+courage+to+create&qid=1617641816&sprefix=Rollo+May+The+Courage+to+%2Cstripbooks%2C168&sr=8-2

Episode 158 - The Phoenix: Life’s Transformative Fires Apr 08, 2021

The splendid-feathered phoenix lives for hundreds of years builds its own funeral pyre, sets it on fire, and rises from the ashes after three days. The phoenix represents long life, conscious acquiescence to death, and assured regeneration. The fiery alchemical process of calcinatio leaves behind a white ash equivalent to salt, that which cannot be burned: life, soul, and Eros.

The phoenix is usually depicted ascending in its joyful solar plumage of red, orange, and gold, indicating that when one is purged of instinctual drives, affective intensity, and egotistical desires, fire is experienced as divine illumination. The resurrected phoenix constructs an egg from the ashes of its former self and deposits it on the altar of the sun god—an acknowledgment of the regenerative connection between the ego and the Self.

Here's The Dream We Analyze:

“In this dream, my father, who passed away fifteen years ago, had come back to visit. He seems well but somewhat less warm than he used to be, and not as demonstrative; taller and paler than I remember. We all go to some sort of train station in Amman, which does not actually exist, and hop on a light-rail train suspended high above the city. My father, eldest sister, and brother go ahead of us; and myself, my disabled brother, and his driver are in the compartment behind them. No sooner had the train started to move than I look down and see ancient ruins that apparently were recently excavated. The view is breathtaking; an entire ancient city so well preserved; so beautiful as to rival any ancient ruin on the planet. I notice one or two temples fashioned in the image of gigantic feline heads. I also notice the tasteful lighting that adds a lot to the experience as the evening darkness descends. I wonder how this is here, in the middle of the city, and worry a bit about this lovely ancient ruin being overrun and perhaps damaged by people and tourists. For the moment, there were only one or two people down there that I could see. As I look further I remember that I have been in this place before. We get to our destination and my siblings and father want to go down below and walk. I tell them that I will push my other brother’s wheelchair and take him to the car with the driver.”

References

Edward Edinger. Anatomy of the Psyche: Alchemical Symbolism in Psychotherapy, https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812690095/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_PXR5RHSZDH31GA722MW3

Episode 157 - The Archetype of the Fool Apr 01, 2021

The fool in various guises has appeared since ancient times. The court jester seduces through comedy, song, and story. The dummling son of fairy tales wins the treasure with well-meaning ineptitude. Shakespeare featured fools in many of his plays, the Tarot deck begins (or ends) with the fool, and comedians have built careers on playing the fool. The fool punctures the posturings of others’ personas and egos, bests his “betters,” and transgresses social boundaries and conventional morality. The fool flaunts and taunts us with shadow, making truths about cultural norms and human complexity both pointed and palatable. We might well claim that dreams come from the inner fool, and they can shock an ego made lowly by bawdy images of shadow in bathroom dreams and sexual acts. The fool is the unconscious itself, and we recognize if dimly, his close and paradoxical relationship with the Self, light, and dark.

Here's the dream we analyze:

“I'm not even sure what I was studying. I was wandering around a large parking structure looking for my car and I couldn't find it. I kept using my key to lock it and then listened for the chirp, but it seemed very distant. Then I went into an elevator that seemed to move sideways before it finally started going up. I got out of the elevator and wandered into an empty classroom and sat at a table and wrote in a notebook, but it was just odd musings, like random lines of poetry. A young woman sat next to me. She put her hand on my hand and asked me what I was studying. I told her I did not know. I told her I did not know where my car was or what dorm I lived in. She said she would help me and we started to wander through the structure together. It was like an Escher painting. The woman was flirtatious and I told her she was barking up the wrong tree (I am gay) but she did not seem deterred. We went to the lobby of the building, where there were tables with computers on them and packages in a corner. There were several packages for me, wrapped Christmas gifts from my family from earlier years that I had never picked up. No one seemed to know where my room was, but I went alone back into the structure and continued to wander. Finally, I met two young men who led me to my room. Then I gradually realized I was dreaming and woke up.”

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Bonus Episode - MILKMAID REVELATIONS: JUNG’S EROTIC STAMP COLLECTION Apr 01, 2021

Swiss Jungian scholar Jager Schmallzenburger has recently released news of the discovery of Jung’s erotic stamp collection. Found tucked into the wall behind a bookcase, the box of stamps features uniquely rendered images of milkmaids from countries around the world. The milkmaid, symbolic of the archetypal feminine in the flower of fulsome youth, has long been prominent in the mythopoetic imagination of man. No one had previously realized that Jung, in addition to his many other interests, was also a passionate philatelist, and his dedication to the image of the milkmaid puts a decidedly Jungian stamp on this universal and compelling image. Although Schmallzenburger is currently engrossed in researching the images comprising The Milkmaid Collection, various Jungian journals are vying for publication rights. Interest is high and Schmallzenburger’s findings and photographs are expected by the end of the year.

Here's the dream we analyze:

“I am running down a back ally and see a slightly opened door. I’m running for my life and jump inside bolting the door behind me. Inside it’s the back room of a smokey bar. I try to walk confidently through the room to find the front door. A short, bearded man in a three-piece suit looks intensely at me while he slowly pulls a huge blunt out of his pocket. It’s at least 8 inches long and really thick. He nods and asks if I’d like a hit. I’m tempted but I need to get out the door. He places the blunt on a small low table and takes out a cigar knife, just like my grandfather's, and chops off the tip of the blunt. For some reason, I feel faint. As he clamps the blunt in his teeth, I run out the door. I’m home in the kitchen with my fiancé but now she looks different having gained a huge amount of weight. I sit at the dining table while she slowly peels a banana - strip by strip. It takes forever but I keep staring at it. All pealed now she smiles. I know she’ll make me a banana split. She walks to the counter, winks, and throws it in the blender. I scream and try to turn off the blender but it’s too late. I’m upset and try to leave but long black ropes wrap around my leg and pull me across the kitchen floor. There’s a huge hole in the floor. The strands pull me in. I’ll know I’ll drown so I fight real hard. I wake covered in sweat.”

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 156 - Exile & Alienation Mar 25, 2021

not chosen but is imposed and unwanted: a relational break-up, job lay-off, or deportation. Exile can affect the human spirit so powerfully that the ancient Romans used it as an alternative to execution. Alienation describes an internal state of deadness and despair--an uncanny valley that feels featureless, gray, and unending.

It can manifest as depression, anxiety, addiction, and desperation—which can lead to violence against self or others. A return to feeling heals, movingly rendered in Va, Pensiero in Verdi’s opera Nabucco: the exiled Hebrew slaves sing of their loss, love, and longing for home. Tears transform pain into suffering and restore personal presence in relation to something greater.

Here’s the Dream We Analyze:

“I am in a conservatory. It is night and the conservatory is dimly lit. It is a large room between two castle towers, and the stone walls of the castle can be seen at each end of the conservatory. I feel very comfortable in the room and I even begin to consider how I could move in with my belongings. An old friend from my music college years appears and tells me that the stone walls outside are covered with crystals and diamonds. He also says; "the diamonds are strong enough to cut the scales of a dragon." We then spend some time making incisions in wood with these diamonds, though it feels like a childish exercise. I tell my friend that there is a hidden room in one of the towers and I invite him to follow me to this room. As we walk I mention other rooms (an organ room, a library) and we ascend staircases along the way. The corridors and staircases become more narrow and awkward. I enter the secret room alone; it is empty and very small. I feel extremely uncomfortable, as though there is a strong invisible presence there, and I feel terrified. I leave the room and rejoin my friend; the building is different and we join a crowd of people exiting a theatre. I wake from the dream.”

REFERENCES

James Hillman. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060921013/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_VW9YZNKYGKEFY52D5J41

Edward Edinger. https://www.amazon.com/dp/087773576X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_TRNS2QBQX31DKJ1AS6GV

RESOURCES

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 155 - A Comedian Walks into a Jungian Podcast… Mar 18, 2021

Elliott Morgan, comedian and PhD candidate in depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, joins us to explore humor and psyche. Elliott grew up a fundamentalist Christian in central Florida, and has gone from practicing holy laughter to creating HOLY SH*T, his comedy special on Amazon (also featuring Jung’s debut on the comedic stage).

Elliott’s college major, zoology, prepared him to play Goofy at Disney World and Big Bird on Hollywood Blvd. A recovering Nice Person, Elliott draws on life experiences, relentlessly engages shadow, and uses laughter to turn suffering into soul making. Hitting rock bottom led to the choice not to fall back into old patterns but to fall forward; Elliott’s new life features avocado toast and other radical practices. Jung, quoting Schopenhauer, said, “A sense of humor is the only divine quality of man,” and Elliott’s storytelling and self-disclosure define the alchemy of fellowship, insight, and human spirit.

Elliott’s podcasts, The Valleycast and The Fundamentalists, are additional paths to laughter and transcendence (see YouTube.com/ElliottMorgan). Elliott will perform live in Washington State at the Spokane Comedy Club on June 23 and at the Tacoma Comedy Club on June 24.

Dream

I am taking a ballet class in a room in a famous building in NYC. The room is shaped like my old apartment in Brooklyn. The building is by the water and there are windows but no good views. It’s dark, rainy and storming outside. The class becomes full and crowded, too crowded to really dance. I feel content, I feel like I’m home.

The room is dark. I can’t make out anyone’s faces, including my ballet teacher’s face. Soon the rain starts to seep into the room. The floors are getting wet. It seems like the room is caving in and I am scared that the old building is falling over from the rain. I worry that the floors are getting ruined with the rain but my ballet teacher doesn’t seem worried.

We all leave the room. I am worried we are running out of time and the building will collapse. No one else seems scared. There are two exits: the elevator or the stairs. The elevator looks dangerous because the rain is seeping in and the elevator runs on electricity. The stairwell shows that we are on the 43 or 44th floor of the building. The stairs are flooded and look slippery. But I think the stairs are safer than taking the elevator.

References:

Lionel Corbett. The Soul in Anguish: https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Anguish-Psychotherapeutic-Approaches-Suffering/dp/1630512354/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=Lionel+Corbett&qid=1615307691&s=books&sr=1-4

Marie Louise von Franz. The Way of the Dream: https://www.amazon.com/Way-Dream-Conversations-Interpretation-Marie-Louise/dp/1570620369/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3F5CZQDKTYDOQ&dchild=1&keywords=the+way+of+the+dream+von+franz&qid=1615308096&sprefix=The+Way+of+the+Dream%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-1

Edward Edinger. Anatomy of the Psyche. https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Psyche-Alchemical-Symbolism-Psychotherapy/dp/B07NYBGGNT/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=Edward+Edinger&qid=1615307612&sr=8-6

Peter Berger. A Rumor of Angels

Peter Rollins. Divine Magician, Insurrection

Episode 154 - Belonging: The Search for Home Mar 11, 2021

Horses herd, birds flock, whales pod, and people tribe. The need to belong is as intrinsic to human nature as the need for food, touch, clothing and shelter. We belong to families, communities, ideas and ideals, yet must also separate from them in service to our own individuation.

As we grow, we belong to teams and clubs, and find new homes in school and at work. Is the price of belonging rigid conformity and sameness, or is uniqueness valued and difference supported? We later express attitude and attachment to home in the houses we inhabit: photos and mementos honor connections within a framework of personal expression. Jung built Bollingen, the unique home in which he was “in the midst of my true life [and] most deeply myself.” To be at home in the world and belong to ourselves is the mature manifestation of affiliation, differentiation, and creative endeavor.

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I see our home landscape from air some distance away from the home, as though I'm seeing it while hovering/flying in the air - a birds-eye view. I see that the bungalow, that's our home, is in a ruined condition. The building appears deserted, a destroyed habitat in time of apocalypse with its bare skeleton remaining - the base and some misshapen columns, like the one in destroyed cities of war-torn Syria, except there are no large number of buildings in the vicinity. It's the only building in the area. During one time that I dreamt this recurring dream, I saw my paternal grandfather walking around the building and when I approached him, he kind of said with his body language, "What do you want? I got nothing!" and the dream ended. His hands were out in front at hip height as if showing he had nothing."

References:

John Hill. https://www.amazon.com/Home-World-Symmetries-Analytical-Psychology/dp/1935528009/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=John+Hill+and+home&qid=1614705546&s=books&sr=1-1

Episode 153 - Chronic Anger: Trapped in Resentment Mar 04, 2021

Like fire in a wood-burning stove, resentment burns long and hot: bitterness, frustration, and hostility. The fires of resentment are lit when we feel needy and vulnerable and feel wronged and rejected. This old human story is told in the biblical tale of brothers Cain and Abel.

When Cain’s offering is judged inferior, Cain takes it out on Abel. He acts--and acts out—defensively to insulate himself from shame and culpability by killing Abel. Cain’s subsequent mark symbolizes the psychic price of resentment. Creating a new human story means facing, feeling and healing from the fruitless quest for reparation. We must instead accept even awful disappointment and seek new possibility. The story of Cain and Abel is a tale of the archetypal masculine. Healing is likely to lie in discovering one’s tender, embracing feminine soul.

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I'm at an apartment's open house. I know that the place was previously owned by someone considered to be very social and popular. The apartment is right downtown, prime location for shopping and partying. It is also attached to a well-known café/bar. As I'm looking around, I find that the ceilings are very low and I'm hunched over as I move through the rooms and open closets ('cause closet space matters!). I start to have my doubts even though there's a part of me that really wants to live here to be popular too. I sit down with the real estate agent and the café owner. They are playing really loud rock music, the kind of music that just sounds like awful noise to my ears. I mentally retreat from the scene by delving into a book. The café owner looks at me and says that I'm not really a fit for the vibe of the place, which he wants to be the same as before. I agree, although reluctantly."

References:

Ronald Fairbairn:

https://www.amazon.com/Psychoanalytic-Studies-Personality-W-Fairbairn/dp/0415107377/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Ronald+Fairbairn&qid=1614015944&s=books&sr=1-1

Melanie Klein:

https://www.amazon.com/Selected-Melanie-Klein-Juliet-Mitchell/dp/0029214815/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=Melanie+Klein&qid=1614016134&s=books&sr=1-5

John Bowlby:

https://www.amazon.com/Secure-Base-Parent-Child-Attachment-Development/dp/0465075975/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=john+bowlby&qid=1614016385&s=books&sr=1-2

Episode 152 - Navigating Young Adulthood: Risks & Rewards Feb 25, 2021

The twenties are a period of emerging adulthood, a time to engage in the maturational tasks of finding one’s place in the wider world and forming intimate relationships. This stage of life calls for the ego strength necessary to make initial choices about work, intimacy, money, lifestyle and values. The protections and constraints of family, education, and culture are no longer unquestioned.

It is time to engage life on one’s own authority: take appropriate risks, tolerate anxiety, weather disappointments—and reap the rewards of growing self-confidence and life competencies, lest isolation and stasis ensue. Embark bravely and with an open heart; learn to balance aspiration and reality, passion and practicalities. Jung says, “If one lives life then surely something should come from it. You see, life wants to be real; if you love life you want to live really, not as a mere promise hovering above things.”

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I walk into my older brother's bedroom in my childhood home. The room is full of sunlight. I head towards a mirror that is leaning against the window. I pull down my pants to check on a tattoo I recently got on my right thigh (I really did get a tattoo there recently). As I'm pulling my pants down I see another tattoo on my left thigh. It's massive. The tattoo is of a statue of the Virgin Mary. Except where her face should be there is a black square covering her face. I panic and will myself to remove the tattoo with my own mental fortitude. The tattoo began to disappear. Then came back then finally disappeared."

References:

Erik Erikson. https://www.amazon.com/Stages-Psychosocial-DevelopmentAccording-Erik-Erikson/dp/3656837708/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1UWL0KQ10W1W7&dchild=1&keywords=erik+erikson+stages+of+psychosocial+development&qid=1613407553&sprefix=Erik+Erik%2Caps%2C176&sr=8-2

Poem: Desiderata. https://www.fastquicksearch.com/web?q=Desiderata+the+Poem&qo=relatedSearchNarrow&o=1218739&l=dir

Episode 151 - Truth Telling: Revelations & Realities Feb 18, 2021

Subjective truths yield multiple realities—political and religious truths famously differ. Objective truths rely on independent realities—two plus two must ever be four, not five. Jung’s four functions of consciousness help us reconcile inner and outer realities. Sensation causes physiological reactions to untruths in ourselves and in others; our bodies are wired for congruence.

We can also notice and name feelings, beliefs and desires: are we inflamed and defensive, or calm and considered? Our thinking function insists on impartial reason, and intuition lets us know when something is “off.” Conscious functions of sensation, feeling, thinking and intuition allow us to engage all our faculties of knowing. Centered in self, we can regard the decision, person, or situation at hand with internal integrity that is congruent with external reality: truth.

Here's the dream we analyze:

The Strange Visitor: "I was in my house, the one my family and I have lived in for the past 16 years. It’s a small ranch. But in my dream, there was no furniture and all the walls were painted deep, glossy red, almost like blood. But the walls were not in good shape. They were scraped and nicked. On one wall, the drywall was missing completely and the studs were exposed. I was with my two boys, but my wife was not there. Suddenly a man walked in the house who I had never seen before, but somehow I knew exactly who he was. So I asked my two boys (they are teenagers), “Do you know who this is?” They did not know. So I told them, “It’s Mr. Harkness. He used to live here before we did.” (In real life, Mr. Harkness died a few decades ago and we bought the home from his own two sons. When we bought the home, Mr. Harkness’s widow had just died because of a fire in the home; I don’t think she died in it, but in the hospital afterward. Again, I had never met Mr. Harkness and I’ve never thought about him.). He appeared in my dream as an old man with silver frame glasses and a tan Carhartt jacket. For some reason, I asked him, “What was it like to live here in 1955?” (That’s when the home was built). To which he replied in a very ominous tone, “I don’t know, I wasn’t the first one to live here, there was another before me.” I was very surprised and didn’t believe him, because I thought I knew he was the one who built the home. So the four of us began to inspect the home and saw it was in rough shape. But it’s strange, because though it looked rough, it was still very bright and sunny inside and felt hopeful. When we saw the wall with missing drywall and exposed studs, I said right away to my two sons, “Well, boys, let’s go to the hardware store and get some supplies to fix this wall today.” I assumed Mr. Harkness would be impressed with my work ethic and drive to get the house repaired so quickly. But he simply moved slowly to the corner of the home where the broken down wall met another wall, and he leaned over, pointed to the floor, and said, “Do you see that? Plumbing tape. You need to fix that plumbing there first. Son, take your time, it doesn’t need to be fixed today. You don’t want to miss anything important like this.” I breathed a sigh of relief."

References

The Master and His Emissary, by Iain McGilchrist

The Nix, by Nathan Hill

The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt

Episode 150 - Facing Your Feelings: Avoidance or Encounter? Feb 11, 2021

While we welcome “good” feelings, we often try to banish “bad” ones like sadness, fear, vulnerability and shame. We may deny them by trying to “think positive.” We may attribute them to political wrongs or even the barking dog next door. If emotions have nowhere else to go, they become symptoms, complexes, and even physical illnesses. Avoiding negative emotions simply causes them to go underground and express themselves in disguise.

Jung says, “Our emotions happen to us; affect occurs at the point at which our adaptation is weakest and at the same time exposes the reason for its weakness.” So what is calling for encounter instead of avoidance, displacement or somatization? Feelings are information—they do not necessarily mandate action, nor do they originate externally. Notice them, name them--and look to your dreams, for the unconscious compensates nightly for what consciousness avoids. Something may be pursuing you.

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I saw a bride in a white dress sitting behind a small table in a candlelit, cave-like room. Her groom was standing/waiting across the room. It was an arranged marriage but of their own volition. The bride stood up as a signal that the marriage would occur. They looked into each other’s eyes and knew the marriage was right. This part of the dream seemed to be in close-ups of their eyes and lasted what seemed like a couple of minutes. The sense of certainty seemed to have been there, either two weeks before or after the marriage. "

References:

Inside Out (film).

On the Way to the Wedding: Transforming the Love Relationship, by Linda Leonard (Amazon).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1570627118/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_XYZKF14Y5NGZM0VGR9RH

It'ss Not Always About Depression by Hilary Jacobs Hendel

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399588140/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_JX1R3HSRBNV2HXZH8A9P

Resources:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 149 - Self-Loathing: What’s Gnawing on Your Bones? Feb 04, 2021

The judgmental inner voice has volume, speed, pitch and range. It may appear as a perfectionistic critic, demanding taskmaster, or abusive bully. It also seeps in through the collective, with criteria for beauty, status, and wealth that are unrealistic and artificial. At its worst, this punitive, shaming complex incites self-destructive behavior, and has long been imaged by witches, warlocks, ogres and fiends.

Most of us would never treat anyone as badly as we sometimes treat ourselves. This internalized dynamic seesaws between extremes of idealized expectations and punitive backlash that pretends to be ‘for our own good.’ Like Sisyphus, we labor to roll the stone of achievement uphill when what is needed is self-acceptance, compassion, and the courage to confront the negative voice. Authentic encounter creates a vessel for transformation through consciousness. It makes room for choice, freedom—and soulful self-acceptance.

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I found a tiny fish in the sink. It was really beat up but alive, so I got a bowl of water for it and put it there, but it immediately started outgrowing the bowl. I got a bigger bowl but as soon as I put it there, the fish got bigger. I got a tub of water and put it there and it got even bigger. It had stripes and it was looking at me and interacting with me the whole time. This fish seemed to have a soul."

References:

Robert Firestone. Overcoming the Destructive Inner Voice: True Stories of Therapy and Transformation. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071D7ZNLS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_Y1SXYA5KCYZBYZR4Y3EZ

Episode 148 - MYTH AS MEDICINE: An Interview with Kwame Scruggs, PhD Jan 28, 2021

Kwame Scruggs inspires men through mythology, drumming and connection to community and culture. As a young man Kwame discovered his inner fire through African-based initiatory rites. He asked himself “What is it I really want to do? Not what could I do. What did I want to do?”

His passion for myth and drumming led him to graduate studies and creating programs in which story is the catalyst for inspired manhood and realization of potential. Story, fellowship and rhythm create an alchemical mixture that facilitates connection with self and others and the deep archetypal wellsprings of mature masculinity. As one participant exclaimed, “It works—it really works!” Alchemy, Scruggs’ award-winning program for young men, is the backdrop of a documentary film, Finding the Gold Within. On February 6 Kwame Scruggs brings his wisdom to a four-week online program, Men and Mythology (link below).

Here's the dream we analyze

"I am in an enormous, old building with a male friend. We are on a trip in a Middle Eastern, South Asian or North African country, and this building houses a huge market full of people, goods and activity. We, however, are in a big dusty storage/junk room, and there is no one else there. The ceilings are extremely high and light fills the room from windows near the top. The room is a pleasant warm color, and I feel contented. We aren't doing anything in particular and have no agenda. I have no problems, questions or desires. My friend goes into an adjoining room that is also very large and stores old, forgotten stuff, but it's completely dark. I can only make out the body of a dead man on a table and can only see his feet, which have a mummified appearance. My friend approaches the body, which surprises and somewhat alarms me. He reaches out and removes the tag from its toe. He flings it toward me while bent over with laughter. I turn away and the tag lands on the back of my left shoulder. I'm aware that we don't know the cause of death and think there could be smallpox on the tag for all we know. I'm not scared, though, just a bit disgusted and very annoyed."

References:

https://salomeinstitute.com/seminars/men-mythology-kwame-scruggs-february

Michael Meade. Men & the Water of Life (Amazon)

Episode 147 - The Archetype of the Good King Jan 21, 2021

The king is figured prominently in myth, religion, and fairy tale. This compelling archetypal image has roots in our earliest human beginnings, when the king embodied his tribe’s earthly vitality and supra-human connection to spirit. Today, the king symbolizes universal psychic functions; each of us has an internal ruler. Like Solomon, the king presides over standards of ordering and lawgiving that undergird processes of discernment and decision.

As warrior, the king protects and defends the kingdom of selfhood he has built; he has access to aggression and takes responsibility for the consequences of his actions. The masculine principle is also a symbol of the fertilizing presence that creates new psychic life and fuels libido for growth. And the king has the power to confer blessings. Like King Arthur, he provides all aspects of internal life with a seat at the round table of consciousness—and wholeness.

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I'm in a beautiful old building, it looks to be a library with large windows and oak desks. I'm there to talk to a man that my bossy/controlling neighbor friend is interested in. She wants me to convince him to ask her on a date. I'm carrying the book How to Be An Adult by David Richo in a semi-translucent grocery bag. As I start talking to him, we really hit it off and I'm very attracted to him; I want him for myself. Getting caught up in our connection, I almost forget why I'm there to talk to him but I also completely forget my friend's name. I go looking for her and find her bathing in a large metal tub in a back room of the library and I'm scared to tell her I didn't do what I was supposed to do (and that I even betrayed her in a way). I'm trying to get her to tell me how to pronounce her name, acting as if I still remember it but just can't pronounce it. The dream ends there."

References

Robert Moore. King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine.

Sir James George Frazer. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion.

Jordan Peterson. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.

Bella Puglisi and Angela Ackerman. The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression.

Episode 146 - INFLATION: The Challenge of Archetypal Possession Jan 14, 2021

Inflation applies to balloons, economics--and psychology. Jung defined it as being seized by archetypal energy resulting in “a puffed up attitude, loss of free will, delusion, and enthusiasm for good and evil alike.” Inflation is more than a “swelled head” because the influx of unconscious contents leads to identification with god-like powers.

In Greek myth Phaeton became inflated when the sun god, Helios, acknowledged him as his son. Phaeton then asked to drive his father’s chariot, pulling the sun across the sky. He could not control the powerful horses, scorched the earth, and was killed. Arrogating god-like powers to oneself eclipses self-awareness and disaster ensues. Inflation can be expressed outwardly as power-seeking grandiosity or inwardly as self-sacrificing suffering. It is present in unrealistic risk-taking, frenzied creativity, spiritual illusions, the entitlement of toddlers and teens, and in collective excesses. Mobs are inflated, flouting the constraints of civilization, culture, and common sense. The antidote to inflation is humility, service, and love.

Here's the dream we analyze:

"Midway up a mountain I tried to get rid of my son, who was the size of a baby Yoda. My last attempt was to throw him into water in hopes it breaks and he freezes to death. He gets close a few times but always comes back to me. At this time I hear a woman in the distance yelling, telling me to stop and saying she would help and asking for my number. I ignore her and decide I better just grab my son and head up the mountain.

I put him under my shirt as he hugs my chest -- he is freezing but warming up quickly. The last half of the mountain has a huge canvas sheet over it colored yellow, black and orange. I grip it with my hand and climb up. It’s hard and at no point does it ever ease up. My muscles are burning and I’m losing strength. When I’m near the edge to get to the top I have to give everything to get up top. I almost fell but I did make it. Once up I find a hidden compartment that has food and water. I rest before we descend. The lady made it up and she has a guy with her. She asked if I used the canvas to make it up. I said yes...she replied it’s beginning to tear so she didn’t use it. I showed her the compartment. She began talking about descending and not using the zipline to make it down this time. I tell her I need to practice ascending and descending vertically more."

Episode 145 - Willpower: Choice, Energy & the Power to Achieve Jan 07, 2021

The ability to choose and exercise will is a defining characteristic of humans. Only humans have enough energy available to consciousness to escape the rule of instinct. Jung says, “the realm of will cannot coerce instinct nor has it power over spirit,” so ego shall not dictate to psyche but find alignment with instinct and spirit, values and volition, before springing into pursuit of a goal.

We must first choose to attend to ourselves, consider the size, worth, and cost of the goal—and then practice parenting ourselves through the journey to achieving it. The nurturing inner parent is neither punitive and depriving nor lax and indulgent, but helps us chart a course between immediate gratification and long-term fulfillment. Willpower is in service to harmony and wholeness.

Here's the dream we analyze:

"Scene 1: I received a huge certificate/invitation that said I had been chosen for special study among others in my class. It was a big 30x40” purple and white piece of sturdy paper. At first I thought I wasn't going to get it but I did. Although I felt like someone had given it to me just because I was upset that I didn't get one and it probably showed. The rest of the people who got it were the quiet, timid ones in the class. So this extra invitation or opportunity to learn presented by the certificate ensured this was their opportunity to shine. I was with a young guy carrying stuff in an elevator that descended past the ground floor to levels A,B,C,D,E. We stopped at Level E. That's where the training (from the certificate scene) would take place. I was eager but also anxious about going so far down beneath ground level. We walked out of the elevator into a corridor that was of concrete blocks and there were lights spaced out along the walls in equal distance. I had the feeling it was damp like a basement. I don't remember if we went anywhere past that.

Scene 2: I saw different size bodies of water from above. I wanted to picnic by one of them. All of them had alligators in them so kayaking or swimming was out of the question. They were kind of marshy, with different vegetation growing around. I was with a girl. We picked a small pond and sat on its edge on something like a concrete slab that had a built-in bench-like feature. I was carrying two small, transparent organisms in my hand that I had to make sure not to lose or let them die. They were cup shaped. I was incredibly careful when placing them on the concrete and went to pick some tiny vegetation from the edge of the lake for them to rest and feed on. We talked and I noticed that one organism was trying to eat or hump the other except they weren't cup-shaped anymore but were rather elongated, resembling an ancient, less developed and basic structure like an insect with wings (like bee wings). They were still transparent. I think I tried to separate them but didn't want to hurt them so I didn't really intervene much, just kind of worried a bit if I should or how to intervene."

References:

Books by Robert A. Johnson

Episode 144 - Fierce Female Initiations: Claiming Authority & Selfhood Through Trials Dec 31, 2020

Mythological Paths to Personal Potential

Myths and fairy tales depict women’s initiation into authority and adulthood. Hades abducted Kore (maiden) into the underworld; Snow White choked on a poisoned apple and lay in stasis; Aphrodite punished forsaken Psyche with arduous tasks. As all were blossoming into the fullness of their beauty and fertility, all were also in thrall to innocence complexes that blinded them to realities of envy, aggression, and power, imaged as rapist, step-mother, and mother-in-law.

Women’s initiation into adulthood and authority involves encountering shadow, finding inner fire, taking action, and wielding power. Kore became queen of the underworld; Snow White metabolized the poison and revived; Psyche reclaimed her mate and ascended to Mt. Olympus. Female initiation involves relational trauma and the sacrifice of a naively romantic and other-oriented stance. This mythological pattern points to the potential for finding clear-eyed selfhood, life direction, and the will to achieve goals.

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I was playing a concert with a famous elder statesman of bluegrass. We play a funny song about a cat that travels with its owner in a semi-tractor trailer, across the USA. The song begins with me playing the bass and with the cat making some kind of meow. My cat (all grey, yellow eyes, born without a tail) was lying next to me on stage, curled up on top of a stool.v The cat's presence gave me comfort, humor and warmth. At end of song the lights went dark. A spotlight forms above the elder statesman, casting shadows across his features. He turns to me and gets very close to my face. I feel pressure at being the focus of attention. He produces a large stack of cards below his chin and starts showing them to me, one by one. At first the cards and numbers don't make sense. He draws 10 then 13 - maybe he can't guess the numbers my mind is picking. All of a sudden the "trick" begins to work. He picks 24, 48 and 72. He is drawing the cards I’m thinking of and from a very large stack. These numbers are bigger than a deck of playing cards, yet they are similarly designed, quite intricate. I’m shocked, not afraid, that he knows the numbers. The elder smirks a slight, knowing smile."

References:

Michael Meade. The Water of Life: Initiation and Tempering of the Soul.

Mary Pipher. Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls.

Carol Gilligan. In a Different Voice.

Paul Foster Case. Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of Ages.

Episode 143 - Scrooge on the Couch: How the Numinous Transforms Dec 24, 2020

Something's going on in Scrooge's soul...and it's tired of waiting for an invitation.

Charles Dickens’ novella, A Christmas Carol, vividly portrays the journey to healing and transcendence. It was written in a fever, released on December 19, 1843, and sold out before Christmas. Ebenezer Scrooge’s visitations by the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come are vivid depictions of the path from trauma to transformation. As in psychotherapy, Scrooge revisits his past; by reclaiming the feelings he exiled as a child, Scrooge discovers compassion and connection.

The visitation to the present shows Scrooge familial abundance of spirit despite material poverty and possible death for Tiny Tim (also a representation of Scrooge’s own emotionally crippled inner child). The last scene, like the lysis of a dream, shows Scrooge the bleak future to which his miserly ways lead. Scrooge’s encounters with transpersonal power break through his defenses and transform him into a man of joyful and generous heart. Scrooge has learned from his former partner’s ghost that:

“Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

And so, as Tiny Tim declared, "God bless Us, Every One!”

References:

Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1712674218/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_rHe3FbWK5H8FF?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Resources:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 142 - The Archetype of the Divine Child: Light Reborn Dec 17, 2020

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people. Luke 2:10

The divine child appears when least expected, new potential born from the womb of the unconscious. Helpless and blessed and against all reason, the divine child represents the creative union of opposites that births a new beginning. Every new beginning is a divine child, and mythological revelations since ancient times greet new psychic potential with awe and adoration. Miraculous birth signals initiation into individuation and the preordained destiny of sacred and heroic figures across cultures and through time is also our own.

The lives of Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Heracles, Horus, and Ganesha portray a Guiding Self-sustaining them through the hard human work of growing toward wholeness. Jung says, “You open the gates of the soul to let the dark flood of chaos flow into your order and meaning. If you marry the ordered to the chaos you produce the divine child, the supreme meaning…”

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I am perched high on a cliff looking down on a horrifyingly beautiful sight. There is a rugged coastline with clear blue water that is inexplicably and immensely deep immediately at the shoreline. Just off the shoreline there are monstrously large (dinosaur comes to mind) sea creatures resembling otherworldly breeds of whale and shark that appear to be dead- floating perfectly still and suspended in the deep, clear water."

Episode 141 - FANTASY: Do We Have Fantasies or Do They Have Us? Dec 10, 2020

Is fantasizing helpful or harmful?

Fantasy is the process of engagement with unconscious processes, from the depths of the mythic unconscious to the make-believe worlds of online gaming. In passive fantasy we receive products of the unconscious as charged internal images: nighttime dreams, trance states and visions. Passive fantasy transgresses natural law, the limitations of waking life, and cultural restrictions, for in the subterranean realms of psychic experience all is permitted.

Active fantasy allows us to interact with the unconscious and shape our experiences. It lives next door to ideas, reverie, play, intuition, and creativity. Passive or active, fantasy can call us into lives that are larger and more enlivened, or seduce us into escapism impedes adaptation to reality. Today we can consume fantasy, and it can be consuming. Jung’s collaborator, Marie-Louise von Franz said, “The great difficulty is to save the fantasy which is life-giving and cut away the childishness of the wish to realize it.”

Here’s the Dream We Analyze

“I’m in a small underground room. Near the ceiling, in a shadowy corner, hangs a cocoon or nest. It looks like a felted mitten and contains sleeping baby bats. Frightened, I summon my husband and quietly point out the nest. He agrees that we should take care not to wake the baby bats—for even though they are tiny and blind, they are not vulnerable. I whisper the phrase “dangerous little experts.” We stand as still as we can in the dark. The next scene is outdoors and sunny. I’m in the middle of a street that is normally busy, but now empty. A snowy owl appears before me on the pavement. I again summon my husband, and as we admire the owl, five more snowies arrive. They grow until they stand about four feet tall, then begin hopping and spinning and flapping, almost like they’re performing a ceremonial Native American dance. I suspect they are children wearing feather costumes, but no, they really are owls. My husband and I are thrilled and honored. The street seems alive with magic.”

References

Learn to Analyze your Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Quoted: Marie Louise von Franz, Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology
https://www.amazon.com/dp/091912304X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_wJCVFbH3X12EK

Episode 140 - Doubt: Facing Life’s Unknowns Dec 03, 2020

Doubt disturbs us. Unlike the more defined polarities of ambivalence, doubt is pervasive, muddy, and ranges from crippling to constructive. We may doubt our capacity to meet a challenge, achieve a desired outcome, or make the right decision. At a deeper level, doubt can threaten our orientation to reality and erode our sense of self.

Doubt can also help us prepare, increase our capacity to take risks and build confidence in our ability to prevail whether we win or lose. Doubt is about the future—possibilities, and perils. We are called to remain steadfast and chart a course in the face of life’s unknowns, for to court certainty is to seek death of the soul. Jung says, “When you are in doubt you have the greatest opportunity to unite the dark and light sides of life.” And become more whole.

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I am going on a trip and traveling in a cab with friends. During the journey it gets lively, we are excited. I am dancing, making promises to my friends that I am not thinking about fully, and telling them how judgmental my father is. There is a lot of mess being made too which I am clearing up, it seems like grass I am sweeping up and there is a small pig/dog-like animal with us but I am caught up in the moment and not paying it too much attention. I get a feeling that my behavior is quite obnoxious in front of the driver but I don't stop. We arrive at a boat port, there are lots of people and enormous boats, everyone is getting their stuff loaded for their journeys. I check the time and realize we have 20 minutes to board the boat - I think perfect. I get out of the car look around and as I turn back to the cab I notice it drive off with my stuff. I panic and instantly think the driver didn't like me, that's why he drove off with my luggage. I start running after the car and notice others running after the car too. We run and keep up with the car but are not able to reach it then one of the girls I am running with says she has the driver’s number on her phone. I shout at her to call him urgently."

Episode 139 - Visionary Imagination: Jung’s Private Journals Nov 26, 2020

We welcome Sonu Shamdasani, PhD, scholar and historian of depth psychology and Jung’s opus. His research and expertise were instrumental in bringing Jung’s Red Book to the public in 2009. Jung’s Black Books, the journals in which he recorded “my most difficult experiments,” have just been published. We discuss Jung’s encounters with figures and images from his psychic depths--experiences foundational to Jung’s subsequent work and which opened a portal to humankind’s imaginal mind and mythic substrata.

The Philemon Foundation, which Dr. Shamdasani co-founded in 2003, is dedicated to bringing forward more of Jung’s unpublished manuscripts and correspondence—and now needs financial support to continue bringing Jung’s vital ideas to the world. Please click on the link below to learn more about the Philemon Foundation and how to support its work.

How You Can Help:

You can help bring CG Jung’s unpublished manuscripts to press by donating here: https://philemonfoundation.org/donate/

References:

The Black Books may be purchased at a discount: https://philemonfoundation.org/purchasing-philemon-series-books/

Resources:

Learn to Interpret Your Own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Episode 138 - Spider Parents: Finding Freedom from Dependence Nov 19, 2020

The spider is a symbol of generative and destructive capabilities. As creator, spider spins the sustaining web of life. As predator, spider’s sticky web is an inescapable trap. Parents weave webs of familial ties, cultural norms, and generational patterns that contain—or restrain--their children. Emotional strings of attachment or enmeshment affect how—or if—a young adult child is released into the world.

A net of comfort and connection can become a web of entanglement and stultification. The tale of Sleeping Beauty portrays the stasis that ensues when parents try to protect their child from future dangers. Hindering destiny’s call to independence and individuation only obstructs the flow of life. Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. Kahlil Gibran

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I was on a hospital bed, due to a heart attack. Doctors were trying to send an electric wave to measure my heart damage--and I was terrified of the pain it may cause. Doctors told me that if it hurts I need surgery immediately. I was watching the screen, and it didn’t hurt at all. Doctors told me that my heart was really strong and that I can go home. I felt relieved. Then a nurse walked over to me and handed a piece of paper, a note from someone, and said I have to go see this other patient. The note was from Su, a high school female friend that betrayed me, a person that I don't think about at all. The note said that I need to take care of her babies. I was so confused. I walked over to the room, found her sitting on the bed. She pointed the babies to me and asked for help. I didn't talk to her. She has just given birth, and 3 little bundles were in a crib next to her. I lifted the bundles and they didn't look like babies, they were marble white and looked weird. Almost looked like the Hindu god with the elephant trunk- god Ganesh I think. I dropped them on the floor. I wanted to check whether they are real. I filled them with milk and said they are alive. I was so confused. I woke up."

Episode 137 - QAnon: Ancient Lies & Sexual Slanders Nov 12, 2020

QAnon is a recent iteration of a historical pattern: Romans persecuted Christians, Christians libeled Jews, and citizenries hunted witches. When existing social structures break down, psychological splitting ensues in an effort to counteract fear and re-establish certainty. Collective projections demonize a selected ‘other’ and tend toward lurid attributions of badness: pedophilia, blood drinking, and devil worship.

At the same time collectives project their need for leadership and unity onto a leader, investing the person with larger-than-life qualities. The mythic unconscious creates a dualistic division between ‘above and below’-- religious purity and righteousness versus ‘beasts of darkness,’ especially sex and aggression. Depth psychology focuses on the middle ground of soul, the realm of potential human wholeness. Without spiritual bypasses or fiends we may own our sexual, psychological and spiritual realities and develop a symbolic understanding of the myths we live in.

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I found myself in an enormous mansion, entirely empty; it was like a Jane Austen ball room. I was alone. A man with an Afro and a baby in a baby Bjorn walked past one of the many giant windows, snow behind him. He saw me and looked petrified. Running inside, he wanted to know what I was doing there, saying that this was the devil’s house. The town had gotten together years before and killed the devil. A prophecy was made that the next person to enter the house would be the devil. He said the townspeople now wanted the devil back because they were fighting so much more now, getting divorces, as they no longer had anyone to blame for their problems. I said I didn't want to be the devil and protested. Then my vision went black and I saw the silhouette of four distinct animal faces rushing toward me. The only one I remember is the goat."

References

Bradley Tepaske

http://jungiananalyst.org/bradley_tepaske_phd.htm

Bradley Tepaske’s publications can be found at:

https://chironpublications.com/shop/sexuality-and-the-religious-imagination/

Poem: Sometimes a Wild God by Tom Hirons

https://tomhirons.com/poetry/sometimes-a-wild-god

Episode 136 - REVIVING OUR CAPACITY TO FEEL: The Core of Jung’s Legacy Nov 05, 2020

Marie-Louise von Franz, Jung’s close collaborator, capped her public work in a 1986 lecture that summarized Jung’s signal contributions to understanding the human experience. Jung was concerned that rationalism, quantitative methodologies, and the objectification of people and animals had become one-sided, resulting in ethical and empathic deficiencies. He felt the over-development of professional personas—even among physicians and psychotherapists—led to avoiding authentic encounters. Sentimentality, a superficial expression of feeling, could be used to mask cruelty, including to animals.

For Jung, relationship to the sacred was foundational, and was the true source of an ethical stance. He felt that a well-developed feeling function, the conscious development of empathy, and differentiated relatedness are at the heart of the human endeavor. The feminine principle of eros is central to his work. This Jungian Life explored von Franz’ insightful and moving summation of her understanding of Jung and his work in a presentation for the Washington, D.C. Jung Society.

Episode 135 - Horror: Why Can’t We Look Away? Oct 29, 2020

The hair on the back of our necks bristles in response to the horrors of the uncanny. Transfixed by shock, awe, dread and fascination, we can neither dare the dangerous darkness nor turn away. The mysteries of the unknown take us into realms of transgression and taboo.

Enthrallment and abhorrence mix in encounters with all that is alien and dispossessed. We face our own human monstrosities and the traumas that create them. We also meet the dark, nonhuman otherness of the collective unconscious; it threatens to possess us and can annihilate our sense of self. Whether we shudder in disgust, quiver in fright, or feel forbidden attraction, we are forced to more fully acknowledge the awful portent of ominous misfortune and confront the abyss. Only consciousness can break the spell.

Dream

"In my dream I was talking with my therapist on Zoom. The topic of our conversation wasn't clear, but I had the sense that my therapist kept misunderstanding what I was saying. He then did the "share screen" feature on Zoom to show me that he had been keeping a record on his computer of the different ways that I was wrong about who I thought I was. For example, he said that I thought that I was a kind person, but he had determined I was only kind 40% of the time. As he showed me this, a graph appeared across my face, and I had the sense that he had been spending our time together taking measurements of my face and wasn't listening to what I was saying. The dream then changed and I was outdoors standing next to a Native American man in traditional dress. The man was working with cloth. I approached him and he told me that he was working on creating a garment similar to the one that he was wearing that he was going to give as a gift to his son."

References

Greg Mogenson. God is a Trauma: Vicarious Religion and Soul-Making (Amazon)

Lisa’s quotation from Thus Spoke Zarathustra, by Friedrich Nietzsche (Amazon).

Episode 134 - When Despair Prevails: Facing Suicidal Darkness Oct 22, 2020

There are few more painful thoughts or frightening events than suicide, a phenomenon unique to the human species. Depression, rage, and powerlessness can overwhelm ego functions, leading someone to believe that escaping life is the only option. Affects of archetypal proportions can act like tsunamis in the psyche. What can help?

A supportive other can offer protection, options, and hope. Willingness to engage in mental health and medical treatment is critical, as is the development of a symbolic attitude: what value, belief, or ambition may need to die instead of being concretized as physical death? Similarly, what maturational task, sacrifice, or fate is asking to be met?

Facing suicidal thoughts can bring the potential for new life, but when death occurs bereavement can be especially painful for families and friends. One of the tasks of mourning is accepting that each of us is ultimately, and sometimes tragically, responsible for our life.

Dream

I see a baby approximately a month old. It is my baby, and it has been crying a lot. I see that he is wet, so much so that his blanket is also wet. I am in horror as I try to understand why is he so wet, even with the diaper on. I wonder for how long did I not check on him. I change him, while doing [I see] that his leg is so fragile that if I hold it twists. I panic. I look at my hands and they are shaking. I get scared and criticize myself and wonder if I would be able to take care of him. In the end, he has been changed and cleaned and I am holding him in my arms, it's peaceful now and I feel much better.

References

Jan Bauer. Impossible Love: Or Why the Heart Must Go Wrong (Amazon).

Episode 133 - Adaptation: Meeting Life’s Demands Oct 15, 2020

The world is the canvas on which we paint our lives. Through this lifelong work, we express personal vision, develop skills, and come to terms with the realities of our outer and inner worlds. The first major stage of adaptation, the transition from child to adult, requires readiness to separate from protective life structures in pursuit of outer world goals. It entails developing a strong, flexible ego devoid of overly negative or idealistic beliefs about self and world, a progressive orientation, and ability to cope with disappointment.

In the second half of life, the adaptive task is introverted, and consists of relating to and integrating contents of the unconscious. While most of us come to recognize and adapt to ego’s limited control over external-world actualities, realizing the autonomy of the inner world is less universal. Jung described this process in his memoir, Memories, Dreams, Reflections as his confrontation with the unconscious. This process of adaptation led him--and can lead us--to living in relationship to something larger, the Self.

Dream

I'm standing outside of a pool and my sons (6 and 10) are in the pool with my ex-husband. My mother is sitting near me. I realize I need to go to the bathroom and shout to my ex-husband to take care of our youngest son. As I turn my back at the pool I see a frogman, he has the body of a man and the head of a frog. He is sitting as a frog on the floor.

I'm surprised and fascinated by it. His skin is dark blue with small light green and light blue freckles. His eyes are green. It is raining and he seems to be enjoying the water. I call my brother so he can see the creature; my brother appears as a little boy and the frogman sits at a table with my brother that asks him many questions about his origin. The frogman speaks to my brother while I go to the bathroom. When I return the frogman is sitting on a small stairway, like waiting for me. I see him and I ask him if I can touch his skin. He lets me touch his arm; it is shiny and beautiful like a night full of stars.

I don't remember if I kiss him or hug him. He asks me to go with him and I tell him that I have other things to do. I walk down a street and find a busy avenue with heavy traffic. I have to cross to the other side but it seems hard, like a complex coordination of moves and traffic lights. I see the frogman walking on the other side of the avenue.

References

C.G. Jung. Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Amazon).

Episode 132 - Neurosis: Befriending Our Broken Places Oct 08, 2020

Although neurosis is no longer a clinical diagnosis, it is often used to describe anxious attitudes and behaviors that are maladaptive to life situations. Neurosis often entails a capacity to function well despite feeling bad; emotional suffering leeches ease and pleasure from life. A neurotic symptom—a phobia, compulsion, or addictive tendency—is no different from a dream.

It is important to hear the unconscious story ego has disallowed, welcome fantasies, fears, and instinctual life, and understand their symbolic meaning. Symptoms ask us to know ourselves as we really are so that we can live the life we are meant to be living. Jung says neurosis “must be understood, ultimately, as the suffering of a soul which has not discovered its meaning.” The purpose of neurosis is to help us discover our purpose.

Dream

I am with my family. I go to the kitchen, as this isn't my family's home. I have broken glass inside my mouth; I open my mouth to try and get it out. There aren't many shreds but they are tiny and sharp, I can't get rid of everything, my tongue bleeds but the blood is curdled, dry, dark and thick. As I'm trying to remove the glass with both hands I realize I have broken glass on my lips, too. The shredded glass is inside both lips, and the blood is coagulated and my lips shrank.

Now I have broken glass inside my nostrils; I can't breathe from my nose. I just can't, I breathe through my mouth. I bleed profusely but the blood is thick and dark, dry and slimy, it's coagulated. I pull it out like an endless slime that just won't come out all at once. I'm suffocating, no air gets through my nostrils, it's all blocked.

I call my brother for help. I complain about it saying I can't breathe and I can't handle it alone. But he doesn't show up. Other things happen in the dream after this that I can't remember, but somehow I end up again in this kitchen with blocked nostrils - because of thick blood, not glass anymore - and now the thick blood has covered my chin, my neck; it's awful and I can't stop it. The blood is dark, slimy and dry (not shiny like slime). I call my dad for help. He appears in front of me. I am persuaded that he's the one who can help me. I wake up.

Episode 131 - Curiosity: The Inner Engine of Change Oct 01, 2020

We celebrate curiosity’s role in discovery, and regret its potential for damage. Mature curiosity demands that we embrace the confusion, doubt and anxiety inherent in engaging new ideas and complex problems. Social curiosity requires discernment: are we genuinely and empathically interested in others, or simply indulging voyeurism via social media?

Curiosity can lead us into thrill seeking, but lack of it dulls our libido for life. Is it grandiosity, ambition, or impulsive desire that is tweaking our interest—or is curiosity leading us into purpose, service and the numinous? We need to be curious about curiosity: what are we enacting--and why? In the unrestrained theater of our dreams even the most disallowed outer-world scenarios are played out. Dreams can do much to satiate and integrate the shadowy curiosities of the inner world if we remember, record, and reflect on them.

Dream

I am in a dreary kind of industrial place full of single-story warehouse or farm type sheds/buildings - everything is grey. I don't relish being there but I am resigned to it. I look up again at the shed I'm standing next to and am surprised to see a beautiful mural has appeared on it's concrete apex (the triangular bit under the roof) - I don't remember exactly the image but it is full of blue and movement.

I walk on to the next smaller row of sheds and in one I find skeletal figure of a man who is very sick and being tended to. The man is more skeleton than person, he has no eyes, only eye sockets for example, and is blackened/scorched: parts of his flesh seem about to fall away. I remember him as a famous actor, someone once very charismatic and good-looking, it is terrible to see him reduced to this. He is being moved from bed to chair by two nurse-type figures whom I do not see clearly. I go to help and hold his head - I am disgusted a little but also terrified that his head will come away in my hands if I am not careful enough. Once he is installed I move away.

I find myself in another larger room next door where a group of people I do not know are gathered for a purpose I do not understand. I leave and go back out into the grey yard, but then feel an urge to reconnect with the man. I find another of these nurse-type figures who tells me he is with his wife and family now. I feel a little disappointed/left out but also glad for him that even in his repulsive/decrepit state he is surrounded by loved ones and is cared for.

References:
Giorgio Tricarico. Lost Goddesses: A Kaleidoscope on Porn.

Verena Kast. Father-Daughter, Mother-Son: Freeing Ourselves from the Complexes that Bind Us.

Far From Heaven (film with Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid).

Episode 130 - Sacred Symptoms: How the Numinous Heals Sep 24, 2020

Jung states “the main interest of my work is not concerned with the treatment of neurosis but rather with the approach to the numinous…the real therapy. In as much as you attain to the numinous experiences you are released from the curse of pathology.” Jung defines numinous as “a dynamic agency or effect not caused by an arbitrary act of will” that conveys a mysterious yet deeply meaningful message.

Numinous experiences happen to us, yet we can approach the numinous by engaging in practices like active imagination, recording dreams, or religious and esoteric modalities. Wisdom traditions—and Jung—have marked the trails. Life crisis and trauma can also open us to the numinous: fairy tales, myths, and religious texts relate happenings of help when all seemed lost. Whether sought or suffered, something greater appears when ego yields. We can act on the guidance that is given, and may attain the healing gifted by experience of the numinous.

Dream

I have a joined a circle of men and women studying something psychological. I watch and wait for their leader to welcome me but he wanders off. It is part of a festival and people are lying around sexually pleasuring each other. I explore downstairs but when I come back the workshop members have put on costumes of gods and goddesses (the theme is Celtic, Nordic) They are coming to a gate at the centre of the ritual and I am in the way.

Suddenly, a door opens and I'm pulled out of the way. It is the workshop leader and he takes me to a workbench. I can't remember his name but his book is on the bench. He is called Loki. Suddenly, the screw falls out of my glasses frame and lens falls out. I look on the floor but it is made of sand and there are lots of screws which are too big.

After a long search, with no success, I discover something thin and fine in my mouth. I take it out. It is part of my glasses. There is more in my mouth. It is a sliver of the lens and rather than being plastic it is made of glass. I must get it out of my mouth or I will swallow and cut my own throat.

References:

William James. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (Amazon).

C.S. Lewis. The Problem of Pain (Amazon).

Episode 129 - At Home in Our Bodies: Incarnation & Individuation Sep 17, 2020

Jung teaches that soul and spirit have a home in a living body, the font of psyche’s images and means of their incarnation in the world. Embodiment is the ground of being, and engaging the tension between instinct and archetype shapes consciousness and character. Jung identified five instincts: creativity, movement, sexuality/eros, hunger in its many manifestations, and the ability to reflect and make meaning.

If Pinocchio’s task was to humanize his instincts, much of modern man’s mission may be to re-establish vibrant connection with instinctual life. Jung says, “The archetype as an image of instinct is a spiritual goal toward which the whole nature of man strives; it is the sea to which all rivers wend their way, the prize which the hero wrests from the fight with the dragon.” The rigorous refining of instinct through embodied, conscious action is the path toward wholeness.

Dream

I was waiting for a young man to pick me up for our second date, but he was late. I was in a park and there was a fair, and I ran into some of my childhood friends who were quite surprised about my date. So they started harassing me with questions about who he was and, mostly, why he was late. I didn't have his phone number, so I didn't know.

I had with me a backpack, laptop, kindle, handbag, another bag and my stuff kept falling on the ground, and I had to pick it up over and over. It was raining hard, hours had passed and I decided to walk through the fair. There I bought a unicorn-shaped mug, that immediately fell off my hands and became ash as it hit the ground. I was tired and cold and went sitting under a large tree. In the tall grass, emerged a group of people who were shooting at wild ducks.

Reference:

Besel van der Kolk: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma (Amazon).

Episode 128: Intuition: Non-Rational Knowing Sep 10, 2020

We all have intuitive experiences, from an occasional hunch to powerful gut feelings. Unconscious intelligence is a storehouse of instincts and wisdoms humankind has accumulated over millennia. We would be lost without intuition and give importance to warnings and inspirations that saved or made the day.

We are also skeptical of intuition, which tends to become infused with emotion, superstition, and cultural bias. Altogether, intuition is about the future, from promising possibilities to potential pitfalls. To apply inner perception in meaningful ways we need to balance it with conscious considerations around values, objective assessment, and meaningful action. Intuition can then provide a glimpse of a higher level of reality that can anchor us to purpose.

Dream

I walk outside of my front door and notice a storm is brewing in the grey sky. The wind feels like it could pick me up and take me, but I remain steady and fixated on the intensity and beauty of the sunset. I walk several feet and stand on top of a flowerbed I’ve been building.

I can somehow see all the way down the valley. I instantly hear a loud humming noise coming toward me and when I look up, I notice a giant swarm of bees - they stop and hover above me. They drop, as a whole, to just above my head and then lift up again. I am aware it is scary, but I don’t feel scared. They do it a second time and I lie down in the dirt, gazing up at them.

I’m surprisingly calm. Then when they lift again, suddenly a giant bird (an eagle ??!!) lands just above my head and starts pecking at the ground. The bees drop, almost suffocating me in this space with the eagle violently pecking around my face. I remain frozen and in awe. Then the bees fly away and then the eagle.

References

Jonathan Haidt. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics and Religion (Amazon).

Malcolm Gladwell: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Amazon)

Episode 127 - Seeking Certainty: The Seduction of Conspiracy Theories Sep 03, 2020

In times of uncertainty truth is hard to discern, collective cohesion frays, and social factions become embattled. Unmediated shadow then seeks expression through the archetypal realm and takes on extra-ordinary attributes. Persecutory mythologies arise, for big psychic situations need big stories to compensate for big feelings of anxiety, powerlessness, and marginalization.

Insecurities are projected onto the outer-world as clandestine enemies of mythic proportions: alien rulers, government cabals, and other images of secret domination. Understanding conspiracy theories as symbolic expressions of unconscious contents can allow us to take them seriously without taking them literally. We may then respond with consciousness and empathy instead of judgment--and begin to shift the collective psychic field toward wholeness.

Dream

I am with my housemate, L, and we are in a city. The dream begins with us trying to get an answer to a question about the psychology of animals (I do not remember specifics of the question). We have gone to see a psychologist whose last name is Green. He is writing something on his laptop and when we ask to speak with him he asks for 30 minutes. There are churros in the waiting area, and for some reason I am taking some in a bag.

Somehow I know there is a party that I am supposed to be bringing these back for. There isn’t even a churro machine, a stack of them just continues to appear in the same spot on a desk. Once I have entered the conference room with Dr. Green, I am in the middle of eating a bite of churro and cannot respond to what he is saying, though he is laughing at the fact that my mouth is full of churro. Suddenly, the entire world has changed, I am entering what looks like a room from the back of a club, or maybe an abandoned house?

The dreamscape room has a deep purple color and though there is no light in the room, I can still see. At this point in the dream I become lucid and think “I should make something appear here”, however, a man appears in the room and he begins to wrestle me to the ground. We begin fighting and the face of the man seems to be changing as we roll. I do not recognize him. I have an intuition that I am dancing, however, I decide to fight back against the attacker. I punch the man and the dreamscape changes again. I am in the middle of a living room at the bottom of a tower and realize that I have just punched Dr. Green.

I apologize profusely, and end up saying, “sorry, Dad… I mean… Doc”. I put my hands on my head after this slip up and am feeling very confused. Dr. Green says it’s ok and that we should begin making our way up the tower. I look up and see L climbing the stairs and her face is covered in sweat. Dr. Green begins up the stairs but I realize I can float. I allow myself to float just to see what it is like and then I wake up.

References

C.G. Jung. The Undiscovered Self: The Dilemma of the Individual in Modern Society (Amazon).

Iain McGilchrist. The Master and His Emissary: The divided Brain and the Making of the Western World (Amazon).

Jonathan Haidt. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion (Amazon).

Episode 126 - The Money Complex: Incarnating Our Dreams Aug 27, 2020

Money reflects our shadows and strengths as much as our bank accounts. Like Hermes, money traverses the realms from Hades to Heaven--money can be a matter of survival, and money can turn dreams into realities. Because money represents value we can acquire, exchange, and store, it can become conflated with our value as persons.

Material wealth can become equated with status and self worth—and the lack of it with inadequacy and anxiety. To come into right relationship with money we need to develop a realistic perception of its power and place within a larger personal economy. In a healthy life economy energetic currencies flow freely—we have rich relationships, and wise investments in work and purpose generate psychic interest. Inner treasure allows something of value to come into the world through us.

Dream

I found myself walking down a street in a European-like town until I came upon a group of my peers. One of them proclaimed that the book we had all been searching for was in a bookstore ahead and that she was intent on finding it. As I was also intent on finding this book, I went on ahead. The bookstore was, in fact, nine book stores located in a three story building with three stores on each floor.

I, alone, entered the middle bookstore on the second floor and asked the attendant if she had any special books related to psychoanalysis. After pondering a moment, slightly confused at my request, she remembered that she did have a special book enclosed in a wooden box. It was the book I had been searching for- decorative and ancient looking. I purchased it for $45, thrilled with excitement. I met back with my peers in the library, all of whom were perturbed and annoyed that I was the one who found the book.

"I told you about it and then you go and take it for yourself," one said angrily. I set the book on the table and told them that they are welcome to check it out, as long as they are careful and respectful with it. They all seemed appeased by this motion, yet still slightly bitter, and treated the book with care. Soon after, a famous relationship therapist called my name, asking for my opinion on a matter. I felt shocked that someone of such renown would consider my opinion on anything. She was holding two pictures, one clearly of a bridge, the other obscure. Through analysis of key symbols and images in each picture, we discovered that it was an image of the same bridge, taken at different angles.

References

Myths, Morals & Money –This Jungian Life joins Australian visionary Berry Liberman in a series of six podcasts. See www.thisjungianlife.com.

James Hillman. Soul and Money (Amazon).

Aaron R. Kipnis. The Midas Complex: How Money Drives Us Crazy and What We Can Do About it (Amazon).

Episode 125 - The Provisional Life: Redeeming the Real Aug 20, 2020

The provisional life might be defined as a vague malaise: current relationships, work, and lifestyle feel like placeholders until the ‘real thing’ arrives—someday. If early life circumstances made over-conforming to others’ needs and expectations necessary, persona can be over-developed and shadow denied.

The person may orient to external sources for self-definition, acceptance and direction, because deep roots in shadow’s dark, fertile soil of authentic feeling and experience are lacking. The recovery and discovery of the true self comes from engaging the inner world: dreams, reverie, creative endeavors, service to something greater—and perhaps a wise guide on the road to wholeness.

Jung says, “If the risk is not taken, the meaning of life is somehow violated, and the whole future is condemned to helpless staleness...” Or we can be alive while we’re alive.

Dream

I find myself in an old abandoned church. I am climbing up a ladder and next to me is a being, half-bird & half-human. I feel attracted to her; I kiss her. In the next scene, I push her away from me.

Now she is a bird. Another person helps me to get the bird out of the church. The bird wants to come back in. I have a guilty conscience because I try to push her away from me. Now the bird person is back in the church. And in the last image, I find myself with her walking around the church and the being tells me "people can't fly because they don't have wings."

References

Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki).

Mary Oliver. When Death Comes and other poems.

Episode 124 - Pets: A Lived Relationship with Soul Aug 13, 2020

When far from life in the wild, relationships with animals are often through pets. We find kinship and difference in our friends of very foreign origin. Pets let us be tender, elicit nurturing, and help heal trauma through secure attachment. Our creatures keep our secrets. They accept our lapses and shadows. They invite us to play and appear in our dreams--and when they are gone, we mourn.

Henry Beston said, “In a world older and more complete than ours [animals] move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear.” Through our pets we can stay in touch with the magic and mystery of animal life. They remind us that we are part of a larger, living whole.

Dream

The dream began when I found myself climbing up a steep snowy ledge on a tall cliff. There was a trail of footsteps, as if I had been there before. As I trekked upwards I contemplated my teenage years of debauchery and the lies I told to keep my mother comfortably unaware.

As the cliff’s edge got steeper the snow became much deeper and I continued on all fours, with exhaustion setting in. Upon reaching the top I almost ate some snow feeling, overwhelmed with gratitude, but quickly realized what a poor decision that could potentially be. (Thinking of dirty snow) So I let my body sink into an icy cold bed of snow instead, relaxing all my muscles and regulating my breath at the journeys end.

It felt gratifying to have reached the top, and the sensation of cold snow felt incredible against my skin. I looked up and noticed a small alcove, inside under dark shadows stirred the silhouette of a large raven. Mysterious yet significant, nodding its head toward me as if it had been waiting for my arrival.

References

Henry Beston. The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod (Amazon).

Episode 123 - Every Hero’s Journey Aug 06, 2020

The hero’s journey has been the stuff of story from earliest times. Today’s popular heroes include Harry Potter, Frodo, Spiderman, Neo, and Luke Skywalker. They are all ordinary guys who suddenly receive the Call to Adventure, mythologist Joseph Campbell’s term for the beginning of the journey.

The would-be hero first declines, then answers the call; he suffers tests and trials, succeeds with help from unexpected sources, and returns with the gifts of all he has learned. The hero’s journey is the human story--we are all called to be more, often in seemingly mundane ways.

As we go to work, raise children, and experience setbacks, we are called to sacrifice personal interest and ego-driven desires for the sake of something greater. The hero’s journey is a metaphor for the inner adventure Jung described as individuation, ‘the treasure hard to attain’ and life’s true goal.

Dream

The dream consisted of 3 segments. In the first, I was outdoors, looking up, observing a group of men, they were engaged in some project involving large, structural pieces of architecture e.g. old stone walls. One item was made of clay and included a large carving, I think it was of a face. The men had made a mistake in handling the clay, so that it appeared to have become moldy: white spots had appeared on it.

I thought or heard a voice saying something like "they didn't appreciate that the clay is alive, it breathes, it absorbs and retains moisture." The men were trying to remedy the situation: they poured red wine on the clay, as if that would destroy the mold. In the second part of the dream, I was indoors with other women, in a small, bright jewelry shop or workshop.

A young woman had brought a tiny, delicate watch that had broken. She also brought wonderful, intricate drawings of the watch and the repairs needed. With another woman, I began planning the repair. I was confident we could repair it, but my companion was fretful, fearing we wouldn't be able to. Her worries didn't seem to interfere with my confidence. I continued to explain two possible ways we could repair the watch. In the third part of the dream, I was neither clearly indoors nor outdoors, but in a large, bright space, seemingly boundless, maybe like a marquee or gazebo outdoors.

A woman had given me a task: I was to write, beautifully, the list of guest names for a wedding. A man was nearby, I think he was somehow involved, too. He was a little effeminate. I was left pretty much alone, and the paper with the names was crumpled and stained.

References

C.G. Jung. Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Amazon)

James Hollis. Mythologems (Amazon).

Joseph Campbell. The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Amazon)

Episode 122 - COVERED: An Archetypal Take on the COVID Mask Jul 30, 2020

Masks are the symbol of COVID life, and they have archetypal roots as old as humankind. We ward off evil microbial forces with bandanas, neck gaiters, patterned fabrics, and high filtration medical masks. Masks provide access to our shape-shifting potential, connect us to our instinctual depths, mediate our relationship to the spirits, and open a portal to the mythic realm of story and drama.

Masks waft us into new identities: children become superheroes or face-painted animals; women apply make-up, men craft beards, and everyone wears sunglasses that shade us from more than sunlight.

We also wear a social mask, persona, and present different aspects of ourselves to colleagues, Facebook friends, and family—but if we identify with the faces we present to the world we risk defining ourselves according to fixed and superficial attributes. Masks in all their forms affect the experience of wearer and viewers.

Dream

I am staying in a large, gothic house in the countryside while some sort of calamity is occurring in the world. I think it is a weather event, as it is raining heavily outside. My adult daughter screams, summoning me to the foot of the imposing stairs, where she has seen a mouse scurrying.

She is desperate that I catch it, and I do, holding it in my fist, against my bare chest. I know it is terribly diseased and that the best thing would be for me to kill it, so I simply crush it. To my horror, and disgust, foul liquid bursts out of the mouse. Now I have this horrible corpse to dispose of and I don’t want my daughter, or anyone else, to see it. I can feel the sticky liquid on my bare skin. I find myself outside in the pouring rain.

The rain is soaking me and now I have a large teddy bear in my arms. The corpse of the mouse is embedded in the teddy bear. As I walk, the bear becomes sodden, heavy and cumbersome. I am looking for somewhere to dispose of it, but nowhere seems suitable. I wake feeling anxious.

Episode 121 - Not Alone: Finding the Inner Companion Jul 23, 2020

When you’re down, and in trouble, and you need some loving care...

You just call out my name, and you know wherever I am,

I’ll come running to see you again…you’ve got a friend.

Carole King song

The companion has a beloved place in our hearts. Famed modern-day teammates include Captain Kirk and Spock, Frodo and Samwise, Batman and Robin, and Sherlock Holmes and Watson. The companion serves and supports the hero, contributing quieter gifts of guidance, capability, and devotion.

Every companion is an image of the inner Other, and is present whenever gifts of wisdom, care and guidance are received. Our bodies, instincts, and feelings recognize and respond to the companion: a night’s sleep and dreams ease anxiety, a quandary melts into resolution, a new idea shines in mind. The Companion is already and always there.

Dream

I keep making this lucid dream, of bumping into a long-lost best friend of mine. We first happily greet each other, and discuss how long it's been since we last met. But quickly, I realize that I'm indeed dreaming. I try to explain that to him, and ask him for his contact information, such as a phone number, e-mail, or his social media account, to hopefully meet him in the real world... But he always seems either confused, or reluctant.

He just stares at me, smirking, as I try to hurry up and get a way to contact him before the dream ends, but he never gives an appropriate answer, he either avoids the question, or simply walks away, as if he didn't truly want to regain contact with me.

References

Edward C. Whitmont and Sylvia Brinton Perera. Portal to the Source (Amazon).

Henri Corbin. Alone with the Alone (Amazon).

Episode 120 - Creativity: Drawing from the Inner Well Jul 16, 2020

The root of create, “to bring something into being out of nothing,” echoes divine creation. Ideas arise from mysterious sources, yet creativity is such an intrinsically human function that Jung considered it one of five human instincts, together with hunger, sexuality, activity, and reflection (a function of consciousness).

Positive circumstances foster creativity: the ability to engage imagination, seek novelty, hone competency, and pursue autonomous, intrinsically rewarding activities. Stress inhibits new possibilities, and rigid societies and personalities fear creators, as new ideas and images challenge the status quo. Creativity can also be quashed from within, and one’s internal cynic, doubter, and deflator often shows up disguised as reason. It takes confidence and courage to surmount uncertainty, obstacles, and potential disappointment.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” What wants to come into the world through you?

Dream

I dreamt last night that my agent (and very good friend) had died, but while she was dead, she was still conscious! She was walking around and we were chatting, but she knew she was dead, too. Over what seemed like a few days she was decaying and there was a smell, but we were still in this one room, chatting. I remember feeling slightly scared, and would hold my breath around her.

She knew she would have to be buried soon. And there was a sense of us getting ready for that. But the burial never happened. There was no goodbye or funeral - or perhaps I just woke up.

References

Rollo May. The Courage to Create (Amazon).

Linda Leonard. The Call to Create (Amazon).

Marie Louise von Franz. Creation Myths (Amazon).

Allan B. Chinen. Various books on fairytales (Amazon).

Episode 119 - The Religious Attitude: What Do You Worship? Jul 09, 2020

The religious instinct is as basic as the need for food or shelter. Psyche seeks and selects a central, organizing life principle whether consciously or unconsciously chosen. Secular deities range from food, money, or even science, to the gods of addiction; false gods lie behind neuroses and pathology. Traditional religions and cosmologies offer connection to large, well-ordered frameworks of myth and meaning.

Realizing one’s place in the context of larger realities has the potential to connect us to mystery and numinous experience; then we belong to something greater. For Jung the decisive question was whether a person was related to the infinite: “It seems as if it were only through the experience of a symbolic reality that man, vainly seeking his own ‘existence’ and making a philosophy out of it, can find his way back to a world in which he is no longer a stranger.”

Dream

It is dusk and quickly becoming night. I am hidden from view, lying on my belly in a tunnel of some sort. I am looking out onto a clearing surrounded by trees. I see a small, fluffy, grey kitten--innocent, sweet. I want to climb out to hold the kitten and take care of it. Suddenly, a large, dark-brownish black bear lumbers in, crashing through the foliage; it doesn’t see me. I watch it, and am struck by how coarse the hair of his fur is and that the claws are ivory white but thick, strong and sharp.

I stay hidden, watching. The bear moves away and as it does, turns into a wrinkled light grey elephant; it is small, but from my point of view it looks quietly significant as it treads by. I am still hidden from view and feel awestruck and numb watching all this. I look down; I appear to be lying on over-sized slate- green stepping stones--oblong, almost triangular. Then to my horror, the stones begin to slowly shift up and along the ground, undulating!

I feel a mix of awe and fear when I realize that the stones are actually the scales of an enormous serpent/snake--and my reclining body is being carried along with it. I wake with the feeling that this dream is important to remember.

References

Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death (Amazon).

Episode 118 - Dissociation: Encountering Our Inner Exile Jul 02, 2020

Jung discovered the psyche’s dissociative nature through his Word Association Test. Subjects would delay or make nonsensical responses to ordinary words associated with troublesome personal memories or traumas.

Dissociation, our autonomous psychic “circuit breaker,” exists on a spectrum from ”spacing out” to disorders that interfere with life functioning. Psychotherapy could be considered the practice of healing dissociations, as treatment entails bringing banished contents into consciousness with feeling and understanding.

Fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty frequently depict dissociation as enchantment, abduction, or dismemberment. Reconnection with consciousness is the happily-ever-after resolution, for dissociation takes psychic energy that should be available for life. Giving our inner exiles a seat at the table of consciousness is crucial to wholeness.

Dream

I find myself at the bottom of an archaic like pit or well about 5 meters deep. There is very nice warm light coming into the pit, sandy golden and amber colors. recognize it as a snake pit but the space doesn't feel threatening. A large four-legged snake appears; at this moment I do feel fear but am also intrigued by this creature. I start climbing up a ladder to escape from the pit and the creature stands on its back legs to tug me down with its teeth. The creature is not violent but insistent. I make my way out of the pit that is bathed in warm light.

References:

John Bradshaw, Healing the Shame that Binds You (Amazon)

Bennett Braun, BASK model: scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/

Episode 117 - The Transcendent Function: Getting Unstuck Jun 25, 2020

The transcendent function comes in all sizes, from “aha” moments to epiphanies. A new orientation to a dilemma arrives unthought, recognized, and right. Perhaps there is a moment where loneliness gives way to solitude, or heartbreak yields to a larger sense of self. Apprehension of a new attitude--sunlight breaking through clouds--has overcome the impasse, bringing freshness, spaciousness and possibility.

Engaging the tension of an emotional struggle without giving in to premature, one-sided action can prepare the way for the unconscious to unite with consciousness. The transcendent function can also be sought through practicing active imagination or involvement in expressive arts, a practice Jung encouraged. He said that the transcendent function “is a way of attaining liberation by one’s own efforts and of finding the courage to be oneself.”

Dream

I'm on black rocks, like volcanic lava black, and walking from the sea behind me towards the land. I'm with my husband. There's a gap in the rocks--he goes to the left and I walk to the right. There is a channel of water between us. The channel gradually widens and I realize it will be difficult for us to cross it but we keep walking and then the rocks start to climb uphill but in such a way that we will not be able to cross over to each other. I say to my husband that we should cross now. I suggest that it will be easier for me to cross and I have found what looks like the narrowest part of the channel but then look to my right, and he has taken a giant step over at a wider spot and has reached my side but can't hold on--his feet have reached the rocks and his hands are trying to hold on so he can climb up, but the rocks he catches in his hands are loose and start to come undone so he is going to fall backwards. But he somehow manages to hold on. But I am looking at him and then I see myself in the water beside him--I see my body fully clothed wearing black warm wintery clothes and I'm slowly sinking from the surface. My husband says to me (the me that is on the rocks standing looking at my husband and myself sinking), “I'll just get you first” and he dives under the water and grabs me and tries to pass me up to myself. I realize I'm quite heavy and it's awkward to heave my body up. Then I am no longer separated in two anymore and we go into a house and he goes for a shower and I realize I am wet and that I need to go for a shower.

Episode 116 - Finding Resilience: A Conversation with Jim Hollis Jun 18, 2020

James Hollis, noted Jungian scholar, teacher and author, joined us to discuss resilience. His new book, Living Between Worlds: Finding Personal Resilience in Changing Times, will be available on Amazon in mid-June.

When life rhythms and habits are suspended or upended, we may find ourselves adrift. What supports us then? For most of history institutional religion, tradition, and tribal mythology unified communities and connected members to the transcendent. Today, however, discovering the capacity for creativity, wisdom and connection to a larger reality has become increasingly an individual endeavor. Hardship and its associates, anxiety, depression and desperation, can be the catalyst for turning from external authorities to the internal world. Our instincts, feelings and nightly dreams are accessible, autonomous and informative. They tell us what we don’t know about our values, issues, and actions—and they insist on re-accessing personal myth and meaning, for that is what moves us to an authentic journey. Real life wants to live in us and through us.

Episode 115 - We Can’t Breathe: Facing the Pain of Racism Jun 11, 2020

Racial injustice takes one’s breath away. It reaches back to the psychic asphyxiations of the Middle Passage, slavery, and Jim Crow—cut-offs from home, family, freedom and justice. Racism persists in systemic inequities and ongoing instances of police violence.

The death of George Floyd, handcuffed, pleading, and unable to breathe, has inspired a collective rising in protest against current brutality and historic inhumanity. Breath as essence, consciousness and soul gives voice to lamentation and outrage. We cry out for the clean air of fairness, because racism is utterly breathtaking. Dr. Fanny Brewster joins us for today’s important discussion.

References

Books by Fanny Brewster, PhD are available on Amazon.

The Racial Complex: A Jungian Perspective on Culture and Race

Archetypal Grief

African Americans and Jungian Psychology: Leaving the Shadows

Bonus Episode - On Becoming a Jungian Analyst Jun 08, 2020

Many listeners have expressed interest in Jungian analytic training. We welcome those inquiries and outline the prerequisites, practicalities and processes which lead up to and constitute Jungian analytic training--a life path of ongoing growth, challenge and satisfaction.

We encourage all who are interested in becoming a Jungian analyst to consult the major Jungian organizational and training resources below, and to research additional educational and Jungian institutes around the world. There are many routes to training as a Jungian analyst and we hope to help you find yours.

References

www.IAAP.org

www.irsja.org

www.cgjungphiladelphia.org

Episode 114 - Riots: When the Collective Catches Fire Jun 04, 2020

How can we understand the psychological wild fire of rioting? Jung, who lived through two world wars, understood that mass movements had the power to manifest archetypal energy. The urge to unleash destructive chaos is depicted in mythologies around the world.

Early Norse warriors attained battle-crazed states as "berserkers," and Cu Chulainn, a mythological Irish warrior, killed both friends and foe. Eris, the Greek goddess of discord and strife, started the Trojan War, and Kali, a Hindu god whose name derives from suffer, hurt, startle and confuse, also incited war. Riots--contagious states of regressive possession--belong to this archetypal realm. Jung said “collective man threatens to stifle the individual man, on whose sense of responsibility everything valuable in mankind ultimately depends…the true leaders of mankind are always those who are capable of self-reflection.”

Dream

I was in a forest next to a fortress wall. A little boy appeared with a cotton hood over his head that covered his face. The child was riding a white pony. I could see his blue eyes through slits in the hood. They looked sideways. I don't know if the child saw me, but he felt I was there because he clung to me. I hugged him and the pony with great love and tenderness. The child needed my love and protection. At that moment, a man in green clothes and armor approached me. Without being aggressive, he told me that I had to leave the child who was the king's son and had his own guard. The man kindly invited me to go with him. I was divided in my feelings. I felt great love for the child, but I also felt guilt that I was breaking some high rules I didn't understand.

I followed the man, who was now dressed in a long red robe and looked like a royal nobleman. I was walking about 10 meters after him. We went around the fortress and took the streets of the city. We walked for a long time. He entered a building, I followed him at a distance. When I entered the building, I heard his voice from below, he was walking down the stone stairs. He told me to pass him a big black hook on a chain. I obeyed unquestioningly and handed him the hook. At that moment, for the first time, I doubted the man and his intentions. Horrified, I realized that, guided by my guilt, I was following a torturer who made his prey prepare their own torments.

I realized that I had to do something right away and I regretted that I had not felt the threat before, when I could easily escape, because moving away after him, we were often in different places - for example, he had already entered the entrance, and I was still walking down the street. All I had to do was rush back up the stairs before entering his dungeon. I woke up in horror.

References:

Donald Kalsched. The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit. (Amazon)

Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Women Who Run with the Wolves (Amazon).

Episode 113 - Lockdown: Decoding the Covid Complex May 28, 2020

Oppressed, repressed and regressed, the forced restrictions of the Covid Complex have us in its grip. We may see friends and family more often than ever, but only on a screen.

Work, school, home, weekdays, weekends—time and tasks slide around like Jello on a hot plate. Loss of structure, variety, movement and touch are destabilizing. Confined to tight physical and emotional spaces, we may collapse into ourselves or lash out at loved ones. We hear contradictory messages on the news and go outside only if masked and defended.

The Covid Complex is both personal and collective—it affects each of us differently and it affects us all. Most of us have been forced inward physically and psychologically; perhaps this time is also an opportunity to rediscover inner resources and experience depth of being.

Dream

I am viewing media footage filmed from a helicopter looking down onto the forward section of a fast moving 60 foot solo sailed yacht that is heading out to sea. The yacht is hard to the wind, heeled over, plunging through a 1.5 meter sea, with ocean spray sweeping over the bow.

The sky is overcast, the sea grey, the wind is blowing over 25 knots and the land is out of sight and astern. A man (solo sailor) of approximately 70 years, dressed in yellow wet weather gear, is steadily making his way aft from the bow of the yacht toward the stern. He is moving in a crouch using a hand for support in an experienced and careful manner.

As he moves he is also tending to the headsail that is temporarily impaired by the life lines; he is caring in his attention to the sail. A news commentator is wishing the sailor well as he embarks on a long offshore passage. I am yearning that this will one day be me embarking on such a passage and I am empathizing with the harmony that the sailor is demonstrating toward the yacht by smoothing the sail and his experienced movements in challenging conditions.

Suddenly the sailor looks up toward the stern and breaks into a run, toward the stern. However, his foot catches on a fixed piece of rigging and he trips, falling forward, hitting his head hard on the deck. The news commentator is saying that this is the last time the sailor was seen or heard from and is now missing at sea. I am thinking how could it be the last time he was seen as there were people recording the footage and flying the helicopter.

I can’t understand how he could be missing. I wake up feeling shaken and bewildered.

Episode 112 - Midlife Crisis: Renewal or Stagnation May 21, 2020

Jung was particularly interested in the second half of life, perhaps because after his own midlife crisis he found himself so surprisingly generative. We tend to spend the first half of life oriented to familial values and cultural norms for success.

Education, work, partnering and child rearing are some of the mile markers for speed and distance on the road of life—until midlife strikes. We may then discover that worldly successes feel flat, or blame discontent on bad breaks.

Although dramatic lifestyle changes at midlife are the stuff of story, malaise at the midpoint is psyche’s signal to attend to unlived inner life. It is time for meaningful encounter between ego and unconscious, worldly rewards and true fulfillment, obligation and freedom. Midlife crisis is a call to deepened feeling and the unique meaning of your life.

Dream

I am walking with a group of my "clients" (developmentally disabled people). I have to work to keep the group together as some straggle here and there. I'm responsible for their well being so onward we go. I look on the ground/sidewalk and see a small round brown object which looks like a tree nut. I pick it up and upon closer inspection realize that it is of animal nature rather than plant - and alive. As I hold it in the palm of my hand, it morphs into a tiny creature, tinier than my pinky finger. I can't just leave it there so I slip it into my pocket and keep walking, trying to keep my rag-tag group together.

After a while I look into my pocket to check on it and it has grown some and looks a bit like a fetal kitten. It looks unwell and I think it might not live. We continue to walk. The third time I look into my pocket, the creature has turned into a baby bird with black, red, and white feathers. The bird is in tremendous suffering with its stomach cut open and a look of horror, pain and grief on it's face. I feel these emotions too and think, "Oh no! It's going to die.” I keep it in my pocket and try to soothe it, but still we keep on walking.

Toward the end of our escapade, I look into my pocket a fourth time. This time the bird is fully grown and leaps out, startling me. Now the bird is pure white, luminous with three round feathers on slim stalks atop its head. Among its body feathers are multicolored zinnia flowers sprouting along with the feathers. It hops into a landscape planter along the sidewalk and establishes itself amid the vegetation.

I back away in shock, completely amazed. I pull out my cell phone to try to take a picture of it but can't because a survey keeps popping up on the screen of my phone, preventing me from using the camera. I curse and search my bag for another phone and finally do manage to snap a pic, but I still don't know what to make of it.

Episode 111 - Jung, UFOs & Aliens: The Truth is Out There May 14, 2020

The Pentagon recently released a film of a UFO made by Navy pilots. Although such credible documentation is new, UFO sightings go back to ancient times and surged after World War II.

Interstellar travel then seized the collective imagination, and the ongoing abundance of books, television shows and films signals the emergence of a new mythology. In his treatise “Flying Saucers,” Jung took a phenomenological stance, acknowledging experiences of sightings without concretizing them as physical or dismissing them as fictional.

Alchemists projected psyche onto matter at a time when its transformational properties inspired reverence and awe. Today, no matter what other truths are out there, UFOs reach “beyond the realm of earthly organizations and powers into the heavens, into interstellar space, where the rulers of human fate, the gods, once had their abode in the planets…”

Dream

I’m in a Catholic Church that is crumbling down with my mother and a priest. At the bottom of the building there are some wooden boxes and there is a big, brown female marsupial there. I am told by the priest to kill her, but I don’t want to, so instead I hit her repeatedly on the head with a book.

At some point she reacts and moves. She does not attack me but opens her mouth like a vagina, and before leaving she tells me: At least you won’t have kids that make you older and make you fat. She departs and I feel somehow relieved to have some definition about the topic of having children or not.

References

Jung, C.G. Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies(Amazon).

Harper, Patrick. Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld (Amazon).

Episode 110 - ZOOMing In: Is Psyche Alive Online? May 07, 2020

We have moved our lives online. But can we experience authentic human connection through virtual technology? Can we date, mourn, or have psychoanalysis on a screen? If screens offer some surprising intimacies—close-ups of wedding vows and eulogies—they also deprive us of embodied participation. Staying at home has made us newly eager to socialize—separately. Dating means conversation, not cuddling.

We enter the homes of colleagues, clients, and even newscasters, but despite this implicit amity we’re not guests. Psychoanalysts refer to “the analytic third,” physicists propound unified field theory, and Jung had these words carved over his door: Called or not called, God will be there.

There is an autonomous spirit and independent intelligence that lives in and between us and even onscreen. It can hold us in the mystery of meaningful connection that is not contingent on physical presence.

Dream

I was a magician’s apprentice. The magician was old and dying, and was in a hurry to pass on his legacy to me. He showed me a wooden box with jewelry. The box was placed on the lid of a deep well to the underworld. He opened the box and gave me two black diamonds, and told me he had locked a dangerous demon inside the well by casting a spell with the diamonds.

If the diamonds were ever to fall inside the well the demon would get back its power and escape the well. It was my job now to make sure no one threw the diamonds into the well. The magician then turned into an old man (who I think was my grandfather). He was suffering from dementia and kept trying to put one of the diamonds in the well, which he succeeded with when I turned my back on him for a moment. The demons came out--one was a big blue lobster.

They were free but had lost their evil powers, since I still had one of the diamonds in my hand. The lobster-demon demanded I use my power to lift the spell from the diamond, which I did. But nothing happened. The demons were still powerless. I realized that the demons had been in the well for so long that they had forgot how to be evil, and now they were loving creatures that just wanted to be free.

Episode 109 - Jung & Astrology: Cosmos & Character Apr 30, 2020

Astrology is a 4000-year-old discipline rooted in the mystery of man’s relationship to the universe. It is an archetypal frame for human experience that influenced Jung, depicts our connection to the heavens, and anticipates future trends.

We are now beginning an approximately 38-year Pluto-Saturn cycle—and Covid-19 has appeared at its outset. Pluto is associated with the underworld; Saturn is a stern taskmaster and enforcer of boundaries. The virus is forcing us to face fear and death—and also consider what egoistic attitudes may need to die. We can relate to these dark times with despair or as opportunity to create a healthier relationship with self, community and earth.

The Age of Aquarius inspires the possibility of greater consciousness, for which Jung strove in his life and work. We can attend to planetary influences that point the way ahead.

Dream

I am on or in the ocean. Not sure how I got there or where I am going -- also strangely not in something. From my left a huge ship appears. In the "window" of the ship there is an elephant and a giraffe next to each other. They "smile" at me as they pass me as if to say goodbye and there the ship disappears on the horizon. Then I wake up. I am now left with the image of Noah's Ark but can't make sense of the symbolism.

References

Christina Becker’s website: www.cjbecker.com.

Classes with Christina Becker: Jungianmasterclasses.thinkific.com.

Cosmos & Psyche: Intimation of a New World View by Richard Tarnas.

Jung’s Studies in Astrology: Prophecy, Magic & the Qualities of Time by Liz Greene.

Episode 108 - Authority: Who’s in Charge Around Here? Apr 23, 2020

The dictionary defines authority as the power to “influence or command thought, opinion or behavior.” Authority’s Latin roots are master, leader, author—thus it lives next to its tough cousin, power. Families, organizations, and governing bodies influence and command us, whether slightly or mightily. Authority has legitimacy, from a traffic officer’s directives to a mentor’s wisdom.

An authority may reward desired behavior or provide expert advice. We can rebel against authority, be coerced into compliance, or fall into identification with a leader. Ultimately, we must claim our own authority in determining values and making decisions. Jung says, “Life calls us forth to independence, and anyone who does not heed this call because of childish laziness or timidity is threatened with neurosis. And once this has broken out, it becomes an increasingly valid reason for running away from life and remaining forever in the morally poisonous atmosphere of infancy.”

Dream

There is a viral outbreak. I'm in a car pulling out into the street. I see a lot of police cars parked to monitor traffic. I'm pulled over by the police and taken to a medical facility for testing. The police officer gets tested first by a shot in the arm and then I'm taken downstairs for a "cheaper, less reliable test for the virus." This seems stupid and vindictive.

My perspective shifts to a news flash vignette showing how amidst the pandemic, young men have regressed into grotesque testicular forms who engage in tribal rituals of dysfunctional, impractical sex, chanting "me to me" or "us to us" like in the sex scene in the film Requiem for a Dream. Very dark and disturbing. The global birth rate is plummeting. From elsewhere on the planet a "pure as the driven snow" baby girl is born and mankind is redeemed.

References:

Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind (Amazon).

Episode 107 - Nigredo: Finding Light in Our Darkness Apr 16, 2020

The alchemical term nigredo means black or blackening, and is associated with decomposition and putrefaction. As a psychological state, nigredo is “the great suffering and grief” which the detached forces of nature inflict on the soul.

We realize in sorrow that what we thought were truths were illusory. Individuals may have taken pride in their virtues, talents or good fortune; societies may have touted their cultural superiority, military prowess, or wealth. When we are stripped of easy beliefs, we have no defense against the desolation of nigredo.

But as surely as a seed releases its urge to life underground, blackness is also a place of incubation. Jung states, “Everything psychic is pregnant with the future.” Our task is “to be at home in the darkness of suffering and there find germs of light and recovery” from which new life will come.

Dream

I was arriving to a commotion in a beautiful open-space garden beside the university building where I graduated. As I was approaching the crowd, I wondered who it was that everyone were so excited about. I was carrying a sort of notebook and was wearing a sort of girly school outfit that indicated that I was a student again.

I was surprised to see a slender gay man who was topless and with a floral headpiece dancing in a circular motion or like he was just so free and flowing and everyone was hoping he would notice them. He was dancing backed up by 3-4 women with floral crowns and white flow-y gowns. He was just so fluid and beautiful. Then he looked at me. And I knew he liked me. When his dance was finished and everybody had left, he came to me and said hi. And then, we kissed. It was a deep and profound kiss; I have never been kissed that way.

With our tongues doing the talking, we communicated to each other. He told me, 'Why are you so sad?' I said I was afraid. Then I woke seeing my sleeping baby beside me.

Reference

Edinger, Edward. Anatomy of the Psyche: Alchemical Symbolism in Psychotherapy (Amazon).

Episode 106 - When Everything Changes: Is There Opportunity in Crisis? Apr 09, 2020

In the Chinese language, the two characters representing crisis are danger and opportunity. Can that possibly be true of these days of pandemic crisis, with physical, economic, and psychological destabilization? Voices of experience and wisdom speak to us about finding potential in desperate situations.

Victor Frankl, imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, discovered he had the power to choose his attitude toward brutal circumstances. Erich Fromm felt that isolation and fear could lead either to experiencing or forfeiting personal freedom.

Carl Jung valued the human capacity for consciousness: “As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.” We can be heartened in hard times by those who have gone before, turned inward, and found treasure.

Dream

I’m walking into my high school dressed in school uniform for the first time in years. I walk through the cafeteria and people are all looking at me and whispering. I sit at some seats by myself. I see some classmates I recognize and ask why they’re all still here when we left high school 5 years ago. They tell me it’s because of the coronavirus outbreak. I ask, “Why would it be the coronavirus outbreak when that has only just started?” They don’t give me a proper answer. I am not aware of why I am here either but I have just rejoined after some time away whereas the others have been here for a long time.

References (Books available on Amazon):

Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom

Episode 105 - Ancestors: Our Psychological Inheritance Apr 02, 2020

The archetype of origins is in resurgence since the advent of ancestry-mapping programs. What are the psychological and symbolic meanings of ancestry? Identity is often strongly linked to ancestry in its ethnic and cultural aspects, and as the carrier of personal traits.

Genealogy gives rise to meaning-making narratives such as: I get my talent for storytelling from my Irish forebears. Jung knew that family complexes are handed down when he said, “Psychologically, the central point of a human personality is the place where the ancestors are reincarnated.” Genograms, another mapping technique, allow us to trace those intellectual and emotional family patterns.

Every individual rests on a historical foundation of family, tribe, clan, and nation—and, at levels below consciousness, we are also affected by our common roots in the primeval past and the mysterious central fire of life. In order to differentiate from this multi-layered context, it can help to know it.

Dream

I was in a quaint English village. Next to the village ran a river, and on the other side of this river were fields. A traditional Cotswold stone bridge joined both sides of this river. Suddenly, I seemed to be competing in some sort of local race. I was competing in this race against 2 friends/girls (unknown to me). I remember pushing myself past one of the girls to place first in this race.

I remember feeling a little self-conscious of the fact that I had not let this friend of mine win, and hoped that she didn't think I was being a "dick". The race centered and finished around the bridge joining both sides of the river. As I stood on this bridge and looked down at the river, I noticed a dog (possibly a Springer Spaniel) was drowning. I felt a strong urge to save this dog, and felt sad that it was in such distress.

As I looked on in horror I noticed some netting was beginning to cover the surface of the river (a bit like when you cover a pond or swimming pool). I knew at that point the dog was going to die, as it could no longer come up for air. I could hear sirens in the distance, which seemed to indicate both the possibility of help and danger in the form of police sirens (something/someone coming to reprimand me). It was forbidden to jump in the river but I did it anyway. I pulled the dog out of the river, at which point I noticed it had morphed into a Seal.

I began to care for this Seal, and in doing so, it again morphed in to a small, podgy young boy. I held the young boy in my arms, and I told myself, "I'd do it all again despite the potential danger". I was relieved I had saved the dog - seal - young boy. There was a sense of heroic accomplishment.

References:

Monica McGoldrick: source of multiple books on genograms (Amazon).

Episode 104 - Therapist Disclosures: Withholding or Overloading? Mar 26, 2020

Should an analyst share personal information with clients? Freud believed that the analyst should be devoid of personal presence, so he sat unseen behind his famous couch. Jung realized that regardless of theory, psychotherapy entailed two people in a room interacting.

He likened two personalities to chemical substances: as they combined both would be altered. Jung and his patients interacted face to face, for Jung welcomed the complexities of human relationship. Relational dynamics are the bedrock of the therapeutic process; we invite them into the consulting room.

Vulnerabilities, friendliness, power dynamics, humor, and shadow’s many manifestations appear in body language, facial expression, and feeling tone as well as language. Humans are wired to read one another, so disclosure is inevitable. The crucial concern for the therapist is that disclosures serve authentic relationship, including the deconstruction of isolation and shame when we as therapists are seen in our humanity.

Dream

It’s the middle of the night and pitch black outside. I am in a car with my therapist; she is driving slowly and talking to me. I listen and reply in a quiet voice with a rather trivial statement; I also use pretentious wording like ‘sine qua non’, which is not like me. She nods in agreement. I move closer but she raises her eyebrows and I pull back to my seat, concerned that I might have seemed inappropriate.

We start hearing a man in the distance, singing a beautiful operatic aria. His voice is mesmerising and sad. All of a sudden, I and my therapist are in the back seats and I cannot see who is driving the car. The voice is getting louder and I get more scared by the minute. The man is now forcing the front door opposite the driving seat, and has attached to the car. I am aware he is breaking in and I am terrorised.

I wake up with my heart beating and check on my husband who is sleeping, then go listen at my son’s door. By this point, my consciousness has fully returned and I know it was just a dream. I have a certain name in mind, a man I knew briefly but who was important in my life, but I am wise enough to realise the man could also be a part of myself.

Episode 103 - Facing the Fear of Coronavirus: Finding a Grounding Attitude Mar 19, 2020

The word plague derives from the Latin plangere, “to strike the breast as if in lamentation.” The novel coronavirus has visited loss, fear and hardship on many. Nature in her destructive mode can radically disrupt cultural creations and norms and show us how fragile they – and we -- are.

We may also find new sources of sustenance within. Dreams, bodywork, and the imaginal realm can help us access a new attitude: a reorientation of purpose, meaning, and consciousness.

“The great events of world history are, at bottom, profoundly unimportant. In the last analysis, the essential thing is the life of the individual. This alone makes history, here alone do the great transformations first take place, and the whole future, the whole history of the world, ultimately spring as a gigantic summation from these hidden sources in individuals. In our most private and most subjective lives, we are not only the passive witnesses of our age, and its sufferers, but also its makers. We make our own epoch.”

C.G. Jung, CW 18, Para. 1400.

Dream

The landscape is a lush, deep forest. In the foreground is what appears to be a bush, a brightly colored bush that looks like something out of science fiction as it is unique to the shrubbery around it. In fact, the neon-colored blossoms on the shrub are the club-shaped viral spike peplomers of a virus and I immediately know this 'bush' to be an image of a coronavirus. A female deer is peacefully munching on these 'blossoms' one by one. I take the image of the deer eating the blossoms of the virus bush to represent how the wonders of the natural world can be an antidote to the pandemics of our time.

Episode 102 - Destiny: Are We Fated to Have One? Mar 12, 2020

Questions about fate and destiny have existed for millennia. Fate often refers to unalterable realities, from genes to future events, whereas destiny points to future potential.

An acorn’s likely fate is to die on the forest floor, but its destiny is to become an oak tree. Jung understood that “…when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside, as Fate.” Differentiating from family and collective values, and from the inner world of the unconscious, is what can enable us to change what appears to be external and autonomous: “fate.”

The process of making inner situations conscious, the task of individuation, is the central aim of Jung’s psychology. This is also imaged as the hero’s journey of finding and fulfilling one’s destiny -- discovering one’s true purpose.

Jung said, “At bottom, therefore, there is only striving, namely, the striving after your own being.”

Dream

I am at a lake with a female companion. It is somewhere in the midwest, maybe Missouri. We go to the public shelter that is at the lake, and notice that the bathroom doors have been bent and hang on their hinges. It is as if something has been ramming them from the inside. My companion gasps as she discovers there is a body behind one of the doors. There is a storm building outside, and it starts to get dark. I find myself next walking in Riverdale, NY and it is nighttime. The streets are pretty hilly and there are tall projects around me. The wind is picking up, and rain, like there may be a hurricane. I spot a werewolf crawling headfirst down one of the projects. It leaps in front of me and snarls. I realize suddenly that I know magick, and begin to shoot lightning from my fingertips at the werewolf.

References

Jung, C.G. Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Amazon)

Hillman, James. The Soul’s Code (Amazon)

Bollas, Christopher. The Unthought Known (Amazon)

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Amazon)

Episode 101 - Pessimism: Was Eeyore Right? Mar 05, 2020

“Could be worse. Not sure how, but it could be.” For Eeyore, only perverse possibilities lie ahead, even if they are unknowable. Do gloomy expectations create self-fulfilling prophecies? Or are pessimists more realistic than naive optimists like Winnie the Pooh? Pessimism can be associated with depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and more. It may also motivate preparation and striving, especially if the pessimist believes he or she can overcome significant obstacles and succeed.

There is a difference between ability to anticipate pitfalls and a depressed or hopeless emotional state. Pessimism may have roots in early relational disappointments, leading the person to believe it is better not to expect anything good than to hope for reward and be disappointed.

The Greek myth of Icarus is often seen as a cautionary tale against recklessly flying too high and falling – but Icarus was also warned against fearfully flying too low and immobilization. Holding the tension of the opposites—pessimism and optimism--is what makes movement of libido possible.

Dream

I was flying through a futuristic city. On the ground below me, I saw a small model or replica of a stadium and circled above it several times. It felt familiar to me, and I thought that I had seen it in other lucid dreams of mine. It felt like an important sign since it was showing up again, so I wanted to investigate it more in this dream. In my mind, I thought to myself, “May I understand the wisdom of this art piece.”

When I flew down to the ground to get a closer look, I saw what looked like a children’s book lying there. I picked it up and tried to read the cover and flip through to see what was on the pages. The text was blurred, as though I wasn’t wearing my glasses. I squinted and moved the book further away and closer to me, trying to get the words in focus, but the text remained blurry. I felt thwarted and began crying with frustration. I cried, “God, why do you put this here for me if I can’t read what it says?”

At last, I was able to see the title somewhat more clearly and repeated it to myself again and again in the dream in order to remember it when I woke up. The title of the book was “The Fullness of Round Objects”.

Episode 100 - Outrageous! What Drives Shocking Behaviors? Feb 27, 2020

We can all cite examples of behaviors that defy reason and meaning. How can we understand X shouting those things at a party, or the bizarre thing Y filmed himself doing on YouTube? There is a great array of psychological labels for such behaviors, as if pronouncing them “histrionic,” “manic” or even “drunk” explains radical actions and cascades of feelings.

The roots of such exaggerated expressions may lie in early relational traumas and attempts to compensate for authentic lacks by appearing uncaring and daring, or dramatic and demanding.

Overall, an inability to hold the tension between feeling and action has occurred, hinting at an adaptive failure. Extreme behaviors are often the externally expressed compensation for their internal opposites, so outrageous behavior may be a plea for empathic attention and authentic connection.

Dream

I am observing two creatures walk up a steep flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs lies another creature, this one is beautiful and majestic. It is dying. I see its spine protruding, the bones have made it to the surface. I am disturbed. I watch as one of the creatures opens the dying creatures’ stomach - which has been sliced open. The creature slides inside. I have the felt sense that it is sucking up what little life force remains of the dying creature. I feel simultaneously disturbed, angry and paralyzed by terror. I wake up at this time.

References

Salman, Sherry. Dreams of Totality: Where We Are When There’s Nothing at the Center (Amazon, paperback)

McWilliams, Nancy. Psychoanalytic Diagnosis (Amazon)

Sunset Boulevard (film)

Episode 099 - Projection: When the Dart Lands Feb 20, 2020

The power of projections to hit psychic targets serves both defensive and integrative functions. Projections are a natural aspect of psychic functioning, as we know from watching children at play: we first see inner images “out there” in order to experience them internally.

Projections give shape to affects and archetypal images, from the hero to the healer, the derelict to the destroyer. We also tend to project our shadows outward, attributing disliked or undeveloped aspects of ourselves to others. In The Wizard of Oz Dorothy and her companions project the power to change their lives onto the wizard.

When they discover he is only “the man behind the curtain” they recognize their projections as illusions and are able to see the wizard more objectively. Withdrawing projections allows us to become more empowered and whole.

Dream

There is a group of young women/girls - I am either one of them or I am all of them (that’s the sense I get). There is the knowledge that one of us has to make a sacrifice for the group. The youngest is chosen – a beautiful girl (maybe age 10-12) with long dark hair in shiny curls. She is kind and willing to sacrifice.

She is led to an old stone building by two of the other girls (twins with bobbed dark hair and a harsher personality). Instructions for the sacrifice are in the building. The next day the girls/women return to find the sacrifice was completed.

The youngest has had to sacrifice herself to make a bowl of soup for the others. The red tomato and herb soup was made with her outer layers - skin and flesh. The sacrifice was made willingly and for the benefit of the group.

Episode 098 - Climate Change: How Can We Welcome Upsetting Truths? Feb 13, 2020

Recent severe environmental events have made facing climate change urgent. We talk with Jeffrey Kiehl, PhD, climate scientist, Jungian analyst, and author, about bringing a psychological perspective to our present situation and the process of change. (Kiehl’s book is listed below.)

The modern myth of infinite growth and limitless natural resources has led to equating consumerism with personal fulfillment. This belief underlies environmental imbalance; a new attitude is needed to restore right relationship with the earth. Kiehl draws on a tale Jung loved: a Chinese village struck by drought sent for the rainmaker, but right after he arrived he retreated to a secluded hut outside the village.

Three days later, it rained. The rainmaker explained that the villagers had been so out of balance that he became infected. He then had to withdraw in order to return to Tao—and then, quite naturally, it rained. The rainmaker—and Jung—knew that one’s inner life and wholeness is the foundation for external change.

Kiehl underscores the importance of a lived relationship with Nature and the unconscious, sources of wholeness and harmony. If we engage in the rainmaker’s work we can infect—and affect—the external world.

The Myth of Erysichthon

In lieu of an individual dream, a myth, a dream from the collective, is analyzed.

http://classictales.educ.cam.ac.uk/stories/metamorphoses/erysichthon/explore/Erysichthon_transcript.pdf

Have you had a dream that you feel relates to our global climate emergency? This Jungian Life is collecting such dreams. You can share yours with us here.

References:

Kiehl, Jeffrey. Facing Climate Change: An Integrated Path to the Future (Amazon).

Ovid. The Metamorphoses (Amazon).

McGilchrist, Iain. The Master and His Emissary (Amazon).

Episode 097 - A Psychology of Redemption Feb 06, 2020

As we grow, unconscious unity becomes differentiated into feeling, ego, personality and desire. As we grow, we will have initiatory encounters with shadow, demanding the sacrifice of innocence and identification with ego.

The story of Adam and Eve conceives this archetypal experience as the fall. The stories of Job, Faust and even the children’s tale, The Velveteen Rabbit, tell us how we may achieve redemption from a fall. The fairytale of The Black Princess depicts this vividly as the struggle to engage shadow and the need to surrender to something greater, which Jung called the Self.

We experience redemption as grace: the gift of a relationship with the Self. For Jung redemption was part of the work of individuation, a process of reclaiming lost or forgotten parts of ourselves in order to become consciously whole and in relation to a guiding Self.

Here's the dream we analyze:

"In my dream, my mom and I are in the backyard that is adjacent to a street. We see Jimmy Fallon walking over to us with a baby's car seat held over his head. Jimmy greets us and my mom asks if she could see the baby. So, Jimmy lowers the car seat, sets it on the ground and reveals that the car seat is filled with this orange liquid that completely submerges the baby. My mom was very excited to see the baby and Jimmy smiles at her excitement. I then panic and ask them if they can't see the baby is drowning. Although I brought it to their attention they didn't seem very worried but I wound up tipping the car seat over to discard the liquid."

Episode 096 - Polyamory: Navigating the Complexities of the Heart Jan 30, 2020

Polyamory, a current phenomenon, endorses open relationships with multiple lovers. The term means many loves, and polyamory strives to legitimize the benefits of non-monogamous romance and sexuality among adults.

Jung engaged in an open, extramarital relationship with Toni Wolff. Does polyamory represent an overthrow of outdated cultural mores in an age when sex can be safe? Or is committed, often sanctified bonding a deeply rooted part of human nature and development? There are parallels in the development of a relationship between two people and the relationship of ego to the unconscious.

Jung discovered that the alchemical images in The Rosarium Philosophorum, depicting stages of relationship for a couple, illustrated the individuation process. Is polyamory a way of rationalizing ego gratification and avoiding monogamous commitment? Or is polyamory a call to forgo outmoded cultural restrictions and experience connections with others that can facilitate inner growth?

Dream

"I am walking alongside the man that I am currently dating. He is on my right side. Suddenly on my left side, the man I am still in love with appears with the woman he has a child with (in waking life, he has a child with a woman he did not marry and co-parents. I am still not over him and wish we were together). In the dream, he has had another child with her. I’m surprised he’s had another child with her. It makes me think he has had even more intimacy and “work to do” with her in his life path. I am stuck in the middle... the man I am dating is on my right side, but I am not really interested in him (even though he treats me wonderfully in real life, he doesn’t feel like “the one”). The man I desire is on my left, with a woman and two kids, a life and world he’s been focusing on. He sees me, and I feel this strong and pleasant attraction and connection between us - like a youthful friendship mixed with love - I realize/know that he continues to be interested in me too, even though we are apart. I wake up, confused but happy to have a positive dream about his feelings towards me (In waking life, I continue to regret our breakup and he has ignored attempts I have made to rekindle a friendship and begin communication again)."

Episode 095- TRIGGERED: Understanding & Transforming Complexes Jan 23, 2020

When we speak of being triggered, what exactly is it that sends us into a familiar arc of feeling and behavior we may later regret? That mysterious force seems external and can elude our ability to locate it within. Jung called these autonomous and unconscious incursions complexes, and he discovered them through his Word Association Test.

A subject’s delayed or inappropriate reaction to a stimulus word such as tree or house indicated an unconscious disturbance that could then yield to understanding. Complexes are a fundamental part of our inner landscape: our experiences cluster around innate human patterns, emotions, bodily sensations, and personal memories.

We are complexed when we are automatically, emotionally and physiologically aroused, often in ways that are out of proportion to the situation. We begin to transform a complex by noticing, naming, and claiming it as our own. Then we can catch it before we react—and instead, respond. Complexes are constellated, clustered together like stars—and they can shine their light on our unconscious patterns.

Dream

"I am going to become the next queen of England. But first, I had to clean a lot of food and trash from an audience seating area (like stands at a sports arena). I asked the Queen if I was making a mistake by becoming the next queen. She said yes, and that I will have no time to give to my own children (once I have them). A young male adviser to the Queen was assisting her and helping to set everything up for the transition. On a break from cleaning, I went down to a craft fair and visited some old ladies and talked to them about the beautiful art they made. My grandmother was there, trying to print a photograph I took of a Legislature building. I returned to my task and at 6:00 PM, I made my way to sit on the right arm of the Queen's chair, ready for the ceremony."

Episode 094 - Finding Resilience as We Face New Disasters Jan 16, 2020

Although there have been a number of recent destructive environmental events, the duration and devastation of the fires in Australia have made a powerful impact on the collective psyche. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, although disastrous to humans, seem acausal aspects of Nature. Other environmental damage, such as Amazon fires, is caused by human behavior. Australia’s plight, however, calls into blazing question mankind’s relationship with the Great Mother herself. Like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah or The Flood, we may wonder about archetypal retribution for man’s environmental sins. Just as ego may be called through crisis into right relationship with soul, perhaps the heartbreak of this current psychic scorching will open new consciousness and caring.

Dream

"It's a sunny afternoon and I'm walking, in a loose crowd, with my entire extended family up a hill on a large field of green grass. Forest surrounds us at the far edges. We are on our way to a funeral, the atmosphere is serene. Suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I notice a lumberjack-like man walking past everyone through the crowd carrying a huge leather/mesh bag on his back. I can see the bag consists of three grown grizzly bears. Once the man arrives on top of the hill (quite far ahead of me and my nuclear family) he sets down the massive bag and zips it open. I'm thinking, "STOP"! The three bears scramble out the bag and wreak havoc on the crowd. It quickly goes dark and the dream turns into a hide-and-seek sort of horror show. I'm hiding with my father in a small, half built old wooden cottage by which a river flows and I see one of the bears swimming, searching."

Episode 093 - Dynamics of Change & Renewal Jan 09, 2020

A new year often symbolizes a new beginning, with resolutions to make specific lifestyle changes related to self-improvement. Research indicates, however, that up to 88% of these resolutions fail. If changes—no matter how worthy--are imposed by ego alone, the unconscious is likely to have its say by rebelling.

Meaningful change requires the willingness to sit at the crossroads of inner conflict, steep in its mystery, and honor the opportunity for relationship rather than repression. Contemplation before action includes inner assessment of readiness, resources, and response-ability.

Sacrifice is required, external programs or people may provide support, and the goal must be aligned with purpose inspired by the Self. Jung stated that we don’t solve our problems, we grow bigger than our problems. Meaningful change and renewal occurs when we have engaged an inner conflict and thereby become more whole.

Dream

"I'm in a fortress with a tall tower and I'm participating in some kind of sacrificial ritual. I know there are other participants but I don't see them. We have to answer a question correctly or face a painful death. I fail the test and am brought to the top of the tower for the sacrifice, which involves being cut into pieces. I run away and throw myself off the top of the tower to avoid that torture. I hit the ground and find myself back in the tower, having to throw myself over the edge again to escape the sacrifice. This happens multiple times."

Episode 092 - Trickster Jan 02, 2020

The archetype of the trickster shows up in ambiguity, duplicity, contradiction and paradox. Usually depicted as masculine, trickster has been featured in tales worldwide through history. We see him as a boundary crosser, shape-shifting imitator, versatile adapter, and disrupter of norms whose deceptions often backfire on him.

Our inner trickster causes ego’s intentions to go haywire, and shows up as slips of the tongue, forgetting something important, or dream behavior that jolts the waking mind. Trickster’s disregard for rationality and rules disrupts stasis and rigidity, paradoxically helping to establish standards and create culture. Trickster lies at the heart of art and story, enlarging our world by imaging and voicing psychic truths.

Trickster confronts us with our limitations, and can be counted on to teach us flexibility and humility with irreverent humor.

Dream

"I’m walking along the edge of a wood along a path. I see a stag emerge from the wood and then the rest of his deer herd join him. I think ‘wow how magical’, but it quickly becomes evident that they are a threatening presence. The stag starts running towards me and the rest of the herd follows. I run as fast as I can, but as I start to feel the stags breathe on my back, I realize that I cannot out run him. I decide to grab him by the horns and throw him down. I kill him."

References

Hyde, Lewis. Trickster Makes This World, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (Amazon).

Episode 091 - Secrets Dec 26, 2019

Although a secret is usually considered information deliberately kept from others, we also keep secrets from ourselves. Internal secrets consist of emotionally laden knowledge that consciousness represses; the price of such secrets may be a complex or neurosis.

Secrets can alienate us from ourselves as well as others, and are often fueled by shame, guilt and fear. Family secrets can be especially burdensome, even toxic. However, secrets can also serve positive purposes. Sharing a secret can strengthen friendship through a special bond of trust. Secrets help social life run smoothly; initiatory rites may be secret to enhance the significance of a life passage; secrets can help children and teens realize their unique and separate selves; and secrets can protect others from harm.

Secrets are also essential to psychoanalysis: secrets can be safely discovered and will be well contained in the temenos of the consulting room.

Dream
"A man is recovering from an illness, sitting down on a chair. He calls me for protection. As I go forward towards him, he looks to his right side to some human figures (females) hidden in the dark. He is afraid of them, he tells me. I come close and hug him and notice that he has a very thick and voluminous hair. His hair emanates energy. I wake up feeling this high energy around my arms."

References
Westover, Tara. Educated (Amazon).

Episode 090 - Scrooge on the Couch: How the Numinous Transforms Dec 19, 2019

Something's going on in Scrooges soul...and it's tired of waiting for an invitation.

And so, as Tiny Tim declared, "God bless Us, Every One!”

Episode 089 - Sibling Complexes Dec 12, 2019

Siblings are embedded in the human psyche as they are in life. Even if one lacks siblings, there is ready access to them through friends, fairy tales, myths, and scripture. All feature multiple experiences and examples of sibling solidarity and siblings as shadow carriers. Birth order, sex, temperament, and the quality of parental presence play a part in constellating the intense polarities of sibling relationships: competition and cooperation, admiration and envy, hierarchy and partnership, aggression and intimacy. We often carry the dynamics of early sibling relationships into adult life and project them onto individuals, work teams or social groups. Jung used the alchemical image of the soror mystica and the adept to represent a relational ideal, whether externally between self and other or internally between ego and unconscious. Each must have a respectful and equal say, from collaboration to confrontation.

Dream

In my dream, I visited a pet shop to buy a snake. I had my dog with me. I looked around the store and couldn't find any reptiles, so I asked the staff and one of the employees told me they kept them in a separate room. He had no face and reminded me of a jailer as he carried a bunch of keys with him. The old wooden door we approached didn't match the rest of the store, which was very modern, friendly and light. As he unlocked the door, my dog tried to get in with us but I told her to wait outside. The room on the other side seemed to have no ceiling or visible end and was more like a dungeon or cave. On the right hand side from the door there was a wooden outdoor rabbit cage with six compartments. It was too dark to see the animals but I could hear some sizzling and strangely humming noises and saw that all of their skins had different patterns in black and white. The man asked me if I wanted to hold one and before I could say anything he opened one of the boxes and gave me a smaller snake. It felt warm and lively in my hands and I enjoyed holding it. I couldn't see its head, so I tried to get a closer look and as I held it closer to my face it started biting my hand a couple of times though it didn't really hurt and even if it did strike before every bite they felt more like it was just nibbling a bit. The man asked me if I was okay and I laughed and told him that I was not afraid of snakes. I handed it back to him and decided that I didn't really need a snake as a pet. As I opened the door to get back, my dog was excited to see me and I petted her for a while at the threshold. Through the open door some bright light fell on the cage and I looked back and finally got a closer look at the snakes. They were all sleeping and still making humming sounds, rolled up as snakes do but their heads looked like those of rabbits with no ears.

References (books available on Amazon)

Newton, Lara. Brothers and Sisters: Discovering the Psychology of Companionship.

Fairy Tales: The Children of Lir, Six Swans.

Conroy, Pat. The Prince of Tides.

Jahren, Hope. Lab Girl.

Film: Winged Migration.

Episode 088 - Partings & Farewells Dec 05, 2019

Partings connote a finality of farewell that signifies completion of a relationship. We may part from a stage of life, depart from home or college, or say farewell to a person, process or project. Partings signify the end of a story that has been told and reached conclusion. The Japanese tale of Princess Moonbeam illustrates the importance of accepting a necessary ending: those who could not do so were turned into statues, fixed in eternal stasis.

The refusal to part or devaluing its importance may indicate a lack of the selfhood necessary to suffer a loss and move into a new, even uncertain, future. Conscious parting honors meaning and connection. It allows us to honor the spring and summer of growth, celebrate autumn’s harvest, and accept the quietude of winter. Ideally, we can embrace the depth of feeling in a farewell and fall upon it willingly and with grace.

Dream
I was sitting behind a table in a narrow and small room. The placement of the table made it difficult to reach the only door out of the room. In the doorway was a reasonably pleasant African man, dressed in a uniform with various decorations. On the table, however, was a huge, dissected tarantula. Also in my possession I had some sort of file that warned me of the danger of the poisonous spider, apparently it had killed a man. I felt quite disturbed and claustrophobic in the small room, then I woke up.

Episode 087 - The Racial Complex with Dr. Fanny Brewster Nov 28, 2019

Dr. Fanny Brewster, Jungian Analyst, colleague and friend, joins This Jungian Life to discuss her forthcoming book, The Racial Complex: A Jungian Perspective on Culture and Race. Complexes tend to operate autonomously and unconsciously, have strong feeling-tones, and contain archetypal fuel. The racial complex, a complicated mix of color, class and culture, operates individually and collectively and in multiple ways. Although shadow projection and “othering” are intrinsic to the racial complex, America’s history of slavery further intensifies it. Like other complexes, the racial complex cannot be either denied or defeated—it can, however, be lifted into consciousness. As with any complex, learning, discussion and self-reflection can expand awareness, connection and compassion.

Dream

The scene begins with me driving my car to a hotel. I park up in a space near the entrance and go inside. After I have looked around a bit I look out of the large window to see that I have left my dog, a brown Labrador, tied to the car. As it is a grey day the dog is laying down underneath lest it rain. A white woman in her 40s with curly hair appears along with two burly white bald men. The woman squats over the car and urinates onto the dog. I am furious and rush outside to rescue the dog, but the two men get in the way, manhandling me roughly. I know they are bigger than me and that I am outnumbered but I fight for my dog as I suddenly wake up.

References (books available on Amazon)

Brewster, Fanny. The Racial Complex: A Jungian Perspective on Culture and Race (as of 11-21-19).

Brewster, Fanny. Archetypal Grief: Slavery’s Legacy of Intergenerational Child Loss.

Brewster, Fanny. African Americans and Jungian Psychology: Leaving the Shadows.

Adams, Michael. The Multicultural Imagination: “Race”, Color and the Unconscious (Opening Out).

Singer, Tom and Samuel L. Kimbles. The Cultural Complex.

DiAngelo, Robin. White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People To Talk About Racism.

Film: Get Out.

Episode 086 - Splitting, Polarization & Conflict Nov 21, 2019

It happens all the time: people and problems split into opposing camps, whether the conflict is internal, between partners, in a family or—as we know all too well—between political parties. When positions become polarized conflict ensues, whether between mind and body, partners and families, or value systems and religious affiliations. What makes it possible to reach across the chasm between entrenched extremes? The Jungian concept of holding the tension of the opposites allows energy, like electricity, to flow between both poles; each can have its full say. Instead of remaining mired in fixity or moral judgment, curiosity may open the way for a new attitude that transcends the polarities.

Dream
I am going for a holiday to Bali with my husband and best friend. We are running late for our flight. At the airport, I check in my huge suitcase, but then I realise I don't have my passport. A young man with dark hair, whom I know to be a playwright, says, 'Go to the counter. You look young, like a six year old. Act innocent. You should be able to talk your way on to the plane without a passport.' But I don't want to do this. Instead, I get in the car with my husband and friend. They are pissed at me. I know it is impossible to get back home to get my passport and make the flight. Part of me doesn't really care. I don't wan't to go to Bali. I feel busy and overwhelmed in my working life - so I want to stay to attend to things - and I don't like the tourist culture in Bali - it is infantilising. Still, I feel pulled in all directions. I have let down my companions. We stop by the side of the road to talk about it alongside an oil refinery. I say 'They have already boarded our luggage, so they are not going to take off without us.' Still, it is not clear what we should do from there.

References
Neumann, Eric. Depth Psychology and a New Ethic (Amazon).
Woodard, Colin. American Nations: A History of Eleven Rival Regional Cultures (Amazon).
Haidt, Jonathan. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion (Amazon)

Episode 085 - Healing the Negative Father Complex Nov 14, 2019

The archetype of the father is associated with gods, kingship, and other images of authority and order. As the image of a “personified affect” fueled by an archetypal core, the father complex is powerful. In its negative aspect it may arise from a father who was experienced as absent, emotionally unavailable, passive, critical or abusive. Jung’s father complex influenced his adult relationship with Freud, to whom he wrote, "Let me enjoy your friendship not as that of equals but as that of father and son." Although the eventual break with Freud caused Jung years of inner turmoil, he later realized that they were also the deep source of all his subsequent work. Similarly, Charlotte Bronte and her sisters were able to use their father wounds for their literary creativity. Although healing the father complex can be difficult, taking on this inner task can provide energy for living more fully, freely, and individually.

Dream

I woke up in a large, 3 story wooden house that was inhabited by 3 or 4 other people. One was a film director who was coaching a rather unwilling, melancholy actress. I explored the different areas of the home and came to the conclusion that this building was too old, and was being deconstructed for something new. The floorboards creaked, and the walls were peeling off the way tree bark does. After coming downstairs, back to the first floor, and walking down the main hallway, a knock sounded at the front door. First, I looked through the peephole. A grungy looking middle-aged man with short, grey hair and a week old beard stood, impatiently waiting. I opened the door, and he abrasively brushed past me, he was wearing a long, worn, dark gingerbread colored raincoat. At this moment, the importance of the decaying house vanished behind me, along with the strange director and actress. I was led down a short set of stairs to a jungle sized backyard wet with snow. I stood alone now, gazing at the canopies. In the distance, something caught his eye. An animal, alone amidst the fog & snow. A black panther stood, staring at me. I was afraid, and buried myself in the snow as the black panther came running full speed towards me. As this situation began to fade, I woke up in a hospital where I was being shown that his hip had been injured.

References

Lisa's article "Marrying Mr. Rochester: Redeeming the Negative Father Complex" For a PDF copy, please email thisjungianlife@gmail.com

The Chenoo

William Ronald Dodds Fairbairn, Scottish psychoanalyst

Von Franz, Marie-Louise. The Cat

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre and other works.

Episode 084 - Anger Nov 07, 2019

Anger is a core human emotion. Newborns express instinctual cries of protest, and many a mythological god has wreaked archetypal havoc. Cultural norms around anger range from keeping a stiff upper lip to highly extraverted forms of expression. There are overall differences in how men and women tend to express anger; differences in temperament as well as situational stressors contribute to the intensity and frequency of angry feelings. Anger, like other emotions, is a source of information: it tells us when we feel violated in some way, and is linked to self-preservation. If fiery feelings can be understood first as a call to containment and self-reflection rather than reaction, it can fuel strategic thinking, emotional maturation and productive action.

Dream

I was in a national forest alone, wandering around. I spotted a giant bird lying face down in a clearing. It had dark purple feathers on its back, and I knew I should try to collect some, since that is what my sister would do. I reached over and quickly pulled a handful out. I got three purple feathers. The bird turned out to actually be alive. It jumped up and I jumped back in fear, dropping the feathers on the ground. There were three people in the distance, that I couldn’t visually see but I understood them to be my classmates. They exclaimed, “she is so crazy to do that.” I wanted to get the feathers back, but I was too afraid and ashamed to get them.

References

Lerner, Harriet. The Dance of Anger (Amazon).

Winnicott, Donald Hate in the Counter-Transference.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › pmc › articles › PMC3330380

Episode 083 - Ghostly Encounters Oct 31, 2019

People have reported experiences with ghosts from antiquity; Jung documented his encounters with mysterious sensed presences. How do we make meaning of such experiences? Are they visitations from external beings? Could they be related to unconscious reactions to toxic substances, auditory subtleties, or erratic electromagnetic fields? Neurological evidence links the stimulation of specific brain regions to feeling a ghostly presence. Stress, extreme hunger, physical hardship, loss, isolation, sleep deprivation, and mental illness also correlate to ghostly experiences, perhaps related to a lowered threshold of consciousness. Although there is no scientific proof of ghosts, age-old belief in soul survival extends credibility to the existence of ghosts. Jung offered no definitive answer to this question but felt that since the unconscious possesses subtle powers of perception it could project a visionary picture of a psychic situation. Ultimately, experiences of ghosts are, like dreams, psychic facts.

Dream

"I'm at my aunt's house. I'm sleeping there, and my daughter is having a sleepover with her friend in a different room. When she wakes, she comes over for a good morning hug and a kiss. I think about how nice that is. I'm drawing something on a piece of paper - two treasure chests, and some other things. I'm very intent on showing her the two treasure chests. I draw lines around one to show it's glowing. I think she'll be interested in them."

References

Seven Sermons to the Dead: Jung’s visionary material published in an appendix to his autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

Wolfgang Pauli: theoretical physicist and pioneer of quantum physics with whom Jung met and worked.

Henri Corbin: a French philosopher, theologian, and professor of Islamic Studies; the mundus imaginalis refers to an imaginal level of reality that animates all life.

Episode 082 - Medicating Psyche Oct 24, 2019

The question of whether, when, and what psychoactive medications may be helpful is both big and ambiguous. Mental distress has always been strongly influenced by cultural filters and subjective perceptions. Whereas a person might once have sought to placate a god, sufferers today may turn to medical management rather than mining their psychological symptoms for meaning. In his autobiography Jung describes his years of mental turmoil—and that they became “the prima materia for a lifetime’s work”; his Red Book documents his encounters with the unconscious in compelling and artistic detail. There is much evidence of the potential suffering holds for self-awareness and psychological depth – and it is also important to acknowledge that judicious use of today’s medications can relieve unnecessary or pointless suffering. No matter where on the spectrum of severity emotional illness may lie, psychotherapy, medication, lifestyle, and relationships can all play a role in recovery and growth.

Dream
“I am walking toward a large concrete structure with an unbelievably fit, handsome and powerful man. He appears to be my friend although I am envious of his physical attributes. We climb into a small passage that leads to a clearing in which undulating hills descend into a body of fast-moving water. I am immediately struck that there is a goal or intention to swim across this water and scale a flat concrete wall which is about 100 feet up, facing us across the body of water. My companion says, “I've got this,” and “I do things like this all the time.” He jumps in the water at the exact moment I become aware of holes in the wall which then begin to fire cannonballs. I rush back to where we began to avoid the cannon barrage, but also (it seems) to “watch” the negotiation of the obstacle. I am now with another man who is soft and slightly overweight. I ask him where the best place to watch this endeavor is and he leads me up a stairwell to a room that contains two old CR TVs. One is large and a smaller one is on top of the larger. The room has a greenish-yellow carpet and it looks very much like the late ’70s or early ’80s. I feel sorry for the man because in that moment I realize this is all he can afford. Next, I am struck with an awareness that the fit man has successfully completed his endeavor – although I did not see it happen. I then become aware that the room adjacent to the one I am in is filled with two groups of women. The first group are sitting at a table conducting what appears to be an executive meeting. The second group are on the floor engaging in a yoga class. My wife is among the women doing yoga and her cousin is among the executives. I suddenly am struck by the realization that I am only wearing a t-shirt and I’m naked from the waist down, and I fear they will discover this.”

References
Hillman, James. The Myth of Analysis (Amazon).
Whitaker, Robert. Anatomy of an Epidemic (Amazon).
Perry, John. The Far Side of Madness
Lingiardi & McWilliams. Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, Second Edition
Jung, C.G. The Red Book.

Episode 081 - Empathy Oct 17, 2019

Empathy, the ability to feel into the suffering of another, is an intrinsic part of being human. We have such a capacity to imagine others’ experience that we react physiologically and emotionally to painful situations even in film. We are surprised, sometimes shocked, when the empathy we expect in a given situation is not forthcoming. Although empathic deficits create wounding, an overly empathic stance can also be problematic, fostering psychic stasis. Jung related empathy to the causal, or “mechanistic” aspect of analysis, in which painful past experiences are traced to their origin in order to more fully integrate feelings, expand consciousness, and depotentiate a complex. However, Jung also emphasized the “abstract,” or “final-energic” direction of traumatic experience, which is more objective and relates to achieving a state of equilibrium. We are thus asked to hold the tension between empathy for feelings—our own or another’s—and a more objective stance toward meaning, choice, and action.

Dream
I'm standing somewhere that is slightly above the level of the ground, and looking down on an alley that has water below. I know I have come to get into the water, but while looking at the way to get to the water is very steep and harsh. So I think of jumping. The water is very, very clear, and I see that after a few meters on the side of the wall that I'm standing on, it gets very deep and blue. So I think it might be very dangerous, if I throw myself in, and can't swim. I don't believe anyone will be able to either find me or help me get out of the water. So I don't jump. But for the rest of the dream I continue carrying a secret with myself that I should have jumped, but I haven't. It feels like having to do something, but not doing it.

Episode 080 - When Therapy Ends Oct 10, 2019

A planned, collaborative termination is the ideal way to bring a depth-oriented therapeutic process to a close. The client may have resolved a problematic life issue and/or have achieved an abiding sense of wholeness. When both partners feel the client’s sense of completion and readiness for a new phase of life, this kind of termination can feel like a graduation, albeit with the poignancy farewells also entail. There are also less satisfying endings for both therapist and client. The fit between therapist and client may not be good enough to form a strong bond; illness, death or a geographic relocation may derail the process; interpersonal conflict may fail to be resolved; or financial difficulty may impose a premature ending. Jung compares a depth psychological process to combining chemicals in a vessel: although the goal is change in the service of individuation, both people are always affected.

Dream

"I'm a student in a classroom. I recognize one student, someone I know who, like me, has a talent for deception and manipulation, but he is malicious and I am not...I've put a lot of work into not letting these aspects of myself run amok. This student is clearly not interested in the class and doesn't want to be here. I then realize this is a sort of "personality" class that we've been assigned because of our troubling traits. The teacher (a female I don't recognize) is on the verge of tears as she flips through a stack of papers which I understand to be transcripts of conversations between this other student and people he's treated badly...using their secrets against them, things like that. Another student leans over to me and whispers "she's going through yours next" and I say "but I don't do things like that". The teacher looks up at me still visibly upset, about to cry. She says to me "You're supposed to come back next week, right? Well, don't come, I don't have time to spend on a MAILBOX student like you" and I say to her "The way you're feeling right now, I've been making people feel like that my whole life and I'm very sorry."

Episode 079 - Grief & Bereavement Oct 03, 2019

The death of a loved one is a loss that is part of the human condition and is universal. The Stranger -- mortality -- confronts us with a new need to accept the reality of our loss and pain, a process that can include ambivalent feelings. Relief and anger can be mixed with love and grief. Altogether, we must adjust to an absence where once there was presence, relearn how to experience the world of relationship, and perhaps take on new life responsibilities at a time of emotional turmoil. Ego may find itself first helpless, then bereft of the soul and spirit needed to reweave life and meaning. There is also the need to balance one’s continuing internal connection with the deceased and the task of moving on with one’s life in a fulsome way.

Dream

“There was a man (though he seemed not simply a man but some combination creature or child like or otherworldly-maybe something that can turn into something else) and he was lying down and sort of whimpering. He was wearing a long light colored robe. Then I realized that on his side he had a large gaping wound and rotting flesh and there were birds, many, families of birds feeding on his flesh. He was in great pain but also kind of trance like and internal. I had to help him. It was a grave situation. He couldn’t help himself. He was helpless. He seemed pathetic. It would be a really long painful death. I didn’t know what could help but thought maybe if I took a hose and I could force the birds off with water. I did that and maybe someone was helping me because as I hosed it seemed there were another set of hands “cleaning” or holding the birds that came off. It was arduous. I thought it was a great infection and how could I get him or it to a hospital. Then I woke up.”

References

Olson, Susan. By Grief Transformed: Dreams and the Mourning Process (Amazon)

Blackie, Sharon: If Women Rose Rooted: A Life Changing Journey to Authenticity and Belonging (Amazon)

https://www.griefshare.org

Episode 078 - Infertility Sep 26, 2019

Hey TJL Fans,

There’s a great Jungian conference in Minneapolis MN this November 1 & 2.

Here’s a link to the flyer and since it’s by ‘invitation only’ just say, “This Jungian Life sent me” and you’re in! https://irsja.org/irsja-invitational-conference/

We three will be attending and if you see us be sure to say hello.

Cheers

Lisa, Deb, & Joseph

INFERTILITY: When the Mother Archetype Fails to Constellate

Medical technology has given the problem of fertility a scientific veneer. Our Promethean ability to manipulate gestational mysteries has wrested power from what was once the domain of the gods. Fulfillment of the promise of pregnancy seems to lie within reach, although it may entail incurring financial debt and enduring intense emotional cycles of desire, hope and disappointment. Holding the tension between the fire of psychic activation and physical incarnation is an age-old theme. Many fairy tales begin with a couple going to great lengths to fulfill their longing for a child, only to then confront the shadow aspects of desire. Human fertility is not limited to the physical gestation of a baby. Its essence, creativity and futurity, also includes ideas, energy, and goals. New life does not come from the conscious side of the personality alone.

Dream

“I’m visiting a childhood friend and his Father. He has joined the military, and killed a lot of People, which has led to a nasty drinking habit. We drink together. He has formidable skills with a rifle. We wrestle together (for fun). I win. I give him a piece of advice: "make sure you know why you kill People before you kill them" the Dream ends when I realize I can’t drive home because I’ve been drinking. Considering a taxi, but too expensive.”

Episode 077 - Chronic Complaining Sep 19, 2019

Complaining is universal, perhaps, like gossiping, one of the first uses to which developed language was put. Overall, a complaint can refer to a perceived legal injustice, medical symptom, or other personally painful matter. The chronic complainer feels a lack of agency, and implicitly pleads for emotional support and/or effective action from another. A complaint may therefore range from a request for empathic engagement to an effort to assign responsibility to others. Listeners have a felt sense of a complaint’s legitimacy; we resonate to injustice and its reparation in the tale of The Goose Girl. We feel exasperation with the heroine’s petulant entitlement in the tale of The Princess and the Pea, and take satisfaction in the punishment of greed in The Fisherman and His Wife. A chronic complaint is a call to identify and understand an underlying problem rather than externalizing it.

Dream

“There was a man (though he seemed not simply a man but some combination creature or child like or otherworldly -- maybe something that can turn into something else) and he was lying down and sort of whimpering. He was wearing a long light-colored robe. Then I realized that on his side he had a large gaping wound and rotting flesh and there were birds, many families of birds feeding on his flesh. He was in great pain but also kind of trance-like and internal. I had to help him. It was a grave situation. He couldn’t help himself. He was helpless. He seemed pathetic. It would be a really long painful death. I didn’t know what could help but thought maybe if I took a hose I could force the birds off with water. I did that and maybe someone was helping me, because as I hosed it seemed there was another set of hands “cleaning” or holding the birds that came off. It was arduous. I thought it was a great infection and how could I get him or it to a hospital. Then I woke up.”

References

Video: It’s Not About the Nail (YouTube). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4EDhdAHrOg

Sieff, Daniela. Understanding and Healing Emotional Trauma (Amazon).

Episode 076 - Animus & Anima Sep 12, 2019

Although these Jungian concepts have become familiar psychological terminology, they remain difficult to understand. According to Jung, animus and anima are innate psychic structures shaped significantly by the archetypal world, whereas the shadow is predominantly shaped by personal experiences of ego formation. Whereas shadow tends to be rejected, animus and anima fascinate and attract. Although images like sol / luna or yin / yang amplify the a priori nature of these inner opposites, the animus corresponds to the paternal Logos and the anima to the maternal Eros. Parents are the first external experience of this innate predisposition, and a developmental psychic trajectory may be inferred from mythology and individual dream images. Animus and anima represent adaptation and attitude to the inner world; they serve as the bridge to the collective unconscious and are experienced as “other.”

Dream

In the first scene, my guy and I are watching each other masturbate over Skype. He's in his house and he ejaculates on his real wood floor. In the second scene, we're in my parents' house; they aren't there but there are children's toys around. He masturbates himself and ejaculates on their laminate wood floor. I'm anxious about this and clear up. In the third scene, I arrive in a cavernous Victorian public restroom below ground level, in London. The first chamber is a men's urinal and lots of men are pleasuring each other, it's a lively scene and they invite me in but I refuse. I move to another chamber, which is a spa, but I don't go in. In between the two chambers is a lecture theatre, and my guy is giving a work presentation to an audience. He doesn't acknowledge my arrival and I sit next to the projector under the raked chairs where the audience is sitting, and watch him present. He won't be able to see me, as he'd be blinded by the projector, but I can see him.

References:

Anima and Animus by Emma Jung

Episode 075 - Negative Mother Complex: When Our Painful Childhood Owns Us Sep 05, 2019

Healing a Negative Mother Complex

As the mother is the generator of life and usual primary attachment figure, the mother complex is universal. As the image of a “personified affect” fueled by an archetypal core, the mother complex is especially powerful. In its negative aspect, it may arise from a mother who was experienced as uncaring, attacking, possessive, withholding, absent, or wounded. It is likely to show up in relationships with others and in the relationship with oneself. Fairy tales like The Raven and Six Swans teach us that healing a negative mother complex takes time and perseverance—and that we may be aided by an animus prince or an anima princess, images of the autonomous unconscious. By responding to the turmoil of the mother complex one can embrace the task of finding the mother within. Dream

"Last night I had a dream I was in a cave that had mosaic designs all over the walls. They were old ancient ruins like from Ancient Greece or Turkey. The first one was of some type of fertility goddess-like Ishtar or Lilith, but I can’t remember the details exactly. But the image frightened me, and I was afraid to go inside. Then above the ruins, there was a church. It was an Eastern Orthodox Church. It sort of reminded me of the Hagia Sofia. A painting of the Black Madonna was hanging on the wall. All the church members were women and the pastor was a woman as well. I don’t recall what we were talking about or what the pastor was saying, but I was transfixed upon that painting. That’s all I can remember."

References

Book: Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

YouTube: Clay Weiner (“Videos”: Mothers Day) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAxfh8ukosQ

Episode 074 - Borderline Personality Disorder Aug 29, 2019

While psychiatric diagnostic labels often reify the complexities of psychological dynamics, they can also orient us to the essential qualities of a particular emotional and behavioral field. BPD is characterized by difficulty with affect regulation, intense and unstable interpersonal relationships, impulsive behavior, and a tendency toward highly polarized emotions: idealization/elation versus devaluation/despair. BPD is associated with early relational deficits, especially in caretakers’ capacity to maintain connection when their child is angry or aggressive.

If intense early emotional states have not been well moderated, they can take on the force of emotional tsunamis, overwhelm the ego, and lead to impetuous and self-harming behaviors. A deep therapeutic and human process can re-inspire the possibility that one can find one’s center in a human relationship.

Dream

"A dog-like creature is climbing on my mother’s shoulder, wounding her ribs with its claws. It is trying to hug her shoulder while she is attempting to get rid of it. The brown dog is crying desperately. I am there as well and turn around to avoid seeing the scene. My mother pulls the creature to the floor, violently opens its mouth and pours poison into it. The brown dog is crying desperately. I am there as well and turn around to avoid seeing the scene."

References

Blog: Lifeinabind.com

Book: Stop Walking on Eggshells: Taking Your Life Back When Someone You Care About Has Borderline Personality Disorder; Paul and Randi Kreger

Book: Understanding the Borderline Mother; Christine Lawson

Episode 073 - Procrastination Aug 22, 2019

We all procrastinate. Tasks from making a doctor’s appointment to preparing taxes to doing the laundry invite us to put off until tomorrow what we can postpone today. We may distract ourselves by going online, doing errands, or minimizing the time a job will take. Although procrastination signals that a given task is hard and emotionally charged, it buys only temporary escape from anxiety. Furthermore, procrastination can lead to disappointment in oneself that can undermine the self-confidence needed to face subsequent challenges. We are called to the hero’s journey in confronting the dragon of deficiency that inhabits our inner world as procrastination. If we dare to begin, we can find the help we need, and may discover that the task itself is not as onerous as we imagined--and that we are more.

Dream

I'm in what looks like a large garage. There is a band playing for maybe 15 people. A man with the mic asked me who I wanted to hear play. I automatically said “Anthony Green” who is an artist I haven't listened to since college. He happened to be in the audience and he got up on stage. The band started playing “Dear Child.” It's a joyous-sounding song with a lot of energy. A line that repeats is “I've been trying to reach you, but my extension cord wouldn't reach that far." As the band was playing, a bunch of little fires started on the floor and the walls. Everyone including me was running around putting out the fires with our bare hands and by stomping. The band kept playing this whole time. The mood was still light and joyous despite the "emergency." Most of the fires were out. I saw through a vent in the wall that there was a raging fire in the basement. I looked back up and the entire room had transformed into a much more industrial and bigger building. It was some kind of modern factory. A woman who worked in this building took me to the stairs to get into the basement so we could put out the fire. She was around my age. We started going down the stairs and at the bottom of the stairs was a big dark tunnel. I started flipping random switches to try and turn the lights on so I could get to the fire. After maybe 10 seconds of failing, the woman ran into the dark toward the fire without saying anything. I woke up. While awake I listened to the song again and read along with the lyrics. I was in shock when I heard "Dear sleeper, you could have had the better bed. I loved to watch the way you grew." I felt like my psyche was saying that directly to me.

References

Prochasa, James. Changing for Good: A Revolutionary Six-Stage Program for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Your Life Positively Forward.

New York Times article on procrastination

Episode 072 - Puer – Puella: Trapped in the Inner Child Aug 15, 2019

If the passage into fullsome adulthood is avoided, a person can be trapped in the world of childhood. This protected realm is a nexus of potential, defined by avoiding the rigors of the real for the pleasures of possibility. Peter Pan, who chose to remain in never-never-land, is a well-known image for the flighty ingenuousness of the puer or puella. What stops libido from becoming more grounded in order to engage in more purposeful, ego-strengthening commitments? Charles Dickens’ Bleak House portrays a protagonist who felt that dedication and discipline were intolerably confining. Rapunzel, however, broke out of her elevated tower when a prince kindled her desire to bond in a more earthly way. If an initiatory experience does not activate libido, and the protected world of childhood is not sacrificed, entrapment in a marginal life may ensue.

Dream

I was in a dark forest at night with my youngest son (he's 10). We were standing at the top of an exterior staircase attached to a house, which was situated at the edge of a large clearing in the forest. The house had bright spotlights shining onto the clearing, and I could see small animals all wandering through it. I felt like I wanted to go into the forest, but had to wait for something. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. A mountain lion had appeared on the edge of the clearing. As soon as it stepped into the clearing, it changed into a very large snake. It began slowly making it's way through the clearing, killing the small animals. It was killing them, but not eating them. I saw it begin to "devour" a smaller poisonous snake. The large snake had it's head tipped back in such a way that I could see it had a hole in the underside of it's throat. So it was clamping the smaller snake with its teeth, swallowing, and pulling it through its mouth, but the smaller snake was falling out through the hole in it's neck back onto the ground. My son and I began to run down the stairs and skirt around the edges of the clearing. I needed to get into the forest at a certain location and it was on the far side from the house. I stopped briefly when I noticed a dead kitten right at the edge of the forest. It had been ripped in half by the snake. Another kitten was there. It was so young it's eyes were not open. It was trying to crawl into the forest for safety. I felt...like I was rooting for it. Hoping for it to survive. But I had no urge to pick it up and help it. The large snake noticed us running. It changed back into the mountain lion and began after us before we could get to the far end of the clearing. I noticed a hunter's tree stand just inside the forest at the side of the clearing we had made it to. We ran for it. I kept checking to make sure my son was still with me. I began running up the stairs to the tree stand, and when I reached the top, noticed he was no longer with me. I panicked, began looking around. I noticed a black panther was now in the trees below the stand, jumping from branch to branch. The mountain lion was staying back because of it. The panther jumped up into the tree stand beside me, and changed into my son. "I keep forgetting I do not need to be afraid for you" I said to him. And then I woke.

Episode 071 - Self Talk Aug 08, 2019

Although only some of us talk aloud to ourselves, all of us have inner voices, even if we are not aware of them. These autonomous parts of ourselves provide running commentary on how and what we are doing. Are our inner commentators friendly and supportive, or critical and attacking? We turn to fairy tales, stories that arise from the collective unconscious, for wisdom about our relationship with those parts of ourselves that tend to operate autonomously. The Ill-Fated Princess must climb a mountain to confront and befriend her “bad Fate,” after which her destructive unconscious complex befriends her. In Vasalisa the Beautiful, a loving mother gives her daughter a doll that provides good advice in difficult situations. The bad Fate and Vasalisa’s doll illustrate the process of noticing how we relate to other parts of ourselves—and by changing a negative inner dynamic we become more whole.

Dream

I am alone in Aunt Gloria’s house and I know I’m there because I am house- and pet-sitting for her. There are several cats I’m taking care of but suddenly a bird flies in the window and all the cats are chasing it. Then a stray cat gets in and all are hissing and bristling. I run down the stairs and there are two mice on an armrest, but one appears almost dead. When I look closer, it is dead and there is a note by it that says something like “Satan, I know you could’ve done this deal yourself.” I look up and a bedraggled and skinny old man is standing at the top of the stairs and I know then his name is brandy-mouthed Bob. I’m frightened of him. He comes down the stairs toward me aggressively and said, “ Should we throw some punches?” I didn’t know what to do so I grabbed his skinny wrists and tried to hold his arms back, afraid he would bite me.

Episode 070 - Dating Aug 01, 2019

We define dating as the quest for serious partnership or ongoing companionship. Today’s dating world is radically different from that of even a generation ago, and is light years away from previous generations. Dating apps and social media expedite and expand the range the search for a suitable other - and often turns dating into an exercise in personal marketing. Dating also now spans an age range from teens to older - even elderly - divorced or widowed adults. If today’s dating culture provides individuals with autonomy and choice, it also denies them the safeguards provided by family, religious, and cultural norms. The online persona may be very different from the actual person, from age and appearance to character misrepresentation. Lacking social context and mutually understood social norms, individuals are required to be more aware of what they seek in another. They also need to be more aware of the projections and relational complexes to which they are susceptible.

Dream

I was in a big Catholic cathedral; maybe in Spain or Italy. A mass was about to start. A usually generous friend of mine pushed passed me and took the last seat with a good view, one-in from the end of a row. Then I was standing near what seemed to be the tower of an Anglican church, which stood inside the Catholic cathedral. The doors of the tower flew open and a 2 metre tall black plinth on wheels was pushed out. On the plinth was a devilish/trickster character in a black Renaissance costume, making a scary face like Hannibal Lecter. I felt some fear but also the thrill of the theatrical spectacle.

Episode 069 - Retirement Jul 25, 2019

The life transition we call retirement mandates a major readjustment in how time, energy and money are spent, whether retirement means becoming a “snowbird” or having a stepped-down lifestyle. Work has structured the rhythm of life and time; most have found aspects of identity, status, and socialization at work, regardless of how fulfilling, arduous or well paid it may have been. Shakespeare’s King Lear and the Greek myth of Baucis and Philemon illustrate contrasting inner attitudes and their outcomes. Jung believed that the second half of life had a prospective and healing function in the psyche. If retirement can be considered redirection, these years hold promise: life can now be oriented to internal life and meaning, especially awareness of the ego’s secondary place in relation to the Self.

Dream

I am in a McDonald’s, waiting for my younger sister to collect her meal. Her order is called and we pick it up, the meal is excessive – a huge portion of chips and lots of nuggets, so I steal a chip. As she is eating I look around; the McDonald’s is filthy and disgusting. There are graffitied yellow plastic chairs, dim lighting and a bare concrete floor covered in litter. It smells disgusting - like stale chip fat and smoke. People are smoking inside and everyone looks mean/dodgy/scary dirty. I do my best to avoid eye contact with them all. As we leave a smelly and dirty older man holds out the door and asks where I am sleeping tonight. I feel disgusted and rush away. As I turn a corner I am in a dark alleyway. My sister has gone. I check my pockets and my bus pass, phone and keys have also gone. I have no money or way to get home but I know I need to get to the bus stop to get away from this place. I glance over my shoulder and a hooded man is following me. I walk faster and then turn to look again, this time he starts running towards me. As he gets closer I realize he has no face. As he approaches me at fast pace his outstretched arm strikes me very hard in the throat. The pain felt so real I jolted awake - heart racing and panting.

References

Frankl, Viktor E. Man’s Search for Meaning, Beacon Press, 1959 (and subsequent editions). http://a.co/g0wAOJk

Episode 068 - Chronic Illness Jul 18, 2019

Chronic illnesses affect many, creating diminishment of physical ability and energy for life activities. There can be loss of agency, loss of one’s expected future, and a sharpened awareness of loss of life. There is a new need for conscious intention and reality-based decisions in order to avoid denial while adjusting to limitations and managing self-care. Deb, Lisa and Joseph discuss emotional factors in the loss of the healthy, autonomous self –and the possibility of a profound shift in inner life. The blindness of mythological figures like Tiresias and Oedipus symbolized the development of inner vision; Jungian Harry Wilmer used active imagination to personify his tuberculosis bacteria. And Jung believed that chronic illness could serve the process of individuation.

Dream

In this latest dream it was a massive, hard, dry poo that wouldn’t come out so I had to get my fingers in and stretch my skin around it to help it pass, thinking as I did about how it must be like giving birth and I understood why doctors cut the skin. The scene was back in the home I grew up in with my parents and brother who is 18 months older than me. In the dream the toilet looked straight into the kitchen. Mum was in the kitchen the whole time encouraging me but not directly helping. Dad was in and out of the room aware of what I was dealing with but not getting involved. I think to myself, for a man who has always been so embarrassed by his own bodily functions, even that is an impressive level of involvement. Our neighbors over the fence - a house full of boys - could partially see and hear what was going on as well. When the poo finally passed my brother and Dad both came in to inspect it with me. It was the size and weight of a house brick and my brother was fascinated by it. He picked it up and took a photo of it and laughed a little bit with me about it. I didn’t otherwise find the situation funny but went along with him. Then there was still a small bit in there so I had to repeat the ordeal again to get rid of that too.

References

Edinger, Edward. Anatomy of the Psyche: Alchemical Symbolism in Psychotherapy.

Wilmer, Harry. Huber the Tuber: A Story of Tuberculosis

Berger, Peter L. A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural.

Episode 067 - Early Abandonment Jul 11, 2019

Experiences of physical abandonment are depicted in stories old and new as ways of out-picturing traumas of early relational abandonment. Jung articulated the archetypal foundation of what later psychologists came to call attachment theory. In an infant’s primal state of identification with a mothering other, lack of caregiver availability and attunement constitutes psychic abandonment. This is depicted in fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel and the more recent film, Pan’s Labyrinth. Both image of the inner world of the emotionally abandoned child: the archetypal world first comes forward to protect the abandoned child, only to become persecutory, like the witch in Hansel and Gretel. Abandonment may become internalized, manifesting as denial of one’s own feelings and needs. Getting in touch with one’s longing for a loving other, and grieving early loss is often the road to redemption.

Here’s the dream we discuss:

I'm in a house by the sea, to see and somehow help a woman. I first meet her outside - a dark, handsome man is a few paces behind her and I take him to be her lover. She appears to be in her 30s.

Later we are inside with her family - her father has invited me there. Her husband (older, pudgier and more domesticated than her lover, but seemingly intelligent and relatively attractive) and father are talking about a sailing trip. She, sitting off to the side, interjects that she's always wanted to do a long solo voyage. Clearly this is a conversation that has happened before. Her father says it wouldn't be safe, and her husband agrees. Either she or I (I'm unsure) comment that they are more worried about her being dangerous than they are something happening to her. At this point I/we are thinking of the lover, who the family are unaware of.

The father calmly comments that there's a large wave rising on the sea. He's standing at a window watching it. I come to take a look - it's huge; more tidal wave than wave. It breaks on the house and starts to wash it away. I'm holding on and realise that I'm in an untenable situation. I go back in time slightly, and this time as the wave hits I climb into a wooden box.

After the water has receded I get out and try to find the family. I find the father and husband, but cannot see the woman. I'm unsure if that's because she was swept away, or because now I am the woman.

References

Kalsched, Donald. The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit.

Episode 66 - Cults Jul 04, 2019

Although cults occasionally make the headlines through tragedy or scandal, the defining features of cults are inherently human and manifest on spectrums of both severity and size. The word cult is derived from culture. While culture refers to the overarching characteristics of a society, cult refers negatively to a marginalized subgroup. Cults tap into universal human feelings and desires, such as the need to belong and resonance to parental influence. Although as adults we are no longer dependent on family and tribe for physical survival, our psychological needs for safety and attachment remain powerful. Deb, Lisa, and Joseph consider today’s polarized political divisions, the power of a rock concert or Fourth of July parade, and other ways in which the tension between the opposites of belonging and individuation manifests.

Dream

I am my current self with my current boyfriend, but I had just got married to a woman. This woman had a very powerful presence and felt radiant. She gave me a beautiful silver ring with a turquoise stone, but it didn't fit properly so I kept losing it. Each time I found it, she would add to the ring and make it even more beautiful. I told my boyfriend that I married her and that I am very happy. He took it well, and asked if we could still talk to each other and see each other every day. I said I didn't think there was a problem with that.

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Episode 65 - Burnout Jun 27, 2019

Burnout is a relatively new term for job-related distress or an ongoing life situation that is unsatisfying, defeating, and creates a sense of despair. Burnout robs us of our sense of control and agency—we feel unable to change the troubling situation. Burnout can also be related to our internalized parents, moral convictions, and sense of duty. We can count on fairy tales, our psychic skeletons, to provide wisdom on resolving age-old human situations, even if they are couched in new terminology.

In Rumpelstiltskin a young woman is told she must turn straw into gold, a mission-impossible situation. The Water of Life depicts a dying king, representative of a masculine ruling principle, who needs healing water to renew the psychic situation. We may, like the maiden faced with a roomful of straw, need to find new possibility and empowerment—or discover the inner well within that provides new water for a parched attitude. Accessing one’s internal sense of vocation, purpose and meaning has always been—and remains—necessary and attainable.

Here’s the dream we discuss

I find myself in a dark place, somewhere else, and I am hearing a male voice that I cannot see (coming from behind me towards the left side of my body) telling me what to do. I am obeying submissively, wanting him to know I was docile and serving him completely. I was simply cleaning a coffee machine; it seemed like an easy and ordinary task he had asked me to do and I wanted to show him how well I could do it. Suddenly, what I thought to be a black coffee machine turned out to be a human-sized male mannequin. The voice said: clean him too, clean him well. It had a wig with black mid-long hair and it had a disturbing fixed expression on its face like a rictus. It was wearing a black tuxedo with a frilly white shirt underneath.

It scared me and disturbed me a bit but I was completely drawn to the voice and wanted to serve it, so I was cleaning with devotion--a long, creepy, silent moment. I really didn't like its outfit, and the voice then ordered me to change the mannequin's clothes to something less ceremonial. I mentally browsed my ex-husband's clothes for casual jeans and a casual shirt for the mannequin that I could grab but realized that the jeans were too small for him. I realized that the mannequin couldn't fit in "normal" less attention-grabbing clothes. The presence of that mannequin was so creepy that I woke up.

References

Find out more about the Philadelphia Jung Seminar.
Mythologems by James Hollis
Memories, Dreams, Reflections by CG Jung
Fairy tales: The Water of Life and Rumpelstiltskin (see Brothers Grimm)

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Episode 64 - Voyages Jun 20, 2019

Although the word voyage connotes a sea journey, this episode considers a voyage to be an intentional trip of any kind. A voyage can range from a vacation in Vegas to a pilgrimage to a sacred site. Such journeys may be solitary, or, like the famed pilgrimage in The Canterbury Tales, in the company of fellow travelers. We tell our stories to others and to ourselves, companioned by our own inner images and/or others. Voyages take us to unfamiliar places, and a changed external environment stimulates projections, judgments and reactions. Free of the constraints of cultural norms and internalized values, a new landscape provides an opportunity to experience ourselves as a stranger to others -- and perhaps to ourselves. When at last we return home we are changed, perhaps transformed.

Here’s the dream we discuss:

(This dream was 15yrs ago) I am leading a group of men walking up a cobblestone road in a village high up in the Himalayas. I have a wooden staff and am walking quickly. A panicked man runs towards us saying "They have the children!" We start to run toward a large wooden building with a stone roof. The only access is a wooden staircase. I climb the staircase that leads to an open room with children pinned in fear against the walls. In the centre of the room is a demon with a highly muscular body covered in fine red hair and a pig/human head. There are many more in the room. It ignores us and is about to rape a young naked boy who is bent over in front of it. My fear turns to white anger and my staff turns into a sword which I lift up to my right ear with both hands. The demon turns to me just as I cut its head off. A pitched battle starts between my men and the demons. We initially succeed but the demons start to conquer. My last thought is calm and peaceful. It is "Today I die but what a way to die."

Resources

You can read more here about the Philadelphia Jung Seminar.

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Episode 63 - Tears Jun 13, 2019

We all shed tears. We cry when we are sad, but also when we are glad, surprised by beauty, love, or touched by other deeply felt and uniquely human experiences. Tears, and our access to them, are part of what makes us human, and when we cannot find our tears we have lost a vital link to feeling, whether for another or a part of ourselves. In their negative aspect, tears can signify the falseness of crocodile tears or affective hardening and bitterness; teardrop tattoos represent experiences of violence. In this episode Deb, Lisa and Joseph circumambulate various aspects of the significance of tears, using the touchstones of fairy tales, alchemy, myth, religion and more to uncover the importance of tears, especially in their redemptive, or whole-making, aspect.

Dream:

I was a prince in a European kingdom in the Middle Ages. I was gathered with the royal family in a small but lavish room of our castle. The kingdom was suffering due to the ineptitude, corruption, and libertinism of the royal family. One princess was a harlot, and drained funds that ought to have been spent on the people. I conspired with the monk, robed in black, to kill the royal family in order to save the kingdom. I slaughtered all of them with my sword. I even killed the children present, feeling the cruelty of my act, because I knew that if I let them live they would grow up to take revenge on me. There was gallons of blood. After the killing was done, I was physically and emotionally drained, and I didn't know if I had actually saved the kingdom or committed pointless slaughter. The kingdom was nearly empty, for much of the populace had fled earlier due to the royal family's corruption.

Episode 62 - The Psychology of a Victim Jun 06, 2019

We can experience powerful feelings of empathy for those who are victims of trauma in all its heartbreaking dimensions. It is difficult even to consider a shadow side to this already dark aspect of human experience. Nevertheless, it is important also to consider the difference between lived experiences of victimization and meaning-making narratives that not only can become calcified, but self-reinforcing. If entrenched, narratives of victimization can become part of one’s identity and suppress life energy. Lisa, Deb and Joseph differentiate the emotions involved in suffering, mourning and acceptance from more reified states of powerlessness. They describe how the presence of a wisely witnessing other can help with healing, empowerment, and finding the path ahead to a more liberated sense of self.

Dream

I am being held in a prison against my will and I am sharing a cell with a male colleague from work. The cell is very cold and silent. The whole place feels very sterile. When I look out of the window, I realize we are imprisoned on the moon. My male colleague is talking to me with an intensity in his expression. He is demanding a lot of my attention and he says he wants me and needs me and that he has been having dreams about me- but I am trying to focus on getting out of the cell. Hesays it’s too late, and we are going to be executed in the most cosmic way- by being ejected into a black hole together.

References

Eye Movement Desensitization Movement (EMDR)

Episode 61 - Individuation May 30, 2019

Individuation, the central concept of Jung’s psychology, is the foundational image and aspiration of Jungian psychoanalysis – and life. It is the theme of many a fairy tale, the sought-for treasure of a quest, and the “juice” that makes symbols compelling. Individuation has an innate developmental arc and a psychological trajectory that allows us to bring conscious intention to our own individuation process. However, vital transformational events are not simply occurrences ego alone can command; they are ultimately mysterious. They arise independently from the unconscious and what Jung termed the Self, the center, circumference and true center of the personality. In this episode Joseph, Lisa and Deb circumambulate and amplify the concept of individuation and images of the Self.

The Dream:

In the beginning of the dream, it's morning. I'm waiting for my father in the house where I grew up. We are about to drive halfway across the country to look at graduate schools. It is nearing afternoon and we still haven't left the house. I know from previous experience that it takes more than a full day of driving to reach our destination, which leaves me feeling anxious.

Now my parents and I are in the car heading down the highway. From the backseat, where I used to sit, I'm looking outside. We reach an empty stretch of road surrounded on either side by farmland. The sky is overcast- halfway between rain and sunset; I notice a few geese flying across the road from the left of my line of vision in a small V-shaped formation. Once they have reached the other side they circle back, flying in the opposite direction; they have doubled in numbers and form a more unified chevron.

I am standing in a field with my girlfriend. We are watching the dark shapes of the geese bobbing in the dusk. Suddenly they start to glow, one by one, as if each is carrying on their bodies a neon orb, similar to a brake light. I look down in the mud by my shoes and see a broken red light, one that could fit on a bike; I tell my girlfriend that the cracked object must have come from the geese. She agrees with me, which I find very reassuring.

Episode 60 - Psychological Dismemberment: Why We Can’t Stay Connected May 23, 2019

Images of physical dismemberment are often used in fairy tales, dreams and art to depict psychological fragmentation, numbing and other forms of disconnection. Such cut-offs, dissociations, and splits may be related to earlier relational trauma, and constitute defenses against experiences perceived as too overwhelming for consciousness to absorb or even acknowledge. Experience can be dissociated, or dismembered, behaviorally, emotionally, bodily, and by denying memory or knowledge of events. Jungian Analyst Donald Kalsched posits an inner dynamic that is both protective and persecutory. Such understandings can point the way to a healing process of re-membering those parts that have been cut off, thereby giving disowned feelings and experiences a fully felt place in consciousness.

The Dream

"In this dream, I remember being in a building that reminded me of a hospital or perhaps an asylum. It was very clinical looking (i.e. lots of steel and glass, white and silver walls / trim, people in smocks or scrubs). I was walking up a small stairway and looked through a doorway to see blood and body parts on the ground in front of me. Somehow I know that it was two separate bodies, but I do not know who they belonged to. When I saw the body parts, I was anxious and had to stop myself from passing out inside the dream because I had a feeling that whoever did that to the bodies could be nearby. As I gathered myself, I began to walk away from the bodies very calmly to avoid drawing attention to myself. As I walked away I saw a man, probably in his fifties or sixties, also a stranger, carrying a silver platter with more body parts. As I passed him, he said hello and smiled as if nothing were out of the ordinary. I then ran out of the building and vaguely remember running through a maze that had been set up on a basketball court until I was outside the building in a small grass field. The building was made of brick and seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. It had that look that many academic buildings have on college campuses."

References

Kalsched, Donald. The Inner World of Trauma, Routledge, 1996.

Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book, Harper, 2008.

Little, Margaret. Psychotic Anxieties and Containment: An Analysis with Donald Winnicott.

Henderson, Joseph L. and Dyane N. Sherwood. Transformation of the Psyche, Routledge, 2003.

For an image of The Golden Head

Episode 59 - Offense and Outrage May 16, 2019

Anything that disappears from your psychological inventory is apt to turn up in the guise of a hostile neighbor, who will inevitably arouse your anger and make you aggressive. It is surely better to know that your worst enemy is right there in your own heart.

~CG Jung, Vol 10, para 456

Very often the ego experiences a vague feeling of moral defeat and then behaves all the more defensively, defiantly, and self-righteously, thus setting up a vicious circle which only increases its feeling of inferiority. ~CG Jung Vol 9ii, para 34

We all take offense, from feeling miffed at a thoughtless but cutting comment to being suffused with righteous rage. Others may fail to meet our expectations, agree with deep values, or hold us in positive regard. These experiences can spark effective and defensive reactions, since what offends us often lies in our shadow and is incompatible with how we wish to be perceived. Taking offense also occurs at a cultural level. “Offenders” can be publicly excoriated, exiled from a group or organization, or denied the right to deliver a speech. The experience of offense can be a call to differentiate between a feeling and actual harm—and to meet the implicit challenge of holding the tension between the comfort of being “right” and an opportunity to engage in growth.

The Dream:

My neighbor, a 20-something guy who works in the "alternative healing" field, and who I don't usually talk to much, was being friendly, chatting with me about his band and their website. Then he was telling me about a lemon tincture he was taking. He would mix it with blood and drink it. He said I should go to his house and get some and try it, and that if I didn't have any blood, I should order some. He said this as if I could call a delivery service and the blood would show up at my door in no time. I inwardly balked at the idea of drinking blood. I told him I would mix it with water instead, and he said no, that blood was the only way to do it. He said, "Trust me. It's way better with blood." I didn't say so, but I was shocked that he was drinking blood. To me, it was just too crazy and weird and gross, even if it did have some kind of miraculous healing properties. I was willing to try the tincture, but not in blood, though I didn't tell him this.

Episode 58 - The Art & Practice of B*tchiness May 09, 2019

In this episode, the archetype of the bitch is explored using fairy tales, mythology, and popular culture to shed light on this colloquial, pejorative term. The term is applied most frequently to assertive women - and to men acting in a way deemed "feminine" - who are either not sufficiently in touch with their own authentic power or seem overly invested in power dynamics. What is the secret of authentic feminine power?

We reference the myths of Cassandra, Persephone, Inanna, The Frog Prince (Grimm), and The Devil Wears Prada (film), Spirited Away (film), Boys in the Band (film).

The Dream:

"I’m walking into a room in which there’s a group of men standing around a table, most of them are looking intently at it. I see there is a map spread across the table. One of the men looks up from it, and nods toward the table, inviting me to take a closer look. In the middle of the map, there’s a round symbol I’ve never seen before, and this is what has the group so rapt. I’m not sure what it is, but I get the sense that it is very important, so I lean in to examine it closely. It’s a circle inscribing a sort of rivet/mushroom/umbrella shape. On one side of the stem are two squares, and on the other side is one square. I wake up with a sense of urgency and immediately go to draw the shape."

Episode 57 - Ambivalence May 02, 2019

Having mixed feelings, or strongly opposing feelings is a normal occurrence in human life. We can find ourselves in a quandary about big decisions, upcoming life events, or experience being stuck without quite knowing why. Deb, Joseph, and Lisa consider various facets of ambivalence: anxiety around foreclosing options and missing out fear of regret over a possible wrong choice, or inability to raise complexes and shadow elements into consciousness. All aspects of the personality need to be allowed to dialogue and have it out with one another. Instead of complicating matters and adding to stasis, this process releases energy for movement in life. We can come to accept the certainty of uncertainty—and find our life-giving psychic wellsprings.

The Dream:

I was walking on a cobbled street looking for a store where honey was sold. I was looking for honey to heal (however, I don't know what was that I needed to heal). I entered into the store through what seemed to be the back door. Inside, I saw wooden shelves with glass mason jars full of different-colored honey on them. The room was rustic and had a dim light, though sunrays illuminated it. One of my great aunts from my mother's side, whose name is C., was there working, filling up bottles with honey. She greeted me and was happy to see me as she always is, and

the owner of the place, whose face I don't remember, came to me and told me the honey would help me heal. He gave me honey. I think I ate it because it was for me to taste; I don't remember clearly. However, I do remember he also told me to cover my body with honey, especially over my arms, chest, belly, face and hair, so he poured some honey on my hand (I think it was the left hand), because the hand was the most effective way to cover my body, according to him. I did cover.

The honey had chunks of honeycomb in it. The owner told me to eat the honeycomb chunks, so I grabbed a honeycomb chunk I had in the left side of my neck with my right hand, and ate it. Its taste was delicious.

References

Jung, C.G. Aion (Volume 9ii, Collected Works)

Harari, Yuval Noah. Sapiens, HarperCollins, 2015.

Episode 56 - Persona Apr 25, 2019

This episode, inspired by the new album by the Korean band BTS, explains and amplifies the Jungian concept of the persona. Like the cornea of the eye, persona both shields us and makes opening up to the world possible. In ancient Greek theater, the actors wore masks that identified their roles, or personae. Similarly, we adjust our outward presentation to others according to the appropriate roles we play in the workplace, with neighbors, or close friends and family. A persona that is too rigid can give one a center that is too determined by outside values and influences; a persona that is not solid enough can result in poor adaptation to the outer world or one that can be swept away by incursions from the unconscious. Altogether the persona is the social archetype and represents a compromise between adaption to social realities and individuality.

The Dream:

My wife and I are in a kitchen, or someplace with wooden cabinets and soffits, and wooden counters. It might not be a kitchen.

There’s this large wooden head standing on the counter. It’s larger than a human head, elongated, and stylized like an Easter Island head but more handsome, no huge ears, and carved in more detail.

The head says things. Periodically, not like a conversation. I notice that the things it’s saying are very articulate, and it's very charming.

My wife is making something out of plastic. It’s a rigid container or sheath that fits the head exactly. We try to distract the head so that it doesn’t object, but he doesn’t notice as we lower him gently into the plastic casing. It just keeps talking, on and off. Finally, we screw the lid on top.

We can still hear a muffled talking. I worry if he can breathe.

Episode 55 - Identifying & Integrating the Personal Shadow Apr 18, 2019

The personal shadow is created as a normal part of development, as we learn what behaviors, values and feelings are not acceptable in our family, school, or religious tradition. In order to be accepted by needed significant others, parts of ourselves have to be split off from consciousness and are therefore relegated to the unconscious as shadow. A major part of becoming more whole is discovering these exiled parts of ourselves and integrating the feelings they carry. Deb, Lisa and Joseph discuss some of the ways that shadow can be confronted and given a place at the table of consciousness.

The Dream:

I’m in my Dad’s wood shop, in the basement of the home where I grew up. I need to unscrew a panel on a metal box, and I’m finding the right screwdriver. The first one I pick up is too small, Mom hands me a better-sized one, a Phillips head with four fins. Somehow it is a very large size, and I notice the fins on the head are rusty. I sand away some of the rust on one of the fins, but when I come to the second, it is covered in masking tape. Instead of peeling off the tape, I try to sand away the masking tape, but the sandpaper continues to sand into the screwdriver fin itself, which is somehow made of corrugated cardboard. I am puzzled. I feel a pit in my stomach, like I’ve made a mistake. I find that only the first of the four fins is made of metal, the rest are cardboard. I “undo” (like you would on a computer) to get back to where I was after sanding the metal fin. The cardboard fins are intact again and I’m relieved. I then unscrew and open the panel of the box.

Episode 54 - Chronic Lateness Apr 11, 2019

People who are chronically late create relational problems with others and generate negative consequences for themselves, from embarrassment and guilt to loss of friendships or jobs. Chronic lateness evidences a split between consciousness and the unconscious: while the ego may feel distressed about lateness, the unconscious may be expressing an unmet need and deriving a benefit from lateness. That is why self-help strategies such as setting multiple alarm clocks and allowing extra time for travel seldom solve the problem of chronic lateness or feel satisfying. Lisa, Joseph, and Deb discuss possible unconscious motivations for lateness, including its role as an inelegant effort at individuation.

The dream:

I begin the dream in a giant mall-like building. It stretches as far as I can see. There are no stores or other people. There are only dozens of escalators at different levels leading different places, much like a multi-story maze. I find the place exciting in its expanse. I next find myself leaving the building through an outdoor walkway which leads to a little cabin surrounded by plants, trees, and grass. There are 5 or 6 other people here, all of whom I consider friends. Suddenly, I'm aware I need to fetch something from the basement of the giant building. Problem is, I need a key. Everyone has a key, except I lost mine. There's an extra key in the cabin, but I'm told it's possessed and I shouldn't use it. However, whatever it is I need from the basement is tremendously important, so I decide to grab the key and go. I venture back to the building and make my way up and down many escalators, finally finding the basement. I don't remember anything about the basement, only that I find what I'm looking for. I'm excited as I make my way back to the cabin. However, once I reach it, my vision becomes entirely blue. Yellow words flash up on what looks like a blue screen, though I don't know what the writing says. This blue screen disappears quickly, and what's left is a purplish-grey screen with a black orb in the bottom right corner. I understand the orb to be an eye, which watches me intently. I wake up with my heart racing.

Episode 53 - Should I Stay or Should I Go? Apr 04, 2019

One of the issues clients bring into the therapeutic consulting room is dissatisfaction with the state of their marriage or partnership. Although this dilemma often takes shape as bipolar, it represents a challenge to engagement with deep, defended parts of self and relationship. Joseph, Lisa and Deb make it clear they are not focusing on issues like abuse or addiction, but the more subtle yet substantial ways in which people can feel dissatisfied. Partners often hold deep aspects of the other’s shadow; for example, if one person has a fear of abandonment the other may have an equally strong fear of engulfment. They discuss stages of marriage / partnership, from romantic to parenting to empty nest, and the ongoing need for evolving relational awareness, especially in discerning the difference between individual complexes and relational problems.

The Dream:

I feel chunks missing from my molars on the bottom left, and spit it out into my hand, It’s three pieces of different teeth plus one full tooth. I look in the mirror and there is no tooth missing but the broken pieces match up. My mouth is like Gollum’s and my teeth in front are shifted right and are thin and pointed like vampire teeth.

Episode 52 - Precognitive Dreams Mar 28, 2019

Listeners contributed examples of precognitive dreams for this episode. Lisa, Joseph, and Deb discuss theoretical concepts and listener dreams from various vantage points: the intuitive capacity of the unconscious, the synchronous intersection of matter and psyche, and activation of an archetype. These and other ways of knowing are beyond the scope of ego and call us to the realization that the ego, as Jung said, is a part of and connected to something larger that is ultimately mysterious. Jung compared this process to the plants called rhizomes. Their horizontal underground stems which put out lateral shoots and flowers that pop up, as into consciousness, at various intervals. Jung also likened precognition to weather forecasting, likely possibilities subject to a variety of manifestations.

Listeners’ Precognitive Dreams Discussed (not necessarily in order)

I was at a Subway (sandwich shop) and I was buying a $5 Footlong (sandwich). When I was checking out the person at the register said my total was $11.20. I ended up not buying the sandwich and left the restaurant. That was the end of the dream. The very next day my friends and I were playing a game called “What do you Meme” and this was my first time ever playing the game. There are 250 pictures and 250 random captions and the point of the game is to give a picture a caption. I chose 5 caption cards at random and the very first card I chose was captioned: When your $5 Footlong Subway sandwich turns out to be $11.29. Mind you, there were 250 cards for me to choose from and that’s the very fist one I picked!
Approximately 30 years ago I had a dream (that) haunts me to this day…I was 21 or so and my brother 19. He left for active duty in the army. For a week or so, I had very odd vivid dreams regarding him. The most prevailing theme of the dreams was death. The final dream of that time period was me opening my apartment door, the person knocking fell through my doorway, holding their face, writhing in pain, and having short dark hair. Moments later, more knocking began, I called through the closed door, requesting to know who it was…it was my brother trying to enter with a gun…I held the door closed…while looking over my shoulder at the individual squirming in pain on the floor, asking if he/she was OK. This dream occurred in March of that year. Later in that same year in August, we planned a trip out of town so I thought I would make contact with a friend in that area, to possibly meet at some point to catch up on things. I called her number, her husband answered…I asked to speak with MJ and he remained silent for a moment. He then stated MJ had died in March of a suicide. MJ had short dark hair, as the person did in my dream. A gun was involved in both her suicide as well as my dream. And the dream occurred in March, the month she killed herself.
In the dreams I suddenly realize that I am about to give birth. I casually find an available place to lie down—a table, a couch, or a picnic blanket. I give birth quickly without any effort or pain, and two toddlers, a boy and a girl, run around the table, couch, or picnic blanket joyfully yelling, “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy”! I had twins, a boy and a girl. I had the first of these dreams before pregnancy was even confirmed, and did not know I was carrying twins until my 7th month; their sex was known only at birth.
I am an Indigenous Australian woman. I was taken away from my birth mother at the age of 4 months. Fostered, then adopted by Scandinavian parents at 4 years old. I left home at 18 and pursued a career as a community advocate, married and have 2 children. The laws changed in Australia when I was 30 so that I was able to gain my original birth certificate and some small bits of information about my birth mother. The dream commenced my journey to find my birth family. I dreamt of 7 women in the desert, red earth country, in line next to each other with digging sticks. They were all singing a song in language I did not understand. They were digging in unison searching for yams. I was feeling so serene and full of joy. Then I dreamt of all these older men and women smiling and speaking to me in language I did not understand. They at the end of the dream conveyed a sense of urgency, a job I must do. Through my phone calls that day I found my birth mother and my eldest sister. My mum lives 2 streets from me. Since that day 27 years ago I have found all my family. I am at peace.
I have had tons of precognitive dreams throughout my life, The past 5 years they have been happening more. The most recent two was after I had had my first pregnancy. I miscarried the baby at 12 weeks and was really torn up about it. My partner and I were separating and I was just overall confused with my entire life at that point and very suicidal. One night I had a dream of a little boy, maybe 8 or so, and he told me, “Wait until December.” Asked him why but he would just keep telling me to wait. That it was important and he promised everything would be okay. I had that dream in September. And it left me with such a feeling that I can’t describe. It was very powerful, so I waited for December. Nothing happened. By then I had somewhat healed from the miscarriage and was doing well living on my own. My partner and I were separated but still seeing each other but agreed a relationship wasn’t right at the moment. Fast forward to February and my period is late. So I take a pregnancy test and it comes up negative. I save it for whatever reason and continue on. A few weeks later I still don’t have my period, which isn’t out of the ordinary for me, but I feel weird. I look at the pregnancy test I took a few weeks prior and see the faintest second line. Of course I cried. I couldn’t believe it. When I went in to get my first ultrasound they told me I conceived sometime in December. It made me smile. I believe that is what the little boy was telling me to wait for. While I was pregnant I would have dreams of the same little boy. But as I got farther in my pregnancy he got younger in my dreams. I could see his face and I knew his name and everything. I knew I was having a boy but asked the ultrasound techs not to tell me because I wanted a gender reveal party. When I was 8 months pregnant we did the reveal and just like I had guessed, it was a boy! And when I finally gave birth, he had the same face of the little boy I always saw in my dreams. The same boy who told me to wait until December.

The Dream:

I was standing in front of a house - my house (although it did not resemble my actual house). It was the first time I had been round the front of the house, as usually, I would enter via the back door. I had run out of space in my back garden for more plants, and so I was excited to discover all this space at the front of the house, for planting. However, all of the available planting space was in the shade or under cover of some sort. There was a nice area right in front of the house, but it sloped downwards towards the house so it would be tricky to plant there. In addition, I thought that area was too close to the house to plant a tree, in case it interfered with the foundations. Just next to this sloping ground I noticed that at the point where the sunshine did actually reach the ground, some beautiful bluebells were growing.

Episode 51 - What is Your Therapist Thinking? Mar 21, 2019

Lisa, Joseph, and Deb explore and explain what the analytic process is like for them as they work with clients. Deb describes her interactions with clients using a rectangular diagram that, like the Scottish flag, traces lines going from the two upper corners to the two lower corners. This represents the multi-directional flow of energy in the session between the conscious and unconscious contents of both people. The analytic process is also likened to a chemical reaction in which both people are changed - referencing alchemical images that Jung used, it’s compared to two people sitting in a bath together. These are all ways of illustrating that the process of analytic therapy is as important to the analyst as it is to the client.

The Dream: I was sitting on the steps of a big old brick building in a small town. It seemed like a quaint old fashioned town. The day was warm and sunny. I was upset about something and my therapist was standing in front of me. I can't remember what I was telling her, but as she stood in front of me, she kept removing her shirt and throwing it on the ground. She never picked it up and put it back on, she just had so many shirts on. Over and over, removing one shirt and tossing it aside.

Episode 50 - Shopping Mar 14, 2019

Everyone shops—we have access to an astonishing choice of products. Internet shopping has multiplied our range of options beyond what nearby retail stores may have to offer. Desired items range from mountain climbing trucks to gold jewelry to highly specialized cookware items. What are we seeking for our inner selves as we shop for outer objects? For some, utilitarian objects carry libido, whereas for others shopping is an aesthetic, adventurous, relational, or aspirational experience. Joseph, Deb and Lisa explore the possible personal meanings of shopping.

The Dream:

Winter. I'm in a remote cabin with a group of young people. Cabin is old and empty, with holes in the walls, and freezing drafts going back and forth. I feel terribly out of place, unsure who are these young people, and why I'm here with them, in this god forsaken place. Under the floor we find a frozen body of an old man: white beard, white hair, calm face as if in deep contemplation. We don't know who he is.

Suddenly, a swarm of reptiles coming at us - strange snake-like chimeric creatures. Their attack is vicious. I have a clay tablet in my hands and I use it as a shield against them. Suddenly, the attack is over. I look at my clay tablet and I see that where the reptiles attacked there is a writing in the ancient language that I wish I'd understand but I don't. I want to leave but the young people are begging me to stay. I open the door and find myself face to face with an old and gorgeous winter forest. My heart aches with longing to walk into the forest, and I decide to stay.

Episode 49 - Dietary Over-regulation and the Pursuit of Purity Mar 07, 2019

Preoccupation and obsession with food–a condition called orthorexia--can take the form of the quest for health and purity, with rigid rules about food categories, such as the need for all-organic ingredients or omitting food groups such as dairy, sugar, and gluten in the absence of identified physiological intolerances. This overall effort to banish anxiety can take the form of an implicit bargain (eating “right” guarantees health), a strong need for ego control, elitism, specific community values, and banishing shadow by projecting it onto “bad” foods. The person may be also be seeking connection with the archetypal, or religious realm that has become concretized around food.

The Dream:

I am in a large multilevel food court in a mall which is very empty. I'm carrying a tray of food and I'm looking for my mom who I know is somewhere in the food court and I want to sit and eat with her. As I walk through the food court I become distracted looking at the food stalls. One stall, in particular, catches my attention, through a window behind the service counter I see a bustling kitchen scene, many chefs cooking, lots of steam and smoke and fire leaping into the air. I want to eat the food from this stall. As I'm looking through the window at the kitchen, I realize the window is a TV screen and the kitchen scene is just a video. I awake.

Episode 48 - Estrangement Feb 28, 2019

Estrangement from members of one’s family and others takes place far more often than seems commonly acknowledged. Estrangement involves psychologically cutting-off, repressing, and defending against connection with another who has come to be experienced as “all bad.” People may move away geographically, refuse to talk to a certain person, or simply give someone the “cold shoulder.” Joseph, Lisa and Deb discuss the importance of setting appropriate boundaries with others and understanding that estrangement is also an internal phenomenon.

The Dream:

I see a middle-aged man fixing a fence. The dogs that are in the yard with him are behaved -- they are not trying to go through the big opening in the fence. Then the man is inside a house fixing the trim on a wooden doorway. I "know" him -- and I ask, "Will you treat me?" There is a deep feeling of acceptance and he says, "We will start tomorrow." I go off to get ready for tomorrow.

Episode 47 - Falling in Love with your Analyst Feb 21, 2019

As Jung well knew, eros – love – is an essential part of the analytic process. In Vol. 16 of his Collected Works Jung used alchemical images of a king and queen to illustrate the various ways in which erotic feeling can enter the consulting room. The safety of a time-limited, fee-based relationship is important to allow a full range of feelings and fantasies to be admitted into consciousness without being enacted. Idealizing and erotic feelings for another can pave the way to finding one’s center in oneself.

The Dream:

"I was some kid, with a family. The family left me out of some event, and then they went on a hot-air balloon trip without me. After returning, when I complain, the mother announces that I'm "ready" for it, and prepares to have intercourse with me. But just then, her upper body turns into a giant snake and moved to devour me. And that woke me up."

Link to the Rosarium Images

Episode 46 - Hiding Feb 14, 2019

Many a fairy tale features hiding as a strategic defense. Jack, of beanstalk fame, hides from the giant in order to survive and discover his treasure. We often hide when we feel small and life events and people feel big. Hiding can be a conscious decision, whether for fun, as in the game of hide and seek, or out of necessity, as Anne Frank’s family’s had to do. Hiding can also be an unconscious phenomenon, particularly if there has been trauma, in order to protect the inviolable life of the soul. How, then, does an individual come out of hiding to discover him- or herself?

The Dream:

I was on a mountain trip in a van driven by a man with dreadlocks. He was driving myself and some others high up on the mountainside. It was a beautiful and clear winter day. I suddenly had a feeling that we were going to crash. It was a very windy road and he was driving so fast that he couldn't make the hairpin turn. We flew off the road and into mid-air. Life was suddenly in slow motion and I thought I should try to call my boyfriend while we were flying through the air and tell him what was happening. I awoke before the van started to fall.

Books:

The Inner World of Trauma and The Soul and Trauma by Donald Kalsched, PhD. Available on Amazon.

Episode 45 - The Wall Feb 07, 2019

With “The Wall” very much in the forefront of national discussion, Deb, Lisa and Joseph reflect on the archetype of walls. Some may be stonewalls simply marking boundaries between neighbors. Others may be massive defenses like the Great Wall of China. What do walls keep out – or keep in? What do we need to create necessary separation, and what walls off connection with our own shadow that may be projected onto immigrants. When we focus on building a wall, do we neglect our internal infrastructure, health care and education—and eventually shut down our government? This discussion explores parallels between external and internal walls.

The Dream:

I am in my parents’ home and preparing to sleep, when I feel scared and I see through window just shining eyes looking at me from dark. I come closer and open the terrace door and I see an old lady, and I start yelling at her and waving with my hands to make her go. I want to scream but I have no voice and then my partner wakes me up. I was lying in bed, feeling scared for couple of moments, more...

Episode 44 - The Archetypal Power of Football Jan 31, 2019

Football is a uniquely American sport with millions of fans, heroic teams, and stadiums reminiscent of colosseums. As the Super Bowl approaches – television’s most watched show – Lisa, Joseph and Deb consider the archetypal underpinnings that contribute to making football America’s most watched sport. They consider the light and dark sides of fandom, the hero’s journey, the battleground, and more.

The Dream:

For some reason, I brought kitty litter to the bathroom -- it was not for a cat (since I don't have one anymore) but had some other purpose. Well, as soon as I put it down, my (former) cat, Smoky immediately ran into it. I was surprised to see her, since she's been gone (dead) for years. But she was right there and obviously needed to use the litter urgently. I had the impulse to pull her away, but held back, realizing that she needs to use the bathroom and it's really important not to disturb her in doing that. Then, as I was watching her in the litter box, I saw that she was wrestling with a mouse. As I watched the scene, I saw that both Smoky and the mouse were the same size (the size of a large mouse). Smoky seemed to be winning, but it was definitely a wrestle. They were raising up dust and moving very quickly, so it was hard to see what was happening, but I saw Smoky making cuts on the mouse's back/body, and even saw some blood. I had the sense of cheering her on.

Episode 43 - Heartbreak Jan 24, 2019

Heartbreak is more primal, more pervasive, and more related to one’s sense of self than sadness. Our hearts can break over the death of a dearly loved other, including a pet…and our hearts can break over the death of a relationship and the death of our hopes and dreams, and our innocence, idealizations, and the psychic needs we believe another can fulfill. Heartbreak is mythological and fairy tale theme, which illustrates its central place in the human psyche, and in them we find clues to how one heals from this devastating experience.

The Dream:

I am in a distant and unfamiliar town. I enter into a restaurant, but I don’t have any money. I peek into the kitchen and casually ask one of the employees to hand me a bowl. I go over to the other side of the restaurant and begin to get some soup from the pot and eat it. Then one of the employees comes over to me, he’s speaking Spanish and I can’t understand him, but he’s clearly asking me if I paid for it. I am not really acknowledging him directly and jokingly say: no hablā Ingles. I finish the soup and casually walk out, and know at this point that the employee will try and catch me. I hide in the forest, and wait for him to pass by, then begin to run in a different direction. I see the employee running around trying to search for me. Slowly, with the help of an unknown figure that’s with me, I make it back to my car, but am constantly scanning to see where the employee is. I start driving off, but I notice almost immediately that my car is not at full power, it’s revving high and not producing enough torque or speed but continue to drive anyway. The town is small but feels kind of like a maze, and struggle to find my way out of it. Eventually the road ends and turns into a dirt trail that has tall grass further down, but there is a path where the grass had been pressed down from barn animals having stepped on it. Had it been the higher grass, I don’t think my car would have had enough power to plow through it. My car is really struggling at this point, and barely moving forward. Then out of nowhere a baby deer who appears frightened begins to run closer and closer to me, almost as if to get underneath me sort of like baby elephants do with their mother when they need protection. It no longer feels like I’m driving, but rather riding a bicycle; as the deer gets closer and closer, I keep pedaling and know that it’s eventually going to get run over. The deer gets nicked and starts crying. I stop my bicycle and pick him up, and begin to coddle and pet and kiss him. I really try to comfort him, and apologize to him repeatedly. I can feel his little wet nose sniff me as I kiss him. The little deer is so vulnerable and can’t get enough of comforting him. It gives me a warm feeling to comfort and protect him.

Episode 42 - Over Apologizing Jan 17, 2019

What is “I’m sorry” as a habitual response really about? There’s the preemptive apology that is offered to forestall possible criticism, the apology that evokes reassurance from others, the apology for falling short of perfection…and more. This episode explores developmental, interpersonal, and intrapsychic dynamics of various kinds of habitual apologizing. We’ll be sorry if it falls short of your expectations.

The Dream:

I'm at a holiday "work party" for the very exclusive private school where I work, but it's in a big, old, rather shabby hotel that reminds me of a firehouse where my family used to have annual holiday gatherings. I'm mingling among all of the people and (as is true in my conscious life) can't seem to find a group with which I feel completely comfortable or myself. I feel like a lonely misfit in disguise, feigning conformity and pleasant attitude. I go upstairs to where the bathroom is supposed to be, and it feels very far away from the party--the second floor is creepily empty and quiet, with several large, empty rooms. I don't remember actually going into a bathroom, but as I'm about to go back downstairs to the party, I see an infant boy teetering at the top of the staircase on the landing. He is far too small to be walking. I immediately pick him up to save him, and he looks up at me, clearly distressed, and begins speaking as a much older child would. I ask him where his mother is, and he says he doesn't know, and is crying.

I don't remember all of what he says, but he tells me that he is in kindergarten. I hold him to my chest and he begins to calm down, eventually falling asleep. I feel affection for him and give him a kiss on the cheek, but I'm alarmed and unsure of what we will do. I go downstairs to the bartender of this party and ask where this boy's mother might be. He says, "probably in the party upstairs." No one at the work party seems to notice or care that I have this lost baby. I go back upstairs, and as before, there is no one there--just an open door exposing a room with these creepy, industrial looking blue closet doors (almost like storage spaces) underneath a fluorescent light. I feel a deep sense that this situation is not right, and a strong determination to get myself and the baby out of there. The dream ends with me standing on the landing, baby still pressed against me.

Episode 41 - Regret Jan 10, 2019

Along with a our guest podcast Brazilian Jungian analyst Leticia Capriotti, we explored the psychological underpinnings of regret. We considered that sometimes regret can arise as a result of self-betrayal. We link it to the unlived life that can haunt us and demand our attention. At times, this unlived life may reach into the ancestral past, as we struggle with inter-generational patterns. We discuss how sometimes this can lead to new creative endeavors, but at other times, there may need to be a painful sacrifice of fantasy before regret can be transformed. To avoid bitterness, we must come to love our fate, which involves sanctifying the ordinary. We discussed the work of genogram expert Monica McGoldrick. The Dream: It is the middle of the night & I am in the shadowy living area of what appears to be an English mansion house. The room is large and high ceilinged, but is dark & shadowy. My attention is focused on a dimly lit table, where I am standing and packing to depart. I am packing my final suitcase with books - a companion is bringing the books to me but who that person is is unclear (perhaps my young adult son). The books are hard covered and old, thick & weighty. I don't know the titles - but they are from a prolific 19th century English male author who I have never felt the need to read, yet I'm taking the care to pack these. I'm sorting the books & packing with haste. While I'm in charge of the packing, I worry about what I am doing. The books are so thick and heavy & take up so much space - will I even be able to carry the suitcase? Is it a mistake packing these...will I read them?...why take these, why now, at this time? I seem to finish sorting, although I leave everything in the shadowy room. I open the heavy door made of dark wood to peer into the shadowy entryway where my other small suitcases are standing. I peak out into the darkness, keeping my eye out for danger but also for the unknown person who will come to take us away.

Episode 40 - What's Unique about Jungian Analysis? Jan 03, 2019

How is Jungian analysis different from other psychotherapies? What are its major components and distinguishing features? And what makes it effective? Lisa, Deb, and Joseph discuss Jungian analysis as a nonlinear process that is not limited to problem-solving or reducing symptoms. Instead, Jungian analysis is grounded in an inherent capacity to grow into wholeness, a process Jung called individuation. Jungian analysis places a high value on all the processes and multiplicities of the unconscious, from symptoms to work with dreams, in order to facilitate the integration of denied or devalued aspects of the personality. The four particular stages of an analytic journey, which may overlap, are explained: catharsis, elucidation, education, and transformation—altogether an abiding fullness of being.

The Dream:

I’m in the front room of my home. It is a farmhouse with views from the room of rolling hills. I’m looking after my two young boys inside and the room is in chaos. An unexpected visitor enters the room, it is my friend who is a vicar. We have children a similar age and I think he has come for a playdate, but I realize he has turned up for a therapy session. He wants to discuss his addiction but I can’t focus as I need to look after the children. I also wonder how I have let this happen—he’s my friend and this is my home; I feel guilty I have let this happen.

Episode 39 - Shrink Rap Radio Dec 27, 2018

This week we sat down with Dave from Shrink Rap Radio to discuss dream analysis. We hope you enjoy and happy holidays!

Episode 38 - Holiday Madness Dec 20, 2018

As the holiday season approaches, we examine the tidal pull of the ancient, archetypal power of the solstice season. Because of this underpinning, together with the power of family narratives, roles, and complexes, the holidays can be fraught with intense feeling, from hope to regression to disappointment. We discuss ways to manage feelings, intention, and behavior.

The Dream:

"I am in a bathhouse (Turkish bath) and sitting immersed in the pool of warm water to my waist. I am sitting with my back to a rectangle column made out of black granite. I have my arms are stretched like a crucifix and my hands are holding onto the column that is behind me. The pool is made out of green granite. To my left there is an altar made out of cubic-shaped granite and on which sits a woman who is a sage, a seer, a fortune-teller, or a magician. She is wearing a long dress and is sitting crossed legged. My back is hot and dries the film of water on the column and as the column dries my back leaves marks on the column. The marks are magical symbols. They resemble the Japanese Zen art that is done by a water-wet brush on a black rock and it fades as water dries. The woman comes and looks at them and she is flabbergasted. She has never seen magical marks such as these.

In the bottom of the pool and in front of me there is a piece of green granite with a circular metal inlay and a ring attached to the circular metal. It resembles the remains of a counterweight that would have been used in opening the gates to castles. I look at it and with the power of my mere stare the rock floats up to the surface of the water and glides on the surface. Then the rock starts skipping on the surface of water 3 times and lands on the skirt of the woman who is back on the altar."

Episode 37 - Narcissism Dec 13, 2018

The myth of Narcissus constitutes the archetypal root of the character structure of narcissism. Aspects of narcissism run from the healthy developmental narcissism of a child to the toxic narcissism of the psychopath, but all have in common a lack of empathy, whether momentary or chronic. We offer some thoughts on how to tell if you are in a relationship with a narcissist and what to do about it.

The Dream:

My ex-wife moves back in together, and then she starts belittling (me) like she used to when we were together, which I don’t like. After she does it a few times, I determinedly tell her to move out, and then I remember that she moved into my house, not the other way around—I don’t have to allow her to stay.

Episode 36 - Adulting: Leaving the Parental Path Dec 06, 2018

What does it mean to separate from one’s parents and parental complexes—the attitudes and values that have been deeply instilled since infancy? How do we discern when we are in a parental complex, whether we are aligned with it or rebelling against it? What can we do to resolve the hold these complexes can have over us and become more of our unique, individuated selves?

The Dream:

I was in front of a white house. I felt like it belonged to me. Some creatures attacked. I remember two of them, one was blue and the other one red. The red one was called Prometheus. I also had allies with me, but I paid no attention to them as they were behind me. It was a fierce fight. We fought with the creatures and after awhile the creatures fled, except Prometheus. I fought with him, and in the end I subdued him, grabbing him by the head and speaking some kind of banishment to him. He collapsed. After the battle I withdrew to the house to rest. As I was catching my breath, I turned around and see Prometheus, now transformed into a lion with a fiery mane and glowing eyes. I roared like a lion trying to protect its territory and he roared back. We stood there for awhile and then he comes closer and tells me: “Don’t you see you’re everything to me?”

Kwame Scruggs’ work with young men can be accessed through:

alchemyinc.net/g-kwame-scruggs-ph-d/

Episode 35 - Loneliness Nov 29, 2018

Loneliness is a deeply human and universal experience. Lisa, Joseph and Deb examine it from multiple perspectives: as it may be experienced in young adulthood versus older years; as reflective of the need for attachment and relational security; as comparable to the alchemical metaphors of calcinatio and solutio; as a call to activation in outer and inner worlds; and as a psychologically toxic phenomenon.

The dream:

I dreamt I was haphazardly packing up my family’s things after a stay at a friend’s house. In the bathroom I find I have my period and have bled through all my cloth pads. My underwear in soaked and bright red. I am overwhelmed by the color and amount of blood. Could I use their washing machine, I wonder? After some thought I decide to make a pad with toilet paper. Then I head upstairs looking for my husband and kids.

Going up I remember that we considered buying this house once but decided it was too big and needed too much work. It’s beautiful now. I go upstairs to the attic. There are deep rich rugs and walls in browns and reds, quiet tables and chairs. It feels good. High ceilings, 30 feet, but the space is still warm and encompassing. My family is here. I see the kids' bunk bed to the left. In front of me is a huge window with a view of an enormous maple tree in full red color. It is astonishing, such beauty, leaves rustling. Talking with my husband I recall how when we last saw this place it was derelict, holes in the roof, floor boards missing, pipes exposed. A real mess. The transformation is incredible. I think of the work and expense it was to bring those windows up! I love this place.

To the left there is another huge window split in three sections and shows a long view across plains to distant mountains. We are shockingly high. The view is beautiful but suddenly I fee dizzy. I am afraid of heights and need to sit down. My son is fooling around near the windows. I tell myself he’s fine but I am still afraid. Are the windows sound? I tell myself he’ll be fine, my husband is with him, but can’t tolerate the feeling. I head for the stairs down.

Episode 34 - The Scapegoat Nov 22, 2018

The archetype of the scapegoat goes back to the ancient Hebrew ritual of using two goats to expiate the sins of the tribe. Sin, blame, and wrongness are also often attributed to others, and this practice – scapegoating – is addressed as it occurs in current culture, in families, and in individual psychology.

The Dream:

I hiked to a “primitive” tribal village. I went there as a researcher, perhaps an anthropologist. As I was standing talking to one of the men, an angry woman with a crying infant stomped toward our area and plunged her infant (backside first) into a plastic basin of water as if to drown her. Bubbles came from the infant’s mouth while under water. I started to run over there to rescue the baby, but the man (or something) held me back. The woman pulled the baby out of the water, looked at her face briefly, and then plunged her back into the water – this time face down. At this, I immediately ran to the baby and pulled her out of the water. I held her face down and pounded on her back in an attempt to get the water out of her lungs. While I was watching/doing all of this, I was aware that I wanted to save the child, not because I cared about her, or because I cared about children in general, but because I knew what it felt like to drown. Water came out of the infant’s mouth, she coughed a lot, and then seemed okay. She was able to breathe. The angry mother had stood there watching me. She was now calm. She wanted her baby back, and although I felt apprehensive about returning the child, I did. The woman and child seemed fine. I wanted to have the child removed from the abusive, dangerous environment, but the mother reassured me everything was fine. I had to leave. The mother was smiling as she cradled her baby; she seemed genuinely happy/content, but I still worried a bit about the infant.

PAJA (Philadelphia Association of Jungian Analysts)

Episode 33 - Archetypal Dynamics of Gender Transformation Nov 15, 2018

Lisa, Joseph, and Deb circumambulate the difficult issue of gender reassignment. They discuss the significance of teen girls wishing to transition and the current tendency to foreclose the meaning of this and move rapidly into medical procedures, a process of concretization instead of curiosity and exploration. Lisa discusses previous examples of symptoms and their diagnoses in history, leading to an understanding of the influence of cultural factors on mental illnesses and diagnosis. Finally, gender reassignment is considered as a Promethean venture, and although it is now possible to challenge the gods of genetics, it is also truly awe-full. We suggest that gender transitioning, like much else, can be psychologically transformative only if there is a conscious relationship to it.

Lisa's writings on the topic include three articles in Quillette:

Misunderstanding a New Kind of Gender Dysphoria

Transgenderism and the Social Construction of Diagnosis

Trans Activism's Dangerous Myth of Parental Rejection

This article in the Jungian journal Psychological Perspectives:

Outbreak: On Transgender Teens and Psychic Epidemics

And a chapter in this book, which also includes a chapter from UK Jungian analyst Bob Withers:

Transgender Children and Young People: Born in Your Own Body

The dream:

I am lying in bed with a man I do not know and we are both naked. We are covered by a thin blanket. The man's right hand man comes in the room to discuss something with him. The man in bed with me gets up and does not clothe himself but nonchalantly takes off his penis and hands it to me. It is not bloody or gory and he seems to know that he can put it back on; I am just holding it for him. I'm not sure what to do so I take it under the blanket and lay it on my lower abdomen. The man tells his partner, as he points at me, that he should take a picture for his Dad because they see the outline of the penis under the blanket.

Episode 32 - Slobs Nov 08, 2018

What happens when one is held captive by the mud of messiness? We try to understand sloppiness as a defense against overwhelming emotions, ongoing enmeshment in the primal maternal matrix, a regression to a younger and less differentiated self, and a tendency to overvalue objects as compensation for an inadequate ability to symbolize.
The dream:

I am swimming in an indoor public pool with others when waves begin to occur for no apparent or antecedent reason. I am in a pool that shouldn’t have waves. As the waves begin to bob me around, the water level rises dramatically, quickly. The water reaches nearly to the top of a cinderblock retaining wall that is protecting a sunny, sacred green forest glade with a shrine far down below. Another person I don’t recognize, also male about my age begins to chip away at the retaining wall, cracking, crumbling it until it gives way. Darkness rushes in violently, and I awake to see myself in the third person floating in dank, dark blue, murky water that is endless in form and size. A graphic overlay of five hearts (much like a Zelda video game’s heart display) is shown on top of me as I float, alive but ultimately devoured by the flood.

Episode 31 - Food Addiction Nov 01, 2018

Compulsive eating is a complicated psychological and biological problem. Food addiction can be a way of defending against unmet needs by displacing emotional hunger onto food. We discuss how infant experiences with eating and soothing can shape one’s relationship to food in adulthood. Two fairy tales tell of parents with insatiably devouring babies and illustrate the consequences of failure to develop affect regulation and how that can lead to various vulnerabilities to addiction.
The dream:

My skin (not sure what body part) had green mold on it, like the intense green mold that grows on an orange. When I try to peel it off, I discover it is about a centimeter thick and that it comes away in spongy chunks leaving a very uneven skin surface—once again, like the contrast between peel, pith, and segments of an orange. I feel alarmed. I stop peeling worrying the whole structure will collapse.

Episode 30 - Escaping Literalism Oct 25, 2018

We consider literalism as a normal state in childhood; children’s literalism can be funny and charming. We grow first into the ability to understand metaphor and conceptualize symbols and levels of meaning. Literalism can then serve as a defense against uncertainty, as ego’s resistance to any threat to its power, and as a refusal to confront unwelcome truths from the unconscious. A symbolic attitude, however, opens the inner world to adventure, mystery and creativity.

The dream:

I had a wild animal skin. At first, I thought it was a zebra skin but then I realized it something more rare and dangerous, the skin of a white tiger. I knew it was wrong and illegal to have it but I loved it and it felt so warm, comfortable, and safe to be inside of it.

Episode 29 - ENVY & JEALOUSY: Hobgoblins in Relationships Oct 18, 2018

This podcast relates envy and jealousy to early developmental dynamics, with envy related to the dyad of mother-and-baby and jealousy arriving a bit later, when the child realizes that sometimes he is left out of his parent’s relationship with one another. Envy is related to early narcissism, a sense of inferiority and primal emotions, often resulting in the urge to destroy the envied person or object. Jealousy, because it is related to longing, can motivate a person to strive for what is desired. Rumi, a Persian poet, wrote about existential and universal aspects of longing for the divine, and how, inherent in the longing, lies connection.

The dream:

I was in a house, standing in the kitchen, an attractive and intimate young couple exits one of the rooms, there greet me and leave. The male is playful, the female is glowing they are happy. Beside me on the table is a red book, I felt as though I had written part of it. The number '22' and 'Libra' stand out. I look towards the front door, my ex fianceé walks in, she approaches me and walks right past into a dark room as I point to the book. She did not stop, make eye contact or acknowledge my presence. Her eyes had lost all sharpness, swollen, glazed over and zombie like, powerless and filled with vile, I sensed only a flickering of life within her. Surprised that I was not startled. I waited in the kitchen with fear that she may emerge from the dark room and abuse me for having 'rearranged' her things.

Episode 28 - Boredom Oct 11, 2018

Boredom is not depression or dissociation, sadness or loneliness…but what is it? We consider boredom from various perspectives: lack of access to one’s inner world, a relational deficit, a defense against unwanted feelings, a byproduct of reliance on technology to command attention, and lack of access to enlivening transpersonal energies. We surmise that the antidote to boredom lies in the ability to pay attention, as this can generate connection and meaning.

The dream:

I had a rather strange dream the other night where I was on a bridge. A very long bridge and on this bridge were statues of people. They were all in different positions but seemed like they were marching but frozen in place. When I intensely looked at one of them it started to move and break open free. I think I did the same thing to other statues and they moved. The next part of the dream I was at the beginning of the bridge and I saw that tall giant woman. It was an uncle’s wife, she is a doctor, very beautiful, and she looked like a queen or had that feeling of wearing a crown. Very regal. And she talked down to me giving me advice that I can’t remember. The next part of the dream she was wearing alluring black top and shorts.

Episode 27 - Dream Animals Oct 04, 2018

In this podcast, we focus on animals as symbols of instincts that have often been repressed in order to conform to cultural norms. When some aspect of our instinctual nature returns to us as a dream animal we can find ourselves fleeing, fighting, denying, or befriending an aspect of ourselves represented by that animal. Because animals have objectively known characteristics, dream creatures can provide specific clues about lost aspects of ourselves that we may need to reclaim. Finding the right relationship to our inner animals can contribute to our wholeness.

The dream:

I am in the kitchen in our house (the house is huge with very big kitchen and back door leading from the kitchen to what it seems like a farm yard) and trying to prepare some food. My father (who is not living with us in my dream and is separated from my mother) bursts in the kitchen. He is drunk and looking for food to eat. His dog is following him. The dog is very beautiful German Shepherd like, the long hair type variety and completely beige/blond in color. I love the dog very, very much. My father isn’t in a good mood. He starts digging in the fridge for food and complaining that there isn’t anything to eat. He starts pushing things and shouting that there isn’t even any fruit to eat. I am trying to calm him down and give him some of my fruit I bought for breakfast. He is getting more demanding and greedy insisting I give him more and more. I am getting upset, as I am not going to have any fruit left for my breakfast. On the following day the whole scene in the kitchen repeats again. I am giving my father cherries and he keeps asking for more until he gets all my cherries. When I run out of cherries (which I really love and wanted to enjoy eating, so I am very upset he took them all from me) he starts demanding I give him all my blueberries too. I give him some, but he keeps insisting for more and he is getting very greedy. His hands are full and he can’t hold any more blueberries, but he keeps asking for more. The blueberries are starting to roll off his hand and fall on the floor. I am growing more upset and angry at him. I am trying to get him to stop demanding more and go away. The feeling that I hate him and my anger and feeling of disgust towards him are growing inside of me and I am about to burst out shouting and who knows what else. I am already half shouting at him to stop being so greedy. At this moment the dog starts to half bark, half cry very loudly and I know this means my mum is coming back home. My father’s dog adores my mother and always reacts like that when she is around. In the next moment my mum enters the kitchen through the back door and the dog runs to her for big hug and pet. My mum adores the dog too. We all do. He is such a beautiful and cuddly thing and I couldn’t understand why it is with my dad. I always wished the dog stayed with us when they split. We all felt like we lost a sibling…I almost felt like I don’t want to see my drunk, horrible and greedy father, but I don’t want to lose his dog and in order to see the dog I have to put up with my father’s greed and bad behavior (Strange)…. I wake up

We referenced The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Symbols, ARAS (Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism), Taschen publishers, 2010.

Episode 26 - Betrayal Sep 27, 2018

The experience of betrayal is painful, confusing, and damaging to one’s basic sense of self and reality. The betrayer is often seized by feelings that demand gratification and involve self-deceit, abandonment of responsibility and empathy for the other. Are there ever times when betrayal is necessary for growth, either as the betrayed or the betrayer? Can betrayal be used as a call to deepened feeling, increased consciousness and more creative self-expression?

The Dream:

I was in a house that belonged to my parents, but it wasn't a house my parents have ever actually lived in. My boyfriend and I were fooling around in the bathtub. I was enjoying myself but he warned me that we were making a mess. I turned around and saw that we had somehow flooded the bathroom with several inches of water. I started to panic about how angry my parents were going to be.
There was a radio on the floor that was an actual radio that my dad owned when I was a child. I was afraid to step out of the tub and into the water because I thought I'd be electrocuted. I was able to lean out and unplug the radio, and music that I hadn't realized was playing stopped. I jumped out of the tub to grab a bucket to try to deal with the water, but by then most of it had drained away. I was trying to scoop up what was left and dump it down the drain. My boyfriend wasn't helping and I was getting mad at him. He seemed to think it wasn't any big deal because the water was almost gone. I told him that the water had obviously drained into other parts of the house, causing damage, and that my parents were still going to be angry.

Episode 25 - The Psychology of Divination: a depth approach Sep 20, 2018

Divinatory systems have been used for thousands of years as a source of help and direction to people wishing to resolve situations of personal uncertainty. Jung used the I Ching for 30 years before he met Richard Wilhelm and found confirmation of its usefulness in Wilhelm’s translation of The Secret of the Golden Flower. We explore the value of divination through the I Ching and the Tarot, and link this to the concept of a unified field that can facilitate a healing relationship with the Self.

The dream:

"I’m sitting on a concrete ledge. A few feet below is mud. A loved, beaded bracelet slips off into the mud and begins to sink. I know I cannot reach it. The feeling of anger and frustration toward myself and the situation distracts me for so long that when I regain clarity I realize it’s late, and I am far from home. I also become aware of a family of brown bears below, a mother and two cubs, father some distance away. The need to get away from the bears and find a safe place to sleep takes over. I look behind me into a beautiful, green grassy space and see a metal fenced off area about the size of a basketball court. A cage with no roof! I run to it for safety, whilst the bears meander calmly in the distance. Although they appear peaceful, I know that if parents’ protective instincts kick in then I’m in danger. I find the gate to the cage and let myself in, questioning if bears can climb the fence. I’m terrified they’ll see and hear me, so resist the urge to move fast. I quietly, slowly slide the lock on the gate across. Feeling safe and relieved, I look around for somewhere to lie down. It’s all very muddy, which surprisingly doesn’t faze me. I find a spot and lie down, settling into the soft mud, although when I roll over I see that I have lain down next to huge, twelve-foot-tall gorilla, which I initially think is a bear who is asleep but rolling over and toward me, about to land on me! My final thought before waking is if that rolls onto me I will never get away. How did I not notice it was there?"

In selecting the topic for this podcast, we are pleased to acknowledge and, we hope fulfill, the request of a listener, Colin P.

Here's a link for The Matrix and Meaning of Character`

And here's a link for the I Ching app.

Episode 24 - Motherhood as a Journey of Individuation Sep 13, 2018

The experience of motherhood evokes powerful feelings, ranging from joy and bonding to anger and rejection. If we can develop a conscious relationship with these feelings, we meet both denied aspects of ourselves—our shadows—and experience the pleasures and enrichment of mothering that serve the individuation process.

You can learn more about Lisa's work on motherhood here.

The Dream:

I was visiting the home of a friend who doesn’t exist in the real world. She lives with her mother in a house near woods in another state. She’s very talkative and a good friend but is ill and can’t work. We hung around the house and laughed and talked, can’t recall what about—shared history, I guess. I was sure this was not my first visit and we’ve known each other a long time. To stress again, the person in the dream is nobody I’ve ever met in real life. We connected well but I had to go. I wanted to call her but didn’t have a phone number. She said she would email me. I woke with a sense of confusion that my friend didn’t actually exist.

Episode 23 - Indecision Sep 06, 2018

Many people have difficulty making decisions, whether large or small. Among other factors, the psychology behind the fear of making a decision can be related to fear of making a mistake, lack of motivation, suppressed anger and aggression, and difficulty accepting the limitations and ordinariness of adulthood.

The Dream:

Last night I had what felt like an important dream. I was in a big new house. In one room I was just waking up with the cousin who is closest to me. The room was dark and filled with shadows. The other room was filled with light and I saw a woman waiting for me to wake up. We had both gone to the kitchen and as she got closer she was a girl I had a crush on in high school in very much detail. In high school I was always afraid to come talk to her—now she was coming to me. She was wearing my boxers and tank top and saw me and went right to the fridge and pulled out some tea. One of her friends was there too, whom I knew but didn’t know too well. We were all talking and having fun but with me and her, we kept looking at each other, drinking tea and coffee. I had the sense that something great is coming into my life.

Episode 22 - Pressure to Conform and Differentiation Aug 30, 2018

The pressure to conform to familial and cultural values provides guidelines for each new generation – and can also stifle the uniqueness necessary not only to the individual but to family and cultural health. How can we discern when differentiation from established norms is in the service of meaningful growth and soul versus avoidance of necessary developmental challenge? This podcast engages this issue as both interpersonal and intrapsychic conflict.

The dream:

A recurring dream I have had for years. I am in someone else’s house and unable to find my way to my bedroom to sleep. I open doors and wander corridors. There are other people around. Sometimes I find my room to find other people in my bed. Sometimes the house is a holiday cottage or a university hall of residence, or a hotel or a huge rambling house. I never find a place to sleep.

At Home in the World: Sounds and Symmetries of Belonging (Zurich Lecture Series in Analytical Psychology) by John Hill

Link: http://a.co/gTkuyoP

Episode 21 -- Living with a Crazy Parent Aug 23, 2018

Living with a parent who is seriously impaired can be traumatic and have lasting consequences. Fortunately, resources for healing and resilience are also available, and premature encounters with shadow can be a call to consciousness and yield gifts of effective and creative depth.

The dream:

My band mate and I are in an underground burial chamber which is dimly lit by torches. At some point we come across a large tomb/coffin. The coffin was black and was decorated with golden “stick figure” men with very large, erect penises. They looked a lot like prehistoric cave drawings of people. There was a smaller coffin inserted into the top of the larger, which could be removed and slid back. My band mate removes the smaller coffin and opens the lid; inside is the rotting, decaying body of an infant girl. It’s at this point in the dream I remember feeling particularly unsettled. At that point both of us knew we were supposed to be the two-wheeling this coffin out of wherever we were. We were supposed to be the funerary procession.

https://www.donaldkalsched.com/publications

1996, The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit ... Routledge, NY.

Episode 20 -- Mother-in-Law Aug 16, 2018

The mother-in-law is not only the subject of many a joke but the subject of fairy tale and myth. Conflict between the older and younger woman lies in the archetypal realm, as both struggle to come to terms with differences, age, and the power of both youth and age.

The Dream:

Somehow my baby’s right arm has come completely out of her socket and is completely detached. I try to put it back into her socket, hoping for a miracle (which doesn’t happen) so I put her back into her cot. Later, I look for her, thinking I need to feed her but cannot find her. I search high and low, still there’s no baby. By chance, I find her in another room, it was like she was deliberately moved there. Her skin is very cold but she is alive. Her arm is still detached. I’ll have to take her to the doctor’s, I think, and get her arm sewn on, if that’s even possible. I wake up.

Episode 19 -- Sin and Transgression Aug 09, 2018

In archery, sin refers to missing the mark, whereas transgression involves violation of a cultural boundary. But missing the mark or crossing a line can have positive effects as well as negative consequences.

The dream:

I am outside, in the yard of an old, but well-maintained house. The house is off-white, but I couldn’t say if it was gray off-white or beige off-white. There are other people here but I don’t pay them much attention because I am looking at my left hand. It has been injured—the skin across my knuckles has been torn and crudely stitched up. The skin is buckled between stitches and several are infected. I think to myself, no wonder things are a mess!

Episode 18 -- Creative Depression Aug 02, 2018

Creative depression demands that we suffer a journey into the deep wells of the psyche in quest of new life. It differs from other kinds of depression in how it is imaged in dreams, its antecedents in the person’s life history, and in relationships.

The Dream:

I was gardening and all my seeds were failing. The plants they were producing looked old and withered as they broke the soil. I went to a water barrel to irrigate the sad plot and instead of water, there was a red liquid in the barrel. Not sure if wine, blood…it didn’t seem significant. I siphoned some down a hose to the garden and what looked like snow started falling and covering the garden. Then in a back corner of the garden, I saw movement…when I approached the spot, I saw a person stand up from under the soil. As if he had a gown like a plant. I don’t know who it was in waking life, but in the dream, he seemed familiar. I remember being more intrigued than bewildered by the person. Then I woke.

Episode 17 -- Lying Jul 26, 2018

Lying, hiding and sneaking are examples of trickster behavior, discussed as they occur in political and personal spheres. When is this behavior in service to individuation, and when is it in service to regressive, or unconscious, aspects of the psyche?

The dream:

I had a dream a couple of days ago where I was cut in half by a shaman. The setting of this dream occurred in my backyard. The shaman was Aztec it seemed. At the same time I was a shaman too, who was willing to be sacrificed by this shaman. He cut me in half with a ceremony knife and as he cut snakes came out of my body. An extension of this dream was of a snake crawling up my spine to talk to me. I don’t remember what it said.

Episode 16 -- The Archetype of the Gun Jul 19, 2018

As three analysts, we explore the archetype of “the gun” from a Jungian psychological view and seek to understand it’s influence in the collective psyche of Americans. Guns play a big role in American mythology from the American Revolution to cowboys and first-person shooter games. Guns are symbols of heroic power—but mythology also sounds a cautionary note about what can happen when humans arrogate super-human power to themselves.

The dream:

When I was a child, around ages 7 to 8, I would dream that my bedroom was covered in lizards. I’d wake up and jump to the floor, run to my parents’ bed, and climb in between them. Sweating, I’d look up to see the eye of a red dragon. Suddenly I was in an old-time saloon and the dragon would just be staring at me. That ‘s all there was to it, but it was repetitive.

Episode 15 -- Toxic Masculinity Jul 12, 2018

How can we understand the superficial label assigned to masculine behavior in today’s meme-driven style of discourse?

The Dream:

I am walking on what seems to be mountainous hills. A little ahead of me is what feels like my teenage daughter and a friend. It’s kind of like twilight. Then I see a giant size footprint on the hillside. Huge, like a natural wonder-of-the-world type of site. I point at it like the way one does when one sees something pretty or interesting on holidays. Then I take a photo.

Dreams Jul 05, 2018

Jung was one of the primary theorists who added to our understanding of the psychological significance of dreams, and working with dreams is often a central part of an analytic process. What is the Jungian understanding of why we dream? What does it mean if we don't dream, and what are some ways of learning to work with dreams? We discuss things one can do to help with dream recall, and ponder whether we dream all day long, even when awake. We also talk about the nature of symbols in dreams and dream series. Here's the Dream We Analyze: "I ran into a male friend who I have not seen for a few years in the lobby of a ridiculously high-end hotel. I was wearing only a towel. He asked me to join him in his room, which was called “the mermaid aquarium,” along with a female friend of his who was already in the room. Somewhere along the line in the hotel lobby he bought me orange-scented perfume. I found his room. I just remember entering the room and seeing two nude women lying on the bed wearing exotic jewelry."

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INTERESTED IN BECOMING A JUNGIAN ANALYST?

Enroll in the Philadelphia Jungian Seminar and start your journey to become an analyst: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/seminar.shtml

Active Imagination Jun 28, 2018

Jung pioneered the technique of active imagination, a process by which the ego engages with imagery and content generated by the unconscious. Active imagination can help us understand our dreams, and lead us into new psychic situations. On today's episode, we share some personal examples of active imagination, discuss some suggestions of how to engage in it, and explore what active imagination has to do with snorkeling. Here's the Dream We Analyze:

"I am about to light four candles on the dining room table, each in its separate candlestick. They are ivory-colored tapers and are about two-thirds consumed already. Two of the burned wicks are quite short and two are long, curling at the top. I am arrested by this fact as it seems significant and I’m somewhat afraid of getting it wrong somehow."

BECOME A DREAM INTERPRETER

PLEASE GIVE US A HAND

Hey folks, we need your help. Please become our patron and keep This Jungian Life podcast up and running: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

SHARE YOUR DREAM WITH US

Submit your dream for a possible podcast interpretation: https://thisjungianlife.com/share-your-dream/

INTERESTED IN BECOMING A JUNGIAN ANALYST?

Enroll in the Philadelphia Jungian Seminar and start your journey to become an analyst: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/seminar.shtml

Anxiety Jun 21, 2018

“We don't so much solve our problems as we outgrow them. We add capacities and experiences that eventually make us bigger than the problems.”

CG Jung

Anxiety is one of the most common complaints that bring people into therapy. While it can be difficult to differentiate anxiety from healthy fear we all agree that finding an ally to stand with us makes a big difference. We explore the many underlying dynamics that can manifest outwardly as anxiety and consider the value in taking a heroic stance as we face our inner dragons. Inspired by Jung, we can come to appreciate that working with our anxieties rather than running from them gets the best results.

Here's the Dream We Analyze:

“I’ve had Repeated dreams for many years about human feces in different forms.”

BECOME A DREAM INTERPRETER

PLEASE GIVE US A HAND

Hey folks, we need your help. Please become our patron and keep This Jungian Life podcast up and running: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

SHARE YOUR DREAM WITH US

Submit your dream for a possible podcast interpretation: https://thisjungianlife.com/share-your-dream/

INTERESTED IN BECOMING A JUNGIAN ANALYST?

Enroll in the Philadelphia Jungian Seminar and start your journey to become an analyst: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/seminar.shtml

Fairy Tales Jun 14, 2018

Why do Jungians care about fairy tales? What is their relevance in analysis? How do they differ from myths, and why do they matter to us still? Find out what fairy tales have mattered most to our clients, and why Lisa gets cranky when people criticize fairy tales for being sexist. Here's the Dream We Analyze

"I dreamt of a big cockroach. It was standing like a human and it was going to be transformed."

REFERENCE

The Book of Symbols

BECOME A DREAM INTERPRETER

PLEASE GIVE US A HAND

Hey folks, we need your help. Please become our patron and keep This Jungian Life podcast up and running: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

SHARE YOUR DREAM WITH US

Submit your dream for a possible podcast interpretation: https://thisjungianlife.com/share-your-dream/

INTERESTED IN BECOMING A JUNGIAN ANALYST?

Enroll in the Philadelphia Jungian Seminar and start your journey to become an analyst: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/seminar.shtml

SYNCHRONICITY: the mysterious web of meaningful coincidences Jun 07, 2018

Synchronicity is a concept that has fascinated thinkers across disciplines for decades, and few have delved as deeply into its nature and implications as the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. According to Jung, synchronicity refers to meaningful coincidences that defy rational explanation but that feel infused with a sense of significance or destiny. But how do we recognize such coincidences, and what role do they play in our lives and psyches?

Jung himself was driven to explore the concept of synchronicity by his encounters with analysands who described unusual coincidences that seemed to be tied to their inner experiences and conflicts. For example, a patient might think of a long-lost friend just before they receive a call from them, or while discussing a dream scarab, a similar insect flies through the office window. These events felt charged with meaning and often served as powerful catalysts for psychological growth and transformation.

But what makes a coincidence truly synchronistic, as opposed to just a random or arbitrary occurrence? Jung argued that synchronistic events are characterized by their emotional intensity and their association with archetypal situations, such as death, illness, or relationship crises. In such contexts, our consciousness is often altered, and our usual defenses and rationalizations are temporarily suspended. This creates an opening for the unconscious, with its symbolic and mythical dimensions, to break through and communicate with us in a language of images, dreams, and omens.

From a theoretical physics perspective, synchronicity can be seen as a manifestation of non-locality or the idea that seemingly separate entities can influence each other instantaneously, regardless of distance or time. This concept challenges the classical view of causality and suggests that the universe operates on a web of interconnectedness and interdependence, where every event is part of a larger pattern or order. In this sense, synchronicity can be seen as a bridge between science and spirituality, as it points to a deeper level of reality that transcends our limited senses and rational faculties.

But how can we discern whether a coincidence is truly synchronistic or just a product of our own biases or wishful thinking? Jung emphasized the importance of personal experience and intuition in such matters, as well as the need for critical reflection and testing against external reality. For example, if we have a dream of a friend who we haven’t seen in years, we might interpret it as a sign to reconnect with them, but we should also consider whether there are other possible explanations, such as recent news or memories that triggered the dream.

Ultimately, the meaning of synchronicity is not something that can be fully grasped or measured by our rational minds alone. It is a phenomenon that invites us to expand our awareness and sensitivity to the mysterious and numinous aspects of life and to connect with the deeper patterns and archetypes that underlie our personal and collective existence. As Jung put it, synchronistic events are those in which an inner subjective event is mirrored by an objective one, the coincidence being so striking that it is difficult to regard it as merely accidental.

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Vampires May 31, 2018

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, True Blood. Vampires are perennial stars in popular entertainment. How can we understand vampires psychologically, and what does their tremendous popularity tell us about our culture? This week, we look at the transformation of the vampire archetype, explore how vampires live in all of us psychologically, and trace the return of the feeling function in modern vampire images. Here's the Dream We Analyze:

"This is a repeating dream. I am still at school but have reached well into middle age. I am unwilling to stay there, unwilling to study or sit for any exams as I have already qualified as a nurse. I wish to go and secure a job."

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Choosing a Life Partner May 24, 2018

Sex? Money? Passion? Intellectual companionship? Kids? What are factors to consider when choosing a life partner? Should you be practical, or follow your heart? How is this decision different for men versus for women? We offer some ideas. Here's The Dream We Analyze:

"I was in my parents’ house. My mother was showing me some renovations she had done in the bathroom. Suddenly, in the mirror, I saw myself behind me charging toward me. I turned around in terror, but there was nobody there. I turned back to the mirror and saw myself again, looking pretty demented, charging toward me. Again I turned around, but there was nobody there."

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Hearing Voices May 17, 2018

The standard psychiatric understanding of auditory hallucinations is that they are a symptom of serious mental illness, and ought to be treated with antipsychotic medication, but could there other ways of understanding this phenomenon? Can such symptoms ever have meaning in their own right? We explore whether voices could sometimes be the psyche's attempt to heal itself. In the show, we mention the Hearing Voices Network.

Here's the Dream We Analyze:

"I was walking along on a frozen lake near the shore. Suddenly the ice under my feet gave way and I felt myself falling through. My boots were immediately soaked, pulling me under. My coat quickly became too heavy. As my head slipped below the surface, I saw my mother walking some distance from me. She didn’t see me; nobody did. I didn’t make a sound. I only had time to think: this is my death, and nobody will see me. I was going down very quickly, with no time to even struggle. About 1.5 meters below the surface, I had a final quick thought; maybe I’m dreaming. Then I woke up."

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Alcoholism May 10, 2018

Is alcohol dependence a misplaced expression of a spiritual thirst, or a collapse into a regressed and infantile state? We discuss Jung's involvement in the establishment of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Jung's letter to Bill W.

Here's the Dream We Analyze:

"I’m accused of something I’m guilty of: loving the pharaoh’s daughter as she was my own. There are pictures and notebooks on my bag that prove it. So I’m dismissed from my post as guard. I end of on the floor; they paint my face black. The pharaoh and the other guard go through my stuff. On several occasions, they are about to find the proof that I’m guilty, but there are a lot of other notebooks and books in my bag, so they don’t find the incriminating ones."

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Shame May 03, 2018

What’s the difference between shaming, being ashamed, and being shamed? Which of these is most alive in the culture right now? Why do we feel existential shame, and how can it be healed?

Here's the Dream We Analyze:

"I was on one side of the Grand Canyon with my graduate school classmates and it was daylight. We all had on our caps and gowns. There was a thin land bridge reaching over to the other side where there stood significant others, homes, and other symbols of a great future. My classmates were running across smiling and throwing their caps up into the air. I let them all go because I wanted some space to run by myself. It started to get dark and I didn’t see anyone I knew on the other side for me. The land bridge turned into a rope ladder with dowels that was strung horizontally across. I had to crawl across in the dark by myself."

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Emotional Affairs Apr 19, 2018

We take a look at emotional affairs and imaginal affairs. Both are more common than you might think and can lead us into an experience of our own depths.

Here's the Dream We Analyze:

"I was with my eldest child and my husband. We were in my old hometown. I suddenly felt an urge to visit an ex-boyfriend. I knew he was unwell even though I hadn’t spoken to him for many years—call it a sixth sense. I said to my husband and child, “We must go to his house as all is not well.” We got there and entered the house via the back door. My ex-boyfriend was sitting on his sofa, dressed in women’s clothes. He was dead."

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THE SHAPE OF WATER: is it a new fairytale? Apr 19, 2018

The Shape of Water recently won the Academy Award for best film, captivating audiences with its dream-like images of other-worldly love. What can a psychological perspective contribute to understanding this film?

HERE'S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

"I was in a large, dark room. About twenty feet away was a door opening toward me with very bright light. A tall man with dark hair was looking at me. The dream happened again the next night. Same room, I was five feet away, still bright light, and the man was opening the door about one-third of the way as if he was curious why I was there."

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SHARE YOUR DREAM WITH US

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HOOKUPS: are they freeing or defensive? Apr 19, 2018

Are hookups a joyous celebration of unbridled sexual expression? A defense against intimacy? All of the above?

Here's the dream we analyze:

"I am at a family reunion. I see two women on the sofa at each end. They are identical twins. I am shocked. I did not realize we had twins in the family. I see a young child sitting on the floor between the twins. The little girl gets up and is trying to walk. She falls back and hits her head. I try to run and catch her but I do not make it in time. I am upset."

BECOME A DREAM INTERPRETER

We’ve created DREAM SCHOOL to teach others how to work with their dreams. A vibrant community has constellated around this mission, and we think you’ll love it. Check it out.

PLEASE GIVE US A HAND

Hey folks -- We need your help. So please BECOME OUR PATRON and keep This Jungian Life podcast up and running.

SHARE YOUR DREAM WITH US

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INTERESTED IN BECOMING A JUNGIAN ANALYST?

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SHITHOLE: what are we projecting when we say it? Apr 18, 2018

We discuss the symbolic meaning of shit, and shithole, and wonder about shadow projection. What does Trump’s use of this term have to tell us about his psyche – and ours?

Here's the dream we analyzed:

"I was in a flooded house. The house had two living rooms. Both were flooded. In one room was a television set with empty birdcages. The water short-circuited the television set and afterward, the birdcages came alive with birds, including a dead bird my mom once had. Also, a cat that ran away was on my lap. In the other room were two other birdcages, one with a stick standing straight up and a baby crow in the other. When I opened the cage with the stick the crow flew away and an open vista with a straight road opened up in front of me."

BECOME A DREAM INTERPRETER

We’ve created DREAM SCHOOL to teach others how to work with their dreams. A vibrant community has constellated around this mission, and we think you’ll love it. Check it out.

PLEASE GIVE US A HAND

Hey folks -- We need your help. So please BECOME OUR PATRON and keep This Jungian Life podcast up and running.

SHARE YOUR DREAM WITH US

SUBMIT YOUR DREAM HERE FOR A POSSIBLE PODCAST INTERPRETATION.

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