This Jungian Life Podcast (Joseph Lee, Lisa Marchiano, & Deb Stewart)

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)

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.

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.

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).

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

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

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.

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

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

music and lyrics by Wells Hanley © 2020.

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

Music and Lyrics by Wells Hanley © 2020.

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

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.

 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…

HERE'S A COPY OF THE DREAM WE ANALYZE: https://thisjungianlife.com/the-vital-spark/

Buy Lisa’s new book The Vital Spark HERE: https://a.co/d/5YXPU4O

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/  

Get some TJL merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products 

 Talk to Us:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8IG87DsnQ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/ 

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

 GIVE US A HAND!

Become our patron: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

 RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

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

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

GIVE US A HAND! Become our patron: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

 RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

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.

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.

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

GIVE US A HAND!

Please become our patron: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

 RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Enroll in our Jungian Seminar and start your journey: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/seminar.shtml

 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/

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.

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.

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/

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

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.

READ ALONG WITH OUR DREAM INTERPRETATION HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/twisters/

LOOK & GROW

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

*Unlock The Power of Your Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

*Support Dreams and Depth: Join Our Patreon Community Today: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

*Don't Miss Out - Submit Your Dream Now for a Chance to Be Featured on Our Podcast! https://thisjungianlife.com/share-your-dream/

*Help Shape Our Show! Share Your Ideas for Our Next Podcast: https://thisjungianlife.com/podcast-form-topics/

*Shop Exclusive 'This Jungian Life' Gear: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products *Get Caught up! Check Out All Our Previous Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcE4RL3VIbzGWHI-Sq0Y2lZc7R6Zxmfb6

STAY INSPIRED EVERY DAY!

*YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe8QSBLNlv765pT097FDeLA

*Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

*Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

*Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

EXPLORE DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY WITH OUR COMPREHENSIVE STUDIES - TRANSFORM YOUR UNDERSTANDING

*Discover the Power of Jung's Insights: Enhance Your Clinical Skills with Our Advanced Seminar. https://bit.ly/cgjungphiladelphia

*Engage Your Inner Wisdom: Join the Philadelphia Jung General Seminar: https://bit.ly/cgjungphiladelphiaseminar

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).

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

How does the dream maker help us when we’re lost and alone in the wilderness of our lives?

Let your inner dogs guide you to a deeper understanding of yourself—discover the wisdom in your dreams this fall at DREAM SCHOOL.

We love dogs, and they love us. For millennia, they have held deep symbolic meaning in mythology, religion, and literature, often serving as protectors, guides, loyal companions, and a connection to our instincts. When it comes to dog symbolism in dreams, they can embody emotional support, intuition, or boundless enthusiasm. Whether acting as guardians, like in ancient myths, or loyal companions, dogs often reflect our need to trust our instincts and deal with unresolved issues or unprecedented transitions in our lives. Their appearance in dreams evokes a connection between our conscious and unconscious minds, helping us navigate challenges that our waking minds cannot fully grasp.

Prepare to discover what dogs symbolize when they appear in your dreams, how the roles of dogs in myth and religion reflect essential psychological processes, which existential dilemmas might be addressed by the appearance of dogs in your psyche, whether a dream dog’s presence signals unresolved emotional conflict or an opportunity for inner growth, why inner dogs offer a connection to the deeper, instinctual aspects of Self…and so much more.

 Find a copy of the dream we analyze HERE.

If you’ve been struggling in the dark trying to find the keys to unlock your dreams, help has arrived: order your copy of DREAM WISE and discover the answers you’ve been seeking.

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.

LOOK & GROW

Unlock The Power of Your Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/  

Support Dreams and Depth: Join Our Patreon Community Today: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

Don’t Miss Out - Submit Your Dream Now for a Chance to Be Featured on Our Podcast! https://thisjungianlife.com/share-your-dream/

Help Shape Our Show! Share Your Ideas for Our Next Podcast: https://thisjungianlife.com/podcast-form-topics/   

Shop Exclusive 'This Jungian Life' Gear: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products

STAY INSPIRED EVERY DAY!

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8IG87DsnQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/

Connect with our vibrant community.

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.
 
 

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.

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.

 FIND THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/three-little-pigs/  

 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/    

Get some TJL merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products 

Talk to Us:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8IG87DsnQ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/ 

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

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.

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…

CLICK HERE FOR A COPY OF THE DREAM WE ANALYZE: https://thisjungianlife.com/unrequited_love/ 

HERE'S A LIST OF THE BOOKS WE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: https://bookshop.org/lists/unrequited-love-this-jungian-life

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/   

Get some TJL merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products

 Talk to Us:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8IG87DsnQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/

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.

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.

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.

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

LOOK & GROW HERE

Unlock The Power of Your Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/  

Support Dreams and Depth: Join Our Patreon Community Today: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

Don't Miss Out - Submit Your Dream Now for a Chance to Be Featured on Our Podcast! https://thisjungianlife.com/share-your-dream/

Help Shape Our Show! Share Your Ideas for Our Next Podcast: https://thisjungianlife.com/podcast-form-topics/   

Shop Exclusive 'This Jungian Life' Gear: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products

STAY INSPIRED EVERY DAY!

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8IG87DsnQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/

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.

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.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591471842/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_BMVXGVKJEAEW7H4DHGQS

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

GIVE US A HAND!

Please become our patron: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

 RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Enroll in a Jungian Seminar and start your journey to becoming an analyst: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/seminar.shtml

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.

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. 

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/  

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/  

Get some TJL merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products

Talk to Us:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8IG87DsnQ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/ 

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.

FIND A COPY OF THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/demure/ 

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

 LOOK & GROW

*Unlock The Power of Your Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/ 

*Support Dreams and Depth: Join Our Patreon Community Today: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

*Don't Miss Out - Submit Your Dream Now for a Chance to Be Featured on Our Podcast! https://thisjungianlife.com/share-your-dream/

*Help Shape Our Show! Share Your Ideas for Our Next Podcast: https://thisjungianlife.com/podcast-form-topics/

*Shop Exclusive 'This Jungian Life' Gear: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products *Get Caught up! Check Out All Our Previous Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcE4RL3VIbzGWHI-Sq0Y2lZc7R6Zxmfb6

 STAY INSPIRED EVERY DAY!

*YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe8QSBLNlv765pT097FDeLA

*Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

*Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

*Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

 EXPLORE DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY WITH OUR COMPREHENSIVE STUDIES - TRANSFORM YOUR UNDERSTANDING

*Discover the Power of Jung's Insights: Enhance Your Clinical Skills with Our Advanced Seminar. https://bit.ly/cgjungphiladelphia

*Engage Your Inner Wisdom: Join the Philadelphia Jung General Seminar: https://bit.ly/cgjungphiladelphiaseminar

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/

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

LOOK & GROW

*Unlock The Power of Your Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/ 

*Support Dreams and Depth: Join Our Patreon Community Today: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

*Don't Miss Out - Submit Your Dream Now for a Chance to Be Featured on Our Podcast! https://thisjungianlife.com/share-your-dream/

*Help Shape Our Show! Share Your Ideas for Our Next Podcast: https://thisjungianlife.com/podcast-form-topics/

*Shop Exclusive 'This Jungian Life' Gear: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products *Get Caught up! Check Out All Our Previous Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcE4RL3VIbzGWHI-Sq0Y2lZc7R6Zxmfb6

 STAY INSPIRED EVERY DAY! 

*YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe8QSBLNlv765pT097FDeLA

*Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

*Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

*Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

 EXPLORE DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY WITH OUR COMPREHENSIVE STUDIES - TRANSFORM YOUR UNDERSTANDING

*Discover the Power of Jung's Insights: Enhance Your Clinical Skills with Our Advanced Seminar. https://bit.ly/cgjungphiladelphia

*Engage Your Inner Wisdom: Join the Philadelphia Jung General Seminar: https://bit.ly/cgjungphiladelphiaseminar

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)

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.

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

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/

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."

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). 

"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. 

 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

INTERESTED IN BECOMING A JUNGIAN ANALYST?  Enroll in the PHILADELPHIA JUNGIAN SEMINAR and start your journey to become an analyst.

 YES, WE HAVE MERCH!  Shop HERE

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)

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). 

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/

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.”

GIVE US A HAND!

Become our patron: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

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/

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/ 

Get some TJL merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products

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

Talk to Us:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8IG87DsnQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/

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

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.” 

 GIVE US A HAND!

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

 JUMP IN THE POOL - THE WATER’S FINE!

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:

 RESOURCES:

FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, LINKEDIN,TWITTER, YOUTUBE.

 Enroll in the PHILADELPHIA JUNGIAN SEMINAR and start your journey to becoming an analyst. 

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. 

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/

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.

For more information, 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.

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA 

FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, LINKEDIN, TWITTER, YOUTUBE

INTERESTED IN BECOMING A JUNGIAN ANALYST?

Enroll in the PHILADELPHIA JUNGIAN SEMINAR and start your journey to become an analyst. 

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/

GIVE US A HAND!

Please become our patron: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Enroll in our Philadelphia Jungian Seminar and start your journey to becoming an analyst: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/seminar.shtml

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

HASHTAGS:

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).

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/

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

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.

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 / 

Get Some TJL Merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products

Talk to Us:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s64kO4GHHD8

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/

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).

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/

LOOK & GROW HERE

Unlock The Power of Your Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/  

Support Dreams and Depth: Join Our Patreon Community Today: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

Don't Miss Out - Submit Your Dream Now for a Chance to Be Featured on Our Podcast! https://thisjungianlife.com/share-your-dream/

Help Shape Our Show! Share Your Ideas for Our Next Podcast: https://thisjungianlife.com/podcast-form-topics/   

Shop Exclusive 'This Jungian Life' Gear: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products 

STAY INSPIRED EVERY DAY!

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8IG87DsnQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/

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.

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/

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 

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

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

Get some TJL merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products 

Talk to Us:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8IG87DsnQ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/ 

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.

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/

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.

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

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/   

Get some TJL merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products

Talk to Us:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8IG87DsnQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/ 

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

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

JUMP IN THE POOL - THE WATER’S FINE!

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: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

RESOURCES:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe8QSBLNlv765pT097FDeLA 

Enroll in the Philadelphia Jungian Seminar and start your journey to becoming an analyst: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/seminar.shtml 

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/

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).

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/ 

How do unconscious forces shape our collective behaviors and influence how we navigate societal conflicts and personal identity?

Free yourself from the collective nightmare—discover the wisdom of your dreams this fall at DREAM SCHOOL

Political dynamics are deeply influenced by underlying psychological forces known as cultural complexes, which shape group behavior, reinforce divisions, and heighten emotional responses to societal changes. Tom Singer, editor and fellow author of Mind of State: Conversations on the Psychological Conflicts Stirring U.S. Politics & Society , explains that these social psychology phenomena, arising from emotions and ideas, affect how individuals think and feel. Rooted in historical trauma and collective identities, these collective complexes can manifest in polarized thinking, distrust of institutions, and a pervasive fear of the "other." Mass emotional reactivity, intensified by technology and social media, exacerbates these divides by rapidly spreading information that reinforces opposing group identities. Jung's insights into the collective psyche illuminate the unconscious patterns and archetypal themes that influence group behavior, suggesting that societal pressures amplify these negative dynamics. Navigating such complexities requires individual awareness, self-reflection, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and mindfulness to mitigate disproportionate influences. Thoughtful, reflective political discourse and the differentiation of emotional reactivity from reasoned engagement are essential in addressing the distorting effects of cultural complexes on modern society.

Prepare to discover what deeper psychological dynamics underlie group behavior and collective identity, how unconscious processes manifest in social and political systems, which archetypal patterns influence societal reactions and conflicts, whether personal and collective awareness can transform entrenched cultural attitudes, why examining unconscious forces is vital for understanding human interactions and societal structures…and so much more.

Find a copy of the dream we analyze HERE

LOOK & GROW

If you’ve been struggling in the dark trying to find the keys to unlock your dreams, help has arrived: order your copy of DREAM WISE and discover the answers you’ve been seeking.

Order a copy of Tom’s book Mind of State: Conversations on the Psychological Conflicts Stirring U.S. Politics & Society 

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/

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/   

Get Some TJL Merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products

TALK TO US

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8IG87DsnQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/

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.

 FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, LINKEDIN, TWITTER, YOUTUBE

 INTERESTED IN BECOMING A JUNGIAN ANALYST?

Enroll in the PHILADELPHIA JUNGIAN SEMINAR and start your journey to become an analyst. 

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/

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/ 

LOOK & GROW

TRY OUT THE TEMENOS DREAM INTERPRETATION APP FOR FREE HERE!

Unlock The Power of Your Dreams. Transform Your Sleep into the Greatest Adventure of Your Life with Dream School! Discover how to interpret your dreams through our engaging webinars, thought-provoking audio sessions, and nurturing community. Crafted by Jungian Analysts Lisa, Deb, and Joe, "Our program is designed to companion and inspire you every step of the way. Unleash your hidden power tonight. Join our revolution of consciousness." — Learn More!

Support Dreams and Depth: Join Our Patreon Community Today!

Shop Exclusive 'This Jungian Life' Gear - Browse Stylish T-Shirts, Custom iPhone Cases, and More. Show Your Love for TJL Today! SHOP HERE

Don't Miss Out - Submit Your Dream Now for a Chance to Be Featured on Our Podcast! Submit Your Dream Here

Help Shape Our Show! Your Suggestions Inspire New Discussions. Share Your Ideas for Our Next Podcast—Let's Hear Your Voice Today!

Stay inspired every day! Connect and Grow with our vibrant community. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube for exclusive updates and engaging discussions on soul growth, empowerment, insight, and creativity.

“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

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: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

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 

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/ 

Get some TJL merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products

Talk to Us:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8IG87DsnQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/

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/

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

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."

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

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

JUMP IN THE POOL - THE WATER’S FINE!

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: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

RESOURCES:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe8QSBLNlv765pT097FDeLA

Enroll in the Philadelphia Jungian Seminar and start your journey to becoming an analyst: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/seminar.shtml

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.

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.

 GIVE US A HAND!

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

 SUBMIT YOUR DREAM HERE FOR A POSSIBLE PODCAST INTERPRETATION.

 SOCIAL MEDIA:

FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, LINKEDIN, TWITTER, YOUTUBE.

 RESOURCES:

Enroll in the PHILADELPHIA JUNGIAN SEMINAR and start your journey to become an analyst. 

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.

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.

YOU CAN FIND  A COPY OF THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/strife/ 

GET INVOLVED WITH THIS JUNGIAN LIFE:

Suggest a future podcast topic: https://bit.ly/thisjungianlifesuggesttopic  

Share your dream with us: Submit your dream for a possible podcast interpretation: https://bit.ly/thisjungianlifeshareyourdream 

Please give us a hand: become our patron and help keep This Jungian Life podcast up and running: https://bit.ly/thisjungianlifepatreon 

Join Dream School, our year-long online dream interpretation course. Transform

your sleep into the greatest adventure of your life: https://bit.ly/thisjungianlifedreamschool 

Yes, we have merch! https://bit.ly/thisjungianlifemerch 

Check out all our previous episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcE4RL3VIbzGWHI-Sq0Y2lZc7R6Zxmfb6 

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

 ARE YOU INTERESTED IN A SERIOUS STUDY OF JUNG?

Take a look at the 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: https://bit.ly/cgjungphiladelphia 

Enroll in the 2024 Philadelphia Jungian Seminar and start your journey: https://bit.ly/cgjungphiladelphiaseminar

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.

Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter!

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: 

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

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

 GIVE US A HAND!

Please become our patron: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

 RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Enroll in our Philadelphia Jungian Seminar and start your journey to becoming an analyst: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/seminar.shtml

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

#mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #selfcare #selflove #anxiety #love #mentalhealthmatters #depression #motivation #health #wellness #healing #life #loveyourself #therapy #inspiration #happiness #mindset #positivity #positivevibes #mentalillness #psychology #wellbeing #recovery #instagood #happy #mensmovement #toxicmasculinity #positivemasculinity #masculinity #trauma #PTSD #angels #psychoanalysis #jungiananalysis #shootings #alcoholism #AlcoholicsAnonymous #mentoring #communitymentalhealth #spirituality

Our parent's complexes influence their behavior toward us, causing unintended consequences. It's as if we were raised by their unresolved emotional issues.

Parental complexes shape our emotional and psychological development, influencing how we relate to others and perceive ourselves, often in ways we aren’t fully aware of. These feeling-toned webs of unresolved emotional struggles unconsciously shape our parent’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors. To some degree, we are raised by our parent’s complexes rooted in generational trauma, cultural pressures, and societal expectations. As children, we absorb not only their spoken words but also their unspoken fears and desires, which affect our emotional responses and relationships throughout life. Healing begins with conscious awareness, self-reflection, and differentiating our natural personality from the parental patterns that colonized our psyche. By confronting these inherited patterns, we can break free from their grip, fostering healthier relationships and paving the way for emotional growth and transformation.

Prepare to discover what parental complexes are and how they shape your emotional and psychological development, how unconscious emotional patterns inherited from your parents influence your identity, relationships, and decision-making, which generational traumas and societal factors contribute to the formation of these complexes and their impact on your life, whether it is possible to break free from inherited emotional burdens and how to begin the healing process, why becoming conscious of these complexes is crucial for personal growth, emotional balance, and healthier relationships.

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

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

LOOK & GROW

*Unlock The Power of Your Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

*Support Dreams and Depth: Join Our Patreon Community Today: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

*Don't Miss Out - Submit Your Dream Now for a Chance to Be Featured on Our Podcast! https://thisjungianlife.com/share-your-dream/

*Help Shape Our Show! Share Your Ideas for Our Next Podcast: https://thisjungianlife.com/podcast-form-topics/

*Shop Exclusive 'This Jungian Life' Gear: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products *Get Caught up! Check Out All Our Previous Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcE4RL3VIbzGWHI-Sq0Y2lZc7R6Zxmfb6

STAY INSPIRED EVERY DAY!

*YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe8QSBLNlv765pT097FDeLA

*Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

*Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

*Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

EXPLORE DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY WITH OUR COMPREHENSIVE STUDIES - TRANSFORM YOUR UNDERSTANDING

*Discover the Power of Jung's Insights: Enhance Your Clinical Skills with Our Advanced Seminar. https://bit.ly/cgjungphiladelphia

*Engage Your Inner Wisdom: Join the Philadelphia Jung General Seminar: https://bit.ly/cgjungphiladelphiaseminar

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.

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/

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/  

Get some TJL merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products

Talk to Us:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8IG87DsnQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/

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/

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

_____________

Music and lyrics by Wells Hanley ©2021

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.

GIVE US A HAND! Become our patron: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

RESOURCES: Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

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.

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.

LOOK & GROW!

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

*Unlock The Power of Your Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/

*Support Dreams and Depth: Join Our Patreon Community Today: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife

*Don't Miss Out - Submit Your Dream Now for a Chance to Be Featured on Our Podcast! https://thisjungianlife.com/share-your-dream/

*Help Shape Our Show! Share Your Ideas for Our Next Podcast: https://thisjungianlife.com/podcast-form-topics/

*Shop Exclusive 'This Jungian Life' Gear: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thisjungianlife/products *Get Caught up! Check Out All Our Previous Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcE4RL3VIbzGWHI-Sq0Y2lZc7R6Zxmfb6

 STAY INSPIRED EVERY DAY!

*YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe8QSBLNlv765pT097FDeLA

*Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast

*Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife

*Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/

 EXPLORE DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY WITH OUR COMPREHENSIVE STUDIES - TRANSFORM YOUR UNDERSTANDING

*Discover the Power of Jung's Insights: Enhance Your Clinical Skills with Our Advanced Seminar. https://bit.ly/cgjungphiladelphia

*Engage Your Inner Wisdom: Join the Philadelphia Jung General Seminar: https://bit.ly/cgjungphiladelphiaseminar 

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/