The word “hero” is so broadly used in our day that it begins to lose its mythic sense. But the mythic Hero – larger than life and required to accomplish impossible tasks at great risk, bringing hope and redemption to lesser mortals – stands in an important relationship to the Self. Implied in the Hero’s grand mission are ideas of personal responsibility and vocation, two themes we meet frequently in Jung’s theory of individuation but do not often examine. This presentation, illustrated with film clips from the feature film, Seabiscuit, will invite conversation about the collective psychological phenomenon that was a horse named Seabiscuit – a true mythic Hero, and the human partners who engaged with him in a mutual process of transformation.

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Lyn Cowan, Ph.D., has been a practicing Jungian analyst since 1980, Director of Training for the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts for six years and past president of the Society, held a Professorship for ten years in the doctoral program in Clinical Psychology at the Minnesota School for Professional Psychology, and recently concluded two years of teaching and lecturing at the C.G. Jung Center of Houston, Texas. She has frequently lectured internationally and is the author of three books: Portrait of the Blue Lady: The Character of Melancholy, Tracking the White Rabbit, A Subversive View of Modern Culture, and Masochism: A Jungian View. Her passion for horseracing began when she was 11 and continues unabated.