In search for the foundation of the American character, its consciousness, its archetypes, the psychologist is bound to look into the Salem witchcraft trials, an event that took place almost 300 years ago. “Witch Hunt” has become a part of our American vocabulary, a fact that attests to the continuing occurence of witch hunts in our nation. The lecture will seek to find the roots of the Salem witchcraft trials in the Puritan New England unconscious and the historical context of those times. Finally, America’s “witch hunt” shadow will be brought up to date with a look at its current manifestations.

Related Workshop: One’s Own Witch Hunt: The Shadow from the Personal Side

WILLIAM O. WALCOTT, PH.D. is a Jungian analyst in practice in Los Angeles and Laguna Beach, the founding editor of Psychological Perspective, former president of the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles, and former Director of the Kieffer E. Frantz Clinic. Although he has published many essays and articles, his favorite subjects have been James Joyce and the archetypal roots of the American psyche as found in Colonial history.

CHANDLER BROWN co-founded the Centerpoint Program in 1972 while Associate Director of the Educational Center of St. Louis. Director of the Centerpoint Foundation since its incorporation in 1977, she has also designed the Questpoint and Vantagepoint courses. Mrs. Brown led the first program offered by the Oregon Friends of C.G. Jung in December, 1974.