Anima and Animus

The Friday lecture will explore the significance of anima and animus, the inner contrasexual complexes, as bridges between ego and Self, and show in many ways-simple, profound, recurrent-how they color our lives.

Anima and Animus

The Saturday seminar/workshop will address anima issues in men and animus issues in women as the demands the Self makes upon the ego, forcing the spiritual side of our sexual identities into consciousness. Split the anima and animus and unlived life; rage and contempt between the sexes, fantasy and identity, inner and outer marriage will be addressed, with archetypal examples from music, literature, and the visual arts.

Home or Homeless: On Losing and Regaining the Sense of Inner Home

This lecture focuses on the loss of the sense of inner home. Emphasis is placed on war, exile, early loss of parents and a difficult start in life. Such experiences can lead to the loss of inner home, insecurity, and narcissistic problems. The lecture will describe the felt experience, give its theoretical and archetypal background, and offer some therapeutic approaches for healing.

The Healing Self: The Soothing Voice of the Soul

This workshop will focus on the healing and soothing impulses from the psyche that some people receive after they have experienced suffering. The emphasis of the day’s material is on the felt experiences of people in and out of analysis. Dr. Asper will present historical sketches and examples, including: the dreams of two young students who resisted Nazi terror; the legend of Saint Martha, who tamed the dragon instead of killing him; the Feminine Super-Ego; the Ego Father, Son and Holy Spirit as the Trinitarian Aspect of the Numinous; the journal of Opal Whitely, and the symbol of the Labyrinth. Dr. Asper’s intent is for participants to experience the contents of symbols. A symbol becomes a symbol only after it touches us emotionally. For the same reason she will also discuss how she came to choose the different themes of the workshop and what each one touched in her.

The Holy, Divine Child

The universal, religious stirrings that originate in the depths of the human psyche often emerge in the form of the holy, divine child. Whether or not a person is of Christian background, this powerful motif flows through the dream imagery of modern men and women. The symbol of the holy child points to hope, new goals, and religious meaning. Case material and drawings generated during analysis will be presented and discussed in order to better understand the importance of this symbol in the psychic depths of us all.

Psyche and Soul

Jung once observed that of all of the so-called “social sciences” psychology was the last to develop, in part, because the insights of pschology were once carried by the great myths and myth-sustaing institutions. In particular, Jungian practice arose in response to the erosion of those myths which once held society together and which linked individual to the four precincts of mystery: cosmos, nature, society and self.

This lecture will review the salient features of “modernism” and the subsequent task of the individual in seeking out the old linkages of psyche and soul. It has been said that Jung’s concept of “individuation” is a myth for the modern without myth. If this is so, then Jungian psychology is not a set of beliefs but rather a cluster of attitudes and methods for accessing those manifestations of mystery which were once mediated by myth. What do we mean by the words psyche and soul, and what is the contribution whicha Jungian perspective may make to the individual upon whom the full task of finding meaning has fallen?

Psyche and Soul: The Enactment of Soul Through Myth

Our ancestors transmitted their values from place to place, and from person to person through the power of word and image. Those images which rose from the unconscious, or which overwhelmed consciousness in historic event, became the personal and tribal carriers of the deepest encounters with the mysteries of cosmos, nature, society and self. This workshop will study some of the great myths of the Eastern and Western tradition, analyze their mythopoeic statements, and consider their presence in our daily lives. Among such recurrent motifs are: “creation,” “the fall” (or primal loss), and “encounter with the Shadow.” Also, we will explore the two greatest of mythic patterns, the quest for identity and the “eternal return,” the linear and cyclic patterns, which animate history and our personal lives. Such mythic drama haunts history and, often unconsciously, directs the currents of the modern soul. We will, perhaps, re-experience the linkage of our modern, often isolated, lives with the timeless drama of which we are all, already and always, part.

The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life

Enchantment is the condition of being entranced, caught in rapture, spirited away, spellbound, and living more from deep imagination than from practicality. The soul has an unforgiving need for this kind of enchantment, and yet the modern world does everything it can to break the spell. Enchantment offers a reason for being, as basis for ecological responsibility, and a means for nourishing the soul. Yet, the modern preference is for understanding and control, information and manipulation.

This lecture by Thomas Moore represents a further development of his work with the soul, but here the emphasis is on the world in which we live-the rivers, roads, buildings, houses, gardens, silence, music, ruins, stories, art, language, shrines, sports, graffiti, and food. It argues in favor of “natural religion,” piety rooted in nature as the basis of all religious and psychological values. It attempts to restore magic to its proper place in the dynamics of a soul-centered life, and recommends a radical alternative to the rationalistic and mechanistic philosophies of our age.

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