–Lecture     
O Where, O Where is My Anima?  
Jeffrey Kiehl, M.A., LPC    

“The anima is the archetype of life itself,” (Jung, CW 9i, par. 66). The anima is a powerful archetype that is necessary for living a meaningful and creative life. Usually perceived as the inner feminine aspect of men, the anima is also the complement to the masculine-animus-force within women. The anima animates the material world around us, and as such connects us to the world on a feeling level. Using both film segments and modern songs, Jeffrey will illustrate how prevalent this archetype is in the everyday world of image, language, and music. Also, the importance of the anima in connecting us to Nature, a connection that is in need of great repair in today’s world, will be discussed.  

– Lecture     
Primal Eruption: Our Post 9/11 Culture and Individuation  
Nancy Dougherty, LCSW, Jungian Analyst      

Creative and destructive forces abound in the seemingly irresolvable global confrontations of our post 9/11 world. A strong and flexible ego is required in order to dialogue with these primal forces which carry the potential for both epiphany and apocalypse. Drawing from the work of German artist Anselm Kiefer, we will examine these powerful forces and consider how exploration of individual archetypal frameworks lying within our character structures, along with our patterns of defenses, support the emergence of a conscious position able to meditate these eruptions.        

– Workshop  
The Matrix and Meaning of Character  

Character structure underlies everyone’s personality, along with a continuum of character style to character disorder. Mixtures of archetypal reality and personal history, numinous energy and early personal wounds evolve into identifiable character structures. Every character structure is a defensive development, as well as an adaptive and prospective profile that emerges from an archetypal wellspring. Thus, our woundedness and our gifts are not unrelated.  Using slides of contemporary art, fairy tale, and myth, we will work towards connecting with meaningful inner images and explore how transformation happens through our character structures, not in spite of them. While we certainly may develop increasingly flexible and fluent ego structures, the thumbprint of our character with all its archetypal depth remains the same. It is through our woundedness, with its archetypal background, that we can access our deepest healing and creative energies and awaken the process of individuation.  

– Lecture
The Ancestors and the Spirituals: The Transforming Power of Music
Arthur C. Jones, Ph.D.          

The Spirituals, sacred songs created and first sung by enslaved Africans in North America in the 18th and 19th centuries, can be explored through their psychological underpinnings. This includes the way in which tensions between opposing emotions operate to contribute to the transformational power of the music. Background definitions, historical and functional differences between the Spirituals and Black gospel music traditions, and cultural history that have provided both the context for this cultural tradition and the basis for its continuing psychological power will be discussed. We will employ song illustrations, including some group singing, to put into action several of the psychological principles. Also, we will consider the ways in which the elements of melody, rhythm, tempo and poetic lyrics have all contributed to the use of the Spirituals as a tool for both personal transformation and the ongoing struggle for freedom, equality, and social justice.  

Jungian Concept Series          

There are few venues that can move us more deeply in our very souls than a stirring film. The psyche lights up with recognition when age-old archetypes unfold in creative ways on the screen. The Autumn 2008 Concept Series will explore these archetypal dimensions as unveiled in four diverse films. Each uniquely addresses the transformative journey of the psyche. With the exception of The Pathfinder, presented on November 12, please rent and view each film prior to the presentation. The series is open to all levels of knowledge and group participation is encouraged.         

Movie: The Lives of Others   
James Palmer, Ph.D.  

Ostensibly a Cold War thriller set in Communist East Germany, The Lives of Others is a stunning examination of loneliness and psychological transformation which exemplifies the Jungian concept of individuation. The film won the 2006 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. German writer/director Von Donnersmark offers an incisive character study of Stasi agent Gerd Wiesler as he spies on an East German playwright, the playwright’s actress-mistress, and dissident friends. The film marks Gerd’s slow change from a cold, calculating Stasi agent to a more psychologically integrated man. There are parallels here with Coppola’s The Conversation, with a wire-tapper as the central character, but the focus is instead on the crossings of all kinds of borders, physical and psychological, which marks Gerd’s transformation. The film offers subtle explorations of thresholds, liminal spaces and active imagination, and other elements that activate the individuation process.   

Movie: The Secret of Roan Inish   
Betsy Hall, Ph.D., LCSW  

Inspired by the determined spirit of a young girl and the redemptive pull of the divine child, The Secret of Roan Inish portrays a movement from psychic fragmentation to re-union with the Self. Embedded within the film is the Celtic myth of the Selkie, a feminine figure who is part human and part seal. Just as the Selkie must instinctively return to the sea, the fragmented individual and the communal psyche seek wholeness through a return to soul-space and the divine child – one who unites the opposites and symbolizes futurity. This profoundly mythic film expresses both the individual and cultural necessity for a re-union with the natural instinctive realm of soul, seals, and the sea.   

Movie: The Fountain  
Bernice Hill, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst  

The profound search for meaning through one of life’s deepest sorrows, the loss of a beloved partner, is explored in this stunningly beautiful movie. We set out on the journey following one man who lives in three historical periods: the mid 1500’s, present day, and the 25th century. The background tapestry is the struggle between our human will to know/control and the eternal cycles of life, or the struggle between the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life. Jung’s concepts, particularly those focusing on the individuation process, are shown in the wisdom of this metaphoric story portrayed in The Fountain and will be revisited and discussed during the evening.     

Movie: The Pathfinder  
Linda Schierse Leonard, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst  

The Pathfinder, directed by Nils Gaup, is a Norwegian film based on a 1,000 year old legend that is part of the Arctic Sami Reindeer People’s culture. It is one of the first films about an aboriginal shamanic culture created by a director from that culture. The Pathfinder is a story about the heroic journey of transformation. Linda discovered the film in the course of writing her book, Following the Reindeer Woman, just after returning to the United States from a trip to explore the Sami culture in “Lapland.” She also traveled to Siberia where she stayed with the Reindeer People of the Even Tribe. Linda will discuss the culture of the Reindeer People, the symbolism of the Reindeer and its relation to Nature and the feminine spirit, and archetypal figures from the film.