Four Wednesdays, November 3 - 24  |  7:00 - 8:30pm, Eastern Time

How do we understand ourselves? What stands in the way of greater self-awareness? What life force seeks expression through us? These four programs will explore 1) our internal resistance to self-knowledge, 2) the paradox that our defenses become our chief obstacles, 3) the necessary engagement with our “stories” that bind us to our past, and 4) unfolding the personal myth.

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Friday, November 5  |  7:30 - 9:00pm, Eastern Time

This presentation by two Jungian analysts will focus on the cultural implications and potential for creativity and growth within feminine rage. Through personal reflections and varied theoretical frameworks, this controversial topic will be brought from its dark, feared and hidden depths into the light of consciousness. The use of story-telling, film and poetry will assist in amplifying and animating the meaning and necessity of feminine rage and aggression, particularly in today’s world. As Jung himself informs us, what remains unconscious is often lived out in our fate. Our stance in presenting this material is to facilitate communication and discussion rather than align with positions that support oppression, fear, violence or shame in all of us.

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Friday, December 3 |  7:30 - 9:00pm, Eastern Time

The Pandemic and the Archetype of Addiction: Awakening the Healing Self in a Time of Inflammation and Numbing with Tim Lyons

An unfortunate trend during the pandemic is that many people are slipping into inflammatory self-destructive behaviors and numbing themselves, even as our own planet earth is heating up. The prolonged exposure to the collective contagions of fear and confusion are creating traumatic stress. Psychic and biological maladies that were dormant or already activated before the pandemic are flaring up. The development of addictions to numb the pain, especially to comfort foods, the internet, drugs, smoking, vaping, money, shopping etc., is consuming us. We are becoming “addicted” to hypervigilance, anxiety and depression. Understanding the archetypal patterns of addiction – chaos, shame, self-destruction – is key to awakening the healing Self to calm the distress and reclaim life force for rebirth.

Will we be like the proverbial frog in the slowly heating water who does not sense the increasing danger of boiling to death? In actual experiments the frogs do jump out, but many of us humans just go into a numbing trance. Advances in the science of body and mind, preventative medicine and nutrition, are essential to meet these metamorphosing challenges. How might we personally awaken and turn down the heat on our inflamed pain bodies? To do this we must somehow bring mother earth, our ultimate source of nourishment, along with us on the quest to heal ourselves.

Four Tuesdays, December 7 - 28  |  7:30 - 9:00pm, Eastern Time

ALCHEMY & THE SOUL OF NATURE, a course with Jeffrey Kiehl

Alchemy is an ancient art that recognizes the deep, subtle interconnectedness between psyche and matter. C.G. Jung spent the latter part of his life exploring the important psychological dimensions of alchemy. Many of Jung’s psychological concepts can be viewed as manifestations of alchemical processes. Alchemy arose from the study of Nature, and, as such, provides a pathway to rediscovering and experiencing the soul of Nature. In today’s world of ecological collapse alchemy provides a means to heal our collective split with Nature and may very well open a portal to avoiding further collective destruction. In this course, we explore the fundamentals of alchemy and how they relate to psychological processes. We also consider how alchemy captures the dynamic patterns that appear in psyche and Nature. Our journey in the course concludes with an exploration of the sacred dimensions of our world.

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Friday, December 17  |  7:30 - 9:00pm, Eastern Time

We will begin by reviewing the origins of Jung's conception of synchronicity.  The subsequent development of the idea in Jung's thinking, especially on the "psychoid," and in clinical practice will be followed by a re-visioning through the application of complexity theory, which give us access to a new emerging transdisciplinary paradigm.  The role of the psychoid layer of archetypal reality will be highlighted as it pertains to recent research in ecological systems.  Finally, we will look at a number of examples from the history of culture where artisans or artists were able to represent profound knowledge of highly complex natural phenomena well ahead of any scientific understanding.  These will guide us towards the articulation of the psychoid imagination—audio-visual materials will aid participants in entering these experiences.

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Three Thursdays, January 13-27  |  7:30 - 9:30pm, Eastern Time

OPEN STUDIO, a three-session course on Zoom in the chill of winter. A chance to come together to enjoy making art in community. To relax --- to lose yourself in the soulful creative search for Self.

The Open Studio was introduced to the Jung Society in August of 2021 by Sandy Geller, one of our local Jungian Analysts. We’re bringing the open studio back by popular demand. It is a course for all levels of skill with art.

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Friday, January 14  |  7:30 - 9:00pm, Eastern Time

This presentation describes the traditional life review, in midlife or beyond, as the ego's life review. By recalling the key people and events in our lives, we can reframe our life stories, see where we now need emotional or spiritual repair, and discover hidden patterns and new meanings.

But we know that another life has been living in the unconscious, so we must add the dimension of Shadow -- how to connect what was expressed with what was repressed.  In this way, the unlived life moves into conscious awareness, and we have the opportunity to reclaim some of the feelings, talents, and aspirations that were sacrificed in the morning of life.

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Three Thursdays, February 3 - 17  |  7:30 - 9:30pm, Eastern Time

Regardless of your age, please join me in a discussion of life’s later years. James Hillman wrote: “It is an enormous mistake to read the phenomena of later life as indications of death rather than as initiations into another way of life.” 

We will consider the meanings and experiences of aging as we read Jung, Hollis, and Hillman. Discussion of The Tempest will address how we deal with our inner Ariel and our inner Caliban.

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Friday, February 25, |  7:30pm - 9:00pm, Eastern Time

People often come to an analysis in despair because their sense of self, their self-image, no longer seems real, accurate or trustworthy. It is as if their ‘self-portraits’ no longer look like them.  Analysis offers a mirror, a possibility to face oneself and  see and be seen. The analytic process itself provides a model for the courage and willingness required to experience one’s Self anew, with the hope of true reflection both outwardly and inwardly.

Following the tradition of Self-portraiture in the West from the Renaissance to today, we will look at many self-portraits as works of art and also as icons of the profound experience of looking deeply at ones’ Self.