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Earth and Psyche: Archetypal Responses to the Climate Crisis, A Lecture with Stephen Foster

  • Friday, May 03, 2024
  • 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
  • Zoom, Eastern Time

Registration

  • Members who are either seniors over 65 or full time students

Register

LECTURE

This program WILL BE recorded.

Registration closes at NOON on the day before the program begins. 

Zoom Links will be in your confirmation email.

In Carl Jung’s 1961 essay, Healing the Split, he discussed how humanity was connected with nature but that we have lost this connection. Humanity was essentially woven into the fabric of nature, and our instinctual and archetypal patterns were established within this fabric. Jung described how, through scientific rationalism, we lost our connection with nature, which resulted in the relegation of nature to the unconscious.

With the news media constantly reinforcing eco-trauma by showing scenes of destruction, or what I refer to as the Four Horsemen of the Climate Apocalypse: Fire, Flood, Disease, and Disconnection (the uncoupling of species inter-dependence), it is easy to become “bewitched” and disenchanted, that is, frozen and incapacitated.  We fail to act, unless we can remember that we remain woven into the fabric of nature through physical need and through our feelings for the earth, expressed by archetypal patterns of nature in the psyche.

In this talk, I propose to lay out Jung’s discussion of our split with nature, to bring awareness to ways in which archetypal patterns of nature (the Nature Archetype) have become activated on a personal and collective level. As an amplification of these forces, I will examine how the unconscious responds through selected works of literature and images to enliven the psyche and to re-animate the natural world within us. These works may be seen as expressions of the light of nature (lumen naturae), that are sparks from the Anima Mundi, or world soul, that ultimately expand our consciousness.


Stephen Foster, Ph.D., LPC, NCPsyA, is Senior Training Analyst with the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analyst (IRSJA), teaching with their Memphis-Atlanta Seminar. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, with a private practice in Boulder, Colo.

Stephen has taught a wide range of subjects, including nature and the environment, alchemy, Norse mythology, fairy tales, and the Tarot.  Before becoming a Jungian analyst, Stephen worked as an environmental scientist, studying the risks and impacts associated with hazardous chemicals in the environment. The combination of these experiences resulted in his book, Risky Business: A Jungian View of Environmental Disasters and the Nature Archetype. His most recent publication is “Our Climate Crisis: The Need for an Active Analyst When Working with the Nature Archetype in Jungian Analysis,” chapter 1 in Jungian Analysis in a World on Fire: At the Nexus of Individual and Collective Trauma, Routledge Mental Health, Taylor & Francis Group. (For more information, visit www.boulderjungiananalyst.com)


FOR ALL REGISTRANTS:  For your convenience, we have provided a link to a time converter below so that you can find out when this event will start in the city where you will be located on the date of the event.  Our location, Washington, DC, is listed for your convenience.  You may enter your home city and change the date and time to obtain accurate information for any of our events.  

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20240621T233000&p1=263

RECORDINGS:  The recording will be sent out 24-48 hours after the session has concluded. You will have 14 days to watch the recording.  

ZOOM LINK: The Zoom link can be found in your registration confirmation email. They will also be shared about 24 hours before the program start time and one hour before the event starts. Registration closes before Zoom links are shared. If you do not receive your link 24 hours in advance, please reach out asap directly to support@jung.org.

CANCELLATION: You may cancel your registration up to 1 week prior to the program.

By agreeing to enroll in an online program offered by the Jung Society of Washington, you are also agreeing to comply with our terms. This means that you cannot record (through internal or external devices) the audio, visuals (photos), or  any videos of the program. The intellectual property belongs to the presenter, and we ask you not to violate this policy. Also, we highly value the anonymity of the content of the program, of the presenters, and of individuals present in the program, and hope that everyone can contribute to a respectful and trust-building online environment. Thank you!


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The Jung Society of Washington is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, a nonprofit educational institution. Our IRS form 990 is available upon request. Although many of the Jung Society's programs involve analytical psychology and allied subjects, these offerings are intended, and should be viewed, as a source of information and education, and not as therapy. The Jung Society does not offer psychoanalytical or other mental health services.
Images of mandalas throughout this site were created by Carl Jung's patients between the years 1926 and 1945.
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