The Persephone myth conveys a natural movement in psychological life For Persephone, it is only as she is detached from her familiar world, and descends to the Underworld that she can bring the blessing and the gift of the seasons, of new green life, and…
Some fear that case studies, even Jungian case studies will lack creativity. They envisage talking endlessly to a minimally responsive therapist who records everything, but shows little of his or her reaction. They even fear that it will be overly rational, and distant from feeling.…
Listening is fundamental to all good therapy. Really, it's the key thing in meaningful human interaction of all kinds. Listening represents the power of someone else taking our story seriously.
From a Jungian symbolic perspective, animals, and dogs in particular, often symbolize the bodily and instinctual dimensions of human life. When they appear in our dreams, for instance, dogs can often symbolize our instinctual side. This may relate to the sexual side of our nature,…
Jungian case studies and Jungian analysis put a high value on the uniqueness of the individual, and on the treasure that is the inmost Self. Jungians see symbollic reflection of the value of the Self as hidden treasure in many texts from the world's artistic,…
As individuals, we at New Year are confronted with the problem of the death and renewal of our own conscious attitude, with the very deep level question of "What is meaningful for me now?" and "On what foundation can I base my life, as I…
When a case studies, and especially a Jungian analyst uses the expression "life crisis" today, he or she means something specific. It's something different from a "major crisis", which might be some major change and disruption in a person's life due to changes in external…
In this post, I would like to try and say something about the places in which I believe I really found some sources of resilience. If I had to point to one single characteristic of this small group of therapists that helped me more than…
I'd like to share a personal experience of mine through which I became changed, and, I believe, much more resilient. It's not that I'm trying to suggest that I've "got it all figured out", or that this set of experiences gave me "the key to…
There are many things in the 2010s that can easily make people feel powerless. In addition, the majority of us struggle, or have had to struggle with our own inner wounds. What we each need to meet our lives is what psychologists increasingly refer to…