What Ayahuasca taught me about Jungian Psychology, and what Jungian psychology taught me about integrating psychedelic experiences.
Post by Johann MynhardtAbout fifteen years ago, on the recommendation of a friend and Ayahuascero (Ayahuasca shaman) I attended my first Ayahuasca ceremony. I wasn’t particularly enthused about the idea, but he suggested it might be good for me and in hindsight I probably had (and to some degree still have) issues around control. I was hesitant about opening up the floodgates of the unconscious.My journey was revelatory and to my surprise I found myself being introduced to my body...
What is freedom for you?
What is freedom for you? In this world it seems freedom is something that is slowly disappearing. This is a radical statement isn’t it, but I ask for a bit of time to explain what I mean. I watched an interview of Yeonmi Park, a North Korean who escaped and settled in America. She recalls how she was confronted by choices in the West. What is your favourite colour? Red of course, everyone in North Korea’s favourite colour is red. What happens when...
The Creation Myth and the Structure of Desire
This essay is a reflection on a few of the primary symbols from the biblical story of the Garden of Eden as seen through an archetypal lens. I focus on four specific symbols:God the Garden of Paradise/the Wilderness the Serpent the Forbidden Fruit,for which I will offer an archetypal analysis and psychological interpretation of the way in which they structure our unconscious creation myth. With any symbol it is important to keep in mind that it has both a subjective personal dimension and...
Modern Man in Search of a Soul
THE JUNGIAN BOOK CLUB NOVEMBER 2023 BOOK REVIEW written by Byron J. Gaist Carl Gustav Jung (1933) Modern Man in Search of a Soul Translated by W.S. Dell and Cary F. Baynes Published by Routledge, 2001, London and New YorkTaken together with his autobiography Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962), his Two Essays on Analytical Psychology (1928), and the collective volume Man and His Symbols (1961), this book can be considered one of the seminal introductory texts on Jungian Analytical Psychology. Anyone who wants a quick,...
Eating Disorders as an Addiction to Perfection
“The individual may strive after perfection . . . but must suffer from the opposite of his intentions for the sake of his completeness.” Jung (1951) This article is based on Marion Woodman’s Addiction to Perfection and is a continuation of my previous article on the author: Psyche, Metaphor, Soma, with a specific focus on how disembodiment and the loss of the feminine principle engender the development and maintenance of eating disorders. Woodman, whose focus is on women whose food complex is...
Mercy! Possession by the Animus.
“Like the anima, the animus is a jealous lover.” G. Jung, CW7 ¶ 334 "The animus appears in many myths, not only as death, but also as a bandit and murderer, for example, as the knight Bluebeard, who murdered all his wives." - ~Marie-Louise Von Franz, Archetypal Dimensions of the Psyche, Page 280 I love you But I gotta stay true My morals got me on my knees I'm begging, please, stop playing games I don't know what this is 'Cause you got me good Just like you knew you...
Alchemical Active Imagination
In her book Alchemical Active Imagination, Marie Louise von Franz explores the work of Gerhard Dorn who was a doctor, natural philosopher, and alchemist. Dorn was a true alchemist in that he never allowed himself to get away from the fact of the real concrete body, he did not buy into the idea of a metaphysical or astral body but the real body. When the real body is treated properly, he believed that it would form the basis for the medicine...
Marion Woodman: Psyche, Metaphor, Soma
Introduction Internationally renowned Jungian analyst, mythopoetic author, and women’s movement figure Marion Woodman (1928-2018) was a pioneering analyst in the relationship between psyche and soma, crafting an embodied and feminist psycho-mythical path that sought to unify these two aspects of Self. [1] She examined the effects of patriarchal society and its repression of the feminine principle on the development of eating disorders, addiction, and our relationship to the body, and examined the psycho-spiritual dimension of woman’s oppression in a culture...
