Jungian Themes Archives

Symptom or Symbol?

Carl Gustav Jung makes a clear distinction between a symptom and a symbol.[1] In this post I explore the distinction, how we might distinguish between symptoms and symbols, and what the implications of this are for the daily practice of individuation. I am currently leading a group of students on a one hundred day practice of the Microcosmic Orbit meditation as given in the mystical Taoist text The Secret of the Golden Flower.[2] The text, specifically the Richard Wilhelm translation, [...]

April 14, 2022

By Stephen FarahIndividuation, Jungian Themesindividuation, symbols9 Comments

Catafalque: Carl Jung and The End of Humanity

Hardcover, 848 pages Published November 1st 2018 by Catafalque Press ISBN 1999638409 (ISBN13: 9781999638405) Edition Language: English Author: Peter Kingsley Synopsis written by Dr. Shane Eynon Catafalque offers a revolutionary new reading of the great psychologist Carl Jung as mystic, gnostic and prophet for our time. This book is the first major re-imagining of both Jung and his work since the publication of the Red Book in 2009–and is the only serious assessment of them written by a classical scholar who understands the ancient Gnostic, Hermetic and alchemical foundations of his [...]

May 11, 2020

By Stephen FarahBook and Movie Reviews, Jungian ThemesComments Off

Prozac and the royal road to misery

modern (wo)man in search of soul in the wasteland of meaning Epigraph: In 2006 I had occasion to spend Diwali in Mauritius with my then sister-in-law, Joanne Farah. One of the celebrants at the hotel where we were staying was offering Henna tattoos to the guests. I asked for the word ‘spirit’ to be tattooed on my arm. When my sister-in-law, seemingly bemused, inquired as to what exactly I considered ‘spirit’ to be, I was unable or possibly unwilling to [...]

November 21, 2019

By Stephen FarahJungian Themes, Living Meaningfully, mental health, PhilosophicallyJung, mental health5 Comments

Navigating the Peter Pan Complex

My name is Ryan Adamczyk. I’ve been living in Charlotte North Carolina for 7 years and work as a mental health therapist. I graduated with my Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from the Adler School of Professional Psychology in April of 2010 and earned in my PhD. in Depth Psychology in June of 2018. For more information about my therapy practice follow this link. Introduction In the story of Peter Pan, we are introduced to a character that remains an adolescent [...]

October 23, 2019

By Ryan AdamczykComplexes, Jungian, Jungian Themes, narcissismindividuation, mental health, physical disability4 Comments

The role of problems in the individuation process

I have been a student of Jungian psychology for two decades. My field of study, in addition to Jung’s primary texts, the Collected Works, included other pioneers of depth psychology: Freud, of course, Adler, Lacan, Klein and Fordham, among others. I have also studied a vast amount of the secondary literature. I have during that time, in the spirit imparted to me by my first Jungian mentor, Châtillon Coque, actively applied the Jungian principles or theoria[1], in the pursuit of [...]

December 3, 2018

By Stephen FarahIndividuation, Jungian Themes, problemsJungian psychology; problems; individuation12 Comments

Love me, so that I can love myself: A Western identity crisis

I recently watched a thought provoking TED Talk by Yann Dall’Aglio, a French philosopher. His talk was about the current Western approach to love. There is no doubt that we all want to be loved, not only romantically, but also by family, friends and peers. Yann makes compelling observations about the way this “desire to be loved” has impacted on modern Western society, and that it is not necessarily in a positive way; in fact he reveals a rather disturbing [...]

May 22, 2018

By Anja van KralingenIndividuation, Jungian, Jungian Themes, Living Meaningfully, Uncategorized10 Comments

The rainmaker and the dream of drought

Jung was fond of telling a story of a drought being broken in a village in China by a Taoist rainmaker.[1] I share the story and some further thoughts on it in the light of the current drought and impending day zero in the Cape. There was a great drought where [Richard] Wilhelm lived; for months there had not been a drop of rain and the situation became catastrophic. The Catholics made processions, the Protestants made prayers, and the Chinese burned [...]

January 29, 2018

By Stephen FarahCollective Unconscious, Dream Work, Jungian Themes, Mythdreams, rainmaker, Tao35 Comments

The Grand Promise of Transformation

transfəˈmeɪʃ(ə)n, noun, a marked change in form, nature, or appearance. There is a major paradox in the personal growth movement. A critical fault line running down its centre. We are sold and often tempted by promises of transformation, but, critically, what we most want is to be authentic. Do you want to transform? If you do, it is worth thinking about what you trying to change. Your nature? Who you are? How you live in this world? Do you want to be better? Do you desire to change somehow to [...]

June 22, 2017

By Anja van KralingenIndividuation, Jungian, Jungian Themes21 Comments

A short course in Wrestling an Angel

The mistake is to think of angels as cherubs. They’re not. That was just the romantic imagination of renaissance art. A more accurate perspective of the angel, at least psychologically, is provided by the Old Testament story of Jacob, who wrestled with the Angel of the Lord. To put it plainly, the angel fucked him up. He escaped with his life intact, no mean feat after seeing the face of God[1], but, not without suffering a dislocated hip, resulting [...]

May 7, 2017

By Stephen FarahIndividuation, Jungian Themes, Self, Uncategorized23 Comments

Have you swallowed another’s shadow?

Have you ever met one of those couples, where the one is just perfect and fantastic and their partner is a walking disaster? One is incompetent, inappropriate, a total bitch or bastard, etc. Yet their partner is charismatic, socially skilled, an all round good person. And you think to yourself what on earth is he doing with her (or vice versa). Whilst I was doing research on Persona, I came across a story told by Jung which illustrates this very [...]

March 13, 2017

By Anja van KralingenJungian Themes, Shadowanima, animus, Jung, persona, shadow15 Comments