myth Archives - Applied Jung

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...

November 8, 2023

By Stephen FarahAnima mundi, desire and drive, Symbolsarchetypes, myth, symbols31 Comments

Memories, Dreams, (and) Reflections of Stephen Anthony Farah

With apologies to C. G. Jung Some general context What follows is an attempt to synthesise and make meaning from my very own Jungian journey of the last fifteen years. Besides borrowing the title from Jung’s biography Memories, Dreams, Reflections, I follow in the footsteps of two of my students, Tasha Tollman and Linda Hawkins, who have previously written pieces along these lines for publication on this site. I am not into the white washing or spin doctor style of...

July 20, 2015

By Stephen FarahIndividuation, Jungian Themes, Narrative Analysis, PersonallyJung, jungian perspective, Living meaningfully, myth, narrative27 Comments

Midway in life’s journey, I found myself in a dark wood, having lost my way.

This is a guest post by Tasha Tollman. In the space of a few years I lost my father, I lost my business, I lost my financial freedom, I lost my passion for life. And in this my darkest hour I lost even my faith in God. The life that I had worked so hard to create disappeared and I slipped deeper and deeper into the dark night of the soul. Every day presented a new crisis, everything I touched turned...

November 23, 2014

By Anja van KralingenIndividuation, Jungian Themesdestiny, individuation, Jung, meaning, midlife crisis, myth19 Comments

Working with Symbols: manifesting Health, Wholeness and Meaning

In the Jungian system, there are four ways of using symbols in order to create meaning and depth in your life. The first way is as a tool for dialogue with unconscious content and its integration it into consciousness. The second way is to heal experiences of trauma or loss. The third way is to use symbols to imbue your life with meaning and magic. And the final way is to use symbols to resolve conflict and manifest conscious intent. Symbolising unconscious content in...

October 31, 2014

By Anja van KralingenSymbolsJung, meaning, myth, symbols25 Comments

Reeva and Oscar: A Mythological Perspective from Jung

This post is an application of Jungian theory to offer an alternative way of understanding the tragic event of Reeva Steenkamp’s death at the hands of Oscar Pistorius. It is a continuation of the post A bullet in the chamber: a Jungian perspective on a murderous gun complex Reeva painted these pictures when she was 14, they've been in the house for a long time now, but we never really realized what they were about. here is a man standing...

April 5, 2014

By Stephen FarahJungian Themes, MythJung, myth, shadow, synchronicity, transference22 Comments

Hansel & Gretel and the Breadcrumbs of the Apocalypse

There is great disorder under heaven, the situation is excellent. (Mao Zedong, as quoted in Living in the End Times, Slavoj Zizek) Nothing is ever lost, not even the blood pact with the devil. (C. G. Jung, CW 9.1) This post takes a closer look at the 'apocalyptic' era that we are living in. It is a follow on and amplification of the apocalyptic theme first raised in my last post These are Strange Days. My intention is to better articulate the...

November 25, 2010

By Stephen FarahMyth, Philosophicallyapocalypse, myth3 Comments

The Christian Myth

In my last post The Story of Truth I made reference to the: Christian Myth, and my belief that, Meaning is not always Truthful, nor Truth always Meaningful. This post is an attempt to amplify and illuminate these two thoughts.

Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism in any form is anti evolutionary, even if it is Darwinian Fundamentalism as in the case of someone like Richard Dawkins. Fundamentalism closes the loop, it does not allow for the continual expansion of the imagination. Fundamentalism seeks to trap us in a...

August 30, 2010

By Stephen FarahMyth, Philosophicallychristian, myth0 Comments

The Story of Two and a Half Dreams

As a child my father told me a story which was the start of my spiritual journey. It was the story of two dreams. My grandfather, Anthony Farah had a strange relationship with the number 5. Everything significant happened in my grandfather's life on the 5th year. He was born in South Africa in 1905, shortly thereafter returning to his family's village in Lebanon called Sib’il, he was a Sib’ilenie (man from Sib’il). In 1925 my grandfather married...

May 7, 2010

By Stephen FarahDream Work, Myth, Personallydream work, Jung, myth2 Comments