Past Events
"Are We Possessed by Wotan? Ancient and Modern Currents of a Nazi Mythology"
by Carol Shumate, PhD
Free Salon
September 15, 2024
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In 1936, Jung said that Germany under the Nazis was “possessed by Wotan,” the supreme god of Norse mythology. In 1938, Jung mentioned America in an interview on the same subject: “How to save your democratic U.S.A.? It must of course be saved, else we all go under. … You must keep away from the craze, avoid the infection” (“Diagnosing the Dictators,” p. 133).
What aspects of the German “infection” did Jung see in this mythological figure? Using slides and videos, this salon will feature information about the myth of Wotan, the concept of possession, and Jung’s ideas for a “therapy” to deal with it. Discussions will focus on how to recognize and deal with Wotan or similar influences in our own time.
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BRIEF BIO
Carol Shumate, PhD, has been an instructor at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, CA, for more than a decade. Her book Projection and Personality Development via the Eight-Function Model (Routledge 2021) discusses the link between projection and disappointment or fulfillment, based on John Beebe’s model of the sixteen MBTI® types. She is currently working on a book with the working title Trickster Leader, Trickster Culture, which discusses the psychology of narcissistic leaders and their followers. She edits the journal Personality Type in Depth which she launched in 2010. In 2020 she helped launch the Depth Typology Center, created to archive scholarly resources at the interface of depth psychology and psychological type. She has spent most of her career in higher education, writing, teaching, and designing curricula that inspire as well as inform. Her website is https://shumatedepthpsychology.com
"Gates to the Numinous: An Archetypal Understanding of Dreams"
by Michael Conforti, Ph.D, Jungian Analyst
Lecture: April 26, 2024
Workshop: April 27, 2024
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Dr. Michael Conforti is a Jungian analyst and the Founder and Director of the Assisi Institute. He is a faculty member at the C.G. Jung Institute of Boston, the C.G. Jung Foundation of New York, and for many years served as a Senior Associate faculty member in the Doctoral and Master’s Programs in Clinical Psychology at Antioch New England. A pioneer in the field of matter-psyche studies, Dr. Conforti is actively investigating the workings of archetypal fields and the relationship between Jungian psychology and the New Sciences.
He has presented his work to a wide range of national and international audiences, including the C.G. Jung Institute – Zurich and Jungian organizations in Australia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Italy, Russia, South Africa, the Ukraine and Venezuela.
He is the author of Threshold Experiences: The Archetype of Beginnings (2007) and Field, Form and Fate: Patterns in Mind, Nature and Psyche (2002). His articles have appeared in Psychological Perspectives, The San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal, Roundtable Press, World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution, and Spring Journal. His books have been translated into Italian, Russian, and include a soon to be released Spanish edition of his work.
Dr. Conforti maintains a private practice in Mystic, CT and consults with individuals and corporations around the world. He provides his insights as a sought-after consultant to businesses, government institutions, and the film industry. He has served as script consultant on the films “Pride and Glory” and “Elvis Anabelle” and is currently working on a script for a new TV series. He has also been asked to consult on the application of field theory to the understanding and resolution of international border disputes. He was selected by The Club of Budapest and the University of Potsdam to be part of a 20-member international team of physicists, biologists, and dynamical systems theorists to examine the role and influence of informational fields. He is a recipient of the Vision Award presented by the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis.
Dr. Conforti has served as a Senior Fellow of the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland. He is currently working on a new book, Hidden Presence: Archetypes, Spells, Possessions and the Complex.
For more on Dr. Conforti, see The Assisi Institute and the Higher Thought Institute.
"Psychological Mysticism: Healing Religious and Political Tribalism"
by Jerry D. Wright, D.Min., Jungian Analyst
Lecture: March 22, 2024
Workshop: March 23, 2024
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Drawing on the Analytical Psychology of C. G. Jung and on various mystical traditions, Dr. Wright will propose a “psychological mysticism” that preceded, and now replaces, the historical theological mysticism that has been dependent on theistic god-images. Such dualistic, divisive images are no longer relevant for many people – nor necessary.
The presentation will explore an alternative spiritual path that has the character of a grounded, embodied mysticism that honors the universal experiences of the numinous. Psychological Mysticism could be a relevant and meaningful path for persons of all religious orientations, as well as for those who embrace no particular religion, or who identify as an atheist.
Such a perspective could contribute to the healing of the deep divisions that tear at our cultural, political, and religious fabric, and that threaten our species and sacred, global nest.
The Friday presentation and Saturday workshop will include presentations by Dr. Wright, ample time for dialogue, periods of guided silence/meditation, and psychological reflections on contemporary issues and events.
We are born mystics
Emerging from the pregnant
Numinous darkness
Into the light of day
Assigned to be and become a light
Of consciousness and compassion
Our primary vocation
The rent for being alive
On this sacred soil.
(Selection from A Mystical Path Less Traveled, Jerry R. Wright)
About Jerry R. Wright, D.Min
Dr. Wright is a Jungian Psychoanalyst, lecturer, and writer who lives in Flat Rock, NC. He is a training analyst with the Inter Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. An experienced conference and retreat leader, he has led pilgrimages to sacred sites in Iona, Scotland, Ireland, Peru, India, SE Asia, and Africa.
He is the author of A Mystical Path Less Traveled: A Jungian Psychological Perspective (Chiron, 2021), and Reimagining God and Religion: Essays for the Psychologically Minded (Chiron, 2018).
His primary professional passion includes the application of the insights of Jungian psychology to all human endeavors, including religion and spirituality, politics, and the care of the Earth.
Jerry is a graduate of Erskine College (B.A.), University of Georgia (M.Ed.), Erskine Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and Columbia Theological Seminary (D.Min.).
Not only has Jerry previously worked as a high school teacher (psychology) and guidance counselor, he has also directed YMCA camps and programs and served as a family counselor in an alcohol and drug rehabilitation center.
His family includes his wife, Kay (d. April, 2020), three children, and three grandchildren. Jerry's primary hobbies include hiking the beautiful trails in western North Carolina, traveling, gardening, and playing with his canine companion Muffin.
Visit his website at https://www.jerryrwright.com/to learn more.
"The Importance of the Body in Individuation"
by Kathleen Wiley, MHDL, Jungian Analyst
Lecture: October 27, 2023
Workshop: October 28, 2023
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Only if you first return to the body, to your earth, can individuation take place, only then does the thing become true. Jung, Visions Seminar, p. 1314
This living being appears outwardly as the material body, but inwardly as a series of images of the vital activities taking place within it. Jung, CW8, par. 619
If you want to know the state of your psyche, begin by tuning in to the felt sense of your body! Body is our primary home. It contains the “living being” that we are. Jung wrote that if we really knew, the body and the mind are different densities of the same energy. They both express psychic energies, the life force.
Western culture and Jungian circles have prioritized head processes like thoughts, ideas, logic, rationality, over the non-rational bodily sensations, innate affects, muscular armoring, and dis-ease states. Yet, Jung’s fundamental theory of complexes grew out of research tracking bodily changes as the indicator of unconscious complexes. If we are going to integrate our shadow (personal unconscious), we have to live consciously in our bodies.
The archetypal images that seduce many to Jungian flights of fancy “arise from the depths of the body.” Consciously holding opposites of archetype and instinct, thoughts/ideas and impulses/behaviors is key for the uniting third--our wholeness—to emerge.
The Saturday workshop will include experiential exercises for grounding in one’s body. We will explore the connection between body expressions of affect and sensation and the activation of complexes. We will address how to stay in one’s body when overwhelming states arise. We will deepen the concepts and understanding presented in the Saturday evening presentation.
Join Kathleen to explore how to live more consciously in your body in order to incarnate the living being you are, to experience transformation of complexes, and to receive the subtle communications of psychic energy in our body-mind.
Short Bio:
Kathleen Wiley, MHDL, is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and diplomate Jungian Analyst in private practice in Davidson, North Carolina. Her work with analysands recognizes the importance of the embodied present moment, the moment of meeting between analyst and analysand, as primary.
Kathleen believes that individuation, incarnation, and the forging of the philosopher’s gold all refer to the process of embodying your essence. To this end, she facilitates a self-paced embodiment circle through http://www.onlinesacredcircles.com. She also interweaves Jungian psychological concepts and Christian scriptures in her books, New Life: Meditations on the Birth of the Christ Within and New Life: Symbolic Meditations on the Promise of Easter and Spring. Her work empowers people to live out of a conscious connection to God within the Self.
"Individuation, Quantum Mechanics and Love 2.0"
by Melissa Josephine Mills, MBA, MTS
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Free Salon: October 14, 2023
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Melissa Josephine Mills, MBA, MTS, will lead an interactive exploration of ideas and activities leading participants to better recognize and pursue their own individuation processes.
Inspired by C. G. Jung, the workshop will begin with consideration of the process of individuation in relation to an upgraded conceptualization of love, Love 2.0, as clinically observed by Dr. Barbara Fredrickson.
Based on neuroscientist and psychiatrist Dr. Dan Siegel’s assembled research, we will move beyond subjective details of individuation to look at how neurological development takes place.
Dr. Dan’s simple rendering of scientists’ observations of quantum mechanics will elucidate concepts of mind, awareness, and consciousness.
Hypothesizing that “Love works,” we return to an open question, “Could our own individuation somehow be correlated to the flow of Love 2.0?”
* THIS IS A GREEN EVENT * Carpooling and recycling encouraged. *
Short Bio
MELISSA JOSEPHINE MILLS, MBA, MTS, uses her life experience & inter-disciplinary learning to provide common ground for individual human growth and well-being in our twenty-first century world. She has taught a freshman seminar entitled Ethics in Science at Duke and multiple classes in the Duke Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). An academic administrator at Harvard University and Duke University for thirty years, she holds an undergraduate degree in History from Connecticut College, and two Duke degrees: an MBA and a Master of Theological Studies. More information is available at Mills Consulting, LLC.
"Who Am I to You" (Lecture)
"Navigating the Intersection of Our Inner and Outer Worlds"
by Howard Tyas, Jr., Jungian Analyst
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Lecture: September 22, 2023
Workshop: September 23, 2023
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Lecture:
In response to Socrates’ ancient admonition, “Know thyself,” we sometimes find ourselves asking,“Who am I?” The answer to this question involves one of the greatest dramas of human life: the drama which Jung referred to as individuation – the process of recognizing and becoming one’s true self.
And while this great drama unfolds there is a second drama, equally important, vying for our attention. This drama involves our unfolding personal, social and vocational relationships inthe world. As we make our way through life, playing our part, this second drama begs thequestion, “Who am I to you?” It is in the dance and the tension between these two great dramas that the true personality makes its way.
This lecture will explore the interplay between the two dramas, the inner and the relational. Particular attention will be given to the various social relationships we find ourselves engaged in –family and friends, partners and pilgrims, patients and clients, colleagues and citizens. We will examine the inescapable role projection plays in forging such relationships, both as a tool for knowing ourselves better and as an obstacle to genuine interaction. While it is in our most intimate relationships that we best witness the interplay between these two essential dramas, their presence can be observed daily in almost every human contact.
Jung’s work on the nature of the therapeutic transference between therapist and patient will provide a blueprint for understanding the everyday challenges we face when interacting with other people.
In the end, each of us must struggle with balancing the questions, “Who am I?” and “Who am I to you?”
In the Saturday workshop we will leave a short amount of time to clarify any lingering questions about Friday’s lecture. Then we will set off to further explore the intersection between our own individuation process and the various relationships we encounter in life – familial, romantic, therapeutic, professional, religious, and political, to name a few.
As a group, we will reflect on our own unique dramas, and if we choose, to share with the group what we have learned.
In our efforts to pragmatically navigate these two worlds we inhabit, in an atmosphere of respect and sensitivity, we will attempt to address how best to answer the questions, “Who am I?” and “Who am I to you?”.
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Workshop:
In the Saturday workshop we will leave a short amount of time to clarify any lingering questions about Friday’s lecture. Then we will set off to further explore the intersection between our own individuation process and the various relationships we encounter in life – familial, romantic, therapeutic, professional, religious, and political, to name a few.
As a group, we will reflect on our own unique dramas, and if we choose, to share with the group what we have learned.
In our efforts to pragmatically navigate these two worlds we inhabit, in an atmosphere of respect and sensitivity, we will attempt to address how best to answer the questions, “Who am I?” and “Who am I to you?”.
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Brief Bio of Howard W. Tyas, Jr., Dmin, PhD
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Dr. Howard Tyas is a Jungian psychoanalyst in private practice in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a graduate of the C. G. Jung Institute – Zurich. He is currently working on a project to publish a collection of lectures delivered to various Friends of Jung groups over the years. ​
An avid walker and baseball enthusiast, Howard is now enjoying more time spent with family and grandchildren.​
FREE SALON: C.G.JUNG: A Symbolic Life
by Theresa Yuschok, MD
Sep 17, 2022, 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM EDT
Chapel Hill Library Room B, Library Dr, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
About the event
Who was Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) and why are his depth psychology theories pertinent today?
This Swiss psychoanalyst shared Freud's dedication to dreams, childhood development, and unconscious repetition of psychodynamics, but he also developed original theories of the collective unconscious, archetypes, complexes and the religious instinct. He prescribed attention to symbols, harvested from dreams, art, gestures, synchronicities or fantasies. These symbols can expand our awareness, nurture our souls, and open the door to a vast and creative inner life.
Dr. Theresa Yuschok will introduce Jung's life history in both fact and symbols and highlight his approach to a meaningful life. “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”--Carl Jung
Theresa Yuschok, MD: President of the C. G. Jung Society of the Triangle, psychiatrist with private practice in Chapel Hill.