An Introduction to Depth Psychology Soul-Centered Psychology | Bonnie Bright PhD 2026-09-22 | An Introduction to Depth Psychology
The Cycle of Life: Themes and Tales of the Journey Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-08-09 | Bonnie Bright speaks with Jungian Analyst & Author Dr. Erel Shalit about his text, The Cycle of Life: Themes and Tales of the Journey.Dr. Erel Shalit is a Jungian psychoanalyst in Ra'anana, Israel & the author of The Cycle of Life: Themes and Tales of the Journey (2011), the February Depth Psychology Alliance selection for the free online book club.The Cycle of Lifeexplores crucial archetypal images of the journey & the stages of life, illustrated by dreams, myths & tales. The sense of meaning along one’s individual journey through life is exemplified by personal stories and clinical vignettes.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Isis Code: Revelations from Brain Research & Systems Science Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-08-09 | An interview with author Ariane Page by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D. Carl Gustav Jung has visualized wholeness in the collective unconscious and its archetypes. Quantum physicist David Bohm saw it in what he named the"implicate order" which sustains, guides and organizes energy. Not surprisingly also, as it is in all of us, perennial traditions intuitively expressed it through their myths, legends and even used it efficiently in their medical systems.Most importantly, it is consequently expressed through the brain, an obvious fractal aspect of it. This brain being also an observable physical object, a consensus becomes possible as to the model at its origin. Putting these together, Ariane Page in her book Isis Code describes this ultimate model as the LIFE biosystem (Law Inherent to the Five Elements).Join me with Ariane Page for a stimulating and informative conversation that covers a range of topics including Carl Jung, depth psychology, nature, biology, neuroscience, and the elusive quality of "oneness."Ariane Page was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She studied and worked in communications as an assistant director for CBC TV Montreal for such renown television shows as Femme d'Aujourd'hui (Today's Woman) and La Semaine Verte (The Green Week). Since two of her siblings had physical handicaps her interest in health sciences was always strong and she became a hygienist-naturopath and managed a natural health clinic for over 30 years. She also studied Education Science at Nanterre University in Paris, France. She is a member of the ISSS (International Society for the Systems Science).In Paris, she studied naturopathy, psychosomatic medicine, studied and taught yoga and provided relaxation sessions to groups and pregnant women. Over time, Ariane followed her interests in Jungian psychology, religious traditions, relationships, art, systems science, and brain research. This resulted in the elaboration of the LIFE biosystem for which Isis Code is the reference book. Ariane now lives in Quebec, where she offers personal consultations on LIFE biosystem's applications.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
The Psychology and Promise of Neuromarketing Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-08-09 | An Interview with Christophe Morin, M.B.A. by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.Neuromarketing, the cutting edge field which combines the latest discoveries in Neuroscience with the discipline of Marketing, has made striking inroads into business, advertising, and communications in recent years. Not only can this practice be used by advertisers to reach the "buy button" in a consumer's brain, but it can also serve cause-related campaigns by tapping into our altruistic instincts as well as radically improving communication in relationships with partners, spouses, business associates, or even your kids.The psychology and promise of Neuromarketing is a profound and highly important new field that everyone should know about according to Christophe Morin, MBA, co-author with Patrick Renvoise of the book "Neuromarketing: Understanding the Buy Buttons in your Customer's Brain" currently ranked in the top 50 Marketing books on Amazon.comFor more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Depth Psychological Approaches to Suffering Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-08-09 | An interview with Dr. Lionel Corbett by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D. Is suffering optional? Can we avoid suffering altogether, or at least diminish it? Are some people more sensitive to suffering? Is there such a thing as secondhand suffering, where certain individuals suffer more themselves because of what they’re witnessing? These are all questions I posed to Dr. Lionel Corbett, M.D, and some of his answers surprised me.There is a shamanic way of working with clients, he was quick to suggest, wherein the therapist takes on the suffering of the client, transmutes it, and then “gives it back to them in a more digestible way..."Lionel Corbett, M.D., trained in medicine and psychiatry in England, and as a Jungian Analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. His primary interests are the religious function of the psyche, especially the way in which personal religious experience is relevant to individual psychology; the development of psychotherapy as a spiritual practice; and the interface of Jungian psychology and contemporary psychoanalytic thought.Dr. Corbett is a professor of depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute. He is the author of numerous professional papers and four books: Psyche and the Sacred, The Religious Function of the Psyche; The Sacred Cauldron: Psychotherapy as a Spiritual Practice; and most recently The Soul in Anguish: Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Suffering.He is the co-editor of Jung and Aging; Depth Psychology, Meditations in the Field; and Psychology at the Threshold.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
From Information to Inspiration: An Interdisciplinary Career Based on Myth, Music, Depth Psychology Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-08-02 | As Kayleen’s first love, music was deeply embedded in her upbringing. It had such power over her that she recalls dreaming at the tender age of three of making her way towards a piano with the notion that if she didn't touch the keyboard, she would die. Music was a lifeline throughout her childhood, which led to her training to be a concert pianist, soloing with her first orchestra at only 12 years of age.However, at age 18, she experienced a profound “crippling.” This happens to many musicians, Kayleen explains, as a result of overuse and over-practice. By some vestige of grace, she realized she had to find a new reason and purpose to live. Fortuitously, several years earlier, she had discovered the work of C. G. Jung and the field of Depth Psychology. Voraciously reading his collected works, she threw herself in that new direction.While her love of music remained, she understands in hindsight that what initially appeared as a limitation, was actually a blessing in disguise. Merely practicing the works of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven would never have opened her to connect music with the profound cultural and historical backgrounds revealed in mythic studies, making the experience of the music far richer and deeper than it ever could have been. Music is one of the very few things that speaks to both our left and right hemispheres in our brains, she reveals, and so it can balance us in times of tension, stress, or crisis. As the ancient Greeks explained, music was never really intended to be entertainment; rather, it was seen to shape the moral character of the universe.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Cultural Change as a Reality in Todays World & the Growing Need for Alliances Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Bonnie Lori Pye, Ph.D., by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.Lori Pye, Director and Founder of The Institute for Cultural Change, completed her Ph.D. in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria, California. As an environmentalist, Dr. Pye worked with NGOs around the world and has founded several international nonprofit organizations and worked in executive management with marine conservation organizations. She has also led international conferences on diverse issues which featured names like James Hillman, Thomas Moore, David Abrams, Susan Griffin, Ginette Paris, Dennis Slattery, Ernest Rossi, and James Hollis among many others. Dr. Pye teaches Ecopsychology topics at the University of California in Santa Barbara (UCSB), Naropa University, and Antioch University, and Mythology & Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Depth Psychology, Rebearths, and Deep Education Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Craig Chalquist, Ph.D., by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D. The new 2010 anthology "Rebearths: Conversations with a World Ensouled" articulates the enlivening quest for reconnection with the Earth and its inhabitants. Enveloped by myth, story, landscape, and soul, we are invited to weave seemingly disjointed worlds and engage our human imagination in ways that foster a sense of reverie and belonging in Nature.In turn, our fresh explorations into the landscapes of the soul and the soulscapes of the land brings to conscious awareness our deep embeddedness in the planet and supports a needed shift toward a more loving relationship with our surroundings.Craig Chalquist PhD is a Core faculty member at John F. Kennedy University, and an adjunct faculty at CIIS, Prescott College, and Antioch University. Craig is also a Permaculture designer and certified Master Gardener through theUniversity of California Cooperative Extension. As if that weren’t enough, he’s the author of six books and editor of two anthologies--including Rebearths.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Beyond Horror and Hope: The Archetypal Intersection of Innocence and Evil Part I Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Jungian Analyst Michael Conforti, Ph.D. with Bonnie Bright, Ph.D. An exploratory conversation using a depth psychological perspective in response to the Sandy Hook Connecticut school shooting by Jungian Analyst Michael Conforti, Ph.D., moderated by Bonnie Bright.The horrific tragedy in Newtown, CT has left us all grappling with the trauma of senseless acts of violence, in this case, violence perpetrated on the most helpless and innocent among us, our children. While we may never understand what it is that allows for such atrocities, we have to continue to search for meaning, a way to understand and perhaps, to stem the tide of this force.What are the archetypal influences underpinning the horror of the Newtown, CT school shooting---and those of so many recent violent events perpetrated on innocents with legal firearms. Is evil a reality? Is it an age-old pattern that becomes constellated under certain conditions? How do we find hope in the horror when tragedy strikes? Join us, as together we bear witness to this tragedy and search for a way through the darkness to a place of understanding.Session 1 posted December 21,Michael Conforti, Ph.D. is a Jungian Analyst, and is the founder and director of the Assisi Institute. A pioneer in the field of matter-psyche studies, Dr. Conforti is actively is investigating the workings of archetypal fields and the relationship between Jungian psychology and the New Sciences. His groundbreaking work has resulted in a new and growing arena, Archetypal Pattern Analysis™. He has been a faculty member at the C.G. Jung Institute- Boston, the C.G Jung Foundation of New York, and has served as a Senior Associate faculty member in the Doctoral and Master's Programs in Clinical Psychology at Antioch New England. Dr. Conforti has presented widely to international audiences.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Beyond Horror and Hope: The Archetypal Intersection of Innocence and Evil Part II Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Dr. Michael Conforti by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.An exploratory conversation using a depth psychological perspective in response to the Sandy Hook Connecticut school shooting by Jungian Analyst Michael Conforti, Ph.D., moderated by Bonnie Bright.The horrific tragedy in Newtown, CT has left us all grappling with the trauma of senseless acts of violence, in this case, violence perpetrated on the most helpless and innocent among us, our children. While we may never understand what it is that allows for such atrocities, we have to continue to search for meaning, a way to understand and perhaps, to stem the tide of this force.What are the archetypal influences underpinning the horror of the Newtown, CT school shooting---and those of so many recent violent events perpetrated on innocents with legal firearms. Is evil a reality? Is it an age-old pattern that becomes constellated under certain conditions? How do we find hope in the horror when tragedy strikes? Join us, as together we bear witness to this tragedy and search for a way through the darkness to a place of understanding.Session 2 posted December 28, 2012, approx 1 hour 20 minsMichael Conforti, Ph.D. is a Jungian Analyst, and is the founder and director of the Assisi Institute. A pioneer in the field of matter-psyche studies, Dr. Conforti is actively is investigating the workings of archetypal fields and the relationship between Jungian psychology and the New Sciences. His groundbreaking work has resulted in a new and growing arena, Archetypal Pattern Analysis™. He has been a faculty member at the C.G. Jung Institute- Boston, the C.G Jung Foundation of New York, and has served as a Senior Associate faculty member in the Doctoral and Master's Programs in Clinical Psychology at Antioch New England. Dr. Conforti has presented widely to international audiences.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Psychology, Alchemy, Egypt & the Ongoing Archetypal Struggle Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Jungian Author Thom Cavalli Ph.D., by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.Thom Cavalli Ph.D. is a practicing clinical psychologist, author and lecturer on Jungian psychology. His breakthrough book, "Alchemical Psychology", has become a textbook for teachers and students on individuation and spiritual transformation.His latest work, "Embodying Osiris: The Secrets of Alchemical Transformation" is receiving rave reviews and promises to become a #1 bestseller! Join Thom and I as we discuss Alchemy, Egypt, current global events and how Egypt is playing out an archetypal confrontation, and Jungian Psychology.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
What are Your Dreams Telling You? Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Dr. Michael Conforti by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D. Bonnie Bright talks with Michael Conforti on dreams, archetypes, and how to understand them.Dr. Michael Conforti is a Jungian analyst in private practice and a pioneer in psyche/matter studies. He is the founder of Assisi Institute, a training organization specializing in Dream Patterning(TM) and Archetypal Pattern Analysis(TM).For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Between Honey and Pain Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | Bonnie Bright's presentation based on "Between Honey & Pain: Colony Collapse Disorder and the Colonization of the Wild" Bonnie Bright talks on colonization, culture, and the plight of the honeybees(This audio presentation is based on Bonnie Bright's chapter in the 2010 anthology "Rebearths: Conversations with a World Ensouled", edited by Craig Chalquist and published by World Soul books)For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Matter, Spirit, and Other Ways of Knowing: Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Jungian Analyst and Author, Patricia Damery by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D. Bonnie Bright in discussion with Patricia Damery on psyche-matter connections, archetypes, spirituality, and expanded states of consciousness.Jungian analyst Patricia Damery talks about the overlap between shamanic consciousness and analytic psychology, a topic she engages in her 2010 book "Farming Soul: A Tale of Initiation" (published by Fisher King Press) where she weaves a compelling tale of her tripartite journey of becoming a Jungian analyst, a biodynamic farmer, and exploring "other ways of knowing" with what she terms as "unconventional teachers".For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
The Myth of American Innocence and the Call for Grieving: Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with mythologist Barry Spector by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D. Bonnie Bright talks to Barry Spector about grief, the archetype of Dionysis in our culture, the Myth of American Innocence and about Barry's book "Madness at the Gates of the City"Barry writes about American history and politics from the perspectives of myth, indigenous traditions and archetypal psychology. He is the author of Madness At The Gates Of The City: The Myth Of American Innocence. His essays can be found on his websites (www.barryandmayaspector.com and www.madnessatthegates.com).For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
The Sister From Below: On Poetry, the Muse, and Why We Create Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | Interview with Jungian Analyst, Naomi Ruth Lowinsky by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D. Bonnie Bright talks to Jungian Analyst, Poet, and Author Naomi Ruth Lowinsky on poetry, the muse, and what drives us to create in our lives.Naomi Ruth Lowinsky, author of "The Sister from Below: When the Muse Gets Her Way" is an analyst member of the San Francisco C.G. Jung Institute, and a widely published poet.Naomi’s recent memoir, The Sister from Below: When the Muse Gets Her Way tells stories of her pushy muse. Naomi is also the author of The Motherline: Every Woman’s Journey to Find her Female Roots and three books of poetry—the most recent of those is called Adagio & Lamentation and features lots of poems about her own grandmother, who was a refugee from the Shoah and a fine painter. Naomi says her grandmother he taught her the practice of making art of one’s life.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
The Shaman, the Capitalist, and the Self: The Story Behind the Story in Numenon Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Psychologist and Fiction Writer, Sandy Nathan by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.Sandy Nathan was born into a Silicon Valley corporate family and started her career as an economist after earning an MA in economics. But once at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, she had a change of heart and transformed her life, ending up earning an MA in Counseling instead. She has worked as a negotiation coach, businesswoman, horse rancher and author. But when she was struck with a powerful experience, she was "given" a book and began writing for real. Her novel, Numenon—a tale of Mysticism and Money is the first book in the 2012 Depth Psychology Alliance Online Book Club.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Beyond the Mask: Astrology, the Rising Sign, & the Second Half of Life Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An Interview with astrologer and author Kathleen Burt by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.Bonnie Bright speaks with Psychologist and Fiction Writer, Sandy Nathan on her novel, Numenon.Sandy Nathan was born into a Silicon Valley corporate family and started her career as an economist after earning an MA in economics. But once at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, she had a change of heart and transformed her life, ending up earning an MA in Counseling instead. She has worked as a negotiation coach, businesswoman, horse rancher and author. But when she was struck with a powerful experience, she was "given" a book and began writing for real.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Tragic Beauty: The Dark Side of Venus Aphrodite and the Loss and Regeneration of Soul Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Dr. Arlene Landau by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.Bonnie Bright speaks with Dr. Landau on how the Venus/Aphrodite archetype manifests in our culture and the role Jungian analysis as a way to understand it.Dr. Arlene Landau received her Diploma in Analytical Psychology from the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles, California in 1995 and a Ph.D. in Mythological Studies in Depth Psychology from the Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2001. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art and a Master of Arts in Educational Psychology, both from California State University at Northridge.Arlene is the author of the book,Tragic Beauty: The Dark Side of Venus Aphrodite and the Loss and Regeneration of Soul (Spring Journal Books)For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Jung, Crop Circles, and the Re-emergence of the Archetypal Feminine Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with author Gary Bobroff, by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.Bonnie Bright M.A. speaks with Gary Bobroff, M.A., about his fascinating research into the phenomenon of crop circles and their connection to C.G. Jung and his archetypes. Join us to learn how the Mystery of the crop circles is a potential herald to the re-emrgence of the archetypal feminine in the collective.Gary Samuel Bobroff, M.A. has an undergraduate degree in philosophy and a Master's degree in Jungian-oriented Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, CA. He has been privileged to visit Crop Circles in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. He is writer, therapist and workshop leader.For centuries, but particularly in the last few decades, Crop Circles have been a mysterious visitor arriving at our door. Recently, we have been able to scientifically identify that this phenomenon is no hoax, but something authentically unknown. In an engaging look at the science, history, and symbolic nature of this modern mystery, Gary S. Bobroff, M.A., offers a framework for the reader's own deeper consideration of Crop Circles. Placing this modern “dream” into the context of modern reality, Jung, Crop Circles & the Re-Emergence of the Archetypal Feminine considers what it means to live in an era when we are encountering such a new wonder.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Field, Form & Fate: Patterns in Nature & Psyche Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Dr. Michael Conforti by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D. Bonnie Bright speaks with Dr. Michael Conforti on his pioneering work with Psyche-Matter studies and the resulting book, "Field, Form, and Fate" Michael Conforti -- Michael Conforti, Ph.D. is a Jungian Analyst, and is the founder and director of the Assisi Institute. Dr. Conforti's work has resulted not only in a training institute based on his discoveries, but also the development of a new discipline, Archetypal Pattern Analysis. 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 is the author of Threshold Experiences: The Archetype of Beginnings (2007) and the book we’ll be discussing today, “Field, Form and Fate: Patterns in Mind, Nature and Psyche”For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
The Living Archives: Stories from Opus Archives & Research Center Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Safron Rossi, Ph.D., BY Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.Bonnie Bright speaks with Safron Rossi, Ph.D., Director of Opus Archives & Research Center--home of the manuscript and archival collections of scholars including Joseph Campbell, James Hillman, and Marion Woodman. The archival collections of the OPUS Archives make up a valuable resource and are highly relevant to the field of depth psychology. In this interview, Safron describes the 9 major collections at Opus Archives and how they inform the work of our time. Safron shares stories she has witnessed of synchronicities researchers experience while she tends this living archive in her daily work.OPUS Archives & Research Center, located on the campuses of Pacifica Graduate Institute near Santa Barbara, CA, is free and open to the public. Appointments to visit the archives or the library collections are welcomed.Director of Opus Archives & Research Center, Safron Rossi, Ph.D., is also Adjunct Faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute, teaching courses on mythology and depth psychology. She earned her Ph.D. in Mythological Studies in 2009 and her writing and scholarly studies focus on archetypal psychology, feminist studies, and the western astrological tradition.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Eros and the Shattering Gaze: Transcending Narcissism Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Jungian psychoanalyst Ken Kimmel by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.Join Bonnie Bright and Jungian psychoanalyst Ken Kimmel as they discuss the powerful influence of narcissism and how it impacts men's psyche and influences relationships with the women who love them.Ken's recent book, Eros and the Shattering Gaze: Transcending Narcissism (the Depth Psychology Alliance Online Book Club selection for April 2012) discusses a culturally and historically embedded narcissism underlying men's endlessly driven romantic projections and erotic fantasies, that has appropriated their understanding of what love truly is. Men enveloped in narcissism fear their interiority and all relationships with emotional depth that prove too overwhelming to bear--so much so that the lover must either be colonized or devalued. Ken shares stories which illuminate many areas of common ground that Jung's Analytical psychology shares with contemporary schools of depth psychology and psychoanalysis.Jungian Analyst Ken Kimmel, MA, LMFT, LMHC, is a Jungian psychoanalyst in Seattle with over 30 years of clinical practice, an alum of Sonoma State College and a graduate of North Pacific Institute for Analytical Psychology. His current interests concern the interface of Analytical Psychology with contemporary psychoanalysis, phenomenology, and mystical traditions.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
The Role of Dreams and Dream-Like Experiences in Psycho-Spiritual Crisis Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Darlene B. Viggiano, Ph.D. by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.Bonnie Bright speaks with Dr. Darlene Viggiano about Viggiano's research on the Role of Dreams and Dream-like Experiences in Psycho-Spiritual Emergence Processes Everyone goes through challenging times of psycho-spiritual growth. Join Bonnie with Darlene as she explores the functionof dreams and visions during crucial periods of psycho-spiritual development. Darlene's work is based on research that analyzed seven cases of extraordinary experiences associated with dreaming and dream-like states.Darlene B. Viggiano, Ph.D. (MFT), author of Dreams and Dream-like Experiences: Their Role in Spiritual Emergence Processes, has co-led group dream analysis for Saybrook University, where she also presented on "Brain Activation Patterns and Neuro-physiological Correlates of Hypnotic Dreaming." She also led an experiential workshop on “Spiritual Diversity: Using dreams to identify and treat spiritual problems” for the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness and has presented extensively and authored numerous peer-reviewed articles on the topic.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Marked by Fire: Stories of the Jungian Way Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | Interview with Naomi Ruth Lowinsky and Patricia Damery by Bonnie Bright Ph.D. Bonnie Bright speaks with Naomi Ruth Lowinsky and Patricia Damery about the power of synchronicity of creation and their new exciting anthology in the field of Jungian psychology. Bringing together personal stories from a unique group of Jungian analysts and authors in the field of depth psychology must surely be a challenging task.Naomi Ruth Lowinsky is an analyst member of the San Francisco C.G. Jung Institute and a widely published poet. Her recent memoir, The Sister from Below: When the Muse Gets Her Way tells stories of her "pushy" muse. Naomi is also the author of The Motherline: Every Woman’s Journey to Find her Female Roots and three books of poetry.Patricia Damery, also an analyst member of the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco i is in private psychotherapy practice in Napa, California. Patricia has published Farming Soul: A Tale of Initiation--which weaves a fascinating tale of her analytic training and simultaneous entry into Biodynamic farming--along and her latest novel, Snakes, the story about the demise of a family farm. Patricia and her husband farm a Biodynamic organic ranch.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Terrapsychology: Earthrise, Mythic Image, and the Psychology of Place Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Craig Chalquist Ph.D. by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.Bonnie Bright speaks with Dr. Craig Chalquist about Terrapsychology, Encyclopedia Sophia, and"Earthrise" as a mythic image a la Joseph Campbell. Craig Chalquist has walked a lot of the landscape of depth psychology since he first coined the term "terrapsychology" nearly a decade ago. Here Craig speaks about how "patterns, shapes, features and motifs at play in the nonhuman world scupt our ideas, our habits, our relationships, culture, and sense of self."Craig Chalquist Ph.D. is the author of 8 books and editor of 2 anthologies, including Rebearths: Conversations with a World Ensouled, the June selection for the Depth Psychology Alliance online book club. Currently a core faculty member in East-West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Dr. Chalquist has also taught at John F. Kennedy University, Antioch University, Prescott College, and Pacifica Graduate Institute among others.Craig's comprehensive work in the field(s) of depth psychology, ecopsychology, and mythology have given rise to a number of groundbreaking unique programs including Encyclopedia Sophia, an online repository for culture mentors, and Earthrise--a vision for a mythic image for our time.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Spa Cultures, Dream Times, and the Conscious Cosmos Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | Dreams serve as windows and mirrors into our Souls. Ancient cultures including the Sumerians, Egyptians, Greeks, Celts and Romans as well as native Peoples around the Planet combined their dreaming with their stays at springs, wells and spas.es to the fantastic art.Dreams can be a threshold and doorway into the imagination and in turn can increase abilities to look deeper into personal, social, cultural and spiritual realms of wellness and wholeness.Join depth psychotherapist Jonathan Paul (J. Paul) DeVierville in conversation with Bonnie Bright for Depth Insights™ as, as they discuss the history of spa cultures and dream incubation.J. Paul DeVierville Ph.D., M.S.S.W., a Jungian psychotherapist and well-known spa historian, facilitates this exploration that can help to reveal not only how a person’s Dreams and how they relate to oneself, but also how, when and where Dreams connect to the wider-world and planet.This method of exploration: “Eco-Social-Psi- Cultural-Dreaming-Field” is experienced when individuals as well as groups share Dreaming and observe images and discover themes related not only to themselves but also the global domains of culture, civilization and cosmos.Spa Cultures, Dream Times, Conscious Cosmos 2015 takes place in the spa town of Bad Sulza, Germany, near the cultural city of Weimar where visionaries Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Rudolf Steiner worked. Your stay includes traditional spa bathing in geo-thermal mineral waters as well as floating in the world-famous Liquid Sound Temple: a spectacular circular pool flooded with sound, light and video over and under the water. These relaxing surroundings and stimulating group sessions make your own Dreams more vivid and help relate their meaning to your everyday life, creativity and relationships.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Deep Blues: The Connection Between Blues Music and Jungian Psychology Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Mark Winborn Ph.D. by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.Bonnie Bright speaks with Jungian anlayst Dr. Mark Winborn on the history of the blues and it's archetypal connection to emotion, shamanism, and healing Blues music can be traced from centuries of tribal rhythm in Africa across the waters with the age of slavery and through work gangs, chain gangs, and other trauma-related eras and activities as those who made the music took on the invitation to sink into the emotions blues encompasses.In this fascinating interview, Jungian analyst Mark Winborn shares his research into the healing aspects for blues music and the way it overlaps with Jungian psychology and the archetype of shamanism. Mark's book Deep Blues: Human Soundscapes for the Archetypal Journey is the August selection for the Depth Psychology Alliance online book club.Mark Winborn Ph.D, NCPsyA is a Jungian Psychoanalyst and Clinical Psychologist. He received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Memphis in 1987 and his certificate in Jungian Psychoanalysis from the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts in 1999. In 2011 he published Deep Blues: Human Soundscapes for the Archetypal Journey with Fisher King Press. Dr. Winborn maintains a private practice in Memphis, Tennessee where he is also currently the Training Coordinator for the Memphis Jungian Seminar, a training seminar of the IRSJA. Away from the office, he has played regularly with the Blue Blake Trio at Blues Hall on Beale Street and later with his own band, The Wolf River Travelers.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Out of the Shadows: A Story of CG Jung, Toni Wolff & Emma Jung Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with author Elizabeth Clark-Stern by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.Bonnie Bright with Elizabeth Clark-Stern who reveals the rich archetypal dimensions of this historical triangular relationship between CG Jung and two remarkable women.“Out of the Shadows: A Story of Toni Wolff and Emma Jung” is a dialogue about shadow and the complexities of relationships and theory at the dawn of the field of psychology. The book is the featured selection for the Depth Psychology Alliance free online book club in September 2012.The year is 1910. Sigmund Freud and his heir-apparent, Carl Jung, are changing the way we think about human nature and the mind. 22-year-old TONI WOLFF enters the heart of this world as Jung's patient. His wife, EMMA JUNG, is 26, a mother of four, aspiring to help her husband create the new science of psychology. Despite their passionate rivalry for Jung's mind and heart, the two women often find themselves allied.Their relationship spans 40 years, following the development of the field of psychology, and the moral and professional choices of some of its major players.Elizabeth Clark-Stern is a psychotherapist in private practice in Seattle,Washington. Before embracing this beloved work, she worked as a professional screenwriter.Her produced plays and teleplays include "All I Could See from Where I Stood", "Help Wanted", and "To See the Elephant". Her play, "Out of the Shadows: A Story of Toni Wolff and Emma Jung", published by Fisher King Press, has been performed in Seattle, at the International Jungian Congress in South Africa, and for the Archetypal Theater Company in New Orleans.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Telling the Difference: Where Poetry and Jungian Psychology Converge Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with author Paul Watsky by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.Bonnie Bright speaks with Poet and Jungian Analyst, Paul Watsky, as he offers up the story of how he was led to each career, and shares his work that opens the door into the deep poetic leanings of soul. "Telling the Difference" is the only book of poetry (featured in the month of October) in the 2012 free online Depth Psychology Alliance Book Club."To quote Norman O. Brown quoting Euripedes, "God made an opening for the unexpected," and at long last we have what many of us have greatly desired: a collection of poems by Paul Watsky."Paul Watsky's is a singular voice in contemporary poetry, with a range that encompasses the wry, the mordant, the laugh-out-loud funny and the deeply moving, often within the same poem." -Charles MartinPaul Watsky is the author of the poetry collection Telling The Difference grew up in New York City and began writing poetry during high school. He now lives and works in San Francisco, where he earns his living as a Jungian analyst. He has published three chapbooks, "More Questions Than Answers" (tel-let 2001) "Sea Side" (tel-let 2003), and "Extra Innings," (2010, online at Interpoezia), cotranslated with Emiko Miyashita Santoka (Tokyo, PIE Books, 2006), and has poems in various journals, including Poetry Flash, The Cream City Review, onthebus, The Asheville Poetry Review, The Pinch, Natural Bridge, The Alabama Review, and forthcoming in Many Mountains Moving.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Exile & Myth in American Culture-On Politics, Grief & Ritual Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with author Barry Spector by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.Bonnie Bright talks to Barry Spector about how America became a culture of exile, and the ever-greater need for mythology, archetypal thinking, ritual and grieving in the face of what Barry calls "The Myth of American Innocence." Barry’s book "Madness at the Gates of the City: The Myth Of American Innocence” is the featured book for the Depth Psychology Alliance free online book club in the month of November.Barry Spector writes about American history and politics from the perspectives of myth, indigenous traditions and archetypal psychology. In addition to Madness At The Gates Of The City, Barry maintains an active blog that takes an archetypal look at current events and culture and which, along with his essays, can be found at www.madnessatthegates.com.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Reimagining Astrology: On Being an Astrologer and a Therapist Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Judith Harte Ph.D. by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.We can each evolve in the direction of our own life’s calling by viewing the horoscope as analogous to an acorn, inside of which is one’s unique soul’s code with a mysterious timepiece all its own.Join astrologer and licensed psychotherapist, Judith Harte, in conversation with Bonnie Bright as they talk about the role of astrology in the growth and therapy of an individual's life.Judith Harte, PhD, MFT, has been an archetypal astrologer since 1975 and a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist since 1985. She has an MA in Clinical Psychology and a PhD in Counseling Psychology. Not only does her work embrace the mythic and depth dimensions of human experience, she also has a clinical practice with an emphasis upon crisis intervention, hospice, and coping with ordinary problems of daily living.Judith has a great love for the astrological language, which is the language of myth and story. She has a burgeoning interest in clay sculpture and spends much of her free time actively creating images of soul out of clay.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
The Intersection of Astrology and Psychotherapy Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Hadley Fitzgerald, M.A. by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.The way in which the power of images interfaces with the “acorn theory” posited by the late archetypal psychologist James Hillman lends a key component to the intersection between astrology and psychotherapy. Hillman conjectured that each life has its own soul’s code. The horoscope’s trajectory can be viewedas a pathway to one’s personal archetypal ground.Join Hadley Fitzgerald with Bonnie Bright as they discuss how astrology and psychotherapy can intersect for individual growth.Hadley Fitzgerald, MA, MFT, has been a licensed psychotherapist almost as long as she’s been an astrologer. She has a BA in English from UCLA, and after a 1974 epiphany in which she envisioned astrology as an integral part of psychology and psychotherapy in the future, she received her MA from Phillips Graduate Institute in 1979 and her Marriage and Family Therapy license in 1981.Hadley authored the Psychological Astrology section of “Under One Sky” by Rafael Nasser and is a free-lance writer. She has a certificate in Ecopsychology from the Institute for Cultural Change and is also a Certified Tarotpy® Practitioner.While traditional therapeutic methods are her foundation, Hadley often expands on those methods by using astrology’s ancient archetypal symbols to help clients address the conundrums of individual and family dynamics on another level.To learn more please visit: www.HadleyFitzgerald.comFor more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Metaphor as a Direct Doorway to Transformation Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Kim Hermanson Ph.D. by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.The language of metaphor can provide direct access to powerful transformation. In this compelling talk, Kim shares how aspects of her own story catapulted her into a realm where image and metaphor can be accessed to effect meaningful change in the life of an individual.Kim Hermanson Ph.D. is the founder of Doorway Sessions for creative breakthroughs and the author of Getting Messy: A Guide to Taking Risks and Opening the Imagination. Kim is Adjunct Faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and she has also taught courses at Esalen Institute, Meridian University, University of California Berkeley and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
On the Doorstep of the Castle—An Exploration of the Divine in the Story of Teresa of Avila Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Elizabeth Clark-Stern by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.Our setting is 16th century Spain. The Inquisition has expelled the Jews or forced them to convert. Teresa of Avila is igniting the imagination of the country as the nun who receives messages directly from God. A young Jewish converso, Alma de Leon, appears on Teresa’s doorstep, petitioning to become a novice in her care. Teresa and Alma discover hidden dimensions in themselves and each other, as they struggle to become powerful women and pioneers in psyche’s movement toward wholeness in an oppressive yet luminous time.In this compelling conversation, therapist and author, Elizabeth Clark-Stern shares important insights into the feminine in spiritual, political, and relational realms. The common challenges facing women in both 16th century Spain and in today’s culture reveal how we might balance that which has been oppressed, both personally and culturally. What does it mean for each of us to be a “Teresa of Avila” and how does this fit into our individual process of individuation according to Jung?Elizabeth Clark-Stern's produced plays and screenplays include All I Could See from Where I Stood, Timeless Night: Viktor Frankl Meets Edith Stein, and Out of the Shadows: A Story of TONI WOLFF and EMMA JUNG.Out of the Shadows was performed at the International Jungian Congress in Capetown in 2007, and On the Doorstep of the Castle in Copenhagen in 2013.Elizabeth lives, writes, and practices psychotherapy in Seattle, in company with her husband, her adult daughters, a granddaughter, and a host of beloved colleagues and friends. See Elizabeth's blog site at www.soulstories.net and her psychotherapy site www.elizabethclarkstern.com.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Taking Responsibility for One’s Creative Life Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | Interview with Nina Ross Ph.D. by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.Nina Ross and Bonnie Bright discuss what happens when one attempts to make art, and the dynamic relationship between art and psychology. Nina offers personal retreats on art and psychology in Santa Fe, NM.Nina Ross (PhD, LPAT, and ATR) has a PhD. in the Depth Psychology of Art from Union Institute. Nina is an artist, art therapist, and psychotherapist working from a Jungian perspective. Nina has led numerous workshops retreats, and classes at universities, retreat centers and conferences. She is a gentle, experienced and patient guide through the mysterious realms of art and the psyche.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
The Return of the Goddesses—in Mysteries! Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Susan Rowland, Ph.D. by Bonnie Bright Ph.D. Susan Rowland in conversation with Bonnie Bright about Susan's book, The Sleuth and the Goddess: Hestia, Artemis, Athena and Aphrodite in Women's Detective Fiction.Tune in as they explore ways in which archetypal images of each of these goddesses show up in murder mysteries, and learn why Susan alludes to an "urgent cultural need to become this figure who will search for clues to the bigger mysteries of the psyche."For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
The Healing Power of Creativity Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Jungian Analyst David Rosen by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.Psychiatrist and Jungian analyst David H. Rosen speaks withwith Bonnie Bright about how creativity has the capacity to heal depression and a multitude of issuesListen in as David describes the concept of "egocide"—the death of the ego, and its relationship with psychological and spiritual rebirth. David believes everyone needs to have a creative outlet to channel the intense energies that often result in difficult conditions, and recounts numerous examples of how creativity heals.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Cosmology, Ritual, and Ecology: A Message from the Kogi Indians about Earth Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Lisa Maroski by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.Perhaps you’ve heard of a mysterious tribe of Native Indians who live high in the mountains of Colombia, speaking only their own original language, and having little contact with the outside world. These people, the Kogi Indians, have long referred to themselves as the “Elder Brothers,” as they carry the responsibility of being caretakers of the world, helping to maintain a balance of harmony and creativity in the world.In recent years, the Kogi have begun speaking out. They are deeply concerned that non-indigenous consumer cultures living in the modern world, whom they call the “Younger Brothers,” are harming the earth, and they want to share the message that we need to change our ways.The Kogi have a profound relationship with the Mother Earth, whom they call “Aluna.” reports Lisa Maroski, a board member of Monterey Friends of C.G. Jung. Maroski had the remarkable opportunity to travel with a group to visit the Kogi in Columbia, to hear their message, and to see firsthand how they live and what they are asking from us.Maroski, who shared her experiences from the journey in an interview with me, explains how the “Mamas”— the priests of the tribe—were traditionally trained. Those who were identified as being future holy people were taken into caves at just a few months of age and they remained there for several years without ever experiencing the outside world. After several years, they were finally introduced to the outside world, where everything was so much more vibrant and alive than they could have ever imagined, that they become deeply psychically embedded in a universe that is alive and animated—even objects we westerners traditionally don’t think of as being alive.Other traditions, such as weaving, are deeply ritualistic, based on the understanding that everything in the world is interconnected. When they weave, it is symbolic, Maroski notes, and weavers maintain ritual practices like spinning around during certain points in the process to remind themselves that they are weaving the world.Maroski’s time with the Kogi changed her. She came away with a powerful understanding of what C.G. Jung called the unus mundus, the “one world”, and the possibilities of living with a worldview that understands how everything is alive and profoundly interconnected.We are longing for that personal connection with the Earth, she believes, and there are ways we can each take individual action to help amplify this message in the world. Whether it’s ritual acts such as Maroski describes during our conversation, or literally writing to corporations that are harming the planet to let them know w won’t accept it any longer, we each carry the possibility to honor the Elder Brother and start creating the change we want to see in the world.Lisa Maroski is an author, editor, and playwright. She is a board member of the Monterey Friends of C.G. Jung. She traveled to Colombia with John Perkins to meet with and learn from the Kogi Indians.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
When the Gods Come Calling: Dr. Jennifer Selig on Finding One’s Vocation Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Dr. Jennifer Selig by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.What happens when the gods come calling, from a depth psychological perspective, and how can one be ready when it happens? These are questions that arose when I recently sat down with Dr. Jennifer Selig to discuss her upcoming Salon on January 22, 2016, at Pacifica’s Ladera Lane Campus: “The Right Address: How to Be Home When the Gods Come Calling.”The title of Selig’s presentation is based on the double meaning of the word “address.” Not only can the word mean a physical “address” where you live or work— where you can typically be found—it’s verb form, while pronounced differently, signifies when someone calls you. “Calling” ties to the word “vocation,” which is based on the Latin vocatus, the past tense of vocare, “to call.” Vocation, from the early 15th century is defined as “spiritual calling.” Thus the word “vocation,” Selig notes, literally means to be called by the gods.One’s vocation, as it turns out, is not as much about what we want to do as it is about where the gods would have us be based on the gifts they have bestowed on us.In his book, The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling, Hillman wrote, “We dull our lives by how we conceive them,” Selig reminded me, so vocation—or calling—is the place where we ultimately express the gifts and talents that come through us but are not necessarily of us; not restricted or constrained by our limited egoic perspective.While a vocational school in contemporary culture is perceived to have a very narrow focus on teaching someone a specific trade they can practice in a fairly short period of time, Selig wants to take the word “vocation” back from that narrow perception. All of our lives are a vocation, no matter what kind of work we do in the world, she insists. For that reason, Pacifica is a true vocational school, opening students to the gifts that are wanting to come through them. Selig has noticed that very often, people are called to come to Pacifica without knowing why. They often step onto the campus and have a feeling of being home.There are many ways of looking at and discerning what’s calling us. It is important as one leans toward their vocation to trust emotion and affect the body is one way of finding your calling. If you pay attention to where you feel the most energy in your work life; where you have the most joy, you can notice where the calling is strong. Myths, dreams, ritual, and synchronicity also show us paths and patterns. Selig points to works from some of the great pioneers of depth psychology, including Freud, Jung, Hillman, and Marion Woodman, to help point the way as we address questions around vocation.Perhaps the most important thing to discerning calling is paying attention. James Hillman calls attention the cardinal virtue of depth psychology, Selig points out, noting that she has done some writing on that topic and believes it is crucial to pay attention to both the rational and the irrational—both using the brain for the rational or logos perspective, but also to plumb the irrational in the form of dreams, myth, story and image. It goes both ways, she insists: there needs to be balance of both the day and night worlds; the logos and the eros.Is finding balance a fantasy, though? Selig suggests that rather than simply seeking balance, learning to live with the tensions that are inherent in our lives is tantamount to pursuing the call. For example, she asks, “How do we hold the tension between what “makes our heart sing” and having to pay the bills?”“Yes!” I think, when she asks me this. Jung would have agreed: holding the tension allows a space to emerge in which a new thing can arise—the transcendent function at its best. Does holding the tension, then, open the way so that we are paying attention enough to hear the knock when it comes at our door? For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Alchemical Active Imagination Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | Interview with Jungian Analyst Tom Elsner by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.The brilliant use of alchemy as a symbolic language and process for psychological and spiritual development is arguably one of C. G. Jung’s greatest contributions to the field of depth psychology. While alchemy may appear to be a mystical—and mysterious—domain, Jung developed a powerful and inspired method for accessing it by entering into dialogue with the rich manifestations of the unconscious and applying it to our daily lives for transformation and growth.“True knowledge of oneself is the knowledge of the objective psyche as it manifests in dreams and in the statements of the unconscious,” wrote Marie-Louise von Franz, one of Jung’s closest colleagues. Finding myself intrigued by the idea of tapping into alchemical symbolism, and wanting to know more, I realized there was no better person to share some insights than Tom Elsner, a Jungian analyst and professor of Alchemy at Pacifica Graduate Institute, where Tom is teaching a 3-day workshop on the topic of Alchemical Active Imagination starting March 4.Tom immediately offered some history on the process of active imagination, which Jung developed to work with his own difficult experiences. Starting around 1916, after Jung notoriously broke with his mentor, Sigmund Freud, Jung went through an intense psychological process that included depression, accompanied by many deep dreams and visions. Over a period of 16 years, Jung gave voice to his inner dialogues through writing and painting, a process that ultimately resulted in The Red Book.For Jung, active imagination was the process of making one’s subjective psyche objective—that is, making the unconscious overt and tangible in terms of images, voices, and inner experiences—so that it can manifest in ways we can more easily understand. By entering into dialogue with those images and voices, Jung found himself actively engaged with “emotional drives and dynamics that would otherwise have overwhelmed him,” Tom Elsner points out. It was an effective and inspired way to work through challenges of the psyche.From around 1916, while Jung was in the depths of his process, he discovered alchemy and realized that alchemists were having symbolic experiences similar to his own. Alchemy emerged out of magical practices in ancient Egypt, was fertilized with philosophical views from the Greeks, and evolved via the Middle East, eventually taking root in Europe in the Middle Ages. By the time Jung came across the ancient texts in the twentieth century, alchemy had fallen out of favor in the west due to the Enlightenment and the focus on scientific thinking. Jung understood alchemy made no sense if one thought of it as chemistry. But if alchemy was viewed as a symbolic process, the images served powerfully as a “huge thesaurus coming out of the unconscious,” Tom notes. And so Jung applied it to the seemingly infinite stream of alchemical images in his own dreams, visions, and fantasies, as well as those of his patients.Jung considered himself a natural scientist and strongly sought to bring an interdisciplinary dimension to psychology, involving other of the sciences of the time. While he undoubtedly related to the medieval alchemists as the natural scientists of their time, Elsner argues that active imagination, as Jung conceived it, has inspired the basis of many of the expressive arts, including dance, poetry, painting and sculpture, that have quite strongly emerged in current day psychotherapy.However, it was only in the 1930s after Jung met Wolfgang Pauli, the Nobel prize winning quantum physicist, and they took up what was to be a 26-year correspondence, that Jung began to feel that there was a science that supported his experience of the autonomy of the psyche, and some of Jung’s paranormal experiences, as well. This was a significant intersection for Jung with alchemy. He saw it as the joining of the natural sciences with depth psychology, which paved the way for his theories about synchronicity and allowed him to expand his views about archetypes from seeing them as merely experienced on the inner plane to “something that [actually] inheres in the quality of matter—a kind of a return of soul to the world,” Tom affirms.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Jung, Individuation, and Film Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Glen Slater, Ph.D. by Bonnie Bright Ph.D. Ever since I met Dr. Glen Slater in 2008, I have known him to be a particularly passionate and knowledgeable advocate of film. I often see his film reviews in Jungian and depth publications, and his background in clinical psychology and religious studies—along with his interest in technology and culture—make his commentary especially valuable.jung_film_blog.jpgIn a recent interview, Glen and I sat down together for an intriguing depth discussion on Jung, individuation, and film.To begin, Dr. Slater notes, while we can think of individuation as coming to one’s deep self or unique character, it’s also the place where one comes to contribute to the larger human story. The individuation process is both deeply personal but also transpersonal; both universal and archetypal. At any given time in a specific culture, individuation is about finding a deep relationship with those energies that are coming up from the collective psyche. Jung believed that “no one can individuate on a mountaintop,” Glen reminded me. Therefore, at the same time you are growing into your own genius, you are also finding where your own life resonates with what is emerging collectively.Since we need models and mirrors, films are a key place we go today for myth. Films provide a wonderful arena where we can see characters going through the process of individuation—not only experiencing change and transformation, but also finding a deeper understanding of who they really are. As Joseph Campbell pointed out in The Hero’s Journey, there is often initially a refusal of the call, but eventually archetypal forces align to draw the character in to their deeper destiny, Glen states. While a character may initially be uncertain in the journey to individuation, more often that not, they reach a point where an event occurs that seems to spark the idea that they need to serve.In our culture, we live in a dualistic state in which we all deeply long for a vision that is unitive; where what happens outside is connected to what’s going on inside our mind, Slater notes. Therefore, film, by nature, is an excellent tool for melding inner and outer, enabling us to recover that sense of presence, unity, enchantment, or magic.So how does one begin to look at a film from a Jungian lens? The answer is definitely related to this idea that the outer world is reflective of the inner world, Slater insists. You must make the bridge with what is known in Jungian psychology as “symbolic thought,” the idea that what occurs in the story is metaphorical rather than literal. The process of individuation may be regarded as “living the symbolic life,” suggesting we must move from an egocentric place of being, to looking at events with a kind of curiosity that asks what things mean on a deeper level.It’s not hard to know when a film is resonating with something going on in our inner worlds. When we walk out of a film, it either stays with us or it doesn’t. It’s a litmus test, Glen claims. Does it stay with you or linger in the way a powerful dream might? Paying attention to the way certain stories or characters stay with us helps us discern the material that is touching the psyche.So what are the new values and energies that need to come in to drive the process? For one, films can empower us to see what’s on the horizon for our culture. As an example, Glen emphasizes that at a time when many Jungian and depth thinkers are talking about the return of the feminine in our current masculinized culture, certain female “heroes” (like Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron in the recent Mad Max: Fury Road) carry a very different value system than we have customarily seen before.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
The Therapy Room and the Interactive Field: Dr. Joseph Cambray on Becoming a Supervisor in Depth Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Joe Cambray Ph.D. by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.Psychotherapy is pervasive in contemporary culture. Even if you’re not a therapist yourself, if you’re taking the time to read this post, chances are good that either you or someone close to you has been involved in therapy at some point in their lives. And, while you may feel you have a good understanding of what happens in the therapy room, there may be more than meets the eye. Do you ever wonder, for example, what has to occur in the therapeutic process so that the basic experience is what it needs to be for both the client and the therapist? How does a therapist tap into the unconscious in order to help the client be more of “who they are”? How does synchronicity—and the interactive field that emerges between two individuals—serve up messages from the unconscious for the benefit of the work? More, where does the therapist her/himself turn for help in honing their own intuition and skills that ultimately contribute to their own individuation process in working with clients?These are all questions I asked Jungian analyst, Dr. Joseph Cambray, when he agreed to take a few minutes away from his busy schedule as provost at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Dr. Cambray is co-leading a 10-week course, On Becoming a Supervisor in Depth, along with Linda Carter, Avedis Panajian, Lionel Corbett, and Patricia Katsky starting March 3, 2016, at Pacifica.Joe Cambray is not only eminently qualified to offer insights on what goes on between a client and therapist in the therapy room, he also has a long history around the process of supervising other therapists, having taught a course on becoming a supervisor for nearly 12 years at Harvard Medical School. More, his landmark book, Synchronicity: Nature and Psyche in an Interconnected Universe, also reveals how Joe is uniquely qualified to help each of us identify ways in which unconscious patterns are at work in our lives and in our journeys of individuation.Joe describes his own perspective on what has to happen in the therapy room so that the basic experience is what it needs to be. While the focus is on the internal life of the person and on them becoming more of who they are, he notes, there is a symmetry between the client and the therapist. The therapist pays attention to his or her own reactions within the dialogue, and uses them to guide him.Through clients’ dreams and through certain events in their lives, it is possible to see how the unconscious is mobilized and activated. More, there is a field that transpires between the therapist and client—what Jung himself might have described as “a multi-dimensional field within the limited frame of our own sensory perception.” Therapists hone certain skills and processes that enable them to tune into what’s emerging into the field between the two individuals. As images arising in the therapy begin to create resonance, it enables us to perceive how the archetypal field is shaping itself, and what’s coming into consciousness.Perceiving the field is about the “third”—the supervenient— the extraneous or unexpected, Cambray asserts. It’s “something holistically larger” that happens between two individuals that neither can own, but that both are within: an “emergence”—or “emergent phenomenon.” The mind emerges out of the brain in interaction with the environment, including the narrative dimensions of the environment.How do you begin to go about training a therapist to notice the field, and what is emerging in the field, I wondered aloud. Cambray points out how the process is illustrated in Jung’s Red Book, and in the way in which Jung took great fantasies that were disturbing him and entering into those fantasies rather than repressing them or disregarding them. While there were psychological dangers to this kind of work, Jung persisted, and he set a pathway for us to follow.Some of the analytic tools therapists use to perceive the field are reverie –that is, sitting quietly and observing the contents of the mind and watching what emerges; countertransference, when the reactions of a therapist that are activated within the therapeutic dyad might be considered a communication from the unconscious, and therapists as resonant instruments in the process; or what Cambray calls objective empathy, where the therapist is empathic with the whole of the situation— including the unconscious dimensions—and not just the client’s ego. Joe recounted a transformational experience of being in analysis himself when he realized the analyst was speaking directly to a figure from a dream they were discussing, bypassing Joe’s own ego completely, as if he were a bystander in the process.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Confronting Signs of a Society in Decline Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Pulitzer prize-winning Journalist Chris Hedges by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.When I met Chris Hedges online for our recent interview together, I could see why Pacifica Graduate Institute invited him to speak at their milestone 40th anniversary celebration conference, Climates of Change and the Therapy of Ideas, which takes place April 21-24, 2016, in Santa Barbara, CA.As a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Hedges carries with him nearly two decades of experience reporting from war-torn countries like Yugoslavia, El Salvador, and also Gaza and South Sudan. In this capacity, he has witnessed the decline and disintegration of multiple societies, a perspective which has surely influenced his capacity regard the decline and potential destruction of our own modern culture that seems severely out of order.He has been described, more than once, as being “dark,” which, from a depth psychological perspective, I’m quick to assure him, is actually a compliment. Depth psychology insists we look under the surface and in the margins of things in order to better understand them, and then requires that we witness and hold what we find in spite of the darkness from which we might easily prefer to flee. Chris appears to take this in stride: recognizing and carrying the knowledge that contemporary society is facing its own morbidity, in some ways, has fallen squarely on his shoulders.Hedges notes that, as both individuals and civilizations, we encounter cycles of growth, maturation, decadence, and decay, and death. In contemporary society—especially modern society—we can see the signs of morbidity around us, in our boundless use of harmful fossil fuels, in much sought-after expansion beyond the capacity to sustain ourselves, and in the physical decay of the environment and in the places we inhabit.There are common patterns and common responses to decline and collapse across eras and cultures. While our culture is more technologically advanced in comparison with that of Easter Island, for example, it is arguable that human nature has not really changed. Who was it that cut down the last tree on Easter Island, for example? He wasn’t thinking, Hedges asserts, and neither are we today! Since the Jungian viewpoint is that we are each on our own journey of individuation, increasing consciousness and moving toward wholeness, for me, Chris’s point raises the question as to whether our culture should actually be individuating as well—but is somehow stuck in its process.How is it that most of us, myself included, are able to go about our daily lives engaging in habits and participating in systems that are destroying the planet, harming each other, and generally contributing to the detriment of society? There is a psychological mechanism by which people seek to blind themselves, Hedges insists. We tend to cling to a belief system that essentially shuts us off, disconnects us from what’s actually happening around us. Those individuals that dare to name the reality often become outcasts in the society. The seers are condemned and vilified.We carry with us a sort of “sick mania for hope,” says Hedges. If news isn’t positive or hopeful, we dismiss it or deny it. The majority of the population of a civilization in decline simply don’t want to hear the truth about the situation because the future seems too bleak. If you take just the issue of climate change, Chris explains, you can see that we live with two illusions: One, that it doesn’t exist; or two, that we can adapt. While most of us are hiding out in denial, according to Nietzsche, Chris reminds me, it is the role of intellectuals and artists, to see and confront the reality through their work. “When you don’t confront the perils around you; when you build psychological mechanisms or walls—which we have done with the aid of technology and the aid of culture, then you’re almost guaranteed to commit collective suicide, Hedges tells me, adding, “The consequences …for my children and for future generations is catastrophic because if we don’t radically reconfigure our relationship to each other and to the earth, we are going to have to begin to confront the extinction of the human species.”Yes, for so many reasons, one can see why some people have described Chris Hedges as “dark.” Having written my own dissertation at Pacifica on a phenomenon I termed “culture collapse disorder,” I spent many long hours contemplating the darkness of some of these same ideas. I remember Buddhist eco-scholar Joanna Macy writing that we, as humans, collectively live in fear of confronting the despair that we all carry—a despair that derives from dread of realizing for the first time that the human species may not pull through.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Spirit, Soul, and the Secular: An Interview with Thomas Moore Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Thomas Moore Ph.D. by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.Depth Psychology is often associated with “soul.” Many great thinkers in the field have shared some important thoughts on the topic, and perhaps none more so than psychologist and author, Thomas Moore, whose best-selling book, Care of the Soul, is one of the most recognized and appreciated works on the topic. Thomas Moore is speaking at the upcoming Climates of Change conference in celebration of Pacifica’s 40th anniversary in April 2016.When I sat down recently with Thomas to discuss the topic of soul and spirituality, my first request was that he elaborate on the difference between spirit and soul. Moore’s understanding of the topic is rooted firmly in the past, going back to some of the earliest teachers of soul. While he explained his perception of the difference between spirit and soul in some detail, what struck me is that soul thrives on the “holy” and that there is a “non-human” dimension to it. Most of the work Tom does is rooted in the spiritual traditions or in the depth psychology of both C. G. Jung and James Hillman. Both of these fields generally accept that there’s more going on within us and in the world around us that we can know, understand, or control. As an example, Tom points out that he did not “design” the life he has led, but rather has “discovered” it as he went along, trusting and having faith in life itself, even when he had no idea what was going to happen next. That for him is “not human,” because it is more than any human being can possibly understand.While you may call one’s unfolding “destiny,” or “fate,” the language or metaphor or poetic language we engage to express the Mysterious is primarily about our feeling of its value and our great reverence toward it is what Thomas calls the “holy.” This describes Moore’s own sense of reverence for the Mysterious which has shaped his life.In his most recent book, A Religion of One’s Own, Thomas shares some ways to tap back into a sense of spirituality. When the topic arose, I asked Thomas his opinion about the role of formal religion, which seems to be waning in our modern world.Tom surmises that existing institutions, including religions, need to be re-imagined to suit our times. His definition of religion is a “creative and concrete response to the Mysteries.” Religion is not just an idea or belief, he insists, nor is it about perfecting ourselves. It’s about our relationship to the Mysterious “other.”For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Dreaming the Earth: Earthing the Dream—Depth Psychology and Appreciative Nature Practices Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Dr. Pat Katsky by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.Dr. Pat Katsky is a Jungian Analyst and core faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and she has been a therapist for thirty years. When Pat sat down with me in a recent interview, our conversation focused on the idea that some of the most psychologically healing experiences come from the natural world, a theme derived from an upcoming certificate program, “Dreaming the Earth: Earthing the Dream” starting April 15, 2016.Pat mused on how in the last million or so years of history, humans have always needed nature and did not feel separate from it. But with the industrial revolution and the development of society as we know it, we have lost the connectedness. It has become something we do for vacation, she observes, then we return to jobs and daily life where nature is distant.Knowing Pat is a Jungian analyst, I ask her how she believes our dreams shed light on our connection to the planet. Dreams are the deepest part of us speaking to us, sharing wisdom and perspective, she responded, noting how Jung used the word numinous to describe certain kinds of dreams that make us feel we are in the presence of something larger than ourselves—when we feel awe or a sense of mystery.As an analyst, she has seen many “big” dreams—that is, life-changing dreams clients from clients that involved the natural world. She recounts some stories (which, she notes, she has permission to share). Some dreams, for example, introduce a particular animal which becomes a totem figure for the dreamer. In one specific dream, an individual found himself standing on the ground, which began to shake. In the dream, the dreamer thought he was experiencing an earthquake, but then became aware it was a giant animal shaking itself awake. Other clients have had images about unusual movements of stars, or of the sun and moon in an unexpected relationship to one another. As you might imagine, Pat insists, some of these kinds of powerful images can have lasting, life-changing effects on people.I ask Pat how she recommends people work with the images they receive, particularly for those individuals who are longing for that sense of reconnection with earth. One of the beautiful things about nature is that it exists both inside of us and outside of us, Pat notes in response. For some people, their greater sense of connection with the earth requires them to do something in the outer world, whether cultivating a garden or visiting certain natural settings.Pat mentions that the certificate program she is co-teaching at Pacifica will incorporate some special elements, including community dreaming where people gather at the beginning of the day and share dreams. Often themes emerge throughout the day that echo the images that came out of the group dream work in the morning. Among other experiential activities, participants will also have the opportunity to use art supplies or nature elements to engage with a dream image.Are there other practices, I wonder to Pat, that can be used to enhance our engagement? She responds with her own enthusiasm about topics that will be included in the upcoming certificate program, including a presentation from Pacifica’s organic gardener whom she likens to the “archetypal green man,” Dr. Steve Aizenstat, who will be presenting on DreamTending™, and Dr. Joseph Cambray, who will speak about complex adaptive systems. We are increasingly discovering that as a system develops, new more complicated order can evolve—a rather radical idea, as Pat notes. Cambray will also go into the biological basis of how our mind works when we go into natural settings. Dr. Joseph Bobrow, a zen roshi, will talk about Buddhism and interdependence in the natural world, and Linda Buzzell will present with Craig Chalquist on eco-resilience—how to find a path forward with heart in the midst of the difficult times we face, and the need to forge a different kind of relationship with the natural world than we currently have as a species.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
The C.G. Jung—Erich Neumann Connection: An Interview with Dr. Lance Owens Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An Interview with Dr. Lance Owens by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.Dr. Lance Owens has dedicated the past thirty or more years of his life to studying C.G. Jung, whose willingness to engage with and understand his visionary experiences has transformed so many lives. Owens has also recently become profoundly interested in the life and work of Erich Neumann, who was arguably one of Jung’s most gifted students, and who eventually became a close friend of Jung’s. Through the influence of Jung, Neumann made his own creative and compelling contributions to the field of depth psychology through works such as The Great Mother (1955), The Origins and History of Consciousness (1954), and Depth Psychology and a New Ethic (1949) among others.Lance Owens’ interest in Neumann was amplified by the publication of letters between Jung and Neumann in 2015, correspondence that revealed the tremendous respect Jung had for his friend and for the Neumann’s capacity to grasp many of the depth concepts that were so critical to Jung for his own reasons. In fact, Owens’ himself has also uncovered such a deep regard for Neumann that in a recent email to me, he wrote quite poignantly, “Neumann has become one of those ‘dead friends of the soul’ that come to help and haunt us, with their questions, and their answers, and the facts of their own lives. I do now believe that hearing Neumann’s voice, across the decades, is a crucial event in understanding the development of Jung’s movement, and of Jung’s own experience.”During our recent conversation, Lance explained how Neumann, having grown up in an integrated German family in Berlin, realized in his twenties that there was no place for him in German culture. Rather, he embraced his Jewish roots in spite of not being a practicing Jew. When Hitler took power in 1933, Neumann left Germany for Israel, stopping over in Zurich for six months in order to spend time in analysis with Jung.As Lance views it, this was part of an initiatory phase for Neumann. He was, perhaps, looking for tzadik, a spiritual guide, when he went for analysis with Jung. During Neumann’s quest for his Jewish roots, he had been intrigued by Martin Buber’s writings on Hasidism, which was centered around renewal and spiritual energy. Hasidism, a movement that emerged in the eighteenth century, was led by a mystical rabbi, Israel ben Eliezer (also called Baal Shem Tov), widely considered to be the founder of Hasidism. Neumann believed that ben Eliezer and his successor, the Mezritcher Maggid, had found a transparency between the outer and the deeper realities, enabling them to see through, to perceive the Divine in the world.Neumann seemed to find in Jung the tsaddik he was searching for, a unique leader who also had the ability to see through the world to the depth in a similar way. In accordance, Lance Owens informs me, Neumann, after those six months of analysis with Jung, affirmed for the remainder of his life that it was the transformative event of his life and he could not imagine what his life might have been without that experience.Once Neumann arrived in Israel, he established depth psychology there. While today’s training to become a Jungian analyst can be quite intensive and drawn out, Owens points out, Jung had one primary for someone to become a Jungian analyst: the analyst-in-training must know the psyche was real. Neumann most certainly got that, Owens insists.Upon his arrival in Israel in 1934, Jungian psychology was still new to Neumann, but he did his best to establish his practice based on what he knew. Though he returned more than once to visit Jung in subsequent years, by 1939 when World War II began in earnest, correspondence between Jung and Neumann was completely cut off until 1945 after the war was over. During that time in Israel, Neumann was seeing patients, sometimes up to 50 hours a week, many of them victims of the Holocaust with very little money, but a great deal of trauma that needed to be addressed. Neumann’s patients were dealing with issues of the Jewish spirit, Lance affirms.Neumann was very isolated during the period of time he was on his own in Israel. In fact, as Owens notes, the Jung-Neumann letters are subtitled, “Analytic Psychology in Exile,” and Neumann was very much in exile. While most of Jung’s followers had the benefit of remaining with him throughout the war years, Neumann, having no other choice, took what he learned from Jung and applied it, imagined into it, and expanded it in ways that occurred to him as he went along. When Neumann was finally able to return to Zurich in 1946, he had written massive amounts of content, including the beginning of Depth Psychology and a New Ethic and Origins and History of Consciousness, among others. Neumann took the entrée that Jung had given him, to accept that the psyche was real, and he talked and wrote about it.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
The Value of Multi-Cultural Perspectives in Depth Psychotherapy Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An Interview with Dr. Matthew Bennett by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.Counseling is an applied healing art that helps us address suffering, enrich personal lives, activate our potential, to live more fully, and to develop more adaptive capacities to life in the view of Dr. Matthew Bennett, a psychotherapist and lecturer who teaches in the M.A. Counseling Psychology Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute. More, psychotherapists and counselors that have a depth psychological orientation are prepared for a “broad spectrum slice of the human experience,” which for Bennett, includes the ability to be emotionally present in difficult emotional circumstances or even to simply better hold and tolerate emotionally powerful situations.Depth psychology is grounded in the humanities, Bennett reminded me when we connected for an interview on the topic, and therefore it can contribute to an individual experiencing a fuller and richer life. Being able to identify with different kinds of people and to accommodate varying perspectives are just some of the advantages that depth training can contribute to a therapeutic practice. In addition, if one is willing to be a student of the human mind, and of the context provided by mythology and literature, it all serves to “broaden us out”—in a depth psychological way.Jung spoke of his own work in archeological terms, which does imply a depth that is “going toward the center,” Matthew points out. All depth psychological orientations anchor us, and mythology, storytelling, dreams—even reading fiction—each express some dynamic of what it means to be human. Each contains energetics that are useful in reconciling opposing points of view. That’s how depth becomes breadth, Matthew says. It enables us to countenance the deeper or chthonic layers of life and to draw closer to the archetypes, where things become not only more dynamic and more irrational, but also more powerful.Jung warned against getting too close to the archetypes, Bennett notes, because identifying with an archetype too strongly may potentially lead to one being consumed by it, so there is a need to take action—to come back from that world and operationalize and integrate what was found and experienced there. Bennett relates how certain old Zen stories tell of pilgrims who go out into the wilderness seeking enlightenment, but who always end back “bare of breast in the market, buying vegetables.” For Matthew, this signifies closing the circle, of coming back home again; of bringing what was learned into everyday life.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
The Genius Myth: An Interview with Michael Meade Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Michael Meade, D.H.L. by Bonnie Bright Ph.D.When Michael Meade was thirteen, his aunt, seemingly by accident, bought him a book of mythology for his birthday. Though he felt profoundly aligned with the book and stayed up all night reading it, it would take another 20 years before it became evident it was his path in life, guiding him to his current calling as a renowned storyteller, author, and scholar in mythology and depth psychology. “The soul’s way of being is unique to each person,” Meade wrote in his acclaimed book, Why The World Doesn’t End. “It was seeded and sown within each of us from the beginning and it tries to ripen throughout our lives. What exiles us more than anything is the separation from our own instinctive, intuitive way of being. We are most lost and truly in exile when we have lost touch with our own soul, with our unique inward style and way of being in this world.”In a recent interview, Meade shared insights with me into his own mythological and depth psychological view of how—though we’re living in a radical time when it seems like the world is falling apart; when “nature is rattling and culture seems to be unraveling”—being in touch with one’s innate genius is “an unerring guide to what a person’s life is supposed to be about.”Meade’s latest book, The Genius Myth, focuses on how a person navigates a period of such turmoil and uncertainty. Meade’s use of the word “genius” is based on the old sense, he notes, referring to the unique spirit that is in each person’s soul, a concept often obscured in the modern world. One example of how the individual soul is oppressed is in that of transgendered individuals, Meade points out, especially children for whom the issue is active in them for some mysterious reason. The notion of the individuality of each soul makes it more feasible to respect the differences we all live in spite of appearances or backgrounds. One’s “complex” of abilities and gifts is what makes each individual unique and valuable. In a collective society, the uniqueness of life is often overlooked, yet this is the very thing that often provides meaning and purpose in an individual life. In the face of what Meade terms, the apparent “unraveling of the world,” I wonder how each of us might tap into the genius within. It is important to distinguish the genius myth from the hero’s journey—introduced into the mainstream by the legendary Joseph Campbell, Meade responds. This is what Meade does in his new book, The Genius Myth.Meade describes the hero as a person making “dramatic moves in the outer world,” emphasizing that in the hero’s journey, the accomplishments are in the outer world. Further, the hero is associated with a masculine way of being from a depth psychological sense, as the “hero” is linked to power and strength. The Genius Myth argues that the genius was already there before we were born, and is not only something we bring to the world, but even something that brings us to the world. It is about discovering the genius within.Meade, who works extensively with youth suicide situations, has found that many youths who committed suicide in the United States feel empty inside. The culture contributes to this feeling, imposing the belief that one must “make something of themselves.” Meade’s stance is that each of us already is something. We have to make ourselves aware of who we are.Given the dramatic changes going on in the world—and the rapidity of that change—along with “the rattling and even hollowing out of institutions,” there’s not much in the outside world a person can depend upon for orientation and coherence, Meade declares. We must look inside to find the orientation of our lives and ways to cohere. One idea is that of an inborn genius that encompasses not only the gifts and abilities of a person, but also our purpose and destiny.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Archetypal Reflections: Dr. Keiron Le Grice on Jungian and Depth Psychologies Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An interview with Dr. Keiron Le Grice by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.C.G. Jung contended that our personalities are made up of a multitude of archetypes, Dr. Keiron Le Grice, Chair of the Jungian and Archetypal Studies program at Pacifica Graduate Institute, reminded me when he recently sat down with me to share his insights into the field of depth psychology. Each archetype asserts its own aims, moods, and ideas on our personalities, influencing our lives on a day-to-day basis. Jungian and depth psychologies, by aiming to make what is unconscious conscious, offer an entrance point into recognizing and understanding the various deep forces that move through us from one day to the next, engendering a deep comprehension of the psyche and the motivations, instincts, and impulses that are at work in our lives.Individuation, a term coined by Jung, is a way that we can come to terms with this multiplicity of forces, and to attune to a greater organizing force, perhaps looked at as “the god within.” An archetypal view can enable us to find deep meaning in life, Keiron notes. We live in a time when we no longer have a religious, spiritual, or mythological framework to provide orientation in our lives. To be able to turn within, through the study of dreams and synchronicities that occur to us, through direct engagement with the unconscious and through spiritual experiences, we can begin to find our own personal sense of meaning. When we encounter the numinous, (a term coined by Rudolf Otto and adopted by Jung), that tremendous and fascinating mystery that underlies our experience can ground us in our own spiritual and moral autonomies. We need to each find our own individual myth at a time when the collective myths are rendered invalid by the dominant scientific rational perspective in the western worldview.Keiron became interested in spirituality in his late teens, particularly dedicating himself to learning astrology (which led him to Jung’s writings), then studying philosophy and psychology at university in England. Disappointed at how mainstream academia bypassed Jungian ideas, Keiron read most of Jung’s Collected Works in his spare time, and pursued the work of Joseph Campbell after seeing him interviewed by Bill Moyers for The Power of Myth. He found himself most impressed with Jung’s Two Essays on Analytical Psychology, written in the 1920s, which focused on the role of archetypes in individuation, and described how these ideas really gripped him. He felt like he was tapping into a deep current in his life, he declares. In his late twenties, his interests in astrology, Jung, and Campbell evolved into a book, The Archetypal Cosmos, which was ultimately published in 2010.For people who are predisposed to find their way in this field, there’s a “right time,” Keiron maintains. For him, discovering depth psychology so early in his life was perhaps something of an impediment to participating in the world because when one is powerfully drawn to the depths of the psyche, it can have a tendency to pull us away from the world, a concept even Jung made note of in his many writings. After having some profound spiritual experiences in his late teens and early twenties, Keiron reveals how he made a conscious decision to put some of it aside for a while and “build his ego” in Jungian terms. He believes, however, that his early exposure was helpful, providing a strong foundation as he took time to integrate and really discern which ideas were relevant and valuable to him and which were not.Now, years later, as professor and chair of a Jungian and Archetypal studies program, Keiron is keenly aware that the “gifts” of Jungian and depth psychology are that they empower the individual to find a spiritual, mythic, or symbolic mode of being in the world, which, in his words, can counter a sense of existential meaningless which is so prevalent today. It may well be the responsibility of depth psychology practitioners to bring awareness and recognition around the dark side of the unconscious energies that have not been brought into conscious awareness and which manifest in destructive ways, he asserts.Keiron has recently published a new book called Archetypal Reflections: Insights and Ideas from Jungian Psychology, which emerged in a way from exactly that kind of archetypal web he refers to. It is a compilation of short writings and reflections Keiron initially made online in the form of posts to graduate students in the hybrid Jungian and Archetypal Studies program at Pacifica. These reflections encompass a variety of depth psychological topics organized into themes, including archetypes, individuation, synchronicity, the evolution of consciousness, and the mind/matter relationship among them, delving into material that is essential for both seasoned scholars of depth psychologies as well as those who are new to it.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
Remembering the Role of the Body in Culture, Trauma, and Everyday Dynamics Depth Insights: Soul-Centered Psychology/Coaching 2023-07-26 | An Interview with Dr. Rae Johnson by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D. “People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, The Power of MythIf you’ve ever had the experience of being fully in your body, you can likely relate exactly to what Campbell meant when he referred to the “rapture” of being alive. I remember hiking through a rain forest in Belize a few years ago in a mighty tropical rainstorm, boots sliding on slick, wet, red clay earth as I grasped at vines to pull myself up embankments. My leg muscles felt infinitely powerful as they worked in perfect harmony with deep rhythmic breaths that seemed to form in perfect accord with the sound of the rain beating giant fronds all around me. I felt lithe, powerful, sleek—almost panther-like—I remember thinking at the time. And, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. I was truly fully embodied in the midst of one of the most powerful places in nature that I have ever been, and I have never felt so euphoric, nor so alive.This powerful image of my felt experience while in the jungle re-appeared instantaneously for me when Dr. Rae Johnson reminded me of this powerful quote by Joseph Campbell when we recently sat down for a conversation together. Rae is a somatic movement therapist, educator, and researcher, and also the Chair of the Somatic Studies Specialization of the M.A./Ph.D. Depth Psychology Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, CA, and she offered some captivating examples of just how transformational embodied awareness can be—especially if it’s grounded in a depth psychological context.For more information, visit: www.DepthInsights.comOR www.InstituteforSoulCenteredPsychologyAndCoaching.com
