Round the Herne

 First off, some good news for me - working with a new publisher, Black Moon, I have written "Herakles - Twelve Steps to Olympos" and just heard that it hits the shelves today (unexpectedly early). The book can be ordered from Black Moon directly or via any of the usual bookshops. It is an analysis of the Twelve Labours and related mythology from Greece and elsewhere which shaped those stories. I make the argument that the myths can be read as lessons in psycho-spiritual growth as well as just entertaining adventures - and use ideas from Jungian psychology to help explain the idea. I hope it will be useful to both students of Greek history, modern day devotees of the Olympian deities, and admirers of Carl Jung alike. The book can be ordered from Black Moon Publishing or via any bookshop. I will be organising a launch party in the near future (watch this Blog for details), which will help take my mind away from the sad news. The lack of posting in recent times follows the dea...

 A reflection mainly for the Suffolk Jungian Circle whose July meeting (Wednesday 29th July, 7.30pm via Teams - if you want the link to join in, just ask) will be exploring some of the ideas and theories of Rollo May. He had numerous concepts, so this video is just scratching the surface just to get debate rolling. There will not be a meeting August, to allow for holidays etc.. In September we will discuss Jung's notion of Archetypal Inflation - expanding on some of what is talked about in this video.

 A reflection on the archetype of the Wounded Healer for the Suffolk Jungian Circle meeting at the end of June (7.30pm on Wednesday 24th). If you would like the Teams link to take part, leave a message below. Among other things we will be discussing the Greek myths of Chiron, the sage and healer who suffers from the Hydra's poison.

 The topic of discussion for the Suffolk Jungian Circle this month (May 27th, 7.30pm start via Teams - ask below if you would like the link) is his Answer to Job, a mixture of theology and psychology. The video below is to help kickstart the discussion.

 The topic for April's Suffolk Jungian Circle (Wednesday 29th, 7.30pm) is the theories of John Rowan, the ramble is to help kick start the discussion. If you would like to take part, leave a message and I will post you the Teams link.

 The March 25th (7.30pm) meeting of the Suffolk Jungian Circle will be discussing the Villain's Journey, which will serve as a counterpoint to the more widely discussed Hero's Journey. The video below will hopefully help kickstart the conversation. If you would like the Teams link to join in, leave a message below.

 The February meeting of the Suffolk Jungian Circle (7.30pm on Feb 25th) will be discussing the work of Marie-Louise von Franz, a key student of Jung who aided him in numerous ways including translating the ancient texts he analysed. If you would like the Teams link, please leave a message in the comments section. This video reflection is intended to get the discussion started.

 Some thoughts on the Jungian archetype of the Trickster, preparatory to a meeting of the Suffolk Jungian Circle (via Teams - 7.30pm on Wednesday 28th January, leave a message if you would like the link). 

 The discussion topic for the November meeting of the Suffolk Jungian Circle (online, 7.30pm on Wednesday 26th) is the Star Wars films and how they can be understood from a Jungian stance. The recording below is to kickstart talk, but I am only focusing on the original three films - mainly because I haven't kept up to date with the more recent additions. However, people joining in with the chat may wish to expand into the newer films. If you would like the link to join in the discussion, please let me know.

 A recording for the October meeting of the Suffolk Jungian Circle (on 29th at 7.30pm, if you would like to be sent the link). This time we will be discussing Jung's views on parapsychology and some of the ways in which it can be understood within the realm of analytic psychology.

 The theme for September's Suffolk Jungian Circle (virtual meets, 7.30pm on the last Wednesday of the month - let me know if you want the link) is Jung and Christianity. Having chosen the topic, we all rapidly realised that it was a vast topic that could fill multiple meetings - but this is by way of a taster. For the actual meeting different people will each tackle a sub-topic of their choice. This recording cuts off as, despite the best laid plans, someone knocked at the door and I cannot work out how to pause a video recording and splicing two videos into one is too much of a headache to bother with. The final topic that I didn't get to was to touch on a point by Blum, which could probably be a whole debate in itself, that the Christian doctrine of the soul and accompanying personal salvation fits nicely with Jung's individuation, Further, Blum argues that the modern world has gone to Hell in a handbasket by treating people as merely functions and therefore replaceable r...

 A recording for the Suffolk Jungian Circle about Eric Berne's notion of Life Scripts (part of his practice of Transactional Analysis) and how it relates to Jung - and to Greek mythology. This got cut short by a few minutes due to someone knocking ta the door (and me not knowing how to pause a recording).In the last few minutes I was going to add that Berne argued that not only did individual people have scripts but that organisations, communities, even entire nations could have scripts that they played out (though it is much less obvious how they develop scripts). At the national level the transmission route for the script is partially via the mass media. From a Jungian stance the scripts tie in to an idea that was partially discussed at the June meeting, around individuation being the path (a positive script, if you like) of the Self archetype and James Hillman arguing that other archetypes had their own trajectories or paths which might be followed instead - we spoke about this ...

 This recording was made for the Suffolk Jungian Circle monthly online discussion in June (7.30pm on the 25th, if you want to join in let me know and I'll send you the Teams link). This month we have a look at one of the post-Jungians, James Hillman. He is perhaps best known for his book "The Soul Code" (1997).

 Earlier this month we had the third annual Suffolk Jungian Symposium at West Suffolk College. My contribution to the day was a talk applying Jungian principles to Oscar Wilde's novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (which also has plenty to say about the human psyche in general and not just as a bit of pretentious lit-crit. The recording of the original event did not come out at all well, so this is a slightly more rambling version of the same thing.

 A recording for the Suffolk Jungian Circle (and anyone else who might be interested) reflecting on Jung's views about the archetypal nature of unidentified objects in the sky. If you would like to take part int he online discussion (7.30pm on Wednesday 28th May).

 The April meeting of the Suffolk Jungian Circle (taking place on the 23rd) will be discussing the Red Book. One of the members, Carol, volunteered to do the video presentation to spark discussion, but is even less technically-minded than I am - so rather than the usual talking head format, we did it as an interview so I could take care of the recording element. If you would like to take part in the monthly discussion leave a message and I will send you the link.

 A reflection for the Suffolk Jungian Circle on the topic of Jung & Modernity (being discussed via Teams on the evening of March 26th - if you want the link to join in, please leave a message). Some of this also touches on postmodernity and the ideas of Elisabeth Eisenstein on types of culture and communication technology, though maybe each of those could be a separate discussion in their own right.

 This month (on Feb 26th at 7.30pm) the Suffolk Jungian Circle will have an online debate around the celebrity death match of Freud vs Jung - where are their ideas similar and where do they differ? To help get the discussion rolling, I've recorded a few initial thoughts in the video below. If anyone would like to be sent the Teams link to take part, drop me a line or leave a message on this blog.

 A few reflections on the archetype of the Dark Father for the monthly discussion of the Suffolk Jungian Circle. If you would like to join in the virtual discussion, let me know and I will send you the link (Wednesday 27th November at 7.30pm).

 Some reflections on Jung's archetype of the Eternal Child for the October discussion of the Suffolk Jungian Circle (and anyone else who wants to listen). For Jung, this was both a positive archetype that keeps the psyche young and vital, but also a potential neurotic pitfall into which the emotionally arrested adult could lapse.