JUNGIAN SEMINARS FOR FALL, 2013
All the seminars offered by Howard Tyas and Karen Hodges at the Jungian Analytic Praxis revolve around the central life process C. G. Jung called individuation: "the process by which a person becomes an ‘in-dividual,' that is, a separate indivisible unity or 'whole.'" (C.G. Jung. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious: CW9i:490.) Whether exploring our dreams or life experiences, fairy tales, art, or music, traces of this individuation process are present. During the course of these seminars each person is given an opportunity to explore, reflect upon, and share what occurs to them. All this is done in an atmosphere of openness and respect as we both learn from one another and embrace our own truths. Participants of past seminars have often stated that these seminars feed not only the mind but also the soul.
It Was Only a Dream!
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Dreamwork can be a means of deepening one's connection with inner sources of creativity, as well as a resource for dealing with therapeutic issues. In this introduction, we will examine some of Jung's basic insights into the nature of dreams and explore techniques useful in dream interpretation, using clinical illustrations. Appropriate attitudes toward the dream, its structure, content, and images, and its potential function for the dreamer will all be addressed. Participants may bring their own questions and concerns, to be addressed as time allows.
The Robber Bridegroom: A Grimms’ fairy tale
Saturday, October 12, 2013
When the young and vulnerable fall into the hands of pure evil, the outcome is usually grim. Tales of this kind have always exerted a dark fascination – today more than ever. The slaughter of innocents is a staple of evening television. But Grimms’ classic, “The Robber Bridegroom,” gives this theme a happier twist. How does its heroine beat the odds? And what might we learn from this about the inner struggle against a vicious animus or self-saboteur.
Going Home
Saturday, November 16, 2013
There is a Native American saying: “Home is the place where we are always going.” In today’s world, so many families have been uprooted, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, that a map tracing their migrations would look like one vast, world-wide tangle. In this country, it is a rare young person who does not leave home to seek his or her fortune. And many individuals have lived in so many places since childhood that they cannot identify one true “home town.” We cut ourselves off from family and cultural roots in ways that diminish our consciousness of who we are. And yet a longing persists for Home - a powerful symbol that draws us on to “the place where we are always going.” When have you found yourself in a place, with persons, or taking up a vocation that felt like “coming home”? Reflecting on those moments together may tell us much, not only about our own paths of individuation, but also about the nature of the path itself.
Old Age: Coming Full Circle
Saturday, December 14, 2013
American society is not kind to the elderly. Old age is seen chiefly in terms of its deficits, while youth is the object of one-sided admiration. Our very national identity is sometimes expressed in terms dismissive of “old Europe,” as if we, by virtue of youthful vigor alone, were destined to win the great race to Progress. The irony is, of course, that each of us moves daily farther into the aging process, ill-prepared to meet its challenges or to appreciate its values, whether in ourselves or in others. Jung envisioned the years past mid-life as those in which individuation comes to its fullest fruition. Let’s take an unsentimental but enlivening look at this unique passage, through the lenses of poetry, fairy tale, myth, dream, and reminiscence.
All the seminars offered by Howard Tyas and Karen Hodges at the Jungian Analytic Praxis revolve around the central life process C. G. Jung called individuation: "the process by which a person becomes an ‘in-dividual,' that is, a separate indivisible unity or 'whole.'" (C.G. Jung. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious: CW9i:490.) Whether exploring our dreams or life experiences, fairy tales, art, or music, traces of this individuation process are present. During the course of these seminars each person is given an opportunity to explore, reflect upon, and share what occurs to them. All this is done in an atmosphere of openness and respect as we both learn from one another and embrace our own truths. Participants of past seminars have often stated that these seminars feed not only the mind but also the soul.
It Was Only a Dream!
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Dreamwork can be a means of deepening one's connection with inner sources of creativity, as well as a resource for dealing with therapeutic issues. In this introduction, we will examine some of Jung's basic insights into the nature of dreams and explore techniques useful in dream interpretation, using clinical illustrations. Appropriate attitudes toward the dream, its structure, content, and images, and its potential function for the dreamer will all be addressed. Participants may bring their own questions and concerns, to be addressed as time allows.
The Robber Bridegroom: A Grimms’ fairy tale
Saturday, October 12, 2013
When the young and vulnerable fall into the hands of pure evil, the outcome is usually grim. Tales of this kind have always exerted a dark fascination – today more than ever. The slaughter of innocents is a staple of evening television. But Grimms’ classic, “The Robber Bridegroom,” gives this theme a happier twist. How does its heroine beat the odds? And what might we learn from this about the inner struggle against a vicious animus or self-saboteur.
Going Home
Saturday, November 16, 2013
There is a Native American saying: “Home is the place where we are always going.” In today’s world, so many families have been uprooted, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, that a map tracing their migrations would look like one vast, world-wide tangle. In this country, it is a rare young person who does not leave home to seek his or her fortune. And many individuals have lived in so many places since childhood that they cannot identify one true “home town.” We cut ourselves off from family and cultural roots in ways that diminish our consciousness of who we are. And yet a longing persists for Home - a powerful symbol that draws us on to “the place where we are always going.” When have you found yourself in a place, with persons, or taking up a vocation that felt like “coming home”? Reflecting on those moments together may tell us much, not only about our own paths of individuation, but also about the nature of the path itself.
Old Age: Coming Full Circle
Saturday, December 14, 2013
American society is not kind to the elderly. Old age is seen chiefly in terms of its deficits, while youth is the object of one-sided admiration. Our very national identity is sometimes expressed in terms dismissive of “old Europe,” as if we, by virtue of youthful vigor alone, were destined to win the great race to Progress. The irony is, of course, that each of us moves daily farther into the aging process, ill-prepared to meet its challenges or to appreciate its values, whether in ourselves or in others. Jung envisioned the years past mid-life as those in which individuation comes to its fullest fruition. Let’s take an unsentimental but enlivening look at this unique passage, through the lenses of poetry, fairy tale, myth, dream, and reminiscence.