Beginning in the years leading up to the Great War, both C.G. Jung and J.R.R. Tolkien independently began to undergo profound imaginal experiences. Jung recorded these fantasies in a large red manuscript that he named Liber Novus, referred to simply as The Red Book. For Tolkien, this imaginal journey revealed to him the world of Middle-earth, whose stories and myths eventually led to the writing of The Lord of the Rings, a book he named within its own imaginal history The Red Book of Westmarch. This workshop explores the many synchronistic parallels between Jung’s and Tolkien’s Red Books: the style and content of their works of art, the narrative descriptions and scenes in their texts, the nature of their visions and dreams, and an underlying similarity in world view that emerged from their experiences. The two men seem to have been simultaneously treading parallel paths through the imaginal realm.

Following the opening lecture and a Q&A session between the presenter and the audience, workshop participants will dive deeply into exploring the meaning of certain key visions and fantasies in C.G. Jung's Red Book, interpreting the text and images in communal dialogue.

Bio

Becca Tarnas, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her doctoral dissertation was titled The Back of Beyond: The Red Books of C.G. Jung and J.R.R. Tolkien, and her research interests include depth psychology, archetypal studies, literature, philosophy, and the ecological imagination. Becca is an editor of Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology and author of the book Journey to the Imaginal Realm: A Reader’s Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. She is currently researching and writing a biography of Stanislav Grof, a co-founder of transpersonal psychology.

Visit Dr Tarnas' website.s website.

Join us for our second meeting/discussion regarding Jung, future and past events, and any other related subjects. This is a free event unlike our other events with paid speakers and tickets.

The meeting will go from 1 to 4pm, with a discussion surrounding the Jungian term, "synchronicity" from 2pm to 3pm, led by Craig Hayenga. However, the Meetup will retain a free-form and we will keep allowing for the evolution of ideas and concepts related to these meetups, including choosing a theme for the next one.

Elliot, Board Member and Meetup Organizer.

Bridging Realms: Active Imagination and Buddhist Meditation in Dialogue.

This workshop will foster a rich dialogue between the principles of active imagination, a cornerstone in analytical psychology, and Buddhist meditations, renowned for their spiritual depth and contributions to current waves of mindfulness-based interventions. We will navigate the nuances of these practices, seeking common ground, and uncovering potential synergies.

We will cover the contents below:

1.     Foundations of Active Imagination and Buddhist Meditation

·      Examine the historical and theoretical underpinnings of active imagination in analytical psychology.

·      Delve into the roots and two major forms of Buddhist meditation, concentration meditation (Samatha) and insight meditation (Vipassana).

2.     Comparative Analysis of Active Imagination vs. Buddhist Meditation

·      Discuss Jung's model of the psyche and the prerequisites, stages, and goals of active imagination.

·      Investigate Buddhist meditation's prerequisites, stages, and goals, drawing parallels and distinctions.

·      Engage participants in sharing their thoughts and experiences related to active imagination practices.

3.     Reassessing Perceptions: “Passive” Imagination in Buddhist Meditation

·      Challenge preconceptions surrounding the perceived passivity of Buddhist meditation.

·      Examine how characteristics of mindfulness-based interventions align with Jungian practices.

·      Encourage participants to reflect on their own meditation experiences and consider how these experiences may influence the integration of their unconscious contents.

4.     Integration and Application: Towards a Unified Model

·      Review findings from recent meditation studies, encompassing insights from the field of neuroscience. 

·      Propose an integrated model, drawing on the stages of active imagination, to incorporate components of Buddhist meditation into the practice of active imagination.

·      Facilitate a mindfulness practice within an active imagination exercise to promote embodied experiences.

Participate in this workshop to cultivate a nuanced understanding of both active imagination and Buddhist meditation. Our facilitation will empower participants to explore the potential integration of these practices, providing valuable perspectives on how they can augment psychotherapeutic and individuation processes.

Bio

Dr. Wen-Yu Cheng is a licensed psychologist, Jungian analyst, and neuropsychologist with practice licenses in Arizona, Washington, and PSYPACT. He earned his doctorate in clinical psychology from the Wright Institute in California, completing a predoctoral internship at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, and a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, AZ. Dr. Cheng studied analytical psychology as an international scholar and fellow at the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, subsequently obtaining certification as a Jungian analyst from the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP).

His professional focus lies in bilingual (English and Mandarin) neuropsychological assessment, neurorehabilitation, and psychotherapy for individuals facing neurological and psychiatric conditions. Additionally, Dr. Cheng offers clinical services and facilitates seminars on mindfulness-based interventions, multiculturalism, and analytical psychology. His interest lies in exploring the integration of Jungian psychology, Buddhist perspectives, mindfulness-based interventions, and neuropsychology.

Dr. Cheng maintains membership in professional organizations such as IAAP, Taiwan Society for Analytical Psychology (TSAP), the American Psychological Association (APA), and the Asian Neuropsychological Association (ANA). 

Visit Dr Cheng's website.

In a letter to Paul Schmidt, C. G. Jung acknowledged Faust the alchemist to be his own myth. Elsewhere, he describes himself as carrying the burden of Faust, and of being responsible somehow for Faust’s repentance. What did Jung mean? Is a personal myth something we come in with? A story at work behind our biography?

Join us for a presentation and discussion about exploring your myth and the archetype expressing it. We will explore the recurrence and significance of myth, look at the personal myths of several public figures, dip into the etymologies of our names for mythic clues, and go through several tools for tracing the presence of our myth in our birth story, childhood, relationships, choice of work, and major life transitions. We will also reimagine the myth as a psychical being who needs us for its own creative elaboration.

About our speaker, CRAIG CHALQUIST, PhD

​Author, Deep Educator, Speaker, Loreologist

Dr. Craig Chalquist is a professor, author, and consultant who writes and teaches at the intersection of psyche, story, and imagination, with one foot in the academy and the other in the world. As a loreologist, he provides resources for exploring the limits and possibilities of the personal and collective stories we navigate by in order to deepen, expand, or replace them so we move from being confined by them to authoring them.

Dr. Chalquist coined the term “terrapsychology” to describe the study of how our natural surroundings can manifest intimately in human psychology. He also coined “enchantivism,” a form of storytelling that moves from human injustice to a vision of how we most desire to live as a global community.

​A former Associate Provost at Pacifica Graduate Institute and former full professor in the Department of East-West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, he has designed and launched more than forty psychology, philosophy, mythology, and ecotherapy courses for graduate students and undergrads. He earned his Ph.D. in depth psychology, and his master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy, which he practiced for nine years. He is currently working on a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS.

​Founder of the world’s first ecotherapy certificate program, Dr. Chalquist is on the board of Holos Institute and the editorial board of the journal Ecopsychology. He is also a member of the American Philosophical Association and an ambassador to Jung Platform. His books include Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind (edited with Linda Buzzell; Counterpoint, 2008), Myths Among Us: When Timeless Tales Return to Life (World Soul Books, 2018), and Terrapsychological Inquiry: Restorying Our Relationship with Nature, Place, and Planet (Routledge, 2020).

​Dr. Chalquist’s work in the world is in service to creating and supporting the sustainable, just, and delightful communities of belonging he knows we are capable of scaling up.

Craig Chalquist's website.

Craig Chalquist’s book Storied Lives: Discovering and Deepening Your Personal Myth discusses the material in this program and will enhance your experience of Dr. Chalquist’s presentation..

In our first in person program since the pandemic, Dr Jane Selinske presents Projective Drawing as Pathway Toward Healing and Individuation. This is a hands on program so be ready to draw. No previous art experience is necessary to attend this class. We will provide basic materials, such as paper plates, pads of paper, graphite and colored pencils, pastels, and crayons, but suggest you bring your own preferred materials also.

As personal and private matters may come up in the course of this presentation, no recording of this presentation will be made and there will be no zoom attendance offered.

In analytical psychology there has been an emphasis on projection as the means by which the contents of the inner world are made available to ego-consciousness. Jung was the first to discover how to integrate his unconscious with consciousness through his depressive break from Freud using active imagination, projective drawing, and dialogue. For Jung, the function of projection was to separate the subject and object culminating in increased ego-consciousness. He was also interested in the origin of the projections as archetypal or personal.

One particular way to access the unconscious is through Projective Drawing, which can assist the therapist in understanding clients who can project their unconscious thoughts, feelings, history and concerns onto the drawing. The information that is gained can inform the therapeutic treatment. Additionally, the art, imagery and symbols created can be particularly helpful without direct verbal revelation.

Our Presenter:

Jane Selinske, EdD, LCSW, NCPsyA, LP, MT-BC, is a licensed Jungian analyst, a practitioner of Mandala Assessment and Board-Certified Music Therapist. She was trained at the C.G. Jung Institute of New York and has taught psychology and Jungian theory at the Washington Jung Society, PAJA, the Institute of Expressive Analysis, the Creative Therapies Institute connected with New York University, the New York C.G. Jung Institute, Rutgers University and the New York C.G. Jung Foundation, where she is currently President of the Board of Trustees. Dr. Selinske has a practice in Sedona, AZ, where she unites music and imagery, art, spirituality and Jungian theory.

Location : New Vision Center for Spiritual Living, 18010 N Tatum Blvd, Phoenix, AZ 85032

This is on the west side of Tatum Blvd, just off of the 101, 1.3 miles south of the Musical Instrument Museum.

In every tradition, saints and poets speak of the soul’s search for the beloved, the seeker’s yearning for the divine, for the Self beyond ego. This holy longing is a secret feeling with many disguises, leading us to pursue a higher union in spiritual practice, religious discipleship, even romantic embrace. It guides us to timeless wisdom and transcendent experiences.

But it also can go awry when we project the divine onto a therapist, teacher, priest, guru, rabbi, or roshi who is all too human – who has unhealed wounds, undeveloped empathy, or authoritarian tendencies. In effect, a woman or man who has a shadow. If he or she abuses power-- sexual, financial, or emotional coercion -- we feel the shock of betrayal, our innocence lost, our faith destroyed.

But today we have the tools of depth psychology and spiritual shadow-work to help us recover and rekindle the flame of longing in our souls.

This presentation, based on my book Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path, explains why we are drawn to charismatic leaders, what we unconsciously give away to them, and how to reclaim it for our own treasury.

It extends the #MeToo movement into the spiritual arena.

Connie Zweig, Ph.D. is a retired therapist and coauthor of Meeting the Shadow and Romancing the Shadow. Her award-winning book, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul, extends her work on the Shadow into midlife and beyond and explores aging as a spiritual practice. It won the 2022 Gold COVR Award, the 2022 Gold Nautilus Award, the 2021 American Book Fest Award, and the 2021 Best Indie Book Award for best inspirational non-fiction. Her new book, Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The Dance of Darkness and Light in Our Search for Awakening, is available now. Connie has been doing contemplative practices for more than 50 years. She is a wife, stepmother, and grandmother. After all these roles, she’s practicing the shift from role to soul.

Click on the image below to purchase Connie Zweig’s book Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path.

Join us on Sunday, June 25th at 6 pm on Zoom for the Annual Meeting of the Phoenix Friends of C.G. Jung. The meeting is open to all of our members, to discuss our most recent season, what we have coming up in our 2023-24 season, commencing this September, and to take any ideas and questions you might have.

The Zoom link will be sent to current members via email.

You can send us your questions and ideas, including any topics you would like to suggest for the agenda of our annual meeting, by replying to this email or sending a message to contact@phxjung.org. We will try to consolidate like topics and questions, but we may not be able to address all submissions we receive during the meeting. Some specific requests may be addressed on an individualized basis.

We will also be discussing volunteer opportunities and how you can help PFOJ from wherever you are.

We look forward to seeing all of you!

Best,
The Whole Board at PFOJ

Dennis and Rebecca will discuss the ideas in Alchemy, Jung, and Remedios Varo, which offers a depth psychological analysis of the art and life of Remedios Varo, a Spanish surrealist painter. The book uses Varo’s paintings in a revolutionary way: to critique the patriarchal underpinnings of Jungian psychology, alchemy, and Surrealism, illuminating how Varo used painting to address cultural complexes that silence female expression.

The book focuses on how the practice of alchemical psychology, through the power of imagination and the archetypal Feminine, can lead to healing and transformation for individuals and culture. Alchemy, Jung, and Remedios Varo offers the first in-depth psychological treatment of the role alchemy played in the friendship between Varo and Leonora Carrington—a connection that led to paintings that protest the pitfalls of patriarchy.

This unique book will be of great interest for academics, scholars, and post-graduate students in the fields of analytical psychology, art history, Surrealism, cultural criticism, and Jungian studies.

Dennis Pottenger is a Jungian-oriented psychotherapist in private practice in California.  Dennis studied psychotherapy at Pacifica Graduate Institute and works often with trauma, identity, and diversity issues. 

An award-winning literary journalist, Dennis is the author of Alchemy, Jung, and Remedios Varo: Cultural Complexes and the Redemptive Power of the Abjected Feminine (Routledge, 2021), and Great Expectations, a season in the life of a professional football franchise (Prima, 1991). 

On a personal level, Dennis is a proud step-father to four multi-racial children (Alisha, Veronica, Coreana, and Jasynte) and step-grandfather to Ezra, who is 3 years old, and Ariah, who will be 2 years old early next year. 

 Rebecca Livingston-Pottenger is a Jungian-oriented psychotherapist and Adjunct Faculty Member at Pacifica Graduate Institute, where she advises MA candidates and edits master’s theses and dissertations. 

 Rebecca is a feminist scholar and gifted intuitive healer who has practiced and taught Reiki, a hands-on Japanese healing art, for more than 30 years. 

 Rebecca loves to work with women in small groups and with individuals.  She facilitates intimate, transformational retreats using experiential modalities ranging from movement, vocal, and creative practices to guided visualization and Tarot.

 Rebecca brings extensive presentation skills to the Varo material, having given papers at several conferences hosted by the Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies over the past decade. 

To see a brief introductory video, click here.

Join us to learn how depth-psychology in particular can help us understand the human psyche in meeting the dramatic changes in the world today. Find out how archetypal astrology is a useful tool to discover not only yourself but the times we are living in. Explore your inner multiplicity and discover what parts of you are comfortable with change.

Born and raised in Zürich, Switzerland, Dr. Hillman became immersed in archetypes at the age of sixteen and this has remained his passion for over forty years. As a professional archetypal coach, he specializes in helping his clients understand their deeper purpose and their life's calling - especially in these challenging times. In his role as a consultant, he helps leaders and organizations understand their archetypal patterns and advises on high-level decision making in organizations. His tools for mapping archetypes include archetypal astrology for which he is one of the leading voices worldwide.

Dr. Hillman is the co-creator of Archetypes at Work™, a new cutting-edge method to assess and develop people and organizations to become fit for the future.

He has lectured internationally and conducted workshops at the Globe Theatre in London where he . At the Cycles & Symbols Conference in California, he lectured on Venus in America (co-presented with his father James Hillman). He has also taught at Jean Houston's Mystery School, at Pacifica Graduate Institute, in Findhorn, and he has been a repeated guest lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis. He has taught small study groups and private students across the US.

He is the author of Planets in Play - How to Reimagine Your Life Through the Language of Astrology the co-author of Alignments - How to Live in Harmony with the Universe and also the co-author of Archetypes at Work - Evolving your Story, One Character at a Time.

Dr. Hillman holds a PhD in psychology with a focus on Transformative Leadership, an MBA, an MCM (Masters in Construction Management), as well as a degree in Architecture. He is on the faculty at Meridian University in Petaluma, CA.

He has traveled extensively in more than forty countries, is fluent in five languages and lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife Cindy.

This lecture will contrast Jung’s notion of the Self with traditional theistic images of the divine. I will describe the range of ways in which the Self may appear within the psyche, and I will discuss the ways in which Jung’s approach avoids the philosophical problems associated with the idea of God found in the Judeo-Christian tradition. I will show how Jung’s approach allows the development of a personal spirituality rather than one based on doctrine and dogma. I will discuss Jung’s notion of the dark side of the Self in his Answer to Job, and the arguments with theologians this book produced. I will encourage participants to describe their personal experience of the Self.

Dr. Lionel Corbett trained in medicine and psychiatry in England and as a Jungian Analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. He is a professor of depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, in Santa Barbara, California. He is the author of six books: Psyche and the sacred: The religious function of the psyche; The sacred cauldron: Psychotherapy as a spiritual practice; The soul in anguish: Psychotherapeutic approaches to suffering; Understanding Evil: A guide for psychotherapists, and The God-image: From antiquity to Jung. He is the co-editor of four volumes of collected papers: Psyche's Stories; Depth psychology, meditations in the field; Psychology at the threshold; and Jung and aging.

Susan’s workshop will be in three parts. In the first place she will show Jung’s theory and practice of psychic fertility or creativity and divination. Secondly there will be an experiential exploration of psychic images arising within the group. Thirdly Susan will link the topics covered to her Jungian novel, The Sacred Well Murders that arose from Jungian divination during the pandemic. If people are able to read the novel in advance, we can use it like a book group and as prompt to generate further Jungian art-research topics.

The Sacred Well Murders

Susan Rowland (PhD) is Core Faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute, California. She has published extensively on Jung, literary theory, gender, literature and detective fiction. Her books include, Jung: A Feminist Revision (2002), The Ecocritical Psyche (2012), Jungian Literary Criticism: the Essential Guide (2019), Jungian Arts-based Research and the Nuclear Enchantment of New Mexico (2021). Her Jungian arts-based research is writing the Mary Wandwalker detective novels. Founding chair of the International Association for Jungian Studies (IAJS) in 2003, Susan lives in California with digital literary artist, Joel Weishaus. Email: srowland@pacifica.edu