On February 22, 2014, the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco will offer the first of a series of eco-psychology seminars and workshops on the environment crisis. These workshops will be from differing perspectives but of one piece: the necessary crisis of consciousness in earth changes and what we can/must do. In this first workshop, Indwelling: Our Human Participation in the Dream of the Earth, analysts Carol McRae and Barbara Holifield will lead participants into active imagination states t
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| Some of the reasons I am willing to suffer knowledge of my participation in climate change. |
When I think of the best approach to the issues we have created in our environment, I think of the old Buddhist adage: Show up. Pay attention. Tell the truth. Detach from outcome. The problem lies in being so overwhelmed that we cannot show up to pay attention. Then we deny the truth, effectively participating in a horrible outcome! It is critical that we are not paralyzed into denial by our fear.
In the re
Many years ago when we were first learning Biodynamics we worked with a consultant who I've called B.B. in my recollection of that time (Farming Soul: A Tale of Initiation. Soon to be republished by Leaping Goat Press, 2014.) He helped us on many levels, giving us tips and how-to’s about the practicalities of biodynamic farming but also direction in learning to perceive spiritual/subtle energies.
One morning as B.B. and I were walking in the vineyard, B.B. was pointing out things that I normally
After the Tucson lecture and workshop, April 4-5, 2014, Friends of Jung, Tucson, Arizona ,
The Environmental Crisis: Birth of a New Consciousness?
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| Goethe:"sublimely towering, wide-spreading tree of God" Strasbourg Cathedral, from Wikipedia
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I am home after a weekend with a great group of people in Tucson. The members and participants are a varied, informed group with great hospitality and depth. Thank you!
On Saturday one of the members asked a question that raised more questions. I had just rela
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| Santa greeting children and adults alike in Petaluma, CA |
I have been thinking about Santa Claus, that jolly old Christmas saint of giving. To me he is as sparkly as Christmas lights, one of the few mysteries we participate in collectively.
As a young child I remember being taken to the “real” Santa who arrived in a parade the day after Thanksgiving and took up residence in a yearly assembled Christmas house in the center of town. We stood in long lines to see him, always a little intimidated wh
When I started teaching professionally, I was faced with a dilemma: Present information in the conventional manner and try to look and act the part of “The Expert,” or on the other hand, honor the inspiration of my own unique creative process. I tried my best to do the first option and it didn't fit me at all. I can't follow a schedule no matter how hard I try, and I spend way too much time musing about odd things when I should be working. My mind and heart do not operate on a linear path, and f
The Sister from Below: When the Muse Gets Her Way
a Jungian Perspective by Naomi Ruth Lowinsky
The Sister speaks to all those who want to cultivate an unlived promise—those on a spiritual path, those who are filled with the urgency of poems that have to be written, paintings that must be painted, journeys that yearn to be taken…
Who is She, this Sister from Below? She’s certainly not about the ordinary business of life: work, shopping, making dinner. She speaks from other realms. If you’ll all
by Lawrence H. Staples
author of Guilt with a Twist and The Creative Soul
Active Imagination - What it is:author of Guilt with a Twist and The Creative Soul
Active imagination is a technique developed by Jung to help amplify, interpret, and integrate the contents of dreams and creative works of art. When approached by way of writing, active imagination is like writing a play. One takes, for example, a figure that has appeared in one's dreams or creative writings. Usually, these figures express a viewpoint quite the opposite of one's normal conscio
article by Naomi Ruth Lowinsky
The moon and then
the Pleiades
go down
The night is now
half-gone; youth
goes; I am
in bed alone
—Sappho (1)
When the Moon Casts a Woman Off
The muse is erotic. This is well known to the men who adore her. For me, her erotic nature can show up unexpectedly, as it did in India, or as it did during that powerful transition in a woman’s life—menopause.
When the moon has cast a woman off, and she is running hot and cold in a confusion of purposes, body and soul fighting over t
the problem of the opposites
Jung recognized that the problem of the opposites is one of the most formidable obstacles to psychic integration. Even when we are able to integrate opposites there remains substantial tension between them. If the integration is so complete that the opposites literally merge, consciousness, as we know it, disappears. Consciousness of life depends upon the tension of opposites. So the problem is to bring them close together without a total
