Blogs

Notes on a Depth Discussion between Susan Rowland and Bonnie Bright

If you are an avid reader, the mystery genre is likely a familiar presence in the pleasures of your pastime. Those who love detective fiction really love it, as author and scholar Susan Rowland insists to me in a recent interview, and there is a strong ritual element in the reading and writing of mysteries. There are certain consistencies in every story that one may begin to expect; and yet they continue to enthrall us even as th

The Souls of White Folk Pt. 3: A Community Discussion on the Archetypal Roots of the Trauma of Racism in America

The 2,000,000-Year-Old in Each of Us  

"Together the patient and I address ourselves to the 2,000,000-year-old man that is in all of us. In the last analysis, most of our difficulties come from losing contact with our instincts,
with the age-old unforgotten wisdom stored up in us. And where do we make contact with this old man in us? In our dreams" – C. G. Jung (1978/1953, p. 76)

Wha

It’s been two weeks since Day of the Dead, when the veil between the worlds was it its thinnest. But history continually insists that the veil can part at any moment, as it did for the hundreds of people killed and wounded recently in Paris. Apocalypse means “to lift the veil.” We suddenly see reality unadorned. This terrible tragedy has spawned peace vigils and spontaneous shrines in many cities across the U.S. and the world.

Anything we grieve for helps to open us to the great communal hall of

Trauma drama can come easy as taking the next breath. When a person’s life has continually been upset by problems and trauma, emotional acting out happens without a thought. Emotional drama becomes a way of life. It’s addictive. There’s a high that that goes with jumping from one adrenaline-pumping situation to another. Health, physical and mental, is compromised due to the high stress that accompanies chronic emotional drama.

Depth psychologist, Donald Kalsched, in Trauma and the Soul, writes of

"I talk with trees and the forest wildlife, and the stones show me the way…"

~Carl Jung; Red Book; Page 227

Try seeing instead of looking, hearing instead of listening, being touched instead of touching… clouds and wind, grass and river…experience the ground coming up to meet you in addition to your feet touching the ground, the earth…What is nature and earth interested in presenting to you? Visit the world around you on its own terms when going out, let it all come up to meet you, greet you, touc

The Souls of White Folk Pt. 2: A Community Discussion on the Archetypal Roots of the Trauma of Racism in America
Savage and Civilized: Which is Which?

CIVILIZATION, n. The act of civilizing, or the state of being civilized; the state of being refined in manners, from the grossness of savage life, and improved in arts and learning.

SAVAGISM, n. The state of rude uncivilized men; the state of men in their native wildness and rudeness.   – Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Langu

Hi All,

I'm making a documentary film about ecological adaptation and the transformation of modern myths from the limitless growth of free market economy to the archetype of loving home and taking care of the planet (which i frame as depth psychology in terms both ancient and postmodern).

Please watch the trailer at startsomegood.com/clnc

If this inspires you, please donate - pledges being at just $5 and every person that joins this community becomes part of the new story we are building together.

Risk meeting your Soul: risk living your life!
(Clinical and poetic inspiration for all of us)

"It is my clinical experience that most of us do not have abiding permission to fully claim our own lives. Sadly, this means that we are often living in a fragmented, partial way. Our soul---that is, our psyche---knows this of course, grieves, and presents us with those many protests we call symptoms." What Matters Most, James Hollis

your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be o

"How do dreams work? Can they heal me?" These questions were asked by a student interested in the healing potential of dreams. I answered, "They can help you to heal. There are things inside that we all need to face, things we'd rather not. Dreams help us to face them. They give us symbols that bridge the gap between the conscious and unconscious mind. Symbols carry a natural energy that pulls us together, makes us whole." 

C.G. Jung wrote, "Insofar as analytical treatment makes the "shadow" cons

The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife,—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to

Listen to a talk I presented on the Postmodern condition as it might be understood in terms of mutations to the Egyptian deities of writing and creativity - Seshat and Thoth - and the Greek deity of writing/communications, travel and trade, Hermes (presented for Philosophy in the Library series, Central Victoria, Australia (August 2015)). Part 1: Seshat, Thoth, Hermes and Postmodernity also Part 2. Note: The talk outlined a neo-Jungian perspective on these deities/archetypes.

“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster… for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.”

― Friedrich Nietzsche

Just in time for Halloween, I wanted to write about my most favorite fairy tale character for whom this blog is named, Baba Yaga. If you do not know her, you should. She makes several important appearances in Russian folklore, most notably inVasilissa the Beautiful.

Baba Yaga is a fearsome, bloodthirsty hag. She rides through the Ru

There is a spirit world. In psychology we refer to it as the collective unconscious, a realm inhabited by archetypal energies. Essentially, they are spirits, and sometimes appear as ghosts. C.G. commented, " . . . I know however that certain archetypal figures of the unconscious literally appear as ghostly controls with materialistic mediums. I can't deny the possibility that certain figures that might appear in our dreams could materialize just as well as ghosts . . . " )C.G. Jung to Dr. L.M. B

"No one has ever listened to me. Really listened and given me time to tell my story." These are the words of a young man who had been contemplating suicide. Prior to entering depth treatment he felt isolated and expressed this isolation by his statement that no one listened, heard, understood him. No one had ever taken the time.

Depth psychologist, Christopher Bollas, in his book When the Sun Bursts writes, "We all know the wisdom of talking. In trouble, we turn to another person. Being listened

I love lesser known tales that vary from the more predictable narratives. The Czech fairy tale The Wooden Baby is a fantastically macabre tale that does not have many common variants. Better yet, it deals with the dark side of parenthood.

A poor couple lived at the edge of a forest. Even though they barely had enough to feed themselves, they longed for a baby. One day, the man was in the forest cutting wood, and he found a stump that was shaped vaguely like a baby. He roughly carved it to look m

The Sixth Gate of Grief

Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico

Francis Weller has given us all a great gift with the publication of his book The Wild Edge of Sorrow, in which he distills the insights gained in twenty years of leading grief rituals. It has been described as a “…lyrical yet practical handbook for mastering the art of grieving.” To me, the heart of the book is his original idea of the five gates of grief. Here is a condensed version:

Grief enters our hearts in many ways. If we are to heal,

PART FIVE: LA CATRINA

It is a most sincere truth

that this adage makes us see:

only one who was never born

can never a death’s-head be.

              – Mexican “Corrido” (folk song)

Parts 1-4 of this essay can be found here.

The worship of Mexico’s Great Mother Goddess is still alive. As I have explained, she reappeared in sixteenth century Catholicism as the Virgin of Guadalupe and later in folklore as La LLorona, the Weeping Woman. A hundred years ago during the Mexican Revolution, she took on yet an

Halloween, Masks and Your Shadow: What’s Jung Got To Do With It?
 by Effie Heotis, M.S.

"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious".

Like a haunted house in a good horror movie, shadow work can be scary. However, it holds a key which can unlock our unconscious minds, allowing us to become more at peace with ourselves and with others in the process. The shadow, if not called on, is that scary thing that...

http://www.pathstothepsyche.com/blog/

http://:chironsouljourneytruth.com/home/html

Basically the same article first appeared at THE MOUNTAIN ASTROLOGER online site for online-subscribers only. The article is easily accessible to the non-astrologer.

Thanks for reading,

Chironically,

Dale (O'Brien) 

When the heart weeps for what it has lost, the spirit laughs for what it has found. — West Africa

Modern people have long been aware of lacking something that neither our ideologies, nor our addictions nor our consumerist frenzies can satisfy. Searching for it, millions have sampled Asian spirituality and discovered contemplative practices that ground their lives in authentic values, while others have rediscovered their Christian or Jewish roots. The choice is personal, mysterious, and utterly u