Comments

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  Ginger Swanson January 12, 2015 at 7:54pm

  Hi Melissa,

  Please pardon my delay in response. I'm striving to get in a comfortable social media groove, and have not yet mastered the art of consistency! 

  I have two African American friends currently working on dissertations with racial focus. Sherrie Allen is working on African American women and rage, and Melvin Allen is working on the effects of Motown music (lyrics) upon women from three generations of African American families.  I'm not sure if either of them delve into dream, but I wouldn't be surprised. You may want to keep an eye out for their work.

  I have tended dreams of African Americans drawing upon shamanic practices in the process.  While racial conditions have been considered, they were not the focus of the work.  Your inquiry inspires me to consider the work more fully. Thank you.

  Ginger
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  Melissa Jane December 10, 2014 at 9:59pm

  Given the state of racial relations in the United States, I would really like to have some resources on working with race in dreams. For instance, I know that Marion Woodman worked mostly with white women, and the black people who emerged in their dreams were often thought of as shadow figures. Are there writings by African-American or other analysts on how the shadow appears in dreams of people of color? An internet search does not yield much information. Do you have any resources on this topic?
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  Ginger Swanson March 29, 2013 at 7:14pm

  Challenged with family and friends feuding over political views. Am I the ignorant I fear?
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  Pamela DeRossitte July 16, 2011 at 12:28pm

  Hi! Great info here. I am doing an assignment for a class in Counseling the Culturally Different, and the topic under discussion is "Politics in Multiculturalism." Will glean a bit from here ~~
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  Ginger Swanson November 28, 2010 at 12:48pm

  Hello Everyone!
  I am involved in a wonderful Jungian conference project. Alchemy is central focus. I'll keep you all posted as things develop.
  Meanwhile, best wishes to all!
  Ginger
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  Ginger Swanson September 24, 2010 at 1:13pm

  Dorene,
  
  Hello dear one! Thank you for your synopsis of the latest teleconference. It is most fascinating. It's sad to think of losing the symbol when translating to reality. Although perceptions and interpretations limit the possibilities for many, I believe the symbol lives on as the image remains imprinted upon the soul. I wish to ponder these ideas further and look forward to dialoguing with you and others more.
  
  I am crunching on completing a fieldwork paper and catching up after having spent a month on the road interviewing subjects, including a profound week in silence while engaged in shamanic practices, etc. I am heading off to Joanna Macy's workshop "The Work That Reconnects" at the Ojai Foundation in October and hope to be in touch with you upon my return.
  
  Thanks again for sharing!
  Kindest regards,
  Ginger
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  Dorene Mahoney September 24, 2010 at 9:53am

  The Jung Institute in Ashville, NC, has been conducting teleconferences for a modest $47 on different topics. The latest one was entitled, "Symbols and Individuation in Global Politics and Leadership: The Case of Barack Obama." It was five hours and included segments with Murray Stein and Bernard Sartonius in Zurich, and Tom Singer in Sonoma. Bernard Sartorius' one-hour segment was excellent and presented the entire history of splits in our society. As examples, he spoke about the ancient Egyptians as having a wholeness in their reality--their religious, rational and emotional lives were all aligned and coherent. Then, with the old Greeks was the first split--between interiority and exteriority. Helenism brought a split between matter and spirit. The Romans, with their notion of a functional society distinguished what was useful and not useful. In Roman society the symbolic life became privatized and everyone worshiped their own god. Then, the Hebrew brought the mythology of the "Chosen" people, special people who had more truths and were closer to god. So, truth and error was another split. Christianity, Sartorius contends, brought in integrating symbols (e.g., the mass), but it wasn't enough to make reality whole again. Alchemy and astrology aim for wholeness. Then, in the Renaissance there was a new split between the individual and the collective--the individual became of paramount value (you can see it in their paintings of individuals at work, etc.). Also in the Renaissance their was a deadlock--rationality became the main faculty for perception: symbols (image) transformed into allegory (words). For example, Jupiter is no longer the symbol for masculine power. In the Protestant Reformation there was no longer a need for symbols. Everything was allegory. There was no more mystery. In the Enlightenment rationality really takes the lead--connection to soul fell away and everything celebrated rational perception of reality. (Whenever you translate something symbolic into reality, it's the end of the symbol, according to Sartorius.) In the Romantic period reality is no longer followed by the collective, only by personal sensibilities. Society becomes interested in industrialism. In the 20th century there has been a quickening, a re-emergence of collective symbolic life--nationalism (territory), mystique of blood and race, fascism, communism--however, these are all perverted notions of reality. The symbolic life has retreated into the individual (phychoanalysts). The whole life of the psyche must be carried by the individual and it's too heavy a load. This creates more and more psychological problems.
  
  This is just part of a single hour of what Sartorius presented, and I probably don't have it exactly right. But you get the idea--although he didn't expressly say he was presenting the evolution of hate, that's how I heard it--the creation of "otherness." The teleconference is still available on the Ashville site--I wasn't crazy about the last two hours, but the first three make it well worth $47!
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  Ginger Swanson May 10, 2010 at 6:01pm

  Thank you, Ed. The importance of educating children can never be understated.
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  Ed Koffenberger May 9, 2010 at 2:51pm

  I am reminded of an elementray school teacher who took a class where racial tensions were heating up and introduced them to some playful reality. A young boy was angry because he had to work with black children in his class. The teacher took out a set of paints and painted black on the other child and asked if the child's skin was truly black. The answer was no. She then painted white on the first child. Again, this child was not really white. The class spent the next moments discovering what their colors were, which became a rainbow of combinations with no two children having the same "color." Great fun way to break down the rigid dualities of racial identification.
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  Ginger Swanson May 7, 2010 at 2:11pm

  Greetings and welcome to my group!
  
  We are not born with hatred in our hearts. We acquire it. And, we do this without conscious thought. I was born into a family filled with racial prejudices and I am not proud of it.
  
  I have come to the understanding that racism is the result of ignorance, as genocide is the result of intolerance. Both are deeply destructive and can often be traced back through our ancestry.
  
  I am interested in exploring ways to bring awareness to our unconscious behavior, so that we may transform our way of being in the world.
  
  Please join in and offer your stories of racial tensions, transformations, and more.
  
  I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
  
  Ginger Swanson