Canberra Jung Society Inc.

Archive of Activities - 2016

*** Christmas Party ***

on Sunday 11 December at 12:30pm until about 3:30pm.

Ross White, a Canberra Jung Society Life member,
has generously offered to host this event at his home
at
8 Burrendong St, Duffy.

This was a "Bring a Plate" type of event.

Dorothea Wojnar's Dream Group

Six Wednesdays in October / November,
Wesley Uniting Church,
22 National Crt, Forrest, ACT
(NOT our usual meeting place at Lyneham)

Cost: $ 10 per evening to cover costs.
Any surplus goes to the Jung Society.

The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul, opening into that cosmic night which was psyche long before there was any ego consciousness, and which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego-consciousness extends. For all ego-consciousness is isolated; because it separates and discriminates, it knows only particulars, and it sees only those that can be related to the ego.

Its essence is limitation, even though it reaches to the farthest nebulae among the stars. All consciousness separates; but in dreams we put on the likeness of that more universal, truer, more eternal man dwelling in the darkness of primordial night.

There he is still the whole, and the whole is in him, indistinguishable from nature and bare of all egohood. It is from these all-uniting depths that the dream arises, be it never so childish, grotesque, and immoral.(1)

The group is facilitated by Dorothea Wojnar. Members of the group shared their dreams and used active imagination in working with the dreams.

Dorothea is a psychotherapist and she is currently training as a Jungian analyst with the C. G .Jung Institute of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Jungian Analysts. Dorothea has extensive experience as a group leader and therapist across a range of people and issues, working in both a public health facility as well as in private practice.

For further information, please contact Dorothea Wojnar on 6292 2014 or (0413) 245 835.

(1) Jung, C.G. (1933) The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man in Collected Works Vol 10 Civilization in Transition. pg. 304
downloaded from http://www.netreach.net/~nhojem/dreamq.htm on 20 May 2007

Friday 11th November 2016, 8pm

Dr Kaye Gersch

"Love, Sex and Relationships
^{How do we attend to our own
life and development, as well as the life and development of our partner, and
the life and development of the relationship?

How can our relationship be a
co-partnership that is completely equal so that neither partner is disempowered,
and both reach the full development of their gifts?

These are big questions, and
high ideals.In this talk Kaye introduces
aspects of relationship from Jung, and also contemporary understanding from
various sources. Part of her talk is about how relationships function. She also
alerts us to what can go wrong and, lastly, focuses on what you
can do to build a solid, lasting relationship. This will include repairing even
very deep rifts and woundings.}^{Part of self-knowledge is to do
with knowledge of our internalised concept of the opposite sex. For men this
aspect is feminine, for women this aspect is masculine. This is regardless of
sexual orientation. ^{As Marion Woodman says in
The
Ravaged Bridegroom, “If men and women are to be equal partners in the
outer world, the foundations for that partnership must first be laid}^{within themselves.}
As within, so without. Nothing can be achieved without, if
the foundations are not firmly established within. Negotiations between the
sexes are bound to collapse into misunderstandings or remain suspended in
compromises that satisfy neither, so long as men and women remain strangers to
their inner reality”.}^{The same dynamics are at play
in same-sex relationships. The need for inner development is not confined to
heterosexuality!Marion Woodman takes us further
in the inner partner/outer partner story:}
^{“Crucial to (the evolution
of relationship) is the realization that the inner partner is not the same as
the outer partner, and so long as the inner divinity (or ideal) is projected
onto the outer human creature, there can be nothing but illusion, confusion,
disappointment and despair, to mention but a few of the heartaches that the
flesh is heir to. While our relationships to the inner (bride or bridegroom)
will influence our outer relationships, he or she is the presence that
accompanies us in our inner journey to totality. Our outer partner shares the
earthly path. Discriminating between the two can be a humbling and releasing
experience. I remember the first time I saw my husband without projection. We
had been married 25 years.“}
^{Kaye’s talk is for everyone:
whether you are in a new relationship, or} ^{travelling a long journey
with your partner, whether you have recently had your heart broken or are
longing to find someone to share your life with, you will find something that is
pertinent to you.}^{Kaye
Gersch, PhD is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist with a Jungian emphasis,
working in private practice for nearly 25 years. She particularly enjoys
working with couples. In 2016 she convened two workshops, entitled,
“Love, Sex and Relationships”, each over a 6 week period. This talk
served as an introduction to those workshops.}
Friday 7th October 2016, 8pm

Dr Shé Hawke

"The Quest for God (or something like it):
Jung, Yoda and the Hero Archetype"

This month Dr Shé Hawke looked at how popular culture and science fiction cinema stories connect with the psychology of Carl Jung.

Dr Hawke explored George Lucas’ own “psychological work of art” (Jung: Modern Man in Search of a Soul, 1933: p.180) in creating Star Wars, and helped us untangle its ‘play’ of Jungian archetypes through the ego, individual and collective unconscious, brought forward for the writer and characters alike.

We also navigated the relationship between the Force (God or something like it – Yoda, the wise sage) and the Hero and Shadow opportunities for characters, with cognizance of the effects of the loss of the mother, the ‘first love object’ for characters Anakin and Luke.

Along with Jung and Ferenczi, Dr Hawke disrupts Freud’s Oedipus complex concerning the mother, while recognizing its enduring relevance regarding the father, through these character archetypes and the ‘psychic constellations’ they navigate.

Shé Hawke is an award-winning poet and trans-disciplinary scholar, and currently an Honorary Associate in the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry at the University of Sydney.

Shé first tripped over Carl Jung’s work on an otherwise ordinary day in a Fremantle café in 1986. Soon after, she commenced analysis and further developed her passion for Greek myth, and the relevance of Jungian symbolism and archetypes in literature and everyday life.

After completing a PhD at Sydney University, Hawke taught in its Department of Gender and Cultural Studies where her students grappled with and unravelled the place of anima and animus in Jungian archetypes.

Her work has appeared in several academic journals, and her poetry has been widely anthologised.

Relevant to this theme, in 2006 Dr Hawke presented a paper at the Clinical Sandor Ferenczi Conference in Germany which, later co-authored with Professor Anna Gibbs, was published in Thalassa: A Journal of Hungarian Psychoanalysis (2008, 19(1), 37-57: ‘Sandor Ferenczi’s Thalassal Trend and the Role of Affect in the Psychometric Relation’).

In 2007, she co-authored Tender Muse (Picaro Press) with Carolyn van Langenberg. Her novel in verse Depot Girl (Picaro Press) appeared in 2008. In 2009 it was nominated for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, and shortlisted for the Colin Roderick Literary Award in the same year. Her 2014 work Aquamorphia: Falling for Water is a mythological, psychological and elemental poetic history of water in three deeply entrancing parts.

Her research interests include poetry, Greek mythology, psychoanalysis and crosscurrents between environmental, economic and socio-cultural flows of water.

Friday 2nd September 2016, 8pm

Dr Suzanne Moss

"Colouring as a Form of Nourishing the Psyche"

The ancient practice of filling in a drawn linear structure with coloured pigment dates back to the first traces of human existence. Cave walls and utilitarian objects provided surfaces for the application of representational, symbolic and decorative forms relating to all areas of life. Later, artisans of all kinds completed drawings using pigments from the earth, raw, as in the ochres, or processed into glazes, glass, mosaic tiles and paints.

The purpose of colouring was, at least partly, to give a sense of life to the design – for instance, John Berger writes about the effect of tinting the lips in early Greek funerary portraits. Colouring was linked with ritual, devotion and contemplation. This was certainly the case for Fra Angelico who is said to have had tears streaming down his face as he made his devotional paintings in the 15^th Century.

The slow and meticulous nature of making large devotional frescoes and altarpieces implies long periods of time embedded in creating. Suzanne proposes that the creative experience of being in the ‘flow’ of making might have been more usual, even normal for makers of arts and crafts. What if all humans were designed to experience the peaceful, joyful lightness of being when creating? If so, this part of the diet of the human psyche is lacking today in our fast-paced technology driven culture. Does the resurgence of colouring suggest a people’s remedy? It is, after all, an easily accessible means of contemplation, or at very least unplugging from technology and making something rewarding that is easy to pick up and put down.

One needs structures in order to create distinct areas of colour. Intriguingly, many colouring books feature mandalas or mandala-like designs, ‘ready-mades’ if you will. What would Jung say about this?! We know he turned to alchemy to cope with the upset he experienced from his break with Freud, and he also discovered the integrative processes of drawing personal mandalas. In exploring the possibility of how even colouring ready-mades might function as a form of psychic nourishment, Suzanne extends the colouring phenomenon into a meditative practice in her workshops and courses.

A particular mandala in Jung’s Red Book readily affirmed and continues to inspire her work with course participants. We will look at an image of this mandala and describe the processes Suzanne takes her students through, covering elements of experiencing colour combinations, sacred geometry and meditation. The outcomes are striking. Interestingly, one cannot tell the drawings of artists from non-artists!

To those interested in boosting their creativity through meditative art and coaching, Suzanne offers a free hour ‘creative realisation’ session with her in her studio available during the 2 week period after this presentation for the Jung Society.

Suzanne is an artist, scholar, mentor/coach, presenter of small group courses and retreats. A former lecturer at the ANU School of Art, her doctorate was in the painting of light and part of her research investigated the luminous paintings of Fra Angelico in Florence.

She recently presented her comprehensive course ‘Love your Creativity’ over two weeks to students in Florence, and her Level 1 course in Jugenheim, Germany.

Suzanne has extensive experience as an artist, presenter, mentor and coach. Convinced that the creative process is natural and important for well-being, Suzanne’s work combining meditation, easy mindful art and coaching helps people stop worrying and access the joy and creative innocence of their inner child, often forgotten in the processes of ‘growing up’.

Friday 5 August 2016, 8pm

Dr Stephani Stephens

"Jung and the Dead"

Jung had several death dreams and visions featuring the dead. These experiences profoundly influenced Jung’s understanding of the unconscious. During his intense confrontation with the unconscious he had numerous encounters with many figures of the unconscious and yet he distinguished the dead amongst these. In his own words, ‘The conversations with the dead formed a kind of prelude to what I had to communicate to the world about the unconscious’ (Jung, 1961, p.217 MDR). Jung's model of the psyche emerged as a result of these visionary encounters.

Death

Since the publication of the Red Book a significant amount of material on the dead has come to light and points to the possibility that when Jung referred to ‘the dead’ in his personal material he was, in fact, referring to the literal dead as a separate category of psychic experience.

This discussion aims to introduce material from both Memories, Dreams, Reflections and the Red Book which raises questions about how Jung experienced the dead during these initial encounters with visionary material. I hope also to question some assumptions that have been made previously about visionary encounters within active imagination.

Stephani Stephens earned her PhD from the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK in 2012. Between 2004 and 2013 she served on the Executive Committee of the International Association of Jungian Studies. The topic of the evening's presentation is based on her doctoral thesis as well as research published in the International Journal of Jungian Studies titled "Active Imagination and the dead".

Dr Stephens resides in Canberra and teaches Psychology and Latin in the International Baccalaureate program at Canberra Grammar School.

Friday 8 July 2016, 8pm

David Russell

"Carl Jung and the Experience of Depression"

Depression

To paraphrase Leo Tolstoy: … every depressed person is depressed in his or her own, very idiosyncratic, way. We might add: anyone who thinks deeply about depression arrives at a very particular attitude to the experience. In my case I look at the experience of depression through a perennial and familiar lens, the small matter of love.

Human frailty is at the heart of any exploration of depression as are the patterns of loss and love. Attending to the phenomenon of depression is a way of taking experiences of loss and love for a long, languorous stroll.

Adopting an archetypal attitude requires that we engage in the drama of this disturbing experiences and see it as the drama of love and betrayal, of will and desire, lust and loss.

The experiences of melancholia, the dark night of the senses, the aridity of meaninglessness has often been associated with soul. But it is important to note that the soul is not in the body, not in the mind, but in the small things that one has touched and that carries with them the warmth of these hands.

David is a past president of the Sydney Jung Society. He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies and research in psychology at the University of Sydney. Here he was introduced to the writings of Sigmund Freud (unusual for a Department of Psychology) and developed an ongoing enthusiasm for the history and philosophy of psychology. After a few years in private practice he moved into an academic career, which culminated in the establishment of the Master of Analytical Psychology degree at the University of Western Sydney. David has currently returned to private practice in Sydney CBD.

Wednesday 8th June 2016, 7:30 - 10:00pm

Dorothea Wojnar's Dream Group

was facilitated by the insightful Leanne Grey
for the last three of our six sessions,
because Dorothea was indisposed with a health issue.

Thank you Dorothea and Leanne!

Cost: The cost is $ 10 per evening to cover costs. Any surplus goes to the Jung Society.

The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul, opening into that cosmic night which was psyche long before there was any ego consciousness, and which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego-consciousness extends. For all ego-consciousness is isolated; because it separates and discriminates, it knows only particulars, and it sees only those that can be related to the ego.

Its essence is limitation, even though it reaches to the farthest nebulae among the stars. All consciousness separates; but in dreams we put on the likeness of that more universal, truer, more eternal man dwelling in the darkness of primordial night.

There he is still the whole, and the whole is in him, indistinguishable from nature and bare of all egohood. It is from these all-uniting depths that the dream arises, be it never so childish, grotesque, and immoral.(1)

C G Jung "The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man" (1933). In CW 10: Civilization in Transition. pg. 304

The group is facilitated by Dorothea Wojnar. Members of the group shared their dreams and used active imagination in working with the dreams.

Dorothea is a psychotherapist and she is currently training as a Jungian analyst with the C. G .Jung Institute of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Jungian Analysts. Dorothea has extensive experience as a group leader and therapist across a range of people and issues, working in both a public health facility as well as in private practice.

For further information, please contact Dorothea Wojnar on 6292 2014 or (0413) 245 835.

(1) Jung, C.G. (1933) The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man in Collected Works Vol 10 Civilization in Transition. pg. 304 downloaded from http://www.netreach.net/~nhojem/dreamq.htm on 20 May 2007

To paraphrase Leo Tolstoy: … every depressed person is depressed in his or her own, very idiosyncratic, way. We might add: anyone who thinks deeply about depression arrives at a very particular attitude to the experience. In my case I will look at the experience of depression through a perennial and familiar lens, the small matter of love.

Friday 3rd June 2016, 8pm

Katina Ellis

"Sex and Gender"

The first 15 years of the 21st Century has brought with it substantial change in the way gender is perceived.

For example, in a paper written on gender in 2014 journalist Susan Maushart cites a dropdown menu on Facebook, which allows a person to choose from 58 possible choices of gender. In the context of increasing fluidity around gender, Jung’s formulations on anima and animus become very interesting despite the fact that they are now 100 years old.

At the time Jung was writing, women were among the oppressed. For anyone who has seen the recent film Suffragette it will be obvious how some of Jung’s ideas about women were aligned with the times. For example Jung wrote:

The animus corresponds to the paternal Logos just as the anima corresponds to the maternal Eros. […]

I use Eros and Logos merely as conceptual aids to describe the fact that woman’s consciousness is characterized more by the connective quality of Eros than by the discrimination and cognition associated with Logos. In men, Eros, the function of relationship, is usually less developed than Logos. In women, on the other hand, Eros is an expression of their true nature, while their Logos is often only a regrettable accident.

Emma Jung, too, considered women who were too opinionated distasteful because she believed they did not have the mental apparatus to back it up. Some of the terminology created by Jung has found its way into common parlance and it is taken as given that we all know what it means. Anima and animus are prime examples.

Jung himself stated that these ideas were under construction. This talk revisits the terms anima and animus, contextualises their origins and describes them in the context of Post-Jungians’ thinking. Taking a group who might currently be considered oppressed, this talk will look at people who are transgender to examine the use of Jung’s concepts in a contemporary context.

Katina Ellis is an analytical psychotherapist in private practice in Canberra. She works with couples, individuals and adolescents. Her expertise is in the field of trauma and individuation.

Friday 6th May 2016, 8pm

(Written by Dr Patricia Moroney,
presented by Jung Soc. members, in her absence)

"Paul's Thought
Explored by Contemporary Philosophers"

St Paul

As we know, Carl Jung quoted Saint Paul on several occasions, pointing out the importance and pertinence of Paul’s writings to the life of the psyche. Jung also refers to the Self as being the Christ Image in the Soul. Many see the concept of the Christ Image in the Soul as an important evolutionary concept.

But it is often misunderstood. Jung reminds us that Christ is not just a historical figure but a powerful and important symbol for mankind. He reminds us that Christianity is the foundation of western civilization and that, if we are to preserve our civilization, we must renew Christianity not just as an outer organization but deep within ourselves as individuals, finding its real meaning and, if we do not do this, western civilization will be lost.

In his epistles, Saint Paul, once the Christian persecutor Saul and later converted to Christ, sounded a universalism that has recently been taken up by secular philosophers who do not share Paul’s belief in Christ but who regard his project as centrally important for contemporary political life. The Pauline Project, as they see it, is the universality of truth, the conviction that what is true is true for everyone and that the truth should be known to everyone. This lecture will attempt to focus on what are the philosophical undercurrents of Paul’s message.

Dr Patricia Moroney is a Jungian analyst, trained at the CG Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. She works in private practice in Canberra. With 26 years experience, she has conducted many seminars and lectures for psychological professionals on most topics in Jung’s Collected Works and has also worked as a supervisor.

She also works with children and teenagers and is a specialist in Art and Sandplay Therapy. She is a registered Spiritual Director with CSD and ANSD. She has a background in general education, several languages, spirituality, theology, scripture, ritual, comparative religion and is a qualified teacher and performer of secular and sacred music.

Friday 1st April 2016, 8pm

Neil Millar & Sarah Bachelard

"A modern day spiritual pilgrimage"

Just over two years ago, Sarah and Neil embarked on a 900km pilgrimage across northern Spain, from the French Pyrenees through Santiago de Compostela, arriving after 38 footsore days at Finisterra (‘the end of the earth’).

From the mountains to the sea, the centre to the edge, it was a journey of transition and healing. Come and hear their reflections on what for them was an adventure of deep listening for psyche and spirit.

Walking the Camino

As the twenty-first century gathers pace, more and more modern pilgrims are setting out to walk theCamino de Santiago, also known as the Way of St James to the shrine of the apostle St James the Great in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, northwestern Spain. Tradition has it that the remains of the saint are buried here. Many walk this ancient path as a practice of personal and spiritual growth.

The Way of St James was one of the most important Christian pilgrimages during the Middle Ages, together with those to Rome and Jerusalem. During the Middle Ages, the route was highly travelled. However, the Black Death, the Protestant Reformation, and political unrest in 16th century Europe led to its decline. By the 1980s, only a few pilgrims per year arrived in Santiago. Since then, however, the route has attracted a growing number of pilgrims from around the globe, with over 237,000 persons officially completing the pilgrimage in 2014.

Sarah Bachelard is a theologian, speaker and retreat leader. She is an honorary research fellow at the Australian Catholic University and is the founding leader of Benedictus (www.benedictus.com.au), a contemplative community featured recently on ‘The Spirit of Things’ on Radio National. Sarah is the author of Experiencing God in a Time of Crisis and Resurrection and Moral Imagination. She was a keynote speaker at the 2015 symposium ‘Meditation and the Monastic Vocation’ at San Anselmo in Rome.

Neil Millar has worked as a youth worker, parish priest, theological educator and aged care chaplain. He is currently engaged in doctoral studies on reflection and formation at the University of Canberra. He is Circle of Trust® facilitator with the Centre for Courage and Renewal. Pilgrimage is a defining metaphor and practice for Neil as he continues to explore the meaning and mystery of life ('a wondering wayfarer'). With Sarah, he is preparing to walk the Camino Portugués from Lisbon in 2016.

Friday 4th March 2016, 8pm

Tim Falkiner

"Jung, Art and the Victorian Feminine"

Jungian psychology offers a rich tool for investigating all sorts of cultural phenomena.

In this talk Tim Falkiner will seek to analyse the artworks produced in the late Victorian era within the framework of Jungian psychology.

Encompassing basic traditional symbolism and symbolic syntax, Tim’s talk (and many pictures) will examine the Victorian era artists’ fascination with such subjects as St George, La Belle Dame, the wood nymphs, the lamia, the mermaids, sorceresses and female martyrs.

In particular, Tim will be exploring how this Victorian art helped the British society of the late nineteenth century to come to terms with the feminine emancipation movement arising in that same era.

Tim Falkiner has worked as a solicitor, town planner, government legal officer, barrister and gambling regulator. Between 1996 and 2010, Tim chaired Know the Odds Inc – an educational charity having as its objective the use of education to prevent the harmful effects of problem gambling.

Tim continues his anti-predatory gambling advocacy, and is a qualified counsellor and hypnotherapist. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Melbourne Jung Society.

Friday 5th February 2016, 8pm

Richard Barz

"The Ramayana and the Mother Archetype"

In his 1954 article “Psychological Aspects of the Mother Archetype” Carl Jung set out his basic ideas about that archetype and its associated Mother Complex.

While explaining these concepts, Jung said about the archetype in general: “…archetypes are not disseminated only by tradition, language, and migration, but…can rearise spontaneously, at any time, at any place, and without any outside influence.” In other words, the same archetype can occur in two unrelated cultures separated by unbridgeable distances of time and space.

Jung’s view of archetypes as free of temporal and spatial constraints is confirmed by the way that the Mother Archetype and the Mother Complex were vividly expressed by the Indian author Valmiki in his Ramayana epic composed in Sanskrit some 23 centuries before Jung was born. The place of the Archetype and Complex of the Mother in the Ramayana is pivotal to the story of the epic and a major reason why the Ramayana has had and continues to have a key role in most of the cultures of south and southeast Asia.

This talk, illustrated by old and modern paintings of events in the Ramayana, discussed the Mother Archetype and the Mother Complex as they occur in the lives of Ram and his wife Sita. Ram and Sita are not only the hero and heroine of Valmiki’s epic, they are also the ideal husband and wife for many followers of Hinduism and related religions. In striking harmony with Jung’s description of the Maternal Archetype, the Ramayana culminates with Sita seeking refuge from family injustice with her mother the earth.

Dr. Richard Barz is retired Senior Lecturer in Hindi and Indian Studies at the A.N.U.

Macintosh HD:Users:richard:Desktop:Jung and the Ramayan Pictures:Earth Taking Sita painting by Ashok Dongre.jpg

Sita Being Given Refuge by Her Mother the Earth
Painting by Ashok Dongre

Canberra Jung Society
is a non-profit organisation,
which aims to provide a contact for people interested in the psychological insights of Carl Gustav Jung.
Through monthly meetings, workshops, other activities and our library,
we seek to help people to understand their own inner journey and the world today –
from a Jungian perspective.
PO Box 554,
Dickson, ACT 2602.

Updated by RJ 11th December 2016

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