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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.

We normally meet at 7:30 for 8:00 pm
on the first Friday of each month
at MacKillop House Conference Centre,
50 Archibald Street, Lyneham (See map)
Recent website updates:

August Event Bulletin:

Text and videos of Robert Tulip's presentation "Jung's Modern Man in Search of a Soul" 2 August.

Notice of Dorothea's four-week "Fairy Tales" series (below, on 20 August)
Article by Richard Barz: The Anima the Animus and the Yoginis
Article by Richard Barz: Riding on Rafts of Snakes
Article by Rae Chittock: Thinking About the Myth of Narcissus
Article by Glenda Cloughly: Two Stories of the World
Article by John van de Graaff: Life Experiences - Potential Compost for a Creative Life

Coming Meetings:

Four-Week "Fairy-Tale Group

Facilitated by Dorothea Wojnar

Tuesdays 20, 27 August and 3,10 September 2019

7:30 - 9:30 pm

Venue: Vercoe Room, Wesley Uniting Church 22 National Circuit, Forrest ACT

Beginning with the fathers of the field, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, psychoanalysts have turned to fairy-tales in an effort to understand the human mind. Fairy-tales are inextricably linked to the work of Carl Jung. The “collective unconscious” that lies at the core of his work, and which is shared by all human beings, is revealed through archetypes, forms and symbols found in fairy-tales.

Fairy-tales are oral forms of folk tales with moral and ethical aspects, which teach us how to behave and how to deal with others in the community. Marie-Louise von Franz considers fairy-tales as the purest and simplest expression of the collective unconscious of psychic processes. Fairy-tales represent the contents of the collective unconscious, the archetypes. Fairy-tales offer an understanding of the basic patterns of the human psyche and can guide us through the individuation process.

Working with your favourite fairytale

Participants are asked to bring their favourite tale either one they have heard and love or a fairy-tale they have written. We will be experiencing the fairy-tales through enacting the fairy-tales. Participants will have the opportunity to become archetypal characters in the fairy-tale. This can be a powerful experience as you become for a short time the witch or the evil king or the divine child. Participants will be asked to bring various props that will help them to become the characters in the tale. After de-roling, each participant has an opportunity to share within the closed group about what it felt like to be in that role and how they experienced the other characters.

The group is confidential, and participants are asked not to discuss personal material from the group outside the group. Acting ability is not important, because we will focus on developing an ability to experience your own and other’s psyche. Most of us acted out stories and tales as children - this is similar to that with two major differences - we become archetypal characters with intention, and we have an opportunity to discuss the experience.

Dorothea is a Jungian Analyst, Counsellor and Psychotherapist in private practice. Dorothea has extensive experience as a group leader and therapist across a range of people and issues and has worked in both a public health facility as well as in private practice.

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

Cost: $40 for the series (Try to attend all four sessions!).
         Pay by cash at the door, or by bank transfer, or by credit card via TryBooking

Friday, 6th September 2019

Terry Curtin

"Jung and Meister Eckhart"

(at the MacKillop Conference Centre, 50 Archibald St, Lyneham 8-10 pm)

“Only in Meister Eckhart did I find the breath of life” said Carl Jung. (“Memories Dreams and Reflections” p87).

Local Jung Society member Terry Curtin, BA(Psychology) BTheology, MA(Theology), Diploma of Transpersonal Counselling, will reflect on how a 13th-century Dominican theologian/mystic had such a profound impact on Carl Jung. Terry’s philosophical and theological journey began in 1950. From a tribal Irish catholic culture he felt called to be a priest. Seminary training was structured around the “infallible” dogma of the Catholic Church.

His perception of what it means to be human and how humanity is related to the great and mysterious “Other” has gradually but radically changed. After 10 “monastic” years he left the seminary. Marriage, children, and careers in the public service, private enterprise and voluntary services over nearly 60 years followed. His encounter in about 1980 with Carl Jung’s “Memories Dreams and Reflections” was transformative.

By 1965 he had a BA degree from Adelaide University majoring in Political Science and Psychology but Jung was rarely if ever mentioned. Pavlov’s dogs got more attention. In Jung he felt the “breath of life”, theologically, psychologically and spiritually. He continued part time studies in theology, transpersonal psychology and biblical Hebrew and undertook training in the Tarot and Kabbalah. He has had a long term relationship with the Jung society. He first joined the Jung Society in Canberra in about 1985 and later the Melbourne Jung Society. Returning to Canberra in 2018 he rejoined the Canberra Jung Society. In a recent conversation with a fellow Jung society member the question arose, “who the ... was Meister Eckhart?”

Cost: Jung Society Members (free), Guest $15, Concession $10.
         Pay by cash at the door, or by bank transfer, or by credit card via TryBooking

We meet from 7:30pm for tea and coffee and snacks, music, discussion and library.
Terry's presentation is at 8pm for an hour or so, then we break for supper,
then resume for questions and discussion, finishing at 10pm.

Friday, 4th October 2019

Dorothea Wojnar:

"Carl Jung's Alchemy (not just a matter of turning base metals into gold!)"

(at the MacKillop Conference Centre, 50 Archibald St, Lyneham 8-10 pm)

The ancient practice of alchemy, which thrived in Europe until the seventeenth century, dealt with the phenomenon of transformation--not only of materials (ore into gold) but also of the human spirit (self into Other). Through their work in the material realm, alchemists discovered personal rebirth as well as a linking between outer and inner dimensions.

Carl Jung first turned to alchemy for personal illumination in coping with trauma brought on by his break with Freud. Alchemical symbolism eventually suggested to Jung that there was a process in the unconscious, one that had a goal beyond discharging tension and hiding pain. This process created new structures from old ones, with the self, the alchemical lapis, the philosopher’s stone, being the ultimate creation.

The Opus (work) of alchemy becomes a symbolic account of the fundamental process the human psyche undergoes as it re-orients its value system and creates meaning out of chaos. The opus beginning with the nigredo (blackening, akin to depression or nihilistic loss of value) in order to descend back into the manipulable prima materia and proceeding through a process of spiritual purification that must unite seemingly irreconcilable opposites (the coniunctio) to achieve new levels of consciousness.

This presentation will be an introduction to alchemy and respond to the question what we could gain from studying alchemical symbols.

The presentation will be followed by discussion and work in small groups, where each person is encouraged to share some of their own journey.

Dorothea is a Jungian Analyst, Counsellor and Psychotherapist in private practice. Dorothea has extensive experience as a group leader and therapist across a range of people and issues and has worked in both a public health facility as well as in private practice.

Cost: Jung Society Members (free), Guest $15, Concession $10.
         Pay by cash at the door, or by bank transfer, or by credit card via TryBooking

We meet from 7:30pm for tea and coffee and snacks, music, discussion and library.
Dorothea's presentation is at 8pm for an hour or so, then we break for supper,
then resume for questions and discussion, finishing at 10pm.

Friday, 1st November 2019

Dr Rajiv Singh

(Illawarra Shoalhaven Child, Adolescent and Youth Mental Health Services, Wollongong)

"Dialogic Practice and Jung's Concept of the Temenos"

(at the MacKillop Conference Centre, 50 Archibald St, Lyneham)"

Open Dialogue (OD), developed during the 1980s in Western Lapland, Finland, is both a therapeutic intervention and a way of organising services.

Embodying systemic family therapy, social constructionism and some psychodynamic principles, OD has shown some impressive results in working with people with mental health problems, including reduced rates of medication use and need for hospital treatment. The central clinical element of OD is Dialogic Practice. Dialogic Practice emphasises conversations that allow the therapist(s) to be “with” the person, as opposed to holding conversations “about” the person. It involves creating a dialogic space within which meaningful participation of the person and his/her network can occur.

In this talk an attempt will be made to identify commonalities in this element of dialogic practice with C.G. Jung's concept of the Temenos – the “inner space deep within us where soul-making takes place” – where the creativity of healing can occur.

Dr Rajiv Singh is a Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist who has trained in medicine and psychiatry in India and then in Australia. He has been working as a consultant for the last many years, having practiced in India, Australia and New Zealand. He is currently in his second year of training in Open Dialogue. His thesis for the OD course looks at resonances between Dialogic Practice, free association and meditative practice.

Cost: Jung Society Members (free), Guest $15, Concession $10.
         Pay by cash at the door, or by bank transfer, or by credit card via TryBooking

We meet from 7:30pm for tea and coffee and snacks, music, discussion and library.
Dr Singh's presentation is at 8pm for an hour or so, then we break for supper,
then resume for questions and discussion, finishing at 10pm.

Saturday, 7th December 2019

*** Christmas Party! ***

(at the MacKillop Conference Centre, 50 Archibald St, Lyneham)

Noooo, it's not tooo early to plan ahead ...