Canberra Jung Society Inc.

Most recent meeting:
Rod Taylor: "Ten Journeys on a Fragile Planet"

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Friday 2nd September 2022

"A Jungian Approach to Aboriginal Rock Art"

Dr Richard Barz

at MacKillop House, 50 Archibald St, Lyneham, ACT (and by Zoom)

Rock carvings made by Aboriginal people of the more or less indeterminate past are found throughout much of eastern Australia. Although these carvings are part of the cultural heritage of all Australians, contemporary people without access to traditional Aboriginal knowledge may find their meaning something of a puzzle. Two statements by Carl Jung indicate a way to solve that puzzle.

The first of these comes in a 1948 article in which Jung points out that: “One of the unbreakable rules in scientific research is to take an object as known only so far as the inquirer is in a position to make scientifically valid statements about it.” Jung goes on to explain that: “‘Valid’ in this sense simply means what can be verified by facts.”

The second statement is from a 1936 article in which he writes that: “…there exists a…psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals. This collective unconscious does not develop individually but is inherited. It consists of pre-existent forms, the archetypes…”

In my talk I will discuss Aboriginal rock art from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT in the light of Jung’s two statements. Each selected example of rock art will be examined for what it is factually and then experienced for what it might be as an archetype of the collective unconscious. I hope that in this way this art can be meaningful without specialist knowledge.

If the Yankee Hat rock art site on Old Boboyan Road in Namadgi National Park has been reopened, I will conduct a workshop on the rock art there from 10 am to 2 pm on Saturday the 3rd of September.

Dr. Richard Barz is a retired member of the School of Culture, History and Language in the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. Since accompanying a 1974 expedition to the Simpson Desert to record traditional sites of the Wangkangurru people, he has been fascinated by Aboriginal culture and has for several years been photographing the rock art associated with it.

Cost for attendance (at MacKillop House):
   Jung Society members free,
   Guests $15 (Seniors/Concession $10),
   Pay cash or credit-card at the door, or by bank transfer or by credit card via TryBooking.

Cost for on-line access:
   Jung Society members free (We'll send you a link).
   Guests $10: Pay by bank transfer or by credit card or PayPal via TryBooking.

We meet from 7:30 pm for tea and coffee and snacks, music, discussion and library.
The Guest Speaker's presentation (in this case by Zoom from her home) is at 8pm for an hour or so,
then we resume for questions and discussion, finishing by 10 pm.

Friday 7th October 2022

"Rediscovering our Mother: Cecily Parker,

and the Impact of Jung on her Life"

Pamela Burton and Meredith Edwards (daughters of Cecily)

at MacKillop House, 50 Archibald St, Lyneham, ACT (and by Zoom)

Our mother, Cecily Parker, was a foundation member and the first life member of the Canberra Jungian Society. In an intimate account of our parents, ‘Persons of Interest’ (ANU Press 2022), we tell Cecily’s deeply personal and psychological life story together with that of our less introspective father, John Burton, who lived a more vocal public life.

In a world that overwhelmed her, Cecily searched her whole life for ‘wholeness’ and delved deep into her psyche to find herself. Her world changed in the 1950s when she had a ‘mystical’ experience that she needed to understand to hold on to her sanity. In her desperate search for answers, she stumbled across the works of Carl Jung that told her she was not alone in having such an experience or in feeling different from and misunderstood by others. Her travels with Jung saw her emerge from her husband’s shadow and dedicate herself to helping others achieve fulfilment in their lives that she believed she had failed to achieve for herself.

Cecily became a psychotherapist in Canberra in the 1970’s, had her own counselling business and later ran a dream group for many years. She addressed the Jungian Society and published articles in its journals about her mystical experience and her counselling work. You can read more about Cecily in our book, available to download free of charge from ANU Press: http://doi.org/10.22459/PI.2022

Not being Jungians, we sisters have many questions to put to our audience about why our mother was drawn to Jung, how important that might have been to her recovery and how healthy was the high level of introspection she displayed.

Cost for attendance (at MacKillop House):
Jung Society members free,
Guests $15 (Seniors/Concession $10),
Pay cash or credit-card at the door, or by bank transfer or by credit card via TryBooking.

Cost for on-line access:
Jung Society members free (We'll send you a link).
Guests $10: Pay by bank transfer or by credit card or PayPal via TryBooking.

We meet from 7:30 pm for tea and coffee and snacks, music, discussion and library.
The Guest Speaker's presentation (in this case by Zoom from her home) is at 8pm for an hour or so,
then we resume for questions and discussion, finishing by 10 pm.

Friday 4th November2022

"Our Need for More than Science, Wisdom and the Unconscious"

Rev. Dr David Oliphant

at MacKillop House, 50 Archibald St, Lyneham, ACT (and by Zoom)

David says Ï have been concerned with this, particularly given our crazy world at the moment, and the way our world is responding to the way our societies have handled the pandemic crisis and ongoing crises.

Calvin Hall and Vernon Nordby in their small book A Primer of Jungian Psychology wrote:
"The mind of man is prefigured by evolution. Thus, the individual is linked with his past, not only with the past of his infancy but more importantly with the past of the species and before that with the long stretch of organic evolution. This placing of the psyche within the evolutionary process was Jung’s preeminent achievement." (P.39)

The general difficulty, of course, is that even highly intelligent people do not necessarily have a sense of the psyche; that everything we experience as individuals is psychic or psychoid. The specific difficulty, again of course, is that psyche cannot observe itself; our consciousness must wait for ‘despatches’ from below. And who has time for that in our modern world where we think we are masters of all we survey anyway.

M.-L. von Franz in her essay Conclusion: Science and the Unconscious in Man and his Symbols outlined a number of ways Jung’s work could be continued and developed. David would be very interested to know if any of these possibilities have in fact been followed up. Maybe you know. We look forward to a good discussion.

Revd Dr David Oliphant is a retired clergyman who still runs clinical training groups in pastoral care. He first read Jung as part of a thesis entitled A General and Special Theory of Christ, back in the early eighties. He is currently researching a book to be entitled God Without Religion: A Christ for the Twenty-first Century. A major interest which keeps him travelling with Jung is 'knowing the psyche from within the psyche': how much of the unconscious can in the end become conscious.

Cost for attendance (at MacKillop House):
   Jung Society members free,
   Guests $15 (Seniors/Concession $10),
   Pay cash or credit-card at the door, or by bank transfer or by credit card via TryBooking.

Cost for on-line access:
   Jung Society members free (We'll send you a link).
   Guests $10: Pay by bank transfer or by credit card or PayPal via TryBooking.

We meet from 7:30 pm for tea and coffee and snacks, music, discussion and library.
The Guest Speaker's presentation (in this case by Zoom from her home) is at 8pm for an hour or so,
then we resume for questions and discussion, finishing by 10 pm.

Saturday 3rd. December 2022

Christmas Party!

at MacKillop House, 50 Archibald St, Lyneham, ACT

Other great speakers this year to include eg:
* Dr Kirstin Robertson-Gillam,
* Robbie Tulip,
* Willem Jacquier,
* Dr David Russell,
* Chris James,
* Rod Taylor,
* Dr Richard Barz,
* Rev Dr Sara Agnew,
* David Oliphant.

^{Disclaimer:

The Canberra Jung Society Inc. does not endorse and is not to be held
responsible for the content of any lecture or advertisement, nor is any
information or advice a substitute for professional counselling and
therapy.

If you believe that we have inadvertently breached any
copyright provision, please let us know and we will immediately rectify
the matter.}

^{Cost:
* Monthly Friday meetings:

      * For non-members is $15 or $10
Seniors/Concession (members free).

* Special Events (eg workshops):

* Costs are specific to those events.

* Annual Membership
entitles members to:
^{*
attend our 10 meetings at no cost,

* receive two newsletters per year, and

* share access to our extensive library.}

     Cost for membership for a full year is $75 (or $60 concession), to be paid in March each year,

     but
for the remainder of the current m'ship year: just $35 (or $25
conc.) for July 2022 - Feb 2023!


* Pay at the door, or by
bank transfer, or with credit card at
TryBooking.}

^{^{Everyone is welcome.}

We normally meet at 7:30pm on the first Friday each month for music
and coffee and chat,
Guest Speaker at 8pm, break for supper around
9pm, resume for questions and discussion until 10pm.

Location:
Usually
at MacKillop House, 50 Archibald St, Lyneham, ACT.
                *** Please check the website for any changes to date/time and locaton of
events ***

Web:
www.CanberraJungSociety.org.au
Email:

CanberraJungSociety@yahoo.com
Postal: PO Box 554, Dickson, ACT 2602, Australia}