September 25, 2009
Karen A. Smyers, Ph.D., IAAP: The Canny Feminine: Problem Solving Through the Union of Eros and Logos
One of the most dangerous characteristics of our time is a stark splitting that occurs at psychological, social, and cultural levels. From within these polarized fundamentalisms, problem solving often works through confrontation and aggression, paying little attention to the relationship between the parties or the dignity of the other. What I have termed “the canny feminine” is a way of solving problems that preserves eros. It works through indirection, humor, and suggestion in a conscious modality, but one open to the gifts from the unconscious. Stories from the Bible to contemporary popular culture show that this modality is deeply human and has always been with us. I argue that it is another model of individuation.
Karen A. Smyers is a graduate of ISAP-Zürich and has a private practice in Northampton.
October 23, 2009
Ethne J. Gray, IAAP: Archetypal Patterns in Ancient Dream Incubation
“He Who Wounds Also Heals.”
Jungian analyst, Ethne Gray will discuss dreams as wounded and wounded healers, and the patron god of the dream incubation temples, Aesclepius, as divine patient. Remembering how music, art, drama and therapeutic waters played a role in the holistic dream incubation rituals at Cos and Epidaurus in Greece, she will also examine central images of the healing temple temenos: serpents, trees, dog, centaur (Chiron), and the feminine trinity, and explore their meanings for our dream work today.
Ethne J. Gray, born in South Africa, has lived and worked in many lands including Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Columbia, where she enjoyed learning religious, mythic and healing rituals. She is in private practice in West Newton and Cambridge, and is on the faculty of the C.G. Jung Institute Boston. She teaches Jungian Art Therapy at Lesley University.
December 4, 2009
Ira Sharkey: Coming Full Circle: The Challenge of Return and of Self-recollection in the Process of Individuation
Ira Sharkey will review Jung’s essay entitled “The Transcendent Function” (CW 8: para 131-193, pp.67-91). Jung observes that “the circle of consciousness is continually widened through confrontation with previously unconscious contents.” Ira will examine with us the notion of the “circle of consciousness” and consider some of the intricacies and difficulties inherent to the process of its “widening” stated in Jung’s formulation.
Ira Sharkey is a graduate of the Jung Institute-Zürich. He in private practice in Amherst and is an instructor at the Jung Institute-Boston.
January 22, 2010
Anita Greene Ph.D., IAAP & Thayer Greene, Ph.D., IAAP: Aging Body Ageless Spirit
Coming To Age: Journey Into Wisdom or Despair
The emphasis on youth in our culture does not make it easy for us to go graciously into old age now that we live in an era in which our longevity, at least in developed countries, has been increased by 25 years. In earlier cultures elders were honored in their tribes and villages as carriers of ancestral lore and rituals of daily life which held the community together and made it unique. Old age is a developmental process with its own singular characteristics. We may think of it as the third major part of life which earlier centuries rarely had to confront. Anita and Thayer will share their psychological reflections on this emerging phenomenon in our contemporary culture.
Anita and Thayer Greene are graduates of the New York Jung Institute and are in private practice in Amherst.
February 26, 2010.
Jim Helling and Thayer Greene, IAAP: The Theory and Treatment of Severe Trauma from a Jungian and Neuroscientific Perspective
The word “trauma” has become current in our public discourse due to the impact of war’s effect upon the psyches of those who fight. In fact trauma has been a part of human experience since the beginning. Recent research has demonstrated the profound effects of trauma upon the integrated function of body, mind, and spirit. This presentation will combine a Jungian perspective with suggestions from recent neuroscientific studies to explore both the dissociative effects of trauma and a path toward integration and healing.
Thayer Greene, Ph.D., serves on the faculty of the C.G. Jung Institute of Boston and is in private practice in Amherst.
James Helling, LICSW, is a graduate of the Smith College School for Social Work and also has been certified in Traumatic Stress Studies by the Trauma Center at JRI in Boston under the direction of Bessell von der Kolk, MD. He has a private practice in Amherst and is associated with the University of Massachusetts.
March 26, 2010.
Richard Trousdell, D.F.A., IAAP: Tragedy and Transformation; the Oresteia of Aeschylus,
Classical Greek tragedy dramatizes mythic patterns of human suffering and human survival that are still alive and meaningful to us today. The Libation Bearers of Aeschylus takes us into the lives of two trauma survivors: Electra and Orestes, the cast-off children of a father who sacrificed their sister to win a war, and a mother who murdered their father in revenge. Although Electra and Orestes survive their traumatic past, it is at the cost of their full humanity. Their family fate forces them into defensive character patterns we still recognize in ourselves: a hero defense strategy that defines and distorts Orestes, and a victim identification pattern that preserves but traps Electra. How they come to terms with these archetypal roles, and grow beyond them, tells an inspiring story of how conscious suffering can lead to becoming more fully human.
Richard Trousdell is in private practice in Northampton and a Professor Emeritus of Theater at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is a graduate of the C. G. Jung Institute-Boston, where he has taught and served on the Admissions Committee.
April 23, 2010
Pamela Donleavy, J.D., IAAP: The Individuation Process in Dreams
Individuation, or self-realization, is an unconscious developmental process that occurs in the personality itself. It can often be discerned as a planned and orderly unfolding that spontaneously expresses itself in the symbolism of a dream series. In this lecture, we will explore this process as it appeared as a source of healing during the course of an analysis.
Pamela Donleavy is a Jungian Analyst in private practice in Arlington, MA. She is the past President of the New England Society of Jungian Analysts, the Vice President of the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, and is on the faculty of the C.G. Jung Institute-Boston, and the Assisi Institute in Vermont. She wrote with Ann Shearer From Ancient Myth to Modern Healing, Themis: Goddess of Heart-Soul, Justice and Reconciliation, published by Routledge.