September 9, 2016
The Way of the Dream (Conversations with Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz): Film, Panel, and Discussion
Marie-Louise von Franz, second generation Jungian analyst, was Jung’s student, colleague, and collaborator in his alchemy studies and writing. In this film she discusses the important role dreams play in offering guidance and meaning to our lives. With deep presence, clarity and humor, she illuminates this often overlooked yet universal human activity.
A panel discussion with Jungian Analysts Thayer Greene, Penny Tarasuk and Erica Lorentz will follow with time for questions from the audience.
October 7, 2016
Penny Tarasuk: Psyche in Conflict: The Paradox of Healing
Conscious and unconscious do not make a whole when one of them is suppressed and injured by the other,… both are aspects of life. Consciousness should defend its reason and protect itself, and the chaotic life of the unconscious should be given the chance of having it’s way too—as much of it as we can stand. —CW 9i, p. 288
Invited by Georgia O’Keeffe, Ciel Bergman lived and painted in Abiquiu, New Mexico. Through her life & works, especially her series titled Antidotes, we appreciate the enormous tension carried by the artist (the instrument and spokesperson for the spirit of the times) on behalf of the collective.
Penelope Tarasuk, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst (IAAP) was the Jung Institute of Boston’s first student in 1979. In practice 45 years, she has enjoyed many roles: psychotherapist, analyst, teacher, group facilitator, supervisor, and Director of Curriculum at the C.G. Jung Institute of Boston.
November 4, 2016
Richard Nicoletti: Presidential Election of 2016: An Evolution or Devolution of Patriarchy?
(Note Location change – Stoddard Hall)
A talk and discussion hoping to inform your appreciation of archetypes and politics. Archetypal patterns from Greek mythology can enhance our understanding of this historical campaign. According to Hesiod’s Theogony, the first three generations of “gods” established quintessential Patriarchy. Their progeny became the enemy. Can we find Kronos in Donald Trump? Athena in Hillary Clinton? Poseidon in Bernie Sanders? Greek archetypal “heroes” confirmed “crony” Patriarchy, and brought us human tragedy. One psychoanalytical view of Sophocles’ Oedipus starts with Tantalus and his colossal pride. How does Trump compare with Tantalus? Does Hillary have anything in common with Jocasta, mother of Oedipus? Can an understanding of Laius, father of Oedipus, inform our dearth of “polis” (the ideal city state) and of Jungian Eros? We sometimes learn from our mistakes. Other times we repeat them.
Richard Nicoletti, JD, Jungian Analyst (IAAP), former corporate lawyer, graduate of C.G. Jung Institute, Boston; office in Keene, NH (works as well in real time Internet video), primarily with fathers and sons looking to find love and renewal among Oedipal patterns of abuse, intrusion, rejection and abandonment.
December 2, 2016
Thayer Greene: Exploring Our Dreams: Deeply Personal and Yet Objective and Universal
The symbolic language of the dream draws upon inner images and affects to guide and challenge the limited, one-sided attitudes and perceptions of our conscious ego awareness. Beneath the layer of our individual dreams lies a collective layer of universal patterns of human experience that Jung described as archetypal. This lecture will demonstrate how the deeply personal is also objective and archetypal.
Thayer Greene, PhD, Jungian Analyst (IAAP), trained in New York and Zurich, Switzerland. He practices in Amherst, MA and is presently a training analyst of the C.G. Jung Institute, Boston. He has written a book and many articles in the field.
January 8, 2017 (Sunday 1pm-4pm)*
*NOTE: Please note this lecture is on Sunday at 1pm.
Erica Lorentz: Recovering the Feminine Erotic Soul in all of Us
What power does the feminine erotic soul hold for us in the contemporary world? This aspect of the feminine, hidden and maligned in most modern cultures, is a healing life force crucial to our spirituality, humanity, and world. From the Paleolithic Goddess to the mystics and into modern life, we will trace the roots of the feminine erotic soul and bring it from obscurity into our modern lives where it belongs. Image and music will illustrate the healthy and wounded aspects of this vital force.
Erica Lorentz, MEd, LPC, Jungian Analyst (IAAP) has a private practice in Northampton, MA. She is president of the Jung Association of Western Mass, a training analyst with the C.G. Jung Institute of Boston where she sat on the Training Board and was the Curriculum Coordinator. Since the 1980s she has lectured and taught workshops in the US and Canada.
February 3, 2017
Anita Greene: Soul and Psyche: The Same or Different?
Jung observed in the psyche of his patients a religious instinct that was just as strong as the sexual instinct. He described it as an instinct toward wholeness. Although at times he used psyche and soul interchangeably, he was deeply aware of the much larger dimension of soul. In our post-Christian era, does the cultural preoccupation with the psychological ignore, and, perhaps, deprive us of the deeper spiritual experience of soul?
Anita Greene, PhD, Jungian Analyst (IAAP) and Rubenfeld Synergist is a graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute of New York and teaches at the C.G. Jung Institute of Boston. She has a private practice in Amherst.
March 3, 2017
Sarah Jackson: Age and Beauty
Why is it that an old house, table or tree may appear beautiful to us, while an old woman usually does not? Age seems to augment beauty in many instances, but not when it comes to the human form. We humans create and appreciate various kinds of beauty, but we seem to enjoy and exploit youthful beauty — especially that of the young females of our species — to an extraordinary degree. As a result, this is a difficult culture in which to get old, perhaps especially if you are a woman. In this lecture, Sarah will examine how Jung’s psychology, as well as the psyche itself, enlivens and expands our sense of beauty in order to help us face the a process of aging, as well as the inevitable adventure of death itself.
Sarah Jackson, MFA, MA, LP, Jungian Analyst (IAAP), visual artist and writer. She has a private practice in Great Barrington MA and Hillsdale NY. She is working on a group of essays on different aspects of beauty that with any luck, will eventually become a book.
April 7, 2017
Ellen Peck: Pity and Terror: The Use of Theater in the Ancient Healing Process
If you were in need of therapy in the classical world, you might visit an Asclepion—a sacred healing center dedicated to the god of medicine Asclepius. Each of these centers had theaters and presumably used drama to stimulate healing dreams. How might these two arts have worked together? What healing can we find in the theater today?
Ellen Peck received her PHD from Stanford in English and American Literature. She has taught literature and modern drama at Wellesley and Mt. Holyoke. In her second career she has been a docent for the classical art collections at the Mt. Holyoke and Springfield Museums. She is interested in how Jung’s thought and literature work together.
May 5, 2017
Jason Smith: Religious But Not Religious: The Need for a Symbolic Life
“We are all badly in need of the symbolic life.” ~ C.G. Jung
The living process of the unconscious, taught Carl Jung, is more aptly expressed by religious symbols than by scientific formulas. What does it mean to live a symbolic life? Where does religious experience fit in an increasingly diverse and pluralistic world? We will explore these questions and see how Jung’s understanding of the religious function of the psyche offers a middle way between a religious attitude characterized by the extremes of uncritical belief on the one hand, and undiscriminating rejection on the other.
Jason E. Smith, Jungian Analyst (IAAP) has a private practice in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. His areas of focus include dreamwork, depression, trauma, and spiritual development. Jason is a graduate of Pacifica Graduate Institute and the C.G. Jung Institute-Boston.