Kingdom of Rust by Doves

Love this Black Cab Session of the Doves.

Jung's Medicine

I won’t deny it, I am a pretty big fan of the Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Gustav Jung, and his theories on psyche. As an intuitive, his perspective has deeply resonated with me. Much of his philosophy profoundly inform my life.

When I was first introduced to Jung at surface, I strongly protested against his originality. I thought his concepts to be tritely stolen from Eastern and Indigenous philosophies wrapped in Western designations. To this day, I still find myself wrestling with criticisms I have of the man, despite his legend. But as I delve deeper and deeper, I cannot deny his genius and the extraordinary body of work he amassed with the support of his devotees, many whom were women that created their own theories and paths of individuation.

During a period in my life in which I was stuck and searching for meaning, I decided to undergo Jungian analysis and experienced a mysterious unfolding of powerful dreams that connected me back to the depths of my soul and the value of relating to the symbolic nature of psyche. I came to understand the healing potential in considering the poison as the elixir.

Notions of the collective unconscious, individuation, synchronicity, archetype, anima and animus, persona, shadow, self, dreamwork, and typology came alive for me and have contained me in a very special way since.

As Freud’s once protege and later nemesis, Jung had to forge a path that led him to trust his mystical convictions about the nature of psyche and dive into the unconscious to ferret out its truths. My sensing his triteness, was perhaps after all, a man connecting to the universality of esoteric practices, myth, ritual, and symbol and giving them credence for the western world to take note.

I certainly have, and while various schools of thought and practices have informed my path of integrating the insight I gain from the Jungian perspective, I hope to share what I know now as lived experience of numinous phenomenon while remaining at home with our humanness.

Indian Goddess of Prosperity

Saraswati, Hindu Goddess of Knowledge, Music, and the Creative Arts. 

A good one to invoke when starting a new venture.

Come On Let's Go by Broadcast

You won't find it by yourself
You're gonna need some help
And you won't fail with me around
Come on let's go

I will tell you if you change
And who's been saying things
It's hard to tell who is real in here
Come on let's go

You know who to turn to
Now everything's changed
Come on, lets go
Stop looking for answers
In everyone's face
Come on let's go

What's the point in wasting time
On people that you'll never know
Come on let's go

When you're looking for a friend
But it's empty at the end
When everybody's disappeared
You won't be alone

If you want I'll compensate
If you overestimate
So there's nothing left to fear
You won't be alone
You know who to turn to
Now everything's changed
Come on let's go
Stop looking for answers
In everyone's face
Come on let's go

What's the point in wasting time
On people that you'll never know
Come on let's go

Written by James Cargill, Patricia Ann Keenan, Richard Bancroft Stevens, Timothy Felton • Copyright © Universal Music Publishing Group

With Warm Regards for the late Trish Keenan

The Dying Swan

The Dying Swan. 1917. Russian Silent Film by director Evgeni Bauer.

Just for the beauty and sadness of it.

Red Book Dialogue: Miranda July & John Beebe

Artist, Miranda July, and Jungian analyst, John Beebe discuss the Red Book and other insightful things. This was filmed at the Hammer Museum, May 2010.

Motifs in Black Swan

Wow, I am struck by the film Black Swan and its unnerving quality. I’m contemplating Natalie Portman’s character, Nina, as holding the light and dark aspects of the Princess archetype, a motif or primordial pattern of nature and psyche.The more she pushes to split off her darkness, the more the passion/energy it illicit to take over, as if by possession in reaction to the polarizing pull of expectations.

I appreciated the layer of building this story over the already tragic story of Swan Lake, based on a Russian folktale about Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer. This male presence could be considered the negative animus possession, the inner masculine side of woman that is compulsively driving her to consider the truth of her logic, and if positively mediated brings about consciousness.

I was able to attend a presentation by the film director Darren Aronofsky. It appeared to be quite a feat to get this film produced and I couldn’t help but consider how poignant it is for this material to be coming into collective consciousness.

I consider the 1948 film “Red Shoes” about a ballet dancer torn between love and her career, as a predecessor. Then and even still, it seems, the lead feminine must die to not compromise the ideals placed upon it. A heavy burden to carry.

Certainly rich imagery, themes, and topics for exploration.

Deep Living

“The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself.”

—

Anais Nin