Awakening Mythic Wisdom for Individual and Community Renewal (Live Event)

If we, like many before us, reside in a relatively dystopian period when Pandora’s box has seemingly opened untold miseries around us, then it is important to recall that on the edge of her box, and last to emerge, was hope.” – Robert Tyminski

When social, religious, and political structures become chaotic and fragmented, ancient stories and myths can reveal archetypal narratives and open possibilities for facing problems in the contemporary world – and this, in turn, can foster personal and community individuation.

Our keynote speaker, Robert Tyminski, is a Jungian Analyst who is internationally known for his writing on adolescents and the challenges they face as a result of violent conflicts, climate change, and social media. Robert, along with Jungian Analysts Dyane Sherwood and Laura Monschau, will engage with living myths that have shaped our culture and illuminate hopefulness in current dilemmas. These presentations will show how the exploration of ancient myths can foster individuation in each person’s psychic journey and deeply heal what really ails us.

Adina Davidson, Jungian Analyst and co-host of podcast “Jungian Ever-After,” will facilitate the discussion of a myth in small groups – who will, in turn, share  their findings with the larger group.  In the past, this has been a very lively part of the day.

Learning Objectives
This program is designed to help you:

1. Be able to give two reasons why Jung was fascinated with Paracelsus.
2. Describe three aspects of the analytic field as it is understood in recent times.
3. Participants will be able to identify elements of flood legends from an archetypal/analytic framework relevant to both the individual psyche, as well as the larger collective community.
4. Identify two ways that the Greek myth of Athena and Arachne is alive in the psyches of contemporary individuals.
5. Apply Joseph Campbell’s model of myth analysis to myths.

Descriptions & Speakers

The Chimera Promise: Finding Magic in Hybrids
Hybrids blend elements together in surprising, unpredictable ways. They are magical, which adds to their fascination. This lecture begins by describing a myth about hybrids, the Chimera. I will discuss where Jung refers to the Chimera. His main reference is within a 1942 essay about Paracelsus that Jung gave as a talk to commemorate 400 years since Paracelsus’s death.  I’ll review why Paracelsus was such an intriguing figure for Jung. Following this, I provide examples of hybridity that are contemporary. The three that I concentrate on are:

1. Adolescents playing with gender fluidity;
2. The collective merger with screens of all kinds that have become like auxiliary brains or selves; and
3. The analytic field.

Finally, I conclude with some thoughts about why magic still matters. Magic is a source of hope, resilience, and healing.

Robert Tyminski is a certified adult and child Jungian psychoanalyst practicing in San Francisco. He has a doctoral degree in mental health from the University of California at San Francisco and teaches in their Department of Psychiatry. He has an M.B.A. degree from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. For 14 years, he led a non-profit organization devoted to treating troubled children and their families. He is the author of several books, most recently The Psychological Effects of Immigrating, and has published articles in different professional journals on topics about adolescence, addiction, group therapy, social skills development, and dreams. Learn more at roberttyminski.com.

Listen to Patricia Martin interview Robert Tyminski on our podcast Jung in the World

Unweaving the Myth of Arachne and Athena
The myth of Athena and Arachne, from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, is the dramatic tale of Arachne, whose skill as a weaver was taken as an affront by the Athena. Athena turned her into a spider. But there is more to the story, which we will discover, and we will also have the opportunity to hear from Arachne, whose story is quite different from the version told by Ovid.

Dyane Sherwood, PhD has felt welcomed by the members of the Chicago Institute, after moving to the Midwest from the San Francisco area in 2010. She trained at the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, where she served on the Board, was Editor of Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche, and a frequent teacher for the analytic candidates and in public programs. She co-authored a book (with the late analyst Joseph L. Henderson) relating a series of alchemical illuminations to the process of depth transformation, Transformation of the Psyche: The Symbolic Alchemy of the Splendor solis (2003). She has also published on a wide range of topics, including the neurobiology of affective communication, the Lakota vision quest, and the influence of shamanism on the art of Wassily Kandinsky. She serves as a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Analytical Psychology. Her current interests include the integration of active imagination into analytic practice and alchemical images as representations of embodied awareness. Dyane has a private practice in Evanston, Illinois, and consults with individuals and groups via video-conference. She is a Certified Jungian Psychoanalyst and a Child and Adolescent Analyst (International Association for Analytical Psychology), a Teaching Member of the Sandplay Therapists of America, and a Licensed Psychologist.

Into the Water: Flood Legends as Roadmaps for Transformation
Flood legends abound in the traditional stories of peoples throughout the world.  We will explore several examples of these legends, some better known than others, from an archetypal perspective.  Flood legends, although ancient in origin, hold concurrent and potent symbols of forewarning and sustenance, as well as hope and renewal profoundly relevant to our present lives, both for the individual and the broader community.

Laura Monschau, PhD is a Jungian analyst and clinical psychologist with over twenty-five years of service in higher education. Her clinical specializations are in social justice, intersectional feminist theory and psychotherapy, trauma-informed analytic practice, and graduate student mental health. Laura works at the University of Michigan’s Counseling and Psychological Service and Rackham Graduate School, where she is a senior clinical supervisor and educator in the pre- and post-doctoral training programs. Laura provides psychotherapy for university graduate students and maintains an analytic private practice in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  She is a graduate of the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago, is a co-director of the Jungian Psychotherapy Program/Jungian Studies Program (JPP/JSP), the Director of Training assistant, and serves on its Training Curriculum committee.