Our part 2 coverage of Snow White discusses Anima/Animus and how it has shaped the way people perceive and project gender roles at varying points in history.
Best-selling author Elizabeth Lesser sat down with us to discuss her latest book, Cassandra Speaks:When Women are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes. Elizabeth is the co-founder of the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY. In the interview, Lesser talks about new models of power with host Patricia Martin and explains why feminine archetypes and female myths are so resonant today. Offering bright insights and deep wisdom, Lesser touches on several of Jung’s theories, including anima and animus, and shares a gem-like memory of Jungian analyst Marion Woodman, who led workshops at the Omega Center during its early years. Having Elizabeth Lesser on Jungianthology was profoundly inspiring; and we invite you to listen for yourself. In this interview they touch on:
The Omega Institute The Omega Women’s Leadership Center Archetypes Power and abuse of power Masculine theories of leadership Greek mythology as written by men The myth of Cassandra Marion Woodman Anima/Animus Simone Biles How gender roles are changing Feminist theories and practices of power How “feminine-ist” power is necessary to face contemporary problems
This episode is the first in a new series called Healing Cinema. Judith Cooper, PsyD, and Daniel Ross, PMHNP, members of the Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts, discuss films from an Jungian point of view. These informal discussions will be released in parallel with our other episodes (lectures from our archives and interviews by Patricia Martin) and will not be on any particular schedule.
In this episode, Judith and Dan discuss the 1944 film Gaslight (Wikipedia). They mention the fairy tale “Fitcher’s Bird”, so if you want to learn more about that, you can read about it on Wikipedia. They also touch on the following:
Alchemy
Animus/Anima
Beebe, John
Blackbeard fairytale
Hillman, James
Imposter Syndrome
Initiation
Kalsched, Donald
Numinous
Puella
Senex
Splendor Solis
Telos
Transcendent Function
Trauma
Trickster
Judith Cooper, PsyD is a clinical psychologist and diplomate Jungian Analyst in private practice in Chicago. She is a graduate and member of the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago. She was adjunct faculty at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology (1999-2000), teaching projective testing. She was clinical supervisor (1991-2002) and director of training (1998-2002) of an APA-accredited psychology internship program at a community mental health center in northwest Indiana. She has taught in the Analyst Training Program and lectured on the anima/animus, and the clinical use of film.
Daniel Ross, RN, PMHNP, MSN, MBA has been a nurse for 40 years and in hospice for over 30. As a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and Jungian Analyst, he brings a medical, psychiatric, and analytical perspective to the field of end-of-life care. He first completed the two-year Clinical Training Program (now the JPP/JSP) at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago then went on to complete the Analyst Training Program. He is in private practice in the northwest suburbs working with adults seeking psychotherapy and continues to see hospice and palliative care patients at the end of life. He is Co-Director of the Jungian Psychotherapy Program and Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago.
Thank you to everyone who has shared a little about themselves. If you’d like us to know who you are, click this link, and I’ll read your submission on the podcast!
Thank you to our 2020 donors who gave at the Contributing Member level and above: Barbara Annan, Usha and Ashok Bedi, Jackie Cabe Bryan, Eric Cooper and Judith Cooper, Kevin Davis, George J. Didier, Mary Dougherty, James Fidelibus, John Korolewski, Marty Manning, Dyane Sherwood, Deborah P. Stutsman, Debra Tobin, Alexander Wayne and Lynne Copp, Gerald Weiner, Karen West and James Taylor, and Ellen Young. If you would like to support this podcast, click here to join our community of supporters.
For this Women’s History Month, we’re sharing the seminar The Return of the Archetypal Feminine & the Dawn of the New “Third” in its entirety. It was recorded on January 4, 2019. From the seminar description:
The archetypal “Feminine” is back, and She’s…”unhappy.” From “Me Too,” to the trial of Larry Nassar, to the rising refusal of young adults to be defined as either “male” or “female,” opting instead for the more neutral pronoun “they,” evidence of profound change is all around us. Neumann and Whitmont tell us that consciousness can be conceived as having evolved through stages, beginning the archetypal Great Mother. Several thousand years ago, this feminine consciousness was repressed in the service of the development of “Masculine” ego consciousness, which has, for better and worse, been accomplished. We now have considerable “ego strength” but no connection to anything beyond it, hence, a good deal of turmoil in a world that feels untethered, without purpose or direction. Both “Feminine” and “Masculine” dominated cultures were necessarily one-sided otherwise each could not have developed. But, what is next? And, what is required of us so that the new “third” can emerge?
In this class we will dive deeply into the bigger story at play here – the deep, archetypal dynamics and the wisdom behind them. We will begin to think about, observe, and imagine, the next phase of consciousness. Rather than simply enacting each stage via identification, we can step back and consciously embrace the gifts and costs of each, for men and women. By holding both in a conscious, creative tension of opposites, we can facilitate the emergence of the Mercurial “Divine Child.”
Laraine Kurisko received her PhD in Clinical-Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2000 and Diplomate Jungian Analyst from the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago in 2016. Prior to beginning Analyst training in Chicago she attended the MN Seminar in Jungian Studies for nine years and the Philadelphia Seminar in Jungian Studies for one year. She has worked as a psychologist since 1987, and is currently in private practice in Eden Prairie. A Canadian by birth, she and her family enjoy their annual pilgrimage to their cottage near Sault Saint Marie, Canada, on the shores of Lake Superior.
PowerPoint: The slides are not available for this seminar.
Thank you to everyone who shared a little bit about themselves since the last episode. If you’d like us to know who you are, click this link, and I’ll read your submission on the podcast! No need to share any identifying information. This information will not be used for any other purpose.
Thank you to our 2020 donors who gave at the Contributing Member level and above: Barbara Annan, Usha and Ashok Bedi, Jackie Cabe Bryan, Eric Cooper and Judith Cooper, Kevin Davis, George J. Didier, James Fidelibus, John Korolewski, Marty Manning, Dyane Sherwood, Deborah P. Stutsman, Debra Tobin, Alexander Wayne and Lynne Copp, Gerald Weiner, Karen West and James Taylor, and Ellen Young. If you would like to support this podcast, click here to join our community of supporters.
With the current debate over the nature and content of gender, Jung’s concepts of the anima/animus are being re-examined and, in some cases, reformulated or even discarded as a means of conceptualizing psychological life. It was recorded in 1989.
This lecture is part of the set Views of the Animus, which includes the following lectures:
The views and opinions expressed in the podcasts and blog posts are those of the respected speakers or authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago.