Zoom Only: Revisiting Individuation, Heroism and the Feminine

Jung portrayed individuation as beginning with the death of the hero, whose attitudes of power and destruction have long dominated our culture. In contrast, his views of feminine consciousness suggest that a less ego-centric, dogmatic, and euro-centric orientation can contribute toward a more collective mode of individuation.  In this workshop, we will study the novel, The Sacred Well Murders which utilizes Jungian active imagination and amplification during the pandemic, as a means of understanding pre-patriarchial individuation myths, such as those of the Holy Grail and the Well Maidens of Logres.  Participants are encouraged to read the novel ahead of the lecture to facilitate discussion of how its feminine heroism arises from and responds to pandemic conditions and climate anxiety.

• Describe the importance of the death of the hero in Jungian psychology.
• Give an example of the expression of the feminine in one of its many plural forms.
• Distinguish the destructive, contemporary expression of the masculine archetype from the emerging feminine expression of consciousness.
• Distinguish between a collective mode of individuation versus an ego-centric mode of individuation.