WICKED salon: Archetype of Defiance, with Angie Brenner, LICSW
Date: Saturday, May 3, 2025
Time: 7 pm – 9 pm
Cost: $25
In-person event
Come join a salon discussion in our Jungian community about the predicament of soul in a totalitarian collective situation, using an archetypal view of the enormously popular film WICKED.
By bringing the Wicked Witch of the West to the center of the story, WICKED humanizes a figure who has been a carrier of shadow projection. We will look at the Jungian understanding of shadow projection and scapegoating that has urgent messages for us today, about racialized hatred and about gendered vilification of unruly women and queer people as Other.
From a dominance paradigm, the archetypal image of the Witch and of the Monstrous justify forceful marginalization and destruction. But the green animate energy of the “law of life” is an inexhaustible and ever-returning counterforce, often emerging into consciousness as the archetypal image of the wild and strange feminine, defying attempts to eradicate her.
Focusing on the recently released film version of WICKED, we will explore what this story has to say about integrating and empowering the shadowy images that connect us to the soul of nature, and hold enormous psychic energy for defiance of authoritarianism. We will place the story of WICKED, from the distinctly American mythologem of the Land of Oz, within the context of other mythological stories of the green animate force from our cultural heritage.
We will delve into WICKED as a fairy tale, and also see the film as a collective phenomenon of this cultural moment, demonstrating how the arts work to bring forth images and stories from the deep layers of the collective unconscious needed to meet the times.
The evening will include a presentation by Jungian psychotherapist and diploma candidate Angie Brenner, and an invitation to join a discussion exploring together how the film speaks to us.
** Please make sure you’ve seen the film beforehand, as the evening will NOT include a screening of the film.**
WICKED is available for streaming on YouTube, Fandango at Home, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, and other streaming services.
Angie Brenner, LICSW, is a candidate in training at the CG Jung Institute of New England, and a psychotherapist in private practice in the Boston area. Her studies are informed by lifelong interests in the nature of the mythopoetic, our relationship with the natural world, and in feminine aspects of soul.
Date and Time:
Saturday, May 3, 2025
7 pm – 9 pm
Location: 21 Hartford Street, Newton, MA 02461
Registration:
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