Foundations Certificate Program Curriculum and Class Summary

September 2024 – May 2025 Curriculum and Class Summary
What follows is the curriculum and class summaries for the 2024 -2025 Foundations Program.  You will note that the class descriptions include suggested readings and those for further study.  C. G. Jung’s Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1961) is a foundational text, and it is strongly recommended that all participants purchase or have access to it.  You are also strongly encouraged to do as much of the listed readings as possible ahead of each class. Where possible, shorter articles and essays will be made available to participants in pdf format.  Reminders and any additional reading materials or relevant information will be conveyed to participants in the month leading up to scheduled classes.

Familiarizing yourself with the suggested readings and additional material – letting it stir and activate your curiosity and imagination – will enhance your experience in class, and of the program more generally.

 


COURSE TITLE: Jung and Freud

PRESENTER: Paul Sanderson, D.Min., PhD, IAAP

DATE: September 21, 2024: 10:00 am – 12:30 pm, and 1:30 – 4:00 pm (5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION
We will meet the two founders of Depth Psychology: Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung.  We will begin with brief biological sketches with special attention to how each of them, as wounded healers, discovered the presence and importance of the unconscious realm of the psyche.  Then we will explore how they differed in their understanding of the unconscious, dream interpretation, and the psychology of religion.  Participants will learn how Freud and Jung’s psychology of the unconscious arose out of their personal and professional lives, how they differed in their interpretation of dreams, and how they differed in their understanding of the psychology of religion.

 

SUGGESTED READING

  • Jung, C. G., Memories, Dreams, Reflections, New York: Vintage Books, 1961.
  • Jung, C. G., Psychology & Religion, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1938.
  • Jung, C. G., Dreams, Princeton, New Jersey: Bollingen Series, Princeton University Press, 1974.

 

FACULTY
Paul Sanderson, D.Min., Ph.D. is a Licensed Psychologist and a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in Massachusetts; a Diplomate in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors; a Certified Jungian Psychoanalyst; and is an Ordained Minister in the United Church of Christ.  He taught psychology at Assumption College for twenty-five years.  In addition to his private practice (in person and on-line) in Foxborough, Massachusetts, he serves as Pastor of the First Community Church of Southborough.  He is married with three children, six grandchildren, and is a big fan of Pink Floyd and the New York Yankees.

 


COURSE TITLE: Jung’s Map of the Psyche

PRESENTER: Annette Hanson, LCMHC, IAAP

DATE: October 19, 2024: 10:00 am – 12:30 pm (2.5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This class will provide a broad overview of how Jung perceived the structure and the functioning of the psyche.  Participants will be introduced to Jung’s basic concepts and the essential components of the psyche: the ego, the personal, cultural and collective unconscious, the shadow, the persona, the complexes, the archetypes and the archetype of the Self.  We will explore Jung’s notion of individuation, which is the widening and deepening of the conscious mind as a means for coming into one’s wholeness.  Jung called the ongoing journey of individuation, living the symbolic life, a life that is directed not wholly by the conscious mind, but by a different center.  From this center of Jung’s map of the psyche, the archetype of the Self guides one’s being by offering deeper meanings to life as they are expressed through dreams, images, fantasies and symbols.

Participants will gain a better understanding of Jung’s essential components of the psyche, and further comprehend how the components of the psyche dynamically relate to one another and either prohibit or promote growth.  Finally, participants will be able to articulate how the unconscious made manifest through symbols guides the Individuation process.

 

SUGGESTED READING

  • Kast, Verena, The Dynamics of Symbols: Fundamentals of Jungian Psychotherapy
  • Lockhart, Russell A., Psyche Speaks: A Jungian Approach to Self and World
  • Whitmont, Edward, The Symbolic Quest: Basic Concepts of Analytical Psychology

 

FACULTY
Annette Hanson, LCMHC, IAAP, is a senior Jungian Analyst, a faculty member and past president of the C. G. Jung Institute of New England.  She is also a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in both NH and MA.  Annette has taught analytic training seminars on the Jungian clinical process and fundamental Jungian theory as well as several public lectures on psychoanalytic theory, attachment theory and Jungian theory.  Annette is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Analytic Psychology.  She lives and has a private practice in Newmarket, NH.

 


COURSE TITLE:  Psychological Types

PRESENTER: Chris Beach, J.D., IAAP

DATES:

  • October 19, 2024: 1:30 – 4:00 pm, (2.5 hours) and
  • November 16, 2024: 10:00 am – 12:30 pm (2.5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION
My life has been permeated … by one idea and one goal:  namely, to penetrate into the secret of the personality.  …  [E]very judgment made by an individual is conditioned by his personality type… and every point of view is necessarily relative.  C. G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, pp. 206 – 07.

Jung’s Psychological Types (1921) has profoundly influenced the field of psychology.  The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is, for example, one of the most widely administered psychological instruments in the United States.  Its results are used to help individuals with their relationships, social environments, careers, and individuation. This five-hour seminar over two days is designed to help the student better understand their type and also learn to identify the psychological types of others.  We will take examples from everyday life, history, dreams, film, and literature to see how and how much psychological type affects our lives.

Participants will learn about their psychological type, each of their eight functions and the archetypal energies associated with them.  Additionally, participants will become familiar with how a given psychological type can affect awareness, processing, and decision-making.  As such a more conscious awareness of psychological type and the eight functions contributes to the process of individuation.

Please note: Knowledge of your psychological type will help you get the full benefit of this course.  If you are unsure of your psychological type, Chris strongly recommends contacting him at (207) 772-2779 at least a month prior to the course.  He will suggest steps you can take to learn about your type, including taking the MBTI.

 

SUGGESTED READING
Knowing Yourself in Depth:  Psychological Type from a Jungian Perspective by Chris Beach.  You can obtain this 180-page manual from Chris at his cost of reproduction = $30 per copy.  Or you may get a copy at the Institute in Newton.  It contains most of the information that this course covers.

 

FOR FURTHER STUDY

  • Beebe, John.  Energies and Patterns in Psychological Type.  New York:  Routledge (2017).
  • Briggs-Myers, Isabel.  Gifts Differing.  Palo Alto:  Consulting Psychologists Press (1989).
  • Haas, Leona, & Hunziker, Mark.  The Building Blocks of Personality Type.  Telos Publications (2006).
  • Jung, C. G.  Psychological Types.  C.W., Vol. VI.  Princeton:  Princeton Univ. Press (1971).
  • Von Franz, Marie-Louise.  Jung’s Typology.  “The Inferior Function.”  Dallas:  Spring Publications (1971)

 

FACULTY
Chris Beach, J.D., IAAP, is a Jungian analyst with a private practice in Portland, Maine.  He works extensively with psychological type as a counselor and teacher.  Earlier, he worked as a secondary school headmaster in Kenya and as an assistant attorney general in Maine.

 


COURSE TITLE: Complexes: Do we have them? Or do they have us? A class on Jung’s “Healthily Dissociable” Theory

PRESENTER:  Patricia Vesey-McGrew, LP, IAAP

DATES:  November 16, 2024: 1:30 – 4:00 pm (2.5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Jung’s unique structural understanding of the psyche was one of his most significant contributions to the field of depth psychology.

Complexes are in truth the living units of the unconscious psyche. – C.G Jung

Complexes, thus, are often experienced as both blessing and curse. As the basic structural components of the personal psyche they enlarge, add depth and richness to the personality. However, they frequently thwart the intentions of the ego, often causing illusory perceptions, problematic thoughts and behaviors and, not infrequently, intense suffering. Not only do we all have complexes, in fact it is far more often the case that our complexes have us. –  C.G. Jung

This class will explore the nature of complexes and their tendency to erupt and overtake the ego as well as their ability to expand and enrich the psyche of the individual. Additionally, we will review the core complexes: Ego, Self, Persona, Mother, Father, Shadow, Divine Child.

Participants will gain a clear, detailed, nuanced understanding of complex theory and its primacy in Analytical Psychology.  Participants will acquire skills that enable them to differentiate specific complexes, with their unique characteristics, and thus be able to operationalize that knowledge in a greater awareness and comprehension of intrapsychic and interpersonal dynamics.  Finally, participants will develop a symbolic lens, language, and posture that facilitates holding or containment of paradox and tension in the experience of complex eruptions, which will hopefully assist in the constellation of the transcendent function.

 

SUGGESTED READING

  • Jung, C.G. 1934. A review of the complex theory. In Collected Works, Vol. 8, 92-104 2d ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.
  • Bovensiepen, Gustav. 2006. Attachment-dissociation network: some thoughts about a modern complex theory. Journal of Analytical Psychology 51/451-466
  • Vesey-McGrew, P. (2010). ‘Getting on top of thought and behavior patterns’. In Jungian Psychoanalysis, ed. M. Stein. Chicago & La Salle, Illinois: Open Court.

 

FACULTY

Patricia Vesey-McGrew, LP, IAAP, is a supervising and training analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute of New England, where she is a past president and currently on the Institute Board. Additionally, she is former Deputy Editor (US) on The Journal of Analytical Psychology and is currently a member of the editorial committee. She has a private practice in Rockport, MA.

 


COURSE TITLE: Archetypes

PRESENTER:  Michael Conforti, Ph.D., IAAP

DATES: December 14, 2024: 10:00 am – 12:30 pm (2.5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

It was the brilliance of Jung, von Franz and the early Jungians to see in the archetypes the self-organizing tendency of the psyche and how these components of the “antique soul” are represented in our dreams and fantasies.   Jung suggested that archetypes function as morphological constants within the Psyche.  This realization was later echoed by Von Franz who viewed the archetypes as “Nature’s Constants.”  Both comments speak to the eternal and innate presence of archetypes within the personal and collective psyche, and how they literally shape personal and collective life.

However, the profundity of these discoveries is unfortunately being eclipsed by modernity which tends to understand and view universal and archetypal images through the lens of our very personal and subjective experiences.  This personal circumambulation too often eclipses the archetypal and spiritual meaning of the image.

Through the presentation and detailed examination of a dream we will look at the relationship and differences between a personal and archetypal understanding of images.  We will come to see the utter beauty and profundity of this voice of Psyche as it speaks to us about life, love, destiny, and most importantly, about our relationship to the sacred.

SUGGESTED READING

  • Jung, C.G. 1934. A review of the complex theory, in Collected Works, Vol. 8, 92-104 2d ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.
  • Kaufmann, Yoram.  The Way of the Image: The Orientational Approach to the Psyche, Zahav Books, Inc.,  (2009)
  • Osterman, Elizabeth. “Patterning in the Psyche and the Natural World”


FACULTY

Michael Conforti, Ph.D., IAAP, is a Jungian analyst and the Founder and Director of the Assisi Institute. He is a faculty member at the C.G. Jung Institute of New England, the C.G. Jung Institute of New York, and for many years served as a Senior Associate faculty member in the Doctoral and Masters Programs in Clinical Psychology at Antioch New England. A pioneer in the field of matter-psyche studies, Dr. Conforti is actively investigating the workings of archetypal fields and the relationship between Jungian psychology and the New Sciences.

He has presented his work to a wide range of national and international audiences, including the C.G. Jung Institute – Zurich and Jungian organizations in Australia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Italy, Russia, South Africa, the Ukraine and Venezuela.

He is the author of Threshold Experiences: The Archetype of Beginnings (2007) and Field, Form and Fate: Patterns in Mind, Nature, and Psyche (2002). His articles have appeared in Psychological Perspectives, The San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal, Roundtable Press, World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution, and Spring Journal. His books have been translated into Italian, Russian, and a soon to be released Spanish edition of his work.

 


COURSE TITLE:  Jung’s Concept of Individuation and the Analytic Process

PRESENTER:  Brian Hobbs, M.Ed., CAGS, IAAP

DATES:  December 14, 2024: 1:30 – 4:00 pm (2.5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Though the term was coined by an alchemist in the sixteenth century, the concept of individuation was taken up by C.G. Jung and became a critical aspect of his theoretical framework. Over his lifetime his definition of this term was articulated by him in different ways. In 1921, in Volume 6 of his Collected Works, he defined individuation as “the process by which individual beings are being formed and differentiated; in particular, it is the development of the psychological individual as a being distinct from the general, collective psychology. Individuation, therefore, is a process of differentiation, having for its goal the development of the individual personality…”

In this seminar we will explore the implications of this concept, it’s place in Jung’s model of the psyche, and its connection, traced by subsequent Jungian theorists, to an understanding of individual development based on narcissistic dynamics within the psyche. We will read in class and reflect on a fairy tale, The White Parrot, as a way of grasping, on a symbolic level, the relations between the ego and the unconscious involved in this process. Finally, as part of our overall discussion we will consider the role of the analyst and the influence of the analytic process in the patient’s journey of individuation.

At the completion of the seminar, participants will be able to articulate Jung’s concept of individuation, identify at least three critical factors in the process of individuation, and cite a brief example of the individuation process at work from life experience, clinical experience, literature, film or other symbolic source.

 

SUGGESTED READING

  • Jung, C.G. (1933). “A Study in the Process of Individuation.” In: The Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious, CW 9,I. Princeton University Press.

 

FOR FURTHER STUDY

  • Cavalli, Alessandra. “Identification – obstacle to individuation, or, on how to become ‘me.’ “ Journal of Analytical Psychology, vol. 62 (2017), no. 2, 187-204.
  • Jacoby, Mario. (1990). Individuation and Narcissism: The Psychology of the Self in Jung and Kohut. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Von Franz, Marie- Louise. (1997). Individuation and Fairy Tales. Boston and London: Shambhala.

 

FACULTY

Brian Hobbs, M.Ed., CGS, IAAP, is a graduate of the CG Jung Institute of New England and a member of the faculty at the Institute. He maintains an analytic practice in Princeton, MA.

 


COURSE TITLE: Introduction to Jung’s Red Book

PRESENTER: Stephanie Buck, PhD, IAAP

DATE: January 18, 2025: 10:00 am – 12:30 pm (2.5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

C.G. Jung’s Red Book is one of the most important works in his corpus.  More than any other of his writings, the Red Book is Jung’s testament to the reality of the autonomous psyche.  Within its pages, Jung sets forth in words and images the story of his experientially based inner journey, embarked upon at mid-life during a period of great inner turmoil.  To make sense of the inexplicable phenomena he was experiencing following the ending of his relationship with Freud, Jung conducted a scientific investigation with himself as subject.  In the process, he came to understand that what he had undertaken as self-experiment was a ‘descent journey’, a journey not his alone, but an archetypally-configured one – a Nekyia – formed over thousands of years of human development and given expression world-wide in myths and tales of the hero’s journey.  This introductory course provides an overview of the The Red Book and the historical context in which it is situated. The first painting which begins the work is discussed for its psychological-symbolic significance.

As a result of attending this course, learners will be able to explain what The Red Book is and why it is important; describe the psychological-symbolic stages of the hero’s journey and its relevance to Jung’s journey of individuation as documented in The Red Book; explain what the technique of active imagination is, how it is facilitated, and its psychological function in supporting the individuation process; and apply the symbolic-synthetic interpretive approach to imagistic material.

 

SUGGESTED READING

  • Jung, C.G. (2009).  “Liber Primus”.  The Red Book.  A Reader’s Edition, pp. 115-194.
  • Jung, CG (1965).  “Confrontation with the Unconscious” (Chapter 6). In Memories, Dreams, Reflections, pp. 170-199.
  • Jacobi, J. (1959).  “Symbol”.  Complex, Archetype, Symbol in the Psychology of C.G. Jung, pp. 74-118.
  • Jung, C.G. (1935).  “The Tavistock Lectures”.  The Symbolic Life (CW 18), para. 390-415).
  • Shamdasani, S, ed. (2009).  ‘Liber Novus The Red Book of C.G. Jung’ in The Red Book Liber Novus:  A Reader’s Edition pp. 1-104).

 

FACULTY

Stephanie Buck, PhD, IAAP, is a Jungian analyst who lives in New York State where she maintains a teletherapy private practice. She is a graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago.  She is Past-President of the C G Jung Institute of Chicago (2020-2022), past Analyst-Director of the Jungian Psychotherapy Program/Jungian Studies Program (2018-2020) and has taught in the Analyst Training Program of the Chicago Institute. She currently teaches in the Analyst Training Program of the C.G. Jung Institute of New England of which Institute she is also a member and holds society membership in the Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts.  Her interests include Jung’s early writing with its focus on the irrational dimension of reality which led to his mature work on synchronicity and his creation of The Red Book, Jung’s most marvelous document on the individuation journey and how it is enabled. Dream work and working with the active imagination through creative means are important aspects of the therapy-analytic process. For more information, please visit Stephanie’s website at stephaniebuck.com.

 


COURSE TITLE: Jung on Dreams

PRESENTER: Jill Fischer, PsyA, APRN, IAAAP

DATE: January 18, 2025: 1:30 – 4:30 pm (3.0 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

In this class we will discuss what Jung wrote about dreams (a history) and the evolution of his work that has remained the foundation of more contemporary thoughts and methods of working with dreams. This class will also include an experiential component.

Participants will develop a general understanding of Jung’s ideas around the nature and function of dreams, the phenomenology of dreaming, and become familiar with more contemporary thoughts and methods of working with dreams.

 

SUGGESTED READING

  • Jung, C.G., Dreams. Princeton University Press; Revised edition, (2010).
  • Bosnak, Robert. Embodiment: creative imagination in medicine, art, and travel. London: Routledge, (2007).
  • Chodorow, Joan (Ed). Jung on active Imagination. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press (1997).
  • Lippmann, Paul. Nocturnes: on listening to dreams. Analytic Press (2000).
  • Nixon, Dan, The body as mediator (2020)
  • The phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty and embodiment in the world | Aeon Essays

 

FACULTY

Jill Fischer, PsyA, APRN, IAAP, is a Jungian Analyst and board-certified advanced nurse practitioner with worldwide experience working with the dreams of individuals and groups both in-person and on the Internet. She is a training, supervising analyst and past president of the CG Jung Institute of New England and is co-chairman of the Ethics Committee for the IAAP. Jill cowrote the section on Embodied Imagination in Barrett, Diedre and McNamara, Patrick, editors. Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreams [2 volumes]: The Evolution, Function, Nature, and Mysteries of Slumber, Greenwood, 2012.

 


COURSE TITLE: Alchemy: Projections from the Collective Unconscious

PRESENTER: David Oswald, M.S., IAAAP

DATE: February 15, 2025: 10:00 am – 12:30 pm (2.5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Alchemy played an important role in Jung’s development of his theory of archetypes and the collective unconscious.  This medieval theory and practice about the composition and transformation of metals was incorrect, yet Jung saw it as an impersonal attempt at psychological transformation that was projected onto the metals.  We will examine alchemy’s theory and several of its imaginatively illustrated manuscripts to help understand the psychological content of this projection and express it in our modern psychological language.

Participants will gain an understanding of Jung’s involvement with alchemy, an understanding of the basic theory of alchemy, the process of psychological projection, and the attempt at individuation that is reflected in alchemy’s theory.

 

SUGGESTED READING

  •  Jung, C.G: Psychology and Alchemy, (CW Vol. 12) esp. Parts I and III
  • Principe, Lawrence, The Secrets of Alchemy (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2013) esp. chapters 3-5
  • Rosarium Philosophorum (English: http://www.alchemywebsite.com/rosary0.html) as patience allows

 

FACULTY

David Oswald, M.S., IAAP is a Jungian Analyst in private practice in the Boston area.  He is a graduate of the C.G. Jung-Institute in Zürich and a lecturer at the C.G. Jung Institute of New England.  He is also a psychodrama group leader and a translator of the Duino Elegies by the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke.

 


COURSE TITLE: The Interpretation of Fairy Tales and Its Relevance in Jungian Analysis

PRESENTER: Zuzana Plesa, Ed.D., IAAP

DATE: February 15, 2025: 1:30 – 4:00 pm (2.5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Fairy Tales speak to us personally.  How does a fairy tale speak to you?  They give expression to unconscious processes which come to our awareness as we read and reread them.  They resonate with the fundamental aspects of human experience.  We will read and discuss several fairy tales to see what message they bring to you.

As a result of attending this class participants will experience the Jungian approach to the study of fairy tales, learn how to read and understand fairy tales from a symbolic perspective, and see in the fairy tales an effective tool for cultivating self-reflection and psychological self-awareness.

SUGGESTED READING

  • Von Franz, Marie Louise, Introduction to Fairy Tales
  • The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
  • Meyer, Rudolf, The Wisdom of Fairy Tales


FACULTY

Zuzana Plesa, Ed.D., IAAP is a Jungian analyst who trained in and received her diploma in Kusnacht-Zurich, Switzerland.  While in Switzerland, she trained closely under Dr Katrin Asper and Dr. Uhrs Mehlin.  She saw clients while working in Germany and England mostly who were in the military.  She also worked with American civilians who were working overseas.  She has worked with active-duty military and their families in Iceland, Guam, Korea, Alaska, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia and Florida.  Presently she works with Military One Source seeing active-duty military and their families via Zoom.  The clients are in Florida and overseas.  She presented a lecture on rituals via Zoom through the Maine Jung Center.  She is also a member of Friends of Jung – South which is a group out of Birmingham, Alabama.  She published a book entitled Belongings.  The book and video of her doll collection are on the website of The Toy Museum of New York. Zuzana lives and works in Niceville, Florida which is surrounded by military bases.

 


COURSE TITLE: Jung and Anthropology

PRESENTER: Francine Lorimer, Ph.D., PsyD., IAAP

DATE: March 15, 2025: 10:00 am – 12:30 pm (2.5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This class will provide an overview of the relevance of cross-cultural comparison for Jung’s notion of the psyche. We will look at how Jung drew on anthropology to support his theory of the collective unconscious and individuation. The course points out differences between Jung’s understanding of anthropology and contemporary socio-cultural anthropology. It also describes discussions among Jungians today of the racism implicit in the way Jung wrote about non-western cultures. We will conclude with some examples of how contemporary Jungians continue to draw on Jung’s anthropological orientation to offer their patients meaningful ways of understanding dreams and the challenges of personal development.

As a result of attending this course participants will be able to Identify anthropological terms that Jung drew on to support his notion of the psyche while also providing some examples of limitations to Jung’s approach to anthropology, from a contemporary perspective.  Participants will also be able to discuss how awareness of patriarchy, colonialism and Eurocentricity help us adapt Jung’s anthropological approach in ways that are additionally receptive to contemporary populations and concerns.

 

SUGGESTED READING

  • Adams, M. V. (1996). Chapter 3: The cultural unconscious and collective differences, In The Multicultural Imagination. Routledge, pp. 36-50.
  • Fleischer, K. (2023). Collective trauma, implicit memories, the body, and active imagination in Jungian analysis. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 68, 2, 395-415.
  • Jung, C.G. (1959 [1934]). Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious, CW 9(1): 3-41.
  • Ong, A. (2010). Chapter 9: “Spirits of Resistance”, (pp. 195-213), and Chapter 10: “Conclusion”, (pp. 215-221). In Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline. Factory Women in Malaysia, 2nd Ed.

 

FACULTY

Francine Lorimer, Ph.D., PsyD., IAAP, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Arlington, MA. She did her analytic training in Zurich and Boston. Prior to training as a Jungian analyst, she was an anthropologist, with a focus in cultural and psychological anthropology. She also trained as a clinical psychologist at William James College and has done practicums and internships in community mental health, inpatient hospital, child-focused, cross-cultural-focused, and psychological testing centers. She practices Jungian analysis and talk therapy, with a focus on dreams, self and individuation, transference, creativity, and healing from narcissistic wounding.

 


COURSE TITLE: The Symbols of the Tarot

PRESENTER: Rick Bouchard, LCSW, IAAP

DATE: March 15, 2025: 1:30 – 4:00 pm (2.5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Using the archetypal images of the tarot, we will make these images come alive and explore how to interact with them when they appear in our lives, and for those in clinical practice, when they appear in the consulting room.

Participants will identify 3-5 of the major archetypes in the Major arcana and discuss how they analogize to major archetypes discussed by Jung. In addition, participants will be able to discuss the complexes and archetypal dynamics represented in the tarot as they might apply to clinical practice or to the understanding and improving of human relationships more generally.

Please note: Participants are encouraged to bring a tarot deck to class (the original or the Radiant Ryder-Waite deck, if possible).  For those who do not, the cards will be illuminated via PowerPoint.

 

SUGGESTED READING

  • Bouchard, Rick.  The Introduction to Rick’s Diploma Thesis for graduation from the C.G. Jung Institute of New England on The Use of the Tarot in the Jungian Analyst. (2015)

 

FOR FURTHER STUDY

  • Gad, Irene.  Tarot and Individuation: A Jungian Study of Correspondences with Cabala, Alchemy, and the Chakras.  Nicolas-Hays, Inc; 2nd edition.  (2004)
  • Nichols, Sallie. Tarot and the archetypal journey: The Jungian path from darkness to light. Weiser Books. (2019)

 

FACULTY

Rick Bouchard, LCSW, IAAP is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice in Southern Maine. He is a Jungian analyst having graduated from the C.G. Jung Institute of New England (then the C.G. Jung Institute of Boston).  He is currently in a doctoral program in Modern Psychoanalysis at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, currently ABD and working on his dissertation on the Indian caste system and Untouchables (Dalits) who have emigrated to the United States.

 


COURSE TITLE:  Jung, Nature and Psyche

PRESENTER: Teresa Arendell, PhD., IAAP

DATE:  April, 19, 2025: 10:00 am – 12:30 pm (2.5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

One of Jung’s principal concerns regarding human psychology was the modern separation of Nature and Psyche. In innumerable essays, lectures, and letters, Jung referred to this fundamental split in western culture, asserting that this division has disastrous consequences for not only humanity but also the planet. The scope of the current disunity of humankind with Nature is distinctive in history; until only recent centuries, human consciousness experienced Nature and Soul as being inextricably unified and dynamic. Jung argued that a fundamental element of the new mythology, essential for the well-being of the human soul, is the remembrance of the interrelatedness of all things.

At the completion of this lecture, participants will be able to discuss the significance of the Nature and Psyche split to Jung’s modern depth psychology.  In addition, participants will be able to provide a general overview of the conceptual and practical effects of patriarchy on the Nature and Psyche. And link Jung’s critique of the separation of Nature and Psyche to Ecopsychology (including Deep Ecology).

 

SUGGESTED READING

  • Baring, Anne. 2019. The Great Challenge of Our Time: Awakening to a New Story. Feminist Theology, Vol. 28(1): 35-51.
  • McCallum, Ian. 2008. Ecological Intelligence: Rediscovering Ourselves in Nature. Fulcrum Publishing.
  • Jung, Carl. 1976. Healing the Split (part 7), Symbols and the Interpretation of Dreams. In Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Vol. 18. Princeton University Press (p. 253-265).

 

FACULTY

Teresa Arendell, PhD, IAAP, is a Maine-based Jungian analyst who trained at the C. G. Jung Institute – Boston. She has offered courses and lectures and served on committees at the Maine Jung Center, the C.G. Jung Institute, Boston, and other Jungian associations. She was a college professor in sociology for over three decades and held multiple postdoctoral fellowships. She’s working on a book exploring Jungian thought and practice in relation to climate devastation.

 


COURSE TITLE: The Transcendent Function

PRESENTER: Pamela Donleavy, J.D., IAAP

DATE: April, 19, 2025: 1:30 – 4:00 pm (2.5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Jung wrote an essay entitled The Transcendent Function in 1916 and then placed it in his files.  Although he mentioned it as a function several times in his writings, it wasn’t well described until the essay was found in 1953 and published by the Student Association of the C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich.  It was made public in 1959 and updated with a prefatory note and some revisions made by Jung just two years before his death.

In this class we explore the transcendent function by examining Jung’s writings, and by means of examples provided by dreams, imagination, and reflections on the analytic process.  We arrive at a deeper understanding of this often-mysterious aspect of the psyche which seeks to reconcile the tension between the opposites of an individual’s conscious and unconscious perspectives and experiences in the interest of psychological growth.  We will also discuss ways in which consciousness can work to facilitate the workings of this important function in the psyche.

At the conclusion of this course participants will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the Jungian concept of the transcendent function.  Further, participants will understand how the transcendent function manifests in one’s psyche and in the analytic process and learn ways to facilitate its working in individuals, groups, and societies.

 

SUGGESTED READING

  • Jung, C.G. (1953). The Transcendent Function, CW8, pgs. 67 – 91. Bollingen Foundation, New York, NY.
  • Miller, Jeffrey C. (2004).  The Transcendent Function, Chapter 7.  State University of New York Press
  • Bovensiepen, Gustav (1993).  The Body as Container for the Transcendent Function, pgs 242-249. In Chicago 92, The Transcendent Function: Individual and Collective Aspects: Proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress for Analytical Psychology. Daimon Verlag, Einsiedeln, Switzerland.

 

FACULTY

Pamela Donleavy, J.D., IAAP, is a Jungian Analyst in private practice in Arlington, MA. She is a former state and federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, is the past President of the C.G. Jung Institute – Boston, and was on the Board of Directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. Pamela is an author of several articles, and a book titled Themis: Ancient Myth, Modern Healing, published by Routledge.

 


COURSE TITLE: The Wounded Healer

PRESENTER: Penelope Tarasuk, PhD., IAAP

DATE: May 17, 2025: 10:00 am – 12:30 pm (2.5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Using examples from mythology, dreams, art, and story we will reflect upon the concept of the Wounded Healer. Who wounds? Who Heals? Can we take responsibility for wounding others personally or as a professional, even in the subtlest ways? Can we own and heal ourselves? We will reflect on the inflation of identifying with just being wounded or just being a healer.

Participants will gain a beginning understanding of what is meant by the descriptor: “wounded” in the context of being a psychotherapeutic or psychoanalytic patient.  In addition, participants will gain a further understanding of Jung’s concept of the archetype in general, as it applies to the concept of the “Healer,” in particular.  Finally, participants can begin to describe the dynamic psychological process of “holding the tension of the opposites.”

 

SUGGESTED READING

  • Dunne, Claire. Carl Jung: Wounded Healer of the Soul-An illustrated bibliography (London: Watkins. New York: Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation, 2000).
  • Merchant, John. Shamans and Analysis: New Insights on the Wounded Healer. (New York & Canada: Routledge, 2012
  • Smith, C. Michael. Jung and Shamanism: In Dialogue. Retrieving the Soul/Retrieving the Sacred. (New York, & New Jersey: Paulist Press, 2007).

 

FACULTY

Penelope Tarasuk, PhD, IAAP, the first Jungian Analyst to have been trained at the C.G. Jung Institute of Boston – now New England (1978-88), was born in Washington D.C., has lived in Panama, Seoul, South Korea, Santa Fe, NM and primarily in MA.

An artist since childhood, she studied art and psychology, including advanced study Family Systems Therapy, Tibetan Buddhist studies, and completed a Ph.D. in 2002. She has worked on the front lines of human services and community mental health. Penelope brings over 50 years of experience in psychology to individuals, families, groups, and communities through her work: in-patient treatment, residential facilities, schools, community mental health centers and private work. Her workshops and lectures in the United States and abroad focus upon dreaming, active imagination, nature, art, and breathwork. Deepest interests: accessing the heart of creativity through dreams, images and symbols, art & writing, and being in nature. She is devoted to supporting the development of spiritual life.

A former member of the Training Board of the C.G. Jung Institute – Boston, Penelope is currently a senior training analyst, supervisor, and faculty member of the C.G. Jung Institute of New England. Her book, Polishing the Bones, (London, Muswell Hill Press, 2017, now Aeon Press) is about a woman artist’s analysis, individuation and dying process through dreams, nature, and loving relationships.

In 2019 Penelope became certified after a ten-year study with Dr. Stan Grof in Holotropic Breathwork. She also certified with the California Institute of Integral Studies: Certification in Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy and Research.

 


COURSE TITLE: The Symbolic Life: Religious Function of the Psyche

PRESENTER:  Jason Smith, MA., IAAP

DATE: May 17, 2025: 1:30 am – 4:00 pm (2.5 hours)

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

“Among all my patients in the second half of life — that is to say, over thirty-five — there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life. It is safe to say that every one of them fell ill because he had lost what the living religions of every age have given to their followers, and none of them has been really healed who did not regain his religious outlook.” C.G. Jung, CW11, par. 509

The living process of the unconscious, taught Carl Jung, is more aptly expressed by religious symbols than by scientific formulas. In this class we will seek to understand the nature of the symbolic life. We will consider both the psychological dimension of religion and the religious function of the psyche. We will explore what it means to live with a symbolic life and the potential consequences of living without one. Finally, we will address the question of how we can understand religious experience in an increasingly diverse and pluralistic world, and what these questions look like in the context of the psychotherapeutic setting.

This course is designed to help students recognize and describe the features of the Symbolic Life; understand the concept of the religious function of the psyche and recognize the value of this for both individual growth and clinical practice; and understand how spiritual and religious issues may manifest in the psychotherapeutic setting.

 

SUGGESTED READING

  • Smith, J. E. (2020). Religious but not religious: Living a symbolic life. Asheville, NC: Chiron Publications.
  • Jung, C. G. (1938/1969). Psychology and religion. In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C.G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans., Vol. 11, pp. 3-105). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Jung, C. G. (1954/1989). The symbolic life. In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C.G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans., Vol. 18, pp. 265-290). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

 

FOR FURTHER STUDY

  • Edinger, E. (1992). Ego and archetype: Individuation and the religious function of the psyche. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc.
  • Jung, C. G. (1931/1970). The spiritual problem of modern man. In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C.G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans., Vol. 10, pp. 74-94). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Jung, C. G. (1932/1969). Psychotherapists or the clergy. In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C.G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans., Vol. 11, pp. 327-347). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

 

FACULTY

Jason Smith, MA., IAAP, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. He is a past president of the C.G. Jung Institute of Boston (now of New England) and serves as a training analyst and faculty member for the New England Institute. Jason is the author of Religious but Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life published by Chiron Publications in October 2020.