Jacob & Esau: On the Collective Symbolism of the Brother Motif

 by Erich Neumann (Author), Erel Shalit  (Editor), Mark Kyburz (Translator)

In 1934, Erich Neumann, considered by many to have been Carl Gustav Jung's foremost disciple, sent Jung a handwritten note: "I will pursue your suggestion of elaborating on the 'Symbolic Contributions' to the Jacob-Esau problem . . . The great difficulty is the rather depressing impossibility of a publication." Now, eighty years later, in Jacob and Esau: On the Collective Symbolism of the Brother Motif, his important work is finally published.

In this newly discovered manuscript, Neumann sowed the seeds of his later works. It provides a window into his original thinking and creative writing regarding the biblical subject of Jacob and Esau and the application of the brother motif to analytical psychology.

Neumann elaborates on the central role of the principle of opposites in the human soul,
contrasting Jacob's introversion with Esau's extraversion, the sacred and the profane, the inner and the outer aspects of the God-image, the shadow and its projection, and how the old ethic-expressed, for example, in the expulsion of the scapegoat-perpetuates evil.

Mark Kyburz, translator of C. G. Jung's The Red Book, has eloquently rendered Neumann's text into English. Erel Shalit's editing and introduction provide an entrée into Neumann's work on this subject, which will be of interest to a wide range of readers, from lay persons to professionals interested in Jungian psychology and Jewish and religious studies.

Erich Neumann was born in Berlin in 1905. He emigrated to Israel in 1934 and lived in Tel Aviv until his death in 1960. For many years he lectured and played a central role at Eranos, the seminal conference series in analytical psychology. His writings include Depth Psychology and a New Ethic, The Origins and History of Consciousness, and The Great Mother. The correspondence between C.G. Jung and Neumann was published in 2015.

Dr. Erel Shalit is a Jungian psychoanalyst in Israel and founding director of the Analytical Psychotherapy Program at Bar Ilan University. He is the author of several books, including The Cycle of Life, The Hero and His Shadow, Enemy, Cripple, Beggar: Shadows in the Hero's Path, and The Complex: Path of Transformation from Archetype to Ego.

Dr. Mark Kyburz specializes in scholarly translation from German into English and is the co-translator of C. G. Jung's The Red Book (2009). He lives and works in Zürich, Switzerland.

Title: Jacob & Esau: On the Collective Symbolism of the Brother Motif
Paperback: 126 pages
Publisher: Chiron Publications (February 1, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1630512168
ISBN-13: 978-1630512163

War of the Ancient Dragon: Transformation of Violence in Sandplay

 War of the Ancient Dragon: Transformation of Violence in Sandplay by Laurel A. Howe

From the Publisher - Laurel Howe’s War of the Ancient Dragon is a significant contribution to depth psychology. I suspect that far more would be resolved, and much less of the world’s suffering would be in vain, if only we could transform the wars in the Middle East and elsewhere into the likes of Randy's sand trays. War of the Ancient Dragon: Transformation of Violence in Sandplay is a major contribution to Jungian Psychology, Sandplay Therapy, and to the world at large. I urge you to read and to tell others about this powerfully moving book. - Mel Mathews, Publisher, Fisher King Press

ABOUT THIS BOOK
Six-year-old Randy conducts bloody wars in the sandtray, calling them "World War One," "World War Two," and "The War of the Ancient Dragon." He burns fires and bombs helpless victims, killing some and saving others. What could possibly be going on in his imagination?

The contents of his imagination—what the alchemists call the “realm of subtle bodies”—are revealed in his sandplay from one session to the next, and there we see the raw, autonomous dynamism that motivates Randy, already branded a bully and nearly expelled from first grade. We see fiery, destructive conflict, part his, part his culture’s, part lived, part projected, a conflict of archetypal opposites that engulf Randy’s personality and fuel his violent behavior.

But also from Randy’s imaginal world, out of the very war between opposites that drives him, the unknown third possibility unfolds. Allowed to exist and be seen with a paradoxical healing aim, the war fights itself out over time in the safe container of the sandtray, finds its unpredictable resolution, and gradually releases Randy from its grip. He finally emerges, calling himself “king of the bloodfire,” returned to the rule of his own emotional life. He has adapted to school, proud of his achievements, a star student in math.

Randy’s lively narratives animate his dramas and reveal the distinct hallmarks of an alchemical opus over the course of 24 therapy sessions. He remarkably echoes the words of the ancient sages such as Zosimos, who centuries ago in his own imagination witnessed the “torture” of transformation in fire.

Randy’s process is thoroughly documented and amplified, unveiling the alchemical stages of transformation—nigredo, albedo, and rubedo—in a way that helps us relate to those chapters in our own individuation struggles. Psychological Perspectives editor Margaret Johnson writes that the work is “valuable above and beyond being a case study because it remarkably grounds what can be very illusive alchemical imagery into psychological experience.”

War of the Ancient Dragon guides us through the gritty realities of the alchemical process, helping us realize how they can manifest in everyday life, dream images, and fantasy. Above all the book is a testament to the healing capacities of the imagination, the humble “star in man” that connects us to the unconscious: to unknown and unexpected developments in ourselves.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laurel Howe is a Jungian analyst who earned her diploma from the Center for Research and Training in Depth Psychology According to C.G. Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz in Zürich. She is a faculty member of the C.G. Jung Institute of Colorado, a teaching member of the International Society of Sandplay Therapy and the Sandplay Therapists of America, and an advisory board member of the Colorado Sandplay Therapy Association. She has a private practice in Lakewood, Colorado where she works with children and adults and mentors students of analytic psychotherapy and sandplay therapy. In addition to sandplay and alchemy, Laurel writes and presents lectures on the history and psychological meaning of Mary Magdalene and feminine archeological images from the Levant prior to and during the development of the Old Testament.

Title: War of the Ancient Dragon: Transformation of Violence in Sandplay
Author: Laurel A. Howe
Paperback: 166 pages
Condition: New
Edition: First
Index, Bibliography
Publisher: Fisher King Press (April 28, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10:1771690348
ISBN-13: 9781771690348

The Force Awakens

Star Wars — The Force Awakens

The Emergence of the Archetypal Feminine and Discovering a Personal Access to the Force

Dennis Merritt, PhD, Jungian Analyst and Ecopsychologist

The Force Awakens arrives at a propitious moment in the history of planet Earth. Opening days before the 2015 winter solstice and the Christian version of its celebration, its ending can be interpreted as a hope that individuals and cultures will turn towards the light of greater consciousness and have the courage to confront the roots of terrorism, violence, and the harsh realities of our deteriorating environment.

1.     The Dark Side of Life

The Dark Side in The Force Awakens is led by Supreme Leader Snoke, his generals, and a mysterious leader hell bent on finding and eliminating the last of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker. Skywalker went into exile after one of his students went over to the Dark Side. The faces of evil in real life are clearly evident in the leaders of Boko Haran, Isis, and the Muslim couple responsible for the killings in San Bernardino. Where does one draw the line on the question of evil? We see the disturbed young men who murdered children and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary and moviegoers at a theater in Aurora, Colorado. We are horrified by the policeman who pumped 16 bullets into a young black man on a Chicago thoroughfare. More subtle but far deadlier in the long run are the multitude of faces that created the systems, particularly in America, that funnel wealth to the top 1% of the population and deny the overwhelming scientific evidence of human induced climate change. Severe wealth inequality leads to a deteriorating quality of life for millions in terms of health, housing, educational opportunities, and increasing violence. Delaying action on the elimination of fossil fuels means greater losses occurring sooner from massive droughts, floods, severe storms, food and water shortages, and the creation of millions of climate refugees. We are all complicit in environmental degradation, for the activities of ours species will be responsible for the elimination of 30 to 50% of the other species on the planet mostly through the adverse effects of climate change. The strange December weather in the US is a timely reminder that all is not well in Bethlehem and beyond.

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Oberlin Ohio Workshop - The Orphan: The Psychic Drive for Wholeness

The Orphan: The Psychic Drive for Wholeness

A Workshop for Psychotherapists and Lay People in Oberlin, Ohio

Presenters: Audrey Punnett and Dyane Sherwood

Date: Saturday March 12, 2016 from
Time: 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM EST
Location: The First Church in Oberlin, Ohio

REGISTER

Dr. Punnett will show how the constellation of the orphan archetype with its accompanying feelings of isolation, anguish, and despair can act as a catalyst for the individuation process. Jungian theoretical concepts will be woven into her presentation of the case of an 11-year-old boy, including his sandplay process. Her work with the boy will also demonstrate how, when working with children, there is always the potential that parents see progress and want to end the child's therapy too soon. She will discuss how she worked with this problem and invite discussion from the participants.

Dr. Punnett will have copies of her recent book, The Orphan, for signing, which can also be ordered through the publisher, Fisher King Press.

In the afternoon, Dr. Sherwood will discuss the psyche's survival strategies in response to actually being orphaned, including the case example of a young girl and her sandplay process. We will see how the healing capacities of a child's psyche are constellated and expressed symbolically. The case example will serve as a basis of looking at ways these survival strategies also appear in situations in which a person feels emotionally abandoned, including reactions to the therapist within a therapeutic setting.

Participants need not be child therapists in order to benefit from this program and apply it to life experience and to working with patients.

Audrey Punnett, Ph.D., received her diploma in both adult and in child and adolescent analysis at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. She is also a Teaching Member and past President of the Sandplay Therapists of America (STA). She has lectured nationally and internationally on the archetype of the orphan. Her private practice is in Fresno, California.

Dyane N. Sherwood, Ph.D., received her analytic training at the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, where she was certified as both an adult and as a child and adolescent analyst. She is a Teaching Member of the Sandplay Therapists of America (STA) and International Society of Sandplay Therapy (ISST). She has taught widely on topics in Jungian psychology such as alchemy, active imagination, implicit communication, attachment, and working with trauma. She is the author of articles and book chapters, and the most recent can be downloaded from her website, http://dyanesherwood.com. She is in private practice in Oberlin, Ohio.




Fisher King Press publishes an eclectic mix of worthy books including Jungian Psychological Perspectives and a growing list of Cutting-Edge alternative titles. www.fisherkingpress.com