Lioness Dreaming: A Somatic Approach to the Animal Ally

The essay uses transpersonal and Jungian psychologies to describe a profound encounter with an aging lioness in the South African bush. It explains somatic dreaming as a practice of intentionally dwelling with exceptional experience by focusing on the bodily responses of the dreamer and the vivid somatic aspects of the dream images, or figures, as embodied others. The autonomous figures of what transpersonal psychology calls an exceptional human experience (EHE) and Jungians describe as a numinous waking vision (in contradistinction to a night time dream) are both deeply strange and strangely familiar. What are the possibilities and challenges of somatic dreaming while awake? How might such an approach evoke and express soul? The author contends that hosting living images in and with the body can be powerfully transformative, altering the course of one’s life.

C. G. Jung’s Thoughts on the Concepts of Leader and Leadership

A review of the written record suggests that C. G. Jung had relatively little to say about leadership. It also appears that the scattered comments he did make on the topic have garnered him little credit. Sensing, however, under-acknowledged value in Jung’s offerings, the authors of the present study curate the various pieces of this material and comment on the relevance of Jung’s thoughts to the field of leadership studies. The authors suggest caution in interpreting his ideas, given the differences between social norms prevailing in Jung’s time and those current today, and recommend avenues for further application of Jung’s ideas on leadership.

Work of Redemption: King Lear and The Red Book

The Red Book by C. G. Jung remains an unexplored analogy for William Shakespeare’s King Lear. Jungian critics of the play have mainly emphasized Lear’s extraverted rationality versus his need to foster introversion and love. Jung’s visionary experiences suggest an additional pattern: a departure from an initial state of psychological dysfunction, an encounter with unconscious forces, and a return that reflects inner progress. Within this tripartite structure, the two works share many themes and image patterns; but whereas Jung achieves genuine individuation, Lear’s progress is more akin to enantiodromia than to the ideal that The Red Book proposes—a balance or unity of opposites in the creation of a new third state of being.

The Hero Versus the Initiate: The Western Ego Faced with Climate Chaos

The chaos caused by the global climate crisis is in the news in many forms and has also entered the consulting room: clients are increasingly naming their fear, despair, rage, and experience of impotence in the face of the unknown. This paper builds on the work of G. Albrecht and J. Bernstein, to investigate how we can face our feelings about climate crisis and live through this time without resorting to unhelpful defenses that block our ability to be present, engaged and effective. It examines the unconscious beliefs, habitual patterns, and defenses of the Western ego, which it presents as the mindset of Economism and the Capitalocene, and investigates its identification with the hero archetype. It pays homage to indigenous analyses of the issue in the work of J. Forbes and I Merculieff, and draws on the work of eco-ethical thinkers such as K. D. Moore, J. Butler, and A. L. Tsing, to suggest that the archetype of the initiate may be a better guide as we move into the uncertain, contingent future.

Tracking Prudence: What an Iconographic Trail Reveals about Western Culture and its Pathology

In the Middle Ages the cardinal virtue Prudence is revered and her depiction widespread. In the modern era, however, few Westerners esteem Prudence or can recognize her iconography. This article traces the evolution of the archetypal image of Prudence beginning in the fifth century through art and literature. By the modern era the formerly multifaceted Prudence becomes narrowly characterized as cautious or prudish, evidenced in popular culture (e.g., film). Her value might appear negligible. However, archetypal Prudence reemerges in Jung’s paradigm. The lens of depth psychology further reveals the current presence of archetypal Prudence within western culture, especially its prevalent pathological presentation, which may have implications for western culture’s sustainability. Prudence, as a virtue rooted in human neurobiology and the archetypal psyche, seems crucial to navigating the current manifestations of cultural and ecological chaos, perhaps demonstrating one of humanity’s current psychological tasks: to bridge human consciousness with Nature.

Psychedelic Drugs and Jungian Therapy

The authors review the history of and recent research on the psychotherapeutic efficacy of psychedelic drugs. Psychedelic drugs appear to provide access to unconscious material and, when used in a therapeutic context, may cause deep and longstanding psychological change. The psychological effects of psychedelic drugs are reviewed from the perspective of Jungian theory. A series of clinical vignettes illustrates the archetypal aspects of hallucinogenic experiences.

Archetypes: The Contribution of Individual Psychology to Cross-cultural Symbolism

When a patient reports a dream or undirected fantasy in psychotherapy, classical Jungian technique includes, among other things, comparing this material to that of cross-cultural symbolism (CCS). The validity of this aspect of the method hinges on what we think the origin of CCS is. If we believe that the lion’s share of such content comes from specific universal tendencies of the individual psyche, then it is reasonable to look to CCS as a source of clinical interpretive information. If not, however, the method loses credibility. An examination of this comparison reveals that some discussions about archetypes have been plagued by a false dichotomy of biology vs. emergence. Addressing this problem helps to organize various theories about archetypes that compare CCS into a more productive dialogue.