“From primitive societies, to the great Greek thinkers Plato and Aristotle, to Christian tradition and mythologies around the world, the colour white has been associated with light, brightness, goodness (in a non-moralistic sense), innocence, purity (as in the virgin bride wearing white), divinity, illumination, openheartedness, harmony, beauty, peace, joy, happiness and health (Cirlot, 1962; Bentz, 1977). ‘Light is traditionally equated with Spirit . . . Its whiteness alludes to just such a synthesis of the All . . . the significance of emanation from the “Centre”, for light is also the creative force, cosmic energy . . .’ (Cirlot, 1962, p. 187).
 
Dominique Zahan, who wrote on colour symbolism in Africa, equates white to a mystical union with God that takes place during initiation rituals in many African customs where initiates are painted with white clay and a white goat is slaughtered. This union with God is not a separation from community, but a sense of a deeper integration, presence, and connectedness. ‘“There is no union with God”, a Bambara would say, ‘without the world we live in”’ (Zahan, 1977, p. 77).
 
In alchemy’s great work, or Magnum Opus, a process symbolic of spiritual evolution (turning lead into gold), white (the albedo phase) denotes ‘an indication of the success of the first part of the Magnum Opus which has been achieved after a purification process of subjective and inner evils, which we may call “private”’ (Cirlot, 1962, p. 1). The albedo phase is interpreted as the initiation of dialogue between conscious and unconscious elements in order to bring clarity through the integration of opposites and thereby recover the original purity (or wholeness) and receptiveness of the soul to ultimately receive the divine spirit (Burckhardt, 1967, pp. 183–9). The great work can be equated to Jung’s individuation process (psychological development through enquiry and self-reflection), with the proper relationship to the archetype of the Self being the goal – where the ego in relationship to the Self is analogous to the earth revolving round the sun (Jung, 1928/1971, CW 7, para. 405).
 
Edinger (1995, p. 83) describes white as a colour of primal wholeness, which is a principal characteristic of the archetype of the Self.

"Whiteness is described as symbolizing the impersonal, infinite, eternal undefined vastness that lies behind the personal, particular, concrete and ordinary phenomena of everyday life. It is the original undifferentiated whole before it has been refracted – dismembered as it were – into its particular component parts. It is the infinite and impersonal that has never been subjected to the personalizing process, that is the process which incarnates the eternal forms in personal, particular manifestations.”
 

Source:
Denise Grobbelaar (2020) The White Lion as Symbol of the Archetype of the Self
and the Cannibalization of the Self in Canned Hunting, Jung Journal, 14:2, 11-29
 
#dreamwork #jungiandreamwork #dreamappreciation #dreammeaning #dreaminterpretation #dreamanalysis #dreamalchemy #understandingdreams 
#symbolism #symbols #metaphor #archetypes #psyche #unconscious #consciousness
#colour #coloursymbolism #white #whitesymbolism
#jung #carljung #jungpsychology #jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #analyticalpsychology  
#capetownliving #capetownsouthafrica
 

Horses represents freedom, movement and power (1). If a horse appears in your life, it may be time to free yourself from constricted views and limiting beliefs. A question to ask yourself is “Where am I stuck?” Consider the manner in which you need to assert your personal power. According to Ted Andrews: “Horses bring new journeys. It will teach you how to ride into new directions to awaken and discover your own freedom and power” (Ibid, p. 282).
 
Horses have been a great ally of human kind, serving humanity in various functions, including travel, minimizing the distances between people and societies. In this way horses have helped humanity to a more expansive understanding of the world around us and the multiplicity of life.
 
For Sigmund Freud, horses represent passion and the sexual drive. I think there is so much more to it. I think horses symbolize the life drive or life force energy itself. Have you ever experienced a dream of galloping on a horse? I remember a few dreams like that, but I also had the privilege of going on some outrides in forests in the mountains.  The feeling of exhilaration, joy and aliveness is incredible. Over the ages many poets have likened riding horses to flying, with good reason..
 
Numerous legends speak of the clairvoyance of horses. They have an ability to sense what is going on in the morphic fields by picking up on the vibratory patterns or through resonance. Morphic fields underlie our mental activity, perceptions, nervous system and physical organization of all biological life forms. In a very interesting summary on morphic fields and resonance, Rupert Sheldrake explains that ‘the fields of our minds extend far beyond our brains’ (2), making it possible for horses (and other animals) to tune into our mental activity. According to Sheldrake morphic fields are self-organizing patterns of vibratory or rhythmic activity that are not static, but evolve, and contain a cumulative memory through self-resonance. This sounds like a complex kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, doesn’t it? So, we really need to actively learn to think outside our own box in order to transform our lives.
 
References:

1.  Animal Speak, Ted Andrews, 1993.
2. https://www.sheldrake.org/research/morphic-resonance/introduction

 
#Dream #Dreams #dreamwork #Dreamappreciation #Dreammeaning #dreaminterpretation #dreamanalysis #symbolism #symbols #morphicfield #resonance #wildhorses
#horse #horsemeaning #horsesymbolism #horsemedicine #horsedreams #horsesighting
#jung #carljung #jungpsychology #jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #analyticalpsychology #unconscious #consciousness #archetypes #individuation #capetown #capetownsouthafrica #capetownliving

​I recently attended an “Art, Horses and Constellations” workshop run by animal communicator, Anthea Myburgh of @UbuntuHealing.  I originally signed up for this workshop months ago after the appearance of a white horse in a soul retrieval dream.
 
The dream: “I had a little baby with me. Wanting to show her the beauty of a small glen and went to sit on the banks of a pond. I put her down, leaning her against the embankment with the water lapping against her. She was in discomfort (getting wet), feeling scared and uncontained…  I found myself elsewhere… I suddenly realized I had left the baby unattended. I was fearful she might have drowned. I returned to the pond, but she was nowhere to be seen. I gazed into the water; the shape of her head barely visible. It was shallow enough for me to grasp her. I struggled to pull her out. Panic was mounting. I laid her down, giving her mouth-mouth resuscitation, having chosen breath to enliven her rather than pumping her heart. Eventually she started coughing and I turned her on her side to drain the water. I wrapped her in a towel and held her close to me, relieved she was alive. I looked up and saw a white horse grazing in the bushes next to the pond. It looked up, gazing curiously at us. I thought what a special moment to be visited by such a beautiful animal.”
 
During the workshop we took turns viewing each other as a resource. As I was practicing seeing another as a resource, I was aware of what was happening in the ‘field’ around us… a big white mare was walking directly towards us. In the context of my dream, the approaching horse became a reminder that no-one person is the resource for others on their own, but that the whole ‘field’ supports them. When I was my turn to be the resource, the white horse walked right up to me and gently nuzzled me as if to affirm the message: We are embedded in the field around us and the whole field supports us.
 
During some ‘free play’ with the horse I realised that the different way in which they interacted with us, as constellated in the field, could be seen as a reflection of each person’s inner world. Horses are acutely sensitive to the resonance within the ‘field’.
 
#Dream #Dreams #dreamwork #Dreamappreciation #Dreammeaning #dreaminterpretation #dreamanalysis #symbolism #symbols #soulretrievaldream #whitehorse #babydreams
#horse #horsemeaning #horsesymbolism #horsemedicine #horsedreams #horsesighting
#jung #carljung #jungpsychology #jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #analyticalpsychology #unconscious #consciousness #archetypes #individuation #capetown #capetownsouthafrica #capetownliving

‘The Soul’s High Adventure’ (1) is a call to live our lives as heroic journeys. The hero myth is a deeply human mythological narrative, an archetypal pattern woven into soul. Joseph Campbell studied the hero archetype across cultures and understood this pattern to be a fundamental primordial instinctual drive in the human psyche which serve as a vessel of transformation of our consciousness.
 
The hero’s journey always begins with ‘a call to adventure’, having to leave the ordinary world and our ordinariness behind. The heroic journey is a metaphor for the process of individuation and the quest for something beyond (current) consciousness. Consciously or unconsciously, we are in search of the innermost Self, what Jung called the Archetype of the Self, or the God image within. In myths and fairy tales the hero or heroine ventures forth from a familiar world into strange and sometimes hostile lands - or they may a descent into the Underworld.  According to Campbell this is symbolic of the individual’s departure from their conscious personality, descending into the unknown uncharted regions of their psyche in search of the “ultimate boon” (2); to return back to the ordinary world with ‘the Elixir’ to share with others, having incorporated the insights from the figures encountered on the journey. Jung suggests that “the treasure hard to attain” (3) lies hidden in the deep waters of the unconscious.
 
Campbell mapped the hero’s journey in three major phases (with subphases): departure, initiation, and return. First there is a disturbance or disruption of the familiar world, throwing it off balance. In real life this may be a challenge, upheaval, set-back, crisis or loss. These are ‘the ordeals’ we have to face. The hero’s journey involves facing tests, crossing various thresholds, meeting mentors and allies, confronting enemies, and learning the rules of the ‘special world’ in ‘approaching the innermost cave’ - going deeper into themselves. The death-resurrection motif inherent in the Hero’s Journey may be seen as a purification with the hero being transformed or reborn, having sacrificed personal interest and ego-driven desires for the sake of something greater.

Written for @jungsouthernafrica 
 
References:

1.  Campbell, J. (2012). The hero with a thousand faces (3rd ed.). New World Library.
2. Campbell, J., Kudler, D., & Joseph Campbell Foundation. (2004). Pathways to bliss: Mythology and personal transformation. Novato, Calif: New World Library.
3. Carl Jung, CW 14, par. 756

 
Image credit:  https://www.oritmartin.com/
 
#jungsouthernafrica #jung #carljung #jungpsychology #jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #analyticalpsychology #unconscious #consciousness #archetypes #individuation #herojourney #heroinejourney  #jungianconcepts #selfrealization #innerworld #personality #archtypeofSelf #ego #individuality #josephcampbell
#capetown #capetownsouthafrica #capetownlife #capetownliving

Crow is inviting me to follow it. One morning, while sitting in my back garden sharing an enthralling dream during a monthly Dream Appreciation group on Zoom, a crow kept dipping into my garden, flying in and out of my secluded piece of paradise. Later in the week, returning home from an outdoor yoga class below my beloved Table Mountain, a crow flew alongside the car for a good while.  A few days later, while walking my Siberian Husky on the green belt, two cawing crows circled above me. I stood for a while, listening.
 
Why is Crow showing up for me right now? According to Ted Andrews, Crow’s message is “The secret magic of creation is calling you”. Crow is legendary for its intelligence, watchfulness, adaptability and its remarkable voice range.  Mythologically, Crow is associated with creation and the archetypal forces that surround us and is symbolic with “magic that is alive within our world every day and available to us” (p. 132).
 
There seems to be a synchronicity between Crow’s appearance and my discussed dream image of ‘the baby with the gaping wound’, whose inside was empty, except for the presence of vital organs, prominently the heart’. I meditated on the meaning of emptiness in terms of an ‘absence of presence’, but then there is also the Buddhist tenet that ‘all things are empty of intrinsic existence and nature’.
 
What started as a disturbing image turned into one of deep inspiration as I thought about it being analogous to an acorn that has to burst open to grow into the mature oak tree. This was affirmed for me while listening to Polly Young-Eisendrath’s talk on the Jung Platform’s Soulful Life summit: “Your brokenness is the door”.  Polly encourages us to engage with our brokenness which will connect us with our Purpose and lead us to enlightenment. Our deepest wounding is the gift. We need to be open to receive ‘The Teachings’.
 
The lesson I am taking from the resonance between my inner and outer worlds is that we need to connect with our feelings of suffering in order to be full participants as co-creators of this magical universe. As Leonard Cohen said: “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
 
Reference:

1. Animal Speak, Ted Andrews, 1993.

 
Image credit:
(1) Unknown
(2) Chris Wood
​
#Dream #Dreams #dreamwork #Dreamappreciation #Dreammeaning
#dreaminterpretation #dreamanalysis #symbolism #symbols
#crow #crowmeaning #crowsymbolism #crowmedicine #crowdreams #crowsighting
#woundedness #brokenness #innerchild #babydream
#jung #carljung #jungpsychology #jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #analyticalpsychology #unconscious #consciousness #archetypes #individuation #capetownsouthafrica 

“Individuation means becoming an ‘in-dividual,’ and, in so far as ‘individuality’ embraces our innermost, last, and incomparable uniqueness, it also implies becoming one’s own self. We could therefore translate individuation as ‘coming to selfhood’ or ‘self-realization’.” (1) Individuation is not the same as individualism, the latter being more ego-driven, fostering selfishness.

Due to societal conditioning and cultural programming, we are mostly asleep to our most authentic self. We remain unconscious until our ‘unlived life’ burst forth from the Unconscious. We thought we knew who we are. We have developed a cohesive personality, a suitable persona and hopefully enough ego-strength to navigate the demands of the world. However, this created ‘identity’ is partly an illusion and may crumble when the call to the individuation journey is sounded.

The individuation journey pushes a person into greater consciousness of their inner world and the tension-creating polarities threatening to sometimes pull us apart. We realised we lived in a hall of mirrors. In the service of psychic survival, we have had to adjust, adapt, compromise, and even betray our authentic nature. However, the Archetype of the Self demands expression and would go through apocalyptic lengths with repeated crucifixions of the ego until there is a reconstitution of our being. Years of inner work of making the unconscious conscious with multiple initiatory experiences (suffering) brings a more expansive view of ourselves.
​
Wholeness is achieved by healing deep splits in the psyche when we integrate aspects of our personality of which we were not conscious of – the unknown, hidden, denied or disavowed alienated parts of ourselves. These shadow aspects fall outside of our conscious awareness and include everything we don’t know or can’t observe within ourselves - our so-called spots. Joseph Campbell (2) explains: “Jung’s concept is that the aim of one’s life, psychologically speaking, should be not to suppress or repress, but to come to know one’s other side, and so both to enjoy and to control the whole range of one’s capacities; i.e., in the full sense, to “know oneself.”

Written for @jungsouthernafrica 

Citations:

1. CW, 7, ¶266.

Jung, Carl Gustav (1966), “Two Essays on Analytical Psychology,” CW 7. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
    2.   Jung, C. G., & In Campbell, J. (1976). The portable Jung. New York: Penguin Books

​Source:
https://jungiancenter.org/components-of-individuation-1-what-is-individuation/
 
Image credit: Freydoon Rassouli
 
#jungsouthernafrica #jung #carljung #jungpsychology #jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #analyticalpsychology #unconscious #consciousness #archetypes #individuation #shadow 
#jungianconcepts #selfrealization #innerworld #personality #persona #awareness #polarities #knowthyself #archtypeofSelf #ego #individuality #FreydoonRassouli #JosephCampbell
#capetown #capetownsouthafrica #capetownlife #capetownliving

​A few days ago while walking my dog in my neighbourhood, I spotted a Sunbird in a tree. The Sunbird’s beautiful iridescence colours with its metallic sheen always bring a smile to my face. Over lockdown a Sunbird, being attracted to colourful flowers, regularly visited the bright orange Strelitzia flowers in our garden.
 
As if in a dream, the Sunbird suddenly flew from the branch and fluttered around in front of me in a beautiful dance, hovering like a hummingbird, flapping its wings quickly and lightly. The Afrikaans word ‘vrolik’ came to mind, which translates to a lively, bubbly, carefree, light-hearted, high-spirited cheerfulness and merriment.
 
Sunbirds are Africa’s equivalent of the Hummingbird. There is a close resemblance in size, dazzling colours, dynamic activity and both feed primarily on nectar. They are however not related. Sunbirds are songbirds, while Hummingbirds are akin to swifts. Sunbirds are Passeriformes from the Old World. The two species are separated by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and millions of years!  Their similarities are a product of convergent evolution. Sunbirds and Hummingbirds are ecological equivalents and occupy similar niches in different ecosystems.
 
The Hummingbird as a spirit animal symbolizes an optimistic outlook, enjoyment of life, lightness of being, tireless joy and playfulness, as well as adaptability and resilience. It seems the Sunbird carries the same meaning, reminding us to play, find joy in what we do, while being present to ourselves and in our lives. According to Ted Andrews the Hummingbird teaches one “to find the miracle of joyful living from your own life circumstances” (p. 159). My witnessing the dance of the Sunbird right before me felt like a joyous miracle.
 
Bird medicine is about living in the moment, moving with breath and flying into the flow of life. “Their consciousness is in their own life process, from moment to moment”. (p. 74). Birds teach that complete and regular elimination is essential to maintain the necessary lightness for flight. This reminds me of the basic premise of mindfulness meditation, not to let thoughts and feelings get stuck in you, but letting them go!
 
What do you need to get rid off to lighten your journey in life?
 
Image Credit:

1. Southern Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris chalybeus) www.robertodemicheli.com
2. Sunbird
3. Hummingbird
4. Strelitzia flower – Birds of Paradise

 
Sources:

1. Animal Speak, Ted Andrews, 1993.
2. https://blog.londolozi.com/2020/04/27/sunbirds-africas-hummingbirds

 
#wakingdream #Dream #Dreams #Dreamappreciation #Dreammeaning #dreaminterpretation #Symbolism #animalsymbolism #animals #sunbird #hummingbird #sunbirdmeaning #sunbirdsymbolism #sunbirdmedicine #sunbirddreams #sunbirdsighting #hummingbirdmeaning #hummingbirdsymbolism #hummingbirdmedicine #hummingbirddreams #hummingbirdsighting #tedandrews #animalspeak #birdmedicine #birdteacher #Carljung #jung 

Jung believed that the human psyche is a self-regulating system that strives for growth and seeks to maintain a balance between conflicting potentialities (polar opposites) in the process of ‘individuation’. An important aspect in this process is the Ego-Self Axis, the vital connecting link between Self and ego. If the relationship between Ego and Self is injured, we may experience a sense of alienation, a lack of belonging (being at home with ourselves) and a loss of meaning/purpose.
 
The memory of an original sense of wholeness, which Jung named the archetype of the Self, lies in our deep mind. Out of this primordial ‘oneness’ or paradisal state, a separate ego-consciousness developed as an adaptation to life’s demands (which necessitates repression), anchoring us in the external world. This is the task of the first half of our lives.
 
The Self is the ego’s origin and source of energy, representing the god-image within the psyche. A strong ego or ego strength (not the same as egotistical) is necessary to function effectively in the world as well as to engage in the exploration of our personal and the collective unconsciousness, including shadow work. Jung saw the second half of our lives as a continuous return to the Self or what Edward Edinger called the Ego-Self Reunion, which lies at the heart the process of individuation.
 
The ego is the centre of the field of ordinary consciousness and constitutes our subjective sense of identity. It dictates a selective awareness which directs our attention and what is subsequently remembered. Ego organizes our thoughts, feelings and intuition, informing how we relate to the external world as well as to our own internal world. The ego is just one small part of the Self.  The Self is the sum total of the whole psyche, the centre of the total personality with all its potential, including shadow and other unconscious processes or patterns.
 
The dialogue between ego and Self is pivotal in psychic development and a move towards wholeness. As such we learn to negotiate a balance between the conflicting demands of outer reality, and the internal world with its own inner conflicts.  
 
Written for @jungsouthernafrica

Image Credit: The world soul by Robert Fludd

Sources:
https://healingintheblur.com/ego-self-axis-separation-reunion-and-trauma/
https://sirseth.net/the-ego-self-axis/
https://thisjungianlife.com/episode-162-ego-self-axis-reconnecting-with-source/
http://psychoanalyticmuse.blogspot.com/2013/01/edward-edinger-ego-self-axis.html
http://journalpsyche.org/jungian-model-psyche/
 
 #jung #carljung #jungpsychology #jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #analyticalpsychology #unconscious #consciousness #archetypes #symbolism  #individuation #shadow  #egoselfaxis #ego #self #archetypeoftheself #godimage #source #origian #oneness #wholeness #humanpsyche #growth #opposites #identity
#capetown #capetownsouthafrica #capetownlife #capetownliving
 

“Myths play a very important role in the African understanding of reality.” (1)
 
Jones M. Jaja writes that the African people regard myths as a direct expression of the universe and of their inner and outer experience of themselves in relation to the world around them. Myths are not merely symbolic or a product of human imagination. He states “Myths are seen as vehicles conveying certain facts or truths about man’s experiences in his encounter with the created order and its relation to the super-sensible world.” (1)
 
African myths are an expression of culture, history as well as man’s relationship with God and all other living beings, seen and unseen.  The purpose and value of myth in the African societal setting is both explanatory as well as acting as a socializing agent to educate the young as to meaning mysteries of the universe and humans’ place in it.
 
Various creation myths all over Africa “explain how and why the different natural phenomena came into existence, the forces behind their perfect working and the relationship that existed and still exists between man and the creator God and the universe”. (1) At the core of African cosmology is the belief in a Supreme Being (which predates the advent arrival of Christianity); a belief in the ancestors; a belief in the spiritual nature of a person and God’s imminence; and, culturally defined rites of passage. The ancestors are a source of guidance and needs to be approached through appropriate rituals.
 
“The African view of the person and worldview are founded on a holistic and anthropocentric ontology (Akbar, 1996; Kambon, 1996; Biko, 1998; Teffo and Roux, 1998; Holdstock, 2000; Eagle, 2004). This implies that humans form an indivisible whole with the cosmos (and therefore a unity with God, other human beings and nature).” (2)  At the heart of the African worldview is the idea that ‘we become persons through other persons who relate to us as persons’. This fundamental interconnectedness between self and others is reflected in the concept of Ubuntu, meaning a person is only a person through others, prioritizing the interdependence of relationships as an embodiment of our humanity (3).
 
 Written for @jungsouthernafrica
 
References:

1. Jones M. Jaja. (2014) Myths in African concept of reality. International Journal of Educational Administration and Policy Studies Vol. 6(2), pp. 9-14,  DOI: 10.5897/IJEAPS11.060
2. Henning Viljoen (2017) African Perspectives (Chapter 17). Personology : From individual to ecosystem. Cape Town: Pearson 

 #jung #carljung #jungpsychology #jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #analyticalpsychology #unconscious #consciousness #archetypes #individuation #shadow
#mythology #myths #cosmology #worldview #africanmythology #Africanmyths #Africancosmology #africanworldview
#capetown #capetownsouthafrica #capetownlife #capetownliving 
 

“The wounds arise from early losses, rejections and insufficient holding environment arising in part from experiences with the absent and blank mother. They leave behind the nagging feeling of being flawed and inadequate. Perfectionistic habits develop to compensate but do not lead to growth.” (p. 27)
 
Unease, anxiety, or perhaps even a sense of unexplained dread, low self-worth and a lack of confidence, a feeling of being an imposter or living a façade may all be symptoms of inadequate mothering. However, let’s not blame the personal mother as we know now that intergenerational trauma is passed on from parents to children; generation to generation; and that it is extremely difficult to mother properly when inadequate mothering was received.
 
We have also learned that, for optimal mothering, the mother needs to be adequately contained by the father and/or a community. Inexperienced mothers often find themselves alone in the challenging process of mothering amidst difficult circumstances. Many mothers are traumatized themselves and may dissociate from their internal world and feelings of sorrow, abandonment and betrayal in order to survive psychologically. They become absent to themselves and consequently to their children. These complex emotionally deadening internal spaces, where there is deficient relationship to self – and lack of connection to others - are transferred from mother to child. This emptiness becomes a fault line in the personality.
 
A psychologically absent mother “cannot recognize or support the child’s psychic aliveness and this denies permission for the child to exist or be separate.” (p. 14) Whether outright or subtle, maternal rejection, emotional neglect or a lack of secure attachment arrests the healthy development of the child.  A mother who is unable to relate to her child’s authentic self-expression, treating the child as a narcissistic extension of herself, can’t fulfill the child’s basic needs for love, affirmation and validation. This impacts the child’s the ability to feel and express love in a healthy manner and a self-denigration may develop. The lack of the mother as an internal anchor reverberates through the personality.  
 
References:
Susan E. Schwartz, Ph.D. THE ABSENCE OF MOTHER
https://speakingofjung.com/podcast/2019/1/18/episode-40-susan-schwartz
Image credit: Andrew Peterson 
#jungsouthernafrica #jung #carljung #jungpsychology #jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #analyticalpsychology #unconscious #consciousness #archetypes #individuation #shadow  #mother #positivemother #negativemother #mothercomplex #motherarchetype#archetypalmother #absentmother #narcassticmother #emptiness
#capetown #capetownsouthafrica #capetownlife #capetownliving