Humanity is in a Dark Night of the Soul, a time of global crisis ushered in by Covid19. People around the world are suffering devastating loss and trauma –the death of loved ones or loss of income as economies threaten collapse.  During this time of uncertainty people may experience feelings of despair, loss of meaning and deep insecurity.

St. John of the Cross, a Spanish mystic and poet who lived in the 16th century, initiated the term “Dark Night of the Soul”.  Having experienced his own dark time while imprisoned, he wrote about painful experiences as a process of “purification” in the spiritual journey towards connection with the divine.
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An experience of the Dark Night is almost always precipitated by a crisis: a dreadful disappointment; a terrible heartache; a distressing illness; or, the loss of a loved one. What follows is a difficult, but significant transition to a deeper perception of life through a painful shedding of the beliefs and conceptual frameworks we use to give meaning to identity, relationships, career, etc.
 
Jung referred to the Dark Night as the ‘night sea journey’ or ‘nekyia’, believing that our sorrow and suffering serve the individuation journey. As an archetypal pattern or process it involves a basic restructuring of the psyche, transforming our individual or collective values and attitudes. Jung metaphorically compared alchemy (transforming lead into gold) to the psychological process of navigating the Dark Night of the Soul, equating it with Nigredo stage.
 
The Dark Night symbolizes death and initiation. The individuation journey must include a meaningful psychic descent into the underworld, a facing of our shadow aspects. Mythology describes many such descents in the tales of  Inanna, Persephone and others.
 
The Dark Night of the Soul can be a painful, chaotic, frightening, overwhelming and disintegrating life crisis. It can also be a time of transformation, renewal, rebirth and finding deeper meaning in life. Our collective response to the current coronavirus pandemic has the potential to reframe, renew or even completely change our belief systems which may bring a shift in consciousness and alter the future of humanity.
 
A social media post I wrote for @jungsouthernafrica
 
Image credit:  Michal Karcz
 
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“Just as all energy proceeds from opposition, so the psyche too possesses its inner polarity, this being the indispensable prerequisite for its aliveness, as Heraclitus realized long ago” (Jung, 1965, p 346).

Jung used symbolism from the alchemical text Rosarium Philosophorum to demonstrate the transformative process of reconciliation of opposites. In the individuation journey to wholeness, the Sun King (Solar or Yang energy) and Moon Queen (Lunar or Yin energy) have to be recognized as archetypal polarities within the soul.  The Conjunctio is the union or ‘sacred marriage’ of solar and lunar energies necessary to move from a lesser to a higher state of being as symbolized by the alchemical process of turning lead into gold.

The King (Sol) and the Queen (Luna) are the masculine and feminine personifications of the archetype of the Self which represents the sovereign energy of the psyche, the transpersonal aspect, or higher self. The King/Queen, as the ruler of our own inner world, represents the 'ordering of the realm', choosing what will/will not be in your personal domain. The King/Queen symbolism mirrors the Brother/Sister pairs that were the ‘gods on earth’ of ancient mythologies such as the Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris. Jung wrote: “Luna… is the counterpart of Sol…. She is the sister and bride, mother and spouse of the sun.”  CW14 ¶ 154

A proper relationship between these feminine and masculine inner forces must be established to contain the full experience of Spirit. The images in Rosarium Philosophorum, show the King and Queen transitioning through a series of conjunctios.  Initially they stand apart, barely touching, their meeting restrained and restricted (fully clothed). During this archetypal process they get into the alchemical bath together (naked) - into the realm of the unconscious - and eventually emerge as a hermaphrodite.   It is only when we can hold the tensions of opposites, without identification with either polar opposite that a unique third position can arise. This is the transcendent function.

Image credit: philippa_shanks

A social media post I wrote for @jungsouthernafrica
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​It is the month of love and Valentine’s Day – when lovers celebrate their togetherness with romantic gestures – an appropriate time to focus on the relationship between the inner masculine and feminine.  The union of masculine and feminine within each human could be referred to as the alchemical marriage


Carl Jung named the masculine part within a woman the Animus with the Anima being the inner feminine part of a man. These concepts have nothing to do with biological sex or sexual orientation, but represent opposing forces within all people.  Together they contribute to a sense of wholeness in an individual (and in society), but only when in a harmonious dance, each contributing their unique qualities, as opposed to a brutal  wrestle for dominance.


​It is sadly the latter that has manifested in society and in individuals for many thousands of years.  This situation desperately needs to be remedied.   
 
Marion Woodman (1990) identified masculine and feminine as “two energies within each individual, both striving toward an inner harmony” (p. 9). To grow our full potential we need to allow these energies to interact and transform our consciousness. Jung wrote about the “mysterium coniunctionis” as encapsulated in the image of the hermaphrodite or bisexual being, which symbolizes the ability to hold the tension of the opposites - a necessity for psychic balance. This divine union, or hieragamos, is symbolized in alchemy by the King and Queen. In eastern philosophy the symbolism of Yin and Yang represents the interlocking play between these polar opposites.  The various gods/goddesses can be seen as archetypal patterns manifesting particular aspects of these divine principles. Even the left and right sides of the brain may be understood in terms of masculine and feminine characterization. .
 
Masculine energy comprises a forward-moving penetrating thrust into the unknown, while the feminine whispers “Listen”, “Keep still”, denoting receptivity as well as keeping us connected to the sacred silence of the Universe.
 
Image: Erica Wexler Copyright © 2020 Surrealism Art
 
A post I wrote for @jungsoutherafrica 

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