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MEDUSA’S MANY FACES: The Evolution of a Myth

This Jungian Life

Release Date: 05/04/2023

SELKIE FOLKLORE: Should we force soul to serve us? show art SELKIE FOLKLORE: Should we force soul to serve us?

This Jungian Life

The Selkie swims ashore at night, sheds her seal skin, hides it, and delights in her human form. In Celtic lore, she is the wild feminine soul, a creature of land and sea, innocent and beautiful, who cannot thrive in domesticity. In folklore, the seal-folk are discovered by humans. Their natural, joyous spirit, grace, and affection invite contact. Humans are drawn to them, but if they touch, parting is unbearable. Many a young man, desperate to maintain the life-giving embrace of nature, steals a Selkie’s seal skin, locking her into a human form. Helpless, she is led into domesticity and...

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INITIATIONS: universal processes that spark transformation show art INITIATIONS: universal processes that spark transformation

This Jungian Life

The archetype of Initiation is primordial, and its force guides our transformative transitions. For Jung, this change reshapes spiritual, emotional, intellectual, behavioral, and social dynamics. Rooted in his anthropological studies, Jung emphasized the vital role of formal ceremonies in fostering separation from parental influences and facilitating integration into adult communities. These ceremonies marked a clear transition from childhood and established an essential connection with the adult community, promoting the collaborative culture by containing unconscious forces. Derived from...

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The Barbie Movie: Can it Dismantle an American Myth? show art The Barbie Movie: Can it Dismantle an American Myth?

This Jungian Life

[Spoiler Alert.] In the opening scene of the Barbie movie, listless little girls dressed as drab Dust Bowl mothers play at ironing as they tend plastic babies until a gigantic cosmic Barbie appears on the landscape in a vogue pose. Her presence inspires the girls to smash their dolls and cast off their pretend chores in a whirl of rageful frustration. While this scene spoofs 2001: A Space Odyssey, it unknowingly dramatizes an archetypal event in the collective American psyche. In 1959, the Barbie doll hit the market and created a stir. American mothers objected to her sensuous form, so...

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From SHAMANISM to JUNG: Understanding 'Loss of Soul' show art From SHAMANISM to JUNG: Understanding 'Loss of Soul'

This Jungian Life

As Jung’s anthropological studies expanded and his international travel exposed him to new cultures and ideas, he was taken by the concept of ‘loss of soul.’  A collapse of energy, a strange sudden alteration of personality, or episodes of blinding rage could signify a loss of soul from a shamanic perspective. The soul carries the animating and regulating forces as well as memory. In most traditions, it was expected to fly away upon death, much like the Egyptian Ba, depicted as a bird with a human head. Because the soul had an independent life, it might flee suddenly, leaving a...

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HAGITUDE: Sharon Blackie on the power of aging show art HAGITUDE: Sharon Blackie on the power of aging

This Jungian Life

Sharon Blackie calls us to the ancient archetype of the Hag as a figure of unapologetic emergence from cultural pressures that lock us into outworn roles and limiting beliefs.  Drawing upon her transformative experiences in menopause Blackie grounds the mythic figure of the old woman who fashioned the world in her fierce determination to dissolve and reconfigure her professional and personal life. Identifying and rejecting cultural pressures to look and act a certain way as she ages, she claims the second half of her life for a post-heroic journey of intense creativity and unapologetic...

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THREE VOICES, ONE SONG: Lessons in Friendship show art THREE VOICES, ONE SONG: Lessons in Friendship

This Jungian Life

The essence of friendship is visible in its linguistic root: ‘to love.’ Cicero wrote, “Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief." In modern times the art of friending seems lost. We have replaced shared experiences with Facebook posts and quell our loneliness by scrolling.  With high spirits, we three revisit our first meeting and reflect on the discovery of kinship between us. Our experiences of trust, reciprocity, and shared hardship marked by endless conversations and abundant laughter forged our bond during...

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You're Not A Fraud: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome show art You're Not A Fraud: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

This Jungian Life

Imposter syndrome constellates the gut-wrenching fear of being exposed as a fraud no matter how much we have learned or the successes we have demonstrated. In 1978 two researchers identified and explored a painful phenomenon among some high-achieving women. Despite their high levels of success, they were convinced they were not as competent, intelligent, or skilled as others might think. Instead of identifying with their capabilities, they often attributed their success to luck, personal persuasion, or an unanticipated burst of energy. Further research revealed this struggle was equally...

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FRIEND or FOE: The AI Debate with Michael L. Littman, PhD show art FRIEND or FOE: The AI Debate with Michael L. Littman, PhD

This Jungian Life

The uses and abuses of ChatGPT artificial intelligence language model have taken the collective imagination by storm. Apocalyptic predictions of the singularity, when technology becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, frighten us as we imagine a future where human intelligence is irrelevant. Prof. Michael Littman joins us to contextualize the advancement of artificial intelligence and debunk the paranoid rhetoric littering the public discourse. Michael has made groundbreaking research contributions enabling machines to learn from their experiences, assess the environment, make decisions,...

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The Conjunction of Art and Life with Peter Kramer show art The Conjunction of Art and Life with Peter Kramer

This Jungian Life

"Death of the Great Man" by Dr. Peter D. Kramer offers a glimpse into the character disordered alpha narcissist. It is more than a satirical political commentary on Donald Trump. It points us to a broader discourse on power dynamics in the collective psyche, the potential for authority to corrupt our humanity and the dangerous ways we escape from freedom by surrendering self-responsibility.   The unique blend of psychiatric insight and literary narrative brings an unusual depth to the work. The narrator, psychiatrist Henry Farber, places the reader at his side, admitting his negative...

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Meeting Shadow on the Spiritual Path with Connie Zweig show art Meeting Shadow on the Spiritual Path with Connie Zweig

This Jungian Life

Award-winning author, depth psychotherapist, and guide Connie Zweig shows us encountering darkness is a necessary part of our spiritual journey. In the first half of life, we disown aspects of ourselves to fit in and navigate our world more smoothly. Over time we realize all aspects of ourselves must be recalled and befriended. Integration of these shadow aspects lays the foundation for spiritual awakening.  Through careful introspection, dreamwork, and self-confrontation, we can see beyond stereotypes and projections, avoiding the pitfalls of black-and-white thinking. Jung reminds us,...

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The symbolism of Medusa, one of three Gorgon sisters in Greek mythology, has fascinated artists, writers, and philosophers for centuries. Initially a monstrous creature with snake-writhing hair and a petrifying gaze, Medusa has undergone numerous transformations.

The earliest known account of Medusa appears in Hesiod’s Theogony (c. 700 BCE), where she is portrayed as a mortal Gorgon sister with a deadly gaze. Ovid’s Metamorphoses (c. 8 CE) ascribes Medusa’s monstrous appearance to a curse from Athena, punishing her for desecrating the temple with Poseidon. Medusa’s terrifying image persisted for centuries, eventually finding its way into Roman wine goblets as a delightful decoration.

Sigmund Freud suggested that Medusa’s visage symbolizes castration anxiety, while Jungian analysis views the myth as a development of the anima, the feminine aspect of the male psyche. By incorporating Medusa’s head into his arsenal, Perseus metaphorically assimilates her power, integrating the darker elements of his anima.

The myth also reflects the evolution of the father-bound virginal feminine principle. Athene, unfailingly loyal to Zeus, demonized Medusa, a figure related to ancient fertility goddesses. Medusa’s killing power, once uncontrollable, was ultimately transformed into a symbol of instinctive sexual power and reintegrated into Athene.

Medusa’s story also explores humanity’s relationship with nature and the cosmos. As a Gorgon, Medusa embodies chaos and destruction, reflecting the untamed aspects of the natural world. Her petrifying gaze is a reminder of the inherent danger within the natural order, further reinforced by her connection to the sea god Poseidon.

Contemporary thinkers and artists have reevaluated Medusa’s image as a symbol of female empowerment and resilience. French feminist philosopher Hélène Cixous argued that Medusa’s transformation into a monster represents the subjugation of women and their sexuality. She encouraged women to reclaim the Gorgon’s image as a symbol of female empowerment.

Medusa’s evolution demonstrates the power of reinterpretation and the resilience of archetypal symbols. From her monstrous origins to her contemporary status as a feminist icon, Medusa defies expectations and continues to challenge. Her ongoing transformation attests to the malleability of myth and the enduring appeal of characters that embody transformation, resistance, and power.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I was alone in an unfamiliar building and going to give birth to twins, but they were crocodiles. I was afraid and trying to escape this building, but a midwife appeared and kept finding me when I tried to escape. She would tell me I had to give birth and wouldn’t let me escape. She was firm but wasn’t mean. Then the building morphed into a hospital, and I gave birth to the crocodiles in a hospital room. I was terrified I was going to have to breastfeed them. (This stands out as the scariest part of the dream.) I was scared holding two baby crocodiles with their mouths open, their teeth exposed, and I was getting ready to breastfeed them.”

MEET JOSEPH in NEW ORLEANS ON MAY 5th 2023.

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