December Audiotape Acquisitions

The following tapes have arrived.  If you see something you like, be sure to check the item's availability via the library's online catalog, or call Circulation Services at ext. 115! (Item descriptions courtesy of the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago.)

Giannini, John.  The child archetype and violence:  genesis and healing.

Jungian analyst John Giannini lectures on the importance of the child archetype in human development and the consequences of denial of this archetype: violent compensations in psyche, body and society.

Gustafson, Fred. Dancing between two worlds:  Jung and the Native American Soul.

Carl Jung once suggested that with every advance in technology, there is a loss of soul. Another way of saying this is that our soul has not been able to keep up with our technologically accelerating world.

     --Seeking the ancestor:  the spiritual search for our indigenous root.

There is much interest today in indigenous cultures and particularly, on our soil, in Native Americans. Why this is so raises the issue of projection and what the American consciousness is now seeking.

Hobson, Allan J. Why the sphinx is smiling:  the mystery of dream is in the plumbing.

Dreaming is a normal human mental state with many features of pathological conditions. With psychosis it shares the major symptoms of hallucination and delusion.

Conference (various speakers).  The sphinx's smile:  plumbing the mystery of the dream.

In the vast realm of human experience There is perhaps no more bewildering, yet fascinating occurrence than the dream. Like the mythical riddle of the sphinx, the dream seduces with its promise of secret empowering wisdom and lends itself to as many interpretations as it has interpreters. Whether its mystery is plumbed by the blind seer, Tiresias, the abandoned brother, Joseph, or Freud and Jung, the giants of modern depth psychology, the dream ultimately remains a pregnant enigma, its precise meaning neither certain nor knowable. This conference (including tapes #624-#630), ever mindful of the ultimate elusiveness of the dream, freely, sincerely, and playfully explores this remarkable human experience and in so doing hopes to reveal new ways to draw out the meaning of this sphinx's smile.

Kalsched, Donald.  Early trauma and dreams:  archetypal defenses of the personal spirit.

Patients who have suffered early trauma present special difficulties in the psychoanalytical situation but they also provide special opportunities for understanding the inner world of the psyche especially the dramatic ways in which the unconscious tries to defend the personal spirit of the individual against overwhelming anxiety. These sophisticated defenses are both archaic and typical (i.e. archetypal) and they often are imaged in dreams at those moments in psychotherapy when the early trauma is being remembered. This lecture explores some of these moments in the psychoanalytic process and will examine the archetypal dreams that follow for what they have to tell us about the inner world of trauma.

Lavin, Thomas Patrick.  Myths to grow by.

In his later years, Joseph Campbell defined mythology as a system of energy-evoking and energy-directing symbols which serve four functions for individuals and for the culture the mystical, the cosmological, the sociological, and developmental functions. This course addresses the personal development aspects of mythological systems, using the writings of Joseph Campbell and others as a guide. Seen in their developmental function, myths are blueprints or road maps to personal growth. To know our own personal myth is to be filled with energy and progressive visions of an attainable goal. To know the myths of a culture is to know the path out the Wasteland. Myths are Daedalus-wings, allowing us to fly out of the labyrinthine pain of our own narrowness. This course explores mythological images and patterns as maps to personal and cultural development.

Loomis, Mary.  Balancing the shields:  the impact of Native American teachings.

Jungian analyst Mary Loomis speaks about her exploration of Native American teachings and the importance of that culture's images and symbols for analytic work.

Moore, Robert.  From chaos to cosmos:  creation myths and the quest for a centered self.

Marie-Louise von Franz says that creation myths are of a different class from other myths. . . for when they are told there is always a certain solemnity that gives them a central importance; they convey a mood which implies that what is said will concern the basic things of existence, something more than is contained in other myths. This seminar focuses on the psychological significance of the mythology of creation with emphasis on understanding its relationship to the processes of forming and consolidating a centered and cohesive self.

Mudd, Peter.  Psyche's workshop:  an exploration of the transcendent function.

The cornerstone of Jung's concept of individuation is the transcendent function. Within it exists the capacity to enter into a living dialogue with the deeper self and to meet the challenges posed by that encounter. This course explores the theoretical framework upon which the transcendent function rests and suggests practical methods aimed at its development. Peter Mudd, M.S.W., NCPsyA, is a Jungian analyst and Executive Director of the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago, as well as Director of Studies for the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago Analyst Training Program. He also is editor of International Abstracts of Analytical Psychology, and associate editor of the Journal of Analytical Psychology.

Stein, Murray.  The Jungian psyche:  a deeper look at analytical psychology (complete set).

This course offers a careful exploration of some of Jung's key theoretical texts. Aimed at giving the advanced student of analytical psychology a greater appreciation of the details of Jung's theoretical model of the psyche, the class proceeds in a systematic fashion through the basic concepts and considers how they interrelate to form a whole. Suggested readings from Jung's Collected Works are announced at the start of each class tape.

     --Hermes and the creation of space.

This lecture explores the archetypal pattern of boundary and container as illustrated by the myth of Hermes.

Zabriskie, Beverley.  Creativity and individuation:  the insights of Egyptian creation myths.

This lecture examines some of the Egyptian genesis myths as a people's musings on the embodied human life, the embraced creative process, and self re-creation through engagement with the inner and outer worlds in the work of consciousness.

Know of a great audiotape that would be perfect for the Pacifica Library?  We would love to hear your suggestions.