C.G.

JUNG CENTRE
29 MANOR STREET DUBLIN 7
Tel 085-7610354
email: [email protected]
www.jungcentre.com

Welcome to the Jung Centre. The Jung Centre offers a Certificate Course in
Jungian Studies which gives an overview of Jung’s work. The course lays
the foundations for an understanding of human psychology and an
exploration of the structure of the psyche through the medium of dreams as
discovered and developed by C.G.Jung.

The Jung Centre was founded in 1990 with the guidance and inspiration of
Sir Laurens van der Post, diplomat and friend of Jung, and author of
‘C.G.Jung: His Myth in Our Time’. Sir Laurens’s profound understanding of
the shift in consciousness that Jung pioneered in the West continues to be
the guiding principle for our work today.

Since its foundation twenty years ago, the Jung Centre is pleased to have
graduated between ten and fifteen students each year. The students have
come from a wide variety of backgrounds – nurses, doctors, religious
orders, media workers, teachers, social workers, mothers, housewives,
business executives, engineers, academics, solicitors etc. And all of them
have been exceptional individuals with the courage and ability to question
collective assumptions and contribute greatly to society by forging new
values for their time.

Of course, as Jung emphasized, this crucial work can only be accomplished

through personal transformation and the willingness to own our complexes,
projections and shadow aspects. Jung pioneered an in-depth system of
dream interpretation which enables us to access the hidden depths of the
unconscious and its treasures.

The aim of this course is to facilitate the participants to become the carriers
of consciousness for their time, as Jung and other great man and women
have been for theirs.

We hope that you find the enclosed syllabus of interest and we look
forward to hearing from you.
C.G.JUNG CENTRE
29 MANOR STREET DUBLIN 7
Tel 085-7610354
email: [email protected]
www.jungcentre.com

Certificate Course Programme

The one year Certificate course gives an overview of Jung’s work. The
course gives students the opportunity to study Jung’s work in detail and to
follow the path of individuation through long-term therapy.

The Certificate course consists of the study of Jung’s psychology as a way of

exploring the unconscious and the reality beyond the personal. It is a study
of the field of consciousness – the goal of which is spiritual awareness.
Inner growth initiates a paradigm shift in consciousness which allows the
individual to step into a higher reality and is achieved through developing
an objective witness to the process of individuation. Dreams supply that
impartial witness and allow us to become actively involved in the process.
Therefore the focus of the course is on the interpretation of dreams and
dream symbols.

The goal of the Certificate course is to give students a thorough grounding

in Jungian psychology. The concepts to be explored are consciousness, the
unconscious and the archetypes including the ego, shadow, persona,
anima, animus and Self. Dream theory, complexes, typology and myth play
a key role.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENTS

Jungian concepts – consciousness, the unconscious and superconscious (2

lectures)

The structure of the psyche – ego, persona, shadow, masculine and

feminine and the Self (3 lectures)

Introduction to dream theory (5 lectures)

Understanding dreams – how to interpret dreams, the purpose of dreams,

the language of dreams (24 lectures)
Dream symbols – how to work with symbols, positive and negative aspects
of dream symbols, transforming power of dreams (2 lectures)

Common dream symbols – fires, animals, attacks, falling, flying, trees,

snakes, caves policemen, trains, buses, journeys, jewels, water, wind etc (3
lectures)

The ego and ego pathology (three lectures)

The shadow and shadow dreams (2 lectures)

Personality types- extravert/introvert, thinking/feeling, sensation/intuition (4

lectures)

Inferior function an transcendent function (2 lectures)

Transference and counter-transference (2 lectures)

The mother and the unconscious (2 lectures)

The anima (2 lectures), men’s complexes (2 lectures)

Puer Aeternus, the senex and castration (4 lectures)

The animus (4 lectures), women’s complexes (4 lectures)

The Self (4 lectures)

Various other lectures include: the Great Mother, the Father, Classical Myth,
Hermes, The Holy Grail, Cupid and Psyche.

Recommended texts for the year are:

C.G.Jung. Memories, Dreams, Reflections.
Ed C.G.Jung. Man and His Symbols.
C.G.Jung. Tavistock Lectures.
Anthony Stevens. On Jung.
C.G.JUNG CENTRE
29 MANOR STREET DUBLIN 7
Tel 085-7610354
email: [email protected]
www.jungcentre.com
Certificate Course Prospectus:
Detailed Synopsis

Preamble
The classes are held in Buswell’s Hotel, Molesworth Street, which is a
central location and close to car parks and public transport. This long-
established hotel has a pleasant ambience with all the contemporary
facilities available. The classes are held in a relaxed atmosphere where the
informal format ensures that all angles of a topic are covered and
everybody understands the matter being discussed The following are the
topics that will be covered on the Certificate Course. Please note that
throughout the course there will be an emphasis on dreams and dream
symbolism.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENTS

Introduction and Outline of the Course

In this first lecture we will look at Jung’s life, an outline of his writing and the
many subjects that interested him. We will be covering these subjects over
the academic year. This initial talk will show the development of his
philosophy and psychology and the breadth of his genius.

Basic Principles of Jungian Psychology

Jung graduated as a doctor and practised as a psychiatrist for the first ten
years of his career. His personal experience of psychiatry was integrated
into his studies of European and Vedic philosophy, of Indian, Egyptian and
Greek mythology as well as Christianity and other world religions. He found
there the basic threads of human belief and behaviour and the lasting
principles on which to base his work. We will look at the principles of
opposites, transcendence and the evolution of consciousness.

Structure of the psyche

It is important at this early stage of the course to get an outline map of the
psyche. The psyche is divided into two parts: consciousness (which is
centred on the ego), and the unconscious. Consciousness is that part of the
psyche which we are aware of all the time and is protected by the persona.
The unconscious is a much larger part of the psyche and is divided into the
personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. The personal
unconscious contains all the forgotten and repressed experiences of
childhood, parental complexes and cultural inhibitions. The collective
unconscious contains mythological, religious, and ethical patterns which
cluster around the major archetypes of the shadow, animus/anima, and
self. The self straddles the whole of the unconscious as well as
consciousness, and is the guiding hand of the ego while at the same time
being the transpersonal guardian of wholeness.

Manifestation of the Unconscious in Consciousness

In the early years of psychology both Freud and Jung were at great pains
to prove to their public the existence of the unconscious. This lecture looks
at Freudian slips, accidents and other indications of the reality of the
unconscious.

Synchronicity
Meaningful coincidences are probably much more frequent than we think
but we put them down to good luck or good timing. There are a number of
angles to study which show that synchronicity is a connectedness and
breaking through of objective reality into consciousness. There are many
fascinating examples from saving lives to winning on the race-track. Why is
it that some synchronicities appear meaningless while others have world
significance?

Personality Types and a Types Test

Are you an extravert or an introvert and could you be a feeling, sensate,
intuitive or thinking type? Jung organised typology in terms of a traditional
quaternity and developed a test to find out how you orientated your ego
consciousness. Each function - thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition - has
different strengths and characteristics which we will investigate. A types test
will identify your typology and help to confirm your superior function and
your most comfortable mode of ego orientation.

The Inferior Function

The inferior function is the opposite of the superior function and the one
function that you have difficulty with as it is largely unconscious. This means
that it is the doorway to the unconscious and the very fact that it remains an
open door allows it to carry everything that is whole in the psyche and act
as the key to transformation. The inferior function is also called the
transcendent function on account of its role of bringing material up from the
unconscious.

Dreams
Like Freud, Jung considered dreams to be the ‘royal road to the
unconscious’ and therefore the interpretation and understanding of dreams
lies at the centre of the course. Jung said ‘The dream is a little, hidden door
in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul, opening into the,
cosmic night’. He realised that dreams spoke the truth since the objective
truth of any situation is available to the unconscious. The first stage in the
process of interpretation is to understand the symbolic language of dreams
therefore a recurring theme in the course is the language of symbolism and
the development of a symbolic attitude to the psyche. Dreams guide,
inspire, and correct our headstrong egos and help us to achieve a balanced
attitude in the psyche and to live our lives in accordance with our destiny.

Archetypes
Jung developed the concept and coined the term archetype. It describes
areas of the unconscious which have a gravitational pull to particular
characteristics of the personal as well as collective psyche. The main
archetypes are the Shadow, Anima (feminine) for the man, Animus
(masculine) for the woman and the centre of the psyche the Self.
Archetypes are embedded in the collective unconscious and yet are part of
every individual psyche.

The Shadow
The shadow is that part of the unconscious which Jung described as ‘the
thing a person has no wish to be’. The shadow appears negative as it
contains repressed contents of consciousness - feelings, thoughts, and
behaviour which have been rejected by the ego. The more they are
repressed the darker it will appear when seen in dreams. However, when
contents of the shadow are brought to the light of consciousness it will
transpire that they are much more positive. As Jung said ‘The shadow is
90% pure gold’. The shadow is the saurian tail of the psyche going back to
the prehistoric reptilian beginnings of the psyche. It also contains our
infantile rage, frustrations, and panic at our thwarted instincts in childhood
and throughout our life.

The shadow is easily identified through projections. In an attempt to defend

the ego the psyche projects shadow behaviour onto other people so that
what we hate about other’s behaviour actually belongs to us. The same is
true on a larger scale between social classes, races, political enemies, and
especially animals. Awareness of the shadow, so that we can retract
projections will improve relationships on a personal and on an international
level. Jung described the shadow as ‘The greatest moral challenge of our
times’.

Projections
One of the easiest ways to see your shadow is through projections. It is an
unconscious process by which we may reject things we don’t like about
ourselves and project them on to other people. It is a way of defending our
ego and off-loading unpleasant characteristics which we refuse to believe
are part of our personality. So what you can’t stand about the person you
hate the most is a perfect description of the unconscious side of your
character. However, you may also project unrecognised, positive elements
of your psyche on to others. Love at first sight is a perfect example of an
anima or animus projection. Projections also work on a larger scale
between sections of society or between nations.

The Mother and the Unconscious

Prior to birth and for a long time afterwards the mother is everything to the
infant. In the early stages of life the infant’s psyche is unconscious and the
infant sees the mother as part of themselves. Gradually the infant develops
consciousness, though the unconscious remains synonymous with the
mother. This is reflected in the symbolism of the unconscious and the
archetype of the Great Mother.

Complexes
‘Complexes have us’ not ‘we have a complex’ is how Jung put the issue of
complexes. He laid great emphasis on the autonomous nature of
complexes, seeing them as parasites living and thriving in our psyches. They
control our lives from the way we think and behave to what we eat and
wear. We will take time to study complexes in order to see them in dreams
and deal with them in everyday life.

Mother Complex
The personal mother and the archetypal mother dominate the infant's world
nurturing and protecting the developing psyche of the growing child. The
feminine principles of tenderness, empathy and compassion lay the
foundations for the relationship of the ego to the Self thereby promoting a
strong sense of self. Jung described the mother complex as the way the
libido is fixated on the mother. For the man , the mother is the first carrier of
the anima, or soul archetype. However he claimed that the complex was
more easily observed in women and we will study his writing on the subject.
We will see how the complex is so central to people's lives and look at the
relation of the complex to psychic development.

Father Complex
After the initial stages of development dominated by the mother the child is
introduced to the outside world by the father. The father carries the
archetype of the masculine for the son while for the daughter the father
carries the animus . In the son’s case the father is the role model of
adulthood while for the daughter the father is particularly important in
passing on logos, dharma and self-discipline. The father complex can
influence ethical behaviour, ambition and a sense of purpose. The role of
the animus is clearly seen in dreams and easily observed in the external
world.
Puer Aeternus
Puer Aeternus translates as eternal youth. This is an aspect of the mother
complex which keeps the man bound to the mother’s side and hinders
psyhic growth. Laddish behaviour as well as escapism with an unwillingness
to engage with the realities of life are all symptoms of this complex. The
pathology of the complex as observed and explained by Marie-Louise von
Franz in her book Puer Aeternus helps to make sense of much of the male’s
behaviour.

Narcissism
We are all narcissistic which means that we all crave love and attention. In
the early stages of life our mothers gave us that love but it was never
enough. Consequently we continually strive to fill that void. On the whole
we design our relationships to fulfill our appetite for love, while our society,
with its capitalistic economics, is organised to supply the false Self with
every known substitute for genuine love and affection. This dynamic is
called secondary narcissism and has a huge influence on our personal life
and the structure of society. We will study Ovid’s myth of Narcissus and all
shades of pathological narcissism.

Transference and Countertransference

Transference is an intense form of projection which is inherent in all forms
of friendship and intimate relationships. The term is mainly used in therapy
but has much wider applications. We will look at Jung’s essay on
Transference and The Rosarium which is an alchemical text that Jung used
to explain the phenomenon.

The Anima
The anima is the archetype of the feminine in the psyche of the man and
leads him to the inner world. We will see what the anima means for a man
and why it is called the soul archetype. We can observe the anima through
projections and dream symbols to reveal the state of development of our
anima. This allows us to take practical steps to find a balanced relationship
to the anima which in turn will lead the individual to the self. There are a
number of excellent examples of the anima in literature and art.

Animus
The animus is the archetype of the masculine in the psyche of woman and
can help or hinder her relations with the external world. The father is the
first carrier of the animus though soon celebrities in the media and sport can
take up that role. In dreams masculine symbols reveal the accurate state of
the animus and any necessary adjustments. The animus is not only an
essential element in forming relationships with men but also as logos a
strong, developed animus is vital in the fields of business, law and finance.
Hysterical Personality Disorder
There is a tendency for extraverts to be more hysterical than introverts.
Hysteria is an infectious disorder which can sway crowds as well as
individuals and as an aspect of the mother complex it is a defence against
the reality of the self. The conflict between the real self and the false self
creates a fault-line out of which hysteria erupts.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

This defence mechanism is a desperate attempt to control the imagined
chaos of the unconscious where contents of the unconscious are trying to
break through to consciousness. The effort to control is manifested in
obsessive thoughts and compulsive physical behaviour. Acting out rituals
such as obsessive hand washing and house cleaning are obvious defences
against the perceived dangers of the shadow. repetitive checking the gas,
locking and relocking the front door and doing tasks in a painstakingly
particular order are well-known symptoms. OCD is a stumbling block to
psychological development as it creates a barrier between the ego and the
Self.

Alchemy
Jung studied alchemical texts from ancient Egypt to the end of the 17th
century and discovered that alchemy was the symbolic process of extracting
spirit from matter. The first stage in the alchemical process, the nigredo
equates with tackling the shadow; the second stage, the albedo, equates
with the relationship to the anima; while the rubedo, or coniunctio, is the
marriage of an unconscious content from the self with ego consciousness.
We will look at the alchemical process and find that alchemical symbols still
occur in dreams and are an important element in our understanding of the
transformative process.

Winnicott and Object Relations

Donald Winnicott's incredible sensitivity to the fragile world of the infant
made it possible for him to understand the terrors of hunger, isolation and
abandonment experienced by the infant and to appreciate the wonderful
power of love expressed by the "good-enough mother" to protect and
"hold" the baby through this period of his life. Feelings and fears are
magnified when there are no defences and this is the case for infants and
also psychotics. Winnicott insisted that only through the psychic space,
created by play, was it possible for the infant to ‘discover’ the Real Self.
It is of vital importance to study object relations (the
relationship between the infant psyche and the outside world) in order to
understand adult pathology – narcissism, borderline, schizophrenia and
autism.
Fairy Tales
Fairy tales have emerged from the collective unconscious and are stories
that portray archetypal themes and unconscious processes. They often
depict such themes as the threatening shadow (as portrayed in Jack and the
Beanstalk), the negative mother Hansel and Gretal, the development of the
animus in Snow White, the inferior function in Puss in Boots, and many
others. Von Franz described fairy tales as ‘the purest and simplest
expression of collective unconscious psychic processes’.

Images of the Self

Although the Self is the centre of the psyche and our experience of the
Divine and the cosmic aspect of our psyche, symbols of the self are to be
found everywhere. This is an illustrated lecture with images from nature,
science, art and architecture as well as mandalas by Jung and his patients.
These images can help us to identify symbols of the self when they appear
in dreams.

Answer to Job
Jung considered Answer to Job his best and most rounded work. It is a
psychological commentary on the Book of Job arguing the case for the
individual’s involvement in God’s work of creation. To Jung this meant the
creation of consciousness and humanity’s responsibility for all creatures and
the planet. It is central to understanding Jung’s thesis.

The Holy Grail

The Grail myth is an anglo-celtic search for the meaning of life and vividly
illustrates the journey to individuation. It has an accumulation of many
heroes including Parsifal, Amfortas (the Fisher King), Christ, King Arthur
and Merlin. On many levels and through many ages the grail has inspired
poets and philosophers in their search for the self from Chretian de Troyes
and Sir Thomas Malory to Richard Wagner and T.S.Eliot. The story relates
the psychic journey of the unlikely hero Parsifal and his quest to find the
Holy Grail which is the Self. Parsifal, who comes from the wilds of Wales,
grows in psychological strength as he battles with knights and honours
damsels in the mythical world of King Arthur until he learns to develop the
right attitude and ask the question 'whom does the Grail serve?'

Hermes
In Jungian terms Hermes is a psychopomp who is our guide to the world of
the unconscious. As a psychopomp he is the guide of souls and the
mediator between the unconscious and consciousness. Hermes often
appears in dreams as a helpful animal, frequently as a large dog such as a
golden retriever, who symbolically shows us the right direction to go.
Hermes often symbolises the transcendent function and is the perfect model
for the attitude that can create change.

Cupid and Psyche

The Greek myth of the maiden Psyche in her journey to maturity centres
round her three seemingly impossible tasks. Not helped by the immature
and lazy Cupid, the myth shows the development of her animus which
enables her to deal with symbolically masculine problems. As such, psyche
is a model for the intrepid modern woman.

The Self
The self is the unifying principle of the psyche and the guiding hand and
authority within the psyche. Jung said ‘The self is not only the centre but
also the whole circumference which embraces both conscious and
unconscious; it is the centre of this totality, just as the ego is the centre of the
conscious mind’. The self is recognised by its symbolism. Symbols of the self
carry a numinosity and authority that are greater than any other symbols
that emerge from the unconscious, yet all dream symbols ultimately come
from the self. Dreams that have such numinosity are called big dreams and
are indelibly memorable, frequently having symbols of wholeness with
accompanying voices making authoritative statements. Perhaps the most
radiant symbol of the self is that of the Divine Child which is at the heart of
Christianity.

Individuation
The self demands to be heard and obeyed yet the process of integrating the
self with the ego is a never-ending process. The struggle to become who we
really are can be seen as the true meaning of life. This is largely achieved
to the self-regulating efforts of the unconscious expressing itself in dreams.
Jung called this process individuation or self-realisation. It is available to
everyone as the starting point is tackling a complex which, when
investigated, draws out buried contents of the unconscious. Slowly, through
a process of retracting projections, and ‘divesting the self of the false
wrappings of the persona’, the journey of individuation can be commenced
and eventually the true personality of the individual can be realised.