Recent events in Ukraine have again put war at the forefront of collective consciousness. War’s destruction belongs to the mythic realm. Mars, the Roman god of war, was a primordial force whose altars were placed outside city gates. Although acknowledged, he was not accepted. His paramour, Venus, is warfare’s seductress, offering spectacle, pageantry, and glory. Like all the gods of Mt. Olympus, Mars and Venus live in us as opposing forces of aggression and eros. We are charged with holding the tension of these impassioned opposites and making them conscious, lest we project shadow onto designated enemies or wage war internally as neurosis. We can stand in the complexity of conflict, suspend action, and allow the gods a place inside our psychic city gates.  Here’s the dream we analyze: “I had a dream me and my boyfriend adopted a child and were living in a rundown apartment full of darkness that resembled a studio we rehearsed in. Then we went to the balcony to watch missiles falling and exploding in the sky; my boyfriend was aloof to the situation. My first thought was, “this must be very exciting for the child because it’s like fireworks,” Then I realized that it’s actually really dangerous and life-threatening, so I grabbed the child and ran inside, leaving my boyfriend outside gazing at the sky. The room was pitch dark, and I could hear the voices of my mother and my brother talking about me; they were saying, “how is the baby going to survive without a shell”? Then I realized the kid has turned into a round egg in the palm of my hand, and the shell was dissolving like wet paper, leaving a bubble of fragile liquid with a fetus inside. I knew that any sudden movement could burst the bubble and kill the baby, so I tried to be as gentle and careful as I could.”  REFERENCES: A Terrible Love of War by James Hillman. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143034928/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_46A683TF2489P8WNSC8Y Depth Psychology and a New Ethic by Erich Neumann. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0877735719/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_7W8QHPPGHMJ6SJ6RYS9R The Moral Equivalent of War by William James. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1445529866/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_JF75M92ZS5N96ST1M49G A Story Waiting to Pierce You by Peter Kingsley. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1890350214/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_BHEFTMVSZCJ6JF0X86N7 A Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M2YED0C/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_KGW7PQX1J4DH4WB2HQCF RESOURCES: Learn to Analyze your own Dreams:  https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

On September 9th, This Jungian Life will launch a new podcast experience - SHADOWLAND. In this series, we meet soulfully with people who live and work in the hidden places of our culture. Walk with us and discover the voice of psyche on unexpected paths.

The provisional life might be defined as a vague malaise: current relationships, work, and lifestyle feel like placeholders until the ‘real thing’ arrives—someday. If early life circumstances made over-conforming to others’ needs and expectations necessary, persona can be over-developed and shadow denied. The person may orient to external sources for self-definition, acceptance and direction, because deep roots in shadow’s dark, fertile soil of authentic feeling and experience are lacking. The recovery and discovery of the true self comes from engaging the inner world: dreams, reverie, creative endeavors, service to something greater—and perhaps a wise guide on the road to wholeness. Jung says, “If the risk is not taken, the meaning of life is somehow violated, and the whole future is condemned to helpless staleness...” Or we can be alive while we’re alive.    Dream I find myself in an old abandoned church. I am climbing up a ladder and next to me is a being, half-bird & half-human. I feel attracted to her; I kiss her. In the next scene, I push her away from me. Now she is a bird. Another person helps me to get the bird out of the church. The bird wants to come back in. I have a guilty conscience because I try to push her away from me. Now the bird person is back in the church. And in the last image, I find myself with her walking around the church and the being tells me "people can't fly because they don't have wings."   References Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki). Mary Oliver. When Death Comes and other poems.