depth insights · 3 depth insights, issue 9, spring/summer

A Poet Enters the Therapy RoomDreaming Back to the EarthOrigins of AmbiguityThe Dance: Imagining Conversations with Marion WoodmanJung and the Way of Pooh: A Guide to Individuation and Archetypes In the Hundred Acre WoodTowards an Alchemical Politics: On Green Hermeticism

More Depth Psychology Articles, Essays, and Poetry

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Summer 2016

D E P T H I N S I G H T SS e e i n g t h e W o r l d W i t h S o u l

“Birth of the Phoenix” by Susy Sanders

Poetry by R.A. Ballestrin, pm eagles, Nance Hard ing, Amy Beth Katz, Christy Lee,Yvette A. Schnoeker-Shorb, Andrea SlominskiArt by Leslie Nolan, Patty Sabatier, Susy Sanders, Laura Smith

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A Poet Enters the Therapy RoomBy Susan Schwartz

Dreaming Back to the EarthBy Mary Kay Kasper

Origins of AmbiguityBy Maggie Hippman

Jeremiah and Jung’s Red BookBy Gerald F. Kegler

The Dance: Imagining Conversationswith Marion WoodmanBy Megan L. Popovic

Jung and the Way of Pooh: A Guide to Individuation andArchetypes In the Hundred AcreWoodBy Lisa Schouw

Towards an Alchemical Politics: OnGreen HermeticismBy Jonathan Marshall

Hermeneutic Depth: UnconsciousCultural and Historical MeaningsBy Andrew Carnahan

Review of Deranged by Nora L JamiesonBy Catherine Svehla, Ph.D.

Review of Edward Tick’s Warrior’sReturn: Restoring the Soul AfterWarBy Dennis Patrick Slattery

About this Issue

Table of Contents

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On the cover: “Birth of the Phoenix” by SusySanders. Golden Fluid Acrylics on 36" x 36” canvas.Fragments of this same work accompany the titleof each essay in this issue.

See more art and read comments from the artist onpage 31.

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Depth Insights, Issue 9

PublisherDepth Insights, a Media & ContentPartner for Depth Psychology Alliance™

Executive EditorBonnie Bright., Ph.D.

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Layout and Designwww.GreatGraphicLayouts.com/ Stephanie Kunzler with Bonnie Bright

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Perhaps one of the most profounddifficulties of our time at this moment is thechallenge to make meaning. When troublesail us and the world seems to be on theverge of falling apart, recovery of meaning inour personal lives requires a recovery of thesacred, and a recovery of the sacred necessi-tates a recovery of ourselves and anunderstanding and communion with thedepths of our own being.

With the launch of this issue of DepthInsights, I am inclined to reflect on our nowfive-year history of publication. Over theyears, we have received an impressive collection of depth-psychology-basedarticles, essays, poems—as well as fantasticart—that so powerfully illustrate how depthpsychology can enhance the lives of thosewho engage with information and practicesaimed at accessing the unconscious.

When we begin to understand thesymbols and messages that come throughfrom the unconscious to help orient andguide us in daily life, these insights help usmake meaning.

This issue contains a particularly eclecticmix of topics, ranging from the value ofpoetry, to philosophy, to dreams, andembodied understanding. To begin, Jungiananalyst Susan Schwartz offers a compellingargument for how some of her therapy clientshave related to the poetry and journals ofSylvia Plath, who “translates private hurtsinto public images.” Ecotherapist Mary KayKasper writes about how dreams not only“speak to the story of who we are,” and howwe engage the world, but also speak to thecollective experience that is the Earth’sdream, revealing parallel’s between the

Cont’d on page 51

From the Editor

Depth Insights, Issue 9, Spring/Summer 2016

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NEW: Submissions are received year round for upcoming issues. Details at http://www.depthinsights.com/Depth-Insights-scholarly-ezine/home/submissions

Depth Insights is published twice a year. Copyright 2012-2016 by Depth Insights™, DepthPsychology Alliance™

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Note: Opinions expressed by the authors contained in this issue do not necessarily reflect those ofDepth Insights or its editors, publisher, or representatives. Copyright of content remains with theauthors & artists. Copyright of the Depth Insights contents & design belongs to Depth Insights™. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.

From the pen of Bonnie Bright

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Dead water laps Lazily maps her shoreShe's lost her roarStolen on the trollin sea floor ChlorinatedFluoridatedConstellated FractionatedUsedAbused RefusedNo longer amusedCities in dust.

A world on the edge of thirstAnd water boy drives his H2O hearseHot city townWasted on a daft day No lawn sprinkler playDrowned out water-shortsCancel the water sports Her dowry's drawnCities in dust.

Downtrodden watersDownstream feed'n pottersAnd green suburban toddlersNowhere is clean anymoreThe pools are thinPolluted mists of misshapen sinCities in dust.

Oblivious urbanites Summer suburbanitesFly their fancy kitesSlip'n'slide late nights While wasted pipes And proctor frights Argue irrigation rightsDown-on Hellespont HeightsCities in dust.

Dead water lapsBetween fracking gapsPlastic bottle capsPlastics and elastics Sink to the brinkWhere is the shrink in this stink To tell us what to do Where will our tears all goWhen the water dies out?

Are we just running toward a mirage?Cities in dust.



story offers, we can be initiated into a profound relationship withEarth and ones’ primal, wild self. We will once again feel Her loveand take a path to reclaiming our role in acting on Her behalf.

I stand in the presence of the snakes, one spiraling up my leg. I amterrified I will be bitten, I will feel pain, I will die, and I will betransformed. I will discover who I really am, I will embrace snake assnake embraces me, and I will become snake medicine.

ReferencesBerry, T. (1988). The dreaming of the earth. New York, NY: Random House.Jung, C. & Sabini, M. (2002). The earth has a soul: C.G. Jung on nature,

technology & modern life. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.Scavo, S. & St. Cyr W. (2015). Modules 1-12: Integrative archetypal

practitioner skills. Fall/Winter 2015-2016. [zoom audio recording].Retrieved from http://studentsofthedream.com

Scavo, S. & St. Cyr W. (2015). Modules 1-12: Integrative archetypalelements of the dream. Fall/Winter 2015-2016. [zoom audiorecording]. Retrieved from http://studentsofthedream.com

Mary Kay Kasper works with the intellectually disabled, is anecotherapist, dream practitioner, rites of passage and wildernessguide, Druid Priest, ceremonial leader, and writer. She has workedwith her dreams for over 25 years, facilitated shamanic dreamgroups and instructed college courses on Ecopsychology. Herpassion lies in facilitating deep inquiry into the mysteries of thedream’s guidance as a gateway to our soul-rooted relationship tothe earth. http://wayofthebirch.com/

Illuminated Paintings

Leslie’s is a Contemporary Symbolist, who paints as a spiritualpractice. Her art is a visual diary, articulating her emotions,concepts, and perceptions, using color as a source of visionand form as point of reference. Her paintings inform her andelicit a response, sometimes visceral, touching on a deeperwisdom from the unconscious mind, making it conscious andmanifest.

The teaching healing symbols that embody her belief systemare expressed through current mystical studies in Christianity,traditional Peruvian energy medicine and Kabala. She exploresthe transformational energy within symbols, sacred geometry,traditional biblical story or cosmological mapping.

Her work uses Intentional Creativity, the technology of right-brained, left-brain processes that utilize painting and writingwhich inspires deep creativity. Active imagination and medita-tion provide an internal seed intention that is sought throughvisual journeying. Creative space, once set, is made to holdthat intention, where opportunity, miracles, and transforma-tion happen through mindfulness.


Types parallels Jung’s use of Isaiahpassages in both The Red Book andPsychological Types. (Kegler 2014) Itseems these two biblical prophetsinhabited the conceptual and imaginalfield Jung was living and working in atthat time. Even as he entered intodialogue with his unconscious in theevening, he was maintaining his clinicaland academic practice, studies, family lifeand military service by day. (Shamdasani,2009) In particular, Jung (1961)commented that in the period 1913-1917his intense attention to the images of hisunconscious and his work onPsychological Types were simultaneous.Like Isaiah, Jeremiah and the followers ofthe Christ, Jung was discerning the waythat is to come from the disparate voicesof error in the spirit of their times.

Jeremiah the ProphetIn the spirit of Jeremiah’s time, the

role of prophet was well established inAncient Near Eastern courts along withthat of king and cultic priest. Oftenoperating in bands, these professionalprophets were conceived of as messen-gers of direct communication from thegods. Their oracles were consulted forguidance in the affairs of state. As notedabove, their charismatic affect andpronouncements were often generated inecstatic trances. Stereotypically, theywere sycophants whose self-interest wasto please the establishment withmessages consistent with that of thecurrent mind of the king and community.In sharp contrast to these professionalprophetic clans, the classical biblicalprophets (e.g. Isaiah and Jeremiah) actedon their own. They are depicted asexperiencing a “call,” a profoundlynuminous revelation of Yahweh, the godof their faith tradition. This prophetic rolewas not of their choosing and they oftenwished themselves out of it. Jung (1953)made a distinction between authenticand inauthentic prophets: “Everyrespectable prophet strives manfullyagainst the unconscious pretentions ofhis role. When therefore a prophetappears at a moment’s notice, we wouldbe better advised to contemplate apossible psychic disequilibrium” (para.262).

In biblical tradition prophetic revela-tions from Yahweh often took the form ofshort poetic oracles which most often

were radical critiques of the currentreligious and political situations. Speakingtruth to power, the prophet’s messageswere unwelcome and largely unheeded.These oracles were preserved, retold andexpanded in long oral traditions andeventually edited and written intocanonical “books” which bear theprophet’s name.

Abraham Heschel (1955) wrote,“The year (627 BCE) in which Jeremiahreceived his call to be a prophet was aturning point in [Israel’s] history” (p. 130).The Northern Kingdom of Israel had fallento superpower Assyria in 710 BCE, thepeople were scattered throughout theempire and mostly lost to history. Thetiny kingdom of Judah with kings in theline of founding king, David, lived on inrelative security and peace as Assyria’svassal for another 100 years. Assyrianking Ashurbanipal died in 627 BCE,leaving the empire in a state of weaknessand near collapse. The rival superpower,Babylon, drove Assyria out of the regionand Judah was caught in the resultingpolitical vacuum as Babylon and Egyptvied for control of the tiny kingdoms onthe coast of the Mediterranean.

Judah’s strong king, Josiah, hoped toremain independent and ambitiouslyexpand the kingdom by reclaiming thelost territory of the former NorthernKingdom of Israel. He was killed in battletrying to stop Egypt’s army from passingthrough Judah to ally with the remnant ofAssyria against Babylon. His weak succes-sors and his anti-Babylon party alsodreamed of independence and plotted ill-fated revolts even as they had to submitas vassals to either Egypt or Babylon intheir tug-of-war. Jeremiah was of theminority pro-Babylon faction and wellaware of the inevitable Babylonian

juggernaut. His preaching in that vein wasrelentless and it nearly cost him his life(Mckenzie, 1965; Sweeney, 2000; Bright,1965).

Bright (1965) described the religiousatmosphere in Judah during this period:

It was a time of thoroughgoingreligious decay, and one that posedan immense, and in some ways anovel, threat to the integrity ofIsrael’s faith. It is, to be sure,unlikely that any widespread andconscious abandonment of thenational religion had taken place. Itwas, rather, that the essentialdistinction between Yahwism andpaganism had become blurred inthe minds of so many people thatthey were able to practice paganrites alongside the cult of Yahweh,and perhaps dedicate those rites toYahweh, without any awarenessthat they were guilty of apostasy indoing so. (p. XXXIII)

Armstrong (1993) framed thespiritual challenge of that time:

The God of the prophets was forcingIsraelites to sever themselves fromthe mythical consciousness of theMiddle East and go in quite adifferent direction from themainstream. In the agony ofJeremiah, we can see what animmense wrench and dislocationthis involved. Israel was a tinyenclave of Yahwism surrounded by apagan world. (p. 56)

There was a significant religiousreform under King Josiah early inJeremiah’s time. It was inaugurated andsustained by a different version of theLaw of Moses preserved in the NorthernKingdom and rediscovered in Jerusalemin 621BCE. This book of law and interpre-tation came to be known as andpreserved in the biblical book,Deuteronomy, as “Second Law.” Josiah’sreforms did centralize worship practice inthe Jerusalem temple while shuttingdown worship at local temples moreinvolved in the syncretic practicesdescribed by Bright. From Jeremiah’spoint of view, it was largely a reform inexternal cult practice rather than aspiritual renewal of the people. It did nottouch their hearts.

Jeremiah is aptly described by his


The DanceImagining Conversations with

Marion Woodman

Ring them bells ye heathen from the citythat dreamsRing them bells from the sanctuaries ‘Cross the valleys and streamsFor they’re deep and they’re wideAnd the world on its sideAnd time is running backwardsAnd so is the bride

—Ring Them Bells, Bob Dylan

Approximately halfway throughmy PhD program, I found myselfemotionally miserable and intellectuallydisenchanted. I read and read, but feltdistant from the words my mindconsumed each day. I also experiencedtremendous anxiety from the expanding,self-imposed pressure to align myselfwith a specific theoretical framework inorder to move forward with my research.In a panic one morning at 5 a.m., Ireached out for help from a senior facultymember and mentor, Dr. VickyParaschak. Vicky always knew how tosupport her students in ways that were inservice of who they “be.”

Via telephone, I expressed mydoubts around theory, my worries aboutdoing a dissertation for the sake of“getting it done” but not having it be atrue reflection of my Self, and my hesita-tion to share these issues with myadvisory committee for fear of beingjudged as a graduate student who did notbelong in the program.

Vicky had a solution. She advisedme to read several articles on a dailybasis that I was drawn to intuitively.While reading, I was to handwrite noteson the right side of the page about thearticle itself, and on the left side foster arelationship with the text throughquestions, comments, critiques, imagina-tive dialogue, pictures, references toother readings, etc. She assured me thatthrough this process I would find a theorythat spoke the language of how I orientedmyself in the world. After a few weeks ofcommitting solely to this process, thepromise came to fruition and I found afeminist theoretical framework thataligned with my personal and profes-

sional values. Later that year, stemming from

these initial seeds of true engagementwith my intellectual development, Ichanged dissertation topics. I choseautoethnography—or, dare I say,autoethnography chose me—to be thefoundation for my new dissertationresearch. Autoethnography is a processand a product, a methodology and amethod, that provides an opportunity toexplore connections between culture andone’s self. Research within thisframework is quite diverse sinceautoethnographers vary in theiremphases on the research process(graphy), on culture (ethno), and on self(auto). I loved the complexities within thecomposition of autoethnographicresearch, as the topics are often highlypersonal, incorporating reflexivity,uncertainty, and inquiry into the textitself.

I was forced to trust my intuitionconstantly as the path to the end productof this autoethnographic dissertation wasunclear. Collecting thoughts from mymemory and various artifacts of memory(pictures, journals, DVDs, etc.), sensationswithin my body, observations fromsubcultures, and reflexive conversationswere daunting and frustratingmethod/ological procedural processes. Tocreate the space in my mind for thewriting process to meld into cohesivestories, time ceased to exist as my body

awareness and emotional growth evolvedon their own schedule. Month aftermonth for nearly three years I noted,reflected, read, and walked through mythoughts, trying to piece together theelements that could create authenticstories—with emotion and meaning—and meet the academic standards of myfield, my university, and my self.

In an effort to play with, createfrom, and imagine through the intellec-tual and embodied space of “What’spossible?” I wrote a fictional conversationwith Marion Woodman into my disserta-tion. Marion’s books and BodySoulapproach (co-created with Mary Hamiltonand Ann Skinner) served as my mainsource of scholarly grounding andpersonal self-development. I yearned forthe opportunity to develop a relationshipwith her, and while we lived only a fewblocks away from one another and metonce in-person, this dialogic writingprocess helped me cultivate a deepersoul-connection with her work. I also sawthis dialogue as an opportunity tocontribute to the ongoing scholarlyconversation about the multiplicity ofexperiences in life by relating thepersonal to the cultural and scholarly inways that guide the reader through mycreative processes of understanding,wherein the process of the writing andresearch journey is the destination.

Meg: Marion, your words inspire mygrowth as a person, woman, mother, andscholar. Synchronicity reigned while I wasin graduate school as I was pointed toyour Work while doing my own self-workand, upon altering my dissertation topicmidway through my PhD, this workserved as the template for my entiredissertation. Upon reflection of thiscircuitous dance of doctoral dissonanceand dissertation dreams, I see how it wasan embodiment of the feminine process.Doing my PhD was a period of severalyears when I played, paused, andwrangled in the depths of my psyche. Allthe while, paradoxically, the pressures of


“Hallo!’ said Piglet, ‘what are you doing?‘Hunting,’ said Pooh.‘Hunting what?’‘Tracking something,’ said Winnie-the-

Pooh very mysteriously.‘Tracking what?’ said Piglet, coming

closer.‘That’s just what I ask myself. I ask

myself, What?’ ‘What do you think you’ll answer?’‘I shall have to wait until I catch up with

it,’ said Winnie-the-Pooh. --(Milne,1926, p. 32)

Among the many worlds which man didnot receive as a gift of nature, but whichhe created with his own spirit, the worldof books is the greatest. --(Herman Hesse,1931)

The world into which we are born isbrutal and cruel, and at the same time ofdivine beauty. Which element we thinkoutweighs the other, whether meaning-lessness or meaning, is a matter oftemperament. --(Jung, 1989, p. 358)

Imust declare from the outset ofthis short essay on the Jungianconcepts of individuation and archetype,that I am an avid reader. I began readingearly and for more than fifty years I havecarried a book with me always; as acompanion, a distraction, a source ofinspiration, and at times even as a guidein the more troubled periods of my life.Of all the stories I have read, Winnie-the-Pooh (Milne, 1926) stands out as anexemplar of the journey to psychologicalwholeness that C. G. Jung called individu-ation.

Jung suggested that individuation isa process of maturation that has as afundamental aim and requisite thecharacter of an “affirmative response tolife” (Le Grice, 2013, p. 9). It is thispositive reaction [even in the face of painand suffering], that ultimately leads to adeeper understanding of our lives, thusdeveloping our capacity to engage in ameaningful, or as I prefer to say, meaning

filled existence. Winnie-the-Pooh, as themain character in British author A. A.Milne’s remarkably popular book,possesses a temperament and attitude tolife that is one of an unerring “yea-saying” (Le Grice, 2013, p.9).

Pooh is a bear who, althoughdescribed by himself on occasions asbeing “a Bear of No Brain at All,” (Milne,1926, p.38) ironically has been studied byneuroscientists, literary critics, psycholo-gists, Taoists, and even ecologists sincehis creation by Milne in 1926. Shea,Gordon, and Smith (2012), a group ofneurodevelopmentalists, recently studiedPooh and his companions as examples ofDSM-IV pathological disorders such asAttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) and Obsessive CompulsiveDisorder (OCD). Heneghan (2013), an

environmental scientist investigatedwhether “there is more to this bear ofvery little brain than meets the eye”(para. 4) by suggesting in his essay TheEcology of Pooh, that Pooh might inspireus to take up again the ancient andrevolutionary tools of walking andlistening as a means of reconnecting withnature.

In this paper I will add the Jungianlens to previous scholarly research of thistimeless book, building on Jung’s sugges-tion in The Spirit in Man, Art, andLiterature (1966), that it is the non-psychological novel that offers the richestpsychological illumination (p. 88). Viewed

from a Jungian perspective Pooh, Piglet,Eeyore, Rabbit, Tigger, Christopher Robin,Kanga, and Roo become aspects of asingle psyche comprised of universalarchetypes. This “collective a priori”beneath the personal psyche, that is thepre-existing repository of patterns asarchetypes, has distinguishable attributeswhich form part of the psychologicalsubstratum of the human mind, in whatJung named the collective unconscious(Jung, 1989, p. 161). From a psychologicalviewpoint, we can see The Hundred AcreWood, the enchanted woodland home ofMilne’s characters, as a vessel for thepsyche, inhabited by archetypal patterns,which include the shadow, the anima andanimus, the child, the Great Mother, thehero, and the Self.

The human psyche transforms andevolves throughout a lifetime as therelationship between the ego and thecontents of the unconscious unfolds(Jung, 1989, p. 209). The collectiveunconscious consists of “latent predispo-sitions towards identical reactions” (Jung,1967/1978, para. 11), which carry certaincore principles or archetypal images fromthe psyche that have been repeated inmyths and stories throughout humanhistory. It is the craft of writers, such asMilne, to translate these universal energystructures into characters that leap fromthe page giving us the opportunity toglimpse, if only fleetingly, both thedeeper potentialities of our own individu-ation and those of others.

Here I will endeavor to interweavethe influence that more introvertedEastern traditions such as Taoism had onJung’s work by discussing Pooh as theembodiment of the Taoist principle of theWay; the movement towards unity of thetwo – life (Yang) and consciousness (Yin).In the context of the Jungian point ofview, it is only fitting that I pass thesemoments of reflection over to Poohhimself, as he is already on the trail,“tracking something” (Milne, 1926, p.32),and he has a way with words.

Perhaps my return to Winnie-the-


Pooh, a companion throughout my life, isa means of investigating a complexpsychological unfolding, through arecursive or circular action whichprovides a means of reflecting on my ownindividuation process – each revisitedstory becoming a measure of my psycho-logical maturation. This circling or“circulation” is an example of circumam-bulatio; what Jung described as not only amovement in a circle, but also “a markingoff of the sacred precinct and, on theother, fixation and concentration” (Jung,1967/1978, para. 38). This preoccupationis “nothing less than self-knowledge bymeans of self-brooding” (CW 13, para.39). I place this important marker ofcircularity and the individuation processhere, as it echoes English poet, literarycritic, and philosopher Samuel TaylorColeridge’s statement: “That must thoumake thyself to become…for the highesthuman reason reachieves at the end ofthe scale the unity of the beginning, butin a functioning that incorporates all theintervening stages of differentiation” (ascited in Abrams, 1971, p. 270).

In the inner world of the humanpsyche markers help us to create aboundary or frame that protects “theunity of the consciousness from beingburst asunder by the unconscious” (Jung,1967/1978, para. 47). As we movethrough the individuation process thesemarkers are continually moved as ourconsciousness expands and contracts, ismade and remade, through a series ofdisintegrations and reintegrations. It is asif the shape of our psyche constantlytransforms and the outermost markersattenuate accordingly as we bring toconsciousness the contents of the collec-tive unconscious filtered through our ownsubjective experiences.

The boundaried world of Pooh andhis companions is encompassed withinthe borders of the Hundred Acre Wood, acontainer for psyche far from theconstraints of the outside world. Whilethere is much of the Wood that is knownto its occupants, there is also much thatis unknown. Here we find another markerof the human psyche; the distinctionbetween what is directly accessible to ourconsciousness and that which resides inthe unconscious. Jung called thisunknown or repressed aspect of theunconscious the shadow, and it oftenappears in myth and modern literature as

a beast, a monster, or as a shadowy formwhich is dark, threatening, andindiscernible. In Winnie-the-Pooh, Milnetouches on this shadow by situating thedarker, unexplained aspect of the psychein the centre of the densest part of theWood, and by creating the elusiveWoozle, an animal never seen, butsuspected to be “hostile” (Milne, 1926, p. 34).

Jung (1989) wrote that “a polarityunderlies the dynamics of the psyche” (p.350). There is a tension that existsbetween the opposites of the poles – wecan imagine night and day, the Taoistconsciousness and life, yin and yang, lightand darkness. In psychological terms ifwe return to the circularity describedearlier, we find that this psychological

circling becomes a “movement in a circlearound oneself” as the “poles of light anddarkness are made to rotate” (Jung,1967/1978, p. 27, CW 13, para. 38). PoohBear’s House is located on the Westernedge of the wood, while ChristopherRobin, the only human in the book, liveson the Eastern edge. These two aspectsof psyche are diametrically opposed intheir positioning – the young boyrepresenting a stage of development atthe beginning of childhood. He has aburgeoning ego that has begun to articu-late rational thought and anunderstanding of some of the rules of theadult world. His “instinctive spontaneity”(Le Grice, 2013, p. 42), although stillpresent, is beginning to disappear, and hefunctions in the psyche as the conduit toand interpreter of the outside world. Hecould be seen as the ego; that part of usthat attempts to be in control.

Perhaps this is a timely moment tointroduce Pooh more formally as heappears for the first time in Winnie-the-

Pooh. We find him momentarily in theoutside world, bumping repeatedly downthe stairs on the back of his head, held byone paw, under the control ofChristopher Robin. We learn in this firstparagraph that Pooh “feels that therereally is another way if only he could stopbumping for a moment and think of it.And then he feels that perhaps thereisn’t” (Milne, 1926, p. 1). Encapsulated inthis short sentence we find a beautifulrendition of the human experience. Asearch for meaning, a deep knowing thatthere is another way outside the boundsof the repeated and mundane actions ofdaily life, a remembrance of an “essentialor original image” (Hillman, 1996, p. 7).

Individuation means becoming anindividual through acceptance of one’sdistinctiveness. This quality of uniquenessis discovered by seeking out a relation-ship with the superior archetype thatJung called the Self. It is worth notinghere that Jung himself put forward theself as a paradox calling it both “anarchetype amongst others and alsostanding for the totality of being”(Rowland, 2012, p.14). I would suggestthat this “Bear of Very Little Brain”(Milne, 1926, p. 67) is in fact an embodi-ment of this paradox as he issimultaneously at the beginning, middle,and end of the path to individuation. ATaoist might describe Pooh as being an“Uncarved Block” for he possesses thecapacity to just be. He is unable todescribe being, “he just is it” (Hoff, 1982,p. 10). In this context the Bear holds theplace of an “adept” - what the martialarts practitioner Bruce Lee called havingthe capacity of being “consciouslyunconscious” or “unconsciouslyconscious” (as cited in Le Grice, p. 76).

In Jungian terms, the transition fromthe unconscious to the self is mediatedby the internal balancing of another pairof archetypes: the anima (inner feminineprinciple, the goddess, the Great Mother,emotion,) and the animus (innermasculine principle, rationality, logic, self-assertion). It is misleading to think ofthese archetypes in terms of biologicalgender as both principles exist within usall, and it is a function of individuation todevelop both the anima and animus. Inliterature it can be helpful to illustratethe attributes of these principles inclearly drawn gendered characters. Indoing this we must keep in mind,


Heidegger’s Dasein and Gadamer’sshared horizon allows one to see Daseinas being a clearing within a shared worldencompassing both physical and culturalbeing. The clearing of Dasein exists withinthe uniquely perspectival experience ofthe revealed world of history and culturethat orients one’s cares. However, theintentionally of this care implies thatwhile some aspects of the horizon arerevealed, others are concealed. Despitetheir concealment these meanings withinthe shared horizon, continue to shapeand orient one’s position toward theworld. Frankl (1952/1957) also discusseshuman existence as fundamentally histor-ical, and that this historicity ordershuman life in the form of the meaningsfrom which one lives. As such, thehorizon—one’s perspectival contact withthe shared world of history and culture—contains within it the point of contact tolife’s meanings.

This understanding of concealedmeanings in the shared horizon bringsabout a new way of viewing the notion ofthe unconscious; one that is “situateddirectly in a populated world of language,history, perception and culture. Its depthis therefore lateral rather than vertical, asit surrounds us as the world in which weprimordially dwell” (Brooke, 1991, p.128). The depth that one sees withintrospection is, in fact, a reflection ofexpansiveness within the shared horizon.Seeing unconscious phenomena asinseparable from a shared horizon, allowsa response to the criticism that thisproposal artificially divides the livingexperience of being. Instead, theunconscious exists as the aspects of ahorizon that are occluded by one’scurrent meanings. Covered overunconscious phenomena are notremoved from the experience of being;instead these concealed aspects of lifeare the unavoidable and necessary by-product of having a meaningfulorientation within the world.

The Unconscious and DepthPsychology

Concealed phenomena have thepotential to be active elements of one’slived experience, as Heidegger suggests:

Appearance, as the appearance “ofsomething,” thus precisely does notmean that something shows itself;rather, it means that something

which does not show itselfannounces itself through somethingthat does show itself. […] All indica-tions, presentations, symptoms andsymbols have this fundamentalformal structure of appearing,although they do differ amongthemselves. (Heidegger, 1953/2010,p. 28)

This process is one where concealedphenomena announce themselvesthrough their effects upon what iscurrently accessible. Within the contextof consciousness as a clearing, within ahorizon, the phenomena announced arefundamentally of an individual’s livedworld. What is announced, then, aremeanings from within one’s horizon thathave been covered over often submergeddue to their incompatibility with one’scurrent explicit stance toward the world.

Symptoms in Depth PsychologyThe two modes of appearing

mentioned by Heidegger that are mostsignificant to the practice of depthpsychology are symbols and symptoms.Working with these phenomena providesone with the unique ability to look intothe intersection of conscious and theunconscious phenomena. While both areseparate avenues of announcing, eachprovides an important path for theexploration of concealed meaningsshaping one’s life.

The concept of symptoms revealingconcealed psychic phenomena is a centralthesis of depth work. When encounteringpsychological distress, depth practitionersoften “‘suspect’ that more is going onthan meets the eye” (Orange, 2011, p.31). This suspicion portrays the symptomnot as a thing to be dealt with on its ownor as an isolated problem in living. Thesymptom is seen as announcing aprocess, or presence, within the client’sworld; that is at this time concealed fromconscious awareness. The importance of

concealed phenomena cannot beunderstated for depth practitioners whooften posit that, “treating the overtbehavior [or symptom] will be uselessunless the hidden meanings are dealtwith” (Todd & Bohart, 2006, p. 139). Inthis way, the truly daunting nature ofdepth psychology’s aim comes into focus;it seeks to treat not only problems inliving which bring people to therapy, butalso seeks to address the forces andmeanings concealed by the veryconsciousness that would apprehendthem.

Symptoms are pathological becausethey are discordant with an individual’slife, to the extent that they are signifi-cantly distressing (Comer, 2012, pp. 3-5).The distressing nature of symptomsindicates that they are not likely to beconsciously adopted ways of being;rather, they invoke a paradox wherepsychological symptoms are at oncewithin and beyond the psychic life of anindividual. This reinforces the claim thatphenomena can be active within anindividual’s life beyond his or her currentability to perceive. In this way, asymptom can be seen as announcing theconcealed phenomena that brings itabout.

During his early work, one of thefounders of depth psychology, C. G. Jung,sought to examine what is announcedthrough psychological symptoms. Using aseries of word association tests, heidentified that people can have abnormalreactions to thematically linked objects ofconsciousness, and examination of theserelated objects of consciousness oftenuncovered a traumatic event (Jung,1935/1985). Through this investigation heformed his theory of the complex. Theterm complex is Jung’s label for agrouping of objects of consciousness,linked by a common emotional experi-ence, and thematic elements (Stein,2001, pp. 35-36). The etymology of theword complex suggests being “twistedtogether” (Martin, 1960 p. 71). The use ofthis word is intentional, as the contentsof the complex are entwined, as in an“image of a certain psychic situationwhich is strongly accentuated emotionallyand is, moreover, incompatible with thehabitual attitude of consciousness” (Jung,1934/1983 p. 38). The complex, asincompatible with one’s current stancetowards the world, has an element of


Heideggerian submerged concealment. Complexes have the quality of being

encountered experientially as, “person-ality fragments or subpersonalities”(Stein, 2001, p. 50). Understanding thisappearance requires further investigationinto the nature of personality. Asdiscussed earlier, a fundamentalcomponent of a person is their caretowards the world (Heidegger, 1953/2010p. 39). This implies that a foundation ofpersonality is the cares that one livestowards. Also, a person, and their person-ality, is constituted through a uniqueencounter with history and tradition, aslived out through the meanings whichstructure one’s life (Veith, 2015 p. 27;Frankl 1957 p. 31).

With this understanding of person-ality in mind, the complex can be seen asa fragmented and partially submergedcare, a meaning that is not known, buterupts as a symptom. These meaningssimultaneously structure a person’s lifewhile remaining discordant with the lifein which they appear. A person living outa complex is living meanings that are atodds with each other. As symptoms,complexes may be projected uponothers, or they may be intentionallyignored blind spots. Further, theemotional pull of the hidden meaningmay be of sufficient strength to overrideconsciously lived meanings; and in sodoing the submerged meaning takes holdof and directs a person’s actions (Martin,1960 p. 72). These eruptions of thecomplexes are encountered as psycholog-ical symptoms. Although oftenunpleasant, these symptoms announceconcealed and discordant meanings in aperson’s life.

Given the fact that meaning-makingis a social activity, individuals are boththe recipients and the creators ofmeaning and history. As Veith (2015)says, “The enactment of history’s effectconstitutes our very being” (p. 27). Sinceone is always within or constituted by,these meanings, they cannot beexamined in their entirety, from anomniscient view; as such, meaningsretain a fundamentally concealedelement. Exploring the collectivecomponent of meaning providesimportant insight into the nature ofcomplexes. As an individual developstheir own complexes, they are alsotransmitting complexes that become a

part of the shared horizon. The social element of consciousness,

and meaning making, did not evade Jung,who discussed this in terms of archetypes(Martin, 1960 p. 71). The archetype itselfis neither an inherited idea nor acommon image. A better description isthat the archetype is like a psychic moldinto which individual and collectiveexperiences are poured and where theytake shape (in Hopcke, 1989, p. 15).

For Jung, this molding quality ofarchetypes is central to the developmentof complexes. All complexes have both apersonal experiential component and anarchetypical component in their develop-ment (Stein, 2001, p. 52). This is similar tohow the meanings of one’s life contain atonce both personal and collectiveelements. The correlation between Jung’sconcept of the archetypes and the histor-ical meaning-making discussed above isstriking. Both of these concepts representvehicles of meaning which structure one’slife. Symbols in Depth Psychology

Like historical meaning-making,archetypes cannot be grasped directly.Instead, they are announced, most oftenthrough symbol, as Jung noted: “Thearchetype is the psychic mold of experi-ence, while the symbol is its particularmanifestations” (in Hopcke, 1989, p. 29).A central insight of Jung’s work witharchetypes, then, is in seeing how thesevehicles of hidden meaning appear inconscious life through symbol.

Symbols, as conceptualized by Jung,are the “best possible representation ofsomething that can never be fully known”(in Hopcke, 1989, p. 29). This aspect ofrepresentation has a property ofcommunication: that is, renderingsymbols as imminently contextuallanguage (Cirlot, 1962/1978). This contex-tual nature implies that while a symbolcan be known, it cannot be reduced to asimple definition. The irreducible nature

of symbols allows them to be more thanrepresentation. As Gadamer (1960/2013)writes, “A symbol is not related by itsmeaning to another meaning but itssensory existence has ‘meaning’” (p. 66).In other words, while a symbol isrepresentation, it is also something thatis directly and powerfully experienced inits own right. This two-fold action ofsymbols allows them to function as aunique medium in which concealedphenomena within a culture are not onlyindicated, but are encountered. Asdiscussed earlier, history and culture areexperienced directly as the meaning fromwhich one lives. From this, it follows thatsymbols, as units of cultural representa-tion, are a process that announcemeanings from the shared cultural andhistorical world.

Symbols are not only important tothe theory of depth psychology, they arealso important to the work of depthpsychology. A thorough examination ofhermeneutic implications for work indepth psychology is beyond the focus ofthis endeavor. However, a brief discus-sion of a common depth encounter withsymbols demonstrates the importance ofhermeneutic understanding in thiscontext. Dreams are analyzed, in part, toilluminate their symbolic components(Martin, 1960). In the process of comingto better understand revealed themes,the meanings announced within a givensymbol are revealed to consciousawareness.Depth Psychology and Dreams

Martin (1960) discusses threecommon methods of dream interpreta-tion as follows. First, the dictionarymethod assumes that a particular symbolhas a universal meaning that applies in allsituations. Second, it is an “a priorimethod, which starts with an establishedtheory as to the nature of dreams, anddeduces from there what the imagesrepresent” (p. 38). Third, is the empiricalmethod; which explores symbols byasking, “What is the mental context for[one] in which this image is contained?”(p. 39). Both, the dictionary and a priorimethods of symbolic interpretation aredeeply flawed, representing valid targetsfor May’s (1959) criticism of theunconscious, which suggests it is a blankcheck for any theory or dogma. However,Martin’s empirical method, which focuseson the individual context of the symbol, is


of a different nature. By inquiring into thecontext in which the symbol arises, one isengaging in a sort of dialogue whereunexpected developments may occur.This method of inquiry is essentiallyhermeneutic; however, the developmentof a hermeneutic dream interpretation isan endeavor for another time.

Examining unconscious phenomenaas being announced through symptomsand symbols, demonstrates thatsubmerged phenomena impacting anindividual’s life can be illuminated. Theexploration of this subject has led to thediscovery that what is announced aremeanings lived by an individual. Theseunconscious meanings have beensubmerged because they are somehow inconflict with the meanings that oneexplicitly identifies with. A hermeneuticunderstanding of unconsciousphenomena seeks to learn about theunique contextual experience of “theother’s” world. One attempts tounderstand the unique encounter withhistory and culture, as lived by the other,and announces itself through symptomsand symbols. Adopting a hermeneuticallyinformed depth psychology allows apractitioner to engage with unconsciousphenomena without falling into May’s(1959) criticism of the unconscious as ablank check. This is achieved because thehermeneutic understanding ofunconscious phenomena refrains fromassuming a truth that supersedes what isrevealed through an individual’s dialoguewith their unconscious. This dialoguealways occurs within an individual’sperspectival contact with the world, andas such is always unique.

Conclusion Incorporation of hermeneutic

understanding into depth psychologyallows lived meanings that are concealedby one’s intentionality to announcethemselves. Each individual encounterslife from a unique perspective within thehorizon of culture and history. Thisencounter is lived through the meaningsthat shape one’s cares and structure aworld of experience. Through anencounter with, life, history, and culture,one adopts lived meanings, some ofwhich are discordant. Individuals oftensubmerge discordant meanings in orderto maintain psychic equilibrium andcontinuity. Submerged meanings

continue to be an active and structuringinfluence within an individual’s life, andare announced through revealed experi-ence. This process of announcing is oftenexperienced as symptomatic. Thuspsychological symptoms, which announceunconscious contents, are an individual’sprocess of living discordant meanings.

Viewing unconscious phenomena inthis way allows a response to theproblems highlighted by May (1959).First, being is not artificially divided.Unconscious contents continue to be apart of the totality of one’s psyche aslived meanings hidden through one’sstance within a world. Second, theincorporation of hermeneuticunderstanding avoids the blank checkcriticism.

The truth within unconsciouscontents is discovered through dialoguewith what is announced from afundamentally unique encounter with theworld. The implications of hermeneuticunderstanding for depth psychology havenot yet been fully explored. However, asdemonstrated here, the incorporation ofhermeneutic understanding into depthpsychology is an important step,addressing several important criticisms.This philosophical examination of theexistence of unconscious phenomenamay aid proponents of depth inpsychology with their important task ofreintroducing and articulating theimportance of this topic into the widerpsychological community. Mostimportant, however, is that applyinghermeneutic understanding tounconscious phenomena allows theunique meanings arising within theclient’s life to be the center of therapy.

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McIntyre, R. & Woodruff, S. Theory ofintentionality. In J. Mohanty & W.McKenna, (Eds). Husserl’s phenome-nology: A textbook (Washington D.C.:Center for Advanced Research inPhenomenology and University Press ofAmerica.

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Andrew Carnahan is currently pursuing amaster’s degree in ExistentialPhenomenological Psychology at SeattleUniversity. Prior to graduate school he

worked as an addictions counselor inSeattle treatment centers, and holds adegree in Alcohol and ChemicalDependency Counseling. His primaryacademic interests reside within theintersection of Jungian and Existential-Phenomenological psychology, as well asHumanistic approaches to addictiontreatment. Andrew lives with his wife inthe Seattle area.


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