Indigenous initiations into adulthood sometimes ended in death. California Natives disposed of young misfits or “sociopaths” during ritual medicine ceremonies. Matriarchal kinship rules prohibited taking the life of a blood relative, but there are several stories of hiring a “poisoner” or shaman to dispose of unwanted people who could not internalize the culture’s rules of [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Myths’
The Hunger Games
Posted in Initiation, Movie Reviews, tagged Myths, Psychology, The Matrix on March 24, 2012 | 2 Comments »
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Posted in Dreams, Movie Reviews, psyche, Spirituality, tagged Balancing the Opposites, Indwelling Spirit, Myths, Self, Synchronicity, trickster on December 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Fantasy is another word for imagination, for the world of dreams and illusions. C. S. Lewis’ Narnia is such a place, where animals and mythological creatures speak our language. We understand their nonverbal communication. We hear them and understand their speech. Their words are intelligible. The scene is that of war between the forces of [...]
Wrestling with the Angel
Posted in Carl Jung, Initiation, tagged Archetypes, Creativity, Indigenous, Myths, Vision Quest on August 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Sometimes it takes years for stories to come round again. When I was a boy growing up in the wild west of Idaho, Oregon, and Utah, my grandfather would tell me stories of cowboys and Indians. Dad would recite stanzas he learned in Mormon grammar school. I didn’t know where those stories came from at [...]
The River of Life
Posted in gnostic wisdom, Initiation, psyche, sacred ceremonies, Spirituality, tagged Indwelling Spirit, Myths, Wisdom on May 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Who is the guy on the left in the Baptism of Christ? If we are familiar with the basic story, we can tell who the wild guy on the right is by his clothing composed of spotted pelts of wild animals, and the shepherd’s crook. He is John the Baptizer of the Hebrew/Biblical story. The [...]
Masquerade with the Vampire
Posted in Erotic love, men's issues, Mentoring, sexual conduct, tagged Erotic love, Feeling, Men's Movement, Myths, Psychology, Shadow, Spirituality, Vampire on February 18, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The Mardi Gras Masquerade has a function which goes deep into the Source. It provides the possibility of seeing clearly the roles we play and how, by changing the Mask, we we can break patterns and become free at last!
The Search for the Grail
Posted in Initiation, Joseph Campbell, Marie-Louise von Franz, men's issues, Psychology, Spirituality, Theosophical Society, tagged Feeling, Men's Movement, Mystery, Myths, Old Catholic Church, Spirituality, Wisdom on December 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Grail, symbol of the archetypal feminine, occurs in tales of Parzifal and other Knights of the Round Table. Marie-Louise von Franz, Jungian psychotherapist, is quoted on the archetype of the Great Mother, regression, and rebirth motifs. The ego struggles to maintain consciousness like the hero battling a monster. Personal events mirror these mythic images.
Dionysos, Hades, and Osiris: One and the Same?
Posted in Carl Jung, Erotic love, psyche, Psychology, Spirituality, Uncategorized, tagged Erotic love, Myths, Psychology, Spirituality, Thinking on October 22, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The ancient divine patterns of the psyche are the gods and goddesses, or “archetypes” which (1) were here on the planet before us and (2) we experience in extraordinary ways. These ancient patterns behave like personalities, who, unlike humans, are “autonomous”, literally “laws unto themselves”. They are power centers which have their own, unique way of affecting us and our environment. They make their own rules of conduct. It is important to be aware of the archetypes and how to be in relationship with them. We can work with or against overwhelming forces of nature and be helped or destroyed.
Gnosis, Dreams, and Psychic Help
Posted in Dreams, gnostic wisdom, psyche, Spirituality, tagged Divine Intelligence, Dreamwork, Erotic love, Myths, Spirituality on January 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Healing can always take place in the Spirit Realm or, as modern psychology calls it, the Unconscious. In that realm our twenty-first century concept that time is linear does not apply. The events of childhood are eternally present, as though they happened yesterday. In the Dreamtime of Spirit every event is always present and wounding [...]
