Sorting the Stones In making an egg out of stone, it helps to sort the stones first. In the myth of Eros and Psyche, Psyche’s first task was to sort the seeds, to learn to be selective and to put things in order. All Psyche had to do was sit down and cry…
A well-written autobiography that captures a life well-lived, in a Jungian way: From a review by Stephen Morrisey: Robert Johnson’s Balancing Heaven and Earth is a memoir and celebration of the inner life, the world of dreams, active imagination, and mystical vision. Johnson writes, “I sometimes wonder if all suffering is a vision…
Marie Louise Von Franz, on the “Unknown Visitor” It seems to me to be one of the greatest contributions of Jung and his work that it taught us to keep our door open to the “unknown visitor.” He also tried to teach us an approach through which we can avoid the wrath of this…
The Orphic Egg The egg is a germ of life with a lofty symbolical significance. It is not just a cosmogonic symbol — it is also a “philosophical one”. As the former it is the Orphic Egg, the world’s beginning; as the latter, the philosophical egg of the medieval natural philosophers, the vessel from which,…
Crossing the River Styx Joachim Patinir 1521 Transitions as Liminal and Archetypal Situations From a lecture delivered by Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D. at the Mythic Journeys Conference June 2004, Atlanta, Georgia The fourth step is the first time that Psyche will end up accomplishing the task herself. As her very last task, Aphrodite commands that…
The River Styx Luca Giordano 1684-1686. Fresco in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi From: The Golden Asse by Lucius Apuleius Adlington’s translation, 1566 THE FIFTH BOOKE THE TWENTY-SECOND CHAPTER The most pleasant and delectable tale of the marriage of Cupid and Psyches … Then Venus spake unto Psyches againe saying: Seest thou the toppe of yonder great…
Psyche’s Second Task Romano Guilio 1526-28 Fresco Sala di Psyche, Palazzo del Tè, Mantua From: The Golden Asse by Lucius Apuleius Adlington’s translation, 1566 THE FIFTH BOOKE THE TWENTY-SECOND CHAPTER The most pleasant and delectable tale of the marriage of Cupid and Psyches When night was passed Venus called Psyches, and said, Seest thou yonder…
Psyche at the Throne of Venus Jungian analysts
From a psychological point of view, if you want to understand someone you’d better know about their mother and their relationship to their mother. Here are some images of the Birth of Venus: The Birth of Venus Sandro Botticelli 1486 Tempera on canvas 67.9 in × 109.6 in Uffizi, Florence El nacimiento de Venus Alexandre…