All Programs

Considering the Psychedelic Renaissance:
Is There an Art to Opening Pandora’s Box?
with Jay Dufrechou

Sundays, December 4, 11 & 18 | 2 to 4 pm
Held Online via Zoom
Members $50, Non-Members $70

In 1954, becoming aware of the enthusiasm for psychedelics expressed by well-known thinkers such as Aldous Huxley, Jung wrote his concerns to his friend Father Victor White:  “There are some poor impoverished creatures, perhaps, for whom mescalin would be a heaven-sent gift without a counterpoison, but I am profoundly mistrustful of the ‘pure gifts of the God.’ … you pay very dearly for them.” 

Understanding the power of psychedelics to quickly open the contents of the unconscious, Jung continued: “But it soon becomes dangerous to know more, because one does not learn at the same time how to balance it through a conscious equivalent. That is the mistake Aldous Huxley makes: he does not know that he is in the role of the “Zauberlehrling,” who learned from his master how to call the ghosts but did not know how to get rid of them again.” Jung also wondered whether there would be harm from using psychedelics “out of idle curiosity.” He told his friend: “I only know there is no point in wishing to know more of the collective unconscious than one gets through dreams and intuition. The more you know of it, the greater and heavier becomes our moral burden, because the unconscious contents transform themselves into your individual tasks and duties as soon as they become conscious. Do you want to increase loneliness and misunderstanding? Do you want to find more and more complications and increasing responsibilities? You get enough of it.”

In the contemporary psychedelics renaissance, Pandora’s Box has already cracked open. Thousands of Westerners journey every year to the Amazon basin or Central America in search of spiritual awakening with Ayahuasca or San Pedro, while as many underground groups gather in cities around the world for psychedelics ceremony with these and other medicines. Inner explorers are bringing their experiences, their unleased processes, and sometimes their psychedelics trauma into psychotherapeutic practices. Meanwhile, with the prohibition against psychedelics research having ended, and the mental health crisis not abating, respected researchers at prominent research facilities are once again demonstrating the value of psychedelics in healing from trauma, addiction, anxiety, and depression – and in finding comfort and peace with a terminal illness. Stories in the media about the benefits of psychedelics have exploded – and increasing attention to the perils is not likely far behind. Clinics administering psychedelic treatments in various forms are opening around the world, with enormous attention from investors, whose motives and tactics run the usual capitalist gamut.  

In this “wild west” of a renaissance, Jung’s concerns remain valid. Are we ready to handle what is being unleashed? Albert Hofmann, the discoverer of LSD, believed his “problem child” fell into such turmoil in the 1960s and 1970s because our culture had no mature structures to hold the power of psychedelic experiences. Over half a century later, what has changed? Is the medical model – and the market forces of contemporary health care – right for holding the power of psychedelics? If these “medicines” are spiritual sacraments, what are our practices, lineages, and structures for respecting and honoring the “direct” route to God? Are our therapists and clinicians experienced enough themselves with the power of psychedelics to enter into the psychedelic terrains with clients? 

In this series of three Sunday morning meetings, we will consider these questions and more from a depth psychological – as well as practical – perspective. The first gathering will look at the psychedelics renaissance across the US and the world – including contemporary research, the emerging lawful use of some psychedelics in clinical settings, and the issues surrounding the ceremonial use of “sacred medicines” outside traditional cultural contexts. In the second gathering, we will look at the experiences typically offered by the various psychedelics most commonly used in the renaissance: MDMA, psilocybin, ketamine, LSD, ayahuasca, and others. The promises and perils of the particular “medicines” will be considered. The third gathering will look at the “art of opening Pandora’s Box.” What are the best models, therapist preparation, skills, and set and setting for offering positive, healing, and empowering experiences with psychedelics? What are the best therapeutic approaches for helping experiencers prepare and integrate such potentially life-changing dives into the depths of the unconscious? To return to Jung’s question, for those of us wishing to help others, and our world, in a challenging time, what are our responsibilities and “moral burdens” if we enter into the psychedelics field?

Jay Dufrechou, PhD, took a break from his law career in the mid-90s to follow his spiritual experiences into the study of transpersonal psychology at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (ITP), now Sofia University. His dissertation research into experiences of grief, weeping and other deep emotions in response to nature became his book, Moving through Grief: Reconnecting with Nature. Jay has taught as adjunct faculty for ITP/Sofia, including an online course on Psychedelics: Clinical and Research Applications for Sofia and for the Retreat at Pacifica Graduate Institute on Sacred Medicine and the Psyche. Along with Ryan Westrum, Jay is the author of The Psychedelics Integration Handbook. Jay has studied the work of Stanislav Grof extensively, including training in the facilitation of holotropic breathwork, and is currently assisting Stanislav and Brigitte Grof in developing programs under Grof Legacy Training, including training in the art of Grofian Psychedelic Therapy.

Death Café
Facilitated by Martha Spruce
Fridays, October 7th and December 16th | Starts at 7pm
Free to Members and Non-Members
Held Via Zoom | Zoom Link Here

“Death is psychologically as important as birth, and like it, is an integral part of life.” ~ C.G. Jung

Let’s gather together to talk about death. Not to grieve, not to seek therapeutic support, but simply to have a group-directed discussion with the broad intention to increase our awareness of death. Perhaps that greater awareness might help us to deeply appreciate our lives right now, right here. Death Cafes around the world give us all, young and old, an opportunity to talk about death without any agenda, advice, objective, or conclusion. We agree to respect each other’s viewpoints and confidentiality. Donations to the Jung Center are welcomed. You can find the Zoom link in the description above. The two discussion dates do not imply a progression of any theme and so you may attend one (or both) session(s). Covid has brought death very close to many of us. A Death Café may help us to become open to more acceptance and curiosity. Let’s refrain from trying to outsource death. It belongs to each of us, intimately.

Martha Spruce, the founder of Hearts & Hands Reiki, has been practicing and teaching Reiki in the mid-coast area for over 25 years. During that time, she has also cared for terminally ill people as a certified hospice volunteer and homecare provider. She has also volunteered as a certified pastoral chaplain at Mid Coast Hospital. Being with people who are dying has helped her to learn what death might give as well as what it takes.

Science and Spiritual Practice by Rupert Sheldrake: A Book Discussion Group
3rd Sunday of the Month | 10 am to 12 pm
Free for Members and Non-Members| Zoom Link Here
Facilitated by Jeff Pinette

This discussion group will explore the effects of spiritual practices through Rupert Sheldrake’s book entitled Science and Spiritual
Practices. The effects of spiritual practices are now being investigated scientifically as never before, and many studies have shown that religious and spiritual practices generally make people happier and healthier. In this book, Sheldrake illustrates how science helps validate seven practices that underpin all major world religions:

◊ Meditation
◊ Gratitude
◊ Connecting with nature
◊ Relating to plants
◊ Rituals
◊ Singing and chanting
◊ Pilgrimage and holy places.

Sheldrake summarizes the latest scientific research on what happens when we take part in these practices and suggests ways that readers can explore these fields for themselves. Science and Spiritual Practices illuminates the evolutionary origins of various spiritual traditions and gives a new appreciation of their power. It also shows how the core practices of spirituality are accessible to all, without the need to subscribe to a particular religious belief system. Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D., is a biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. He is the author of more than eighty-five scientific papers and twelve books. He was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge University, a Frank Knox Fellow at Harvard University, and a Research Fellow of the Royal Society. From 2005 to 2010 he was Director of the Perrott-Warrick project for research on unexplained human and animal abilities, funded by Trinity College, Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Petaluma, California, and of Schumacher College in Devon, England.

In this discussion group, we’ll read the book together during each session with no reading assignments. This discussion group meets on the third Sunday of the month from 10 am to 12 pm.

Jeffrey Pinnette is the facilitator for this discussion group. He is a long-term Jung Center member and currently serves as co-chair of the Center’s Board and as the Program Committee Chair. He lives in Topsham.

Considering the Psychedelic Renaissance:
Is There an Art to Opening Pandora’s Box?
with Jay Dufrechou

Sundays, December 4, 11 & 18 | 2 to 4 pm
Held Online via Zoom
Members $50, Non-Members $70

In 1954, becoming aware of the enthusiasm for psychedelics expressed by well-known thinkers such as Aldous Huxley, Jung wrote his concerns to his friend Father Victor White:  “There are some poor impoverished creatures, perhaps, for whom mescalin would be a heaven-sent gift without a counterpoison, but I am profoundly mistrustful of the ‘pure gifts of the God.’ … you pay very dearly for them.” 

Understanding the power of psychedelics to quickly open the contents of the unconscious, Jung continued: “But it soon becomes dangerous to know more, because one does not learn at the same time how to balance it through a conscious equivalent. That is the mistake Aldous Huxley makes: he does not know that he is in the role of the “Zauberlehrling,” who learned from his master how to call the ghosts but did not know how to get rid of them again.” Jung also wondered whether there would be harm from using psychedelics “out of idle curiosity.” He told his friend: “I only know there is no point in wishing to know more of the collective unconscious than one gets through dreams and intuition. The more you know of it, the greater and heavier becomes our moral burden, because the unconscious contents transform themselves into your individual tasks and duties as soon as they become conscious. Do you want to increase loneliness and misunderstanding? Do you want to find more and more complications and increasing responsibilities? You get enough of it.”

In the contemporary psychedelics renaissance, Pandora’s Box has already cracked open. Thousands of Westerners journey every year to the Amazon basin or Central America in search of spiritual awakening with Ayahuasca or San Pedro, while as many underground groups gather in cities around the world for psychedelics ceremony with these and other medicines. Inner explorers are bringing their experiences, their unleased processes, and sometimes their psychedelics trauma into psychotherapeutic practices. Meanwhile, with the prohibition against psychedelics research having ended, and the mental health crisis not abating, respected researchers at prominent research facilities are once again demonstrating the value of psychedelics in healing from trauma, addiction, anxiety, and depression – and in finding comfort and peace with a terminal illness. Stories in the media about the benefits of psychedelics have exploded – and increasing attention to the perils is not likely far behind. Clinics administering psychedelic treatments in various forms are opening around the world, with enormous attention from investors, whose motives and tactics run the usual capitalist gamut.  

In this “wild west” of a renaissance, Jung’s concerns remain valid. Are we ready to handle what is being unleashed? Albert Hofmann, the discoverer of LSD, believed his “problem child” fell into such turmoil in the 1960s and 1970s because our culture had no mature structures to hold the power of psychedelic experiences. Over half a century later, what has changed? Is the medical model – and the market forces of contemporary health care – right for holding the power of psychedelics? If these “medicines” are spiritual sacraments, what are our practices, lineages, and structures for respecting and honoring the “direct” route to God? Are our therapists and clinicians experienced enough themselves with the power of psychedelics to enter into the psychedelic terrains with clients? 

In this series of three Sunday morning meetings, we will consider these questions and more from a depth psychological – as well as practical – perspective. The first gathering will look at the psychedelics renaissance across the US and the world – including contemporary research, the emerging lawful use of some psychedelics in clinical settings, and the issues surrounding the ceremonial use of “sacred medicines” outside traditional cultural contexts. In the second gathering, we will look at the experiences typically offered by the various psychedelics most commonly used in the renaissance: MDMA, psilocybin, ketamine, LSD, ayahuasca, and others. The promises and perils of the particular “medicines” will be considered. The third gathering will look at the “art of opening Pandora’s Box.” What are the best models, therapist preparation, skills, and set and setting for offering positive, healing, and empowering experiences with psychedelics? What are the best therapeutic approaches for helping experiencers prepare and integrate such potentially life-changing dives into the depths of the unconscious? To return to Jung’s question, for those of us wishing to help others, and our world, in a challenging time, what are our responsibilities and “moral burdens” if we enter into the psychedelics field?

Jay Dufrechou, PhD, took a break from his law career in the mid-90s to follow his spiritual experiences into the study of transpersonal psychology at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (ITP), now Sofia University. His dissertation research into experiences of grief, weeping and other deep emotions in response to nature became his book, Moving through Grief: Reconnecting with Nature. Jay has taught as adjunct faculty for ITP/Sofia, including an online course on Psychedelics: Clinical and Research Applications for Sofia and for the Retreat at Pacifica Graduate Institute on Sacred Medicine and the Psyche. Along with Ryan Westrum, Jay is the author of The Psychedelics Integration Handbook. Jay has studied the work of Stanislav Grof extensively, including training in the facilitation of holotropic breathwork, and is currently assisting Stanislav and Brigitte Grof in developing programs under Grof Legacy Training, including training in the art of Grofian Psychedelic Therapy.