Maine Jung Center Digital Archive

The process of realizing oneself as a person (“individuation”) was for C. G. Jung, equivalent to the unfolding of latent potentials in the personality–a vital spark of aliveness–something sacred and utterly unique in each of us. The potential for this “unfolding,” Jung felt, lay deep in the foundations of the personality like a seed, and was universally represented in mythology as the archetype of the innocent orphaned child in exile. Trauma in childhood accounts for such exile. By studying the lives of people who have survived early trauma, we discover that the ideal “unfolding” of the personality Jung envisioned is partially blocked and distorted by powerful but necessary archetypal defenses. These defenses divide up the inner world an banish unbearably painful feelings to the unconscious where they continue to live in suspended animation”as ‘implicit memories or as the orphaned specters of a traumatic childhood. When psychotherapy begins, these wounded, ghost-like remnants of our childhood selves re-emerge—seeking acceptance and healing. If accepted, they also bring with them a numinous, ineffable dimension that often accompanies the experience of wholeness. However, the recovery of these lost parts of the self is often strongly resisted by the psyche’s defensive powers and their organization in a “system” (Self-Care System) of both protection and persecution. Successful psychotherapy depends on our understanding of these dynamics. Donald Kalsched, PhD, IAAP, is a Jungian psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist. He is a senior faculty member and supervisor with the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, and teaches and leads workshops nationally and internationally. His celebrated book, The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit, explores the interface between contemporary psychoanalytic theory and Jungian theory as it relates to clinical work with survivors of early childhood trauma. His recent book, Trauma and the Soul: A Psycho-Spiritual Approach to Human Development and its Interruption, explores the mystical dimensions of clinical work with trauma survivors.

Dr. Broussard was an associate dean at The Heller School at Brandeis University when he fell down with a stroke and aphasia. He lost his language and could not read, write or speak well. As his speech improved, his erstwhile “therapeutic” activities were not prescribed by the clinicians and gave the appearance of being accidental but they weren’t. They were habitual and as a result, therapeutic; before, during, and after formal therapy. Formal therapy is really just a tiny portion of what is needed to start and sustain the long-term therapeutic language activities needed for recovery. He created an ongoing therapeutic structure that improved his language before he knew that his language was in the process of improvement. The fuel needed for recovery can’t be just short bursts of energy. The process of learning and recovery requires regular, persistent, and repetitive language activities to build up the therapeutic momentum that needed a long runway to get off the ground. Thomas G. Broussard, Jr., Ph.D. is an awarded author, public speaker, and three-time stroke survivor. He is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, naval officer, naval shipbuilder, and a business owner in career development and training. He received his Ph.D. at The Heller School at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, and focused his work on supporting people with disabilities and employment. He owns Stroke Educator, Inc. (www.strokeeducator.com) and is President and Founder, Aphasia Nation, Inc., (www.AphasiaNation.org), a 501c3 non-profit. He has published five books about stroke, aphasia, recovery, and plasticity; the foundation of all learning. He has been conducting a national “Aim High for Aphasia” awareness campaign for 7 years dedicated to educating the wider public about aphasia, a language disorder, typically from a stroke. About 2.6 million people in North America have aphasia and about 180,000 people acquire the disorder yearly, yet most people have never heard of it.

Thirty years ago, in Wabanaki territory – a region encompassing the state of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes – a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals came together to explore some of the most pressing questions at the heart of Truth and Healing efforts in the United States and Canada. Meeting over several years in long-weekend gatherings, in a Wabanaki-led traditional Council format, assumptions were challenged, perspectives upended, and stereotypes shattered. Alliances and friendships were formed that endure to this day. The Gatherings: Reimagining Indigenous-Settler Relations tells the moving story of these meetings in the words of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants. To create the book, fourteen individuals came together to reflect on how their lives were changed by their experiences and how they continue to be impacted by them. The participants share the valuable lessons they learned and the actions they were motivated to take as a result. Co-authors Barb Martin and Shirley Hager will share their experiences and lessons learned during the Gatherings, and in the creation of the book. They will reflect on their impressions of one another, Indigenous and non-Native, during the Gatherings and since then, and speak to differences they observed in their cultures’ approach to relationships, to the land, and to physical and spiritual wholeness. Participants are strongly encouraged to read The Gatherings: Reimagining Indigenous-Settler Relations by Shirley N. Hager and Mawopiyane (University of Toronto Press, 2021) prior to this program. The book is available through local libraries and can be ordered through any bookstore or online. Barb Martin is a Mi’kmaq woman from the community of Esgenoôpetitj/Burnt Church, New Brunswick, and is a co-author of The Gatherings: Reimagining Indigenous-Settler Relations. With her business partner, Reni Han, she co-owns Han Martin Associates, a consulting firm helping communities and organizations achieve their goals, particularly regarding building relationships and working with diversity. Barb is currently the program manager of Oeliangitsoltigo Mental Wellness Team (MWT), serving four Indigenous communities. Barb was the recipient of the 2011 Honouring Our Peoples Award from the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs for her work with residential school survivors and in recognition of her contributions to improving the health of First Nations people in Atlantic Canada. She lives in Upper Kingsclear, New Brunswick. Shirley N. Hager is the lead author of The Gatherings: Reimagining Indigenous-Settler Relations and she co-organized the Gatherings on which the book is based. She is a retired associate extension professor with the University of Maine, and also a Circles of Trust© facilitator with the National Center for Courage & Renewal. Currently, she serves with the Friends (Quaker) Committee on Maine Public Policy and chairs its Committee on Tribal-State Relations. She lives in Chesterville, Maine.

Professor Joan Uraneck describes (through Jungian exploration and interpretation) nine paintings completed by Picasso in 1946 in Antibes, France, where he moved at the end of the German occupation of Paris. The paintings depict the Roman mythological figure of the faun. Professor Uraneck describes how Picasso’s archetypal imagination used this image to lead him on a journey of individuation.

Delight in the Mildred Harris 2021 where Patricia Reis explores the missing, the buried, silenced, and disappeared as she grapples with ghosts, with hopes of giving new meaning to these absences.

Over the past four years, along with Clovis archaeologist Richard Michael Gramly, we’ve discovered the first evidence that Clovis peoples into the western hemisphere 15,000 years ago made portable art sculptures, conducted mastodon ritual sacrifices and shaman sled burials at portals to the lower world. Join Jim Harrod as he offers highlights of discoveries at the five Clovis sites and provides some reflections on indigenous traditions, which may provide resources for a new spirituality.

High-definition modern imaging has led to scientific discoveries of the true anatomy and function of the fascia, the extracellular matrix that each of our 30-75 trillion cells are embedded within. The whole inner landscape of our body/mind is made up of one continuous vibrating fascial web of tissue from head to toe. The functions of this network are not only to give us form and structure, but to serve as a semiconducting liquid crystal matrix that stores vast amounts of subliminal or nonneuronal information and serves as the largest sensory organ in our bodies. Interoception is one of the sensations within us which allows us to feel bodily sensations, but also emotional awareness, and as such might be considered part of the threshold of consciousness. Edith Stein’s description of empathy as unique and an inner process seems to lead us nicely into how we are able to become aware of feeling empathy, by way of the interoceptive system, which lends itself to therapeutic presence, an energetic connection, and positive patient/client outcomes.

Join Cybele as they explore Pseudo-Dionysius, a Byzanto-Syriac mystic, considered by many to be the pinnacle of the apophatic tradition. Pseudo-Dionysius' works have had a profound influence on many in the Western contemplative tradition, including St. Thomas Aquinas, Nicholas of Cusa, and Meister Eckhart. Jung himself referenced the works of Pseudo-Dionysius in his publications and notes and kept two copies of the elusive writer’s collected works in his library.