magazine of Pacifica Extension and International Studies
Loralee M. Scott, Vice President Institutional Advancement and Lifelong Learning, Executive Editor
Carolyn Vega, PGI Extension Associate Director & Events Management, Co-Editor
Angela Borda, Co-Editor
Joyce Familara, Assistant Editor
Dear Friends,
Welcome to the inaugural issue of INSIGHTS, a publication that marks the beginning of a shared journey a space where ideas, reflections, and wisdom converge to explore the transformative power of depth psychology.
Within these pages, you will hear the voices of Pacifica scholars, students, and practitioners who illuminate the archetypal truths that resonate at the core of our shared humanity. Together, they reveal the transformative power of myth and story, the courage required to integrate our shadows, and the role of community in guiding us toward wholeness
These reflections are an invitation to pause, breathe deeply, and honor what it means to live with authenticity and purpose They are reminders that even in life’s most uncertain moments, there is always a pathway forward a journey toward healing, connection, and meaning.
Let INSIGHTS serve as your companion on this journey, a beacon of light amid life’s complexities. Whether you are navigating personal transformation, seeking ways to uplift your community, or simply searching for greater purpose, know this: Your journey matters. You are not walking alone.
Thank you for joining this sacred conversation, for your courage, and for your commitment to growth not just for yourself, but for the betterment of our collective humanity.
With gratitude and soul,
Dr. Leonie H. Mattison President and CEO
"Individuation does not isolate a person from the world, but rather enhances their capacity to engage with it meaningfully, as they bring their unique contributions to the collective."
Dear PEIS Member,
Welcome to this inaugural edition of Insights and thank you for being a valued member of this growing international community of lifelong learners and leaders who understand the vital relevance of depth psychology for today.
The mission of Pacifica Extension and International Studies Equipping you to change your world relates to both the inner world of psyche and soul as well as the outer world we live in today. This first edition of Insights is focused on the theme of individuation. While individuation is very much an inner journey, much of which is navigated in isolation, ultimately, it calls us back out into a beautiful and hurting world I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the PGI faculty, alumni, and current students who have generously shared their scholarship in this issue and offered us illustrations and insights into what the individuation journey looks like in the world today.
I believe we are living within a historical inflection point, where not only political currents, but deeper, underlying archetypal currents are crashing into each other. Similar to what we see in the natural world when two bodies of water collide; these conditions create ecosystems marked by turbulence and a visible demarcation of boundaries. While these can be seen as places of tension and deep division, they are also the conditions that create unique ecosystems that are able to innovatively adapt and thrive.
...continued next page...
Students and scholars of depth psychology understand the counter-cultural mandate of cultivating a deep listening to an inner voice(s) that transcends egoically driven approaches to personal development and professional career choices. Individuation calls us to that journey.
Pacifica Extension is committed to offering you the wisdom and forward-thinking depth scholarship that Pacifica faculty, alumni, and world-recognized depth scholars are placing in the world to accompany you and illuminate a way forward on your own journey of individuation. I believe that this applied depth scholarship offers each of us a unique ecosystem for growing and thriving in a turbulent world.
We hope Insights becomes a space where you feel both seen and inspired a reminder of the transformative power of engaging deeply with the ideas and practices that define the Pacifica experience. It is also a platform for dialogue, and we warmly invite your feedback, contributions, and suggestions for future themes and topics.
Thank you to Carolyn Vega and Angela Borda, co-editors of Insights, and thank you to each of you for being a part of this remarkable community. Thank you to Caroline Coffman Mecartea, PEIS Program Administrator, and Joyce Familara, Marketing Communications Specialist, for their incredible teamwork, support, and expertise in growing the PEIS community Together, we continue the vital work of tending to the soul of and in the world, one insight at a time
With You on the Journey,
Loralee M Scott, MFA
Executive Editor, Insights
Vice President, Institutional Advancement and Lifelong Learning
By Dr. Lionel Corbett
INDIVIDUATION is usually understood to mean the fullest possible development and differentiation of the personality. However, in the Jungian tradition, this process is more than the result of the interaction of one’s genetic endowment with one’s environment, as it is typically described in most schools of psychology Individuation is brought about by the incarnation or embodiment of a set of archetypal or spiritual potentials that are given by the Self, which Jung describes as the “God within us” (CW 7). The Self therefore endows us with a blueprint for the development of the personality. Our archetypal potentials, which include talents and abilities, gradually embody themselves as development proceeds, if the environment allows them to do so. Otherwise, they remain dormant. Ideally, the archetypal ground of the personality is more and more lived out during one’s individuation process, so that our purely spiritual potentials are realized in practice This process is guided by Self, which Jung sees as the spiritus rector, or the guiding spirit of the personality The Self provides the personality with a certain telos, a goal or purpose or destiny, towards which the personality is heading. How much choice do we have? A metaphor for this process is sailing a boat; the sailor cannot change the direction of the wind (in this image, the force of the spirit or the Self), but the ego can adjust the sails in response.
Individuation always proceeds, consciously or not, but it is greatly facilitated by increasing contact with the Self and the growth of consciousness during development, which is why attention to dreams and synchronistic events is so important. Jung’s idea of the incarnation of the Self is radical In the Christian tradition, incarnation is a once and for all historical event, confined to Jesus Christ However, the idea of a divinity taking human form is found in many of the mythologies and religious traditions that preceded Christianity. The Egyptian pharaohs were thought to be incarnations of the sun god Ra, and in the Greek pantheon, Zeus and Apollo occasionally took human form. In Hindu mythology, Vishnu incarnates when the world is in need.
In Jung’s model of individuation, the process of the incarnation of spirit is not confined to a few special individuals; it is a universal process that we all experience Jung believes that the incarnation of the Self has a purpose The Self is the totality of the psyche, so that it is an undivided unity, containing within it all manner of opposites such as good and evil in an undifferentiated state.
These opposite qualities differentiate as they incarnate into the human personality during the process of individuation.
The Self therefore “uses” the human level of the psyche to differentiate itself. The human personality is essential for this process, but it means that we suffer the tension of these oppositions, which often pull us in different directions
An important aspect of the individuation process is the development of one’s true vocation, which is not the same as a useful career. Jung sees vocation as a call from the Self. Vocation is part of the law of one’s own being, and part of the destiny of the individual. He writes that the vocation “acts like the law of God from which there is no escape” (CW 17, paras. 295 and 300). One’s vocation is, therefore, part of the spiritual blueprint for the individuation process. A true vocation, therefore, is one’s internal lodestar that guides the course of one’s life
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Kwame Scruggs, PH.D., founder and director of Alchemy, Inc., has over 20 years of experience using myth in the development of urban youth and adults. He holds a Ph.D. in Mythological Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute.
alchemyinc.net
Angela Borda: You’ve said that "Myths are stories which have never been, but will always be,” and you are an esteemed mythologist. I think most people would say that myths are important, but perhaps not be able to say why that is so. And certainly most people would not nod their heads if you said, “Myths can be used to heal.” Can you share with us how you use mythology to facilitate healing?
Kwame Scruggs: It was from Michael Meade’s Men and the Water of Life: Initiation and the Tempering of Men that I read his first two myths about a father-son relationship I was in my early thirties, and it helped me to understand so much about my life I was running parent and youth workshops, and I thought, I’ll start using this. I found if you tell someone directly they’re wrong, it’s natural for them to become defensive. But if you tell them through a myth, it removes them from the situation and allows them to look at the situation objectively. Myths are about many things, and definitely they’re about healing. Without a question they heal. I’ve yet to find a better method for me.
The key is setting up a safe circle In a group setting, we’ll tell a portion of a myth to the beat of a djembe drum We stop at critical moments in the myth and then ask people what resonates with them. They write in their journals, and there’s no right or wrong answer. You hear different perspectives, and it opens you up to becoming more compassionate and understanding because you hear a perspective different than your own. I’ve been using myths for 30 years, and our method gets people to talk, but the coolest thing is that it gets people to listen. I tell them, “You can lie to us, but you can’t lie to yourself.” That’s one thing I learned at Pacifica While you’re doing depth work, it’s like looking in the mirror and there’s going to be some things you don’t like what you see, but you have to be truthful to start to heal
“The
process I teach is one of individuation. There are different definitions but mine is bringing all aspects of your psyche into one.”
-Kwame Scruggs, Ph.D.
e on the Board of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. And Campbell, y Jung, spoke of the “monomyth,” or an archetypal journey that is akin ourney. I wondered if you could share your thoughts on individuation, f Campbell and Jung, but also in your own work with urban youth.
rocess I teach is one of individuation. There are different definitions nging all aspects of your psyche into one. And being your true self. rocess with youth and adults, it’s about knowledge of self and getting lf better. In doing that, you have to deal with the ego, the shadow, the imus, the trickster. Accepting all those aspects of yourself and nto one So you can be who you’re meant to be, not what anyone else e Our older youth, now in their twenties, who started in Alchemy, say to be comfortable with who they are They take the method but use it d their strengths not somebody else’s The only way they’ll get to know s is looking deeper and identifying their weaknesses and being who they are, which is not an easy thing to do.
Angela: For the holiday season, Pacifica is discussing our core values of logos, eros, consciousness, integrity, service, and stewardship. I think that your work through Alchemy exemplifies our value of service, and I wondered if you could speak about the importance of service as a value, and what you have done in that regard through Alchemy with urban youth
“My ancestors sacrificed for me, and that’s why I can do what I do. If you secure the water of life but don’t come back to the community, it’s going to remain a wasteland.”
-Dr. Kwame Scruggs
Kwame: When you talk about the three stages of the hero’s journey, there’s separation, initiation, and return. You separate from your known environment, then you go through a transition, and there’s a symbolic death and a rebirth, you’re initiated. The third phase is the return. The second phase is where you find the boon, that substance or idea that will heal the community. You go out and search for what the community needs, in search of the cure, and when you secure it, you hopefully return That’s how we break it down, a rite of passage When you come back to the community, you are of service I tell our youth when they become older, they have to give back to the community in some fashion, be of service to someone
This does not have to be your fulltime occupation; it could be a small gesture. A common theme in myth and life is that your good deeds don’t go unnoticed. It’s about giving back and doing something nice for somebody, even if it’s as small as opening a door for someone, giving back to those who have less than you.
If you plant a tree, chances are you won’t be there to reap the fruit or the shade of the tree. But it’s not about you. It’s about making sacrifices for people who come after.
My ancestors sacrificed for me, and that’s why I can do what I do If you secure the water of life but don’t come back to the community, it’s going to remain a wasteland One of the first things we do when working with a new population of youth is apologize to the students, because it’s my generation of fathers who secured the Water of Life and just kept walking; some didn’t come back We’re making a better place for them so they don’t have to struggle with the same things their fathers struggled with
Angela: The Pacifica Promise Program will enable people from underserved communities to pursue education in depth psychology at Pacifica. What do you see with your work with urban youth in terms of mental health needs, and how would things change if we had more diversity in a more accessible mental health care system?
Kwame: I think that would change the world. And I’ll speak to urban youth, since that’s who I work with primarily. Urban male youth. The first myth we do is the Water of Life, and one of the reasons we do that first is there’s this king who has three sons, and the king gets sick.
somebody know. And when you do that, you create a conversation.
People need a safe space to talk about what is actually going on in their life, or what’s wrong, or what needs fixed, what needs mended. If you provide people of color or under-served people the opportunity to see people who look like them who are asking for help, they’ll see it’s okay to ask for help. That’s one of the reasons we’ve been successful, because as facilitators we share with the youth what’s wrong in our lives. If you create an environment where people feel comfortable about what is wrong in their lives, they can work toward some healing.
Angela: I see that you have some lectures coming up that pertain to Mythology What are you most looking forward to in 2025 professionally?
Kwame: In January, I’m starting a training in New York City; we have about 8 to 15 adults that I’m going to train in my method It’s over 10 months, a 50-hour training I’ve been trying to do this for years Talk about “follow your bliss ”
By Juliet Rohde-Brown, Ph.D.
Distinct from Freud’s process of free association, Jung developed the process of active imagination to guide people to slow down and deepen into an image at a time rather than jumping from one to the other In active imagination, one meets and engages with parts of the self that may seem frightening or shameful, as well as those that reflect inner strengths and personal gifts beckoning to be seen and nurtured. Ironically, it is often through shadow aspects that, once met and worked with, open the portal to further the individuation process Von Franz relates “that the first impact of the unconscious is perceived by most people as a destructive attack on them.”
p y y y p g and curious way, there is much to be gained in integrating personality and furthering individuation When confronting the collective unconscious, moving from the ordinary egoic associations with the self, one confronts the transpersonal Self. If done so with care, a blossoming of meaning and understanding can unfold, facilitated by what is referred to as the transcendent function.
How does one open to this confrontation with the unconscious in a helpful and healing manner? Von Franz answers that question by describing four phases of Jung's process of active imagination Von Franz shared that the first phase of active imagination is to “stop the train of thought” that spins and races from one thing to another, what “Buddhists would refer to as monkey mind.”
The second phase is to let the contents of the unconscious flow into awareness and to “confront ourselves in a conversation with whatever turns up in our awareness.” It does not always show up as all goodness and light, and she uses Homer’s Odyssey as an example of a particular paradox What may show up at face value usually does not reflect the deeper meaning of an issue The guidance is to honor what shows up and be present to such
The third phase of active imagination is establishing a relationship, just as “one would to a real situation ” Take this relationship seriously with curiosity and compassion Von Franz invites you to ask the image: “Who are you?”
Then, it is up to you to explore what emerges in a grounded way rather than indulging naively (and sometimes dangerously) in fantasy or running away from the image in defensive fear and denial.
The fourth phase is to “draw conclusions from your active imagination” and to commit to such just as you would “to a real human being.” Von Franz asserts that this relationship and anything you “promise” to do “counts, and you have to follow through” to grow and “integrate the experience ”
Von Franz talked about the importance of titrating rather than diving in full force into the unconscious This speaks to the importance of ego strength. Furthering her reflections on the capacity for ego strength, Von Franz touches upon the use and misuse of psychedelics and how crucial it is to enter experiences correctly to integrate confrontations with the unconscious as one must “make a connection with the sympathetic nervous system.” She alluded to Buddhist and Eastern practices and had her own opinions and assumptions about the concept of acceptance in that context I sense that if she were alive today, she might change a sentence or two, as she mentioned that Eastern practices teach people not to accept feelings that come up because they are simply illusions This is somewhat consistent with, but not exactly, what the teachings relate to, as part of Buddhist practice is acceptance without attachment. I imagine that is what Von Franz was attempting to convey.
She also talked about Carlos Casteneda and what she perceived as lacking the feminine in his descriptions/commentary of experiences with Don Juan. However, she honored Don Juan’s guidance in and of itself. If you happen to read the transcript, here is a heads-up. It should be noted that she used the term “primitive" concerning Indigenous traditions. That is a term that those in depth psychology respectfully choose not to use in current times, for it amplifies the wounds of colonization and suggests hierarchical perspectives about diverse human experiences and practices
The following offers some bullet points that augment the process in therapeutic ways.
Start with meditative practice to breathe into the moment with presence and intention. Write the intention into your journal.
Bring an image into awareness (refrain from quickly jumping to other images) .
Meet the image as a source of wisdom, as a messenger in its own right (while refraining from making immediate conclusions about what the image means based on known associations, such as family of origin contexts, and ego consciousness.) As the late Jungian Analyst Marie Louis von Franz wrote, ”In the light of dreams one can... recognize oneself differently from the ego’s opinion about oneself, for it gives additional information which does not come from one’s own ego.”
Tune into how your body feels in this moment with image.
Engage in dialogue/relationship with the image, asking the image what brings it here in this moment, at this time.
Bring some kind of expression to the image though movement, art, or voice, for instance.
Bring yourself back to body awareness.
Are you aware of a message? What is being asked of you?
Communicated to you at this point in time? How do you know? Where does image reside in your body?
Give yourself time to slow down and know that you can come back to visit with image in the future. Let image know that you have this intention.
What are your next steps?
Offer gratitude to image.
Closing out your active imagination, you may wish to write a phrase, poem, or place something symbolic on a personal altar.
Bring the image into your everyday world and let meanings unfold.
What feels different for you now concerning an issue you’ve been facing?
How does working with active imagination impact your level of compassion for self and others in facing shadow aspects and human frailties?
What are you aware of in your body?
Will you share what you are writing here with others? Who will you share with?
What feelings emerged and what are you feeling now that you’ve engaged with image?
Does working with active imagination shift your perspective on anything important in your life?
Dr.
By Dylan Martinez Francisco, Ph.D.
Depth psychology cannot in principle align with one side of a political divide. It is neither simply conservative nor simply progressive, because the psyche is always rooted in our ancestral, ecological, and cosmological origins while it simultaneously grows into ever-new, utterly unique, creative branches. We can never cut ourselves from the past without severing our connection to the deepest sources of our being nor can we ever refuse to obey the soul's imperative to generate new fruit from these sources that will provide for the needs of the future. The political right demands that we return to the past and the political left demands that we turn to the future. Depth psychology requires that we hear in the rhetoric of each side the voice of an unexchangeable, inescapable archetypal need. Without this archetypal perspective, the world will continue to pit one side of the soul against another masculinity against femininity, diversity against unity, stability against creativity, religion against reason, nature against technology, spirit against matter, sexuality against the sacred without recognizing that only together do these sides make us whole.
Our politics are caught in a battle between psychological imperatives that are equally necessary Situating these imperatives as antithetical guarantees no side will ever "win" because the wholeness of individuation asks that we learn to hold the tension of these archetypal needs, rather than vote one or the other of them into the margins Votes reflect unconscious archetypal needs On this point, it isn't at all surprising from a depth psychological perspective, that in a time when we're accelerating toward the future with unreflective abandon and constant change, the archetypal need for the past, for history, for tradition, for remembering, for origins, for roots would demand recognition
It didn't. We'll never outrun the past. As William Faulkner famously wrote, "The past is never dead, it's not even past."
Jung was particularly prescient about what happens when we don't become conscious of and heal these divides within ourselves He wrote in CW 9 ii, para 126:
Without stopping to discuss the question of whether this exacerbation of the opposites, much as it increases suffering, may not after all correspond to a higher degree of truth, I should like merely to express the hope that the present world situation may be looked upon in the light of the psychological rule alluded to above. Today humanity, as never before, is split into two apparently irreconcilable halves. The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside, as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner opposite, the world must perforce act out the conflict and be torn into opposing halves.
“Today humanity, as never before, is split into two apparently irreconcilable halves.”
-C.G. Jung
That isn't to say the rhetoric about returning to the "glory days" should be taken at face value, only that it symbolizes an archetypal imperative that the rush toward the future thoughtitcouldoutrun
From a depth psychological perspective, then, fate is what happens when we can't consciously bear the psyche's complementary archetypal needs like for the past andfuture and so split these needs between different groups who will engage in endless conflict until they recognize that both sides are symbolically voicing an archetypal imperative alive within every person.
So, depth psychology must not itself fall into this fate, but take on the responsibility to not only recognize what each side of a divide is missing, but live the solution of becoming conscious of these divisions in ourselves so that the world doesn't have to act them out for us and so that the world can see there is a third option between these oppositions.
“A Pacifica education is unique from most higher education institutions who have positioned themselves against the past, against the sacred, against the soul, all in the name of progress.” -Dr. Dylan Francisco
are still viewed as mutually exclusive, and so once again, one archetypa act of repression that does violence to the soul and creates the cond denied archetypal need eventually refuses to be excluded and forces its
vigating policy past looks like est task. More typal currents nly at that level in their search h, for story, for hs that connect n authentically aligns with the hout falling for s need for myth a hetypal need in progress, but f the future and bring new is growing and what its roots e place, where relationship to ually appeal to sibilities, pulled e pulled by the history, our to understand children of the
By bringing these needs together as both necessary to the soul, we will be in a position to recognize what is being carried by the political winds without being carried away by them. A Pacifica education is unique from most higher education institutions who have positioned themselves against the past, against the sacred, against the soul, all in the name of progress A depth psychological approach to education mandates that we do not subscribe to the liberal idealization of the future that views everything older than yesterday as backward, ignorant, and bigoted This false notion is based on a short memory that has forgotten the enormous contributions of our ancestors and the ages of ancestral history that are filled with deep wisdom about human nature and the place of humans in the cosmos. At the same time, a depth psychological approach to education also mandates that we do not subscribe to the conservative idealization of the past that views change as traitorous, misguided, and immoral This false notion is based on selective memory that denies the trauma and evil done throughout history.
Whether you are a graduate student, a lifelong learner or an educator, this moment in history calls us to a unique challenge to hold the value of the past without idealizing it and to hold the value of change and transformation without idealizing the new as always better than the old ***
Angela Borda: Congratulations on the publication of Psychedelics and the Soul: A Mythic Guide to Psychedelic Healing, Depth Psychology, and Cultural Repair Please tell us about the aspect of myth as a guide in your book and how it relates to depth psychology
Angela: I’m curious about the aspect of “cultural repair” in the title of your book When psychedelics first came to national awareness and use in the United States, they were part of a counter-culture revolution, so are very much aligned in the popular imagination with social change How is that different from “cultural repair”?
Simon Yugler: Each chapter begins with a particular myth that focuses on a particular archetype that speaks to the psychedelic experience. Through the lens of myth, it’s not just a psychedelic experience, it becomes not just an experience of the psyche, or the ego (or lack thereof), but of the soul. A lot of psychedelic experiences can take on the sense of being a descent, for instance Sometimes that is a very personal underworld, and sometimes that is a much more collective and archetypal underworld The myth I worked with for the underworld is the myth of Innana [A Sumerian goddess who descends to the underworld and then must return]. I talk about how psychedelics can evoke that kind of descent experience. I work with the imagery and symbolism encoded in the story to talk about how there is medicine and healing in that archetypal descent, how there are lessons from that story about how we might too descend when we take these soulrevealing substances
Simon: Cultural repair is the deepest layer of what I believe psychedelic medicine can do for both individuals and the collective. In order to repair something, you have to understand how it’s broken first. More and more I see people coming out of psychedelic experiences with a broader awareness of the ways in which our culture has failed them, everything from family of origin to religion to the careers people found themselves in to the collective crises that we’re facing as a planet Psychedelics, and depth psychology, sit at the crossroads of many of our collective crises that we’re facing, the two most pressing of which are climate change, which we can also understand as the result of centuries of colonial extraction, and the collapse of meaning and community and rituals of belonging, which we can understand as a crisis of mental health. These two crises are interrelated. I believe that depth psychology and psychedelics are uniquely suited to help speak to the intersection of these two collective emergencies.
Angela: In working with clients, you help them “navigate the liminal wilds of the soul ” That phrase gives us license to believe there is a wild unknown within us all, that our psyche is a realm of adventure waiting to be explored What does the phrase mean to you in the context of your work?
Simon: I love this question. That phrasing emerged naturally as a way to express the untamed nature of the inner world. When we take psychedelic medicines, we get a visceral picture of just how untamed that can be. There’s a sense of un-domestication when we connect to the soul. We can often reconnect to that undomesticated soul through liminal experiences and the liminal space that is created when we step into that betwixt and between place, which can be a gateway to that wild part of our soul When we’re tapping into that place, we’re attuning to what is true in our souls rather than what we’ve been instructed to do or believe, what the family system wants of us. When we can enter that liminal space and connect to that untamed soul, that is the elixir of individuation because we’re trying to connect to an inner wellspring of truth. Sometimes it requires that we walk into the dark forest of the imagination, and enter a liminal space of transformation
“Myths don’t initiate us, we have to go through that experience ourselves. But they point the way on to a road that people have walked on for thousands of years before us.”
-Simon Yugler, M.A.
Angela: What does individuation mean to you within the context of depth psychology? And how do you use myth and psychedelics to navigate it with your clients?
Angela: As an alumni of Pacifica’s Counseling Psychology program, can you reflect on what the experience of studying meant to you, what impact it had on your work?
Simon: Studying at Pacifica was deeply significant and one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. Speaking of individuation, I felt initiated into the profession of psychotherapy and the tradition of depth psychology, and it was that latter piece that empowered me to take my own unique vision and work forward in a way that another school or programcouldn’thavedone.
Angela: This year during the winter months, Pacifica is focusing on and talking about our core values of logos, eros, consciousness, integrity, service, and stewardship. Which value most resonates in your life, and why?
Simon: Individuation is the idea of being undivided Jung was focused on completeness and wholeness, but the more I’ve studied myth and the work of Hillman and more polytheistic notions of the psyche, wholeness becomes less important Wholeness actually can be questioned as a Western individualist project, whereas a polytheistic or animistic psyche would say that relationality is the mark of a complete human being, that it is our relationship to the inner goddess and gods and spirits, and the outer forces we’re subject to, which are often one and the same. I’ve become increasingly skeptical of the idea that someday we’ll be completely healed. Individuation can easily drift in that direction when not looked at through an animistic or polytheist lens
In my own work with clients, initiation becomes more of a central topic than individuation. People, especially men, crave and require experiences of initiation that were traditionally an individuating force into the world of adulthood and sacred knowledge. We don’t have that anymore. So we can’t even begin to talk about being individuated unless we’re initiated first into something, and most people are very hungry for that. Myth helps point the way and show people that confusion or pain or the experience they’re going through has a mythic and archetypal precedent and it’s happened before, and that it might actually be a good thing Myths don’t initiate us, we have to go through that experience ourselves But they point the way onto a road that people have walked on for thousands of years before us
Simon: They’re all deeply relevant. But for the moment, integrity feels apt, especially in the context of psychedelics and the larger psychedelic field. The movement is evolving so quickly that it creates opportunities for poor decisions to be made. There is something I say in my book many times, which is that there is no getting something for nothing. Integrity to me is about putting in the time and energy, and sometimes suffering through some experiences in order to be able to then show up for others in that space. What does it mean to earn something? To know something deeply? At least in the psychedelic field, we have people calling themselves whatever they want without it meaning anything because we’ve lost our initiatory rituals. There’s no precedent for this in indigenous or shamanic cultures, where everything has to be earned, often through immense sacrifice and suffering.
view and also in your own?
Pamela Hancock: Individuation, according to Jung in the Collected Works 9, denotes “the process by which a person becomes a psychological ‘in-dividual,’ that is, a separate, indivisible unity or ‘whole’” (p. 275). Jung is speaking of the fact that we come into this world wired to be a part of our family unit. In fact, there is a belief that babies do not understand they are separate from their mothers (or the maternal energy that feeds and takes care of them), until they are 3 or 4 years old. So, as we go through our childhood, we start to understand we are apart from these familial forces. As we get older, we start to understand who we are unto ourselves. I believe it is about becoming who we were sent here to be. As Archetypal Psychologist James Hillman, who followed in the footsteps of Jung, noted, we all come into this life with a calling Hillman discusses this at great length in The Soul’s Code Thus, part of the individuation process is also about figuring out what one’s purpose is, and I created activities to help people with that in Mythic Mapping
Angela: What is the relationship between trauma and individuation?
Pamela: At this point in the history of humankind it is difficult for me to believe that anyone has not had some form of trauma or depression. As a person who was trained to be an Interfaith Chaplain, every person I encountered when I worked in both the hospital and prison sectors had something they were struggling with…but I think that is just life. I look at this existence as “Earth School ” We aren’t here to mess around and have fun We are here to learn something and then spiritually and psychologically evolve That couldn’t happen in a vacuum So, I think that trauma, at least some amount,
“Mythic Mapping combines art therapy, journaling, active imagination, and game design into a choose-your-own-adventure style life-long program. It isn’t just teaching you about Jungian concepts, it’s helping you live into them.” -Pamela Hancock, Ph.D.
Pamela: After the birth of my son, I did not feel prepared to be a parent It was overwhelming to say the least I felt like who I was, had gotten completely pulverized by the process And, thus, I sat down in front of my altar space in my office and began to do an active imagining meditation, asking my unconscious to help me I sat there for several moments and let the images begin to form around the edges of my consciousness and I saw a map I think it was in those moments that I understood C G Jung the most and why he played on the banks of Lake Zurich after he broke from Freud
I then started following synchronicities and continued to work with the images that sprung up from my unconscious The islands on the map started to have names and the internal archetypes that Jung defined started showing up and taking me on adventures How it works? Well, the original version had a 469-page workbook, a planner, an oracle deck, map tray, spinner, and dice All of which I created myself But after multiple conferences where I presented on it, and having several rounds of people purchasing Mythic Mapping in different formats, I realized it was too much. People want a straightforward process that is fun to engage in and holds their interest. So, now there is a new iteration that will be available for those going through the 4week webinar. It will simply be a workbook! Participants will be guided to make their own maps (or use the one that is provided). Each island on the map has a theme and an archetype.
There will be dice that people make on their own with a template in the book. Then the process is doing weekly or monthly work to go on an adventure with a different internal archetype: Child, Hero/ine, Wise Elder, Trickster, or Shadow That is the short answer And yes, it is all about individuation!
Angela: Pacifica will be celebrating its core values over the next few months, those being logos, eros, consciousness, integrity, service, and stewardship. Which of those values most resonates with you, both professionally and personally, and why?
Pamela: What an intriguing question As a professor at a seminary and a faith leader in my community, I think that consciousness, integrity, service and stewardship are the values I resonate with the most. Consciousness, because I teach people all day, and really want those I engage with to understand how and why they think. Integrity, because it is how I show up in everything I do. Service, because as a faith leader, I am of service to those who trust me to care for them spiritually. And stewardship, because I take care of so many people students, my family, and my faith community.
Sharon Lovell is a playwright and screenwriter who uses depth psychology concepts in her work. She is presently a Ph.D. Candidate in the M.A./Ph.D. in Depth Psychology with Specialization in Jungian and Archetypal Studies.
Angela Borda: I would love to hear a little about your background before you went into the field of psychology.
Sharon Lovell: I moved from the Caribbean to the United States many years ago with my four sons. My journey in the US started as a babysitter in Upstate New York, eventually becoming a top real estate agent at one of New York City's notable real estate firms, and then owning my own real estate business. What I think guided me during those lean years was the knowledge of the mind as a creative force After eleven years of being in the real estate business, I went back to school to fulfill my dream of being a writer I went on to earn a BFA in Screenwriting, and a Master’s in Dramatic Writing before coming to Pacifica
Angela: You’ve written a paper on “The Shadows: Buried Gold.” In it, you work with Robert Johnson's assertion that "One of Jung's greatest insights: that the ego and the shadow come from the same source and exactly balance each other.” Can you discuss this idea in the context of individuation?
Sharon: I believe when we came into this world, our connection to the magical, mysterious realm was there, but as we began to be conditioned by family, culture, and society, we lost it. This is why individuation, a journey toward wholeness, is significant. Individuation reorders an individual life It brings about a feeling of aliveness and being present with one’s own existence as a human Being Individuation is then a movement to reconnect to the parts of ourselves that have been severed So, it’s necessary to foster a relationship with the psyche to reintegrate the lost pieces Concerning the ego, the conscious part of the Self is the point of establishment in the field of awareness. The shadow self lies between the conscious and the unconscious, a place Jung calls the personal unconscious. Traumatic events, the rejected parts of oneself, and the darker side of one’s personality are often repressed and sent into the shadows. When a traumatic event happens to us, it causes the psyche to splinter, and we usually form defense mechanisms in the form of complexes to cope with the split in the psyche. All this happens unconsciously, of course. Robert Bly once said, “Our gifts go there too,” meaning our talents and gifts can go into the shadow. That is why there’s buried gold to be found there. We must reclaim our shadow content, which is usually seen in projection cast onto others. Projections are then a mirror that reflects back to us our shadow content, which needs to be pulled back and integrated Freud said that dreams are the royal road to the unconscious Jung disclaimed that and said that complexes are the royal road to the unconscious But I want to add that the shadow is the royal road to the unconscious Excavating the buried content of the shadow frees psychic energy and puts us on the path of individuation.
Angela: In your own experience as a playwright and screenwriter, what has individuation meant for you, and why is it often so painful for us to detach from the expectations and influences and identities of others, to think and feel for ourselves?
Sharon: Individuation for me is recapturing my essential Self and living from a place of wholeness Individuation can be painful because a person has to recognize and own a lot of the dark psychic material that they had once repressed and projected onto others There’s a saying, If you see it in someone else, it’s in you Individuation is painful because one has to face the darker part of one’s personality
“ I believe when we came into this world, our connection to the magical, mysterious realm was there, but as we began to be conditioned by family, culture, and society we lost it. This is why individuation, a journey toward wholeness, is significant.”
-Sharon Lovell
nd sharing, how have you seen the individuation process in yourself?
Sharon: I’m still going through this process, as there isn’t a place to arrive at. Although Pacifica is an academic setting, I feel like the individuation process, the journey towards wholeness, is activated and continues here too. I remember when Dr. Dylan Francisco interviewed me, he mentioned that the program causes a crack to open, so that light can come in And that crack is becoming bigger as time goes by and more light is rushing in I am releasing things that were hard to release. The topics I’m working on are working on me. It’s lifting layers of suppressed psychic content and bringing shadow material to the surface to be pulled back and integrated.
Angela: That’s wonderful to hear. As a student in the Jungian and Archetypal Studies program, what inspired you to pursue archetypes and depth psychology from the vantage point of a playwright? Have you found any archetypes you find particularly meaningful?
Sharon: One of my favorite archetypes is the trickster archetype, which creates disorder to bring about order. The trickster moves between worlds and causes chaos with the purpose of renewal or righting some kind of wrong. An example of this is in the latest Wolverine and Deadpool film. Deadpool has all of the trickster qualities that I have studied at Pacifica
When I was first drawn to Pacifica, I thought of the mythology program because the myth program includes topics such as fairy tales, myth, and comparative religion, amongst others, which can be great for a writer to study. However, when I read the course outline in the depth psychology program, the study of archetypes, complexes, personality types, and many more, it felt like a nobrainer for me to choose that program. I think that every film school and theatre program should have a course on depth psychology and mythology I am privileged to learn both at Pacifica
Ali Hazavei is an artist and a Doctor of Eastern Medicine, as well as a first-year student in our PsyD program
Angela Borda: Seeing that you are a Doctor of Eastern Medicine, who also chose to come study at Pacifica, I know there is a story there! What would you say are the formative moments that led to your interest in Eastern Medicine and then Pacifica?
Ali Hazavei: I was exposed to both psychology and Eastern medicine from a young age. My mother was deeply connected to therapy and storytelling, as a graduate of counseling therapy decades ago, not only in the sense of nurturing but as a dominating force of nature and healing. My father, a literature and communication arts professor, taught me about human nature through philosophy and art. Growing up with deep conversations with my family about human nature through the lenses of both Eastern and Western theories, I was drawn toward traditional Chinese Medicine academically The COVID-19 epidemic ignited my awareness of the need for mental health professionals So, I decided to pursue my PsyD degree at Pacifica
Angela: You recently attended Journey Week. What did you most enjoy about it and what do you think its importance is to the Pacifica Community?
Ali: Journey Week was exceptionally wonderful and eye-opening. I thought that it is going to resemble conferences I have attended previously with other organizations, but I was met with many surprising elements. I was impressed with how it was much more intimate and interactive than I anticipated. It felt more like the meeting of souls rather than the meeting of minds. It was inspiring to see so many great and caring professionals exuding so much compassion while demonstrating their humanistic approach, not just to the field of psychology, directly or indirectly, but also to life and each other
Angela: Your art certainly speaks to states of mind and psyche What is the relationship between art and depth psychology for you?
Ali: Depth psychology, to me, leads us to art, which tickles the mind and seduces the body in the sense that it charms, entices, and pivots us toward the intersection of inner and outer worlds from completely different perspectives. We see from the depth of our unconsciousness. When art evokes a visceral response, it is a manifestation of the meeting of the elements of collective unconscious processed by both the artist and the viewers, in my opinion
I have been creating art from a young age. If you ask me what I do, you may hear me say that “I’m a painter” because everything I do starts and ends with paintings In that spirit, I am starting an art club at Pacifica, and we’ll be discussing exactly what you’re asking: studying art throughout history and its relevance to depth psychology because it is interesting and important.
*Art by Ali Hazavei*
“ Being a student at Pacifica is a form of individuation. The readings and discussions guide us to reflect, tap into, and recognize parts of the psyche that may have been hidden from the noisy brain or dancing with shadows in the background. ”
Angela: Pacifica Extension is asking scholars to reflect on Individuation, and the many challenges and breakthroughs that come with it. What is your personal experience of individuation?
Ali: One of the challenges I encountered on my individuation path is the integration of dualities I was born in the United States, but my Persian heritage and culture dominated my upbringing. The juxtaposition of Eastern and Western schema, medical technological innovations with traditional therapeutic principles, and artistic endeavors with logic are prevalent in my life. Also, my identity as an artist sometimes conflicts with my identity as a medical provider in that, due to societal pressure, I often feel like I’m standing at a fork in the road The roads for these two professions diverge significantly. My breakthrough is the realization that my path does not have to follow those before me. Through synchronicities (with an ode to my professors) and life challenges forcing me to break free from societal norms, I have found a way to combine my passions and to create my own integrative path
Angela: Have you found the psychological process of being a student at Pacifica to bring forms of individuation or other therapeutic growth? I suppose that choosing to pursue a degree here is, in itself, a form of individuation?
Ali: Being a student at Pacifica is a form of individuation The readings and discussions guide us to reflect, tap into, and recognize parts of the psyche that may have been hidden from the noisy brain or dancing with shadows in the background.
