2021 message from Jung WA president

There is nothing like the smell of a library and the joy of browsing through the books on the shelves and seeing what titles call to you. This is becoming a lost p With this in mind we are hosting a library open day to remind people of this treasure of ours. Come browse the shelves, flick through the books, wander around, find a spot to sit and look more closely. Enjoy tea, coffee and cake and the company of others....

Fairy tales, like myths and dreams, provide us with direct access to material arising from the collective unconscious. Through the fairy tale we can experience archetypal aspects (i.e. the witch, the innocent child, the old king etc) that reside in the unconscious of all of us. The value of accessing such material is that these motifs or archetypes find their way into the life of each of us, and we may find ourselves acting them out without awareness. By entering into such figures via the fairy tale, we can come to see how this energy is manifesting in our lives and with conscious awareness we reduce the possibility of it acting out through us unconsciously....

In 1961 Rix Weaver made an extraordinary journey to Uluru, driving over 5000 miles on unsealed roads in an erratic Volkswagen Beetle. She had dropped everything to seize the opportunity when her friend, bushman and poet and Bill Harney told her: “You should come now.” Mr. Harney had spent two years as ranger and protector of the site in the company of the last two men to be initiated there. They shared with him some of the rites and rituals connected with Uluru. On Harney’s word, the aborigines trusted Rix and explained the form and meaning of some of the sacred chants and symbols..

The archetypal figure of the orphan is embedded in mythic themes of exile, abandonment, and the search for home. Understanding the archetypal basis of a culture’s psyche is vital for those called to lead or be change agents in a society. In this lecture we explore Australia’s cultural complexes, the Orphan archetype at their core and the many ways it manifests. Our personal pains, preoccupations and constraints can also relate to transgenerational and cultural complexes and traumas, even when the origins are unconscious. We’ll discover how moving towards an imaginative, mythopoetic perspective, connecting with indigeneity and place, holds the key to releasing the Orphan’s redemptive potential....

As we transition into the Age of Aquarius we are each called to respond meaningfully to challenging archetypal energies. Our presence on Earth now implies our shared destiny as participants in this powerful moment in time~space. The Age of Aquarius is emerging simultaneously in personal and collective realms, both intrapsychically as well as in the external world around us. Amidst such chaos and confusion, division and polarity, tumult and terror we are witnessing the great turning of the Ages.

The planetary movements in 2021 are significant in terms of this paradigm shift. In my presentation I intend to differentiate the conflicting energies coming through, explore how these affect/effect the collective as well as our personal lives, and look at how we might engage consciously and creatively with the opportunities presented now...

We have a short film of an interview with Rix interpreting the dreams of people from the audience. We will then be joined by Jungian Analysts Manita Beskow and Gerald Burns who will talk about their experience of Rix and working with dreams.
It is quite amazing to watch Rix interpret a dream from someone that she does not know. You can see her intuitive ability but also her knowledge of myths and story and archetypal
themes. Obviously, it is not ideal as she is not be able to ask for associations or what is consciously happening in a person’s life but she gives very important clues as to how a person might work with arises in their dream...

In this film of a lecture given by Rix Weaver on the Anima and Animus, she says “These are archetypes that have a very powerful effect on our lives if we don’t understand what they are doing to us. We all have fathers and mothers. We all have female and male or feminine and masculine within us. Within every man is Eve and within every woman is Adam. Our education leads us away from this…Today more than ever we are questioning the absolutism of the sexes.” She continues “In using the terms anima and animus, he was not saying these are people, he was saying these are conditions of the

unconscious.” They are patterns of behaviour.

Dancing in the Flames is a brilliant and intimate documentary into the life of Jungian Analyst, Marion Woodman, who is known for her ground breaking work as a teacher and author on feminine psychology and addiction. We are taken into a metaphoric representation of the unconscious imagery that Marion discusses so passionately and, in doing so, are invited to examine our own lives. Brilliant mystic and author Andrew Harvey interviews Marion as she explains the mysteries of her soul’s journey and reveals a series of psychological ‘deaths’ and ‘rebirths’ that have formed the consciousness into which she has evolved. The film presents a philosophy of dynamic opposites, the bridging of seeming contradictions. Life and death, love and grief, courage and submission are not at loggerheads for her—they’re part of a harmonious whole. By embracing these opposites we come into the totality of human experience.

Marion Woodman was a writer, international teacher, work- shop leader, and Jungian analyst. With over half a million books in print, she is one of the most widely read authors on analytical and feminine psychology of our time. A graduate of the C. G. Jung Institute of Zurich, Ms. Woodman was the author of Addiction to Perfection, The Owl Was a Baker’s Daughter, The Pregnant Virgin, The Ravaged Bridegroom, and is co-author of Coming Home to Myself (with Jill Mellick), The Maiden King (with Robert Bly). On July 9, 2018 Marion died peacefully.