Shamanic Initiation, Descent, and Learning through Direct Experience of the Sacred

January 29, 2020 Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.

Shamanic initiation is a metaphor for the way we can take a soul-centered approach to life's challenges

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSION VIA YOUTUBE HERE (approx 7 mins) A common and compelling component of both shamanism and Jungian or depth psychology is that each seeks to treat soul loss by retrieving and reintegrating vital essence that is missing. This must occur through direct experience; therefore, the underworld journey to retrieve the soul is one of necessity and initiation. Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung believed symptoms of soul loss, such as disorientation, lack of focus, or feelings of powerlessness, exist because a portion of psychic energy that is normally available to the ego has vanished into the unconscious; […]

On Magic, Shamanism, and Listening: The Collective Unconscious of C.G. Jung

February 9, 2013 Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.

“If we open our eyes, if we open our minds, if we open our hearts, will find that this world is a magical place. It is magical not because it tricks us or changes unexpectedly into something else, but because it can be so vividly and brilliantly.”–Chogyam Trungpa When I was a child, I longed for magic: actively, forcefully, wistfully. I spent thousands of hours reading books about witches and wizards and fairies and everyday objects endowed with supernatural powers, I read about kids who time-traveled or fell into other dimensions or discovered secret portals to other lives. I always […]

Image, Language, and the Lived Body in the Depth Psychology of the Self

January 29, 2013 Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.

In 1994 in the Ardeche region of France, three explorers pulled rocks away from a tiny opening at the base of a cliff and opened the door to another world. Inside the deepest recesses of what turned out to be a 1300-foot long cave were remarkable images of animals painted there by humans living 30,000 years ago (Herzog, 2010). The images are remarkable in their style and beauty, virtually perfectly preserved in the near airtight conditions of the cave. Lions, bears, bison, reindeer, mammoth, rhinoceroses and other beings line the walls in almost three-dimensional form, many captured in dynamic action–hooves […]

Jung, Individuation, and Shamanism

January 25, 2013 Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.

According to historian philosopher Mircea Eliade, has been around for millennia, practically as long as humans have existed. In recent decades, the archetype of has experienced a rebirth. With growing consciousness, more more individuals are recognizing spontaneously consistently what our indigenous ancestors knew: that there is a divine intelligence at work in the universe, a life force of love light, of which, by nature birthright, we are an integral part. Anne Baring (2007), psychologist author, notes that C.G. himself commented on the capacity of humans to respond to this greater force, saying: The archetypal image of the wise man, the saviour or redeemer, lies buried dormant in man’s unconscious […]