‘The Gnostic Sophia’

     
I’m enjoying summer to much to think of anything planned for next February, except this class at the C.G. Jung Foundation because on this date in 1875, Carl Jung was born. From the publicity:

The Gnostic Sophia:

Redeeming the Feminine Divine

C.G. Jung Foundation

28 East 39th Street, Manhattan

14 Thursdays, 7 to 8:30 p.m.

February 1 through May 10, 2018

Carl Jung’s seminal work, Answer to Job, remains highly relevant today. In 1945, Jung was implicitly responding to the horrific events of the Holocaust and the dropping of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For the first time, the capacity to annihilate humans was no longer projected onto a godhead, but now onto humankind. Individually and collectively, we find resonance today with Jung’s text as it speaks to the dire plight of humanity that is blatantly before us. With current world and national events constantly bombarding our collective psyche, how do we attend to our own individuation processes in the midst of this chaotic and dis-regulating news cycle? What is the impact of the current state of affairs on the processes of clients and on the collective at large?

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In Answer to Job, Jung looks to the divine image of the Gnostic Sophia as a potential remedy for the collective. To repair and redeem ourselves, we need to repair and redeem the fragmented feminine on a mytho-poetic level. This course will pick up where Jung left off in Answer to Job. The Gnostic Sophia is an image of feminine wisdom that meets and balances the masculine principles. She is a figure that can potentially restore wholeness to the Western civilization’s collective myths.

Collectively, we are left with patriarchal values that prioritize the accruing of power and domination at the risk of losing our very humanity. The topics that will be explored in depth reveal the clinical application of a deeply valued Gnostic belief in gnosis, or knowing. Within each class, there will be an in-depth exploration of the Gnostic religion and its significant role in influencing Jungian thought and concepts, as well as how this symbol system can serve us now both personally and clinically. Clinical cases will be presented in each class to amplify the material presented and offer an opportunity to discuss the inner knowingness that is awakened in psychic material and its meaning for our unfolding individuation processes.

Instructor: Hilda Seidman, MFA, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Manhattan. She is a graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute of New York, for which she wrote the thesis “Redeeming the Feminine Divine: Encountering Gnostic Sophia.” She is a co-founder and co-owner of a private education company, Intelligentsia, Inc., working with school-age students to become advocates for their own intellectual and academic development. In her previous graduate studies, she taught courses on performance and authentic creative expression.
     

‘In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order’

     
Summer draws near, so it is time for the C.G. Jung Foundation of New York’s Summer Studies classes. To gain a stronger understanding of Freemasonry, it helps to find alternative contexts, such as Jungian psychology, for the fraternity’s teachings. Try it. I think I recognize some potential within these course descriptions. The Foundation is located at 28 East 39th Street. From the publicity:

The C.G. Jung Foundation of New York

One-Week, Intensive Summer Study Programs 2017

Intensive Program 1:

Ancient Myths for Modern Times

July 10-14

The title “Ancient Myths for Modern Times” captures the heart of this week’s program as well as the complexity of Jungian or archetypal psychology, in which myths present ways of seeing and new perspectives. Myths are archetypally charged, providing images, symbols, stories and a pantheon of gods that constellate in our Personal and Collective Unconscious.

Archetypes can be seen as carriers of fiction, the myths and heroes that still speak to us through time and memory, providing another angle for seeing and containers for our psychological complexity. Jung reminded us that we cannot escape imaginal history for it still lives in our psyche.

Monday, July 10
9 to 10 a.m.
Registration, Welcome, and Orientation

10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
1:30 to 4 p.m.

Homer’s Penelope: Walking the Path
of the First Heroine in the Western Canon

Penelope is the first heroine in the Western Canon. She appears on the world stage in Book I of Homer’s Odyssey, and she has lived in our collective memory for more than 2,800 years. For much of the time, however, her story, like the stories and myths of many important female figures, has been undervalued and largely untold. Until today Penelope as a role model for the development of feminine consciousness, and her importance in our collective meaning system, lie dormant. The mythology, which shaped Penelope’s character and her world, as old as time out of mind, is contained in Homer and other ancient sources, and continues to shape the lives and souls of women and men today.

Jung understood myths to be collective dreams, which express archetypal patterns residing in the collective unconscious. He taught that myths, fairy tales, and legends are fundamental vehicles for translation and integration of the archetypal contents into consciousness, culturally and individually. Like dreams, these ancient stories are rich repositories of archetypal patterns, symbols, and ancestral memory. Furthermore, when mythic stories are seen and heard, they stimulate the flow of archetypal patterns from the creative unconscious into consciousness. Jungian methods of dream analysis may be applied to work with these primordial forms in myths, fairy tales, and folk legends—association method, amplification method, active imagination, and other imaginative techniques.

During this program we will see how Penelope stands at the center of Homer’s great epic poem as the first heroine in the Western Canon. We will see how her presence and power drive the narrative. We will then apply Jungian methods, culture theory, comparative mythology, and creative techniques that stimulate imagination, to amplify and enlarge her story, and identify major archetypal elements embedded in the poetry. By applying these methods and techniques to translate archetypal patterns into psychological language, and by hearing some examples from case material, we will discover how these ancient patterns of womanhood are alive in our world today.


Tuesday, July 11
10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
1:30 to 4 p.m.

Trauma, Temenos and Transformation:
Alchemy, Myth and Human Development

“In many cases in psychiatry, the patient who comes to us has a story that is not told, and which as a rule no one knows of. To my mind, therapy only really begins after the investigation of that wholly personal story. It is the patient’s secret, the rock against which he is shattered. If I know his secret story, I have a key to the treatment. The doctor’s task is to find out how to gain that knowledge. In most cases exploration of the conscious material is insufficient . . . In therapy the problem is always the whole person, never the symptom alone. We must ask questions which challenge the whole personality.”

C.G. Jung.

Many of the myths, traditions and rituals that once guided us on our shared journey of the human experience—and helped give purpose to our lives—are lacking in our modern world. As a result, we often wander hopelessly while our spirit aches for a safe place where we can face our fears and explore our true calling.

Alchemy, a non-profit organization based in Akron, Ohio, creates just such a safe environment—a temenos—where through the telling, discussion and analysis of mythological stories and fairy tales urban adolescent males learn to “become the hero in their own story.” Utilizing this same approach, adults will work through a myth while the myth simultaneously works through them. “Myths are not just for putting children asleep, but for waking adults up.” This workshop is designed to assist in an awakening.

The foundational theory of Alchemy, based upon the work of C.G. Jung, the Akan people of West Africa and common themes of myth, will be explored and experienced. The socialization and psychology of urban male youth will be inspected and the importance of a Temenos to address trauma will be examined—all the while, providing a blueprint of how myth can be applied in any setting, with anyone, assisting in the development of the psyche.


Wednesday, July 12
10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
1:30 to 4 p.m.

Narcissistic Injury in Polynesian
and Inuit Myth (and in Current Politics)

Healthy narcissism is healthy self-love, which enables us to love and respect others as we respect ourselves. A politician might then love his or her own values and ideas enough to seek office, and love his or her constituents enough to work faithfully for their well-being.

But we all have some degree of injured narcissism. If the injury is severe we will be hollowed out by it, empty, greedy, obsessed with our own importance, and destructive. If constituents’ self-esteem has been injured, perhaps by social change, technology, or globalism, then they may elect a severely injured narcissist because his defensive grandiosity speaks to their own.

Narcissistic injury has always been part of the human condition, even in stone-age cultures. We will read two neolithic legends. We will see that they anticipate some of Jung’s insights. They both describe narcissistic injury and show psychological responses which help to heal it, or at least withstand its destructive power.

We will see that the wisdom of these legends can help us now as we face current political developments.

To prepare for this day’s workshop, please read this essay, and this Polynesian and this Inuit legend.

Please do the reading weeks ahead of time to give yourself time to reflect, especially upon the legends. The symbolic language of legends and dreams requires meditation. This class will be, in part, about the process by which symbols may be interpreted. Try to notice and record what associations (and perhaps dreams) these legends evoke in your own psyche.


Thursday, July 13
10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
1:30 to 4 p.m.

The Odyssey: Masculine Individuation
and the Anima

We have come to regard The Odyssey as a timeless mythological and imaginal offering that dramatizes in poetic form patterns of human behavior. In this respect, Homer’s Odyssey is a heroic, dramatic and archetypal poem that in the raw also represents a psychology. We don’t really know why the Greeks were able to produce such timeless creations. Psychologist James Hillman has written that the Renaissance had no field of psychology and the Greeks had no field of religion. We see through the works of Socrates, Plato and later Plotinus that the Greeks had a capacity to think psychologically and metaphorically. For these philosophers, soul-making did not depend on the personal but on a relationship to the archetypal powers. This is just one reason The Odyssey can find a home in contemporary psychological thinking.

In this session, we look at patterns of masculine individuation as a critical part of Odysseus’ journey home to Ithaca from Troy after the Trojan War. We will consider the archetypal transformation inherent in this journey. We will pay particular attention to the inclusion of the anima as part of the masculine individuation and the variety of feminine influences encountered along the way. We will explore how these influences are perceived, received and projected. Our primary objective is to underscore the importance of the feminine consciousness in Odysseus and how he grew psychologically from his relationship with Penelope and the anima within.

It is important to note that these archetypal contents reside in the collective and therefore do not indicate a literal, conscious course of action on the part of Odysseus. A reading of The Odyssey reminds that us Odysseus, unlike Achilles in the Iliad, is a very complex character: an anti-hero, a Hermes character with his twists and turns, and at times the proverbial Trickster. In such a complex, ancient and archetypal tale, a character can represent a psychological complexity within the context of raging action. Odysseus can do no less with the archetypal figure Penelope waiting for him beyond the horizon, in the mist, yet a real and persistent anima influence.


Friday July 14
10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
1:30 to 4 p.m.

The Tragic Hero in Modern Times

In his Poetics, when describing the reaction to the tragic hero, Aristotle writes “our pity is excited by misfortunes undeservedly suffered, and our terror by some resemblance between the sufferer and ourselves… There remains for our choice a person neither eminently virtuous nor just, nor yet involved in misfortune by deliberate vice or villainy, but by some error or human frailty…”

In this workshop, we will explore the flaws that bring about the downfall of ancient figures such as Oedipus, Achilles, Macbeth, and Lear and modern figures such as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman and Troy Maxson in Fences. These deficits result from an inability or unwillingness to look at qualities hidden in the shadows. We will also look at how similar problems in our lives and in the lives of well-known people, such as Freud and Jung, and figures in the political world result in unfortunate, and sometimes tragic, consequences.

Intensive Program 2:

Cosmos from Chaos:

Living Consciously in a Troubled World

July 17-21

During this week we will focus on issues as familiar to the ancient Greeks as they are to us in the 21st century. The human goal has always been to bring cosmos, order or unity, out of chaos. The third century Neoplatonist Plotinus, later revered during the Italian Renaissance, wrote about reaching Oneness or the Intellectual Principle by joining disparate forces and rising above them. Jung’s joining of opposites, such as the conscious and the unconscious, is in this spirit and intellectual tradition. The desire for unity is a compelling psychological urge that is universal and fraught with danger.


Monday, July 17
9 to 10 a.m.
Registration, Welcome, and Orientation

10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
1:30 to 4 p.m.

Living Consciously in a Troubled World

“For in all chaos there is a cosmos; in all disorder a secret order.”
C.G. Jung
CW Vol. 9,1

“What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should endure?”
Job 6:11

In this workshop, we will look at the ways people cope in times of chaos. It is suggested that participants read the Book of Job, especially as translated by Stephen Mitchell. We will also explore the coping mechanisms used by people who survived the Holocaust, racism, sexism, and LGBT discrimination. We will focus on how the strategies used in the individuation process can help us understand ourselves as we face difficulties that the world presents.


Tuesday, July 18
10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
1:30 to 4 p.m.

C.G. Jung’s Psychoanalytic Approach
to Spirituality: A Compass for Conscious Living

“Everything now depends on man.”
Jung 1969d: 459

Jung contended that the archetypes were driven to create consciousness and that mysticism was at the heart of the individuation process. He proposed that mystical nothingness generated a greater compassion for the world and assisted in birthing the Divine into consciousness.

Jung came from a traditional religious background on his father’s side and had a mother who was connected to Spiritualism. These two realities contributed to his search for a religious function in the psyche. During Jung’s career he attempted to bridge these two religious expressions and was in pursuit to understand the spiritual propensity within the psyche. Through the historical writings of the mystics, his personal religious experiences, his confrontation with the unconscious and his treatment of patients, Jung came to know the connection between religious experience and the psyche. The numinous became the ground of being for Jung and also the door to the sacred. According to Jung, the divine and the human are dependent on each other to bring consciousness into the world. It is through consciousness that the Divine can incarnate and redeem humankind.

Jung developed his analytic theory and therapeutic techniques from his findings to assist humankind in psychological, personal, societal growth and development. He cautioned that unconsciousness could cause personal, political, and spiritual ramifications that would hinder or halt involvement in the further creation of humanity. Unconsciousness truncates the Divine and throws one into chaos while reflection and connection with the numinous fosters consciousness and thus assists in helping one live more consciously. Jung’s union of psychology and spirituality became humanity’s compass for conscious living and a call from the Divine. His psychoanalytic approach to spirituality made us aware of how one can participate in the creation or destruction of the world.

This seminar will explore Jung’s thoughts and influences from the mystical tradition and the analytic theories that evolved to create a compass for conscious living.


Wednesday, July 19
10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
1:30 to 4 p.m.

The Magic of the Other

“Magical practice falls into two parts: first, developing an understanding of chaos, and second translating the essence into what can be understood.”

C.G. Jung, The Red Book

This seminar is an exploration of self as Other because it is often through Other that we best come to know our psychological selves. But how do we define Other? The definition of Other includes not only that which is representative of the true self in reflection, but also those projected Shadow aspects we cannot contain nor see within ourselves.

Material from the unconscious seeps through in order to provide a disruption to the ego’s “normal”—creating chaos, as we are overcome by our complexes, by what appears to belong outside ourselves—to the Other. Many times it is the emotional content of personal or cultural complexes that orient us in positions of opposition to the Other.

In contemporary times, within the Collective, we might be feeling anxious and made fearful by events in our personal and/or professional lives. Against a foreground of the personal daily life is the Collective one of societal issues—racism, misogyny and fears of terrorism, just to name a few. How we find inner solace often depends on how willing we are to go deeper into developing knowledge regarding our complexes, our Shadow and an understanding of psychological Opposites. Our seminar discussion will focus on Jung’s theories of Shadow as well as Opposites and their importance in seeing into one’s own psychological strengths, weaknesses, personal and cultural Collective projections in relationship to Other.


Thursday, July 20
10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
1:30 to 4 p.m.

The Shadow Unmasked

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair — in short, the period was so far like the present period.”

Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities

We are living in times of paradox much like the historical period Dickens is writing about in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It seems that the fabric of our culture, indeed the fabric of the Cosmos, is breaking apart. Chaos reigns. Reliable cultural, political and religious institutions and beliefs are falling into states of crises. This was also what C.G. Jung was experiencing in 1913 when he was in the midst of his personal psychological crisis. He dreamt that Europe was engulfed in rivers of blood even though the outer world seemed to be relatively stable. Still there were signs of unrest and disaffection. It was as a result of his inner experiences and finally after the outbreak of the Great War, World War I that he became aware of what he later called the Shadow. This became one of his key concepts in what is now known as Analytical or Jungian Psychology.

The Shadow encompasses all that is unconscious within us as well as without. How we become aware of our own shadow material and how we begin to see it in the outer world will determine not only our personal health but also the health of our planet. In this presentation, we will examine and learn to identify shadow material. We will use images from films and news media, literature and art, and the writings of Jung, including material from The Red Book, to help us in this vital exploration of our souls and of the world we are currently involved in shaping and by which we are shaped. Forces within and without are pushing us like tectonic plates to transform. Our greater consciousness can guide us to more positive social and environmental change. As Jung said, “The world hangs by a thin thread. That is Psyche. And what would occur if something happens to Psyche?”


Friday, July 21
10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
1:30 to 4 p.m.

Falling Apart and Coming Together:
Living Consciously through Times
of Upheaval and Uncertainty

“In the threatening situation of the world today, when people are beginning to see that everything is at stake, the projection-creating fantasy soars beyond the realm of earthly organizations and powers into the heavens, into interstellar space, where the rulers of human fate, the gods, once had their abode in the planets. Our earthly world is split into two halves, and nobody knows where a helpful solution is to come from.”

C.G. Jung Vol.10, para 610

In this seminar, we will try to understand the challenges and terrors of our current times through a Jungian lens. Jung’s understanding of the nature and evolution of both the collective and the personal psyche will guide us in our explorations, including Jung’s unique appreciation of the role of projection in relation to consciousness. We will focus on the clinical manifestations and individual symptoms, such as anxiety, stress, and the wide range of disorders on the bi-polar spectrum associated with our current political, cultural and economic divisions. We will place particular emphasis on helpful strategies and attitudes to navigate the rough waters of these difficult mood states which plague so many in our culture. Selected images from the Tarot will assist us in approximating the battlefield of this archetypal drama played out in the collective psyche.
     

‘Masonic March madness!’

     
There are so many great things for the thinking Freemason to do this month! Check out some of these events within the apartments of the Temple and without.

Thursday, March 2 – Washington Lodge 21 in the First Manhattan District will meet at 7 p.m. in the French Doric Room on the tenth floor of Masonic Hall (71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan). Program: A lecture on American Talmudist and Washington Lodge Brother Israel Baer Kursheedt given by the lodge’s own W. Bro. Tessler.

Friday, March 3 – New York Open Center will host an open house with a discussion of Esoteric Quest at 7:30 p.m. Free admission. 22 East 30th Street in Manhattan. From the publicity:

The Open Center’s Esoteric Quest conferences have now run for over 21 years and are some of the world’s leading events on the Western spiritual paths. We invite you to join us for an informative and engaging evening in which we will briefly review the remarkable history of the Quests and look forward to the upcoming Esoteric Quest in the Western Isles of Scotland in August. The Outer Hebrides in the North Atlantic are where Celtic and Norse cultures mingled, where megalithic standing stones dot the landscape of the isles of Lewis and Harris, and where big skies, mountain vistas, and the ever present rolling sea provide the context for our thirteenth Quest. Join us for a convivial and entertaining evening. All are welcome.

Friday, March 3 – The Gurdjieff Foundation of New York will hold a new introductory session at 6:30 p.m. in the lecture hall at Quest Bookshop. Details here:

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Sunday, March 5 – The School of Practical Philosophy will present a new Plato Study Day titled “Plato’s Path to Prosperity.” Click here.

Sunday, March 5 – Anthroposophy NYC will present Anne Keller-de Wild, who will present “The Five Temperments: An Open Secret, Continued.” Details here.

Tuesday, March 7 – My favorite chapter of Piers Vaughan’s latest book concerns the Archangel Raphael, and on this night the Scottish Rite Valley of New York City will host Piers (33°, MSA, PMWM, etc.) for a reading of this very chapter and a book-signing. Details here:

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Wednesday, March 8 – Mariners Lodge 67 in the First Manhattan District will meet at 7 p.m. in the Doric Room on the eighth floor of Masonic Hall (71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan). Program: Voyage into Mystery Chapter X: “Secret Origins of the Illuminati” presented by Josef Wages. From the publicity:

Who were the Illuminati? Why was it formed? Is there a connection to Freemasonry? Does it still exist, and is it behind the “New World Order?”

Bro. Josef Wages is a famed Masonic author who is one of the principal editors of the book The Secret School of Wisdom: The Authentic Ritual and Doctrines of the Illuminati. (Copies of the book and Illuminati jewelry will be available for sale.) Open to Apprentices and Fellows.

Program will be followed by Mariner’s legendary maritime-themed Festive Board at 9 p.m. Reservations are a must. Click here.

Friday, March 10 – The Fourth Manhattan District (my home) will host a Grand Lecturer’s Convention. These are amazing happenings. Bro. Richard Kessler, the Right Worshipful Grand Lecturer, will discuss a certain aspect of the meaning of Masonry. A real treat, especially for those of us new to New York Freemasonry and are unaccustomed to knowing Grand Lodge officers who can discuss Freemasonry brilliantly. At Masonic Hall: 71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan.

Saturday, March 11 – New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786 will host the Magpie Mason! A Past Master of the lodge, I will tender my first presentation to the brethren in a really long time. Titled “Question Everything (And Answer as Best You Can),” I’ll recount the history of Masonic education, and explain how attainable an advancement in Masonic knowledge really is, even for the timid seeker.

We meet at Hightstown-Apollo Lodge 41 in Hightstown.

Thursday, March 16 – The inimitable Andrew Hammer, president of the Masonic Restoration Foundation and author of Observing the Craft, will present the 2017 Wendell K. Walker Lecture, hosted by Independent Royal Arch Lodge 2 in the First Manhattan District. All info on this flier:

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Thursday, March 16 – The Mythology Roundtable of New York will meet for Mesopotamian Mythology Class at Brooklyn Brainery at 8:15 p.m. From the publicity:

Mesopotamia, the ancient “Land Between Two Rivers” in present day Iraq, was home to many different gods. Though less-well known today than the pantheons of ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt, the gods of Mesopotamia had just as many grand adventures, big personalities and poignant observations on the human condition. We know them today thanks to a rich ancient literature, including the famous “Epic of Gilgamesh,” the first example of written epic poetry in world history.

In this class, we’ll meet the most important gods of Mesopotamia: tempestuous Inanna (the original femme fatale), wise Enki, monster-slaying Ninurta, and many more. We’ll hear the story of the great “two-thirds divine” hero Gilgamesh and uncover the original context of familiar names like Ishtar and Lilith. We’ll also learn how these gods were worshipped, and how the worship affected history, up to and including the modern world.

This class is a general introduction to the myths and legends of Mesopotamia. No previous knowledge of the subject matter is required.

Friday, March 17 – Atlas-Pythagoras Masonic Lodge 10 in New Jersey will welcome back Past Prestonian Lecturer (2014) Michael Kearsley, who will speak on “1814 Consolidation and Change: The First Year of the United Grand Lodge of England.” Details here:

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Saturday, March 18 – The Rose Circle Research Foundation will bring renowned scholar, author, Freemason, Fama translator, etc. Christopher McIntosh back to the lectern to present “New Light on the Golden Dawn.” From the publicity:

In the founding of the 19th century English occult society the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a key role was played by an alleged German Rosicrucian adept named Fräulein Anna Sprengel, who had the magical motto Sapiens Dominabitur Astris (the wise person overcomes their stars). In this lecture, historian Christopher McIntosh reveals a sensational discovery he made about Fräulein Sprengel, and speaks about its significance for the history of the Golden Dawn.

Ticketing information is still to come.

Saturday, March 18 – A great day is in store at the Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge in Elizabethtown. The publicity:

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Monday, March 20 – The Rosicrucian Order will host a celebration of the Spring Equinox. If you’ve ever wondered about your harmonious relationship among your fellow man, nature, and deity, here’s a great opportunity to learn from the Grand Master. 6:30 p.m. at the Rosicrucian Cultural Center at 2303 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd. in Manhattan.

Saturday, March 25 – The C.G. Jung Foundation will present a daylong seminar led by Michael Conforti, Ph.D. titled “Time of the Forgotten: Trauma, Memory, and Healing.” Details here.

Monday, March 27 – The Mythology Roundtable of New York will meet to discuss the new issue of Parabola magazine, “The Search for Meaning,” at 6:15 p.m. in the Kristine Mann Library at the C.G. Jung Foundation. 28 East 39th Street (fourth floor) in Manhattan. A mandatory reading assignment to prepare for the discussion.

Wednesday, March 29 – I don’t know what is going on with The American Lodge of Research. It hasn’t published a book in about six years. I haven’t received a mailing in two or three years. The website is gone. The Yahoo! Group is effectively shut down. At Masonic Week a couple of weeks ago, a past officer confided the lodge is basically dead, and yet its Faceypage still hints at activity. A meeting on this evening with RW Pierre de Ravel d’Esclapon, a Fellow of the lodge, presenting “The Vatican and Freemasonry: A History of Misunderstanding?” Eight o’clock in the Jacobean Room in Masonic Hall.

Thursday, March 30 – The Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library’s lecture series will continue with DeMolay International Grand Master Bill Sardone speaking on Jacques DeMolay. 6:30 p.m. at Masonic Hall in NYC.

And in April…

Saturday, April 1 – QUEST XXXVII at Scottish Rite Masonic Hall in Rockville Centre, New York. 9 a.m. “A Way of Life.” See flier below:

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Wednesday, April 5 – RW Hammer returns to New York City for a great Table Lodge:

Thursday, April 6 – The Scottish Rite Valley of New York City will host its annual Feast of the Paschal Lamb, with Ill. Richard Kessler, 33° delivering the address. This Past Most Wise Master will be there! Details here:

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‘The Secret of the Golden Silence’

     
I’ll continue advertising events where the hosts impart mindfulness techniques and insights into mindfulness techniques because I believe in the benefits of certain practices to the individual, and to the Masonic lodge working as a group. Rosicrucians and others already employ some form of this work in their gatherings, and it is sad that almost all Freemasons are missing out. When I spoke at the Masonic Restoration Foundation’s 2015 symposium in Philadelphia, my topic was meditation exercises intended for lodge use. Among my audience of about 75, I think something like 12 or 15 raised their hands when I asked whose lodges incorporate some form of mindfulness work in their labors.

I was stunned.

Of course the attendees of any given MRF event are Freemasons who don’t waste time on the generic fraternal club pap that characterizes probably 95 percent or more of the Craft lodges in the United States, but to see 20 percent or so of that group answer in the affirmative – and then dominate the ensuing half hour of Q&A—was an answer to a prayer.

Anyway, as you may infer from what I wrote here, it is necessary to search outside the Masonic lodge to learn about mindfulness practices, and this edition of The Magpie Mason takes us to the C.G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology on East 39th Street. It’s hard for me to think of December just yet, but on Saturday the 3rd there will be a daylong seminar based on Carl Jung’s writings on contemplative silence through a Taoist prism. From the publicity:

The Secret of the Golden Silence

Led by Royce Froehlich, Ph.D., MDiv, LCSW

Saturday, December 3

10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Jung’s Commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower (1929) presents his insights on the nature of consciousness in the light of Taoist thought, with a nod to Christian gnostics and mystics. In the Chinese text, Jung hears the archetypal call for contemplative silence. Whether to foster communion between one’s subjective self and a deity, the objective psyche, or to focus one’s attention on a task at hand, we are encouraged to follow Jung’s lead to quiet the mind. Contemplative techniques can offer insight to one’s personality and may contribute to a variety of therapeutic benefits for body, mind, and spirit. In Jung’s case, the application of “certain yoga techniques” contributed to the development of The Red Book.

Much of Analytical Psychology’s rich lexicon and clinical language is in this treatise on individuation and mental illness, where Jung engages the subject of we-wei (actively doing nothing), which is the “secret” of the golden flower. Resonant in the mystical thought of preacher and spiritual guide Meister Eckhart, who describes such a state of mind as Gelassenheit (letting-be-ness), the contemplative attitude of doing nothing also inspired the composer John Cage, whose work will inform this presentation. In addition, the workshop will review basic emotion regulation (mindfulness practice) techniques prescribed for the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder in Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

The C.G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology, Inc., SW CPE, is recognized by New York State Education Department’s State Board of Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers 0350.

At completion of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Offer an overview of a key text in the development of Jung’s analytical psychology and its application in clinical practice.
• Show the relationship between analytical psychology and contemporary models of psychotherapy that include mindfulness techniques.
• Identify common elements in Jungian theory, spiritual practice, and the arts.

Royce Froehlich, Ph.D., MDiv, LCSW, is a Jungian analyst with a private practice in New York City. A graduate of Columbia University’s School of Social Work, Union Theological Seminary, the New School for Social Research, and the European Graduate School, he is on the faculty of The C.G. Jung Institute of New York, The C.G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology, and teaches in The Open Center’s Holistic Psychology certification program.

Registration:
General Public: $90
Members/students: $75

Register here.
     

‘Red Book events coming to the Big Apple’

     
In happier publishing news (see post below), Carl Jung’s enigmatic and irrepressible Red Book, or at least the art within, is making the rounds worldwide, including two events in New York City coming soon. As reported previously on The Magpie, the huge Occult Humanities Conference at New York University is only a week away. Coming soon are two related events in Brooklyn and Manhattan. From the publicity:

The Incantations on Page 54 of the Red Book by C.G. Jung.

Snakes, Dragons, and Other Scaly Creatures:

A Red Book Event and Conference

Gallery Opening Event: March 4

Exhibit: February 29 to April 1

Salena Gallery of Long Island University

One University Place, Brooklyn

Conference: March 5

C. G. Jung Center of New York

28 East 39th Street, 
Manhattan

Click here

From February 29 to April 1, an exhibition of the DigitalFusion prints from Jung’s Red Book will take place at the Salena Gallery of Long Island University-Brooklyn. You are cordially invited to the Opening Reception on Friday, March 4 at the gallery at One University Place in Brooklyn. These magnificent 25x33-inch reproductions of Jung’s paintings made their art world debut at the 55th Annual Venice Biennale in 2013, where the original manuscript of the Red Book was on display.

In conjunction with the exhibit, a conference will be held on Saturday, March 5 at the C.G. Jung Center of New York (28 East 39th Street). Titled “Snakes, Dragons, and other Scaly Creatures,” the conference will be co-sponsored by the C.G. Jung Institute of New York, the New York Association for Analytical Psychology, the C.G. Jung Foundation of New York, the Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism, and the Analytical Psychology Club of New York.

Jung asserted that when we meditate on a particular image, it comes alive and takes on an independent life of its own. “That is the case with any fantasy image… It gets restless, it shifts, something is added, or it multiples itself; one fills it with living power.” We invite you to muse on the symbol of the snake. Let the image speak to you and stir your imagination. Follow your ideas into realms such as psychological theory, mythology, clinical practice, and contemporary culture.
     

‘Book sale’

     

Courtesy Kristine Mann Library

Just in time for the holiday gift-shopping season, the Kristine Mann Library at the C.G. Jung Foundation in Murray Hill is hosting its book sale again, now through December. Plenty of reading material by and about Carl Jung and countless related subjects await you—and at good prices—and your purchases will help the library’s fundraising endeavors too.

28 East 39th Street (between Madison and Park avenues). Open Mondays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. And Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A word to the wise: don’t delay. The library is not a bookstore, so while it offers many great titles for sale, it does not replenish inventory.
     

‘The spiritual and mystical in Jungian analysis’

     
The C.G. Jung Foundation and the C.G. Jung Institute in New York City announced their advanced seminars for the fall and next spring. From the publicity:

Fall 2015 Seminar

Mind, Body, and Spirit in Jungian Theory

and Contemporary Analysis

Wednesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

September 2 to December 16

(excluding September 23 and November 25)

Instructor: Mark Seides, Ph.D., LP

This course will explore the role of the image, and the development of a symbolic attitude, in Jungian analytic theory and therapy. Jung primarily investigated the image from a Spirit perspective, amplifying their inherited, historical roots, and demonstrating the universal, objective meanings they provide to our one sided awareness. In this course, we will attend to the other, less investigated aspect of the image: its energetic charge and inherent potential to liberate and redirect the individual’s complex psychic energies, moving us towards feelings, behaviors, and values that correspond to the meanings of the Spirit aspect of the archetypal image.

Jung noted that a symbolic attitude is necessary to effectively contain, understand, and express both the new, unfolding meanings and corresponding energetic patterns of behaviors embedded in the archetypal image. We will learn about the basic structure of an effective symbolic attitude though the study of its Mind, Body and Spirit characteristics. By revisiting Jung’s writings on the Transcendent Function, Ego-Self axis, and the lost and feared “numinous” quality of the image from this perspective, participants will learn how the psyche/somatic split that is characteristic of modern men and women can be addressed by exploring how our fluid and unique mind/body states resonate with the objective meanings of the archetypal image.

The concept of symbolic body work, and its relationship to a symbolic attitude will be introduced, and persons interested in the body’s role in analytic psychotherapy are encouraged to attend.

Spring 2016 Seminar

The Mystical Experience in Jungian Psychoanalysis

Wednesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

February 3 to May 11

(excluding March 23)

Instructor: Leslie Stein, LLM

All mystical experience confounds rational understanding. When it occurs, it is overwhelming, inexplicable, and daunting. These experiences take many forms: a vision, a flash of clarity as to the existence of a divine force, a powerful dream of archetypal figures, a feeling of unity of all things, a beneficent experience of peace. Jung calls these “numinous” experiences, preferring not to use the word mystical. For most, these numinous experiences are mere oddities, perhaps frightening, outside the reach of conventional religion and, as they are fleeting, we return to the comfort of our ego structure, no longer interested. Yet, they have a profound role in psychoanalysis. Jung writes “The approach to the numinous is the real therapy and inasmuch as you attain to the numinous experiences you are released from the curse of pathology.”

Some commentators have said that he could not have meant that numinous experiences are a substitute for the hard work of psychoanalysis. Yet, the vision of some other force, outside the ego, that can fill our hearts with peace and hope, may indeed be the goal of analysis.

The purpose of this Advanced Seminar is to explore the role of mystical experiences in our lives and in psychoanalysis. There is no single expert on all matters mystical, so the Seminar is to be a collaboration, where participants put away easy answers and open to the mystery of what lies outside what we know.

The course will draw on readings from Jung, William James, Sri Aurobindo, Erich Neumann, Donald Kalsched, and others who have recognized the importance of mystical experience. The objectives of the course are to gain some understanding of the nature of mystical experiences, to explore their function in the individuation process, to examine why some are open and some are not, and to seek to establish some place for these experiences in analysis.