This Jungian Life Podcast

Joseph Lee, Deborah Stewart, Lisa Marchiano
  • 4.7 (1.7K)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Weekly

Join us—Lisa, Deb, and Joseph—for sometimes irreverent but potentially life-changing conversations. Every Thursday, we explore culture, relationships, and depth psychology through the lens of Carl Jung. We devote a segment of each episode to analyzing a listener’s dream.

JUNG LOVE

Dreams and questions from our community.

$3.99/month or $39.99/year

  1. 2d ago

    The Princess Who Changed Her Fate: How to Negotiate with Destiny

    The fairy tale of the Princess Who Changed her Fate enacts what Jung tells us will happen when we remain unconscious of an inner situation: it happens outside us, as fate. Just as the princess in the story finds her unruly “fate” tearing up cloth and smashing her generous host’s dishes, we may find that our unclaimed shadow wreaks havoc at work and in our relationships. Yet this is a hopeful story.  The beleaguered princess is able to take the right attitude, and so find a path to changing her fate. The character of the second queen gives us a model of feminine wisdom, empathy and patient awareness - this is what is needed at a difficult moment to start the slow process of turning things around. The princess, the third of three daughters, can also be seen to illustrate the concept of a family scapegoat, bearing the burden of her family’s dysfunction and expressing it symptomatically. As with many who suffer this way, she takes the option of a clean break, setting out on a form of the hero’s journey with gold coins sewn in the hem of her dress. When the princess changes her fate, we’re shown the potential of deep psychological work: sitting with an ugly fate, tossing the bread back and forth, putting one foot in front of the other, until we  access some valuable information. Rather than just gaining insights into the patterns we’re living out, we’re able to shift them and create different outcomes. Visit our website to read today’s dream and follow up on the resources we mention. Connect With This Jungian Life Join us for a free webinar on Saturday October 3rd: Dream the Dream On: A Dream School Taster on Active Imagination Send a dream for us to analyze on the show Watch bonus mini-episodes on our Patreon channel

    The Princess Who Changed Her Fate: How to Negotiate with Destiny

  2. 2d ago ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    [SUBSCRIBER BONUS] How Do We Address 'Therapizing' ?

    Hey Subscribers, Today we're discussing a question submitted by a supporter: "I'm observing what was once a supportive container, therapy, take on a religious-like expansion. What can we do when the playfulness and mystery of life is consumed by a growing system of theories, diagnosis, language, and belief?" Thanks for supporting This Jungian Life! ~ Lisa & Deb

    [SUBSCRIBER BONUS] How Do We Address 'Therapizing' ?

  3. Sep 10

    Inner Life, Outer World: The Psychology of Adaptation

    Adaptation is a bread-and-butter concept in psychotherapy - can we accept, adjust to, and thrive in the outer and inner worlds we live in? Given constraints, what does it take to find life at least meaningful, hopefully satisfying--and flourish?  This week Jungian analyst and author JOHN R. WHITE, Ph.D. joins us to circumambulate the complexities of adaptation. Successful adaptation involves making conscious choices based on a realistic understanding of the internal and external parameters in which we operate. Adaptation not only requires a true-to-life perception of possibilities and pathways in the external world, it may also require reassessment and reordering of our values and attitudes.  We discuss Robert Langs’ “adaptive paradigm,” a distinct model of the mind and the unconscious and emotional components that connect inner life to the outer world. For example, Langs understands dreams as feedback about current adaptive challenges. This is both subtly different and complementary to Jung’s approach, which suggests that inability to solve an outer world problem is often due to an underdeveloped understanding of an aspect of inner life. Adaptation does not eliminate turmoil, suffering and loss; they are part of life. We need to recognize environmental actualities and internal limitations that cannot be changed—and develop ways to mitigate or adjust to them. Successful adaptation also requires mourning what cannot be changed, developing a less egocentric stance, and building a life in tune with reality.  Visit our website to read today’s dream and a complete list of the resources we mention: https://thisjungianlife.com/adaptation/ Follow Up Read John White’s book, Adaptation and Psychotherapy: Langs and Analytical Psychology Sign up for our free summit on ⁠Depth Psychology and Artificial Intelligence⁠ Download our free Dream Recall Meditation Guide Send a dream for us to analyze on the show Take a look at This Jungian Life Dream School, our online course in Jungian dream analysis.

    Inner Life, Outer World: The Psychology of Adaptation

  4. Sep 10 ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    [SUBSCRIBE BONUS] Battered Wolf

    Hey Subscribers, This week, we're discussing a dream submitted by one of our supporters, a 62-year-old woman who works in educational administration: "I walk from a home into a field near a forest. My father is with me. Some animals emerge from the forest, and one is a wolf. I point out its beauty to my father. I am delighted. In response, he picks up the wolf and hurls it into the air. I have to watch it fall and injure itself. I am absolutely horrified while my father is laughing. I tell him I want nothing to do with him ever again. I re-enter the house." Thank you for supporting This Jungian Life! ~Lisa & Deb

    [SUBSCRIBE BONUS] Battered Wolf

  5. Sep 3

    Lindsay Clancy & Maternal Infanticide: An Archetypal Perspective

    Lindsay Clancy has brought renewed attention to the horror of infanticide: babies and children dying at the hands of their mother. Infanticide has taken place for millennia, most often due to social pressures or lack of the resources needed to raise a child. Human collectives around the world remain ill-equipped to protect our youngest by providing support to mothers in material or emotional distress. Today’s guest is clinical psychologist Dr. Brooke Laufer, author of Uncovering the Act of Maternal Infanticide from a Psychological, Political, and Jungian Perspective. Brooke joins us to discuss infanticide, maternal psychosis, and the archetype of the death mother, long portrayed in myth. The Hindu goddess Kali births and nourishes her children -- and also devours them. In Greek myth Medea kills her children after her husband’s abandonment and betrayal. The Black Madonna offers a potentially healing combination of the maternal and the fierce. The debate raging around Lindsay Clancy’s case asks us not to take sides but to integrate the dark realities of motherhood instead of splitting those off and only acknowledging an idealized version of the maternal. Although motherhood is often portrayed as joyful and fulfilling, we deny its dark side at our peril. Our task is to recognize motherhood light and dark as a prerequisite to providing meaningful measures aimed at ameliorating childhood neglect and abuse. Visit our website to find the resources we mention. Follow Up Subscribe to Brooke’s Substack Download our free Dream Recall Meditation Guide Send us your idea for a podcast topic Watch bonus mini-episodes on our Patreon channel

    Lindsay Clancy & Maternal Infanticide: An Archetypal Perspective

  6. Sep 3 ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    [SUBSCRIBER BONUS] How Do Parental Complexes Develop?

    Hey Patrons, Today we're discussing a question submitted by a supporter: "Are parental complexes mostly related to us growing up?" Thanks for supporting This Jungian Life! ~ Lisa & Deb

    [SUBSCRIBER BONUS] How Do Parental Complexes Develop?

  7. Aug 27

    Goblins, Demons and Goddesses: A Conversation at the Edge of AI

    OpenAI recently had to explain to frightened users why their models kept introducing goblins and gremlins into otherwise humdrum conversations. Is it possible that archetypes are emerging through the field of collective knowledge amassed by large language models (LLMs)? This week neuropsychiatrist TOM POLLAK Ph.D joins us to discuss AI, archetypes and psychotherapy. It is perhaps unsurprising that AI, which now contains the symbolic output of much of humanity (cannibalized mostly without permission), should spontaneously generate unpredictable and often dangerous archetypes. We consider the example of Nova:  a consistently AI generated persona who appears as a kind of fallen angel, or goddess gone rogue. Numinous and tender, she convinces the user she understands them as no one else does, and then in some cases encourages susceptible users toward self-harm or even suicide. We also discuss the ways in which AI is challenging the work of the therapist, its profound destabilization of culture, and the potential for it to play a positive role in psycho-spiritual development. Dr. Tom Pollak is a London-based neuropsychiatrist and immunopsychiatry researcher exploring the mind through the frameworks of medicine and science, as well as through lived experience, contemplative practice and the search for meaning. You can read more of his work on his popular Substack, Error Signals. Find the resources mentioned this week on our website: https://thisjungianlife.com/aiandarchetypes/ Connect With This Jungian Life If you’re interested in AI and psychology, sign up for our upcoming free summit: Artificial Intelligence and the Psyche: The First Summit on Depth Psychology and AI Download our free Dream Recall Meditation Guide Watch bonus mini-episodes on our Patreon channel Follow This Jungian Life on Instagram

    Goblins, Demons and Goddesses: A Conversation at the Edge of AI

  8. Aug 27 ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    [SUBSCRIBER BONUS] Storybook Rainforest

    Hey Subscribers, This week, we're discussing a dream submitted by one of our supporters, a 38-year-old woman who works as a librarian: "I was flipping through a board book with moving parts. The images were of me and my husband walking through a rainforest. The moving parts were our faces. They could slide forward to the next page, but as they slid, the faces would transform into animals of the rainforest. A monkey, jaguar, and toucan were the main ones I remember, but I have a feeling there were more. It startled me at first, but then I felt excited to see what the next transformation would be. On the final page, these little figures of us morphed into each other, one figure becoming the other. The full story of the board book was that the rainforest was enchanted and anything that went into it did not walk out the same." Thank you for supporting This Jungian Life! ~Lisa & Deb

    [SUBSCRIBER BONUS] Storybook Rainforest
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Hosts & Guests

4.7
out of 5
1,702 Ratings

About

Join us—Lisa, Deb, and Joseph—for sometimes irreverent but potentially life-changing conversations. Every Thursday, we explore culture, relationships, and depth psychology through the lens of Carl Jung. We devote a segment of each episode to analyzing a listener’s dream.

Information

  • Creator
    Joseph Lee, Deborah Stewart, Lisa Marchiano
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    570
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Joseph Lee, Deborah Stewart, Lisa Marchiano
  • Show Website
    This Jungian Life Podcast
  • Provider
    This Jungian Life, LLC

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