In this conversation Mary Watkins and Stefano Carpani explore the trajectory of Watkins’ work with the imaginal dimension of life. They will move carefully along the fungal network between opening up to the imaginal and becoming present in all our relationships. Mary Watkins began exploring the imaginal dimension of our lives over 50 years ago. Her early books—Waking Dreams and Invisible Guests: The Development of Imaginal Dialogues—were influenced by her studies at the Jung Institute in Zurich and her participation in the archetypal psychology movement. Now these two works on the imaginal are being reissued in the series JUNGIANEUM/books: Re-Covered Classics in Analytical Psychology. As she began to study colonialism and decolonization, Watkins integrated the imaginal into activist work and communities. She used an imaginal approach in workshops on various social, political, and environmental issues. In exploring the colonial mindset, Watkins recognized the need to soften and humble the ego, in line with Jung’s active imagination. She emphasizes the connection between psychic decolonization, achieved through opening the imaginal, and the wider effort to decolonize relationships with human others, non-human animals, natural places, and ancestors.
JUNGIAN.DIRECTORY