One cannot think of Jungian Psychology without acknowledging the profound contributions of the pioneering women in this field. From Marie-Louise von Franz, Emma Jung and Esther Harding, to Toni Wolff, Barbara Hannah and Helen Luke, each had dedicated their life to an ongoing investigation into the workings of The Self, and the contents of the collective unconscious. From the expression of the creative unconscious in fairy tales, literature, film and dreams, each has encouraged us to live with an ever deepening understanding of Psyche.
The four seminars in this series focus on the depth of Toni Wolff’s writings on the feminine psyche.
This includes an overview of her life related to her great contributions to the development of analytical psychology. In addition, we will carefully study her incisive text: The Structural Forms of the Feminine Psyche* and each of the sessions will be devoted to a discussion of one of the four aspects of the feminine described in her work. *A free PDF of this text is available on the internet. It is a brilliant yet dense text, deserving of our care, attention and scholarship. You can view and download the document here.
About the Presentations
The Mother – November 12th, 2022
The Mother: the first of the four structures. This is seen as a phase of individuation, inherent in all women, regardless of the biological factor. Toni Wolff did not fix women into one type. She used the four structures as a continuing development throughout life. In some ways, this relates to how the four functions are used in Jungian typology.
The Amazon – November 19th, 2022
The Amazon, as Wolff says, is more predominant in our times, due to women’s greater social and intellectual freedom. This seminar will focus on the development of the modern woman’s feminine life. It will also look at how social structures impact on a woman’s way of being, in both positive and negative ways.
The Hetaira – December, 3rd, 2022
The Hetaira: this structure is woman as companion. The hetaira aspect takes a woman into a powerful, individual, relating experience. We will discuss the modern development of this. Brenda will also give a very clear example of a moment in recent history where the mother and the hetaira structures were separated out, and then brought together again in the next generation.
The Medial Woman – December 10th, 2022
The Medial Woman senses the archetypal depths and activates this quality in others. She is intuitive, able to delve into other worlds, bringing out ideas of the future. This fertile ground is a further development of the feminine psyche. The ancient Sybil, or prophetess, at the oracle of Apollo is an example of this structure.
The End Notes of Toni Wolff’s The Structural Forms of the Feminine Psyche article give further reading, if you want to follow up on these. All are interesting!