Friday Lecture | 7-9pm | $25
What does it mean to live a creative life? Jung’s initiatory journey into the “spirit of the depths“ was creative but required profound psychic courage, suffering, and patience as he confronted the unconscious and discovered “the third thing.” Upon his “return,” when Jung wrote that “everything of which we are conscious is an image, and that image is psyche,” he elevated the imagination and creative processes. One of the gifts was his essay The Transcendent Function which conceptualized how unconscious and invisible psychic material became conscious and visible through play, dedication, endurance of wrestling with the opposites, and the respect for the ineffable and irrational aspects of the psyche. Jung thereby came to understand the importance of the “third thing.” Jung’s investigations into the unconscious through various creative means opened the door and gave credence for the expressive arts therapies. In this lecture the three-part initiation model provides a container in which we consider Jung’s wisdom and how the “third thing” may offer hints on living a creative life.
Saturday Workshop | 10am-3pm | $100
Drawing from the three stages of a creative initiation journey – Gateway, Attending, Passage – we build a container, attend to the unconscious, and awaken the prospective psyche. The initiatory task of allowing for the “the third thing” or the “other” to present itself is a visual validation of the spontaneous psychic energy that gives meaning to lines, shapes, and colors. With our open-mind, curiosity, and determination, we will welcome the visual and expressive images as “strangers” and respect and honor the journey that unfolds.
Using art materials, writing, dreams, and/or active imagination, each person will attend to creative tasks to mark and document the imaginal path of individuation. Various prompts and tasks will be provided, while individuals who are more comfortable with materials can follow their own process within the creative initiation process.
*Artistic skill not necessary, only the willingness to be on the Fool’s journey.
**Supplies: please have a large journal, container of water, several different brushes, watercolor paper, acrylics or watercolors, basic oil crayons, tissue paper, tape, glue. Additional materials: maps, postcards, magazines, scissors, clay, crayons, pencils, pens, colored markers, inks