Temenos

A word used by the early Greeks to define a sacred precinct
(i.e. a temple) within which a god’s presence can be felt.
Jung’s use of the word adds nothing to its original meaning but
gives it a psychological application. He applied it quasi-metaphorically
to describe: the psychically charged area surrounding a COMPLEX,
unapproachable by CONSCIOUSNESS and well-guarded by
defences of the EGO; an analytic precinct (i.e. of the transference)
within which ANALYST AND PATIENT feel themselves to be in the
presence of a potentially overwhelming UNCONSCIOUS and daemonic
force; the area of the psyche most foreign to the ego and character-ised by the numinosity of the SELF or GOD-IMAGE (see NUMINOSUM);
and the psychological container shaped by analyst and patient during
ANALYSIS and distinguished by mutual respect for unconscious processes,
confidentiality, a commitment to symbolic ENACTMENT and
trust in one another’s ethical judgment (see ETHICS; MORALITY).
A synonym for temenos is ‘the hermetically sealed vessel’. This is
an alchemical term used for the closed container within which oppoSITES
transform (see ALCHEMY). Because of the presence of a sacred
and unpredictable hermetic element, there could be no assurance that
the process would be positive. By analogy, the psychological temenos
may be experienced as either a womb or a prison. The presence of
an erratic and unpredictable element within the psychological temenos
caused lung to remark vis-a-vis analytic containment that PSYCHOTHERAPY
succeeds, when it does, ‘Deo concedente’ (an alchemical
epithet meaning ‘with God’s consent’).