The Archetypal Domain of the Numinous: Rituals as a Portal to the Sacred

When C. G. Jung spoke of religion, he was referring to the numinous - the presence of the divine. This term, given by Otto Rank, describes an effectual and sublime experience where the individual psyche comes into union with a great mystery where the wisdom of The Self and the ineffable begins to touch our lives. 

This type of experience is profound. It often occurs spontaneously and represents the beginning of spiritual awareness. It is the messiahs, the “mad men”, the shamans, the priests and priestesses, the hermits, and all those living on the edges of society and consciousness that reach this state with forbearance and intention, and through their sacred experiences, rituals have formed.

Rituals are revelatory, and similar to the profound effect of prayer, creates an intentional relationship to the sacred. Here the numinous is experienced within a protective, psychic container allowing for a confluence of psyche, soul and spirit.

To approach the numinous is to enter a domain far beyond conscious understanding. It is through the a-priori existence of rituals, that Psyche has created a portal for an immersion into this sacred world. Prayers, chanting, dance, and music,guide the Self into the domain of the numinous.

In this seminar series, we will explore the roots, meanings, and the ongoing occurrence of rituals in our life, and discuss why they are experienced as revelatory. We will also look at the presence of rituals and the Numinous in a number of spiritual traditions, including Sufism, the Old Testament, Shamanism, and in modern psychotherapy.​

Presentations

1. Sufis, Saints and The Broken Jar | Saturday October 1st

Presented by Silvia Behrend

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other”
doesn’t make any sense.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.”
Rumi

    
The great Sufi mystic, Rumi, well understood the world we are called into by the Numinous. Out beyond all things we know, there is a field of connection and interconnection which unifies and changes us. In this presentation on Sufi saints, rituals and the story of ‘The Broken Jar’, we will explore the mystical path of Islam, in which there is no separation between male and female or God and soul. Through the lives of famous Sufi saints, we may get a taste of the wonder of the union of the Beloved and the lover that shatters the secular notions of right and wrong to lead us into a deeply lived union with the Self. 

2. The Ritual of Psychotherapy: Immersion in a Timeless Journey | Saturday October 8th

Presented by Michael Conforti

While ultimately what occurs within the therapeutic relationship is a mystery, something essential about its nature is revealed by its rituals. The actual practice and ritual of therapy began in 46 AD and practiced within the Asklepian healing temples. The wound which brought the individual to seek help was understood as an expression of their need to renew their relationship to the divine, the Self. Healing involved two distinct series of rituals: the first was the Katharsis (purification), and then the incubation (dream therapy).

From the moment of our initial contact with the therapist, the dynamics inherent within this ancient world of healing are activated, and literally guide the relationship emerging between client and therapist. The hope is to understand this Voice of Psyche as it speaks through the conditions of treatment, each of which is reminiscent of what occurred back in 46 AD. Understanding the movement of Self, expressed through these dynamics, allows for a meaningful life, while otherwise, is often tragic when these messages from the Self are muted. 

3. Rituals and Exploration: A Pilgrimage in the Peruvian Andes | Saturday October 15th

Presented by Patricia Llosa

Speaking of the significance of ritual and prayer, Jung writes that one’s “personal prayer does not fill the need at all because the response should be collective and historical; it should evoke “the ancestral spirits” so as to unite the present with the historical and mythological past, and for that a representation of the past is indispensable”, adding that: “rites should be archaic in language and gesture”. 

Through a discussion of the ancient rite of Pilgrimage in the Peruvian Andes we will build on  Jung’s work, in discussing the archetypal nature of rituals and their role in evoking the numinous. As Marion Woodman often noted how many of the old rites are dead, therefore, we need to deepen our understanding and widen our explorations in need of renewal, allowing us to better understand our own process of individuation and the initiations we are called to undertake. 

4. Ritual, Women and Liberation | Saturday October 22nd

Presented by Renate Jost 

Women in biblical texts experience the Numinous through participation in sacred rituals such as mourning, dancing, and singing. Examples are the daughter of Jephthah and her girlfriends, going to the mountains for two months to mourn the life she would never know, the dancing and the singing of Mirjam, and the songs of Mirijam and Deborah. These acts capture humanities' need for spiritual and political liberation.

Beginning with biblical texts, Rev. Dr. Jost will discuss the relevance of contemporary rituals, and their relationship to archetypal and sacred traditions. Dr. Jost will focus on the change of rituals during the 20th and 21st century where the new interpretation of traditional texts and symbols, the search for a just language, the female body and the rhythm of nature, open new ways of spirituality and political action for liberation.