Posts

Myth of Demeter

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 The video is a reflection on the story of Demeter and her daughter Kore (later Persephone) from a Jungian point of view. This is primarily as a basis for discussion in the Suffolk Jungian Circle at the end of the month but, as ever, it might be of some interest to others as well. I have included reflections on how the myth can be understood and applied in psychological contexts from the viewpoints of Kore, her mother Demeter, and her eventual husband Hades.

Poet Tree #6

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  Six poems by different poets (Henry Newbolt, Richard Murphy, Sir John Betjeman, Hilary Llewellyn-Williams, Aonghus MacNeacail, and myself) just for the love of sharing poetry. Please let me know about poets/poems which you really like. I think it would be good to share the works we like to introduce them to a wider audience. The poems (in order) are: Henry Newbolt - "The Final Mystery" Richard Murphy - "Casement's Funeral" Sir John Betjeman - "Diary of a Church Mouse" Hilary Llewellyn-Williams - "The Bee-flight" Aonghus MacNeacail - "You Gave Me Summer" Robin Herne - "The Threefold Father"

The Magic of Wolves

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 Yesterday I held a launch party to mark the release of my fifth book with Moon Books (sole authored ones, not including the various anthologies I have contributed chapters towards) - The Magic of Wolves. The book, which can be ordered via any bookshop of online, covers the mythology and folklore of wolves and werewolves alike, looking at Irish, Welsh, Norse, Greek, Roman, Slavic, Japanese, Indian and other cultural traditions. It also looks at natural history, fairy stories, films, and magical practices involving lupines. I gave a talk at the book launch, which I have now also recorded as an audio for people to listen to below. If anyone fancies a signed copy, I will be selling copies of the book at various events during the year, such as the Leaping Hare convention in March. I am currently working on finishing the sixth book and also contemplating a future book about the ogam alphabet and its symbolism.

Anima & Animus

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 A reflection for the Suffolk Jungian Circle (and anyone else who might be interested). We will be discussing Jung's idea of the contrasexual Self (the Inner Male/Female) at the end of February. I have made recordings on this topic in the past, mainly connected with seminars at work, which can be found both on this blog and on my YouTube channel should anyone be inclined to search. Some of those recordings go into greater detail about Jung's ideas on the fourfold nature of both the anima and animus. There's also one recording where I go into a little bit more detail on how the contrasexual Self is understood as working in gay men & lesbians (I didn't touch on transgender issues because I have not yet found any research on this from a specifically Jungian angle).

Worship

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 A reflection on a variety of issues from a polytheist perspective - linking the notion of worship (from the Anglo-Saxon weorth-scip) to Max Weber's ideas on religious value systems, medical ethics and the boundaries of Beauchamp and Childress's philosophising around moral values in medicine.

The Shadow Archetype

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 This is a reflection on Carl Jung's ideas around the Shadow Archetype which will be discussed in the January meeting of the Suffolk Jungian Circle, though it may be of interest to others outside that group. The Shadow is the repressed and unwanted side of the individual and also the collective society, which has a cultural perspective on what is unwanted - because it is regarded (rightly or wrongly) as dangerous, shameful, wicked, obscene, too painful to contemplate etc.  I have made recordings about this before, but I thought I would expand ideas for the purposes of the January online discussion.

The Phoenix and the Carpet - final

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  My reading of the twelfth and final chapter of Edith Nesbitt's (1904) children's book "The Phoenix and the Carpet". The poor old carpet really is worn out and, after a scare in which the nature of language is questioned, the magical bird makes a decision about its future. The power of magic is a huge responsibility, far too huge for children to bear (or, indeed, most adults) - such that a little of it goes a long way! The carpet itself responds to requests in a way very much in keeping with ancient understandings of magic that saw it as a vast and impersonal power that ought to be handled with kid gloves, before the New Age approach we have now that insists everything is about the intentions of the person rather than being anything external to their own massive ego. Without wanting to get sidetracked into 21st century obsessions with gender, I wonder if the phoenix is female or possibly some kind of hermaphrodite that reproduces without necessity for activities rega