Upcoming Events
The Tarot: A Tool for Working with the Unconscious, September 13, 2024, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
The Tarot has a long history, with many books having been written on the subject, including Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey, by Salle Nichols, who taught Symbolism of the Tarot, at the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles. For the psychologically minded, this lecture will explore ways in which the diverse images within tarot decks can be used for clinical work, and the enhancement of symbolic thinking. With the appropriate guardrails, the wide range of images available to the analyst and the analytic couple can provide the analyst with tools for deepening clinical reflections and archetypal amplifications. This lecture will assume that attendees are familiar with the traditional decks and have resources for amplification.
Jungian Art Therapy and Tarot: Drawing out the Shadow Through the Creative Process, Sept 14, 2024
The hidden ordering principle of the Self will be considered through spontaneous images from the tarot and the use of spontaneous and associative drawings, all of which will liberate the psychic energy from dreams, visions, clinical material or personal situations that beg for greater consciousness and fresh meaning. In this workshop participants will use their tarot deck to draw on the unknown and the invisible, to ignite the creative instinct and unearth the healing symbols. This workshop will be primarily exploratory and experiential, so participants are invited to bring a journal, a tarot deck, and any art materials that they might like to work with. Some materials will be provided. You do not need to be an artist or an expert in the tarot. This workshop is about creative play, deepening the relationship to the unconscious, and welcoming the synchronicities that surface so as to honor the lived experiences that are supported by Jung’s analytical psychology.
The eighth biannual Jung in the Heartland Conference: Earth Speaks, Psyche Dreams, October 3-6, 2024
Jung on the Human Psyche’s Split with Nature-Stephen Foster
There are forces at work in the human psyche that treat the earth as an object and deny the obvious: that we also mature in our relationship with the earth. Jung discussed this split from the Nature Archetype, which has become activated on personal and collective levels due to climate crisis. It is often through literature and art that our psyches are enlivened, re-animated, and re-connected with the natural world. Attendees will explore nature in their dreams. By paying close attention to the natural setting of dreams and using Jung’s synthetic method of associative and amplification techniques, participants will search for transcendent symbols that might provide both personal and collective insights. Our externalization of human wastes into the environment is causing a wide range of problems for humanity, which are forcing us to adapt. Although the earth and humanity are adaptable, the accelerated time scale for adaptation is untenable. Our conference closing will examine Jung’s thoughts on adaptation and consider what this may mean for nature and ourselves as we search for the Lumen Naturae (the Light of Nature).
Earth-Human: Climates in Crisis-Lori Pye
Over the course of the weekend, a few ideas will be shared from ecological psychology and the examination of one of the planet’s overarching processes, the necessity of change, to offer ways of sensing and responding differently to a suffering planet. The Conference sessions will include intra-active workshops and outdoor walks to deepen our ecopsychological (an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field that focuses on the synthesis of ecology and psychology) understanding of change.
Past Presentations, Lectures, and Workshops
Exploring the Nature Archetype Through Story and Image, A Workshop with Stephen Foster,
In The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien tells a story called the Lay of Lúthien, where the love between a human (Beren) and an Earth Spirit (Lúthien) may be seen as the metaphorical setting for a relationship between humans and nature. The Lay of Lúthien is a modern fairy tale. In this workshop, we will analyze this tale, using classical Jungian methods, including alchemical interpretation, to uncover its archetypal themes and images.
May 2023
Jung Society of Washington DC
Earth and Psyche: Archetypal Responses to the Climate Crisis, A Lecture by Stephen Foster
With the news media constantly reinforcing eco-trauma by showing scenes of destruction, or what I refer to as the Four Horsemen of the Climate Apocalypse: Fire, Flood, Disease, and Disconnection (the uncoupling of species inter-dependence), it is easy to become “bewitched” and disenchanted, that is, frozen and incapacitated. We fail to act, unless we can remember that we remain woven into the fabric of nature through physical need and through our feelings for the earth, expressed by archetypal patterns of nature in the psyche. In this talk, I propose to lay out Jung’s discussion of our split with nature, to bring awareness to ways in which archetypal patterns of nature (the Nature Archetype) have become activated on a personal and collective level, and explore ways in which we might re-engage with Nature.
May , 2024
Jung Society of Washington DC
Civilization in Transition 8, PSYCHE & EARTH, A Relationship in Crisis
Although the COVID-19 pandemic exposed both the dangers and fragility of our unsustainable way of life, We are returning to “business as usual”, unable to put aside factional interests when confronted with a global crisis. The resurgence of autocracy, nationalism and conflict, and polarization driven by social media, both exacerbate and distract us from these failings. This conference provided an inter-active and proactive wake-up call to engagement.
Speakers included: Stephen Foster (lectures & workshop), Nora Swan-Foster (workshop and panel), Andrew Fellows (lectures), Yuriko Sato (lecture), Frances Hatfield (Social Dream Matrix)
November 2-5, 2023
Hotel Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
Eco-psychology, Heartland Seminar, March, 2023
This seminar explored our relationship with nature within the broader context of eco-psychology by examining both personal and archetypal structures in the human psyche. The seminar explored personal and collective expressions of nature in myth, story, and dreams. This Seminar was not open to the public.
The Nature Archetype and the Psychology of C.G. Jung, May 2021
A presentation on the archetypal structures in the human psyche inherited from nature and their expression in myth, story, and dreams. Presented to the Minnesota Jung Seminar. This three day seminar was not open to the public.
Past Presentations, Lectures, and Workshops
Vienna IAAP Paper, August 30, 2019
Presented a paper titled "Nature as Other: Separation and reconnection in an ever-changing world" discussing our connection with nature including Climate Change.
The Indigenous Psyche and Creating a Relationship with our True Nature: May 11, 2019
An interruptus-style movie viewing of Dinner with Beatriz where we explored themes including patriarchal attitudes, indigenous psyche, feminine and masculine archetypes, and Jung's reflection on how modern man was separated from his own true nature.
Co-hosted with Nora Swan-Foster
The Psychology and Alchemy of the Tarot, September 14, 2019
In this seminar examined the Tarot from a psychological perspective, using the lens of
analytical psychology to reflect on the archetypal dimensions of the Major Arcana and the complexes imaged in the Minor Arcana.
The Nature Archetype, September 8th, 2018
A presentation on the archetypal structures in the human psyche inherited from nature and their expression in myth, story, and dreams. Will be presented for the Boulder Jung Seminar, which is not open to the public.
An Introduction to Alchemy, October 13, 2018
An Overview of the Basic Psychological Concepts in C.G. Jung’s Approach to Alchemy and the Archetypal Patterns of Transformation presented for the Colorado Sandplay Therapy Association. This presentation will introduce the metaphorical materials to be worked, the processes that bring about change and the transformative stages through which the psyche must pass to achieve healing.
Nature, the Nature Archetype, and the Psychology of C.G. Jung, January 12, 2018 New Orleans, LA
Jung said that the greatest threat to earth is humanity; that was in the context of the atomic bomb, but it applies to our current relationship to nature as well. With Dr. Foster we will examine the Archetype of Nature in its bipolar qualities of light and shadow. Alchemists, attempting to liberate spirit from matter, developed the concept of Anima Mundi—World Soul—which expanded to Ecopsychology in the image of Gaia, or earth as a living organism. The images of this archetype may contain the seeds of transformation needed in these challenging times.
Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation, October 14, 2017, Boulder, CO
Presenting with Danial Shaw for the Boulder Jung Seminar
Pauli and Jung: Their Collaborative Relationship: April 7, 2017
A lecture for the Boulder Friends of Jung. Jung viewed himself as a scientist and was fascinated by physics as a way to understand the psyche. His conversations with Einstein and Wolfgang Pauli are examples of how Jung investigated the world around him so as to understand the inner world of the individual. This lecture explored the collaboration between Pauli and Jung.
The Girl Without Hands: a Fairy Tale of Feminine Redemption and Empowerment, September 13, 2015
An all day course, taught in Boulder Colorado, on fairy tales from a Jungian perspective, with CU Professor Dr. Ann Schmiesing.
Norse Mythology, Figures of Death/ ReBirth; May 12, 2018
Presentation for the BAJA Seminar on Norse mythology was an oral tradition of the Norse people, who lived in Iceland, Norway and areas around what is now called “the North Sea.” The Prose Edda was believed to have been written by Snorri Sturluson around 1220. The mythological system is complex; the figures are strong and multidimensional. The Aesir (or Gods) were constantly in conflict with the Jotuns (the Giants) who were a race that came before them; it was from the corpse of one of these Giants (Ymir) that the world was created. The greatest of the Aesir was Oden, All Father, and creator of all things in the nine worlds of the Norse.We will explore selected myths that include death (a common theme in Norse myths) and work with the associated psychological parallels of trauma, violence, loss, deception, abandonment and other archetypal themes. We will examine the idea of psychological death/rebirth, and the eternal cycle it suggests, the darkness of winter and the rising of a new warming sun in the spring.
A Night at the Museum with the Art of Chris Olifi: August 15&16, 2015
A sleepover in the Aspen Museum of Art with the past and current artwork of Chris Olifi, and the analysis of the dreams it stimulates.
Individuation, February 7, 2015
A day long class on individuation for the Boulder Association of Jungian Analysts. Using the readings from the collected works of C.G. Jung and James Hollis' book "Hauntings" to explore the Jungian concept of individuation.
The Psychology of Fairytales, Meaning in Modern Life: May 10, 2014
A fundamental 4- hour class on two key archetypes taught for the Boulder Association of Jungian Analysts in Boulder, Colorado
Environmental Contamination and the Nature Archetype, Oct. 3, 2014
A lecture for the Boulder Friends of Jung in Boulder, Colorado about the nature archetype, environmental damage, and aspects of the Self in environmental restoration.
A Jungian View of the Tarot, October 5, 2013
An introduction to the images int he Tarot, as seen through a Jungian lens. Presented for the Jungian Seminar in Memphis, Tennessee.
Jung, Alchemy, and Alchemical Imagery in Films, June 2011
A presentation on Jung and Alchemy using films to illustrate key psychological and alchemical themes for the New Orleans Jung Society.