Category: Soul & Symbol: Perspectives in Depth Psychology

topographia

Depth psychology is the study of the soul in its wildest, most honest form. Here, we look through the lens of Soul and Symbol to move beyond clinical labels, beholding the dreams, archetypes, and hidden complexes that pulse beneath the surface of conscious awareness. Drawing from the wells of Jung, Freud, and other mythic traditions, these perspectives bridge the gap between our daily routines and the profound mysteries of the inner world.

  • The Karma of Leaving

    The Karma of Leaving

    Show me the way in which the child was left, and I will show you the way in which that child grows up and later leaves others and ultimately leaves himself.

  • Great Mother

    Great Mother

    I’ve written about what can happen when a child’s need for balanced containment and nurturance are not met in the family of origin, and they grow up uncontained, unprotected, and without adequate nurture.

  • Container

    Container

    Our astounding capacities for healing are what can save us.

  • I Need a Hero

    I Need a Hero

    In depth psychology, we talk often and at length about the hero’s quest, also known as the vision quest, the monomyth, or simply the Quest, which leads to wholeness.

  • Sacred Mother

    Sacred Mother

    Sacred, complex, and emotionally powerful, the Mother Archetype is the most influential pattern in the collective unconscious. Consequently, relationships with mothers often feel fraught.

  • Sister Mothers

    Sister Mothers

    Many of us spend much of our adult lives trying to understand and heal the Mother Wound.

  • Light for the Dark Path

    Light for the Dark Path

    We need art and music, poetry, literature and film, all that evokes the beauty, terror, dread, doubt and ecstasy of descent. They are light for the dark path.

  • Beyond Self-Actualization

    Beyond Self-Actualization

    It can take a lifetime to deal with whatever hand our parents and caste dealt us—so much so that growth needs may never be realized. Even so, there is hope.

  • Ritual and Symbol

    Ritual and Symbol

    Symbols are objects, emblems, or language representing our relationship to persons, to the universe, to the sacred. They are concrete realities communicating universal truths.

  • These Ancient Stones

    These Ancient Stones

    It takes a lot of courage to work through what has pained you all your life.