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This talk will be an introduction to Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP), an innovative approach to clinical practice and psychotherapy, where clients are invited into safe relational experiences with horses to address therapeutic goals. It is a fast-growing modality across Australia and the globe. EAP is engaging and effective for diverse clients including adults, children, adolescents, organisations, and specialist client groups such as Aboriginal youth, veterans, and clients with trauma, anxiety, depression, and addictions. Meggin Kirby, founder of the Equine Psychotherapy Institute, will be joining us on our screen at St Mary’s via Zoom, to share her passion about this wonderful work with horses, animals and nature – supporting, assisting, facilitating, modelling and teaching us so much about health, relationship, leadership and wellbeing.

About Dr. Meggin
Dr. Meggin and her husband Noel have been working in the Mental Health and Wellness field for a collective 40 years. Together they have worked in the Psychotherapy, Mental Health, Psychology, Counselling, Consultation, Organisational Development, Therapist Training, EAP and EAL Practitioner Training, Trauma and Personal Development fields, and more recently Animal Assisted Psychotherapy and Nature Assisted Therapy.

Her clinical experience over the last 23 years began in Adult community mental health, moved into inpatient and outpatient Child and Family psychiatry, before settling into private practice as a psychotherapist working with adults, children, families, couples and organisations.

After over 10 years in psychotherapy and coaching private practice she moved into training psychotherapists, counsellors, social workers, psychologists, teachers and horse people in equine assisted practice, and has been doing that now for over 10 years.

This lecture is an expanded version of the introductory section of last October’s I Ching workshop. The history of Chinese divination, in which the I Ching has a very important role, is a fascinating one, and certain aspects of it will be explored here. And in regard to the I Ching and its arrival in the West, it has been suggested that C. G. Jung’s single most famous work is very likely his 1949 foreword to Richard Wilhelm’s translation of the I Ching.1

Jung first came into contact with Wilhelm in the 1920s, and was profoundly impressed by his understanding of the subtleties of the I Ching or Book of Changes. Indeed, it is more than likely that Jung’s theory of synchronicity was directly inspired by Wilhelm, and the religion writer Harold Coward has gone so far as to suggest that the whole notion of synchronicity is directly dependent on the I Ching.2 Concerning his encounter with Wilhelm, Jung wrote:

“He, as a Sinologue, and I, as a physician, would probably never have come into contact had we remained specialists. But we met in a field of humanity which begins beyond academic boundary posts. There lay our point of contact; there leaped across the spark that kindled the light destined to become for me one of the most meaningful events of my life.3 “

In addition to its function as an oracle, the I Ching was used in all sorts of other fields, including in the organisation of the Chinese imperial bureaucracy. In the opinion of Joseph Needham, principle author of the multi-volumed Science and Civilisation in China, the far-reaching influence of the I Ching also had the unfortunate consequence of preventing the development of Chinese science.4

All this and more will be discussed in this lecture and, time permitting, perhaps one or two consultations may be possible towards the end of the evening.

References:
1. Karcher, S. (1999). Jung, the Tao, and the Classic of Change, Journal of Religion and Health, 38 (4), 287- 304, p. 296.
2. Wilhelm, R. & Jung, C. G. (1972). The secret of the golden flower: A Chinese book of life. (R. Wilhelm & C. F. Baynes, Trans.). Routledge, p. 138.
3. Coward, H. (2003). Taoism and Jung: Synchronicity and the self. In Macfie, A. L. (Ed), Eastern Influences on Western Philosophy: A reader (pp. 279-296). Edinburgh University Press, p. 279
4. Needham, J. & Ronan, C. (1978). The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China, Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 183-89.

About Laurence Browne
Laurence Browne has a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Queensland, where he is an Honorary Research Fellow within the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry. He is the author of The Many Faces of Coincidence, published in 2017 by Imprint Academic, Exeter, U.K, as well as a number of journal articles, most recently: Coincidence in Chinese Fiction and Chinese-inspired Fiction, published in June 2022 in The Australian Journal of Parapsychology.

Jung asked what it is, in the end, that persuades a man or woman to go their own way? To rise from an unconscious identity with the masses as though emerging from a “swathing mist?” He called it vocation, and identified this illogical factor that destines a man or woman to emancipate themselves “from a herd and its well-worn paths.” Jung went further to say that any person with a vocation hears the voice of the inner man or woman. In other words, they are called.

In Jungian psychology, individuation is considered an important life goal. It occurs differently for each person and generally takes place in the second half of life. Individuation is the process of realising one’s true personality, including discovering our life purpose or calling. Our vocation.

Individuation sometimes occurs when a person loses touch with aspects of their personality through trauma or a major life event. They may then reintegrate certain parts of their nature, thereby finding it easier to maintain their spiritual (as well as social, emotional and mental) equilibrium. Trauma was the catalyst for Jung’s individuation process, and Jung’s experience provided a guide for Dr Toula Gordillo’s own healing process.

Using examples from Jung’s life, as well as her own, in this talk Toula demonstrates her individuation journey. She describes her personal reflection methods and the product of her vocation—the creation of Story Image Therapy (SIT®) based on Jung’s ideas and knowledge. In particular, Dr Gordillo will discuss Jung’s understanding of the Chiron myth and the archetypal wounded healer and how this has ‘played out’ in healing her own negative adolescent complex. This is the subject of her soon-to-be released second book, The Magic of Jung.

About Dr Toula Gordillo
Dr Toula Gordillo is a practicing Clinical psychologist and Jungian psychotherapist based on Australia’s Sunshine Coast. She is also a former school teacher, guidance officer intensive behaviour support and acting head of student services in some of Queensland’s largest state high schools. Dr Gordillo is a published author of numerous academic and non-academic journals, magazines and books including: Youth Voice Journal, Viewpoint, The Artifice, Immanence – Journal of Applied Myth, Story and Folklore and Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Toula is a member of the CG Jung Society of Queensland, the International Depth Psychology Alliance, the Australian Society of Authors, The Queensland Writer’s Centre and the Australian Child and Adolescent Trauma, Loss and Grief Network (ACATLGN).

We live in times of a profound disconnection with Body. This is not a new phenomenon, it began centuries ago with the patriarchal valuing of mind, rationality and linearity as the lenses to approach Reality. Today we are living its aftermath, where Body has been conquered by mental paradigms even in most “embodied” knowledge.

In ancient traditions across the world, the dancer-shaman-seer-priest was the wisdomkeeper. They manifested divinatory wisdom through ritual body-led expressions. In these traditions, the dancer is Deity, dance is Reality and dance is Inquiry. A dance inquiry is located in the terrain of Body as its “site” or “field of manifestation”. The emergent revelation is the guidance we receive to navigate Reality, beginning with our own intimate terrain of Body.

In this presentation Padma will offer her experience of travelling into the caverns of dance, ritual, archetypes and philosophy over four decades. Her inquiry has been a commitment to supporting mystery as a radical intelligence that can position us in our rightful place within Nature through re-experiencing Body as sacred Consciousness.

About Padma Menon
Padma Menon is a dancer, philosopher and writer, who offers dance as a contemplative or spiritual practice. She helps those seeking to reclaim their sacred selves by generously sharing her lifetime’s knowledge in sacred dance, philosophy and ritual—so that they can experience unconditional freedom, taste their true essence, and move in this world in a sacred way.

Padma has a unique approach to dance, rooted in ancient philosophy and practice, but locating it in the reality of our bodies and consciousness in these times. As a choreographer-dancer-teacher with over forty years of international experience, Padma brings a deep intelligence about the nature of dance itself, and its lens on reality as a language that is body-led (rather than embodied).

Padma hails from a matrilineal family of writers, activists and philosophers. She was a child prodigy and began her dance career at the age of nine in India. She was a leading dancer in the Kuchipudi style of dance, which is an ancient temple dance tradition. When she moved to Australia in the 90’s, she developed one of the first professional non-western dance companies that had a national and international performance profile. Padma then moved to the Netherlands and created significant contemporary works which eschewed colonial interpretations of contemporary aesthetics for a radical aesthetic that was sourced from the depths of Indian practice. Padma also developed a centre for dance in India which helped women to live their full and sacred presence in their lives.

In addition to traditional Indian dance, Padma studied contemporary dance, Indian philosophy, yoga and martial arts. During a period away from dance, Padma led not for profit organisations advocating for cultural diversity issues. She has a Masters in Choreography from Codarts Academy in the Netherlands and a postgraduate degree in English Literature from the Australian National University.

Currently Padma offers her teaching and programs online and internationally through Moving Archetypes which she founded.

An authentic life implies a deep work of reflection on oneself, but in order to find oneself it is necessary to face one’s inner darkness. The documentary Shadow Theatre presents reflections on society and the individual through the analytical psychology of Carl Gustav Jung.

The film was made with the support of the Jungian Institutes of Brazil (members of the IAAP) and Portugal. One
of the Brazilian producers Lucas Costanzi, brought this film to the attention of the Society in 2022 and it is with great pleasure and interest that we are showing it in February as the first event of the year.

A film event.

World renowned Jungian psychoanalyst, James Hollis, explores what it means to escape the orbit of one’s background and cultural conditioning in order to express one’s own uniqueness. In this long interview about the true nature of personal growth and change James shares some of the transformational experiences and milestones from his own life. He is the author of 16 books that cover the whole range of human existence from relationships, to mid-life crises, spirituality and personal growth.

Canberra analyst, composer and singer Glenda Cloughley will lead us through some of the inspiring encounters with regeneration mythology and Jungian psychology that help sustain the remarkable public life of A Chorus of Women. Glenda will be joined by Chorus musicians Johanna McBride and Meg Rigby. The program will be structured around presentations that include stories, songs and videos of the Chorus in action.

The Chorus story begins in 2003 as the Howard Government joins the catastrophic US-led invasion of Iraq against the wishes of 75% of Australians. On the day of the announcement, some 150 local Canberra women quietly enter Parliament House, then sing a lament for the people of Iraq. Their love song becomes an international media event.

At the time of initiating the Lament, Glenda is deep in research for a PhD entitled The Axiom of Becoming. Tracing the cyclical rhythms of regeneration mythology, she links women’s laments for the dead with life’s renewal. The pattern is common to the story of Jesus, older myths from Iraq, Egypt and Greece, and the symbolic images indigenous European artists produced for tens of millennia (until patriarchal warring peoples began colonising Europe about 6500 years ago). Suddenly, a group of compassionate Canberra women are inside the ancient pattern!

Glenda, Johanna and Meg will take us behind the decision to keep singing and writing music into the 20-year stream of regenerating love stories that run through A Chorus of Women’s engagements in global and local matters of our troubled world.

You can come for the stories and songs. Glenda also hopes to help us access our own wellsprings for creative action. To this end, she will offer ways to open the dynamic patterns of the stories so they can be related to diverse communities and individual lives. Words from her song The Crossroads will help orient us.

Dr Glenda Cloughley is a Jungian analyst in private practice. She also loves to sing, tell renewing stories, and compose songs and choral dramas for A Chorus of Women that apply her research in the dynamic ecological structures of social wellbeing and enculturated trauma. Aiming to move people to action, her much-performed works voice Glenda’s trust that regeneration mythology is strong enough to help restore harmony – including with the Earth’s complex systems. Singing in the Chorus trio with gloriously musical choral conductor-pianist Johanna McBride (who directs Chorus music) and guitarist-drummer Meg Rigby (who assists Johanna) is among her life’s chief delights.

Pay more if you wish or less if you need – just come along.

Booking is necessary for catering; please email secretary@jungqld.com

You’re Invited!… to an Evening of soul food and drinks music and celebration the 40th Anniversary of the QLD Jung Society everyone is welcome – members, friends and family – come along to mark the cusp of decades, celebrate where we’ve been, where we are now and what might become – the door is open and the fire lit (with plenty of food options) featuring A Chorus of Women Trio and more surprises.

It has been suggested that C. G. Jung’s single most famous work could well be his 1949 foreword to the Richard Wilhelm’s translation of the I Ching.1 Jung first came into contact with Wilhelm in the 1920s, and was profoundly impressed by his understanding of the subtleties of the Book of Changes. Indeed, it is more than likely that his theory of synchronicity was directly inspired by Wilhelm. According to Jung:

Anyone who, like myself, has had the rare good fortune to experience in a spiritual exchange with Wilhelm the divinatory power of the I Ching, cannot for long remain ignorant of the fact that we have touched here an Archimedean point from which our Western attitude of mind could be shaken to its foundations.2

In this workshop we will examine the history and structure of the I Ching, and also compare its oracular method with other forms of divination. The session will start with a presentation on the I Ching itself, as well as the part played by Wilhelm and Jung in regard to its reception in the West over the last century. Although the I Ching is not simply an oracle, that is how it most often viewed. An important part of the workshop, therefore, will be a particular focus on how best to consult the Book of Changes.

If you have a copy of the I Ching, in particular the Wilhelm translation, please bring it along, as well as three coins of the same denomination. The ideal size is around the ten cent coin – the twenty being a bit big and the five a bit small. There’s no need to bring Chinese coins with holes in them, though if you have a set, do bring it along!

References:
Karcher, S. (1999). Jung, the Tao, and the Classic of Change, Journal of
Religion and Health, 38 (4), 287- 304, p. 296.
Wilhelm, R. & Jung, C. G. (1972). The secret of the golden flower: A Chinese
book of life. (R. Wilhelm & C. F. Baynes, Trans.). Routledge, p. 140.

Laurence Browne has a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Queensland, where he is an Honorary Research Fellow within the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry. He is the author of The Many Faces of Coincidence, published in 2017 by Imprint Academic, Exeter, U.K, as well as a number of journal articles, most recently: Coincidence in Chinese Fiction and Chinese-inspired Fiction, published in June 2022 in The Australian Journal of Parapsychology.

Throughout the history of Western thought, the body was often viewed with suspicion, as an impediment from true knowledge. From Plato to Christianity and then Descartes; we still witness the psyche-soma dissociation in biomedical models that rule today’s notion of health and illness processes. The human gesture is charged with psychic energy, however often neglected or downplayed in the clinical setting.

As Jung wrote: “We cannot rid ourselves of the doubt that perhaps this whole separation of mind and body may finally prove to be merely a device of reason for the purpose of conscious discrimination – an intellectually necessary separation of one and the same fact into two aspects, to which we then illegitimately attribute an independent existence. (Jung, 1972: 619)”

Isn’t the body (gestures) a manifestation of our persona/archetype and a way we relate to the world? Should not the physical symptom also be considered as an important symbol to be integrated, and not solely suppressed, as an expression of new possibilities and possibly more meaning in the patient’s life? Is it possible to ignore the role of the body in the transference and counter- transference dynamics within the clinical setting?

In this presentation, Flávio De Grandis proposes to investigate such ideas and present some clinical cases to illustrate the importance of the body in Jungian psychotherapy practice.

Brazilian born Flávio De Grandis is a physiotherapist with a Masters degree in Science, and a Jungian psychotherapist, completing a degree in Philosophy at Deakin University and currently training with ANZSJA (Australian & New Zealand Society for Jungian Analysts).