Jung in the Heartland - C.G. Jung Society of St. Louis

Jung in the Heartland

Monika Wikman, Ph.D., is a Jungian analyst and astrologer who lives near Santa Fe. Her own experience with ovarian cancer and recovery led her to research the dreams of cancer patients and to work analytically for decades with individuals facing life and death health crises. A graduate of the Jung von Franz Center in Switzerland, she taught graduate students in psychology at Cal State Los Angeles. She is the author of Pregnant Darkness: Alchemy and the Rebirth of Consciousness, in which she shows readers that the best way to cope with their darkest times is by fostering a connection to the deeper current of life.

Accommodations & Seminar Site King’s House • 700 N. 66th Street • Belleville, IL 62223 We are in a beautiful retreat center with trails, gardens, and a labyrinth. It is only 45 minutes from the St. Louis airport; the food is delicious, organic, and locally grown. Vegetarians and those requiring a gluten free menu are easily accommodated. All rooms are individual, private rooms with an individually controlled thermostat and private bath. Rooms and buildings are non-smoking. See www.cgjungstl.org for driving directions.

P.O. Box 11724 • Saint Louis, MO 63105

September 10 –13, 2015

Mary Ryan M.S., CADC, NBCC, LCP has been a psychotherapist for the past 30 years with private practice offices in Springfield and Jacksonville, Illinois, and is the mother of three children. She has taught at Illinois College, the University of Illinois at Springfield, Benedictine University, the C.G. Jung Society of St. Louis and conducted workshops for corporations and teacher’s institutes. She is on faculty for therapists training for the Academy of Addictions Treatment Professionals in Chicago and Springfield. Mary also works with inmates facilitating groups for prison fathers.


Belden C. Lane, Ph.D., an expert in green theology, has been Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St. Louis University, and is the author of three books. A theologian, he once found himself delightfully introduced as a Presbyterian minister teaching at a Roman Catholic university telling Jewish stories at the Vedanta Society. His interests include wilderness backpacking, storytelling, and the history of Desert Spirituality. Dr. Lane’s latest book is Backpacking with the Saints; he is also the author of The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality, and Landscapes of the Sacred: Geography and Narrative in American Spirituality.

The C. G. Jung Society of Saint Louis

2015 Jung in the Heartland Faculty

September 10 –13, 2015 “Without my piece of earth, my life’s work would not have come into being.” C. G. JUNG

The C.G. Jung Society of St. Louis

Jung in the Heartland Conference 2015: The Altar of the Earth September 10 – 13, 2015

To reserve your place, fill out the form below, include your registration fee made payable to The C.G. Jung Society of Saint Louis, and return to The C.G. Jung Society of St. Louis, P.O. Box 11724, Saint Louis, MO 63105. You may also register on our website at www.cgjungstl.org using your credit card. Name____________________________________________________________________ Address__________________________________________________________________ City__________________________________ State ________ Zip___________________ Phone______________________________ E-mail________________________________

Early Bird deadline July 8. Respective fees will be $50 more after this date. Early Bird registration fee for member is $575 and for nonmembers $625. Fee includes program participation, nine meals and a single room with a private bath. This fee is the same as the 2013 conference. YES! I am registering now and my fee is enclosed. Conference registration includes all meals, beginning with dinner September 10. Member:  Early Bird by July 8 - $575  Registration after July 8 - $625 Non-member:  Early Bird by July 8 - $625  Registration after July 8 - $675 Membership: Participants must be members of the C. G. Jung Society at the time of the conference to enjoy Friend’s lower registration rates.  Membership, Single - $35  Membership, Couple - $60 TOTAL ENCLOSED _______________________________________________ Refund Policy: Full refund of conference fees if cancelled by July 8, 2015. Fifty-percent refund of conference fees (less $50 registration fee) if cancelled by Aug. 8, 2015. No refunds of conference fees after Aug. 8, 2015. Membership fees are non-refundable. All rights are reserved by the conference directors to make faculty substitutions and/or request disruptive participants to leave without a refund. All content of presentations and events represents the views of the speakers only and may not represent views of The C.G. Jung Society of Saint Louis. CEUs: A total of 14 CEUs are available to LCSW, LPC, LCPC, General Studies for the conference proper through the Chicago Jung Center. A fee in the form of a $30 check made payable to The C.G. Jung Society of Saint Louis will be required for CEUs. Accommodations at King’s House are limited and filled on a first-come, first-served basis. If all rooms are filled when your registration with a room requested is received, nearby hotels are available. The C.G. Jung Society of Saint Louis P.O. Box 11724 • Saint Louis, MO 63105 Phone: 314-533-6809 • E-mail: [email protected] • www.cgjungstl.org

We are pleased to convene our Jung in the Heartland conference, bringing together outstanding faculty to explore the altar of the earth through presentations, workshops, dialogue, and ritual. We welcome individuals from all fields.

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE On Thursday, September 10. Check-in opens at 3:00 p.m. and dinner is served from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. The opening session of the conference starts at 7:00 p.m. The program continues all day and evening on Friday and Saturday. Sunday’s session on September 13 closes the conference at noon, followed by lunch.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS BELDEN C. LANE, PH. D. Renewing the Great Conversation: Honoring the Altar of the Earth and Opening Ourselves to Nature’s Secret Languages Within many spiritual disciplines there is a notion of a “green language,” a hidden speech within the natural world. Modernity has had a huge impact in stripping us of this sensitivity. Our “knowing” has been reduced to a discursive, analytical language, and a community of subjects has been reduced to a collection of objects. “We have broken the Great Conversation,” says Thomas Berry. In this presentation we will examine Jung’s thoughts on nature as a living reality and we will discuss our need to restore our family connection with the earth.

The Four Elements and Life Stages A life spent living in communion with a world that stretches us at every turn traces a pattern of growth that mirrors Jung’s understanding of the four elements and the process of alchemical change. It stresses the marriage of the Spirit and the Soul, and follows a mandala-like movement through the four stages: air, fire, earth and water.

Adopting a Discipline of Contemplative Ecology Contemplative Ecology as a discipline requires a spiritual practice that attends carefully to the world around us. It calls for a “mysticism of daily life, finding God in all things,” as Karl Rahner said in the 1960s. My own discipline of wilderness backpacking as a spiritual practice has offered the kind of handson, risky investment of oneself that this demands. In giving oneself to nature archetypes (great teachers such as trees, rivers, caves, canyons, fire, wind, and mountains), one must be physically as well as spiritually committed. We will examine ways in which each of us can engage with the world in this way.

MARY RYAN, M.S. Transformation and Crisis This seminar focuses on the detours and necessary losses in life and their impact on the individuation process. We will discuss how tapping a life crisis, reframing its negative identity, and discovering the work of the journey holds great importance to our balance and wholeness. With the use of the parallel process, we will probe the choices essential for navigation through the stages of life.

Living in Two Realms: Earth and Spirit For the seed, the ground and the descent into the earth are essential for new growth. This is equally true for our own growth, renewal, and ascent. We must embrace the two realms of spirit and matter in a marriage between logos and mythos, ego and Self, human and divine. How do we unite in ourselves both the pursuits of the world and the desires of the soul? We will explore through prose, poetry, film, and art the concepts of “otherworldly living in the world.”

MONIKA WIKMAN, PH. D. Embodiment of Insight in Everyday Life How might we open to the inner shift into what Jung called the religious attitude? When we do, the value of our human lives becomes an offering on the altar of the earth. Alchemy and dreams illustrate the psyche’s point of view on the nature and value of the ego as part of the great awakening of all nature. This presentation will examine our human experiences, dreams, images, and alchemical myths and texts that explore the value of consciousness in the world that is awakening. The altar of the earth reveals the playground for the awakening of the Divine itself.

Open Your Eyes and Arrive in the World When we till the psychic ground upon which we stand, the poetic imagination grows. Dreamwork helps us grow this new consciousness that is not necessarily linear. When we learn to cultivate our experiences of the psyche and the natural world, life becomes a moment-by-moment occasion for recognition and awakening. Poetry and dreamwork will help us learn to till the field of consciousness to awaken the psyche to the particulars of the ensouled world. Active imagination and writing excises will be used to stimulate the imagination, and we will end with sending ourselves outside to open our eyes to the natural world, each in our own walking meditation.

Emily Carr: The Light in Nature Out of the Canadian West Coast culture of the late 1800s sprang a woman artist whose individuation brought forth in literature and painting the intimate, numinous presence of psyche in nature. Emily Carr’s life and work were infused by continual attraction and devotion to the spirit in nature, and to an ever-deepening relationship with the embodied natural world. In these times, we will explore the unfolding legacy of her life and work from a Jungian perspective, through alchemical myth and imagery.

Alchemical Meditations on the Light in Nature The mysteries of the light in nature are present in every aspect of our lives. Jung studied the ways in which the ancient alchemists related to the light in nature and the mysterious world of subtle bodies. It is up to us to learn to perceive and engage these mysteries. As we do so, new organs of perception develop, and we are drawn into an attitude of awe and worship. We begin to see the earth as altar. By means of myth, dream, image, film, and meditation, this presentation examines the mysteries present in our everyday world, and how we can and do cultivate this light in our own lives.

WRITING CONTEST: Conference participants will have the unique opportunity to hear the authors of the winning entries to the 2014 C.G. Jung Society of St. Louis writing contest on “Honoring the Altar of the Earth” read their works on Saturday evening and attend a reception and book signing in their honor.

















Monika Wikman, Ph.D., is a Jungian analyst and astrologer who lives near Santa Fe. Her own experience with ovarian cancer and recovery led her to research the dreams of cancer patients and to work analytically for decades with individuals facing life and death health crises. A graduate of the Jung von Franz Center in Switzerland, she taught graduate students in psychology at Cal State Los Angeles. She is the author of Pregnant Darkness: Alchemy and the Rebirth of Consciousness, in which she shows readers that the best way to cope with their darkest times is by fostering a connection to the deeper current of life.

Accommodations & Seminar Site King’s House • 700 N. 66th Street • Belleville, IL 62223 We are in a beautiful retreat center with trails, gardens, and a labyrinth. It is only 45 minutes from the St. Louis airport; the food is delicious, organic, and locally grown. Vegetarians and those requiring a gluten free menu are easily accommodated. All rooms are individual, private rooms with an individually controlled thermostat and private bath. Rooms and buildings are non-smoking. See www.cgjungstl.org for driving directions.

P.O. Box 11724 • Saint Louis, MO 63105

September 10 –13, 2015

Mary Ryan M.S., CADC, NBCC, LCP has been a psychotherapist for the past 30 years with private practice offices in Springfield and Jacksonville, Illinois, and is the mother of three children. She has taught at Illinois College, the University of Illinois at Springfield, Benedictine University, the C.G. Jung Society of St. Louis and conducted workshops for corporations and teacher’s institutes. She is on faculty for therapists training for the Academy of Addictions Treatment Professionals in Chicago and Springfield. Mary also works with inmates facilitating groups for prison fathers.


Belden C. Lane, Ph.D., an expert in green theology, has been Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St. Louis University, and is the author of three books. A theologian, he once found himself delightfully introduced as a Presbyterian minister teaching at a Roman Catholic university telling Jewish stories at the Vedanta Society. His interests include wilderness backpacking, storytelling, and the history of Desert Spirituality. Dr. Lane’s latest book is Backpacking with the Saints; he is also the author of The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality, and Landscapes of the Sacred: Geography and Narrative in American Spirituality.

The C. G. Jung Society of Saint Louis

2015 Jung in the Heartland Faculty

September 10 –13, 2015 “Without my piece of earth, my life’s work would not have come into being.” C. G. JUNG

The C.G. Jung Society of St. Louis














