Thomas Singer

Virginia Beane Rutter

Between ancient Greece and modern psyche lies a divide of not only three thousand years, but two cultures that are worlds apart in art, technology, economics and the accelerating flood of historical events. This unique collection of essays from an international selection of contributors offers compelling evidence for the natural connection and relevance of ancient myth to contemporary psyche, and emerges from the second 'Ancient Greece, Modern Psyche' conference held in Santorini, Greece, in 2012. This volume is a powerful homecoming for those seeking a living connection between the psyche of the ancients and our modern psyche. This book looks at eternal themes such as love, beauty, death, suicide, dreams, ancient Greek myths, the Homeric heroes and the stories of Demeter, Persephone, Apollo and Hermes as they connect with themes of the modern psyche. The contributors propose that that the link between them lies in the underlying archetypal patterns of human behaviour, emotion, image, thought, and memory. Ancient Greece, Modern Psyche: Archetypes Evolving makes clear that an essential part of deciphering our dilemmas resides in a familiarity with Western civilization's oldest stories about our origins, our suffering, and the meaning or meaninglessness in life. It will be of great interest to Jungian psychotherapists, academics and students as well as scholars of classics and mythology.

Archetypes Evolving

Ancient Greece, Modern Psyche

Around the world, throughout time, cultures have marked the intimate and transformative events of a woman's life - the onset of puberty, her first sexual experience, conceptian, childbirth, menopause - with myths and rituals. Today, such significant feminine rituals are missing, but these transitions still profoundly affect a woman's body, mind, and soul. Offering a compelling vision of psychotherapy as a sacred space for women's rites of passage, Jungian analyst Virginia Beane Rutter brilliantly illuminates the emotional lives of women. "Woman-to-woman therapy", writes Beane Rutter, "is the ritual container for the lost feminine in our culture". Modeling on intrinsically female pattern of change, woman-to-woman therapy is a process involving stages of containment, transformation, and emergence. It is a place for a woman to uncover and make conscious the motivating stories and myths in her individual psyche. Here, a woman has the opportunity to listen to her own voice perhaps for the first time. With insight and understanding, Beane Rutter connects the practices, myths, and archetypal images of cultures post and present (the Navajo, Neolithic Catal Huyuk, and Ancient Greek) to the life experiences, dreams, and therapeutic processes of three contemporary women. In so doing, she traces the emotional, physical, and spiritual journey of the "cultural heroine" who, through her individual process of initiation, transformation, healing, and self-awareness, courageously takes up the task of all women.

Feminine Psychology Re-conceived Through Myth and Experience

Woman Changing Woman

A mother’s guide to supporting a girls’ self-worth as she grows: “Inspired.”—Isabel Allende In this book, Jungian psychologist Virginia Beane Rutter offers a wide variety of everyday things women can do to strengthen a girl’s sense of self and ensure confidence and healthy self-esteem throughout her lifetime. Whether rooted in traditions of many cultures, new and creative, or connected to the daily tasks of everyday life, they offer practical ways to support daughters, and celebrate the passage from infancy to adolescence. “Adeptly suggests ways mothers can use traditionally feminine pastimes—shopping, storytelling, even brushing or braiding a child’s hair—to instill in a daughter a strong sense of self.”—Pubishers Weekly

Nurturing and Empowering Our Daughters

Celebrating Girls

As Demeter loses Persephone to the Underworld, many mothers feel they are losing their daughters during the adolescent years. In this book, a Jungian analyst gives mothers positive, solution-oriented strategies for minimizing conflict and for coming to terms with their changing role.

How to Be the Mother You Want for the Daughter You Cherish

Embracing Persephone

Thomas Kirsch

This book builds on the vast clinical experience of Joseph L. Henderson, who became interested in initiatory symbolism when he began his analysis with Jung in 1929. Henderson studied this symbolism in patients' dreams, fantasies, and active imagination, and demonstrated the archetype of initiation in both men and women's psychology. After Henderson’s book was republished in 2005 Kirsch, Beane Rutter and Singer brought together this collection of essays to allow a new generation to explore the archetype of initiation. Initiation: The Living Reality of an Archetype demonstrates how the archetype of initiation is seen clinically today. Divided into distinct parts, the book explores the archetype of initiation in Dr Henderson’s own life, as well as suggesting its importance in: clinical practice culture aging and death. The chapters in this book amplify and extend the archetype of initiation from the earliest historical periods up to the present day. The editors argue that initiation symbolism often underlies contemporary phenomena, but is rarely recognized; Initiation helps to bring a new understanding to these experiences. This book will be of interest to psychotherapists with an interest in psychoanalysis and analytical psychology, as well as those training at analytic institutes.

Virginia Beane Rutter

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