John Hill on The Orphan: A Journey to Wholeness

by John Hill, from the preface of
The Orphan: A Journey to Wholeness

The Orphan addresses loneliness and the feeling of being alone in the world, two distinct characteristics that mark the life of an orphan. Regardless if we have grown up with or without parents, we are all too likely to meet such experiences in ourselves and our daily encounters with others. Our technological age has enabled us to create networks with many people, but these relationships often fail to meet the need to belong to someone, some place or something in a world that suffers from “spiritual depletion, emotional alienation, and personal isolation.” With numerous case examples, Dr. Punnett describes how loneliness and the feeling of being alone tend to be repeated in later relationships, especially when the earlier attachment patterns have been insecure, disruptive, or intrusive and can eventually lead to pathological states of anxiety and depression.

In an historical survey, Dr. Punnett outlines some of the appalling conditions that parentless children have suffered. One just has to think of 19th century England, as described in the novels of Dickens or the Dying rooms of Asia. Despite Biblical exhortation to care for the homeless and the gradual increased social empathy for orphans, as witnessed in the creation of orphanages and their gradual replacement through foster families, improved outer circumstances fail to bring the kind of healing that makes such devastating experiences meaningful.

A main purpose of this book is not just to stay within the context of the literal orphan, but also to explore its symbolic dimensions, for the author believes that symbols provide meaning to the diverse experiences of feeling alone in the world. Regardless if a child is brought up by parents or not, the orphan complex can be constellated, especially if attachment patterns have been problematic. In order not to remain limited by a purely biographical approach to the psychological orphan, Dr. Punnett elaborates on the archetypal foundations of this complex. She notes that many heroes have suffered abandonment in childhood. Their birth and early development, usually emerging from miraculous circumstances, bear the characteristics of a Divine Child, symbolizing hope and renewal for the individual, for society, and for our culture.

The constellation of this archetype in dreams, fantasy, and sandplay can act as an inspiration and bring transformation to those who have endured the sufferings of an orphan. With the help of amplification and case material, the author shows in a convincing way how the constellation of the orphan archetype with its accompanying feelings of isolation, anguish, and despair can act as a catalyst for the individuation process. Inspired by Jung’s creation of the Orphan Stone in Bollingen, Dr. Punnett’s book has placed the orphan at the center rather than at the periphery of human concern and invites us to explore the creative potential in feeling alone in oneself and the world. This is a remarkable book on a subject that tends to be viewed with attitudes that are too narrow and restrictive. The author concludes that in accepting the orphan within, we begin to take responsibility for our own unique life journey, an attitude that also celebrates authentic relationship with the other.

John Hill
Zurich, Switzerland

Fisher King Press publishes an eclectic mix of worthy books including 

Jungian Psychological Perspectives, Cutting-Edge Fiction, Poetry, 

and a growing list of alternative titles. 

www.fisherkingpress.com

On Keeping your Friends Close - Your Enemies Closer

by Erel Shalit

On his way, the hero initially meets the Enemy, because the previously unrealized and unconscious dark side, the shadow, is often first encountered in projection, as carried by the enemy.

In reference to the First World War, Jung wrote in 1916:

As events in wartime have clearly shown, our mentality is distinguished by the shameless naïveté with which we judge our enemy, and in the judgment we pronounce upon him we unwittingly reveal our own defects: we simply accuse our enemy of our own unadmitted faults. (C.G. Jung, CW 8,  quoted in Shalit's, Enemy, Cripple, Beggar)

The realization of the enemy shadow—whether persecuted by it, or when trying to flee or to fight it—provides a possibility of energizing the ego. In the inward process of finding one’s pain and resources, and in order to eventually find one’s way to the inner wounds that unsettle us if we do not attend to them, to find the wounded child in our soul, it is necessary to go through the projections of the shadow, as for instance in the following dream:

I am persecuted by a group of young children. I am really afraid, and run as quickly as I can. I then discover that I have found refuge in what looks like a concentration camp. I see that the commander is an Arab, in Nazi uniform. I try to escape, and finally I find a way out. I am really very frightened. I cross a field and come to a small village. Initially it looks friendly, but then I discover that I have been taken prisoner-of-war. Even though I am the prisoner, I am asked to treat a wounded child. The child looks angry, and I am scared, but I know this child is in pain, so I am determined to treat it.

In the following dream, which I have discussed elsewhere, the dreamer is painfully shown that there can be no ego without a shadow. Furthermore, it demonstrates how we are often awoken to encounter what lingers in the shadow, as it is projected onto the awesome enemy:

I see a small Arab boy crawling on his knees in the street, screaming in despair, ‘My hand is cut off.’ It is in the grass, some meters away from where he is crawling. At the crossroad of the street are four cut-off hands, reaching up through the asphalt. The sight is too frightening for me to approach. I don’t dare reach out a helping hand to bring his hand back to him, to the Arab boy. On the opposite side of the crossroad there is an overturned van. Underneath it, also on his knees, there is a Jewish man, dressed in a blue overall. His hands are tied together, and bandaged. It is Intifada. (Shalit, The Hero and His Shadow, p. 119.)

While the Arab boy initially is identified as the enemy, he is then recognized as the wounded one. Later the dreamer realizes that it is by this frightening encounter that he comes to see the struggling Self, the awesome sight of the four cut-off hands in the center of the crossroads.

Fisher King Press publishes an eclectic mix of worthy books including 

Jungian Psychological Perspectives, Cutting-Edge Fiction, Poetry, 

and a growing list of alternative titles. 

www.fisherkingpress.com

News Release: Just Published - Shared Realities

June 1, 2014 - Press Release

Shared Realities: Participation Mystique and Beyond

[The Fisher King Review Volume 3]
edited by Mark Winborn

Cover image, 'This Longing,' is from an original oil on panel painting by Susan Bostrom-Wong

Shared Realities: Participation Mystique and Beyond brings together Jungian analysts and psychoanalysts from across the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. Carl Jung’s concept of participation mystique is used as a starting point for an in depth exploration of ‘shared realities’ in the analytic setting and beyond. The clinical, narrative, and theoretical discussions move through such related areas as: projective identification, negative coniunctio, reverie, intersubjectivity, the interactive field, phenomenology, neuroscience, the transferential chimera, shamanism, shared reality of place, borderland consciousness, and mystical participation. This unique collection of essays bridges theoretical orientations and includes some of the most original analytic writers of our time. An essential read for psychoanalysts, Jungian analysts, psychotherapists, and analytic candidates.

Section I – Clinical Applications
1 Negative Coniunctio: Envy and Sadomasochism in Analysis by Pamela Power
2 Trauma, Participation Mystique, Projective Identification and Analytic Attitude by Marcus West
3 Watching Clouds Together: Analytic Reverie and Participation Mystique by Mark Winborn
4 Modern Kleinian Therapy, Jung’s Participation Mystique, and the Projective Identification Process by Robert Waska

Section II – Experiential Narratives
5 Songs Never Heard Before: Listening and Living Differently In Shared Realities by Dianne Braden
6 Variants of Mystical Participation by Michael Eigen
7 Participation Mystique in Peruvian Shamanism by Deborah Bryon

Section III – Theoretical Discussions
8 Healing Our Split: Participation Mystique and C. G. Jung by Jerome Bernstein
9 The Transferential Chimera and Neuroscience by François Martin-Vallas
10 Toward a Phenomenology of Participation Mystique and a Reformulation of Jungian Philosophical Anthropology by John White

Product Details
Paperback: 270 pages (Large Page Format 9.25" x 7.5")
Publisher: Fisher King Press; 1st edition (June 1, 2014)

Weight: 1.3 lbs
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1771690097
ISBN-13: 9781771690096

Fisher King Press publishes an eclectic mix of worthy books including 

Jungian Psychological Perspectives, Cutting-Edge Fiction, Poetry, 

and a growing list of alternative titles. 

www.fisherkingpress.com

Early Praise for Shared Realities: Participation Mystique and Beyond

Shared Realities: Participation Mystique and Beyond, edited by Mark Winborn, brings together Jungian analysts and psychoanalysts from across the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. Jung’s concept of participation mystique is used as a starting point for an in depth exploration of ‘shared realities’ in the analytic setting and beyond. The clinical, narrative, and theoretical discussions move through such related areas as: projective identification, negative coniunctio, reverie, intersubjectivity, the interactive field, phenomenology, neuroscience, the transferential chimera, shamanism, shared reality of place, borderland consciousness, and mystical participation. This unique collection of essays bridges theoretical orientations and includes some of the most original analytic writers of our time (approximately 270 pages). Available June 1st.

"Jung's use of the concept participation mystique has always struck me as among his most original ideas and I could vaguely intuit its relevance to many contemporary developments in psychoanalysis, from projective identification to intersubjectivity to the mysteries of transitional space. Now, thanks to the extraordinary essays in this book, one no longer has to "intuit" this relevance. It is spelled out in beautiful detail by writers with expertise in many facets of our field. The breadth of these essays is truly extraordinary. Reading them has enriched both my personal and professional life. I highly recommend this book."

Donald Kalsched, Ph.D. author of The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit (Routledge, 1996) and Trauma and the Soul: A Psycho-spiritual Approach to Human Development and its Interruption (Routledge, 2013).

* * * * *

"The concept of 'participation mystique' is one that is often considered a somewhat arcane notion disparagingly equated with an unconscious, undifferentiated or 'primitive' dynamic. This collection of outstanding articles from Jungian analysts of different theoretical perspectives and analysts from different schools of depth psychology redeems this concept and locates it as central to depth work, regardless of one’s theoretical orientation. What may seem like an ethereal notion becomes grounded when explored from the perspective of the clinical, the experiential and the theoretical. Linking participation mystique to the more clinical concepts of projective identification, unitary reality, empathy, the intersubjective field and the neurosciences and locating this dynamic in the field of the transference and counter-transference, brings this concept to life in a refreshingly clear and related manner. In addition, each author does so in a very personal manner. 

"This book provides the reader with a wonderful example of amplification of participation mystique, linking many diverse threads and fibers to form an image, which, while it reveals its depth and usefulness, nevertheless maintains its sense of mystery. This book is a true delight for anyone intrigued by those “moments of meeting”, moments of awe, when the ineffable becomes manifest, when we feel the shiver down our spine, be it in our work or in a moment of grace as we sit quietly in nature. Shared Realities offers nourishment for the clinician, for the intellect and, most importantly, for the soul. I highly recommend it!"

Tom Kelly - President, International Association for Analytical Psychology and Past-President, Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts.

Fisher King Press publishes an eclectic mix of worthy books including 

Jungian Psychological Perspectives, Cutting-Edge Fiction, Poetry, 

and a growing list of alternative titles. 

www.fisherkingpress.com

Audrey Punnett on the Orphan

June 21, 2014 - Press Release - Just Published by Fisher King Press

The Orphan: A Journey to Wholeness
by Audrey Punnett

"This awesome book on the orphan, its inner, outer, and symbolic meaning, is a deep and thorough investigation into the feeling of being alone in the world. The core of this archetype gives rise to our potential to search for meaning and wholeness as does all our suffering, and – if we stay with it – it becomes our teacher. Punnett’s book is a must for all of us and reading it grants us a deeply rewarding experience."

—Kathrin Asper, PhD, author of The Abandoned Child Within

"This well-focused meditation demonstrates that the archetype of the orphan is always alive in us, even if we try to devalue and marginalize it as a symbol we can safely reject along with the children we ask to carry it. Audrey Punnett has illuminated how central this neglected mythologem is to what our souls want therapists, social workers, and clergy to recognize. Her book makes a psychological home for aloneness itself—a rare and touching achievement."

—John Beebe, MD, author of Integrity in Depth

"At the very end of his biography C.G. Jung wrote, “When Lao-tzu says: ‘All are clear, I alone am clouded,’ he is expressing what I now feel in advanced old age.” This feeling of seclusion is why he, at the age of 75, engraved the quotations from alchemy about the orphan on his stone at Bollingen. It is this wisdom that is behind the archetype of the orphan if we can only accept it. This is, to me, the most precious message of Audrey Punnett’s book on the orphan."

—Andreas Schweizer, PhD, author of The Sungod’s Journey through the Netherworld

The Orphan: A Journey to Wholeness addresses loneliness and the feeling of being alone in the world, two distinct characteristics that mark the life of an orphan. Regardless if we have grown up with or without parents, we are all too likely to meet such experiences in ourselves and in our daily encounters with others. With numerous case examples, Dr. Punnett describes how loneliness and the feeling of being alone tend to be repeated in later relationships and may eventually lead to states of anxiety and depression. The main purpose of this book is not to just stay within the context of the literal orphan, but also to explore its symbolic dimensions in order to provide meaning to the diverse experiences of feeling alone in the world. In accepting the orphan within, we begin to take responsibility for our own unique life journey, a privileged journey in which one can at some point in time say with pride, I am an orphan.

Audrey Punnett, PhD, is a graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich with diplomas in both Child/Adolescent and Adult Analytical Psychology. She is an Associate Clinical Professor, Psychiatry, the University of California San Francisco – Fresno; Adjunct Professor, Alliant International University; Registered Play Therapist – Supervisor, and Certified Sandplay Therapist – Teacher, ISST & STA, past President of the Board of Trustees. She is a member of AGAP, serving on the Board, and the CGJI-SF, past Chair of the Infant, Child & Adolescent Training Committee (iCAT). She has lectured and given workshops on the orphan in Europe, New Zealand, Taiwan, Canada and the USA, and published in peer reviewed Journals. Dr. Punnett maintains a private practice in Fresno, California.

Product Details:
The Orphan: A Journey to Wholeness
by Audrey Punnett
Paperback edition
Price $27.50
180 pages, Index, Bibliography
Publisher: Fisher King Press; 1st edition
Publication Date: June 21, 2014
Language: English
ISBN-10: 177169016X
ISBN-13: 978-1771690164

Fisher King Press publishes an eclectic mix of worthy books including 

Jungian Psychological Perspectives, Cutting-Edge Fiction, Poetry, 

and a growing list of alternative titles. 

www.fisherkingpress.com