This Jungian Life Podcast

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  The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: Power Without Wisdom 23.07.2026 1h 4min

  The tale of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a gripping story about loss of control and the timeless warning to be careful what you wish for.  It sets out the archetypal theme of a magical shortcut that promises to bypass the difficult labor life asks of us. Such tempting shortcuts inevitably land us in trouble.The Sorcerer's Apprentice story goes back nearly two thousand years. In the tale of Eucrates and Pancrates, the Greek satirist Lucian recounts how the Egyptian magician Pancrates' apprentice stole his master’s spell, animated a pestle to carry water for him, and then lost control, resulting in watery chaos. In 1797, Goethe drew on the tale to write his poem, ‘Der Zauberlehrling’, and then in 1940 it reached a global audience in the Disney film, Fantasia.Similar tales include Sweet Porridge by the Brothers Grimm, the Strega Nona story,  and the Jewish legend of the Golem. We can find related themes in the myth of Prometheus, and in stories in which a human creation challenges its maker, such as Frankenstein or the Terminator movie.Each of these tales shows the dangers faced when a person arrogates divine power to him or herself. Psychological inflation takes hold of the upstart apprentice, as he seizes an unearned power, imagining himself equal to his master while lacking the years of discipline and humility that mastery requires. He acquires power without the wisdom to wield it.The tale has clear relevance today, as we unthinkingly adopt the technology of AI across all walks of life. This saves human labour, but with no clear moral purpose: like the upstart apprentice in the story, we fashion technology in our own likeness, and await the consequences.Visit our website to follow up on the resources we mention:  https://thisjungianlife.com/sorcerersapprentice/Connect With This Jungian LifeDownload our free ⁠Dream Recall Meditation Guide⁠⁠Send a dream⁠ for us to analyze on the show Take a look at ⁠This Jungian Life Dream School⁠, our online course in Jungian dream analysis.Follow This Jungian Life on ⁠Instagram
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  The Odyssey: A Jungian Journey Home 16.07.2026 1h 17min

  The Odyssey (the subject of a new Christopher Nolan film released on the same day as this episode), is the ancient Greek epic attributed to Homer and one of the foundational works of Western literature. This week, Jungian analyst ROBERT SHEAVLY joins Lisa Marchiano and Deborah Stewart for a Jungian exploration of The Odyssey.For Jungians, the Odyssey models a process of returning to the Self, offering a psychological map for the second half of life and the path to individuation. It asks us to engage with the profound question, what does it mean to come home to ourselves?Odysseus, our wily trickster hero, encounters gods, enchantresses and shadowy monsters with a relatable mix of hubris and cunning. We can view these figures as aspects of psyche, with the story showing us how we might create a relationship with something larger. As we grow and mature into midlife, we move away from an ego-centered existence, and begin a new confrontation with the Self.By the journey’s end, we may wind up dressed in rags and shorn of our heroic trappings, but what remains is something deeper: a more authentic relationship to the soul, and a growing readiness for life's final adventure, our encounter with mortality.Visit our website to read today’s dream, get more detail on our discussion of The Odyssey, and to follow up on the resources we mention in the episode:  https://thisjungianlife.com/odyssey/Connect With This Jungian LifeDownload our free ⁠Dream Recall Meditation Guide⁠⁠Send a dream⁠ for us to analyze on the show Take a look at ⁠This Jungian Life Dream School⁠, our online course in Jungian dream analysis.Follow This Jungian Life on ⁠Instagram
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  Prayer and the Psyche: A Jungian Exploration 09.07.2026 1h 2min

  Throughout human history, prayer has been a constant. Jung referred to it as “not only one of the most original but also the most frequent means to change the condition of mind”.This week Jungian analyst ROBERT SHEAVLY joins Lisa Marchiano and Deborah Stewart for a Jungian exploration of prayer. Everyone at some point in their lives will pray (even if we do not call it that). When we reach out for help, or to express gratitude for life’s blessings, we are reaching for a connection with the eternal and the infinite. Prayer can be examined from the lens of the ego-self axis. When we pray, it can be understood as ego asking the guiding self for wisdom, from a position of humility and supplication. Prayer is also linked to our mortality. It is integral to grief rituals. In desperate times, it gives us an act to perform that acknowledges our helplessness but also offers comfort. When we say grace at the dinner table, we offer expiation and acknowledgement of the life we’ve taken from the world in order to sustain our own life. Visit our website to read today’s dream and follow up on the resources we mention in the episode.Connect With This Jungian LifeDownload our free Dream Recall Meditation GuideSend a dream for us to analyze on the show Take a look at This Jungian Life Dream School, our online course in Jungian dream analysis.Follow This Jungian Life on Instagram
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  Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Individuation: A Jungian Reading of the Declaration of Independence 02.07.2026 56min

  America’s Declaration of Independence has profoundly influenced the development of democracy and democratic movements all over the world, with its bold assertion:“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This week Jungian analyst ROBERT SHEAVLY joins Lisa Marchiano for a psychological exploration of the Declaration of Independence, marking its 250th anniversary this Fourth of July. The Declaration of Independence grew from a need to separate from an authority that once provided structure and strength, but no longer served. Psychologically, this reflects an archetypal pattern: the movement away from external authority and toward a deeper source of inner authority.Jung wrote, “In the last analysis the essential thing is the life of the individual”. His work shares the same sacred idea that we find in the Declaration: that the individual holds his or her own dignity, sovereignty and uniqueness. We are not granted rights by external authorities, these are innate to our humanity. Of course, the nation built around the Declaration of Independence failed to live up to its ideals. Thomas Jefferson, the principal author, enslaved hundreds of people throughout his lifetime. At the heart of Independence Day celebrations lies a split, with noble principles dissociated from lived reality. The Declaration of Independence’s centering of the individual, however, reinforces the Jungian idea that we can only solve crises in the collective if we each find the strength to withdraw our shadow projections. Cultural transformation begins with the difficult inner work we must find the courage to take on, working toward wholeness at the personal level. Visit our website to read today’s dream and follow up on the resources we mention in the episode.Connect With This Jungian LifeTake a look at This Jungian Life ⁠Dream School⁠, our online course in Jungian dream analysis.Send a ⁠dream⁠ for us to analyze on the show.Watch bonus mini-episodes on our ⁠Patreon⁠ channel.Follow This Jungian Life on ⁠Instagram⁠.
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  The Descent: A Jungian Exploration of the Underworld 25.06.2026 1h 6min

  In every culture and every religion, we find the concept of the underworld: sometimes located underground, and usually understood as a final destination after death. This week, Jungian analysts Lisa Marchiano and Deborah Stewart circumambulate the notion of the underworld and what it means for us psychologically. James Hillman’s Dreams and the Underworld offers a guide, linking our dreaming life to myths of the underworld. We discuss versions of the underworld in Etruscan, Mayan, Christian, Egyptian and Greek mythology, and explore how each culture envisions the threshold between the worlds of the living and the dead, and the extent to which it is possible to enter an underworld and return.Psychologically, the underworld can represent a descent into the world of the unconscious, where completely different values apply. Awake, we may feel concerned about our job or our house, but if we listen to our dreams, we’ll often find the unconscious pointing us elsewhere, towards neglected truths or hidden desires. A visit to the underworld can also be understood as a transformational loss of innocence, just as Kore is raped and abducted by Hades, and transforms into Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. In life, we will all experience a painful loss of innocence or an experience that feels like a descent into hell. Such descents may become important points of initiation on our life’s journey. Visit our website to read today’s dream and follow up on the resources we mention.Connect With This Jungian LifeTake a look at This Jungian Life Dream School, our online course in Jungian dream analysis.Send a dream for us to analyze on the show.Watch bonus mini-episodes on our Patreon channel.Follow This Jungian Life on Instagram.
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  The Absent Father: Jung and the Missing Masculine 18.06.2026 1h 23min

  A father who is unavailable - whether due to untimely death, a demanding job, family breakup, or simply an inability to step up and meet his children’s needs - may deprive his children of the emotional bedrock they require. They can struggle to access their capacity for aggression and creativity, or to build the self-esteem necessary for successful adult relationships. As many fairy tales show us, an absent father is sometimes experienced alongside an abusive mother, leaving a complicated legacy of emotional wounding to be worked through. First of all, the abuse must be confronted, and then the failure of the absent parent to witness or protect. Jung’s life offers us fascinating material with which to explore the impact of the absent father. His father’s powerlessness as an uninspired, struggling pastor planted the seed of Jung’s lifelong quest for the numinous. As a father himself, Jung paid little attention to his children as he developed his life’s work and maintained a relationship with his collaborator Toni Wolff alongside his marriage to Emma Jung. Join Jungian analysts Lisa Marchiano and Deborah Stewart this week as they explore what it means to be an absent father, and how we might both survive and transcend the legacy of such a parent. Visit our website to read today’s dream, get more detail on the absent father, and follow up on the resources we mention.Connect With This Jungian LifeDownload our free ⁠⁠⁠Dream Recall Meditation Guide⁠⁠⁠.Check out our ⁠⁠Dream School⁠⁠.Watch bonus mini-episodes on our ⁠⁠Patreon channel.⁠⁠Follow This Jungian Life on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
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  The Cry of Merlin: A Jungian Approach to the Wizard 11.06.2026 1h 13min

  Merlin, the mythical prophet, magician, and kingmaker of medieval legend, has lived in the Western imagination for centuries. Arthurian legend gives us more than the idealized government of the Round Table and the hero’s valiant quest for the Holy Grail—it also gives us Merlin’s darkness and power: sorcery, communion with nature, and the prospect of achieving our aims through shadowy transgression. This week, our special guest is Jungian analyst and friend DOUG TYLER. Doug guides us through Merlin’s role in Western culture, sharing some of his favorite stories and explaining the profound influence of Merlin on his analytic work and psycho-spiritual landscape. Considered through a psychological lens, Merlin models the necessity of journeying downward and confronting our darker aspects. He prefigures Gandalf and Dumbledore, embodying the archetype of the mature masculine in a strong and shadowed relationship with the feminine. Merlin can also be understood as a counterpoint to Christ: although his father was a demon, he was born to a virgin mother and twice offered himself as sacrifice. Read the dream we analyze in full on our website. Connect With This Jungian LifeDownload our free ⁠⁠Dream Recall Meditation Guide⁠⁠.Check out our ⁠Dream School⁠.Watch bonus mini-episodes on our ⁠Patreon channel.⁠Follow This Jungian Life on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
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  Working with Short Dreams and Fragments 04.06.2026 59min

  This week, to mark the publication in paperback of Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams, Jungian analysts Lisa Marchiano and Deborah Stewart interpret a selection of short dreams sent in by listeners. Many of us dismiss short dreams or fragments of dreams as unworthy of our time. We await the arrival of epic, cinematic dreams, while perhaps overlooking the gold that can be found in more “ordinary” dreams.Honoring short dreams by writing them down and spending time with them can yield powerful insights. It can also work as an incentive to your unconscious, helping you remember more dreams, and more of your dreams. The time you spend on fragments and snippets strengthens connection with the unconscious. We hope you enjoy today’s discussion of dreams: an overfed fish raising big relationship questions, a meeting with Greek mythology’s star-crossed lover Thisbe, a harsh landscape of volcanic rocks and blood, a bleached Christ figure, and a biting spider at a crossroads in the dreamer’s life. Buy the paperback version of Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams Read the dreams we analyze on our website.Connect With This Jungian LifeDownload our free ⁠Dream Recall Meditation Guide⁠.Check out our Dream School.Watch bonus mini-episodes on our Patreon channel.Follow This Jungian Life on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
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  The Devouring Mother: Facing Archetypal Darkness 28.05.2026 1h 5min

  Every archetype has a dual aspect: light and dark, and ‘mother’ as devouring and destructive is the dark side of this ever-present, over-arching archetype. The mother’s life-giving, bright aspect is counterbalanced by her engulfing, attacking aspect. The devouring mother is present across cultures in myth, fairy tale, religion, and literature, and most of us have at least had glimpses of her in our experiences as children or later, as parents. In this episode Jungian analysts Lisa Marchiano and Deborah Stewart explore Erich Neumann’s The Great Mother and his and Jung’s concept of the unconscious as devouring mother.Drawing on myths of the Aztec goddess Tlaltecuhtli, the Hindu goddess Kali, the tale of Snow White, and the film Black Swan, we examine the archetypal image of the mother who nourishes and devours, protects and possesses.We also look at how the devouring mother shows up in ourselves and in our own parents. This dynamic can present as enmeshment, helicopter parenting, fear-based control, or an inability to allow our children to separate and become fully themselves.Read the dream we analyze in full on our website.Connect With This Jungian LifeWe’re analyzing your short dreams or dream fragments to celebrate the publication of the paperback of our book, Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams: ⁠⁠send your short dream here⁠⁠.Pre-order the paperback edition of ⁠⁠Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams.⁠⁠Take a look at ⁠⁠This Jungian Life Dream School⁠⁠, our online course in Jungian dream analysis.Follow This Jungian Life on ⁠⁠Instagram.
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  Coniunctio: The Alchemy of Union 21.05.2026 1h 43min

  In this final episode of our series on Jungian alchemy, we explore coniunctio, the union of opposites that gives rise to new wholeness.There are many ways in which we might encounter coniunctio in outer life. We might fall in love, form a partnership, or undertake transformative work with a psychotherapist. In some meaningful, mysterious way, two become one, giving us incremental tastes of transformation.At the psychological level, work with one’s shadow represents the first stage of coniunctio. When we recognize and reclaim aspects of ourselves that have been split off or rejected, we begin to heal inner division and move toward wholeness.We also discuss the sacred union, the second layer of coniunctio, in which we strive to achieve an inner marriage, creating new vitality, creativity, and psychic spaciousness.Ultimately, coniunctio parallels Jung’s concept of individuation, the lifelong process of becoming whole by integrating the hidden, conflicting, and unrealized dimensions of the self and achieving a relationship with the greater Self.Read the dream we analyze in full on our website.Connect With This Jungian LifeWe’re collecting your short dreams (under 3 sentences): ⁠send your short dream here⁠.Pre-order the paperback edition of ⁠Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams.⁠Take a look at ⁠This Jungian Life Dream School⁠, our online course in Jungian dream analysis.Follow This Jungian Life on ⁠Instagram.
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  Desirous Dreams: Our Private Erotic Encounters 14.05.2026 1h 9min

  Erotic dreams are extremely common. We may experience them as pleasurable, exciting and moving, or as disturbing and upsetting. It can be hard to talk about erotic dreams, even in therapy, as they insist on attending to secret satisfactions and shames.There is relatively little written on the subject from a Jungian perspective, so this week we dive in and discuss how to work with your erotic dreams. We also analyze some of the many dreams our listeners sent in.Erotic dreams may be about connection, union and intimacy, or confront us with shadow figures and situations that show us what we deny or disobey. They may also offer us potent images of unexplored desires.Join us as we interpret four erotic dreams: a hedonistic experience in a hotel pool, an unsettling meeting with a repellent music teacher, a ritualistic sauna experience, and an unwanted kitchen encounter that invites the dreamer to reclaim her own desires.Read the dreams we analyze in full on our website.Connect With This Jungian LifeWe’re collecting your short dreams or dream fragments to celebrate the publication of the paperback of Dream Wise: send your short dream here.Pre-order the paperback edition of Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams.Take a look at This Jungian Life Dream School, our online course in Jungian dream analysis.Follow This Jungian Life on Instagram.
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  Jung and the End of the World: Can Depth Psychology Save Us? 07.05.2026 1h 3min

  In his new book, The End of the World, author and psychoanalyst JON MILLS considers the question of why humanity seems bent on self-destruction.We face famine, climate change, obscene wealth disparities, and threats of global war and nuclear annihilation. Yet the majority of us seem to prefer living either in denial, or in irrational, active opposition to reading the writing on the wall.This week Jungian analyst and co-host Lisa Marchiano interviews Jon about how we face up to impending catastrophe. Is there a viable alternative to the current situation in which we seem to be indulging a collective death wish, careening unconsciously toward a dangerous precipice?Lisa and Jon discuss Jung’s emphasis on doing individual shadow work and how myth and fairy tale - a distillation of human nature and wisdom - might offer a spark of hope. If we can recognize and confront evil and hold the tension of opposites we can start a conversation with our shadow.Follow Up for This EpisodeRead Jon Mills’ new book, End of the World: Civilization and Its Fate.Visit Jon Mills’ website.Watch bonus mini-episodes on our Patreon channel.Download our free Dream Recall Meditation Guide.
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  Dark Forces in the Psyche: Our Self-Destructive Impulses 30.04.2026 1h 7min

  Why is it that we sometimes fail to rise to life’s most important challenges? Why do we instead procrastinate, withdraw, self-sabotage, or feel unable to move toward the life we want?This week, at a listener’s suggestion, Jungian analysts Lisa Marchiano and Deborah Stewart explore the concept of anti-libidinal forces in the psyche: those self-destructive impulses that oppose growth, pleasure, and forward movement. We discuss the ways this phenomenon has been addressed within the profession, including Freud’s death drive, Melanie Klein’s concept of the bad breast, Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ predator in the psyche, and Donald Kalsched’s protector/persecutor.Libido was understood by Jung to mean life energy, rather than being purely sexual. We explore how blocked libido can become depression, paralyzing fear, hoarding behavior, vicious self-criticism, or simply an inability to begin or complete what matters most. Through stories such as Bluebeard, Jonah and the Whale, and Marduk and Tiamat, we consider inner monsters that threaten to devour vitality.Anti-libidinal forces, however, are not the end of the story. We also discuss the heroic task of meeting fear, reclaiming disowned energies, and choosing life one step at a time.Read the dream we analyze in full on our website.Connect With This Jungian LifeDownload our free Dream Recall Meditation Guide.Send a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠dream⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for us to analyze on the show.Check out our TJL ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠podcast merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Follow This Jungian Life on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
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  Psyche in the Age of AI 23.04.2026 1h 28min

  Our lives have already been altered by rapidly expanding access to artificial intelligence (AI). In this week’s episode, we consider how this latest technological revolution might be reshaping the human psyche. Hosts Lisa Marchiano and Deborah Stewart are joined by a special guest, the author and Jungian analyst Christina Becker, to explore the psychological impact of AI’s incursion into our work, home and relationships. One of the major AI use cases has been for advice, self-reflection and companionship. Some users are even referring to this as “therapy”. This raises thorny questions: what happens when a sycophantic AI interface constantly mirrors us back to ourselves as being in the right? How does this affect our judgment, our relationships, and our connection to reality?Christina Becker shares her work exploring the potential of AI to support Jungian dream analysis. Together we ask whether it is possible to use this powerful tool consciously, while also being aware of the fantasies and projections we bring to it, and maintaining the integrity of our inner lives. Read the dream we analyze in full on our website.Follow UpRead Christina Becker’s book, Soul-Making: A Journey of Resilience and Spiritual RediscoveryRequest Christina Becker’s Jungian-based dream interpretation prompt on her website Read Lisa Marchiano’s article, “ChatGPT-Induced Psychosis and the Good-Enough Therapist”, Psychology Today, July 2025Download our free Dream Recall Meditation GuideSend a dream for us to analyze on the show.
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  The Labyrinth: Soul’s Winding Journey 16.04.2026 1h 5min

  The labyrinth is a powerful metaphor for psychological development and the path of individuation.This week Jungian analysts Lisa Marchiano and Deborah Stewart consider how twists and turns in the path of life (especially in early adulthood), ask us to confront uncertainty, anxiety, and the unknown. Ego may crave a straight, well-planned path, but life inevitably offers something else: a fiendishly difficult labyrinth. If we want to get the most out of the journey, we’ve no choice other than to give it all we’ve got. Through the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, we reflect on the necessity of facing up to our darkness. Ariadne’s thread, which allows Theseus to return after slaying the beast, shows us the vital role of connection in helping us find our way back. We also explore the story of Abhimanyu from the Mahabharata. Abhimanyu’s mother gives him some knowledge of the labyrinth, but doesn’t tell him the way out, leading to tragedy. If we’re going to crack the code and exit the labyrinth, we’ll require a soulful attitude towards life, and the right psycho-spiritual teachings. Finally, we turn to the contemplative labyrinth. This is not a place to escape from, but a path toward the center. Here, the journey becomes one of surrender, reflection, and gradual movement toward wholeness.Read the dream we analyze in full on our website.Connect With This Jungian LifeDream Studio: Our new ⁠Dream School program⁠ on dreams and art starts April 16.Send a ⁠⁠⁠⁠dream⁠⁠⁠⁠ for us to analyze on the show.Check out our TJL ⁠⁠⁠⁠podcast merch⁠⁠⁠⁠.Follow This Jungian Life on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠.
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  LOW ENERGY: Where Can We Source the Drive to Take Action? (Re-Publish) 09.04.2026 1h 57min

  Many people just can’t rally to do what’s necessary and improve their lives. Is it possible they just don’t carry much vitality, or is some inner conflict blocking their access? We share personal stories of ‘energy loss’ and offer insights into purposelessness.Carl Jung tells us inner energy flows according to its own laws, but if we can’t harness it? Expect to learn why some people are naturally low-energy, which aspects of your psyche might be leaking energy, how over-aligning with cultural norms can cut off access to instinctive vitality, where we can look for solutions, and much more...SPECIAL NOTE: This is the second dream we've interpreted from this listener. The first interpretation follows. This is an extraordinary opportunity to see how a dream sequence evolves!Read along with our dream interpretations HERE.Connect With This Jungian LifeDream Studio: Our new Dream School program on dreams and art starts April 16.Send a ⁠⁠⁠dream⁠⁠⁠ for us to analyze on the show.Check out our TJL ⁠⁠⁠podcast merch⁠⁠⁠.Follow This Jungian Life on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠.
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  A Jungian Sense of Place: Bollingen and The Tower on the Marsh 02.04.2026 1h 9min

  Carl Jung, Marie-Louise von Franz and Christiana Morgan all dedicated time, soul and imagination to a peculiarly Jungian form of architecture: the stone tower. This week host Deborah Stewart is joined by Dr. Martin Gledhill, an architect, author and Jungian scholar, and filmmaker Hilary Morgan, the granddaughter of Christiana Morgan, an eminent American psychologist who collaborated with Jung on some of his most important work. Deb, Martin and Hilary explore Jung’s Bollingen Tower and Christiana Morgan’s Tower on the Marsh, discussing the profound expressions of psyche through place. Both towers render psyche in art, carvings and stone. They are more than just physical places, they are architectural explorations of Self and soul. The two towers are what Martin calls “restless places”: dream-like in ambience, shaped through an ongoing, iterative process, and surrounded by differing, sometimes conflicting, accounts of their evolution.Follow Up Read Martin Gledhill’s book, The Bollingen Tower: Constructing a Jungian Sense of PlaceWatch (for free) The Tower of Dreams - a film by Hilary MorganConnect With This Jungian LifeSend a ⁠⁠dream⁠⁠ for us to analyze on the show.Check out our TJL ⁠⁠podcast merch⁠⁠.Follow This Jungian Life on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠.
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  The Age of Aquarius: A Jungian View of a Changing World 26.03.2026 1h 29min

  Jung suggested in Aion that humanity is moving from the great symbolic Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius. Join Jungian analysts Lisa Marchiano, Deborah Stewart and Joseph Lee, as we ask what it means to live through the turbulence and vitality of this period of transition. Jung pioneered the idea that human consciousness unfolds in great symbolic ages. The shift from one to the next is not a smooth or pleasant experience. As Jung saw it, each new age emerges through a process of decline, breakdown, and renewal, a process that can bring with it frightening levels of destabilization.The Age of Pisces, shaped by Christianity, emphasized faith, morality, and the authority of external structures. But as this era wanes, Jung suggested we are coming under the influence of a new attitude, one that asks more of the individual psyche.This new Age of Aquarius asks us to hold the tension of opposites consciously, rather than splitting experience into simple categories of right and wrong, and to be open to a genuinely new attitude that can contain much greater complexity.We consider whether this emerging age calls us into a deeper interior life, one grounded not in external authority, but in an evolving relationship to the Self.Read the dream we analyze in full on our website.Connect With This Jungian LifeBook your place at our ⁠⁠free seminar⁠⁠ on March 28, Your Personal Red Book: A Dream School Taster.Send a ⁠⁠dream⁠⁠ for us to analyze on the show.Check out our TJL ⁠⁠podcast merch⁠⁠.Follow This Jungian Life on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠.
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  Cassandra: A Jungian Interpretation 19.03.2026 1h 19min

  In Greek mythology, Cassandra was a Trojan princess and priestess of Apollo who was given the gift of true prophecy, along with the curse that no one would ever believe her. She warned the Trojans not to bring the famous wooden horse inside their city walls, but her prophecy was ignored and the city fell.In this episode, we discuss the psychological meaning of the Cassandra story from a Jungian perspective, exploring the painful experience of recognizing a deep truth but finding that others cannot or will not hear it.We examine how the Cassandra archetype can intrude into a person’s life, compelling them to deliver uncomfortable truths to audiences who do not wish to hear. Understanding the archetypal pattern may help us discern the difference between those who won’t hear, and those who may be able to accept our message.The story of Cassandra can also be applied to our inner lives. We often ignore our own inner Cassandra, and her quiet warning that something glittering may hide danger. False promises, quick fixes, and seductive fantasies can lure us into welcoming the Trojan horse despite our better judgment.Finally, we ask how we might hold the Cassandra complex differently. Instead of identifying with the doomed prophet, we can recognize the archetype at work: “Cassandra is visiting.” By holding insight with humility, seeking listeners who can truly hear, and accepting the limits of our power to change fate, we might shape the anguish of Cassandra into a deeper wisdom.Read the dream we analyze and find this episode’s resource list on our website.Connect With This Jungian LifeBook your place at our ⁠free seminar⁠ on March 28, Your Personal Red Book: A Dream School Taster.Send a ⁠dream⁠ for us to analyze on the show.Check out our TJL ⁠podcast merch⁠.Follow This Jungian Life on ⁠Instagram⁠.
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  Chance Encounters: When Life Calls Us to a New Path 12.03.2026 1h 27min

  Chance encounters can change the whole direction of our lives. A casual chat with a stranger at the bank, a book that beckons to you from the shelf, or a last-minute lunch invitation might lead to transformative consequences. This week, join Jungian analysts Lisa Marchiano, Joseph Lee and Deborah Stewart as we circumambulate the phenomenon of the chance encounter. For Jungians, these moments are more than happy accidents. They may be understood as encounters with the deeper ordering principle Jung called the Self, which disrupts the ego’s plans and invites us toward something larger. Fairy tales often feature animal visitors offering the main character a surprising and unexpected choice. These stories can be powerful guides for recognizing the potential of chance encounters and making the most of them. We also discuss how, in an age of overstimulation, you can be receptive to the possibilities of the chance encounter. These moments usually speak softly and quietly rather than arriving with a trumpet sounding from the hills. They are visitations, not tools for self-improvement, and we must be open to allowing them in. Read the dream we analyze on our website.Connect With This Jungian LifeBook your place at our free seminar on March 28, Your Personal Red Book: A Dream School Taster.Send a dream for us to analyze on the show.Check out our TJL podcast merch.Follow This Jungian Life on Instagram.