“’LEGACIES OF THE OCCULT’: FROM THE ORIGINS OF DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY TO TODAY’"

2040 Gough Street,San Francisco CA 94109

13 March, 2022

Description

“’LEGACIES OF THE OCCULT’: FROM THE ORIGINS OF DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY TO TODAY’S POPULAR ‘OCCULTURE’” SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2022 2 – 5PM PRESENTED BY DAVID ODORISIO, PhD FRIENDS MEMBERS: FREE GENERAL ADMISSION: BY DONATION Many are surprised to learn that the origins of depth psychology can be located in the wake of — and were heavily influenced by — the exploding trans-Atlantic phenomenon of spiritualism. This presentation examines the occult and spiritualist influences on the founding figures of modern psychology (Frederic W. H. Myers, William James, Sigmund Freud, and C. G. Jung) and examines two main models of the unconscious that emerged via their research in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We will then trace the re-emergence of these occult and depth psychological influences in popular ‘occulture’ today through the visual medium of comic books and superhero mythologies. In doing so, we will find that such ‘legacies of the occult’ — far from a late 19th century by-product of a long-forgotten age, are very much alive and with us today. DAVID M. ODORISIO, PhD, serves as Director of The Retreat at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA, and is associate core faculty in Pacifica’s Mythological Studies graduate degree program. David received his PhD in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and teaches in the areas of methodology, psychology and religion, and Christian mysticism.  He has published in Quadrant, Jung Journal, Philosophy East and West, The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, and The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, among others, and is editor of  Merton and Hinduism (Fons Vitae, 2021), and co-editor of  Depth Psychology and Mysticism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).  A non-profit educational and community service organization that devotes itself to the furtherance of Jungian thought in clinical work and in cultural discourse. In addition to its Analytic Training Program, the Institute provides educational events for the general public, seminars for professionals, and produces Jung Journal: Culture and Psyche, now published by Taylor & Francis. The Institute houses an extensive library and offers a sliding scale psychotherapy clinic.  Friends of the Institute, an auxiliary organization, welcomes new members.