THE OPENING OF THE EGG: Jung’s Red Book, Dreams and Active Imagination
PROGRAM DETAILS
(September 27 – October 1, 2018)
Thursday, September 27
Arrivals during the day/sightseeing in Krakow
4:30 p.m. Transportation to Sichow
7:30 p.m. Welcome and Reception
8:00 p.m. Dinner
9:00 p.m. Introduction to Sichow and Speakers
9:15 p.m. Overview by Dr. Aizenstat
Friday, September 28
7:45 a.m. Social Dreaming
8:30 a.m. Breakfast
9:15 a.m. Kate Burns Are We Starving: Finding Sustenance in the Sanctuary of Soul (Part 1) (Followed by Q&A)
Kate Burns will be our guide through the Red Book as it illustrates the individuation process and highlights the presence of Active Imagination
10:45 a.m. Break
11:30 a.m. Dr. Stephen Aizenstat Dream Tending: Tending the Living Images of Dreams (Followed by Q&A)
Dr. Stephen Aizenstat invites you into the world of Dream Tending, a unique approach to dreamwork. Through story and example, Dr. Aizenstat shares Dream Tending methods that feature a process of discovery in which dreamers become “naturalists” of the psyche, observing the activity of the images in the unfolding dreamscape. Dr. Aizenstat will demonstrate Dream Tending in work with the dreams of participants. He will offer tools and techniques to assist dreamers in working with their own dreams or those of others, and guide them in the practice of Dream Tending.
1:00 p.m. Lunch
2:15 p.m. Dream Tending Experiential Workshop
Description:
Dream Tending is a life practice that healers, storytellers, and poets have known by many different names for thousands of years. Passed on through generations, the art of tending living dream images emerges when the call to the see the natural world as alive becomes urgent.
Participants in this workshop will build practical skills grounded in traditional and emerging methods of dreamwork. The Dream Tending methods developed by Dr. Stephen Aizenstat build on the methods of association, amplification, and animation pioneered by Freud and Jung, and expanded upon by James Hillman and Marion Woodman. Dream Tending puts animation into practice and allows us to experience dreams in their living, embodied reality. By hosting and tending relationships with the living images of dreams we discover new ways of experiencing life and achieve better psychological and physical health. Much of the learning will also take place in the dimension of dream life that is sensitive to aesthetic perceiving, poetic imagining, shamanic intuiting and the art of not-knowing.
3:30-4:00 p.m. Break
4:00-5:00 p.m. Workshop Conclusion
6:30 p.m. Wine Reception
7:00 p.m. Dinner
8:00 p.m. Concert
Saturday, September 29
7:45 a.m. Social Dreaming
8:30 a.m. Breakfast
9:15 a.m. Dr. Stephen Aizenstat Dream Tending: The Fate of the Dream and the Future of the World (Followed by Q&A)
We live in a world dependent on the digital code of algorithms. Highly complex systems of cyber technology are replacing human imagination and expression, once rooted in the organicity of the Anima Mundi, the soul of the world. Advanced machines, cyborgs, have attained high level capabilities of consciousness (e.g., intelligence, attention, autonomy, and intention). At lightning speed, the future of human experience will be located in a matrix of virtual, augmented, and mixed realties. The fate of the dream, originating in the mystery of psyche, is challenged by the take-over of the programmer’s digital code. In this talk, I will explore the dynamic tension between the innate intelligence of the living dream, rooted in the ‘Mundus Imaginalis,’ and the artificial intelligence of the cyber image, located in the vast ‘Network of Technology.’ Working with particular approaches from Dream Tending as well as actual tools of computer technology, I will invite participants to ‘see-through’ into the future of life on our planet and, too, the fate of the dream. In a world increasingly dominated by the influence of machines, where is the peril and where is the promise?
10:45 a.m. Break
11:30 a.m. Kate Burns Are We Starving: Finding Sustenance in the Sanctuary of Soul (Part 2) (Followed by Q&A)
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Visit the Hilltop Town of Sandomierz
Archaeologists date this village as far back as the Stone Age. More recently, this town evolved during the Middle Ages where it was the perfect location for a bustling trade route resting at the junction of the Vistula and Sans Rivers. Thoughtfully rebuilt after numerous invasions, fires and war, Sandomierz maintains its charm thanks to the absence of major industrial development. The house of Jan Dlugosz (diplomat and historian – 1476) houses the collections of the Diocesan Museum which include the famous sculpture of The Virgin Mary on the Throne.
A walk through the town square, the gorgeous cathedral and the synagogue which was renovated in the 1970s now home to the State Archives is what awaits us in Sandomierz.
6:30 p.m. Return to Sichow
7:00 p.m. Dinner
8:15 p.m. Dr. Aizenstat will be our Master of Ceremonies for the Fireside Poetry Evening
BYOP – Bring Your Own Poetry to Share or other readings of inspiration that activate imagination and dreams
Sunday, September 30
7:45 a.m. Social Dreaming
8:30 a.m. Breakfast
9:15 a.m. Kate Burns Jung’s Confrontation with the Unconscious. Images and Symbols (Followed by Q&A)
10:45 a.m. Break
11:30 a.m. Dr. Aizenstat Depth Psychology, Deep Ecology and Technology (Followed by Q&A)
1:00 p.m. Lunch
2:15 p.m. Workshop: The World of the Soul and The Global Dream Initiative (Facilitated by Dr. Aizenstat)
Dreams in Relation to the ‘animae mundi’ (tending the soul of and in the world.
3:30-4:00 p.m. Break
4:00-5:00 p.m. Workshop Conclusion
6:30 p.m. Wine Reception
7:00 p.m. Traditional Polish Barbeque
Monday, October 1
7:30 a.m. Breakfast
TBA Return to Krakow
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Topics covered include:
- How to remember dreams and examine reoccurring dream themes
- Dream tending skills with nightmares
- The multiple dimensions of psyche—the personal, collective, and world unconscious
- Animation of dream images and formation of relationships with figures in dreams
- How living images impact and inform our moods, behaviours, and perceptions
- How dreams can support and improve physical and psychological health
Learning Objectives
- Compare association, amplification, and animation techniques.
- Demonstrate active imagination with embodied dream images.
- Utilize the 6-step Dream Tending system of working with nightmares.
- Differentiate between life circumstances, personal, collection and world unconscious.
- List the skills needed in deepening the relationship with dream figures.
- Discuss the considerations (possibilities and limitations) regarding dream tending as an adjunctive treatment modality.
- Use active imagination when working with the embodied dream image.