Early Abandonment

DREAM WITH US, and we’ll teach you how to interpret them!⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Experiences of physical abandonment are depicted in stories old and new as ways of out-picturing traumas of early relational abandonment. Jung articulated the archetypal foundation of what later psychologists came to call attachment theory. In an infant’s primal state of identification with a mothering other, lack of caregiver availability and attunement constitutes psychic abandonment. This is depicted in fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel and the more recent film, Pan’s Labyrinth. Both image of the inner world of the emotionally abandoned child: the archetypal world first comes forward to protect the abandoned child, only to become persecutory, like the witch in Hansel and Gretel. Abandonment may become internalized, manifesting as denial of one’s own feelings and needs. Getting in touch with one’s longing for a loving other, and grieving early loss is often the road to redemption.

LOOK & GROW

⁠Join THIS JUNGIAN LIFE D⁠R⁠EAM SCHOOL⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠Do you have a topic you want us to cover?⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠WE NEED YOUR HELP! Become a patron to keep TJL running.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠We've got totally NEW MERCH!⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠

⁠We’d like to take a crack interpreting your dream.⁠⁠

If you’ve been struggling in the dark, trying to find the keys to unlock your dreams, help has arrived. Order your copy of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ from the hosts of This Jungian Life podcast and open the secret door.