<p> <i>Billboard</i> magazine&rsquo;s Top 40 songs from one&rsquo;s youth can impact one&rsquo;s psyche during midlife and instill the individuation process with depth and meaning, leading toward an enlarged sense of self that can take one on a path toward wholeness. The therapeutic healing nature of music is reviewed, focusing on its influence on adolescence from a Jungian perspective and its innate relationship to shamanism. Utilizing a heuristic research methodology and the ideas of archetypal psychology, this thesis incorporates the author&rsquo;s personal life experience with popular music and dreams in a brief memoir highlighting each 12-year Jupiter Return cycle, midlife, and the midlife crisis. Combining the language and concepts of depth psychology, a passion for Top 40 music, a series of dreams with pertinent synchronicities, and storytelling pave the way and inform the author&rsquo;s hero&rsquo;s journey, a spiritual quest unveiling an initiation of death and resurrection marking the birth of a shaman.</p>

Thesis (PH.D.) -- Syracuse University, 2006 / "Publication number AAT 3240437."

<p> Jungian Psychological Type is the foundation of many modern theories of personality. Many aspects of the theory have yet to be explored with empirical research, one area in particular being the theory behind the hierarchy of preferences, which is important because the Types are classified by the order of their preferred functions. A latent class analysis technique was applied to the eight ranked function-attitude scores of 5,247 participants who took the Majors Personality Type IndicatorTM (PTI) and Majors Personality Type Elements&trade; (PTE) assessments. The superior, auxiliary, and tertiary preferences of the latent classes were examined so that the nature of the relationships amongst the three preferences could be observed. Results show that the superior/auxiliary preferences were consistently opposite in process (one rational and one irrational)&mdash;but not consistently in attitude. Not only did the superior/auxiliary/tertiary preferences exhibit complementary relationships to one another, the tertiary function was never antagonistic to the auxiliary or superior preference. Remarkably, the superior and inferior functions were antagonistic to one another in 46 out of the 47 classes that resulted from the analysis. Thus, the outcomes support Jung&rsquo;s theory but also present evidence against other popular Type theories. The resulting profiles support the hypothesis that there may be more than 8 or 16 Types, which holds implications for the practical application of the Type theory as well as the classification and assessment of Psychological Type. A model for a systemic conceptualization of the hierarchy is presented and suggestions for future research are proposed.</p>

<p> This thesis, through heuristic and artistic-creative modalities, explores embodiment in the intersection of Merleau-Ponty&rsquo;s sensuous phenomenology and depth psychology&rsquo;s archetypal feminine. The research argues that illness evokes or re-members the often unconscious relationship with the body that is the legacy of Cartesian dualism. The author references her own experience with multiple sclerosis to found the premise of the work&mdash;that meaning making of self and world is done through and by way of one&rsquo;s perceiving body. As illness shifts the taken-for-granted sedimentations of the lived body, in tandem a new lived body and surrounding world must be oriented to and made meaningful. Following a scholarly inquiry of Merleau-Ponty and the archetypal feminine, three art pieces are presented. Based upon radical reflection, the art represents the author&rsquo;s embodied coinherence with her surroundings, and points to conclusions and principles to bear in mind while working clinically with the chronically ill.</p>

<p> This study proposes that the paintings of the Surrealist artist, Remedios Varo, reveal the process of individuation over the course of time. Since the Surrealistic approach to art was founded on the principle of representing the unconscious in artistic form, a basic assumption of this study is that transformational symbols of the individuation process should be revealed in the body of work compiled by a Surrealist artist. This dissertation will demonstrate that Varo's paintings, like dreams, follow a pattern comprised of classical symbols, images, and alchemical motifs that are universal and consistent, that are arise repeatedly in her work, and that are reflective of her individuation process. The goal is achieved through an exploration of twelve of Varo's paintings done in the last decade of her life, 1953 to 1963. This is a theoretical dissertation, utilizing both hermeneutic and heuristic approaches. The study views Varo's paintings as "texts," with interpretation through three "lenses"&mdash;the cultural-historical, the personal-historical, and the Depth-archetypal, as well as interpretation by direct, personal encounter with her works of art. </p><p> The cultural-historical perspective emphasizes the Surrealistic movement, the movement's attitude toward the feminine, and Varo's work within this context. Varo's personal life experiences, which shaped her view of the world and choice of subject matter, form the basis for the personal-historical lens. The Depth-archetypal perspective draws its focus from the central issues in Depth psychology, including the individuation process and active imagination. Additionally, the paintings will be examined for their collective content, particularly as it can be understood to reveal unconscious themes. </p><p> This study suggests that an intense examination of Varo's paintings can serve as a microcosm of the individuation process and provide a guide for the therapeutic enhancement of that process in the therapy room by its replicative capacity. This study also suggests that the images in this study can be utilized as "snapshots" of moments of transformation and psychic forms of expression to guide patients as they embark on their respective journeys of individuation. </p>

<p> The process of becoming holy within marriage generates psychological deaths and rebirths, much like the transformational process of individuation conceptualized by Carl G. Jung. This hermeneutic study explores how a distinctively Jungian approach to clinical practice with couples can assist in developing a marital bond that can become a strong container for the spouses&rsquo; individuation. A depth psychological perspective in premarital and marital counseling offers spouses the possibility of containing the opposing forces that emerge in their relationship without destroying the union. The connection between becoming holy through the sacramental marital relationship and Jung&rsquo;s concept of becoming whole through individuation has received little attention in research. This study adds a dynamic aspect to Jungian studies by arguing for a new understanding of the sacrament of Matrimony as a container for psychological rebirth and transformation through individuation. In this effort, four factors that impact marriage are explored: vocation, theology of the sacrament of Matrimony, society and culture, and the body. Current clinical applications of an integrated approach are discussed demonstrating how the findings might be implemented in existing premarital and marital education and counseling programs for Catholic couples. </p><p> Keywords: marriage, premarital, Catholic, sacrament, individuation, container, couples counseling</p>

<p> Unrequited love is a form of love in which a person&rsquo;s feelings of romantic love toward another are not reciprocated. This thesis is an exploration of unrequited love from a depth psychological perspective, taking into account the powerful yet mysterious influence of the archetypes of the collective unconscious on this common human experience. Utilizing a hermeneutic methodology to amplify theories from both psychology and mythology, the author seeks to provide a road map for understanding how and why unrequited love can be used as a means of initiating the process of individuation. Readings of the literature serve to provide a solid foundation for understanding depth psychological concepts and to articulate the difference between the two sides of unrequited love. The author uses the protagonist from the film <i> Angus</i> to exemplify the way in which the projection of unconscious archetypes can eventually lead one toward a balance of psyche and self-knowledge. </p>