Gates to the Numinous: An Archetypal Understanding of Dreams

A four-part online lecture series with international guest, Dr. Michael Conforti

Takes place online via Zoom over four consecutive Wednesdays
Dates: September 11th, 18th, 25th, and October 2nd, 2024
Time: 19h00 (GMT +2)
Enrollment Fee: ZAR1,200 for the full lecture series
8 CPD Points 

“The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul, opening into that cosmic night which was psyche long before there was any ego-consciousness, and which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego-consciousness extends.” 

– C.G. Jung –

About the Lecture Series

It is the simplicity of the dream, communicating to us in a language derived from the natural world that moves us so deeply.

Similar to the apparent simplicity of French composer Eric Satie’s music, we are mesmerised and taken to a realm far beyond everyday life into something that may be the domain of the Numinous. Just listening to the opening stanza of Satie’s Gymnopedie we sense that he was already transfixed, and needed to create music expressive of this world existing beyond the veil. Like the image, these sounds and rhythms convey the movement of the Self as it transports us into relationship with the sacred.

In the dream, patterns of life, of growth, and of endings are revealed through a rich tapestry of collective images and language. So too, the dream allows us to see that something in our life – perhaps a relationship, a job, or an attitude – is outdated, and that the Self, the soul is in need of renewal.   

C.G. Jung was once asked why the dream speaks through symbols and not in the language of everyday life. To this question Jung responded by saying that such a direct communication would fall on deaf ears, and that the Self speaks through an iconographic, pictorial voice of the ages, the language of the “Antique Soul”. So too he reminds us that from time eternal, humanity has been moved by images, by sounds, parables, and symbols.    

Could the majesty and utter beauty of Satie and Debussy’s music or DaVinci and Michelangelo’s art ever be conveyed in words? 

Offering a glimpse into the world of the archetypal, this seminar series offers an approach to the image closely aligned to how Jung, von Franz, and the early sages and dreamers understood these visions of the night. 

Our hope is that participation in this seminar will enhance your appreciation and understanding of archetypal images and the relationship between the personal and archetypal meaning of images.

Lecture Series Schedule

Session 1: 11 September 2024
Archetypal Symbolism and Meaning

Session 2: 18 September 2024
The Relationship Between Personal and Archetypal Meaning of our Dream Images

Session 3: 25 September 2024
Learning to Recognize the Presence of Complexes in Dreams

Session 4: 2 October 2024
Translating the Meaning of Dream Images 

About the Presenter

Dr. Michael Conforti is a Jungian analyst and the Founder and Director of the Assisi Institute. He is a faculty member at the C.G. Jung Institute of Boston, and New York, and for many years served as a Senior Associate faculty member in the Doctoral and Master’s Programs in Clinical Psychology at Antioch New England. A pioneer in the field of matter-psyche studies, Dr. Conforti is actively investigating the workings of archetypal fields and the relationship between Jungian psychology and the New Sciences.>
He has presented his work to a wide range of national and international audiences, including the C.G. Jung Institute – Zurich and Jungian organizations in Australia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Romania, Russia, South Africa, the Ukraine and Venezuela.
 
He is the author of Threshold Experiences: The Archetype of Beginnings (2007) and Field, Form and Fate: Patterns in Mind, Nature and Psyche (2002). His articles have appeared in Psychological Perspectives, The San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal, Roundtable Press, World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution, and Spring Journal. His books have been translated into Italian, Russian, and Spanish.

Dr. Conforti maintains a private practice, and consults with individuals and corporations around the world. He provides his insights as a sought-after consultant to businesses, government institutions, and the film industry. He has served as script consultant on the films Pride and Glory and Elvis Anabelle and worked on the Pod Cast “A Space Within,” a 2024 Nominee I Heart Radio Podcast Award for Best Fiction Podcast.

He has also consulted on the application of field theory to the understanding and resolution of international border disputes, and was selected by The Club of Budapest and the University of Potsdam to be part of a 20-member international team of physicists, biologists, and dynamical systems theorists to examine the role and influence of informational fields. He is a recipient of the Vision Award presented by the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis.