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On the Scent of the Centaur

August 20, 2024 @ 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Virtual Event Virtual Event
R150.00
Pallas and Centaur, Sandro Botticelli (Date: c.1482)
Presenter: Elizabeth Vos
Venue: Online via Zoom
Time: Tuesday evening,20 August 2024 19:30 SAST (GMT +2)
Fee: ZAR150. Booking essential.

About the Lecture

On the Scent of the Centaur…Tracking the symbol of the Centaur across time, reflecting on the meaning and value of this symbol located at the nexus between the Spirit of the Depth and the Spirit of the Time, in an attempt to engage and illuminate the question of ‘The (Animal) Body’ in analytical work aimed at psychic synthesis.

“The growth of culture consists, as we know, in a progressive subjugation of the animal in man. It is a process of domestication which cannot be accomplished without rebellion on the part of the animal nature that thirsts for freedom.”
-Carl Jung, The Psychology of the Unconscious (CW 7 [427])

This lecture explores the historical significance of centaur symbolism, through the lens of art and literature, to frame a reflective inquiry about the body in relation to the process of Individuation. Tracking the centaur’s historical arch, it would seem that, as an archetype of the hybrid, it was pointing both backward and forward; back in time to our state of primordial one-ness and forward, as a symbol of the creative union of the opposites (evidenced by the emergence of the hybrid-archetype of Chiron during Antiquity). Like The Hermaphrodite, The Centaur was not only a product of primitive non-differentiation. It did not disappear with an increase in civilization; centaurs persist across cultural epochs.

We pick up ‘the scent’ in early Antiquity when The Centaur (the enigmatic hybrid of horse and man) was revered in the mythic imagination of the Babylonians and Greeks. As civilisation advanced, the cultural representation of the centaur grew more ambiguous and darker. The centaur (man’s instinctual nature) is ‘driven back into the forest’ of the unconscious; consciousness becomes divided from the deeper instinctive strata of the human psyche, and as such, severed from the instinctual (animal) body. At the turn of the 20th Century, a revolutionary moment emerged: The Centaur is ‘re-membered’ by the poets, novelists, and artists of the time. This is the moment where the Spirit of the Time reflects the ‘rebellion on the part of the animal’ as Jung refers to it in the quote above from Psychology of the Unconscious. This is also the moment when Freud and Jung grapple with the ‘Sexual Question’ of their time, diverging in their views on the structure and dynamics of the psyche. It is against the backdrop of Jung’s two-fold insight – that the body had become The Shadow of the Western Mind and that, from his depth-psychological perspective, it was integral to the Soul-Self – that I reflect on the contemporary question of ‘The Body’ in analytical work. This contemplation occurs at a time when symbolically speaking, the centaur is encountering the cyborg at the edge of the forest.

[Image: Pallas and Centaur by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1482]

About the Presenter

Elizabeth Vos, a Clinical Psychologist and Psychotherapist based in Cape Town, embarked on her professional journey in 1985 when she qualified as a clinical psychologist. Since then, she has worked in a range of diverse clinical and academic settings. In 2005, she transitioned into full-time private practice. In 2014, Elizabeth earned her certification as a Hatha Yoga teacher, and in 2023, she received her international accreditation (IAAP) as a Jungian Analyst on completion of her Analytic Training (SAAJA). Her Yoga background compliments her Jungian approach to therapeutic and analytical work. Elizabeth’s passion lies in exploring the expressions of the Soul within the realm of the imagination and the physical body, as a portal to meaning-making and healing on our journey of becoming.

BOOKING INFORMATION | Advance Booking Essential

Bookings close at 12:00 noon SAST on Tuesday, 20 August 2024. The Zoom link will be distributed at 14:00 SAST on the day of the event. We invite students to contact us for a 50% discount to all our events.

In the event of tickets being sold out or sales closed, a recording of the lecture will be available for purchase. For more information, contact SAAJA at +27 21 689 6090 or email saaja@mweb.co.za

 

Details

Date:
August 20, 2024
Time:
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Cost:
R150.00
Event Category:
Event Tags:
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Organizer

SAAJA
Phone
+27 (0)21 689 6090
Email
saaja@mweb.co.za
View Organizer Website

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