Psychedelics, Active Imagination, and Individuation

Presenter: Denise Grobbelaar
Venue: Online via Zoom
Time: Tuesday evening, 18 March 2025 at 19:30 SAST (GMT +2)
Fee: ZAR150. Booking is essential.

Certificate Course Participants: Currently enrolled participants of SAAJA’s Certificate Course 2025 attend at no cost. Email saaja@mweb.co.za to register. 

Student Discounts: We invite students to contact us for a 50% discount for all our Public Program events. Please email saaja@mweb to enquire.

About the Lecture

This lecture explores the intersection of psychedelics and the Jungian concept of active imagination, highlighting their potential role in the process of individuation—the journey toward becoming one’s unique authentic self. By inducing significant shifts in consciousness, psychedelics may help individuals access imaginal realms, confront the unconscious, transcend entrenched ego patterns, and move toward greater wholeness. 

A psychedelic renaissance is underway, with research fuelling optimism about their therapeutic potential for various psychological conditions. Psychedelics have been used in spiritual and religious practices across cultures for centuries, serving as tools to achieve altered states of consciousness, facilitate healing, or connect with the divine and the ineffable Mystery. 

These substances are often regarded as gateways to profound spiritual insights, with their use typically guided by ritual, intention, and a framework for integrating the experience into daily life. However, a shadow side has emerged, including issues such as psychedelic tourism, spiritual bypassing, misuse or abuse, and the commercialisation of substances revered as sacred medicine by the communities that revere them.

From a Jungian perspective, this lecture examines how visionary experiences can serve as catalysts for personal growth. It delves into the transformative potential of confronting the depths of the psyche, posing a central question: Can we bear what may arise? 

From numinous mystical states to the nightmarish horrors of shadow aspects, the discussion considers whether unconscious material can be safely engaged with, metabolised, and integrated without risking overwhelm or trauma. Particular attention is given to the risks of engaging with shadow material and archetypal energies, such as inflation (over-identification with an archetype), psychological disintegration, or re-traumatisation in vulnerable individuals. 

The lecture emphasises the critical role of integration, exploring the question: How can fleeting and fragmented psychedelic experiences translate into enduring psychological growth?

About the Presenter

Denise Grobbelaar is a Clinical Psychologist and Jungian Analyst in private practice in Cape Town. Denise is passionate about nature, embodied consciousness, working with images (dream work, active imagination and visionary experiences), mythology, and the enneagram. 

She has tracked her own dreams for 30 years and has participated in numerous ‘Dream Appreciation’ groups and ‘Waking Dream’ retreats since 2013. Her paper “The White Lion as Symbol of the Archetype of the Self and the Cannibalization of the Self in Canned Hunting” was published in the 2020 Spring Issue of the Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche. In 2023 it was reprinted in the book “The Spectre of the Other in Jungian Psychoanalysis Political, Psychological, and Sociological Perspectives”. In January 2023 Denise trained as a breathwork teacher during a 3-week intensive and deeply transformational process in the Cederberg.

BOOKING INFORMATION | Advance Booking Essential

• Bookings close at 12:00 noon SAST on Monday, 17 February 2025. 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.
• Currently enrolled participants of SAAJA’s Certificate Course 2025 attend at no cost. Please email saaja@mweb.co.za to register your attendance.
• 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