We offer online salons & seminars on classical Jungian Psychology and its modern application.

Director, Satya Doyle Byock, MA, LPC

About Jungian Psychology

The field of Jungian Psychology — also known as Analytical Psychology, Complex Psychology, and a large component of Depth Psychology — was born from a world at war and one man’s personal crisis. The war was WWI and the man, Carl Gustav Jung, was among the most privileged and educated in the world when visions of blood, destruction, and suffering began to overtake him. A psychiatrist working with schizophrenic patients, he wondered if he was becoming schizophrenic himself. With the devoted support of his wife, Emma Jung, and his colleague and longtime lover, Toni Wolff, Carl Jung was able to descend into his unconscious and engage with the individuals and symbols that he encountered there. What unfolded was not just the birth of a new psychology, but the uncovering of an antidote to Western imperialist and patriarchal culture running amok in the world.

Jungian Psychology is a psychology born from the courageous inner work of a wealthy, European man, supported and inspired at all steps by the women in his life. It is a psychology that can help our entire planet understand what is out of balance, and what is destructive for those at the heights of power and privilege and for those in the shadows. It is a psychology that can offer insights on what can be changed.

About The Salome Institute of Jungian Studies

Our work is grounded in the depth psychology of Carl Jung, ideas born from a lifelong devotion to the unconscious and a recognition that the reclamation of Soul in his life meant a reclamation of the Feminine in his psychology. Jung’s hardwon lessons, as captured in The Red Book and throughout his psychology, are lessons we all need right now.

At The Salome Institute, we work to bring Jungian and depth psychological ideas into social relevance. In doing so, we also seek to bring social issues to the forefront of the Jungian world, where they belong.

For too long, Jung’s revolutionary work has become siloed in individual clinical practice. We believe, as Jung did, that while it is through the individual transformation of consciousness that social change occurs, it is critical that this ultimate goal of Individuation not be lost amidst a pursuit of self-understanding.

Professor and Jung editor, Sonu Shamdasani, explored the essence of this in the conclusion of his book, Jung and the Making of Modern Psychology, through Jung’s insight into the critical importance of awake-people for all cultures:

For Jung . . . the relation of the medicine man to the tribe was not simply a contingent or arbitrary social arrangement, but corresponded to an archetypic necessity. What was required was to respond to the same necessity in a modern manner—the result being [Jungian] psychology. For it to succeed in this task, it required the full-scale recognition of the West.

No psychology has managed to achieve this. Judging by [his] late letters, in Jung’s own estimation, [Jungian] psychology—and psychology as a whole—had failed to make sufficient social impact, and hence failed to provide adequate antidotes to the “fathers and mothers of all terrors.” To Cary Baynes, he wrote,

Psychology like mine prepares for an end or even for the end. The question is only, what are we going to kill: ourselves or our still infantile psychology and its appalling unconsciousness.

At The Salome Institute, we strive to remain far away from the overly-abstracted distractions that have overtaken much of the field of Jungian Psychology. Rooted in history and the rigorous study of Jung’s work, The Salome Institute explores the emphasis on maturing “our still infantile psychology and its appalling unconsciousness” for the sake of society as a whole.

This means that issues of sexism and misogyny, racism, ableism, violence, and environmental destruction are top-of-mind at Salome. Jung taught us that in order to heal these lopsided and destructive aspects of collective culture and individual psychology we need to engage with the unconscious and the shadow of culture and ourselves. This engagement takes myriad forms.

Content for All Ages, Genders, and Backgrounds

Our goal is to ensure that Jung’s profound insights into human psychology remain inclusive for people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds.

To start, that means that we do not adhere to the dogma of the second half of life, i.e. the notion that individuation begins after the midlife crisis and is not accessible earlier. Regarding age, you can read our Director, Satya Doyle Byock’s, essay on “The First Half of Life,” published in Psychological Perspectives.

Regarding gender, we do not adhere to the notion that all men have feminine souls, while all women have masculine souls since we do not see gender as existing on such a strict binary. However, we also don’t discard the core of these insights entirely. The videos and a podcast on Jung’s Red Book dive into all of this much more deeply. In simple summary, Jung’s thinking on gender, just like gender identity itself, is complicated, but over time it has become inaccurately simplified.

On issues of race and racism in Jung’s work, he wrote concerning things about various racial groups. While some of his comments about people of African descent have been highlighted in recent years, in truth, few nationalities or backgrounds escaped his commentary. But, simultaneously, his wide-reaching commentary also expresses his deep investment in understanding human psychology across time and culture. He was strongly influenced by ideas, texts, and people from, but not limited to, Egypt, indigenous Africa, indigenous America, China, and Europe across centuries.

Our golden rule for Jung’s work on race, gender, and age is: it is 80% way ahead of its time and 20% off-the-mark.

We hope you’ll join us in attending critically and curiously to his important insights.

Meanwhile, unfortunately, since Jung’s time, some of the most remarkable scholars in the field have received less attention than they deserve. So, we also try to re-elevate the thinkers who most impress us and avoid some of the well-worn paths of the field.

Some Sampling of Former Salons

In 2020 alone, we held several in-person seminars in Portland, Oregon prior to social distancing began, and over 70 online salons and seminars. We released a podcast on the social relevance of Jung’s Red Book with 29 episodes.

Amidst the suffering and cataclysmic events, we loved joining with so many of you week-after-week. Here are just a few of the salons and topics hosted in 2020:

And that’s just scratching the surface. You can explore more of our past salons at our page of archived events.

Contrary to the unfortunate trend in academia in which too-often disembodied lecturers convey information to restless listeners, we believe that rigorous intellectual inquiry need not be disembodied, nor without humor, joy, grief, depth, and soul.

At the core of our work at The Salome Institute, we believe that intelligence and intimacy are soulmates, not adversaries. We hope to show this in everything we do.

Why We Do This Work

It is through this work that we see the potential to bridge gaps of communication and psychology that sometimes feel unbridgeable, towards the recognition of our implicit interconnectedness and the growth of consciousness for everyone.

Core to our work is an explicit intent to heal the long rejected Feminine in culture, an explicit goal core to Jung’s personal growth and pioneering psychology. By recovering this other side of our lopsided culture, we’re working towards a culture of equality and connection versus domination and extraction, towards the ends of supporting all of life to feel nourished. This is the essence of Salome: love, embodiment; for Jung, the other side of forethinking, logos, and rationalism.

For more on this, read Salome Institute Director, Satya Doyle Byock’s essay “Salome, The Antidote” which won the 2019 Cambridge Jung Circle essay prize.

On Discounts & Scholarships

We hope to make all of our salons and seminars accessible to as wide a range of individuals and groups as possible. We know that, for now, attending our live gatherings or viewing recordings requires a computer and internet access. Beyond those barriers, we’d like as many people to be able to attend our events as possible.

If you are in financial need, or if you are in another country in which US prices are prohibitive, please don’t hesitate to request a scholarship or discount.

Please just send us a short email about the salons or seminar you would like to attend. You are welcome to ask about multiple events as well. We will not ask for you to defend the reason for your request.

Please do note that we do not categorize need according to common groupings, and ask that you do not either. Often Students and Seniors, for instance, are well able to pay for events while other individuals who do not fall into an identifiable group are left-out.

In other words, please simply identify your own personal needs and situation and we will trust your request. If you are hesitating to sign-up for any event simply because of finances, send us a note. We trust you.

On CEUs — Continued Education Units

Please visit our CEU page for more information.

Who is Salome?

Salome (sahlo-Mae) is a female, Hebrew name derived from the word Shalom, meaning Peace.

There are a number of namesakes for The Salome Institute within mythology and the field of depth psychology:

Painting by Carl Jung from The Red Book — Painting by Carl Jung from *The Red Book*

Salome of Jung's Red Book -
Arguably the most central figure in Jung's visions that would come to make-up the Red Book, Salome was initially a terrifying figure to him. Jung came to understand that Salome was his own sister, his Soul. She was his pleasure, his Eros that had gone so neglected throughout his adult life; she was the quality of life that balanced his intellectual pursuits and thinking function. By reengaging with Salome, Jung was able to come back to life in the external world. The revivification of his life that came from this resurrection of Salome serves as the basis of our understanding of what our world needs now.

Salome and the Apparition of the Baptist's Head, watercolor by Gustave Moreau — *Salome and the Apparition of the Baptist's Head*, watercolor by Gustave Moreau

Salome of the Bible - there are actually two. The most culturally known Salome is never mentioned in the Bible but is blamed for the beheading of St. John the Baptist and is considered widely to be a temptress or whore. She is the namesake for Jung's Salome in The Red Book. As Jung came to understand about his own soul figure, the historical reputation of this Salome requires serious reexamination and revision.

From an alternate historical reading, Salome was a young woman without power of her own, dancing on demand for an all powerful King. On instruction of Salome's mother (herself socially powerless), Salome asked the King for the head of John the Baptist. Blinded by his lasciviousness, the king acted irrationally, ordering the murder of a beloved prophet. After allowing his sexual desire to override his responsibility as King, and not being able to admit his own wrongdoing, he blamed the woman who used his own weakness against him.

The historical depiction of a king's command of a young, socially powerless, and trapped woman to dance like a marionette is a classic shift of blame in patriarchal consciousness that must be rectified. We hope at the Salome Institute to redeem the image and history of this story of Salome. Her reputation has been tarnished for far too long.

The Three Marys at the Tomb, attributed to Hubert van Eyck. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen — *The Three Marys at the Tomb*, attributed to Hubert van Eyck. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Saint Salome - the only Salome who was named in the Bible was present at the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. This is Saint Salome. In the Roman Catholic tradition, she is one of the Three Marys who were present at the resurrection of Jesus. Varying accounts also name her as the sister or cousin of Mother Mary, and place her at the birth of Jesus, providing his first bath along with a midwife.

While some accounts also name her as the mother of two of the Apostles of Jesus, James and John, in the non-canonical Greek Gospel of Egyptians and Gospel of Thomas, she appears as a disciple of Jesus herself. These Gnostic texts suggest that she was unmarried and did not have children.

Salome asks Jesus: "How long will people die?" Jesus responds: "So long as women bear children." Later Jesus says to Salome: "I have come to destroy the works of the female." To this Salome replies, "Then I have done well in not bringing forth." These Gnostic works explore the feminine and masculine, with Jesus teaching the potential for oneness beyond duality. In the Gospel of Thomas, Salome asks Jesus: "Who are you, man?" Jesus replies, "I am he who exists from the undivided."

Lou Andreas Salome - an esteemed psychoanalyst, intellectual, author, and pioneer whose work and life has not received the attention it deserves. She was also a close companion and collaborator of Rilke, Freud, and Nietzsche.

Salome Wilhelm - author and researcher, wife of Chinese translator and scholar Richard Wilhelm and mother of scholar Helmut Wilhelm. Very little is known about her life and contributions, though she penned a biography of her husband and contributed to his work.