— an online course —
The Red Book:
Jung’s Antidote to Patriarchy
Sundays
January 12th - March 1
8 weeks
with Satya Doyle Byock, MA, LPC
sold out
Before Jung’s work was about the Shadow and the Self, it was about Salome: the young, sensual Jewish woman, the dancer, who requested the head of John the Baptist from the transfixed King Herod. Jung met this disheveled, discarded woman in the depths of his own psyche and withdrew in horror. “Let me be,” he tells her when they first meet, “I dread you, you beast.”
But, Jung had embarked on this journey in order to pay attention to what arose. So over many nights of his descent into the unconscious (and his many years of exploring these early visions), Jung came to acknowledge Salome’s divine power. He experienced Her divinity within his own body, not as he had once understood the divine feminine in Mother Mary, but as Kali, the dark goddess of Hindu mythology. He wrote: this “many armed bloody Goddess—it is Salome desperately wringing her hands,” and in the face of his fear, he strained to witness her presence and power. She transforms as he does, and finally, Jung came to love her: “[she] takes hold of me, she is my own soul”. He discovered that She is him. She is that which brings him life and joy, the capacity to feel, to create art, to deeply connect, and to trust. But she had not come to him at first in the form of someone safe or beautiful; she did not descend from on high in golden light.
In this seminar, we will take a deep dive alongside Jung on his journey into the unconscious. We’ll explore Jung’s opus chapter by chapter, encountering all the characters with whom Jung traveled during his inner journeys in the early 20th century.
This 8 week online seminar will involve guided self-study and online discussions in which registered students will be part of gatherings. Participants will be encouraged to read along with the syllabus each week and can expect to have read the whole book by the end of the course. The goal is to de-mystify The Red Book fluidly, and understand it not just in relation to Jung’s history, but its applicability to our own chaotic times. My hope is to make this book accessible to students of all backgrounds.
“I thought and spoke much of the soul. I knew many learned words for her, I had judged her and turned her into a scientific object. I did not consider that my soul cannot be the object of my judgement and knowledge…The spirit of the depths forced me to speak to my soul, to call upon her as a living and self-existing being.”
Jung’s painting of an anima figure from The Red Book
Details:
Online gatherings will be hosted for 90 minutes each
Sundays, January 12th through March 1st
10-11:30am PST (Oregon& California)
6-7:30pm GMT (England)
Please check and confirm your time zone.
Attendance: Attempts will be made to record each session for temporary use by course participants, but recordings are not guaranteed. It is not expected nor required to be at every class.
Online Access: Access to internet required. Gatherings will be hosted via Zoom. Personal camera for joining group conversations online is recommended. Two or more classmates in the same location can join together behind one camera if needed, and if each are officially registered.
Materials: Course syllabus and some materials for self-study will be delivered after registration.
Required Text: The Red Book Reader's Edition. The larger facsimile version is recommended if available.
Cost: $200 for 8 sessions, and continued access to materials. Each registered participant will receive a code for 25% off of hourly consultations with me, in case questions arise that require more personal focus.