As winter draws to its close, we look forward to the shift in weather that signals the return of spring. March in Vermont, however, still has us in some of the worst winter weather until the inevitable St. Patrick Day (or thereabouts) snow storm, which finally brings the cold season to its end, or more descriptively "breaks the back of winter." The saying "in like a lion and out like a lamb" so often applied to the coming and going of March was never more true than here in northern New England. And yet, when we consider things symbolically, this volatile month which takes its name from the Roman war god, Mars, has a light side as well as a dark. In The Reader's Encyclopedia, it states that originally Mars was an Italian god of fertility whose month of March "began the spring season of growth and fruitfulness and only later took on the attributes of the Greek god of war, Ares" (Bennet, 1965, p. 640). The light and dark complement each other and each has a function within the life cycle of the natural world.
Although it is the beginning of March, we are still situated in the interior world of heated homes and bundled bodies as we brave the frigid temperatures, snow and ice of the outer world to go about our exterior lives. In keeping with this time of year, this issue of Jung in Vermont speaks especially to our interior world, of psyche, and its various manifestations in symbols appropriate to this threshold month. We open with an essay on Jungian dream work in the Clinical Perspectives section entitled Dreams: A Path to Awareness of the Unconscious. Following this is a conference paper, Home, Hearth, and Grave: The Archetypal Symbol of Threshold on the Road to Self, which explores the significance of three threshold places important to Jung on his journey of individuation. Next we offer two poems in The Arts section, Dream of a Bear and The Milagros. We close with a new section, This Month, which lists Jungian events in the area for the current month. We will keep this section updated as we become aware of Jungian and Jungian-related events in the vicinity so you will want to check it periodically during the month. And, regarding events, be sure to check the Calendar of Events & Society Happenings page on our website for information on upcoming society events.
As a reminder to our readers and for those of you who are new to Jung in Vermont, we are including below the guide to the e-journal's content areas and monthly archived material as well as information on how to post your comments on material in the current issue.
E-Journal Guide. The e-journal offers submitted material from our membership in the following categories: Clinical Perspectives, Conference Papers, Essays, Reflections, Reviews, News From…, Notes From the President and Editor, The Arts, and This Month. An alphabetically ordered list of these content areas is located to the right of the text in a side bar headed Labels. You’ll notice a number in parentheses after each and this indicates the total number of pieces in this area including pieces from previous issues. The titles of the pieces in the current issue – arranged in the order of appearance – are displayed farther down in the side bar under the heading Blog Archive and past issues of the e-journal can be accessed by month in this area as well.
Posting Comments. If you'd like to comment on any or all of the pieces in this month's e-journal, scroll down to the end of the piece and click on comments, this will open a message box - write your comment and click submit and within a short time your comment will be available for others to read and comment upon. To access readers' comments, just click the same comments box at the end of the piece.
We hope you enjoy this month's contributions to this issue of the e-journal, Jung in Vermont. We invite members to submit their work on Jungian themes for consideration for publication. For information on submission guidelines, please refer to the Calendar of Events and Society Offerings page of our website accessed at http://JunginVermont.org/ . Submissions should be sent to The Editor at JunginVermont@Burlingtontelecom.net
With regards,
Stephanie Buck
Editor Contact: JunginVermont@Burlingtontelecom.net
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