DAIMON: Demon or Destiny?

This Jungian Life Podcast

Joseph Lee, Deborah Stewart, Lisa Marchiano

Jungian, Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Psychology, Dreams, Jung, Relationships, Selfhelp, Society & Culture, Psychoanalysis

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 July 2022

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The daimon, a guiding spirit of individual destiny, was discussed by ancient Greek philosophers and still surfaces in books and movies like The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. Daimons were particularly linked to creativity and life force and described as lesser deities, divine messengers, and determinative fates. For Jung, “daimon” was a synonym for that part of the unconscious concerned with life purpose, and it spoke through intuition and dreams. Ego’s task is transforming the autonomous power of the daimon into authentic expression in life. Jungian analyst and author James Hillman says, “The soul of each of us is given a unique daimon before we are born, and it has selected an image or pattern that we live on earth. This soul-companion, the daimon, guides us here; in the process of arrival, however, we forget all that took place and believe we come empty into this world. The daimon remembers what is in your image and belongs to your pattern, and therefore your daimon is the carrier of your destiny.”

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I am sitting in the front row of an academic lecture in a large auditorium. I can see my father sitting way back in the last row. A speaker is introduced. He begins to perform miraculous feats. For example, although he is an older man in his 60s, he successfully bench-presses over 500 pounds on stage. Next, he begins to levitate. While flying through the air, he proclaims that he is Jesus. He demands that everyone in the audience pray to him in worship. I do not pray to him. He goes around to each audience member and requests a prayer - all obey. When he appears in front of me, he demands a prayer. I hold up two sticks in the shape of a cross and denounce him. I state angrily that “Christ protects me” and that “this old man is not God.” At this point, I notice that my father (in the back row) is the only other person in the building not praying to the fraud.”

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, this is Lisa from This Youngian Life, and I wanted to let listeners know that this October 6th through 9th,
0:07.1	I'm going to be running a women's fairy tale and yoga retreat in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains.
0:14.5	The retreat will take place on the shores of a spring-fed lake,
0:18.2	and we'll spend the days doing yoga and exploring key transitions
0:22.2	in a woman's life using fairy tales. I'll be sharing some of the material for my upcoming book
0:28.3	called The Return, a homecoming for women. There will be massage, hiking, and campfires. Oh, and
0:36.9	beautiful fall foliage. This Jung union life listeners can get a
0:41.5	5% discount by using the code, This Union Life at checkout. That's This Union Life, all one word,
0:49.9	capital T, capital J, capital L. To find out more or to register, go to my website,
0:57.1	Lisa Marchiano.com, and click on the tab called Wellspring Women's Retreat.
1:03.5	I look forward to seeing you there.
1:06.9	Welcome to this Jungian life.
1:09.4	Three good friends and Jungian analysts, Lisa Marchiano, Deborah Stewart and Joseph Lee,
1:14.9	invite you to join them for an intimate and honest conversation
1:18.4	that brings a psychological perspective to important issues of the day.
1:24.6	I'm Lisa Marchiano, and I'm a Jungian analyst in Philadelphia. I'm Joseph Lee and I'm a Jungian analyst in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I'm Deborah Stewart, a Jungian analyst on Cape Cod.
1:43.2	Today we're going to talk about an ancient idea that still has relevance.
1:49.7	We're going to talk about the daimone.
1:52.6	This is something that Jung mentioned.
1:56.5	Ancient Greek philosophers wrote about with great specificity and respect,
2:02.3	and a concept that has continued forward, most often in religious contexts,
2:09.8	but is something that creative types know about, talk about, and feel beholden to.
	...

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