Episode 25 - The Psychology of Divination: a depth approach
This Jungian Life Podcast
Joseph Lee, Deborah Stewart, Lisa Marchiano
4.7 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 September 2018
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Divinatory systems have been used for thousands of years as a source of help and direction to people wishing to resolve situations of personal uncertainty. Jung used the I Ching for 30 years before he met Richard Wilhelm and found confirmation of its usefulness in Wilhelm’s translation of The Secret of the Golden Flower. We explore the value of divination through the I Ching and the Tarot, and link this to the concept of a unified field that can facilitate a healing relationship with the Self.
The dream:
"I’m sitting on a concrete ledge. A few feet below is mud. A loved, beaded bracelet slips off into the mud and begins to sink. I know I cannot reach it. The feeling of anger and frustration toward myself and the situation distracts me for so long that when I regain clarity I realize it’s late, and I am far from home. I also become aware of a family of brown bears below, a mother and two cubs, father some distance away. The need to get away from the bears and find a safe place to sleep takes over. I look behind me into a beautiful, green grassy space and see a metal fenced off area about the size of a basketball court. A cage with no roof! I run to it for safety, whilst the bears meander calmly in the distance. Although they appear peaceful, I know that if parents’ protective instincts kick in then I’m in danger. I find the gate to the cage and let myself in, questioning if bears can climb the fence. I’m terrified they’ll see and hear me, so resist the urge to move fast. I quietly, slowly slide the lock on the gate across. Feeling safe and relieved, I look around for somewhere to lie down. It’s all very muddy, which surprisingly doesn’t faze me. I find a spot and lie down, settling into the soft mud, although when I roll over I see that I have lain down next to huge, twelve-foot-tall gorilla, which I initially think is a bear who is asleep but rolling over and toward me, about to land on me! My final thought before waking is if that rolls onto me I will never get away. How did I not notice it was there?"
In selecting the topic for this podcast, we are pleased to acknowledge and, we hope fulfill, the request of a listener, Colin P.
Here's a link for The Matrix and Meaning of Character`
And here's a link for the I Ching app.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this Jungian life. |
| 0:03.0 | Three good friends and Jungian analysts, Lisa Marciano, Deborah Stewart and Joseph Lee, |
| 0:09.0 | invite you to join them for an intimate and honest conversation that brings a psychological perspective to important issues of the day. |
| 0:17.0 | I'm Lisa Marciano and I'm a youngian analyst in Philadelphia. |
| 0:22.0 | I'm Joseph Lee and I'm a youngian analyst in Philadelphia. I'm Joseph Lee and I'm a Jungian analyst in Virginia Beach, Virginia. |
| 0:27.0 | I'm Deborah Stewart, a Jungian analyst on Cape Cod. |
| 0:31.0 | Welcome to this Jungian life and today we're doing a special episode in response to a |
| 0:36.6 | listener and here's a shout out to you Colin for sending us a request to do a show on the |
| 0:41.3 | Eching, Taro, and divination in general, which of course will also bring |
| 0:47.2 | up Jung's research into synchronicity. His lifelong, or 30 years or more interest in the Eiching and then his fateful meeting with |
| 0:58.4 | Richard Wilhelm which brought forward all the work about the secret of the golden flower and Chinese alchemy. |
| 1:05.6 | And it's a vibrant topic, it's fun, and I think a lot of us have a really interest, a really powerful interest in divination and how |
| 1:15.4 | shockingly accurate and meaningful that can be sometimes. Yeah I mean this is |
| 1:20.3 | this is certainly something that's that's rich and has a lot of energy |
| 1:24.1 | for for people I mean let's start with the other side though because it this is you |
| 1:29.2 | know it would be hard to really call this evidence-based wouldn't it? I mean this is this when when people |
| 1:34.4 | accuse Young of being a mystic and describe Jungian psychology as woo as I have |
| 1:40.4 | seen it described you know I think they think they're thinking of this kind of thing that many |
| 1:45.8 | youngians have an interest in or maybe even bring into their practice. |
| 1:50.6 | So what do we think about the fact that, you know, this is kind of a little bit out there? |
| 1:57.0 | Well, I think that it's out there in terms of the Western mindset. |
| 2:00.0 | I think what impressed Jung foremost is that he had been doing Eching throws for I think 30 years before he came across Wilhelm and one of the stories that he tells I think it's in the foreword to the secret of the golden flower, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Joseph Lee, Deborah Stewart, Lisa Marchiano, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Joseph Lee, Deborah Stewart, Lisa Marchiano and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

