Oxford Conference – “The Tree of Knowledge”

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Date: Friday 23rd August 2019 - Sunday 25th August 2019 Location: Worcester College, Oxford
Start time: 4:00pm End time: 2:00pm Type: Conference Refreshments: Residential, all Meals Provided

THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of C.G. Jung’s talk “The Symbolic Life” given to the Guild in 1939

The Oxford Conference this year will be hosting two classically trained Jungian analysts from Switzerland, Hansueli F. Etter and Jacqueline Dürmüller. This conference will be a celebration of the Guild’s 80th Anniversary and the talk ‘The Symbolic Life’ given in 1939 to the Guild by founding patron Carl Gustav Jung.

Hansueli Ettter will explore how Jung’s discovery of the archetypal aspect of the symbolic life of our central myths speaks to us now as individuals and in our collective behaviour. In ‘The Tree of Knowledge and the Temptation of Eve’ he will use a recently restored 16th century depiction of the creation myth to explore how the theologians’ concentration on dogma has obscured the tremendous significance of Eve’s decision to pick the apple from the Tree of Knowledge. In his second talk ‘My Soul- where are you?’ he will explore the tension between knowledge and wisdom.

Jacqueline Dürmüller takes as her starting point, a quote from Helen Luke “When great symbols lose their content and their meaning for us, we are in danger of losing our soul.” (Helen M. Luke, Woman ,Earth and Spirit, The feminine in Symbol and Myth, The crossroad, New York 1981, p. 41). Jacqueline explores symbolic meaning and loss of soul through two talks: the first, prompted by her own dreams, ‘Marie-Louise von Franz, healer and spiritual guide: Encounter with the Soul’: the second, drawing on her experiences in education and child therapy ‘“Why are we so aggressive?” Children in distress: finding guidance from inner images’

Featured Image: Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Speaker: Hansueli Etter

Hansueli F. Etter has a PhD in Anthropology and lectured for many years at the University of Basel. He graduated from the C. G. Jung-Institute in Zürich in 1982 and works in private practice. His main interest and research lies in the topics of the religious dimension of Jungian psychology and in the secret relation between psyche and matter. He is a published author of many books and papers, in German and in English. He is the president of The Foundation for Jungian Psychology, Küsnacht and a founding member of The Research and Training Centre for Depth Psychology according to C. G. Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz, Zürich.

Speaker: Jacqueline Durmuller

Jacqueline Dürmüller initially trained in education and worked as a music and primary school teacher before graduating in Jungian Psychology at The Research and Training Centre in Depth Psychology according to C. G. Jung and Marie-Louse von Franz. Now a mother and a grandmother, she works with children and adults in private practice in the former house of Marie-Louise von Franz and Barbara Hannah in Küsnacht, Zürich, Switzerland. She published a book about the dying process of an 80 year old woman and lectures in Switzerland and abroad. Her main interest is in the symbolic understanding of inner and outer human experiences.