The Guild of Pastoral Psychology
An introduction to Fairy Tales
Notice: Bookings will open on 26th January 2026
This seminar series is limited to a maximum of 25 participants.
It is recommended to register for all three seminars as there will be continuity between the seminars.
“Fairy tales are the purest and simplest expression of collective unconscious psychic processes. Therefore, their value for the scientific investigation of the unconscious exceeds that of all other material.” – Marie Louise Von Franz (1970)
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales”
Fairy tales occupy a special place in our lives as early as childhood. Bedtime stories is a tradition that goes back to an ancient way of life, where people would, after a hard day of work, light up the hearth, and gather around the fire as night was approaching, when everyone had eaten, stories were told. There is something very earthy about this, something that contains a rich source of nutrients for our soul.
Jungian analyst Marie-Louise von Franz focused much of her life in studying fairy tales. Von Franz demonstrated the psychological wisdom of fairy tales in that fairy tales represent archetypes in their simplest, barest, and most concise form. In this pure form, the archetypal images afford us the best clues to the understanding of the processes of the collective psyche.
In this series of seminars, we will discover the magical world of fairy tales. We explore how the images and symbols that live in the tales are an invaluable repository of the archetypal foundation of the psyche and how this treasure can become available to each of us.
An in-depth understanding of Jungian concepts is not necessary in order to participate in these seminars as we will strive to hold the feeling responses to the tales that we all intuitively recall from childhood.
SATURDAY 14 MARCH 2026
2pm-4pm GMT
Seminar 1: Introduction: Myths, Legends and Fairy tales with an exploration of key concepts and the Method of interpretation according to C. G. Jung and Marie Louise von Franz.
SATURDAY 11 APRIL 2026
2pm-4pm BST
Seminar 2: The Interpretation of a Fairy Tale – part 1
SATURDAY 09 MAY 2026
2pm-4pm BST
Seminar 3: The Interpretation of a Fairy Tale – part 2
Reading extracts and copies of the Fairy Tale that will be discussed will be sent to all who register nearer the time
