Lectures and Teaching
Lecturing and writing are two of my life passions. The process involved in preparing and delivering a lecture, could be analogous to the meticulous dedication one puts into the preparation of a fine meal. This involves, not just preparing it, but also cooking it, setting up a table, and finally serving the psychic meal, that is, the food for inner nourishment, for others to come and nurture their souls.
Magi has lectured in Switzerland (ISAP Zurich), Los Angeles (C.G. Jung Institute) and Mexico (Centro Mexicano C.G. Jung) on a diversity of topics among them:
The Healing Function of Dreams
The Unconscious, especially as portrayed through dreams, is according to Jung, our most valuable treasury of information about ourselves. Thus, by attending to our dreams, a dialogue opens up between conscious and unconscious, in an attempt to heal the split between these two sides of the psyche.
Fairy Tales and Myths
Through the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche, new pathways of psychological development for both men and women were explored, leading to a more balanced and conscious relationship between them.
On Depression
Jung stresses the value of depression and talks about how the libido, during certain periods of our existence, tends to flow back into the unconscious and then one does not have too much energy available for life. It is precisely, through these regressive cycles that something new can begin to “cook” in the unconscious, pointing to the beginning of a forward movement and a possible transformation.
The Archetype of the Coniunctio Based on the Story of Scheherazade
Through the frame story of Scheherazade and King Schahriar, the process of transformation from a one sided masculine position to a more balanced harmonious relationship with the feminine was illustrated.
The Coniunctio in Individuation
Based on the Grimms fairytale, “The Nixie in the Millpond,” the inner process of feminine development vis a vis the masculine was illustrated. The heroine takes us through her painful but transformative journey, as she patiently weaves together the diverging and converging opposites both within and without. For it is only through the feminine development that the masculine inner partner can be animated, liberated and transformed in a new way.
The Way to Oneself… Befriending the Unknown Inner Other.
How does one become acquainted with the unknown inner other, which manifests under such different guises and manifold shapes and forms?
The importance of integrating such inner other and of becoming attuned to the world of the Imagination rather than relying solely upon the one-sided rational thinking is addressed, based on the magnificent Spanish story of Don Quijote de la Mancha.
I Remember…Proust – Jung. A Path to the Self through Memory
Based on some relevant passages of Proust’s narrative “In Search of Lost Time,” and on some of Jung’s illuminating insights regarding his memories and significant inner visions, the following questions were addressed throughout this lecture: What is the value of listening to Memory? Is there a prospective meaning within this retrospective movement of re-visiting the past?
The soul needs to feel this dimension of memory. Thus the importance of endowing the past with an important symbolic meaning, through which in turn consciousness can gradually be modified.
No sooner had the warm liquid and the crumbs with it touched my palate that an exquisite pleasure invaded my senses. Suddenly, the memory returned. The taste was that of the little crumb of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray, Aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her cup of lime-flowered tea. It was thus at that moment when I raised to my lips a spoonful of tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake, that all the flowers in our garden and in Mr Swann’s park and the good folk in the village took their proper shapes and growing solid sprang into being from my cup of tea.
Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time