Coffee with Jung: Forbidden Fairy Tales

The images are clear and stark. Three times three: Three tasks. Three brothers. Three wishes. The scenes are startling: Violent mothers. Arresting taboos. Brutal punishments. Fairy tales. This is the buried country. The land of shade and silhouette. Yet, there is a purity in this half-light veil. For, the telling of these tales is magical. They come alive inside of us as the words are spoken. Herein lie the archetypes, stripped, and unadorned. For Jungian Analyst Marie Louise von Franz, the fairy tale is, "the purest and simplest expression of collective unconscious psychic processes."

We’ll begin with a short overview of von Franz's work on Fairy Tales, focusing on the theory. Then, we'll read a short Fairy Tale: The Girl Without Hands. This will be followed by an open conversation around the themes of the tale, and how we understand them manifesting in psyche and culture.