Wassilissa & Baba Yaga: The good, bad, wild and terrible mother

Dear Jungian psychology and fairytale lovers,

The mother archetype is a powerful force in the psyche which has profoundly positive, malignant and ambivalent manifestations. The story of Vasilisa the Beautiful presents many of these manifestations of mother: beneficient caregiver, evil ‘stepmother’, wild nature goddess, fate and death. This story has a lot to tell us about how to meet each of these forces.

Here's what we'll do:

Briefly introduce the Jungian approach to fairytales, mother complex and mother archetype Read Vasilisa the Beautiful out loud together. Go through the story as we would a dream, discussing the images, and what they have to communicate about the path of spiritual growth.

In facilitating the discussion I'll draw on Introduction to Fairytales by M.L. Von Franz and The Mother by S. Birkhauser-Oeri. I hope you'll join us. It’s sure to be a rich discussion. -Lee Scher, MA, LPC

Cost: $20

P.S. Here's a link to the story and some symbol notes:

http://fairytaleblogblog.wordpress.com/