Hunting the Green Lion:
Subtle Body Heart Mysteries via Alchemy, Myth and Dream
Presented by Monika Wikman, PhD
Sunday, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM, November 11th, 2018
Tracking the alchemical mystery of the Green Lion through myths, ancient texts, poetry, and dreams, we seek that Presence in the psyche which also seeks to awaken within us, leading to the growth of the subtle body heart, potentially bringing fresh vitality for life and individuation.
Full of paradox and humor, from the sulphuric to the sublime, including shadow elements beyond sentimentality and ego ideals, the mysteries of the alchemical Green Lion start in the “rag and bone shop of the heart,” where our awareness grows of the subtle ways we learn to guard the heart. In this state, we unknowingly may have lost courage for life, or lead our lives from what Marie Louise von Franz calls the “substitute gods,” namely those unconscious values and archaic defenses against psyche and life which create heart loss for life.
The alchemical mystery depicted in the hunt for the Green Lion brings us into contact with this vitalizing force where we may also discover the grace of an ongoing capacity to see these shadow attitudes and simultaneously open the heart.
Discovered here in the subtle hermetic light between the opposites is a potential growing center between the conscious and the unconscious that helps light and guide our way in life.
Course objectives:
Describe the alchemical energy known as the Green Lion.
Use myths, ancient texts, poetry and dreams to understand the role of the Green Lion in the psyche’s individuation journey.
Discuss how contact with the Green Lion can lead us away from unconscious defenses and towards the opening of our hearts.
Monika Wikman, PhD, is a Jungian analyst, astrologer, and author of Pregnant Darkness: Alchemy and the Rebirth of Consciousness. She is a graduate of the Jung-von Franz Center for Depth Psychology in Zurich and a member of the Northern New Mexico Society of Jungian Analysts and the Inter-Regional Society Jungian Analysts. Seven depth psychology podcast interviews with her can be found at ShrinkRapRadio.comandSpeakingOfJung.com.