The Shadow And The Problem Of Evil: Five Examinations is a captivating and thought-provoking journey into the hidden recesses of the human psyche. Through a Jungian perspective, it offers insights into the nature of evil, the symbols that represent our shadows, and the profound impact of these hidden aspects on society and our ethical choices. It’s a must-read for those seeking a deeper understanding of the human condition and the challenges we face in the modern world.
Murray Stein’s opening chapter, “The Shadow and the Problem of Evil,” explores the fundamental question of the shadow’s connection to evil and Mary Tomlinson introduces the intricate ways the shadow manifests symbolically in our psyche in “Symbols of Shadow and Evil.”
“The Atom Bomb and the Collective Confrontation with Evil,” examines how collective experiences, like the atomic bomb, force society to confront the shadow on a grand scale. “Paranoia: The Madness That Makes History” uncovers how paranoia shapes historical events.
In “The Shadow and the Search for a New Ethic” Henry Abramovitch and Stein ponder the ethical implications of recognizing and integrating the shadow into our lives. Brigitte Egger’s final chapter, “Human Shadow Revealed by the Ecological Crisis,” explores how the ecological crisis serves as a mirror, reflecting our collective shadow and calling for a profound reevaluation of our relationship with the environment.
Murray Stein, Ph.D. is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the International School of Analytical Psychology Zurich (ISAP-ZURICH). He is a founding member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts (1977) and of the Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts (1980). He was president of the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP) from 2001 to 2004 and President of ISAP-ZURICH from 2008 to 2012.
For each of us there are energies, motives, agendas which operate outside our conscious control and sometimes are contrary to our professed values. These energies, which Jung collectively identified as the Shadow, might best be defined not as evil, but as that which makes us uncomfortable with ourselves. Such energies represent an enormous invitation for greater consciousness, for living more ethically, and whose integration brings a greater possibility of wholeness.
What is our personal Shadow? How may we come to know that which is by definition unconscious within us? A series of exercises and questions will help provide greater self awareness. Please bring a notebook and pen with which to journal.
James Hollis, Ph.D., explores the roadblocks we encounter and our on-going challenge to live our brief journey with as much courage, insight, and resolve as we can bring to the table.
Prisms: Reflections on the Journey We Call Life summarizes a lifetime of observing, engaging, and exploring why we are here, in service to what, and what life asks of us.
Marie-Louise von Franz believed fairytales to be the purest and simplest expressions of the collective unconscious. Too often the interpreter regresses to a personalized approach, however, heroes and heroines are abstractions that embody collective archetypes. The innumerable variations within the same fairytale told in different cultures are like a musical theme crisscrossing humanity. In Volume 8, von Franz establishes that there is only one psychic fact to which the fairytale addresses itself, namely, the SELF.
Some fairytales emphasize the beginning phases of this experience by dwelling on the shadow, others draw attention to the anima and animus, while still others hint at the unobtainable treasure. This volume contains new and updated translations of The Interpretation of Fairytales along with Anima and Animus in Fairytales and combines them into a single volume, clarifying the Jungian approach to interpreting fairytales and offering a deep dive into anima and animus.
The anima and the animus deliver to consciousness the “life-affirming fruit.” Individuation requires engagement with these contra-sexual archetypes, but von Franz observes that “Anima and animus are not always happy to have this relationship—they lose part of their power when they are made conscious.” She further warns of the inflation resulting from possession by them and points out that the animus “loves to create an atmosphere of mist in which nobody can find orientation.” These are supra-personal elements of psychic life capable of breaking beyond the tendency of consciousness to become one-sided. This second section of Volume 8 provides an insightful explanation of a woman’s encounter with her animus and a man’s encounter with his anima.
Aurora Consurgens, the rising sun, is a vision forged in the pseudo-Aristotelian tradition that became a cornerstone of medieval Church doctrine and the centerpiece of the Dominican and Franciscan traditions. While its authorship has been shrouded in mystery and controversy, Marie Louise von Franz furnishes ample evidence that this was a final work of Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church. His vision begins with an anima figure of the Sapentia Dei.
This medieval alchemical text is rich in symbolism and offers a glimpse into how unconscious contents can be understood through their interactions with the material world. Marie Louise von Franz places Aurora Consurgens squarely in the tradition of visionary spiritual writings similar to the visions of Hildegard von Bingen or John of Patmos. Aquinas’s visions and his final commentary on the Song of Songs appear to have been the result of a state of ecstasy into which he fell just before his death. Marie Louise von Franz excavates a psychological treasure from his work.
Saint Niklaus von Flüe, the patron saint of Switzerland, was held in the highest esteem by both CG Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz. Jung even declared him the Patron Saint of Psychotherapy, due to the Saint’s deep inward reflections and profound experiences. His visions reportedly began while still in his mother’s womb and continued until his death. One of his later visions was a terrifying image of the face of God. Von Franz saw Niklaus as the shadow brother of Christ and wrote of him as the alchemical Anthropos, a universal man. His visions were an evolution of Christian mysticism.
Saint Perpetua was a young Christian woman put to death in 203 AD in the Roman arena at the age of 22. Her profound visions occurred days before her death. Von Franz penetrates these images, suggesting they were revelations of a new, Christian God-image breaking through from the collective unconscious into the animus of young Perpetua.
Marie-Louise von Franz is at her very best as she unravels the mysteries held within the visions of these two saints.
Volume 3 turns to the Maiden’s Quest within fairytales.
The maiden/heroine navigates a complicated maze of inner and outer relationships as she builds a bridge to the unconscious. The heroine contends with the animus in many forms like a devouring and incestuous father, demonic groom, the beautiful prince, an androgenous mother, a cold dark tower, and through conflict with the evil stepmother.
Dangers and pitfalls await her as the conscious feminine strives to make connections with the unconscious masculine. The maiden is the undeveloped feminine and the promised fruit of her struggle with the animus is the coniunctio. Volume 3 is a masterwork of cross-cultural scholarship, penetrating psychological insight, and a strikingly illuminating treatise. With her usual perspicacity and thoroughness, von Franz gathers countless fairytale motifs revealing a myriad of facets to the maiden’s quest.
Von Franz’s prodigious knowledge of fairytales from around the world demonstrates that the fairytale draws its root moisture from the collective realm. This volume continues where Volume 1 left off as von Franz describes the fairytale, “suspended between the divine and the secular worlds (…) creating a mysterious and pregnant tension that requires extreme power to withstand.” The resistance of the great mother against the hero and his humble origins, as well as the hero freeing the anima figure from the clutches of the unconscious are universal archetypal patterns. The spoils retrieved by the hero symbolize new levels of consciousness wrested from the unconscious.
Murray Stein, Ph.D. is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the International School of Analytical Psychology Zurich (ISAP-ZURICH). He is a founding member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts (1977) and of the Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts (1980). He was president of the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP) from 2001 to 2004 and President of ISAP-ZURICH from 2008 to 2012.
In The Lost Coin, Rowley shares his lifelong journey—searching for his birth parents, seeking his true identity, and discovering his soul’s calling. We join him when, as a boy growing up in Iowa, he visits Chicago for the first time and is shocked by blatant racial segregation and sprawling urban poverty. We see Stephen as a young athlete sustaining a life-changing injury, then becoming radicalized at the University of Wisconsin, entering the field of education at Stanford, and becoming a visionary school administrator before being fired by a vindictive Silicon Valley school board.
He plays golf with a Tibetan lama, and experiences transcendence in a vivid dream, ultimately becoming a psychotherapist in his sixties. We witness the heart-rending scene when he and his wife adopt their own son, and we join him for a poignant reunion with his birth mother, who, it turns out, had desperately hoped he might appear in her life after she’d given him up for adoption.
As we accompany Stephen Rowley on this adventurous and reflective journey, we come to understand more deeply the trauma engendered when separating mother from child, and the unspoken restlessness and yearning for connection many adoptees feel.
“It is my hope,” he writes, that we all “may discover the unique capacity within us to heal and even thrive, not in spite of the wounds we carry, but because of them.”
“Dr. Stephen Rowley’s The Lost Coin: A Memoir of Adoption and Destiny tells the story of the author’s experience as an adopted child and his search for identity and belonging. What sets this book apart is the psychological perspective Rowley brings to the story, as he delves into the complex emotions and experiences that come with adoption—feelings of loss, identity confusion, and the search for oneself through the search for one’s birth family. Rowley does a fantastic job of weaving together his personal narrative with depth psychological insights, making for a deep and thought-provoking read.”
— Stacey Shelby, PhD, Depth Psychotherapist and author of Love and Soul-Making: Searching the Depths of Romantic Love
“An old Zen parable notes that we are all looking for the face we had before the world was made. Given up for adoption as an infant, Stephen Rowley, in The Lost Coin, depicts his multi-decade search for his roots and illustrates this profound drive for self-knowledge. His personal story touches on questions that rise for all of us as we explore the threads of history that brought us to this troubled present.”
— James Hollis, PhD, Jungian Analyst and author of numerous books, most recently The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves
“As a psychotherapist and an adoptee myself, I was deeply moved by Stephen Rowley’s The Lost Coin. I could feel so well the immense pain involved in the process of separation and adoption, and touched by the reunion of the author and his biological mother. As Jung said, ‘You can only take a client as far as you’ve gone yourself,’ and by bringing us along on his journey, Rowley is able to share the wisdom he has gleaned. l highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to know more about relational complexities, and especially the complexities inherent to most, if not all adoptees.”
— Shirin Fouladi Ruf, MA, LMFT, Psychotherapist, Stairway Recovery Center
“Every adoptee or anyone affiliated with adoption should read The Lost Coin. What a fascinating and insightful look into the journey of Stephen Rowley and the impact adoption has had on his life. This memoir delves into the root issue of ‘Who Am I?’ that every adoptee struggles with, and the effects of separation from one’s biological mother at birth.”
— KelLee Parr, Author of My Little Valentine: The Story of a Mother and Daughter’s Lost Love and Mansion on a Hill: The Story of The Willows Maternity Sanitarium and the Adoption Hub of America
“Dr. Stephen Rowley’s book about his journey is a must-read for adoptees and professionals who work in the field of adoption. Steve’s first letter to me was very well-written from the adoptee’s point of view and grabbed me as a genuine request to complete himself and find the ‘missing coin.’ I knew from my first contact with him that he was on a mission. I had received lots of letters from adoptees before, but there was something different about his request. He was on a journey to find out about his history and wasn’t going to stop until that was accomplished. Steve’s story of his journey to get his biological history and make the emotional connection with his birth family is well-documented and worth the time to read.”
— Tom X. Lazio, Former Executive Director of American Home Finding Association, Ottumwa, Iowa
“From my own experience as a late-discovery adoptee in reunion and as a professional coach with over 20 years of experience guiding adults navigating midlife transitions, searching for answers to the question, Who am I?, is an experience every human being will encounter at some point in their lives. Dr. Stephen Rowley’s memoir, The Lost Coin, is not only a poignant description of his inner experience of being an adoptee who literally embarks on a decades-long search for the answer to this question, but Dr. Rowley also opens our eyes to consider a universal message for any of us struggling in navigating the unknown. That is, the invisible and powerful force that destiny plays in our lifelong search for wholeness and healing. His experience illustrates that when we are ready and willing to open ourselves up to see the hidden meaning and truths behind our own losses and struggles, we will come to know their purpose for our unique path to growth and healing.”
— Nancy McCaughey, Principal and Professional Certified Coach, Nancy McCaughey Coaching, LLC
“I am pleased to recommend Stephen Rowley’s book, The Lost Coin, as a heartfelt account of the story of adoption. It is especially relevant for those who have been impacted by adoption – those who have been adopted, those who have adopted or are considering it, and others who want to know more. With his background as a psychotherapist and educator, his interest in Jungian psychology and the Eastern philosophy of the lamas, he brings insight into the inner life of those who have been adopted and how others can better understand this journey.”
— Janet Tatum, MSW, Jungian Analyst, PNSJA/IAAP, Certified Sandplay Therapist – Teaching Member STA/ISST, Philemon Foundation Board Member, Redmond, Washington
“The Lost Coin: A Memoir of Adoption and Destiny details the long and at times painful passage of the adoptee to understand their feelings, their past, and to go on living, gaining the feeling of being real in a family that does not share genetic inheritance. Stephen Rowley’s quest to differentiate his feelings and to validate and believe what he felt, hence grounding himself in his emotional life while accepting and loving himself for the child he had been, is the journey of the adoptee.”
— Audrey Punnett, PhD, RPT-S, CST-T, Jungian Child, Adolescent & Adult Analyst (IAAP), author of The Orphan: A Journey to Wholeness, and coauthor of Jungian Child Analysis.
“In The Lost Coin, Dr. Stephen Rowley eloquently shares his journey of searching for his birth parents. While he underscores the lifelong impact of the trauma of separation of child from parent, he also helps us all to understand the human spirit that both craves and relentlessly reaches for self, hope, and grace. This compellingly honest book will be a comfort for those who are part of an adoption journey and may still be searching for healing, and an incredibly useful witness for those standing ready to help.”
— Rita Soronen, President & CEO, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
