Lecture & Workshop: Laurel Howe, M.A.

                                                              Fitcher’s Bird  and the Return of Spiritual Life to Nature
      Lecture and Workshop
      Presented By
Laurel Howe, M.A., Diplomate Jungian Analyst

Friday, February 22 and Saturday, February 23, 2019

Fitcher’s Bird, the Fairy Tale:

Fitcher’s Bird is a fairy tale about a wizard who lives in riches, deep in the forest. For a long

time he has been kidnapping maidens and taking them to his home, where he offers each of

them the key to a forbidden room and an egg. All of the maidens end up dead except for the

heroine, who is clever enough to trick the wizard and break his spell. What does this mean when young feminine energy is being murdered before it has a chance to make its way into

life? And what is it about heroine that brings about a completely new situation?

Friday Night Lecture:

On Friday night, we read the fairy tale and discussed how to interpret fairy tales from an archetypal perspective so we can under-

stand what they mean psychologically.

Saturday Workshop:

On Saturday, Laurel Howe delved more deeply into the individual motifs of Fitcher’s Bird, including wizard, maiden, forest, key,

and egg so we could understand how the fairy tale might be an alchemical tale about a nature spirit like Mercurius that becomes

destructive when forced into a worldview or an attitude that is too narrow. Dreams and artwork helped us explore how the wizardly

spirit appears especially in women as the so-called “negative animus,” and how we may eventually realize him as a light-bringer with

enormous spiritual potential and a desire to be realized in our lives.

Laurel Howe's Bio:

Laurel Howe is a Diplomate Jungian analyst and sand play therapist with a private practice in Denver, Colorado. She earned her

analytic diploma from The Centre for Research and Training in Depth Psychology according to C.G. Jung and Marie-Louise von

Franz, Zürich, Switzerland. She is a faculty member of the C.G. Jung Institute of Colorado and the Boulder Association of Jungian

Analysts. Laurel is the author of War of the Ancient Dragon: Transformation of Violence in Sand Play, a detailed study of the

uncanny alchemical process of a six-year-old boy (Fisher King Press). She lectures internationally about Mary Magdalene and the

alchemical nature of sand play.