'True Religion:  Individuation, Alchemy and Poetry''

                                                                                    presented by

                                           Deedy Young, LCSW, Diplomate Jungian Analyst

                                                   Friday, September 29, 2017

              In her presentation, Deedy Young  entrusted  poetry -- one  poem by D. H. Lawrence  and  several 

                    of  her own -- the  task  of  bringing  individuation  and  its  underlying  alchemical process to life.  

                    She stated that like alchemical  images, poetry can shed light on individuation  and  that  poetry's

                    languages of  symbol, imagery and feeling are able to bring the concept of individuation vibrantly

                    alive  by  adding  nuance  and  conveying  the  numinous  energy  associated with an individuating

                    experience. 

                    Deedy  lectured  that  Jung  wrote,  "The  strongest  urge  in  every being, the  urge to  realize  itself,

                    is an incarnation  of  the inability to  do  otherwise, equipped  with  all  the  powers  of  nature  and 

                    instinct."   Central  to  our  nature, Deedy stated that this  urge is the driving  force  behind  individ-

                    uation,  the  lifelong  process  of  becoming  who  and  what  we are.  In researching alchemy,  Jung

                    recognized  alchemical images to be symbolic  of the  psychological processes  inherent  in  individ-

                    uation's overarching  process of transformation.  Jung concluded the "alchemical procedure could

                    just as well represent the individuation process of a single individual."

                    Deedy Young, L.C.S.W. is  a diplomate  with the Inter-Regional Society  of  Jungian  Analysts.  She

                    lives and works in Lafayette, Louisiana  as an  analyst  in private  practice.   One  of  Deedy's poems

                    will   be  published  in  the  upcoming  edition   of   "Psychological  Perspectives."    She  is  a  faculty

                    member of  the  New Orleans Jungian Seminar, an organization  which  annually offers  a series of

                    monthly seminars  to  those  who wish to  explore Jungian Psychology  in  depth, as well as serving

                    as a point of entry for analytic training with the IRSJA.