This Jungian Life Podcast

Joseph Lee, Deborah Stewart, Lisa Marchiano•www.thisjungianlife.com

Join us—Lisa, Deb, and Joseph—for sometimes irreverent but potentially life-changing conversations. Every Thursday, we explore culture, relationships, and depth psychology through the lens of Carl Jung. We devote a segment of each episode to analyzing a listener’s dream.

Last refreshed: June 22nd, 2026 at 8:02 AM

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Episodes

Active Imagination

Jung pioneered the technique of active imagination, a process by which the ego engages with imagery and content generated by the unconscious. Active imagination can help us understand our dreams, and lead us into new psychic situations. On today's episode, we share some personal examples of active imagination, discuss some suggestions of how to engage in it, and explore what active imagination has to do with snorkeling. Here's the Dream We Analyze: "I am about to light four candles on the dining...

Jun 28, 2018•39 min

Anxiety

“We don't so much solve our problems as we outgrow them. We add capacities and experiences that eventually make us bigger than the problems.” CG Jung Anxiety is one of the most common complaints that bring people into therapy. While it can be difficult to differentiate anxiety from healthy fear we all agree that finding an ally to stand with us makes a big difference. We explore the many underlying dynamics that can manifest outwardly as anxiety and consider the value in taking a heroic stance a...

Jun 21, 2018•37 min

Fairy Tales

Why do Jungians care about fairy tales? What is their relevance in analysis? How do they differ from myths, and why do they matter to us still? Find out what fairy tales have mattered most to our clients, and why Lisa gets cranky when people criticize fairy tales for being sexist. Here's the Dream We Analyze "I dreamt of a big cockroach. It was standing like a human and it was going to be transformed." REFERENCE The Book of Symbols BECOME A DREAM INTERPRETER We’ve created Dream School to teach o...

Jun 14, 2018•38 min

SYNCHRONICITY: the mysterious web of meaningful coincidences

Synchronicity is a concept that has fascinated thinkers across disciplines for decades, and few have delved as deeply into its nature and implications as the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. According to Jung, synchronicity refers to meaningful coincidences that defy rational explanation but that feel infused with a sense of significance or destiny. But how do we recognize such coincidences, and what role do they play in our lives and psyches? Jung himself was driven to explore the concept of synch...

Jun 07, 2018•31 min

Vampires

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, True Blood. Vampires are perennial stars in popular entertainment. How can we understand vampires psychologically, and what does their tremendous popularity tell us about our culture? This week, we look at the transformation of the vampire archetype, explore how vampires live in all of us psychologically, and trace the return of the feeling function in modern vampire images. Here's the Dream We Analyze: "This is a repeating dream. I am still at school but have...

May 31, 2018•30 min

Choosing a Life Partner

Sex? Money? Passion? Intellectual companionship? Kids? What are factors to consider when choosing a life partner? Should you be practical, or follow your heart? How is this decision different for men versus for women? We offer some ideas. Here's The Dream We Analyze: "I was in my parents’ house. My mother was showing me some renovations she had done in the bathroom. Suddenly, in the mirror, I saw myself behind me charging toward me. I turned around in terror, but there was nobody there. I turned...

May 24, 2018•39 min

Hearing Voices

The standard psychiatric understanding of auditory hallucinations is that they are a symptom of serious mental illness, and ought to be treated with antipsychotic medication, but could there other ways of understanding this phenomenon? Can such symptoms ever have meaning in their own right? We explore whether voices could sometimes be the psyche's attempt to heal itself. In the show, we mention the Hearing Voices Network. Here's the Dream We Analyze: "I was walking along on a frozen lake near th...

May 17, 2018•36 min

Alcoholism

Is alcohol dependence a misplaced expression of a spiritual thirst, or a collapse into a regressed and infantile state? We discuss Jung's involvement in the establishment of Alcoholics Anonymous. Jung's letter to Bill W. Here's the Dream We Analyze: "I’m accused of something I’m guilty of: loving the pharaoh’s daughter as she was my own. There are pictures and notebooks on my bag that prove it. So I’m dismissed from my post as guard. I end of on the floor; they paint my face black. The pharaoh a...

May 10, 2018•35 min

Shame

What’s the difference between shaming, being ashamed, and being shamed? Which of these is most alive in the culture right now? Why do we feel existential shame, and how can it be healed? Here's the Dream We Analyze: "I was on one side of the Grand Canyon with my graduate school classmates and it was daylight. We all had on our caps and gowns. There was a thin land bridge reaching over to the other side where there stood significant others, homes, and other symbols of a great future. My classmate...

May 03, 2018•33 min

Emotional Affairs

We take a look at emotional affairs and imaginal affairs. Both are more common than you might think and can lead us into an experience of our own depths. Here's the Dream We Analyze: "I was with my eldest child and my husband. We were in my old hometown. I suddenly felt an urge to visit an ex-boyfriend. I knew he was unwell even though I hadn’t spoken to him for many years—call it a sixth sense. I said to my husband and child, “We must go to his house as all is not well.” We got there and entere...

Apr 19, 2018•47 min

THE SHAPE OF WATER: is it a new fairytale?

The Shape of Water recently won the Academy Award for best film, captivating audiences with its dream-like images of other-worldly love. What can a psychological perspective contribute to understanding this film? HERE'S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE: "I was in a large, dark room. About twenty feet away was a door opening toward me with very bright light. A tall man with dark hair was looking at me. The dream happened again the next night. Same room, I was five feet away, still bright light, and the man w...

Apr 19, 2018•39 min

HOOKUPS: are they freeing or defensive?

Are hookups a joyous celebration of unbridled sexual expression? A defense against intimacy? All of the above? Here's the dream we analyze: "I am at a family reunion. I see two women on the sofa at each end. They are identical twins. I am shocked. I did not realize we had twins in the family. I see a young child sitting on the floor between the twins. The little girl gets up and is trying to walk. She falls back and hits her head. I try to run and catch her but I do not make it in time. I am ups...

Apr 19, 2018•36 min

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