JSSS Online: Remembering Ourselves Wild

The Wild Woman archetype is an integral piece of feminine nature that is so often degraded and ignored. Through film, we can see the transformation that occurs when the feminine encounters the Wild Woman. Join us in a discussion of what it means to slow down and remember our wildness.

The viewing of the short film and the discussion will take place on Zoom from 9:00 to 10:30  Pacific Time on June 6, 2025. Please register to attend.

Bios of the Presenters

Sydney Chatterton, MA
Sydney is a doctoral student at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Her research interests are the intersection of depth and somatic studies, psychosis from a Jungian lens, Jungian typology, and the affectual experience of autism spectrum disorder. She remembers chasing the boys at recess and trying to kiss them, climbing trees, and peeing in the woods.

 Zia Durnin, MA
Zia is a doctoral student at Pacifica Graduate Institute and a trainee counselor at New Beginnings Counseling Center. Her interests include the relationship between intuition, self-trust, and anxiety, as well as the role of creative expression in healing. She remembers running in the backyard at dusk, bare feet touching the grass, gleefully chasing fireflies.

Erin Ginder-Shaw, MA
Erin is a doctoral student at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Her research interests live at the intersection of post-traumatic growth and the role of embodied lived desire. She remembers sleeping under the stars, surrounded by fog, and the sense that she was becoming herself just by being alone among the trees.

 Kenlyn Mirbach, MA
Kenlyn holds an MA in clinical psychology from Pacifica, and is currently studying acting. She remembers running into the waves in her lacy red bra and panties. The innocence of her flesh reflected in the brightness of the moon. The mirror unfogged. The wildness of her womanhood unfolding without choice, just as the euphoric bud of a rose erupted in its true nature each spring.

Event Summary

Encounter with the wild feminine: From the research depths, this short film invites us to slow down and remember our wildness.

Description

Too often, we forget what we know, moving through the world with only half the picture, stifling the emergence of archetypal possibility. We cut off the parts of ourselves that don’t fit or cause too much pain, memories repressed in the unconscious and hidden in our bodies as symptoms. Psyche prefers slowness; without it, “memory often suffers from the disturbing interference of unconscious contents” (Jung, 1969, p. 282). In these moments, the deepest parts of us are forgotten and left behind. The forgotten archetype of the wild feminine lives in our collective unconscious until we have the courage to look back into her wild eyes and remember the women we once were.

Based on a dissertation by Lillian Lohr Lewis (1998), this film explores the process of remembering and integrating feminine wildness. It employs a hermeneutic methodology to illuminate the depth of mythological integration. It follows a non-linear path of individuation and explores themes of initiation, death, and rebirth. Jung wrote that “myth is more individual and expresses life more precisely than does science” (Jung, 1963, p. 3). In this increasingly complex time, we need mythological precision. We need to be able to assimilate the unknown and remember who we are and who we truly want to become (Jung, 1969).

References

Jung, C. G. (1969). Conscious, unconscious, and individuation (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H.

Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 9 pt. 1. Archetypes and the collective unconscious (2nd ed., pp. 275-289). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1939) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850969.275

Jung, C. G. (1963). Memories, Dreams, Reflections. United Kingdom: Pantheon Books.

Lewis, L. L. (1999). The wild woman archetype: Myth, magic, and the feminine personality (Order No. 9987401). Available from Dissertations & Theses @ Pacifica Graduate Institute. (304567806). https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/wild-woman-archetype-myth-magic-feminine/docview/304567806/se-2