The Serpent and the Staff/ The Mermaid and the Diver: Stalking the Roots of Psychoanalysis

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Ronald Schenk

The Serpent and the Staff/ The Mermaid and the Diver

Stalking the Roots of Psychoanalysis

Ronald Schenk

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English

Chiron Publications
09 June 2025

Analytical & Jungian psychology

Within a field which ostensibly aims its focus on the unknowability of a realm below the surface, the unconscious, but which continues its tradition of basing itself in a rational mode ""above ground,"" ego consciousness, this book aims to ""stalk the roots"" of the psychoanalytic enterprise in a ground breaking manner. The goal is to bring to light foundational ancestors and agencies, invisible principles and ways of seeing, underlying attitudes and structures which make up the core of the analytic mind in its approach to the question, what heals? It starts with the ancient art of alchemy which integrates theory and practice, worker and worked upon, and moves from there to illustrate the nature of language as an undercurrent in the flow of the healing process. Ritual and myth serve as guides into the core inter-relational nature of the psyche, as a ""wilderness of mirrors,"" and finally pathos, experience itself in its essential leaning toward chaos. is presented as the psyche's ""matter"" being worked upon in the analytical mode. In short, ""Stalking..."" intends toward opening the vision of a field which daily grapples with the darkest ""underworldly"" aspects of the human soul, towards its ur, originary,

depth and breadth.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter One - Alchemical Awakening: the Initial Mess

Chapter Two - Hands in the Mess: Prima materia in Psychoanalysis

Chapter Three - Rhetoric and Therapy

Chapter Four - Ritual as Healer: Return to Origins

Chapter Five - Myth as Guide: Wound as Healer

Chapter Six - Gnostic Myth as Dream

Chapter Seven - Self/Other: The Infinite Wilderness of Mirrors

Chapter Eight - The Fiery Furnace/The Sacred Bath

Chapter Nine - Slipping into the Swamp

Chapter Ten - Psychopathology I: A Double Vision

Chapter Eleven - Psychopathology II: The Soul as Borderline

Bibliography

Index

By: Ronald Schenk
Imprint: Chiron Publications
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 13mm
Weight: 304g
ISBN: 9781685035136
ISBN 10: 1685035132
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 09 June 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Ronald Schenk, CMSW, is a Jungian analyst with a PhD in Phenomenological Psychology and training in psychoanalysis, practicing in Texas as a member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts where he has served in many administrative positions including President and as President of the Council of North American Societies of Jungian Analysis. He has a background in theater and has lived and worked with Navajo Native Americans. He has lectured and published several essayson clinical and cultural subjects and psychological theory and has created a multi-disciplinary presentational mode which includes lecture, song, art, dance and poetry. His previously published books are: The Soul of Beauty: A Psychological Investigation of Appearance; Dark Night: The Appearance of Death in Everyday Life; The Sunken Quest, the Wasted Fisher, the Pregnant Fish: Post-Modern Reflections on Depth Psychology; and American Soul: A Cultural Narrative.