THE JUNGIAN HUNTER: ALCHEMY, UNICORNS & THE ST.HUBERT STAG | Jungian | WH Martin

William Hess-Martin of Venatic Opus is a writer, hunter, artist and Jungian in Southern Quebec, Canada. On this Jungian walkabout, we explore a handful of the ideas of Swiss psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, as they relate to hunting. After Jungian readings about hunting taboos & ritual in native cultures, we begin with musings on Canada, America, Europe, Catholicism and Protestantism all leading to St. Hubert [the patron saint of hunters] for a discussion about the symbology, history and legend of the saint's conversion before the divine stag. From Hubert's stag to William's buck, we hear the story of William's first whitetail hunt and what that meant for him opening conversations on instincts, the search, and the numinous. Through the symbol of the white deer, William dives into Carl Jung's study of alchemy as a metaphor for personal transformation, a combining of the material with the spiritual; including the Greek myth of the huntress Atalanta appearing in an alchemical text from the 1600's. Then we're on to the fantastical unicorn of medieval legend & lore with William beautifully describing the famous Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries with their Edenic forests, hounds, huntsmen, and the pure-hearted virgin. We end this Jungian trek on the most Jungian topic possible...the interpretation of dreams, and hunting dreams no less! 

Reading from Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales and Interpretation of Fairy Tales by Marie-Louise von Franz. 

Check out William's Instagram and Venatic Opus blog.

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