This Jungian Life Podcast Alchemical Mortificatio: How to Survive the Wintering of Your Life
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Dec 18, 2025 Explore the concept of mortificatio, a transformative psychological death, and its role in personal identity crises like burnout and divorce. Discover how letting go and enduring suffering can lead to rebirth and greater self-awareness. The hosts delve into alchemy's stages, linking suffering with healing and the symbolism of ravens in psychological digestion. By interpreting dreams, they illustrate themes of revelation and the choice between life and identity, ultimately emphasizing the pursuit of meaning in challenging times.
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Mortificatio As Necessary Psychological Death
- Mortificatio is the psychological 'death' when core ego attitudes collapse and restructure.
- This dark, negredo phase enables something more mature and expansive to emerge.
A Child's 'No' That Shapes A Life
- Joseph describes a client whose early survival attitude was a single, primal 'no' that later blocked growth.
- Recognizing that buried guiding principle allowed the client to release fear-based rejections of life.
Losing A Vocation And Wandering
- Lisa recounts her mortificatio when a beloved special ed program was dismantled and she wandered before finding a new path.
- She emphasizes the deep grief, aimlessness, and eventual emergence that followed.