Barbara Hannah
(1891- 1986)
Striving Towards Wholeness

Saturday, June 15, 2024
10:00 am – 3:00 pm EST
a Zoom seminar led by Bonnie Damron, PhD, LCSW

If we can entertain the idea that each of us is born with a daimon, an “inner companion,” an innate intelligence, or a particular destiny that works its way through our lives, Barbara Hannah’s would be characterized as a striving towards wholeness.

In this workshop we will follow two currents in the life of Barbara Hannah, Jungian analyst, teacher, scholar, and author. First, we shall begin with her life story, starting with her childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, then to Paris where, at age 38, she had a “dark night of the soul” and then found herself in Zurich at the door of C.G. Jung. From there we shall see how her analysis led her into her calling as an analyst, pioneer in the field of analytical psychology, scholar, author, and friend. Barbara Hannah was a shining example for all of us who dare to follow a calling, even when we have no idea where it will lead, and stay true to that call through the dark and into the light.

Next, we shall turn our attention specifically to her work with the animus. Barbara Hannah spoke of the animus as the archetype which personifies the inner spirit or unconscious mind of women, and which typically appears as a masculine figure, or figures, in women’s dreams, and in projections. This life-long work began in 1931 at a lecture given by C.G. Jung on the anima and animus, during which he proposed a conceptual model for the inner development of the animus. At the end of the discussion, he stated that a man’s ideas about the animus can produce a model based only on intellectual assumptions, and not grounded in direct experience with the animus.

Addressing the women present at this lecture, and noting that only a woman could have a direct experience with the animus, Jung said, “Now that is my proposition, but I leave it to the ladies to invent something better or argue this proposition.” Miss Hannah heard the clarion call. Over the decades ahead, she generated a body of work and created a toolbox of practical and insightful methods that provide guidance for women who confront and are confronted by the problem of the animus.

Our discussion shall include some of Miss Hannah’s insights about what the animus is, how it functions in a woman’s life, and how she might safely create a fruitful relationship with this complex and mercurial inner figure. We shall also reach into her toolbox of practical methods for engaging with the animus, the “spirit of inner truth in women.”

This program is for people of all of gender identities, and not only for people who are gender identified as female, or as a woman. The work with the archetype of the “invisible partner,” as expressed through the animus and anima, is ultimately transcendent of gender. Each of us has an inner opposite, which we encounter in our dreams and projections. Consider how helpful it could be to learn more about how this fundamental archetype of the “invisible partner” affects your inner life, your relationships, and your social world. By making a conscious relationship with that invisible partner, each of us moves closer to discovering the depths of our androgynous nature. What we are suggesting may require the work of translation of terms and we encourage everyone to participate.

Please come prepared to roll up your sleeves and do some work. Bring your journals, art materials, and memories, dreams, and reflections for your eyes and ears along. You may also consider stories, fairy tales, plays or films that reflect the animus in your life and the lives of women. This is a workshop, and not a lecture. Therefore, we will spend time on Miss Hannah’s material, have time for reflection, and for dialogue. Together we shall explore the relationship between ego and archetype.

Learning Objectives:

The program is designed so that participants will be able to:

1. Discuss how significant activities of the objective psyche, such as dreams, visions, and synchronicities influenced, and at times, directed Barbara Hanna’s pathway to psychological growth and her life’s work.

2. Describe how significant of activities of the objective psyche, such as dreams, visions, and synchronicities have influenced, or at times directed, your personal pathway to psychological grown and your life’s work.

3. Describe how “striving toward wholeness,” a phrase Barbara Hannah used as the title of one of her books, aptly describes the core pattern in her life. Consider how this idea might apply personally and clinically.

4. Define the animus archetype, as described by Barbara Hannah.

5. Distinguish the difference between the logos function and the animus archetype.

6. Describe how a woman is affected when the animus remain unconscious. Consider ways in which this situation appears in personal and clinical situations.

7. Discuss specific methods, as described by Barbara Hannah, a woman can apply in order to develop a conscious relationship with the animus. Consider how a conscious relationship with the animus looks like personally and clinically.

8. Observe how the historical, social, and cultural background of the taming and suppression of women stem from Bronze Age law codes became fixed traditions in the collective, and continue to influence the psychological, intellectual, and social development of women until today.

9. Consider how the pioneering body of work produced by Barbara Hannah, Emma Jung, and other professionals in the field of Jungian Psychology created theories and methods to expand feminine consciousness.

Bonnie L. Damron, PhD, LCSW, is a psychotherapist, ethnographer, storyteller, and Archetypal Pattern Analyst in private Clinical Social Work practice in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. During four decades of practice, she has conducted seminars on archetypal motifs in fairy tales, myths, the arts, and the writings of C.G. Jung. She also leads study tours to Crete and the Greek mainland. Dr. Damron holds a Master of Social Work degree from The Catholic University of America, a Doctoral Degree in American Culture Studies from the University of Maryland, and a Certificate as an Archetypal Pattern Analyst from the Assisi Institute for Archetypal Studies.

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Contact hours: Contact hours: 4 CE contact hours for Licensed NYS Social Workers, Psychoanalysts and Creative Arts Therapists for this program.

The C.G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology, Inc. is recognized by New York State Education Department’s State Board of Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0350.

The C.G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology, Inc. is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts. #P-0015.

C.G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology, Inc. is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists, #CAT-0068.