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http://www.jungsouthernafrica.co.za/

Jung Southern Africa - SAAJA, C. G. Jung Centre, 87 Main Road, Rondebosch, Cape Town (2026)

30/04/2026

Book Report | Melanie Klein’s Envy and Gratitude is a seminal work on envy and both Carlos Byington, and Ann and Barry Ulanov make reference to her thinking.

The child has urgent desires for food as well as near constant affirmations of love and security. The mother is envied for her ability to dispense gratification. Klein discusses many aspects of idealisation, of depression, of defences employed to counter anxiety, of positive and negative developments that may or may not build the child’s ego. She also illustrates with case studies.

In a compact book on creative envy Carlos Byington sees covetousness as a structuring function encouraging growth and human development. The play Amadeus vaunts the creative genius of Mozart, contrasting the equally powerful bitter stagnation and self-destructive behaviour resulting from Salieri’s defences against his own creativity. For Byington there is a strong influence of Christian morality whose binary division of life=Good death=Bad includes concepts of envy and jealousy as sinful and tending to be repressed into the shadow.

The Ulanovs have taken apart the fairy story of Cinderella to show envy in many aspects: that of the envied; those who envy; the three mother figures of the good-but-late mother, the cruel stepmother and the fairy godmother; envy of the masculine (including Cinderella’s animus, while the prince is the only male figure in the story), and envy of goodness. The second half of the book opens to the morals being taught. Where envy is sin, the envier faces spiritual loss and degradation. Extreme envy acts on the three sisters to dry up their desire for relating to the male s*x. Cinderella’s values such as patience, diligence and care are characteristics that oil a well-functioning society.

To slightly stretch a point on projection of envy, Robert Johnson’s book Inner Gold speaks to the need for us to find another person who holds a quality or qualities which we admire or envy, not realising that we already contain it. Perhaps we’re not ready to see it in ourselves; we see it in another and envy it. Eventually, we‘re able to recognise it in ourselves and we take back our gold.

~ Book Report written by Debra West, Librarian, Jean Albert Library, CG Jung Centre

Bibliography:
Klein, Melanie (1975) Envy and Gratitude & other works 1946-1963. New York: Delta.

Byington, Carlos Madeu Botelho (2003) Creative Envy: The Rescue of One of Civilization’s Major Forces. Wilmett, ILL: Chiron.

Ulanov, Ann & Barry Ulanov Cinderella and Her Sisters: The Envied and the Envying. Philadelphia: Westminster Press.

Johnson, Robert (2008) Inner Gold: Understanding Psychological Projection. Kihei, Hawai’i:Koa Books.

Jean Albert Library - Visitors are Welcome
The Jean Albert Library at the C.G. Jung Centre has an impressive collection of books on a wide variety of Jungian topics. It’s open on Tuesdays 10am – 2pm, and on Thursdays from 2pm - 7pm. Becoming a member allows one to borrow books and audio-visual materials. Explore at https://jungsouthernafrica.co.za/jean-albert-library/

28/04/2026

At its core, the narcissistic personality may rely on glamorous projections and idealised self-images to sustain a fragile sense of identity and protect against collapse into an inner void. In this sense, the individual can become a prisoner of their own image, held captive by the very persona that promises protection.

Beneath the grandiosity often lies intense anxiety: the fear of falling into an internal emptiness, and equally, the fear of being psychologically overwhelmed or annihilated by a separate other - which is why difference is often not tolerated. There is a difficulty in operating from a grounded being, a retreat from the ordinary vulnerability of life itself, in an attempt to defend against unbearable, unknowable inner states. Yet in doing so, the most vulnerable and authentic parts of the self may become disowned, ‘killed off’, or locked up behind a closed door in the psyche.

During last week’s presentation, ‘Envy, Echo and Narcissus: The shadows of self-love and self-hate, Susan E. Schwartz offered a deeply moving exploration of the lived psychological reality of narcissism, moving far beyond surface labels and into the profound suffering that often lies beneath. What emerged so powerfully in Susan’s talk was this painful paradox: a profound hunger to be seen, loved, and mirrored, alongside an equally powerful fear of truly being seen. Here we encounter the wound at the heart of narcissistic suffering - a painful disconnection from the inner self and from the deeper organising centre of the psyche.

This creates an enduring tension between isolation and intimacy: the longing for connection and the terror of it. And yet, within the Jungian frame, this wound is not only pathology. It may also become a threshold. If consciously held, the painful tension between separateness and relatedness can open a doorway toward a deeper encounter with oneself and with others. The very place of suffering may become the place of transformation. This is where hope lies: not in the collapse of the defensive image alone, but in the gradual emergence of a more grounded, relational, and authentic self.

~ Written by Denise Grobbelaar, , Jungian Analyst

Image credit: Albert György’s Melancholy (Photographer unknown)

27/04/2026

Our Quote of the Week.

“Envy arises when we are cut off from our own instinctual life. Then we must look outside ourselves for what we have lost within. In a culture that values perfection above all else, we are driven to compare, to compete, to imitate. We become fascinated by surfaces and appearances, and the deeper life of the soul is neglected. The feminine, which would root us in the body and in relationship, is devalued, and so we remain hungry, restless, and empty.”

~ Marion Woodman, 𝘈𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘜𝘯𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦. Toronto: Inner City Books, p. 9.

24/04/2026

𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧 | 𝗕𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗮𝘀 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄 - 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗴’𝘀 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴, presented by international guest Erica Lorentz.

In 1913, Carl Jung followed his soul into the unconscious. This journey became the Rosetta Stone for the rest of his research and work. His destiny was to redeem the embodied soul from vilification and exile within modern psychology. The body has been relegated to the shadow.

Through the neuroscience of Iain McGilchrist, Erica Lorentz will explore why our healthy instinct, emotion, intuition, energy, imagination, the somatic unconscious, and the feminine were pushed into the cultural unconscious. Through a historical lens, she will also trace how the embodied soul came to be banished into the cultural shadow.

Jung states that we cannot live a soulful life or transform without connection to our body – they are inextricably linked.

Erica will demonstrate how Jung’s favourite method of working, embodied active imagination, offers a way to engage the body through the imaginal realm and the subtle body, allowing us to reconnect with the embodied soul and the inter-active field, and retrieve it from the shadow both personally and professionally.

Discussion of film clips and selected readings will help flesh out these ideas and deepen the experiential understanding of Jung’s legacy to us.

✨Format: Online via Zoom
✨Date: Tuesday, 19 May 21 2026
✨Time: 7.30pm - 9pm SAST (UTC +2)
✨Participation fee: ZAR320
✨Registered participants receive recordings

For more details and to book online, follow this link: https://www.jungsouthernafrica.co.za/event/body-as-shadow-jungs-method-of-embodied-healing/

23/04/2026

What we envy in others is often what we have disowned in ourselves.

This is one of the more uncomfortable truths that depth psychology asks us to sit with. Envy is not simply wanting what another person has. It is a signal from the unconscious, pointing us toward something unlived within our own psyche.

Jung understood that the shadow contains not only what we reject as unacceptable, but also what we have never dared to claim. Our unlived creativity. Our unspoken authority. Our capacity for joy. When we encounter these qualities in another person and feel that familiar sting, we are not merely admiring them. We are meeting a disowned part of ourselves, projected outward onto someone who seems to carry it with ease.

James Hollis writes that "what is unlived within us will be projected onto the world and experienced as fate." This is the quiet tragedy of envy. Rather than recognising the projection for what it is, we convince ourselves that something has been withheld from us, that life has been unfair, that the other person possesses what we were denied.

But the mirror does not lie. It reflects back to us exactly what we need to see, if we are willing to look.

The analytical task is not to eliminate envy but to follow it inward. To ask, what in me is calling for attention? What have I buried under years of adaptation, compliance, or fear? The envied other is not the enemy. They are the mirror, and the reflection belongs to us.

This is the sacred work of individuation. Not perfection, but honest encounter with all that we are and all that we have refused to become. The true Self does not emerge through comfort. It emerges through the willingness to descend into what we would rather not see.

The shadow asks only one thing of us. To stop looking away.

~ Written by Konrad van Staden (), Jungian Analyst and Clinical Psychologist

Image: Separation in the Evening (1922) - Paul Klee

Reference:
Hollis, J. (2005). Finding meaning in the second half of life: How to finally, really grow up. Gotham Books.

21/04/2026

In the myth of Narcissus, his gazing into the pool is generally interpreted as an act of egocentric self‑admiration. An alternative reading suggests that the image reflected back at him is, in fact, that of the Self. Narcissus identifies with the beauty and power of the archetypal Self; he perceives it reflected before him and is possessed by it, yet he is unable to know it as other to the ego. The narcissist cannot risk entering into a relationship with the Self, as the ego structure is too immature to sustain such an encounter.

For the person stuck at the narcissistic level, merged with the Self and heavily defended against inner rage and outer relationships; to undergo transformation, a process of spiritual regeneration is required. This entails a shift toward reclaiming internal authority through a living connection with the soul‑self. Inflation keeps the narcissist aloft on the wings of a lofty spirit, far removed from the “muck” of soul‑making. Central to this process is the integration of the split‑off feminine, in both men and women.

Historically, the myth of Narcissus has often been interpreted moralistically. A depth‑oriented version of the myth appears in the account of Pausanias [2CE] (1). He relates a version of the myth which points to Persephone’s abduction to the underworld by Hades/Dionysus, precipitated by her picking narcissus flowers out in the field.

‘Persephone in the underworld, invisible to the sight of Demeter and all the other gods and mortals, would therefore represent a hidden split off feminine side of the narcissistic character’ (2).

The move away from narcissistic defences (idealisation and grandiose control) demands a sacrifice of power and of the exalted Apollonian spirit. This chthonic Dionysian path of descent values depression and rage, as well as terror and chaos, as necessary dimensions of psychological transformation.

When the tension between consciousness and the unconscious can be endured, the narcissist’s striving for perfection can be relinquished; a connection with Self emerges, grounded in a relationship with the archetype of embodiment, symbolically represented by the coniunctio of Dionysus and Persephone as sovereign queen of the underworld.

~ Written by Elizabeth Vos, Clinical Psychologist and Jungian Analyst

Image: Persephone (1912) by John William Waterhouse (WikiArt.org)

References:
(1) Schwartz-Salant, Nathan, (1982). Narcissism and Character Transformation. Inner City Books, p.140
(2) Schwartz-Salant, Nathan, (1982). Narcissism and Character Transformation. Inner City Books, p.143

20/04/2026

Our Quote of the Week.

“Narcissism represents the alienated ego that cannot love, that is, cannot give interest and libido to life because it is not yet related to itself. To fall in love with the reflected image of oneself can only mean that one does not yet possess oneself.”

~ Edward Edinger, 𝘌𝘨𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦 (1972), p. 161

16/04/2026

Narcissus is often understood as a figure of vanity and self-absorption, but this misses the deeper tragedy. His fate is not that he loves himself too much, but that he has chosen to turn away from being met by another. His own image has become a soothing substitute, compensating for and protecting against the uncertainty of relationships.

From a developmental perspective, the child’s sense of self comes into being through encounter. A child does not simply know itself. It only finds its fingers and toes when they find its mouth. Similarly, the child’s sense of self is shaped immensely by what it sees mirrored in the eyes of its mother. When this goes sufficiently well, the child internalises a trust in the interpersonal world and its potential to hold, support, and allow growth.

In the case of Narcissus, something of this process appears to have faltered. He turns to the pool because what he finds there is more predictable - it does not hurt or misread his needs. It reflects exactly what is there. In early infancy, this kind of mirroring is essential and deeply affirming. So for Narcissus to find solace only in his own reflection, reveals an agonising adaptation to a world that has felt unreliable and insufficient.

In some ways this is a universal truth, the world invariably betrays our hopes for care and there is necessary turning inward to recover.

Relationships may be present, even caring, yet the responses of others can in these times feel misattuned or insufficient, failing to touch a person’s inner world. To personally manage these moments is an expression of independent strength. However, to remain within that closed off loop might offer stability, but it also limits growth.

Drawing from a relationship requires risking openness. Relationship introduces friction, difference, and misunderstanding, and it is precisely these tensions that can stimulate movement within the psyche. It is challenging to invite these dialogues. However, the myth of narcissus highlights the tragedy of choosing detachment over true encounters. It entrenches an isolation that resembles relation, but lacks its essential capacity to affect and be affected.

~ Written by Austin Smith, Clinical Psychologist and Jungian Analyst

Image: Self-portrait in the mirror of the bathroom - Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947)

15/04/2026

Between April and June you can look forward to a series of online events that together trace the many ways the unconscious shapes our inner lives, our relationships, and the cultures we inhabit.

In 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹, 𝗗𝗿 𝗦𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗻 𝗘. 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝘄𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘇 examines the psychology of narcissism and envy - their roots, their costs, and what becomes possible when they are brought into awareness.

In 𝗠𝗮𝘆, 𝗘𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘇 traces the long cultural exile of the body from modern psychology, and explores how Jung's method of embodied active imagination offers a path toward reclaiming what has been consigned to the shadow.

Our 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗴 & 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝗺 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 screens 𝘚𝘬𝘪𝘯 - the powerful story of Sandra Laing - which holds up the collective shadow of Apartheid South Africa as both historical record and psychological mirror.

And in 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲, 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮 𝗱𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝘁 brings Jung into dialogue with Iain McGilchrist to examine how our mode of attention shapes the reality we are able to perceive.

For more details about each event and to book online, follow this link: https://www.jungsouthernafrica.co.za/events/ We look forward to seeing you at one or more of our events!

𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦: As places are limited, we kindly request that you register in advance for any events you wish to attend. Bookings close the day before each event, and we are unfortunately no longer able to accept registrations after the deadline.

14/04/2026

As Marie-Louise von Franz notes, “enviousness is one of the greatest enemies of human civilization everywhere.” Envy is mobilised in collective life, particularly in negative propaganda: “Look, they have it, and we don’t have it!”

When projection takes hold collectively, it becomes especially potent. What we won’t face in ourselves is cast onto others, often unconsciously. This shapes how groups perceive each other, fuelling mistrust and division. Instead of real people, we see only what we fear or reject, and the world is split into us and them. Jung observes, “Since it is universally believed that man is merely what his consciousness knows of itself, he regards himself as harmless… it is always ‘the others’ who do them.”

In George Orwell’s 1984, this dynamic is depicted through the ritual of the Two Minutes Hate. Citizens are compelled to direct anger toward a manufactured enemy, binding the population through shared hostility. Language is manipulated, truth becomes slippery, and independent thought is deemed dangerous.

We may recognise these dynamics in our own time, particularly in situations of conflict, where language is weaponised and groups are cast as heroes or villains. As public discourse loses nuance under collective projection, the danger extends beyond distortion to a gradual loss of our ability to recognise one another as fully human. In these conditions, the other is no longer met as they are, but pulled into shared beliefs, either reflecting what we already believe, or carrying what we cannot see in ourselves. The possibility of genuine relationship begins to collapse, both between individuals and across communities.

Psychologically, this points to the danger of an unrecognised shadow. When it is not faced inwardly, it emerges as certainty and righteousness, and the problem is located outside ourselves. As Jung writes, “we must all open our eyes to the shadow that looms behind contemporary man…” Recognising projection and tolerating what we disown in ourselves is not only a personal task. It is also a societal one, shaping how we relate, speak, and live together in the world.

~ Written by Charlotte Hoffman (.analyst), Clinical Psychologist and Jungian Analyst.

Image Credit: René Magritte, The Portrait, 1935. Oil on canvas. Museum of Modern Art, New York.

References:
- Jung, C.G. (1970). The Undiscovered Self. Collected Works, Vol. 10. Princeton University Press. (§440 & §572)
- Von Franz, M.-L. (1997). Archetypal Patterns in Fairy Tales. Inner City Books.
- Orwell, G. (1949). 1984. Secker & Warburg.

13/04/2026

Our Quote of the Week.

“Enviousness is one of the greatest enemies of human civilization everywhere. That is why envy and jealousy are always evoked in negative political propaganda. One has only to say, “Look, they have it and we don’t have it!” and everyone’s emotions are aroused. That witch trick has been used throughout history to lure people out of themselves and into mass movements.”

~ Marie-Louise van Franz, 𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘢𝘭 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘺 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴. Inner City Books. p. 141

09/04/2026

We do not only carry our shadow in the mind. We carry it in the body.

This is the insight that Marion Woodman returned to throughout her life's work. The body is not separate from the psyche. It is the psyche made flesh. And when we disown parts of ourselves, when we refuse our hunger, our anger, our longing, the body becomes the container for everything we will not allow ourselves to feel.

Envy lives here too. Not only as a thought but as a sensation. A tightening in the chest. A hollowness in the gut. When we look at another person and feel that ache of wanting, we are not simply comparing lives.

We are feeling the weight of our own unlived embodiment. Woodman understood that many of us, particularly those shaped by perfectionism and control, have abandoned the body long before we realise it. We armour ourselves against vulnerability and then wonder why we feel so hollow when we witness someone else living freely in their skin.

Projection finds its way into our relationship with the body itself. We envy the other's ease, their appetite, their presence, because we have made our own body the enemy. Woodman saw this pattern with profound clarity. She recognised that the rejected body becomes the shadow, and that healing requires not mastery over the flesh but a return to it.

Jung taught us that the shadow contains potential gold. Woodman showed us where that potential is buried: in the body we have starved, silenced, or shamed into submission. The mirror of envy does not only reflect what we have not dared to think. It reflects what we have not dared to feel, to inhabit, to become.

Individuation is not a journey of the mind alone. It is a descent into the living body, where the Self has been waiting all along.

~ Written by Konrad van Staden (), Jungian Analyst and Clinical Psychologist

Image: Bos (1912), Jacoba van Heemskerck

Reference:
Woodman, M. (1982). Addiction to Perfection: The still unravished bride. Inner City Books.

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