Booklaunch: Mary Watkins - Opening to the Imaginal

Get your copy of "Opening to the Imaginal: Waking Dreams and Invisible Guests" by Mary Watkins here: shorturl.at/swF57
ABSTRACT
In this conversation Mary Watkins and Stefano Carpani explore the trajectory of Watkins’ work with the imaginal dimension of life. They will move carefully along the fungal network between opening up to the imaginal and becoming present in all our relationships. Mary Watkins began exploring the imaginal dimension of our lives over 50 years ago. Her early books-Waking Dreams and Invisible Guests: The Development of Imaginal Dialogues-were influenced by her studies at the Jung Institute in Zurich and her participation in the archetypal psychology movement. Now these two works on the imaginal are being reissued in the series JUNGIANEUM/books: Re-Covered Classics in Analytical Psychology. While the books have been influential in integrating active imagination into therapeutic sessions and have contributed to the work of the Hearing Voices Network, they have also helped many readers to orient to and navigate their own imaginal experiences. In her early works, Mary Watkins aimed to decenter the heroic ego and allow multiple psychic voices to emerge and engage in dialogue. As she began to study colonialism and decolonization, Watkins integrated the imaginal into activist work and communities. She used an imaginal approach in workshops on various social, political, and environmental issues. In exploring the colonial mindset, Watkins recognized the need to soften and humble the ego, in line with Jung's active imagination. She emphasizes the connection between psychic decolonization, achieved through opening the imaginal, and the wider effort to decolonize relationships with human others, non-human animals, natural places, and ancestors.
BIO
Mary Watkins, Ph.D., Professor Emerita at Pacifica Graduate Institute, co-founded its M.A./Ph.D. Depth Psychology Program, the Community, Liberation, Indigenous, and Eco-Psychologies Specialization, and the Community and Ecological Fieldwork and Research curriculum. She is the author of Mutual Accompaniment and the Creation of the Commons, Waking Dreams, Invisible Guests: The Development of Imaginal Dialogues; co-author of Toward Psychologies of Liberation, Talking with Young Children About Adoption, Up Against the Wall: Re-Imagining the U.S.-Mexico Border, and a co-editor of "Psychology and the Promotion of Peace" (Journal of Social Issues, 44, 2). She works critically at the interfaces between Euro-American depth psychologies and psychologies of liberation.
ABOUT PSYCHOSOCIAL WEDNESDAYS
Every Wednesday evening, Sigmund Freud convened with colleagues in the waiting room of his Viennese practice at Berggasse 19, uncovering and debating profound ideas within the realm of psychoanalysis. C.G. Jung extended this idea by establishing a Psychological Club in Zurich, a clubhouse that became a similar setting to share ideas and offer a space where the inner, often isolating work of the soul could find harmony through exchange with others. Since 2020, Psychosocial Wednesdays, a digital salon, has integrated the concepts developed by these pioneers by offering a global platform for colleagues from diverse psychological disciplines to share their ideas and creative works.

[@wadegasque]

What an enlightening conversation. I am a Pacifica student and hope to incorporate these ideas into my clinical work. Thank you, Mary, for your scholarship. And thank you Stefano for organizing. Just purchased the book!