Who is Ginette Paris

Depth psychology is a branch of psychology that assumes our Self consists not only of consciousness -- the part of our soul that says "I" and experiences the world as "I" -- but unconscious depths that contain instincts, memories, associations, dreams, complexes, and patterns of behavior. When a thought "strikes us," when we feel anxiety every time we get in a crowd, when a dream contains an odd image that also occurs in many world mythologies, we are receiving messages from the unconscious. Depth psychology attempts to explore and grapple with our unconscious, so far as we can, by utilizing techniques like word association, active imagination, and dream interpretation.

Archetypes, first proposed by depth psychologist Carl Jung, are certain patterns embedded in our unconscious that are related to common facets of human existence. For example, the common experiences of childhood have left all of us with certain associations, instincts, and feelings related to the Mother. These associations, feelings, and ideas of Motherhood will be different in each individual and culture, but there is an underlying tendency for them to follow certain patterns. That underlying tendency is an archetype. According to archetypal psychology, these archetypes are the cause of similar images appearing in many world mythologies: for instance, most have a Divine Mother or mother goddess figure. Archetypal psychology attempts to identify, acknowledge, and work with behaviors, feelings and associations that cluster around these underlying archetypes. Archetypal psychology uses comparative mythology as one important method for uncovering these patterns.

Dr. Ginette Paris writes about trauma, growth, love, work, relationships, depression, and many facets of human experience based on her training in depth psychology and her experience as a therapist. In the process, she holds up a mirror to our own soul and helps us understand ourselves better. She has a vivid style and uses plenty of real-world examples based on her own life and those of her patients.

This book explores certain archetypal patterns or forces in our daily lives personified as Dionysus, Hermes, and Mnemosyne (memory). Dionysus embodies male sexual potency and joy. Dr. Paris examines how our modern culture's ambivalence towards Dionysus is connected to drug and alcohol addiction. Nimble Hermes is communication, both the art of rhetoric and of deceit, which can be used or abused. Dr. Paris rounds out her discussion with a subtle analysis of different kinds of memory, from nostalgia to literacy to computer memory.

Using these three wide-ranging themes, Dr. Paris explores facets of our life experience with unique insight and sensitivity.

Reviews will give you a better sense of what this book is about and what it has to offer. See the reviews on:

• Pacifica's website
  
• Amazon's Customer Reviews

In this groundbreaking feminist work, Dr. Paris focuses on three archetypes or forces that shape our lives individually and collectively, particularly the lives of women. She uses the mythological examples of Greek goddesses as easily identifiable expressions of these archetypes: Aphrodite as "civilized" sexuality and attention to beauty and sensuality; Artemis as the ecological and self-sufficient aspects of solitude; and Hestia as embodying stability, hearth, and home.

Many female readers have found this book revelatory and transformative in their own lives. However, its audience reaches beyond women, providing everyone with new ways of envisioning and experiencing the world. Some classical scholars have criticized Dr. Paris' archetypal approach as a misinterpretation of ancient goddesses changed to suit modern feminist needs. Other critics have objected to her views on the psychology of abortion, further expanded in her later work.

For more information, see the excerpted reviews of Pagan Meditations here:

• The Pacifica website
  
• The Foundation for Mythological Studies website
  
• Amazon Customer Reviews

New in 2007!

Speaking with clear, vivid language, Dr. Paris explores human experience and the soul with refreshing and painful examples drawn from her own life and those of her patients. A nearly fatal concussion and the eerie medical prison of an intensive care unit cause Dr. Paris to reassess how our medical profession treats patients' bodies but not their souls, and how the models of psychology do and do not pick up the slack.

Her theories of therapy and psychology were challenged during this ordeal, and she comes through it with profound insights into how we live, feel, think, and survive. Her writing covers religion, philosophy, science, and almost every way we have of thinking about and living in the world and with one another.

I highly recommend this, the most recent of Dr. Paris' unique and deeply insightful books.

You may read the Preface of this book online, or reviews at:

• Jungian Arena
• Amazon Customer Reviews
  
• The Foundation for Mythological Studies Website