Circulatio

by Richard Reeve on March 12, 2009

in @CCSeed

sun-storm-2007-gaOne of the most useful concepts I’ve  discovered in my studies of Jungian psychology is circulatio.  An alchemical concept, the equivalent in our physiology is the circulation of the blood.  It has to do with the awareness that develops over time of the different aspects of the psyche.  As Edward Edinger remarks: 

“Psychologially, circulatio is the repeated circuit of all aspects of one’s being, which gradually generates awareness of a transpersonal center uniting the conflicting factors.  There is a transit through the opposites, which are experiences alternately again and again, leading finally to the reconciliation.”

“Circular motion around a center and up and down are common in dreams.  One must make the circuit of one’s complexes again and again in the course of their transformation.  The “powers of the above and the below” are combined to the extent that the unified personality is created that connects the personal psyche (below) with the archetypal psyche (above).”  (Edinger, Anatomy of the Psyche, p. 143-144)

When gaining a sense of our development it is always important to consider a track of time.  What does the last year, or the last nine years look like?  To really gain insight into our dreams it is important to study the dream series.  What are the directional patterns?  How do the images transform through the series?  Can I follow a symbol from one dream to the next?  

I like to think of my life in terms of laps around the sun…how about you?

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  • Zoe

    I adore this concept -- never heard of it before! Logical and poetic.

    I started very early as a bookworm + writer... then as a teenager, expanded my extrovert nature by being super social... then started to shift back a little and rediscover the introspective writer. I've settled more toward that end, though I still thrive on great relations and have no doubt that my super social years worked me toward the place I am today...

    <abbr>Zoe´s last blog post..Community Contemplation: Get Paid For Doing What You Love?</abbr>

  • Hey Zoe, absolutely. The pendulum from introvert to extrovert and back is certainly one of those arcs. One of the problems with the meyers-briggs test is that folks think they have figured out their types, when in fact the sands of are being are always shifting. Any test result defines one frame of a moving image and development demands that we not stiffen up in any one place.

  • Yes! This is a deep and enchanting explanation of things. " ... a transpersonal center uniting the conflicting factors" - is awareness of this the definition of aging?
    And yes, my dreams absolutely swing in wide arcs, drifting for long periods over certain images which, a few years later, are nowhere in sight.
    I recall sustained months of flying dreams, and then ones about bodies of water, and ones about tall buildings and precipices. A progression spanning 20 years or so.

    <abbr>Mary H Ruth´s last blog post..More on leadership</abbr>

  • Thanks for sharing Mary, love the fact that you can see from that perspective of twenty years...just wonderful...

  • Jay

    Would this also be a defense for journaling? Being able to see the circular motion of our mind over a period of time might help bring it all together? Did Jung journal? Besides dreams of course.

    <abbr>Jay´s last blog post..How to Save the World</abbr>

  • Hi Jay,
    I do think journaling can help, but would add to that the effort to distill long tracks in order to gain the developed insights. For instance, I like to do a summary on a dream series. Also I like to look back over decades and try to see the big movements that were at work.
    In many ways Jung's Memories, Dreams, and Reflections is this type of autobiographical exercise.

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