Archetypal Forces: From Instinct to Culture.

The Transformation of the Human Spirit.

Jan-June 2025

This series presents a condensed version of the individuation process described by C.G. Jung. In it, we observe a sequence of patterns, rhythms, motifs, and numbers as we become aware of the creative process of psychological or spiritual development, evolving in time and space. Through physical experience—through the body—the human soul evolves; the innate potential of each human being emerges from the interactions and difficulties of everyday life. It seems that the next step in evolution points not to another level of biological growth, but to spiritual development, to the development of the soul. As the individual discovers and confronts their origins and internal dynamics, the unity of opposing or compensating forces emerges, healing the gap between matter and spirit, the individual and the collective.

A ongoing process of creation and re-creation, the process of life itself, as it becomes conscious through each individual.

Each new generation must integrate and transcend the patterns of the society into which it is born, thus giving continuity to life.

The series is divided into four parts, with one, two, or three groups, some ending with a single image.

Part I: Instinct, Subtle Body, and Archetype (Tree of Life).

Part II: Objective Psyche, Self, and The Tower.

Part III: Listening with the Body: Feelings and The Stone.

Part IV: Spirit in Matter: Source of Energy and Generation of Consciousness, and Mercurius Duplex.

Click on the image to expand the content.

PART I

Archetype

Subtle Body

Instinct

PART II

Objective Psyche

Self

PART III

Listening with the body: feelings

PART IV

Spirit in Matter: A source of energy and generation of consciousness.

The Archetypal Forces series is dedicated to my dear friend and mentor, the late Jungian analyst J. Gary Sparks, whose work focused (among other things) on helping us understand the spirit and matter, and for this purpose he wrote four books:

At the Heart of Matter. Jung’s Spiritual Testament.

Valley of Diamonds. Adventures in Number and Time with Marie Louise von Franz.

Carl Jung and Arnold Toynbee. The Social Meaning of Inner Work.

The Call of Destiny. An Introduction to Carl Jung’s Major Works.

You can find more information about Gary's life and work in the In Memory section of this site.