This presentation will discuss how the trauma of political exile splits and shapes the psyche of displaced individuals, making their lives psychologically conflictual and experienced incongruous. The thesis explores how Jungian theory can assist displaced persons in fashioning a new mythic center that grounds the uncentered, culturally diverse self-states that develop from the acculturation experience. It will discuss how Jungian analysis is uniquely suited to working with the exile complex and the phenomenon of Othering through the amplification of a fairy tale, the presenter’s own dreamwork, the process of active imagination, and the resultant transcendent function of the symbol—ultimately bringing meaning to the trauma of exile.

Group discussion and personal applications of these Jungian concepts will be further explored and encouraged in the Saturday workshop.

LOURDES HERNANDEZ (USA) was marked by the traumas of war and political asylum when her family fled Cuba to take refuge in the United States. She holds postgraduate degrees from Pacifica Graduate Institute, Regis University, Hermeneutics, and Counseling. After a period of study in Zurich, Lourdes returned stateside to complete her analytic training with the IRSJA and has a bilingual private practice in Boulder, Colorado. Lourdes is a lifelong musician and visual artist.

If you register to attend online via ZOOM, the ZOOM link will be sent out on Friday, September 19, 2025 by Noon (12:00 pm) Mountain Time.

This lecture will be video recorded. Everyone who registers will receive access to the video one week after.

Santa Fe Friends Meeting Hall

505 Camino De Los Marquez
Santa Fe, NM

Open Google Map