I had a dream last night that we were in the middle of a war and were being attacked. We were trying to figure out where to hide- under the table, under the bed; Should we run?

At some point we realized the other side was taking all the men and bombing the women and children. I woke up at 2am and turned to my partner and said – “I think the wounded masculine is because of war.” I rolled back over and eventually fell back to sleep.

Later, I was having a discussion with my father about archetypes and how they have helped people in settings of trauma. He was sharing that after WW2, soldiers came home shell shocked with what we now call PTSD, and having a difficult time reintegrating. They were told to pull up their boot straps and go back to regular life. Of course, many of them couldn’t. They were trapped in their trauma. My father went on to say Jungian archetypes are a way to help navigate people’s trauma through dream interpretation and understanding the attributes of an archetype, the collective experience.

“According to Jung, the collective unconscious contains archetypes, which are universal, archaic patterns or images that derive from the collective repeated experiences of our ancestors. These archetypes are innate and inherited, not acquired from personal experiences. They include themes such as birth, death, power, parenthood, and childhood, which are reflected in our myths, religions, dreams, and fantasies. The collective unconscious profoundly influences our behavior, attitudes, dreams, and emotions, though we are often unaware of its impact. It’s the reason certain symbols, myths, and motifs are prevalent across different cultures and historical periods.”  SOURCE

And my dream last night? The collective unconscious making its way into my personal subconscious, to quote my father. There are so many wars happening worldwide, how are we processing it? How is it showing up in your own field?

I continue to pray for peace, peace within myself, within our global community and with our home, planet earth.