Religion and Treatment Strategy
Douglas Whitcher Ph.D, C. G Jung Institute Zürich
This is a story from life, and some dreams that went along with it:
Part I: A woman finds the love of her life and a few months later he is dead.
She dreams that she is walking into the forest and she is terrified by a wild boar lurking behind the bushes.
Part II: She struggles to cope with the cruelty of what just happened to her.
She dreams that she orders food at a restaurant. She is served wild boar.
In a typical nightmare we dream of scary monsters, demons, and sinister figures that threatened to swallow, engulf, or kidnap us. The dream poses a challenge: to escape from the clutches of the monster. In the process of doing so, we are forced to leave the confines of our comfort zone in order to become familiar with a world that we previously avoided, being dangerous, uncanny, threatening. By becoming more familiar with the creatures of darkness, we learn something new, possibly of great value for our further journey, something that might be of possible aid for other persons whom we can help confront the creatures of their darkness.
In the context of folklore, this typical nightmare can be seen as “part one” of a scary story. The entire story (part 1 + part 2) is called
“Acquisition of magic powers” (Stith Thompson type D1720)
The elements of this motif:
- A lost hunter,
outcast orphan, venturesome youth curious to know about mysterious, hostile
world beyond
- Gets into strange complications, sees strange or familiar animals engaged in their rites.
- is discovered, forgiven, adopted, kept a captive
- After long study and many warnings, is sent back to his people to teach them the secrets of the animals and how their favor can be obtained
- The code or ritual is routinized
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