Presentation

The Archetypal Death Parent
as Toxic Shame

Bringing greater consciousness to the suffering created by the Archetypal Death Parent, when it is internalised as toxic shame

Image: Beth Conklin (Igram) – Hold you

Jungian philosophy views archetypes as images which derive from the unconscious, and which symbolise a universal aspect of human experience. 

The Archetypal Death Parent symbolises harm suffered at the hands of a person or institution who we expect to nurture and protect us.

The Death Parent’s energy is multifaceted. This presentation explores the Death Parent manifest as toxic shame.

Toxic shame is an embodied conviction that we are intrinsically and fundamentally flawed.

When the Death Parent is expressed as toxic shame, it is as if we are caught in Medusa’s gaze: we become paralyzed, frozen, and turned to stone.

When the archetypal Death Parent is internalised as toxic shame, we turn Medusa’s gaze in on ourselves and out on to others. Vicious, self-perpetuating spirals ensue.

This presentation illuminates these shame-fuelled spirals, by drawing on archetypal images, psychodynamics, myth, evolution and lived experience.

The goals of this presentation are to:

  • Bring greater consciousness to The Archetypal Death Parent, and how it can be expressed as toxic shame.
  • Bring greater consciousness to the dynamics of toxic shame, and the self-perpetuating cycles of harm which it creates.
  • Set the stage for healing, through psychoeducation.

In this presentation participants will learn:

  • About the Archetypal Death Parent
  • About the dynamics of toxic shame.
  • How Death Parent as toxic shame distorts the way we see ourselves.
  • How Death Parent as toxic shame compromises relationships. 
  • How parents who carry the Death Parent archetype, unwittingly pass toxic shame on to their children.

Future presentations on shame will explore:

  • Ways that toxic shame is initially created.
  • What is involved in healing toxic shame.

Is this presentation right for you?

  • The presentation is open to anybody with an interest in psychological dynamics & how they impact behaviour.  
  • I first gave this presentation at (1) the IAJS and (2) the C.G.Jung lecture series in Bristol. It has changed significantly since then. 
  • My webinars are intended to be educational, rather than therapeutic.

Image: Kirill Skvarnikov – shutterstock

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