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This paper uses alchemical metaphor to examine the psychological challenges United States military veterans face as they attempt to reintegrate into civilian society. The arc of the research tracks a military member's progression from Basic Training to the transition back into civilian life. In particular, it pinpoints the psychological harm inflicted by the military's collective consciousness on the individual psyche. Examining the process of military training from the perspective of a Jungian understanding of the psychological stages of alchemy, the paper illuminates a process that presents each military member with profound difficulties related to identity, the ability to engage in a vibrant relationship with the Self, and the ability to reenter civilian life. In conclusion, it highlights the need for civilians, elected officials, and the mental healthcare community to help military veterans address the psychological pain of their service through practices that support their adjustment to civilian life from a holistic perspective that includes image, soul, and conscious connection fostered between the ego and archetypal forces that animate human life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is an analysis of technology as a trickster archetype. This is particularly about the cultural functioning and perception of technology in America, and about the relationship between technology and corporate business. The article draws from the tradition of Lewis Mumford's cultural studies of technology, and includes a large variety of American examples of the archetype. Technology is identified as the Trickster archetype, that is as a character, not an attribute or prop. Thus, technology turns out to be an elusive, tricky character who eludes human attempts to define it or exploit it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following article defines and explores the power of myth in shaping societal attitudes. The author discusses cultural myth as it pertains to a nation's self-image and conception of its past. The American cultural myth is examined in detail to help discover the roots of unsustainable aspects of American thinking. The author discusses the history of the North American colonies, challenges faced by early settlers, and the belief systems that formed the roots of the American cultural myth. The article goes on to explore how early events brought about the evolution of the legendary American cowboy and how the cowboy mythos is closely tied to the hero's journey and psychological development. The author maintains that the Puritan mindset, the cowboy ideal and present-day circumstances have forged a national psyche resembling the Jungian orphan archetype. The author's hope is that by understanding the root causes of some of the nation's difficulties we may begin healing many of the spiritual wounds of the past and set off on a path towards stronger and healthier community bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's roles in the U.S. military continue to be a source of ideological debate. This exploratory study examined how women's soldier identities are constituted in everyday discourse. Data was gathered from 193 students on their perceptions and beliefs regarding women's roles in the armed forces and in combat zones. Initial analysis of closed questions revealed that the majority of respondents favored women's complete military participation. HoweveI; examination of participants' open-ended narratives revealed numerous contradictions to their initially supportive responses. Nearly all respondents measured women against a male standard embodied by the (hyper)masculine warrior hero archetype. Our findings indicated that women's full involvement in the U.S. military was subverted by an endorsement of the existing patriarchal frame. Such approaches embody an ideology that continues to impair women's organizational effectiveness and advancement through the reproduction of paradoxes and double binds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In April 2004 revelations of the torture and abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib detention center in Iraq created a strategic and media crisis for the U.S. military. Media coverage focused on Private Lynndie England and framed her personal and professional behaviors via the fallen woman and warrior hero archetypes. We argue that England's media construction obfuscates military culpability for the events at Abu Ghraib, preserves patriarchal militarism, and subordinates women in the U.S. military. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on those of us who work with people with disabilities in the Latino community. It is of utmost importance when delivering services to Latino men and Latina women that we understand traditional cultural stories such as uncritical loyalty and patriarchy and the role of religion in their daily lives. It is equally important to understand the stories of US culture especially tribalism/racism allied with capitalism. Both sets of cultural stories have for the most part failed in helping us to respond to the needs of people with disabilities in the Latino community. Many of us get caught between these stories of both cultures and do not know how to deal with the ensuing confusion and conflict. What we can and need to do together is to create stories that become the basis of a new cultural response to people with disabilities in la comunidad Latina. From the perspective of a theory of transformation the article uses the power of story and redefines culture as a network of stories that hang together in order to create for us a world of meaning; it invites us to participate in the most important story of our lives, the journey of transformation through the core drama of life. On our journey each of us both people with disabilities and those of us who work with them have four faces by which to encounter life: a personal, political, historical and sacred face that we practice in the service of four fundamentally different ways of life. These four faces of our being provide for us the concrete evidence as to whether or not we are relating to people with disabilities in a creative or destructive manner. The article demonstrates that only in the service of transformation are the four faces of our being fully present; this experience of wholeness allows us to participate together with people with disabilities in order to create new and more loving alternatives in the delivery of services. The article offers specific themes and strategies that identify how in daily practice we as providers can transform the way we relate to people with disabilities in the Latino community . [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article takes on the challenge of what it means to be a Latino man in the United States today. The traditional cultural stories of the macho, the patriarch, the man of gallantry have become unbearable, unfruitful, and untenable for both men and women. In this time of cultural upheaval, caught between two cultures, too many Latino men continue not to know how to respond to the changes around them. Some practice manipulation, power plays, or violence against themselves and others. There is another choice, though. From the perspective of a theory of transformation the article uses the power of story; it invites us together with Latino men to participate in the most important story of our lives, the journey of transformation through the core drama of life. On our journey each of us by the very nature of our humanity has four faces by which to encounter life: a personal, political, historical, and sacred face that we practice in the service of four fundamentally different ways of life. But only in the service of transformation as a way of life are the four faces of our being fully present so that we can participate in creating new and more loving alternative ways to be a Latino man. The article offers specific characteristics that identify how in daily practice the Latino male enacts his masculinity in the service of transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What we are witnessing in the present time in human history, in the 2020's, is a vortex of intersecting pandemics - jolting revelations that are unfolding with a terrific energy and force - so much so that we cannot ignore them or escape them. These include the world-wide pandemics of racism, COVID-19 and climate change. This paper argues that all of these swirling pandemics are manifestations of the archetype of the apocalypse, which is constellating now in a very powerful way. Any one of these phenomena could swallow humanity whole as a species. Together they represent a seemingly overwhelming challenge for us to meet over the next century of life on earth. If humanity cannot meet the challenge of these combined negative forces, it could simply perish. A multi-layered intersecting set of challenges such as this has never yet occurred in human history. We must therefore be very alert to what is going on, and as to how we can consciously mediate these threats, both individually and collectively. It also presents an unprecedented opportunity for humanity to evolve and grow psychologically both individually and collectively, nationally and globally., (© 2021, The Society of Analytical Psychology.)