Moon Goddess’ Symbolism, Ancient and Modern

 

Presented by
Sheherezad Shashaani, MA

Sunday,  3:30 PM - 6:00 PM,  February 19th,  2017

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(this program was not recorded)

 

Since time immemorial, mankind’s fascination with the mysterious light of the night sky has functioned as a gateway to the spiritual and imaginal realm, thereby expanding human consciousness and bringing meaning to human experiences.  The multifaceted symbolic representations of the moon played a decisive role in the initiation rites of the Ancient Ones.  It also gave them a meaningful access to the realm of the feminine Eros and Lunar consciousness.  By studying the symbolic/psychological meaning and purpose of these rituals, C.G. Jung discovered their potential to operate as a pathway into the depths of human consciousness where the ultimate solution to human suffering resides.  He did this by identifying the similarity between the primordial images that appeared in the psyche of his patients and himself and those he had discovered in ancient texts.  In this way, Jung unearthed a pattern that when looked at symbolically offered an empirical approach to healing human suffering which he named the individuation process.

Sheherezad will share a series of her painted dreams and visions related to the Moon Goddess, demonstrating the striking similarities between the ancient Mesopotamian and modern symbols.  An understanding of their symbolic meaning can point our way to the mystery as it did for our ancestors.

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Course objectives:

• Demonstrate a striking similarity between ancient Mesopotamian and modern symbols.

• Portray an initiation process through a moon experience.

• Understand the relationship between dream world and creative imagination.

• Demonstrate the religious attitude towards the symbols of the collective unconscious.

 

 

Sheherezad Shashaani, M.A., is a Jungian oriented psychotherapist practicing in Santa Monica and Irvine.  Born in Iran, she came to the U.S. in 1969.  Since then, she has traveled between her native land and the U.S., earning an M.A. in Counseling Psychology with emphasis on Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute.  Her interest in Jungian psychology and the image-producing function of the psyche led her to travel extensively through her native land, study Persian mythology, and write her thesis on the ancient Persian Moon Goddess Anahita.