The Archetype of Initiation:

A Physical Manifestation Through Psychically Co-Created Trauma

by
Vanessa N. Smith

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of

Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology

Pacifica Graduate Institute

23 February 2018
 ii

© 2018 Vanessa N. Smith

All rights reserved
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I certify that I have read this paper and that in my opinion it conforms to acceptable
standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a
product for the degree of Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology.

____________________________________
Joanna Walling, M.A., L.M.F.T.
Portfolio Thesis Advisor

On behalf of the thesis committee, I accept this paper as partial fulfillment of the
requirements for Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology.

____________________________________
Thomas Steffora, M.A., L.M.F.T.
Research Associate

On behalf of the Counseling Psychology program, I accept this paper as partial

fulfillment of the requirements for Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology.

____________________________________
Jemma Elliot, M.A., L.M.F.T., L.P.C.C.
Director of Research
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Abstract

The Archetype of Initiation:

A Physical Manifestation Through Psychically Co-Created Trauma

by Vanessa N. Smith

Ritualized initiations are explored as having an important role in the breakdown of ego

that is necessary for the growth and integration of components of the self once hidden in

the shadows of the unconscious. In the modern world, the drive for linear growth and

financial conquest has broken connection to archetypal, spiritual, and mythical guidance

as well as to the numinous experiences that allow transformation. Through heuristic

methodology, both depth psychological literature as well as broader media are considered

to determine the importance of initiation for psychic growth and how a lost connection

affects recent generations. This work shows that through the psychotherapeutic process,

the therapist can provide the stage needed for a client in a transitional phase of life to

safely break down and rebuild the ego structure necessary to move toward individuation.
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Acknowledgments

In recognition of my first initiatory container, Ashley Torrent, who not only

served as a guide on my initial steps toward individuation but provided me with the

knowledge of Pacifica Graduate Institute.

The past few years would not be what they were without my Pacifica Dragonfly

D-Track-Track-D cohort and especially a few who provided unwavering support,

guidance, love, and safety to work through and articulate my initiation process: Dene

Selkin, Christina DeMeola, Emily Cervini, Margarit Semerjian, Jen Vogel, and Sarah

Case.

I want to continue these thanks to Alonso Dominguez, Matthew Fishler, and

Megan Emery. Without the three of you, I would have never learned to truly listen to

others or to myself.

To my family: My mother, who has supported me in so many ways and always

believes I am more capable than I think I am; my brother, who has given me more growth

opportunity than almost any other person—and probably does not realize his importance;

and my sister, my rock and tiny Buddha, 16-years my junior and 100-years wiser.

Finally, to my rock star editor Jackie Toth, for spending hours formatting Jung

quotes, and Joanna Walling, for always pushing me and making me think differently even

when I wanted to be done thinking all together.

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Table of Contents

Chapter I Introduction ..................................................................................................1

Area of Interest ........................................................................................................1
Guiding Purpose.......................................................................................................6
Rationale ..................................................................................................................7
Methodology ............................................................................................................8
Ethical Concerns ......................................................................................................9
Overview of Thesis ..................................................................................................9

Chapter II Literature Review.......................................................................................11

Lineage of Research Related to Research Problem and Question .........................12
The Initiation Archetype ............................................................................13
The Importance of Initiation Rituals for the Psyche ..................................16
Modern Society’s Loss of Initiation ......................................................................20
Trauma as Initiation ...............................................................................................24
Summary ................................................................................................................28

Chapter III Findings and Clinical Applications............................................................30

Introduction ............................................................................................................30
Theoretical and Conceptual Approach...................................................................30
Limitations and Delineations .................................................................................32
Background and Approach to Findings .................................................................32
Analysis of Findings ..............................................................................................34
My Initiatory Wounding: The Year 2016 ..................................................36
Post-Liminal...............................................................................................40
Summary of Findings: Quarter-Life Crisis ............................................................41
Clinical Applications .............................................................................................44
Summary ................................................................................................................47

Chapter IV Summary and Conclusions ........................................................................50

Clinical Implications ..............................................................................................52
Future Research .....................................................................................................54
Conclusions ............................................................................................................55

References ..........................................................................................................................58
 Chapter I
Introduction

Could it be, I wondered, that the deep truth embedded in these rituals might be
that we cannot (apparently) become fully human until we can accept the human
condition and that this is more difficult than we thought? The difficult part being
that we must let the innocent (God-identified) part of us suffer experience in order
to grow a soul?

Kalsched, 2013, p. 241

Area of Interest

The primary concern of this thesis is the examination of the loss of initiation

rituals in modern society and the effects this loss has on the modern psyche, in particular

the times of initiation between adolescence and middle age. This thesis explores whether

the psyche—the original Latin translation being soul (“Psyche,” 2018, def. 2)—uses

initiation as a metaphorical death of the self on the path toward individuation. Jungian

psychoanalyst Murray Stein (2006) elaborated, “Within the linguistic universe of

analytical psychology, the lifelong development of personality is called individuation.

Briefly stated, individuation refers to the process of becoming the personality that one

innately is potentially from the beginning of life” (p. 198). Based on this definition of

individuation, this thesis further explores whether psyche seeks out the liminal experience

unconsciously through trauma and chaos when it is not provided ritualized dissolution

and thus the contained opportunity to rebuild the ego.

Anthropologist and folklorist Arnold van Gennep (1909/1960) spent much of his

career researching and defining what he coined rites of passage and their significance in a
 2

person’s life. According to van Gennep, “the life of an individual in any society is a

series of passages from one age to another and from one occupation to another” (p. 2).

Psychology professor Michael Anderson (2005) detailed the concept of rituals in the

context of these passages by explaining that “van Gennep (1909/1960) argued that rituals

are made up of three distinct but intersecting parts. These parts can be described as

separation, transition, and reincorporation, and these are understood as shifting

sequentially from one into another” (p. 285). More detail about these different parts will

be given below. The terms initiation, rituals, and rites of passage are mostly

interchangeable in psychological research and literature and will be used as such in this

thesis.

Some within the Jungian landscape have discussed the theory that the necessity of

initiations throughout our life is archetypal. Influential mythologist and scholar Joseph

Campbell (2004) stated:

The archetypes circumscribe how we relate to the world: they manifest as

instincts and emotions, as the primordial images and symbols in dreams and
mythology, and in patterns of behavior and experience. As impersonal and
objective elements in the psyche, they reflect universal issues and serve to bridge
the subject-object gap. (p. 63)

If archetypal, initiations are an imprinted way of moving through the process of

development and can be considered practically instinctual.

The archetypal quality of initiations is seen in both the archetype itself—the

“initiation archetype”—as well as the archetypal pattern within each initiation. Analytical

psychotherapist Nigel Wellings (2000) detailed this pattern as “death, passing through

darkness, and rebirth” (p. 97). Wellings’ description is another way of restating van

Gennep’s (1909/1960) three parts: separation, transition, and reincorporation. During the
 3

separation phase of initiation, people are sometimes abruptly removed from their

previous life and their personal and social constructs. Transition refers to the phase

between the old and new sense of self. There is struggle and learning. Reincorporation is

a period when the newly constructed ego is brought back into the personal and societal

fold and recognized as the new self (van Gennep, 1909/1960, p. 11). If initiation is in

itself an archetypal pattern, each important rite of passage along life’s journey requires

individuals to break down the rigid ego structure that they are contained within in order

to see and understand more functional ways of being in relation to others and to the self

and then to rebuild themselves by incorporating this new understanding. Metaphorically

speaking, the requirement of each rite of passage mimics the stages of death, passing

through darkness, and rebirth.

Therefore, as depth psychotherapist Richard Frankel (1998) queried, “is the need

for initiation archetypal? If the archetype of initiation is a structural component of the

psyche, then it is going to occur whether or not a given culture formally invests in such

rites” (p. 55). If individuals are not providing themselves with a culturally or spiritually

meaningful recognition of these major transitory touch points on their journey through

individuation, is the psyche seeking an initiation ritual by whatever means necessary,

even if it is through trauma or chaos?

Our lives are a journey of working toward wholeness and toward a more

embodied version of the self, which Jungian analyst Sherry Salman (2008a) defined as “a

symbolic image of the entirety of the psyche, not just the ego” (p. 59). Wholeness

involves an incorporation of all parts of the self a person has tucked away in order to fit
 4

more neatly into one’s specific societal box, leading to a greater ability to live one’s life

as a complete being.

If individuals did not encounter major thresholds or transitional experiences

throughout their lives, they would forever be experiencing the world through the eyes of

their beginning childhood selves with no integration of experience or realized potential

(Frankel, 1998). This thesis further examines the need for the psyche to be dismantled or

dissolved as a necessary step toward rebuilding with a greater integration all one has

learned up to that point, but also with a new openness to one’s next phase of learning.

The thesis also explores the idea that there cannot be this transformation of the self

without an initiation or ritual, given that “ritual transforms experience” (Anderson, 2005,

p. 283).

More indigenous societies recognized the importance of honoring these initiation

rituals and their ability to transform experience and connect to something beyond the

physical self:

Among semi-civilized peoples such acts are enveloped in the ceremonies, since to
the semi-civilized mind no act is entirely free of the sacred. In such societies
every change in a person’s life involves actions and reactions between sacred and
profane—actions and reactions to be regulated and guarded so that society as a
whole will suffer no discomfort or injury. (van Gennep, 1909/1960, p. 3)

Is it fair to say that the semi-civilized or preliterate mind recognized the innate

connection to and importance of the sacred, or should it be said that humankind’s

advancements have taken modern people farther away from their lifeline to the

numinous? Is the psyche starving for the connection the soul once had to what cannot be

named and defined by words and logic, but rather to what must be felt and experienced?
 5

Whereas in Western societies many have gone to great lengths to remove the

sacred from their daily lives, humans may never be free from their archetypal connection

to the liminal. Anderson (2005) clarified that “the term liminal is critical in understanding

the nature of social and psychological ‘movement’ or transition. It is derived from the

Latin word limen, which means ‘threshold’ or ‘in between’” (p. 286). When individuals

are in this place—as Anderson put it, betwixt and between—they are holding the tension

of two states of being. Their old self is disintegrating and metaphorically dying, and their

new self is before them, preparing to be birthed and integrated as part of their new ego

structure.

As a society, humankind seems to have lost connection to the archetypal, the

spiritual, and the mythical. Myth provides a narrative for how human lives might

unfold—a plot or a character to relate to and support them on their journey. Campbell

(2004) stated, “this is our problem as modern, ‘enlightened’ individuals, for whom all

gods and devils have been rationalized out of existence” (p. 87). Humans rely on science

and logic, having lost their connection to the spiritual plane and how important this

connection is to something greater than them for their soul’s journey.

Many psychologists (Henderson, 2005; Johnson, 1991; Jung, 1933/2009) believed

that only after midlife can one begin facing and exploring the integration of the lost parts

of the self through experiences of the numinous, which Jungian analyst Anthony Stevens

(2006) defined as “possessing awesome power and energy, as when the God archetype is

activated” (p. 77). I argue that based on freedoms allotted to a human being through a

change in culture and a more connected and thus smaller global community, there has
 6

been an awakened need to experience and honor something greater than oneself and

begin the work of integration much earlier in one’s life.

My personal experience with trauma led me to undertake this thesis. Why did it

take a traumatic event—or in my case multiple events close together in time—to force a

drastic breakdown and dissolution of what I was in order to begin becoming what I might

be? Why did it take a metaphorical eruption of the current self through a physical and

emotional wounding to open my eyes to the need for a connection to a liminal place and

the numinous as a lifeline to hold onto through the process of individuation? It was

through depth psychology that I was able to understand more clearly the soul’s journey

and the need for markers or initiations, as well as the recognition of the importance of

those traumatic events in my life for integration to begin.

Guiding Purpose

The guiding purpose of this thesis is to explore the archetype of initiation that

makes itself conscious by way of trauma in order to metaphorically disintegrate the

existing idea of self. The destruction of what the ego tightly holds onto allows space for

new learning and understanding and thus for a rebirth of a more whole version of the self.

There is the potential to shine light on and give meaning to these traumatic events in

people’s lives by further understanding this concept. Through this exploration a

newfound respect may be found for initiation and ritual; as a result of this new respect,

people may carve out the time and space during major life transitions to show reverence

and validation for the evolving sense of self that psyche seems to desperately crave.

If it can also be shown that the psyche does in fact seek out initiation, and that if

those initiations are not provided in a contained and ritualized manner the psyche will
 7

seek them out by any means available, the meaning of traumatic events that people

encounter along the entirety of their journey may be exposed. Recognizing the meaning

in trauma may help integrate traumatic events in order to move clients forward into the

next phase of growth and give clients a sense of ownership and understanding of these

transitional times in their lives.

Rationale

This exploration aims to provide more recognition and understanding of the

psyche’s need for initiation rituals, to allow psyche the space to mourn the loss of a sense

of self associated with a time period in our lives that we are releasing, and to celebrate

and welcome the phase we are entering. Garnering further understanding of these

concepts enables the field of depth psychology to place more value on those psychic

needs and helps clients find meaning in the trauma that may have happened in place of

initiation rituals. Frankel (1998) made clear that for depth psychologists and marriage and

family therapists, “if we (ourselves) as well as our clients do not integrate the trauma or

the wounding we will anesthetize it later” (p. 65).

During these times of initiation for our clients, can we shift our therapeutic

approach to being a containing ritual for change to take place? According to Jungian

analyst Donald Kalsched (2013), “trauma is usually a precipitous, calamitous initiation

that provides a threshold of experience that is so unbearable that it can't be crossed until

much later. Therefore, the normal process of initiation into experience is aborted”

(p. 292). Will changing the therapeutic approach to these moments and experiences in

clients’ lives minimize the occurrence of the traumatic events themselves? Or could

acting as the containing ritual for clients’ initiatory needs help bridge the gap between
 8

them and the sacred, allowing a safe and witnessed disbanding of the ego and providing a

stepping stone to the next phase of their individuation process?

Methodology

The methodology used for this thesis is based on an interest in gathering more

research around modern culture’s lack of initiation rituals as a direct cause of trauma,

with trauma serving as a literal physical or emotional representation of the initiation

archetype. Little research supports inquiries of the relationship among ritual, trauma, and

the phases of life pertaining to the age group between adolescence and midlife. With

suicide being the second leading cause of death among 15- to 34-year-olds (National

Institute of Mental Health, 2015), it is important that therapists try to understand the loss

of initiation and connection to the liminal space and the lack of integration of trauma as

the potential byproduct of these losses. Therefore, my research question asks: How can

therapists approach treatment of clients during transitional initiatory phases with an

archetypal, depth-oriented lens in order to provide a safe, containing, and ritualistic space

where the breakdown of ego and integration of trauma can serve as the launching pad

into their next phase of life?

Within a heuristic methodology, the researcher is both the participant and the

witness, or as psychologist Clark Moustakas (1990) stated, “heuristic research involves

self-search, self-dialogue, and self-discovery; the research question and methodology

flow out of inner awareness, meaning, and inspiration” (p. 11). I chose to utilize this

methodology to work through my personal experiences with both physical and emotional

trauma as initiation as well as deepen my understanding of the initiation archetype and

need for connection to the liminal. A heuristic approach “retains the essence of the
 9

subject in the experience. It leads to meaning on an essential and personal level and

leaves room for paradox and inconclusive results” (Pacifica Graduate Institute [PGI],

2015, p. 53).

A heuristic methodology also lends itself to the development of this thesis

because this is not intended to be a tested and proven theory or approach. This is meant to

be an exploration of personal experiences as well as experiences discussed in research

that will help expand upon on already existing hypotheses: “The purpose of qualitative

studies is to develop ideas and theories about human experience rather than quantified,

replicable comparisons of identified groups of people. The interest is therefore in the

subjective experience of oneself as a subject” (PGI, 2015, p. 51).

Ethical Concerns

Creating this thesis raises an ethical concern that all trauma could be looked at

through an initiation lens and clinically approached as such. This research is not meant to

discount trauma, specifically trauma enacted on a person by another, nor is it meant to

place blame for trauma on the victims and their personal psyches. This thesis is

specifically concerned with a certain presence of trauma during a specific window of

time in a person’s life when the trauma could be considered initiatory wounding and a

potential catalyst for growth into a new phase of one’s life.

Overview of Thesis

An insatiable appetite for exploring my own inner world has pushed me into

researching this topic. Trauma as initiation, the initiation archetype, and modern culture’s

loss of connection to the numinous called to me through my personal journey as a topic

worthy of exploration. There is hope not only to benefit from my own want for clarity
 10

and knowledge but to also share this with other depth psychologists so that it guides them

in working with clients experiencing similar situations.

Chapter II dives deeper into the accounts—both clinical and personal—of experts

in the field to further expand the thinking on these topics. It includes a historical

perspective of the initiation archetype, a discussion of the components of individuation,

an exploration of how trauma acts as initiation, and a summary of the findings thus far. It

also outlines psychological and theoretical concepts that support the research problem

and investigations and finally gives an overview of what is left to be researched and

discovered as it pertains to the research question and theories proposed.

Chapter III further explores how my personal experience with trauma as initiation

is intertwined with the research accumulated and presented on the topic. I discuss a

theory of initiatory trauma in specific relation to the phase of life described by Stein

(n.d.) as the “birth of adult identity” (para. 2), and I list clinical applications of my

research. Finally, Chapter IV summarizes and discusses the ramifications and

implications of the findings with a deeper exploration of how therapists can use this

information to further inform working with clients during their periods of initiation.
 Chapter II
Literature Review

The literature review is composed of multiple studies, hypotheses, and analyses of

topics and concepts that attempt to answer the following research question: How can

therapists approach treatment of clients during transitional initiatory phases with an

archetypal, depth lens in order to provide a safe, containing, and ritualistic space where

the breakdown of ego and integration of trauma can serve as a launching pad into their

next phase of life?

The focal points that are discussed in this thesis pertain to the initiation archetype,

the importance of initiation rites for the psyche, the loss of these rituals in modern

societies, and the potential for trauma to become a direct fallout from this loss (Anderson,

2005; Campbell, 2004, 2008; Frankel, 1998; Henderson, 2005; Jung, 1938/1969; Singer,

1995; van Gennep, 1909/1960). This thesis also dives deeper into the importance of

integrating trauma as a way of moving forward on the path toward individuation.

Experts across the areas of psychology, theology, anthropology, and sociology

(Anderson, 2005; Campbell, 2004, 2008; Frankel, 1998; Henderson, 2005) have studied

and written on topics regarding the importance of initiation and the needed reconciliation

with our cultural loss of ritual for close to 100 years. Each of these topics has been

researched across various mediums including books, articles, journals, theses, and

research studies.
 12

Lineage of Research Related to Research Problem and Question

One can think of the archetype of initiation as patterning and fueling the
transitions from one stage of life to the next—or even as running like an
underground river from one generation to the next. From birth to death, there are
biological, psychological, and spiritual transitions which, if mediated by the
archetype of initiation, can lead to growth and transformation.

Singer, 1995, p. 1

The study of initiation rituals with preliterate cultures can be traced back to the

works of van Gennep (1960) in his book, The Rites of Passage, that was first published in

1909. Through his research, van Gennep suggested that initiation rituals were used across

cultures as not only a threshold to cross into adulthood during puberty, but throughout

one’s life “to enable the individual to pass from one defined position to another” (p. 3).

He pushed against previous work on the subject by anthropologist Hutton Webster,

pointing out that Webster “ignores comparison of rites from the point of view of

sequence, and confuses physiological with social ‘puberty’” (as cited in Van Waters,

1913, p. 8).

Van Gennep (1909/1960) also classified rituals into categories and argued that

every individual during each initiation rite goes through the same three stages: separation,

transition, and reincorporation. Stein (n.d.) furthered van Gennep’s (1909/1960)

classifications of the phases of initiations in his article “‘Midway on Our Life's

Journey…’: On Psychological Transformation at Midlife” by stating:

The first phase entails the experience of loss, withdrawal, and grief; the second
demands patience and tolerance of ambiguity during the transition from one
identity to another; and the third requires a constructive and proactive attitude to
participate in building up and consolidating a new sense of identity. (“The Two
Halves of Life,” para. 6)
 13

It is also important to note that while those like Anderson (2005) explored the idea in a

deeper way, it was van Gennep (1909/1960) who was the first scholar to discuss the

stages of initiation in relation to the idea of liminality: preliminal, liminal, and post-

liminal (p. 11). Liminality is taken to mean the place of being neither here nor there or an

ambiguous time—the space or moment where the once accepted order of the world no

longer exists and a new form of existence is just beginning to emerge in often

unpredictable ways.

The initiation archetype. Although many have researched initiation rites in

history to clarify their structure and importance in a person’s life or in society (Campbell,

2004, 2008; Turner, 1969; van Gennep, 1909/1960), initiation as an archetype originally

appeared in the works of prominent analytical psychologist Carl Jung (1943/1966a) when

he began to explore his theories of the collective unconscious and archetypes in his essay

“The Mana Personality.” Here he wrote about initiation as an archetypal pattern:

The fact is that the whole symbolism of initiation rises up, clear and
unmistakable, in the unconscious contents. . . . The point is not—I cannot be too
emphatic about this—whether the initiation symbols are objective truths, but
whether these unconscious contents are or are not the equivalent of initiation
practices, and whether they do or do not influence the human psyche. Nor is it a
question of whether they are desirable or not. It is enough that they exist and that
they work. (p. 231)

Jung questioned whether or not there was a conscious choice in acting out initiations or

whether they were a component of the unconscious—an innate path of bread crumbs laid

out through one’s life.

Jung’s lifetime of work provided those in the psychology field the understanding

of the existence of a collective unconscious. Jung (1943/1966b) discussed the collective

unconscious throughout his work, describing it as the deeper layer upon which our
 14

personal unconscious rests. The personal unconscious is the layer that “contains lost

memories, painful ideas that are repressed (i.e., forgotten on purpose), subliminal

perceptions, by which are meant sense-perceptions that were not strong enough to reach

consciousness, and finally, contents that are not yet ripe for consciousness” (Jung,

1943/1966b, p. 66). In contrast, the collective unconscious is “detached from anything

personal and is common to all men, since its contents can be found everywhere, which is

naturally not the case with the personal contents” (p. 66).

Archetypes, such as the initiation archetype, exist within the collective

unconscious (Jung, 1943/1966b, p. 66). Stevens (2006) elaborated on Jung’s theory,

stating that the archetypes exist as events, images, “ideas, feelings, and experiences as

well as in characteristic patterns of behavior” (p. 76) that are “held to control the human

life cycle” (p. 85).

Many in the field of depth psychology (Kirsch, Rutter, & Singer, 2007; Salman,

2008a) claimed that the works of analytical psychologist Joseph Henderson on the

initiation archetype have most influenced the actual usage of this concept in psychology

by analysts and therapists alike. In his book Thresholds of Initiation, Henderson (2005)

indicated,

Since modern man cannot return to his origins in any collective sense, he
apparently is tempted and even forced to return to them in a way at certain critical
times in his personal development. And in this resides the relevance today of
reinforming ourselves of the nature of primitive forms of initiation. (p. 6)

In reference to Henderson’s work, Salman (2008b) stated:

More relevant to our analytic practice than the mother-infant dyad, the holding
environment, the Oedipal romance, or even therapeutic regression, many Jungian
analysts put much more stock in the crossing and vicissitudes of “thresholds of
initiation” in regard to both developmental and diagnostic issues and trajectories
 15

of therapy, with priority given to the psyche’s movement toward “the center,” the
ultimate “goal” of initiation. (p. 565)

Jungian historians Thomas Kirsch, Virginia Beane Rutter, and Thomas Singer (2007)

pointed out that although Jung discovered that the initiation archetype is currently alive in

the psyche of modern man, it was Henderson who spent his lifetime studying how this

symbolism manifests in the individual and how it could be understood and applied both

theoretically and analytically.

Joseph Campbell wrote and spoke extensively on the topic of the psyche’s need

for ritual and myth in the 1960s and 1970s through such works as Pathways to Bliss

(2004) and The Hero With a Thousand Faces (2008). He was inspired by van Gennep’s

(1909/1960) writings on the liminal space in initiations as well as British cultural

anthropologist Victor Turner’s work in The Ritual Process (1969) that addressed rites of

passage and their connection to religion and the numinous.

Campbell (2004, 2008) researched how patterns of initiation are seen and

experienced in a tangible form through myth and fairytale. As stated in Chapter I, myth

offers a storyline to follow that involves a relatable path, character, or image. These

elements show individuals that they are not alone and that others have traversed this path

before them. These stories are archetypal in that they are made up of inherited symbols

and motifs that live in the unconscious (Stevens, 2006). When discussing the importance

of myth and ritual in everyday life, Campbell (2008) said, “Repeating the myths and

reenacting the rituals center you. Ritual is simply myth enacted; by participating in a rite,

you are participating directly in the myth” (p. xix).

The initiation archetype, shown through the metaphorical process of death,

descent into the darkness (to gain access to lost elements of the self), and rebirth (to
 16

integrate the found elements), is a pattern that shows itself to us through myth and

fairytale across time and cultures. Myths, which give conscious voice to the unconscious

initiation archetype, show a potential map of a person’s journey. Campbell (2008) stated:

The original departure into the land of trials represented only the beginning of the
long and really perilous path of initiatory conquests and moments of illumination.
Dragons have now to be slain and surprising barriers passed—again, again, and
again. Meanwhile there will be a multitude of preliminary victories, unretainable
ecstasies, and momentary glimpses of the wonderful land. (p. 90)

The knowledge that others throughout time have been on a similar epic journey toward

self-discovery allows a sense of safety when the understanding of self is being shaken to

its core. There are potential gains and victories to be had if battles with the ego are fought

and the new self emerges on the other side of the threshold.

Historical examples of myths can be found where the metaphorical need for a

death of self is enacted in order to move forward on the individuation journey, such as in

the Christian bible story (King James Version) of Jesus’ death by crucifixion and

resurrection, Arjuna’s battle with the Kauravas in the Bhagavad Gita (Easwaran, 2010),

and Osiris’ resurrection to rule the underworld (The Pyramid Texts).

The importance of initiation rituals for the psyche. Jungian analyst June Singer

(1995) reiterated what was stated in Chapter I when she acknowledged that the process of

individuation can be seen as a lifelong path to self-knowledge through integrating

recovered pieces of the self. Jungian analyst Mark Sullivan (1996) referred to Jung’s term

of “instinctive striving” (p. 509) to describe a path that all are predestined to walk, even

though not all on this path will successfully cross the thresholds that lead to further

integration of hidden pieces of the self. Psychotherapist Satya Byock (2015) discussed

individuation in her article “The Inner World of the First Half of Life: Analytical
 17

Psychology’s Forgotten Developmental Stage,” stating “individuation is a spiritual

undertaking . . . it is the conscious response to an instinct not recognized in biological

thought, an innate and powerful drive toward spiritual realization and ultimate meaning”

(p. 410).

Guided by the initiation archetype, there are thresholds to mark the distance

traversed along this journey of individuation (Henderson, 2005). Each of the thresholds

stand between who the individual is and who the individual will be once the person

arrives on the other side of the initiation. At the point of the threshold crossing, the

individual enters a state of liminality: the space where they are neither who they were nor

who they will be, or the space where the descent into darkness takes place (Anderson,

2005). In order to move forward toward individuation, there must be a disintegration of

the ego structure as it is currently accepted in order to make space for new ways of being

and an ultimate process of integration of what was and what is: “Psychological health is a

process of continuous psychic integration, always preceded by stages of dissociation”

(Salman, 2008a, p. 73).

When a person’s soul cannot ignore the need for change any longer, the psyche

loses its footing—its sense of self—and a feeling of complete dissolution takes over.

Mythologist and author Michael Meade (2006) stated, “As a psychological event, the

archetype of initiation can be triggered whenever the direction or meaning of our life

needs to change. Essentially, life is change and our psyches expect us to change

throughout our lives” (preface, para. 4). At this stage, it is necessary to have some sort of

psychic support or guidance in order to come back from the depths through learning and

cross the threshold as a form of rebirth. The collective unconscious, a tapestry of

 18

archetypes, images, experiences, and themes, provides the initiation archetype as a means

of guidance. The archetypes serve as psychic escorts through life’s experiences based on

an ingrained story of those who have come before. At the point when the personal ego

must break down, the archetypes step in to carry the soul forward on its journey.

Kalsched (2013) pinpointed the moment where the archetype seems to take over the self

in his book Trauma and the Soul:

Where the personal story was interrupted, the archetypal story began. This
nourishment from the collective unconscious kept the soul in being, which seems
to be the “purpose” of that remarkable psychic intelligence that I have called the
self-care system. This system seems to embody a kind of overarching wisdom, a
dispassionate but supportive overview of the person’s whole life, and seems to be
interested in the soul’s survival and even in its potential fulfillment. Somehow
this intelligence saves the soul from annihilation by restoring the mytho-poetic
matrix that was ruptured by dissociation. It restores the ego-Self axis from within.
(p. 51)

Many in the psychological sphere (Anderson, 2005; Henderson, 2005; Jung,

1938/1969; van Gennep, 1909/1960) have explored the importance of the initiation

archetype as a support for the psyche on its journey to individuation. Campbell (2008)

discussed the need for initiation and symbolism to carry a person through the process:

The ageless initiation symbolism is produced spontaneously by the patient himself

at the moment of the release. Apparently, there is something in these initiatory
images so necessary to the psyche that if they are not supplied from without,
through myth and ritual, they will have to be announced again, through dream,
from within—lest our energies should remain locked in a banal, long-outmoded
toy-room, at the bottom of the sea. (p. 7)

Campbell spoke not only of the need for initiation symbols (such as rituals and

ceremony) to act as a support on the journey, but also spoke to their importance in the

process of making meaning of the trials that occur during such milestones in a person’s

life: “The tribal ceremonies of birth, initiation, marriage, burial instillation, and so forth,

serve to translate the individual's life-crises and life-deeds into classic, impersonal forms”
 19

(p. 331). Or as Anderson (2005) stated, “the ritual is necessary in order to create the

(nonritual) reality” (p. 284).

Experts such as Henderson (2005) took the psyche’s need for initiation further. In

his research, Henderson discussed the archetype acting not only as a stage for the

transitions to be enacted upon or as a source of guidance, but as a source of help for the

psyche—or the soul—to forge a connection between an innate deeper wisdom or

psychological depth and the numinous or Godly plane, also referred to as spiritual height.

He stated, “In accordance with the archetype of initiation, the individual undertakes his

inner quest without any heroic show of strength and achieves it, not as a triumph, but as a

submission to powers higher than himself” (p. 135).

According to Henderson (2005), one of the most important purposes of the

initiation archetype is to grant modern humankind access to the lost ability to be in

communication with the powers of the sacred; he believed rituals are “meant to impart

religious belief of the highest order” (p. 89). He discussed the initial version of the self as

being on a lower sphere of enlightenment, one’s “animal nature,” and claimed that

initiation rituals guide one through overcoming or transcending this lower self in order to

move to a higher sphere of enlightenment (p. 178).

Frankel (1998) mirrored in his research most of what Campbell (2008) and

Henderson (2005) discussed in theirs, albeit mostly specific to Frankel’s work with

adolescents. Frankel (1998) furthered existing research on initiation to highlight the

importance of this process on the psyche in order to birth a new sense of self. Frankel

quoted Romanian historian Mircea Eliade to illuminate this process: “In philosophical

terms, initiation is equivalent to a basic change in existential condition; the novice

 20

emerges from his ordeal endowed with a totally differing being from that which he

possessed before his initiation; he has become another” (as cited in Frankel, 1998, p. 54).

The importance of ritual, according to Frankel (1998), is to “contain and inform

the wounds of life” (p. 53); without them, “pain and suffering increase, yet meaningful

change doesn’t occur” (p. 53). It is through ritual that a person is able to make meaning

of the sometimes painful transitional junctures on the journey. Without this lens to view

such initiatory wounds, a person is left floundering somewhere between the original state

of being and the now wounded state. They have been presented with an opportunity for

descent and emergence, death and rebirth, or disunion and integration, but without the

platform or proper guidance to experience and digest it.

Through the initiation ceremony, the psyche is provided a ritualized and contained

experience where the ego can metaphorically die and be reborn (Anderson, 2005;

Campbell, 2008). It is through ritual that a person makes meaning of the descent into

darkness and eventual rebirth into a new ego structure. Anderson (2005) emphasized that

“ritual provides a stage upon which, and exacts a process in which, transition (individual

or social) can take place” (p. 283).

Modern Society’s Loss of Initiation

The loss of initiation in modern society, specifically in Western cultures, and how

that loss manifests itself in one’s current life has been explored by many experts over the

past century (Henderson, 2005; Meade, 2006; Stein, 2006; Sullivan, 1994). With so much

emphasis on external gain and reward in the current cultural landscape, many have

connected the loss of ritual to a loss in connection to the spiritual, the inner landscape,

and a sense of intuition.

 21

Jung (1933/2009) wrote extensively on the transition to midlife, or the second half

of life, using much of his own inner work as a template and his theories as the basis of his

approach to psychology. In his essay “The Stages of Life,” he discussed the trouble

caused by clinging to values and beliefs formed in the first half of life at the expense of

integration of new and sometimes buried experiences. Jung wrote of the consequences of

an inability to let go of childhood beliefs and ways of being as a person moves into this

next phase: “The very frequent neurotic disturbances of adult years have this in common,

that they betray the attempt to carry the psychic dispositions of youth beyond the

threshold of the so-called years of discretion” (p. 105). Jung’s comments regarding the

transition into midlife could well be used to describe the transitions experienced at many

initiation points throughout a person’s journey.

Jung (1933/2009) went on to describe how the loss of a connection to tradition

has impacted modern man in his essay “The Modern Spiritual Problem”: “Thus he has

become ‘unhistorical’ in the deepest sense and has estranged himself from the mass of

men who live entirely within the bounds of tradition” (p. 197). Even though Jung did

recognize a return to inner curiosity for the modern person, he noted that there is a loss of

humility in the disregard for tradition and the ancestral past.

Although modern researchers and psychologists may begin to see an increased

curiosity for the inner workings of our consciousness, these observations must be held up

against a culture that has focused much of its attention on the external world. The

monetary gains and technological development acquired by paying ample attention to

external achievements is “at the cost of a diminution of personality” (Jung, 1933/2009,

p. 104). In a culture that since the time of the Industrial Revolution has seen logic and
 22

reason as king, there has been a great loss around the attuning to or strengthening of

intuition and the feeling sense. Modern culture has placed intellectual learning and

financial and material progression over the inner wealth of learning who a person is on a

spiritual level (Campbell, 2004, 2008; Frankl, 1959/2006; Meade, 2006).

However, experts in the field of psychology (Anderson, 2005; Campbell, 2004;

Frankel, 1998; Henderson, 2005; Singer, 1995) demonstrated that regardless of the lack

of direct attention and exploration of the soul’s journey, there is an archetypal energy that

pushes through the surface whether attended to consciously or not. The danger of the

initiation archetype not being attended to in modern culture is that the initiations

themselves are now occurring in a spontaneous or sporadic way (Frankel, 1998). Many

authors and cultural anthropologists such as Meade (1974) have gone on to explore and

connect the loss of initiation rituals to an increase in gangs and violence in younger

generations. Meade discussed this connection, stating “the sacrificial blood once offered

by those trying to glimpse mysteries at the thresholds of the stages of life has become

bloody ‘street sacrifices’ of entire generations” (p. 30). Gang initiation and violence

could be—and has been—a study in its own right; however, in this research it is shown as

just one symptom of many related to a loss of contained initiation rituals in modern

society.

Further exploration on the modern loss of conscious connection to the initiation

archetype could take place through the theory of the existential vacuum, first coined by

psychiatrist Viktor Frankl (1959/2006) in his revolutionary examination of the

determination of the human spirit in his book Man’s Search for Meaning. The concept of

the existential vacuum has been explored further within the field of existential
 23

psychology and logotherapy to explain the increase in suicides, depression, addiction, and

neuroses in the 20th and 21st centuries (Frankl, 2006; Frankel, 1998). Frankl defined the

existential vacuum as a void of direction and meaning in life caused by the loss of

tradition and reliance on instinct. Because human beings have solved many instinctual

survival problems through invention, discovery, and progression, modern humankind

spends very few of their waking moments paying any attention to basic animal instincts.

Thus, there is a dramatic increase in the amount of time allowed for physical and mental

leisure. Unfortunately, many do not know with what to fill this space or void; as a result,

people are sucked into a vacuum of feelings that include frustration and boredom. Frankl

succinctly summarized this experience as “no instinct tells him what he has to do, and no

tradition tells him what he ought to do; sometimes he does not even know what he wishes

to do” (p. 106).

Although myth, initiation rituals, and the archetype of initiation do not give

meaning to one’s life explicitly, they provide a road map or a guide to a life lived by

many others before. They provide examples and support when one loses the way on the

inevitably bumpy journey through life on the quest for the discovery of one’s self and

purpose. Therefore, one can argue the phenomenon of the existential vacuum is in part a

result of the loss of initiation meant to support and carry humans forward through life’s

journey. Modern humankind is missing a significant propulsion forward in spiritual and

psychic development. Campbell (2008) also examined this:

It has always been the prime function of mythology and rite to supply the symbols
that carry the human spirit forward, in counteraction to those constant human
fantasies that tend to tie it back. In fact, it may well be that the very high
incidence of neuroticism among ourselves follows from the decline among us of
such effective spiritual aid. (p. 7)
 24

The loss of initiation ritual does not, however, mean the loss of the archetype of

initiation. Archetypes are ingrained within the psyche, existing on the level of the

collective unconscious (Jung, 1943/1966b) and coming before instinct. As previously

stated, the archetype of initiation continues its purpose for existence: to push individuals

forward on their path toward individuation whether or not they give it conscious

recognition (Frankel, 1998). The face of the initiation archetype evolves and changes

through time and as Singer (1995) asserted, “is responsive to changing cultural needs and

attitudes” (p. 11). Modern society may have lost its connection to the archetype of

initiation, but the loss of this ability to identify the importance of ritual and a connection

to the numinous has not impeded the forward direction that the archetype initiates, nor

has it stopped the initiations from occurring. It has only disconnected people from an

innate support system and a way of validating and integrating these experiences along

their journey:

There can be no question: the psychological dangers through which earlier

generations were guided by the symbols and spiritual exercises of their
mythological and religious inheritance, we today (in so far as we are unbelievers,
or, if believers, fail to represent the real problems of contemporary life) must face
alone, or, at best, with only tentative, impromptu, and not often very effective
guidance. (Campbell, 2008, p. 87)

Trauma as Initiation

Much has been written on the topic of trauma over the past 100 years (Herman,

1997; Kalsched, 2013; van der Kolk, 2014). The understanding of how trauma affects the

development of the brain, emotional functioning, and one’s relationship to oneself and

others has greatly increased. There has been a long overdue push to further understand

post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its causes, triggers, manifestations, and

treatments. Many in the field of psychology have focused the entirety of their careers on
 25

trauma or on trauma-related work including experts such as Kalsched (2013) and

psychiatrists Judith Herman (1997) and Bessel van der Kolk (2014). Much of the

research, such as van der Kolk’s book The Body Keeps the Score, has focused on trauma

that happens to a person from without, not within. Trauma as a research topic is less

frequently explored as a process of initiation potentially triggered or brought on by one’s

own psyche.

The research cited throughout this thesis discussed the concept that the archetype

of initiation exists in the psyche as a driving force for the self on the path toward

individuation (Anderson, 2005; Campbell, 2004, 2008; Frankel, 1998; Henderson, 2005;

Singer, 1995). Research also showed that pre-modern societies intuited the importance of

consciously ritualizing initiations along this journey, honoring the soul’s need for a

metaphorical descent, death, and rebirth in order to integrate psychological learnings

(Anderson, 2005; Campbell 2004, 2008; Frankel, 1998; Kalsched, 2013). For example,

Meade (2006) stated, “through a symbolic second birth a young person could have

become psychologically aware of a wiser aspect of their soul that could be a source of

internal wisdom and external steadiness” (preface, para. 19). The need to integrate this

newly recognized internal wisdom is critical during every phase, not just adolescence.

Physical and emotional initiatory wounding was frequently enacted during

ceremonies in order to bring an end to an innocent attachment to the past self or to

childhood, as in the case of puberty rituals (Frankel, 1998), or to show “the initiate's

ability to accept and yet withstand death” (Henderson, 2005, p. 89). Therefore, it stands

to reason that if modern society has lost its connection to the initiation archetype through

lack of ritual, initiatory wounding is manifesting itself as physical or emotional trauma

 26

triggered by an instinctual need that we have lost the metaphorical language to express.

Or as Byock (2015) stated, “as culture no longer contains these rites, the initiation

necessary for psychological growth must happen through individual crisis instead”

(p. 407).

At one point in time, society observed rituals of initiation during recognized

transitional periods in life (van Gennep, 1909/1960). Life’s journey and its markers were

socially accepted, and rituals were enacted during times known to be marked with strife

and challenge. Modern society has seemingly lost the innate knowledge of the timing of

these points along the journey. Today, the need for initiation is triggered by a deep state

of unrest, a recognition that there is no moving forward on the path toward individuation

if the self stays in its current state. Something must go in order to make room for new

knowledge and understanding (Anderson, 2005; Meade, 2006). In his book Treating the

Self, psychoanalyst Ernest Wolf (1988) dramatically spoke of the point where the psyche

knows it is at the boundary of comfortable existence where it must burn the ego structure

to ashes if any growth or forward movement is to be had:

It arises when no self-assertion at all is possible, when the self feels absolutely
helpless, vexed, and mortified, that is, paralyzed while agitated to the extreme and
in deathly danger of losing its integrity. Such a self state is unbearable and must
be altered. The offending selfobject or the totally ashamed self must be made to
disappear, violently if necessary, even if the whole world will go up in flames.
(p. 79)

There is a sense of desperation that comes through in Wolf’s powerful language—when

faced with this desperate need to transition, the psyche will do whatever is necessary to

break free from the suffocating confines of the current ego structure that no longer allows

space to breathe or grow.

 27

It is not the need for ego dissolution through initiation that is the danger for

modern humankind. It is the lost connection to the myth, metaphor, and ritual that once

served as a platform for change and the subsequent traumatic events being unconsciously

initiated by the self due to that loss:

If the telos of initiation is discovery of one’s adult identity and status in the world,
self-initiation that gets enacted in a vacuum has the potential for disaster as
witnessed by the increasingly self-destructive ways adolescents are turning upon
themselves. (Frankel, 1998, p. 60)

Although this danger may be easier to imagine or recognize in the stages of childhood

and adolescence, this self-initiation can be dangerous to all if not contained and witnessed

by those experienced in metaphorical threshold crossing or who can help make sense of

initiatory trauma already suffered as initiation. Herman (1997) stated that “traumatic

reactions occur when action is of no avail” (p. 34). She discussed the effects trauma has

on a person through its ability to render a person helpless by overwhelming a person’s

capabilities to cope with life or rely on oneself and one’s experiences and skills. Trauma

takes over the “ordinary systems of care that give people a sense of control, connection,

and meaning” (p. 33) not only in the moment rendered, but also in the aftermath. There is

a breakdown of trust in one’s abilities to rely on the self for strength and safety.

After a traumatic incident, there are often problems integrating the event and the

subsequent symptoms into one’s sense of self, essentially splitting the trauma off for the

sake of protecting the ego structure: “Traumatized people feel and act as though their

nervous systems have been disconnected from the present” (Herman, 1997, p. 35). In

other words, when a split or disconnection occurs a person can experience oneself as not

feeling whole.
 28

Splitting and compartmentalizing is the psyche’s way of protecting the self from

further trauma (Herman, 1997). The psyche has experienced an attempt at individuation

as dangerous, and the danger is mitigated by keeping the self at a point incapable of

integration. Essentially, if the process of dissolution and integration moves a person

toward individuation, then uncontained trauma can stunt that journey from continuing

further. Herman elaborated:

The system constitutes an archetypal defense against new life and the urge toward
individuation that the child represents. In other words, it is an anti-individuation
factor, functioning like an autoimmune disease in the body—attacking healthy
tissue in the mistaken perception that this healthy tissue is foreign, dangerous, and
bad. (p. 83)

Summary

The archetypal energy of initiation functions as a current continuously carrying a

person forward on one’s path toward individuation. The initiation archetype is inherited

from the collective unconscious and functions as a map that tells where the road splits,

giving the sense that one is not alone on the journey (Campbell, 2004). Through modern

society’s drive toward conquering the outside world at the expense of understanding the

internal landscape, individuals have lost their connection to the intuitive stories that

remind them of what it is to be human and ever-connected to all those who have come

before them.

Without a connection to the experience of the numinous—of something greater

than oneself serving as a guide experienced in the literal sense by an act of ritual or

myth—the psyche must enact its own type of initiation (Stevens, 2006). Without a

metaphorical language through which to express the reality of a liminal state and need for

threshold crossing, the psyche grasps for any incident that will propel the self forward
 29

and into the dark depths that inevitably come with the loss of ego identity. Only by losing

the structure that contains the idea of one’s self can there be space to allow previously

unseen parts of the self to emerge and new psychological growth to come to light;

sometimes, the only way to dissolve that structure is through trauma (Frankel, 1998;

Kalsched, 2013).

Losing a conscious connection to the initiation archetype is dangerous to the

psyche as the effects of a traumatic initiation on the self are potentially longstanding

(Kalsched, 2013). Without a relationship to the guides society once offered through myth,

story, and spiritual connection, individuals are at risk of not integrating the lessons

learned to form a new sense of self that the initiatory trauma was meant to bring forth.

Modern society must reanimate these connections in order to make sense of the inevitable

destruction and change needed in order for new growth to take place. Integrative

psychotherapist Valerie Coumont Graubart (2000) summarized this:

What makes change so difficult for us is that in order for the new to come, the old
must decay, crumble, or die, sometimes with violent suddenness. Change, even in
its benign manifestations, always carries a component of loss, even when it is
change for the better. (p. 124)

Can depth psychologists help modern society regain some sense of urgency

around the lost connection to the numinous experience? Can therapy act as the platform

where contained initiation takes place? Jung (1938/1969) believed “the only ‘initiation

process’ that is still alive and practiced today in the West is the analysis of the

unconscious as used by doctors for therapeutic purposes” (pp. 514–515). Standing upon

that statement, helping clients integrate and make meaning of initiatory wounding is

possible through fostering an understanding of the archetypal pattern of initiation.

 Chapter III
Findings and Clinical Applications

Introduction

Chapter II covered multiple topics that may seem to exist in their own silos but

actually unite as possible avenues to help address modern society’s loss of initiation and

connection to the numinous and the lack of integration of trauma as one potential

byproduct of these losses. These topics include the initiation archetype, the importance of

initiation rituals for psyche, modern society’s loss of initiation, and trauma as initiation

(Anderson, 2005; Campbell, 2004, 2008; Frankel, 1998; Henderson, 2005; Jung

1938/1969; Kalsched, 2013; Meade, 2006; Salman, 2008a; Singer, 1995; Stein, 2006;

Turner, 1969; van Gennep, 1909/1960).

Chapter III converges the topics covered in Chapter II and includes my personal

experiences with trauma as initiation, my evolving study in becoming a psychotherapist,

and materials researched for this thesis. All of this is done in an attempt to explore how

therapists can approach the treatment of clients during transitional initiatory phases with

an archetypal, depth-oriented lens in order to provide a safe, containing, and ritualistic

space where the break-down of ego and integration of trauma can serve as the launching

pad into their next phase of life.

Theoretical and Conceptual Approach

As a result of researching and writing this thesis, there were three major

theoretical lenses through which the literature was viewed: (a) a Jungian lens, due to
 31

much of the research resting on the theories of the existence of archetypes and the soul’s

innate journey toward individuation as unconscious motivations (Frankl, 1959/2006;

Graubart, 2000; Herman, 1997; Jung 1933/2009; Stevens, 2006; Wolf, 1988); (b) an

existential lens, in the sense that the initiation archetype and the need for myth is based

on the theory that humans are meaning-making beings who need a sense of purpose and

explanation regarding their life path in order to live an embodied and full existence

(Yalom & Josselson, 2013, p. 266); and (c) a phenomenological lens, based on the theory

that reality is a personal interpretation for each individual (Yontef & Jacobs, 2013,

p. 307).

This research began with utilizing the lenses of Jungian and existential thought,

but as the studies were compiled in preparation for the literature review a

phenomenological approach was called for as well. Professor of philosophy Gabriella

Farina (2014) explained that the phenomenological lens offers the view that “everything

acquires its sense and value only when it becomes the content of the lived experience of

the subject correlated to his intentional acts” (p. 50). This theoretical lens seemed

poignant, because until the specific trauma has been recognized as initiation and

integrated as such, there is an inability to recognize the experience as something

archetypal and increasingly meaningful.

Conceptually, this thesis became the study of the initiation archetype as it pertains

to a person’s developmental stage. It is important to recognize that the initiation

archetype is within the psyche as an unconscious drive from the beginning but presents

itself as a threshold guide at the stages in life that are tense with transition. There is an
 32

identifiable deficit in the research around the developmental stages of adulthood and what

psychologist Erik Erikson (1993) referred to as “early adulthood” (p. 242).

Limitations and Delineations

Most of the research in this thesis comes from within the depth psychological

community in an effort to maintain a somewhat narrow scope through which to research

trauma and specific points of initiation during the individuation journey. There has been

enough research done on understanding trauma, its treatment, and resulting psychological

effects to comprise a separate thesis. Narrowing the focus to the time of life between

adolescence and midlife was done to explore a specific time period that lacks a large

amount of study. Funneling in on both the specific developmental stage of early

adulthood and speaking to trauma that seemingly is co-created by one’s psyche helped

maintain a scope that felt manageable in the presentation allotted.

A deficit in the research is attributed to the fact that most of the writing on the

initiation archetype has been done by Caucasian males around the early to mid-20th

century. Understandably, this sociocultural context influenced the outcome and

implications of the present study. Part of this thesis discusses the need for more research

based on the changes in society and generational desires and needs.

Background and Approach to Findings

As stated in Chapter I, the desire to further explore this topic arose from a

personal trauma that left me paralyzed on my own path toward individuation. There was

a feeling of stuck-ness and a sense of disconnection from both my internal and external

worlds. There seemed to be no meaning gleaned from traumatic experiences that

occurred in short succession, and yet my soul longed for a reason. I struggled to articulate
 33

the need I had to wrap my mind around these experiences until I began noticing a pattern

of traumatic experience during major transitional points in the lives of others around me.

It was through the thesis research that I was able to make connections to archetypal

forces and drives, and my personal process of integration then began to once again

illuminate the path toward individuation.

The ability to articulate the patterns around me came through a sudden

recognition of a phenomena that I had sensed before: “Sometimes it takes a huge jolt

from life before we can start heeding that in us which longs to be given a life but has

never been allowed one” (Wellings, 2000, p. 135). Watching friends, colleagues,

acquaintances, classmates, and family members experience similar struggles moving

forward with a sense of purpose after a traumatic experience, I questioned why so many

within the same approximate age range had wrestled to work through an emotionally or

physically traumatic event, and subsequently—if meaning could be made of the event—

made a major life change on the other side. In regard to making meaning of suffering,

Jungian analyst Barbara Stevens Sullivan (1990) stated that “working through” is an

intellectualized term for “suffering” (p. 55). When the individual “accepts the conflict

just as it is, with all the suffering this inevitably entails, the conflict will resolve itself and

allow the individual to move on” (p. 55).

Through my heuristic approach to this research topic, it was important to maintain

a strong personal connection to the knowledge and meaning I gained and to be open to a

process of healing and integration through my personal journey of writing this thesis. I

hope that it might also provide similar experiences for its readers; although the approach

is not one of utilizing scientific evidence and quantitative studies, it leaves room for
 34

experience, paradox, and personal meaning (PGI, 2015). This, to me, was far more

important.

Even though meaning is made through the living experience, and this thesis is not

comprised of statistics and concrete facts, there have been some hypotheses and

conclusions that resonate on both a deeply spiritual and logical level. I explore the

existence of the archetype of initiation on an innate psychic level and its unconscious act

of driving one forward on the path toward individuation. With the support of this Jungian

theory, a soul-felt need for recognizing times of liminality as the space between ego

identities is articulated (Anderson, 2005). The importance of reconciliation with the

numinous and the acknowledgment that the initiation ritual is being unconsciously

enacted by means of trauma and chaos is also demonstrated. I theorize that not only is

initiation needed by the psyche, but a complete break-down of ego is necessary before

developmental progress can be made. I conclude that a ritualized experience of this death

and rebirth of the self can promote the healing and integration needed to move forward.

Analysis of Findings

Through Jung’s research and theories on the existence of the collective

unconscious and archetypes (Jung, 1943/1966b), depth psychologists have a deeper

understanding of the unconscious drives that propel humans forward on their

developmental journeys. The initiation archetype not only provides a pattern of

development lived by others, but it drives individuals and acts as a mediator of

transitions, helping integration and growth to take place (Singer, 1995). There is a

comfort provided in the recognition that those before us have experienced the same
 35

phases of separation, transition, and reincorporation (van Gennep, 1909/1960). Further,

understanding archetypes provides people with a language for their experiences.

It is through this archetypal language that people are able to make sense of

uncomfortable—and many times painful—transitional periods in life that might

otherwise feel pointless (Frankel, 1998). Pre-literate people understood the need to

connect to the wisdom of those who came before them and held initiation rituals in high

regard (Turner, 1969; van Gennep, 1909/1960). Anthropologist Mary Douglas (1966)

concluded that ritual provided a stage for passing on knowledge. Through ritual, older

generations could symbolically explain to the younger members of a society to trust that

they were on a path paved by their ancestors.

Whereas social customs once provided a ritualized presentation of this path and

passing of knowledge to the next generation, modern people are left to discover it on their

own. Henderson (2005) discussed this need to return back to a more primordial state that

values ritualized initiation stating,

From this conflict there is bred a need for reconciliation such as is mirrored in the
unconscious of modern people, especially in the reappearance of the archetypal
forms of initiation—a need which seems to mediate in a special way between the
archetypal images and the social customs. Since modern man cannot return to his
origins in any collective sense, he apparently is tempted and even forced to return
to them in an individual way at certain critical times in his personal development.
And in this resides the relevance today of reinforming ourselves of the nature of
primitive forms of initiation. (p. 6)

Through this loss of a metaphorical road map through the trials and tribulations necessary

for growth, one can hypothesize the psyche of modern society is left standing at the forks

in the road, or the thresholds, feeling lost. We stand at these forks frozen, incapable of

moving forward or choosing a direction; there is no guidepost, no breadcrumbs visible on

the trail before us.

 36

In order to pass over these ritualized thresholds intellectually and spiritually, one

needs to have a deep sense of discomfort with the current understanding of one’s self.

These feelings of being stuck, unfulfilled, disengaged, confused, and anxious are

frequently cited by those in this phase of early and middle adulthood (Byock, 2015;

Poswolsky, 2016). In order to become a more integrated version of oneself, there has to

be an awakening to parts of the self that have been split off and pushed into one’s

shadow, creating what has existed up to that point as a false self (Singer, 1995). Campbell

(2004) summarized that “the only way to affirm life is to affirm it to the root, to the

rotten, horrendous base. It is this kind of affirmation that one finds in the primitive rites”

(p. 4).

At these forks in the road, without an attachment to an internal compass that

ritualized initiations provide, there is nothing to give one the push needed to start the

necessary psychological and spiritual work toward individuation. It is at this juncture on

the journey that a physical or psychological trauma can step in to act as that push

forward.

My initiatory wounding: The year 2016. In 2010 there was an internal pull

toward psychological and spiritual discovery that led me to both therapy and yoga. It was

this same year, when I was turning 26, that I met my long-term partner. Over the next six

years I began an intense journey of self-discovery. I knew I was unhappy but I did not

know why. I spent hours in therapy circling this elusive idea of happiness. While

happiness seemed out of reach and hard to articulate, I could pinpoint other feelings

distinctly: dissatisfaction with my career in advertising, a longing to spend my days doing

 37

something more meaningful, and a crippling sense of not being able to communicate to or

intimately connect with my partner.

Four years later, after I had completed my 200-hour yoga teacher training, a yoga

therapy program, a nutrition program, and a cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) training,

my therapist asked if I had ever heard of Pacifica Graduate Institute. I instantly knew this

was my next step. What faced me then was a reckoning with letting go of my life in New

York City.

For 10 months I traveled between New York City and Los Angeles, commuting

monthly to Pacifica. During this time, I had many conversations with my fiancé about my

readiness to move on from both my past career and living situation. He felt differently.

He continually expressed disapproval of my desire to grow and evolve. I felt emotionally

trapped and decided to end the six-year relationship, incurring much verbal and

emotional abuse along the way.

When I arrived permanently in Los Angeles, I felt lighter and ready to begin my

new life. I believed that now things would move on an upward trajectory. Unfortunately,

two weeks after I landed, suitcases still not fully unpacked, I took a fall that left me in the

emergency room with a broken jaw.

I laid in the hospital bed after coming out of surgery to wire my jaw shut and

listened as the surgeon outlined what the next year of my life would look like: six weeks

of wires, thin liquid diet only, six more weeks of soft foods while I worked to correct the

muscle atrophy, four months of physical therapy, and most likely permanent disabilities.

The recovery from my injury was one of the most emotionally trying times thus

far in my life. The level of perseverance I needed to make it through each day was unlike
 38

anything I had experienced. I have always been an extremely talkative and social person,

constantly surrounding myself with friends and always on the move. I could no longer

speak, and my energy was severely limited. I spent more time alone than I ever had in my

life.

A couple months after the wires were off, still unable to open my jaw more than

half-way, I was at JFK airport returning to Los Angeles from a business trip. While

sitting against the wall, I heard five or six loud claps and saw almost instantly a wave of

hundreds of people running from the same direction. Without thinking I jumped up and

ran. People were being tripped and thrown into walls. Children were separated from their

parents and being scooped up by strangers so as not to be left behind. The sea of people

ran out into the darkness of the tarmac and took shelter behind whatever large objects

they could find. Along with ten others, I climbed onto the back of a truck that sped us

away from the terminal to an underground staff area. I called my mother while clinging to

the top of the truck, trying to tell her what had happened, reassuring her I was safe. A

young girl who had lost her father in the scramble was screaming so loudly my mother

could barely hear me. I held onto a girl, about 12, while her mother held her son, about

six, trying to ensure no one fell off the speeding vehicle. Once safe, we waited for hours,

watching the news until the police finally came to get our information and assured us the

airport had been cleared and was safe. They took us back to the terminal to find our

belongings, scattered along the floor, and then put us on a flight home to California

around two in the morning. All of the passengers nervously chatted about how the

authorities and news were saying we had heard nothing, had only been spooked, and
 39

there had been no gunshots. None of us believed this, and many were outraged at what

felt like an odd cover-up of the truth and a complete dismissal of our experience.

The next month was filled with an odd mix of anger and disbelief at the way the

media refused to explore the incident at JFK. Within two days they stopped covering it,

and those of us who had been there were left to make our own meaning and stand in our

own knowledge of what happened that night.

The following month I boarded another plane, this time for Florida, to say

goodbye to my grandmother. I spent a week with my mother, aunt, and uncle at her

bedside in hospice. I spoon-fed my once stoic grandmother Jell-O and gave her reiki

when her pain was too intense for the morphine to help. I played her favorite songs while

she was mostly unconscious and watched her mouth the words, eyes closed. That week

was the most vulnerable I had ever seen my grandmother, and while I cherished being

there for her final days, I find myself unable to remember her any other way than frail

and wide-eyed, staring off into nothing while her body and mind prepared itself for death.

When the end of 2016 finally came, I found myself depleted at a level I had never

experienced. I felt a loneliness and a hollowness I am still not able to put words to. The

next year felt like a process of climbing out of a deep hole. It is the most alone I have

ever been, literally and figuratively. I experienced my first brush with true depression and

still struggle to put words to who I am or what I want. Once I heard someone say that

“rock bottom is an invitation to a truer self,” and this resonates. I feel a loss of connection

to my previous life (and self) and a sense of anxiety around where my life is taking me. I

spent most of 2017 in this liminal space.

 40

Post-liminal. The archetype of initiation provides not only a map of the process

the soul needs to go through in order to work toward a more whole version of itself, but it

can also function as a forced act of surrender. The initial descent into darkness is then

followed by a state of liminality. To come through this state requires true acceptance of

the present and the reality that one has no real control over life. Psychotherapists Barbara

Somers and Elizabeth Wilde McCormick (2000) stated that “the liminality of life crisis

. . . humbles and generalizes the aspirant to higher structural status” (p. 170). Only after

the trials, psychic pain, and potentially physical pain can a rebirth take place. The post-

liminal stage is where the rebirth of the self occurs through acceptance of the present

situation as well as what a person needs to do or learn in order to progress forward.

In my case, a deep exploration and understanding of my previous ways of relating

to the world around me were required to expand my view and awaken a more

emotionally robust way of living. Up until this phase of life I had existed in a place of

logic and control over emotion for survival purposes. Even though I always yearned to

live a more embodied life, I learned early on that emotions were dangerous—discussing

them openly was frowned upon—and that upholding one’s social persona was far more

important than living an authentic life.

The state of liminality, or time spent in the metaphorical underground, is an

important phase during this journey. Turner (1969) stated, “Liminality is frequently

likened to death, to being in the womb, to invisibility, to darkness, to bisexuality, to the

wilderness, and to an eclipse of the sun or moon” (p. 95). It is during this betwixt and

between state that we are faced with the hidden parts of ourselves that long to be seen and

accepted. The information we need to move forward is sometimes found in those

 41

unrealized parts of ourselves. The liminal space of transition is a place of suffering, of

discomfort, of questioning “Who am I?” and “What is my purpose?” Campbell (2004)

said,

The whole idea is that you've got to bring out again that which you went to
recover, the unrealized, unutilized potential in yourself. The whole point of this
journey is the reintroduction of this potential into the world; that is to say, to you
living in the world. You are to bring this treasure of understanding back and
integrate it in a rational life. It goes without saying, this is very difficult. Bringing
the boon back can be even more difficult than going down into your own depths
in the first place. (p. 119)

As a result of therapy, an immersion into the study of depth psychology (and all the myth

and ritual that field brings to the psychic foreground), and a few relationships that taught

me that nurturing and holding space for emotion does not have to mean a complete loss

of the composed self, I am beginning to step into the post-liminal phase of my journey.

Anderson (2005) further explained this phase as “the reincorporation of the subject back

into society. It occurs when the ambiguity of the liminal stage has been satisfactorily

resolved and the transition successfully completely” (p. 287).

Summary of Findings: Quarter-Life Crisis

Within modern Western culture, there has been an explosion of the use of the

term quarter-life crisis (Robbins & Wilner, 2001), assigned to the description of

upheaving societal happenings during what Erikson (1993) called the early adulthood

stage of life. However, a search for studies on the quarter-life crisis turned up less than

five scholarly articles. Most of the current discussion taking place falls within pop

culture. The term seems to have been used first only 16 years ago in journalists

Alexandra Robbins’ and Abby Wilner’s (2001) book Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique

Challenges to Life in Your Twenties. Robbins and Wilner called the quarter-life crisis a
 42

“crisis of self” (p. 18) and discussed this sense of self being structured around one’s job

or by what one does during these early adult years. Unfortunately, those who are unhappy

in their careers can feel dejected by the judgment people pass based on their career

choice. The other risk inherent in defining ourselves by our roles is that these roles can

change or be taken from us. Robbins and Wilner also described the quarter-life crisis as a

feeling of “overwhelming instability, constant change, too many choices, and a panicked

sense of helplessness” (p. 3). Although there is not a distinct age when the quarter-life

crisis take place, the average age range found in most research, according to senior

reporter for The Guardian Amelia Hill (2011), is 25 to 35.

Other researchers such as business, career, and life coach Alice Stapleton (2012)

have called this time in life the "identity" struggle (p. 136), with concerns around identity

and both internal and external pressures being the most prominent forces leading up to a

quarter-life crisis. Up until recently, most of the research on this stage of life was done by

those such as Erikson (1963), who proposed a conflicting theory: that the identity versus

role confusion conflict is unique to 12- to 18-year-olds. There is a clear need for those

within the psychological community to further research how cultural and socioeconomic

changes have impacted the psychological developmental process, because the original

theories were provided at least 50 year ago.

Based on the changes in modern society’s relationship to what once were the

initiations into adulthood (i.e., getting married, buying a home, having children), can we

assume that the quarter-life crisis is a fall-out from the lack of such initiations for the

more current generations? Psychology professors and authors Oliver Robinson, Gordon

Wright, and Jonathan Smith (2013) explored this connection in their research, stating that
 43

there is now a lag in the lifespan between the attainment of legal adulthood at 18
and entering “social adulthood” by way of commencing parenting and entering
the workforce. Currently, the average age for marriage is between 26 and 30 in
most developed countries, and the average age for first-time parenthood is
between 27 to 31. The result of this lag between legal and social adulthood for
many young people is that they are unsure of their status as adult, typically stating
that they feel adult in some ways and not in others. (p. 30)

Many previous researchers such as Erikson (1963) and Stein (2006) showed that

during this time in life, the focus on one’s self changes to a focus on others and one’s

contribution to the surrounding community. Others, including Wellings (2000), discussed

this pivotal time in life as “the point where the ego and the self are most estranged: when

individual concerns are transcended and a connection to something larger than ourselves

is made” (p. 97). There is a panic that comes from a newfound sense of introspective

focus or self-awareness, a responsibility only for oneself (Stapleton, 2012) combined

with what author and speaker Adam Poswolsky (2016) deemed a desire to bring a

positive contribution to larger society and to have a purpose.

If I were a member of a previous generation I may have been preparing for or

already rooting myself in marriage and children by my 25th year; I was instead beginning

to question my larger purpose and my effect on and contribution to society. While one

can argue that postponing those life milestones can have positive effects, the negative

effects can be spotted through a loss of culturally accepted initiations. Without these

touch points, I was left floating somewhere between adolescence and adulthood, and

without the traumatic initiations incurred during my 31st year, I may still have been

floating. In this regard, one could hypothesize the co-creation my psyche assumed in my

initiation into an adult identity. In a sense, I had mastered the life stage I was currently in,
 44

but in order to develop further psychic space I needed to make way for new information:

I needed initiatory wounding.

Looking at my initiatory wounds made it clear that I would not have remained

grounded and able to integrate meaning had I not felt a strong connection to something

larger than myself. Prior to finding yoga, I rebelled against all things deemed religious or

spiritual based on the feeling of dogmatism and rigidity that arose in me. The part within

me that needed connection stepped forward during my dark periods and provided a small

light to continue moving toward. Through my prior numinous experiences, I had faith in

the potential for purpose and strength gained from my struggles.

Clinical Applications

Frankel (1998) spoke about the importance of the therapist’s personal experience

with transformation when he said, “unless we can bear the disintegrative process within

ourselves, that sense of turmoil and loss that comes with change, we cannot be open to it

with our clients” (p. 87). Through my personal traumas, therapeutic work, and the thesis

process, I am now able to envision a client’s underlying concerns at pivotal transitional

times in life as symptoms of having lost the connection to an initiation ritual or numinous

experiences and potentially holding on to un-integrated initiatory wounding.

Recognizing that many clients come to therapy during natural transition points in

their lives or because of change brought on by external forces or some sort of crisis, it is

imperative to understand that “psychotherapy may constitute a containing ritual for

change” (Graubart, 2000, p. 125). According to Graubart, there are three things that can

help a person navigate a major transition: (a) inner security created by early attachment

patterns; (b) a loving and supportive network; and (c) a sense of a story line that
 45

ultimately gives meaning. Although the first is mostly out of our control, we as therapists

can provide the second and third. Graubart further discussed the need for a story line or

myth by saying,

stories make sense of our lives, bind them coherently together, and part of the
business of psychotherapy is to help the client to find his or her story, to
understand the inner logic that brought them to where they are, and to create the
potential to move forward to the next chapter. At times they may recognize their
own process of change in a poem, a story, an account of someone else’s journey,
and these may serve as a map to help them make sense of their own way. (p. 126)

Clinically, providing our clients an understanding of the initiation archetype gives

them a story line. The initiatory pattern of “separation, ordeal, and return” (Meade, 2006,

preface, para. 9), “separation, exploration, and resolution” (Stapleton, 2012, p. 141), or

“death, passing through darkness, and rebirth” (Wellings, 2000, p. 97) is preserved in folk

tales, woven into fairytales, and found in mythologies around the world. This pattern

gives “narrative shape and meaning to otherwise overwhelming and confusing events”

(Meade, 2006, preface, para. 9). In a sense, it gives the client permission to rebuild the

self after dissolving—a recognition that the client does not have to stay dissolved.

Even though it is important for the therapist to serve as a supportive vessel and

initiatory guide, it is just as important that the therapist does not stop the client from

descending into the psychological depths. Frankel (1998) said, “One common mistake in

many treatments is premature panic at a natural process of deintegration. Such panic can

block the natural recovery from a state of deintegration, thus preventing further

maturation” (p. 38). Although Frankel spoke mostly of adolescents in his work, his ideas

can pertain to clients during any period of major transition, especially those during the

time of a quarter-life crisis. Additionally, if the therapist has not personally experienced a

successful initiation, it can be difficult to act as the threshold guide for another. A time of
 46

transitional crisis can be messy, and clients can come to therapy presenting a complete

loss of a sense of self or agency over their lives. As Sullivan (1990) said, “we must

tolerate the patient's loss of competence—especially within the hour, but also at times in

the context of his life—if we are to hold him through this regression into rebirth” (p. 63).

If as depth psychologists we can present the archetypal pattern of initiation to be

used as a map, serve as support, and bear witness to a disintegrating ego, and if we can

stand firm on the other side of a traumatic initiatory experience to help floundering

clients construct their personal story and meaning behind their psyche’s co-created

wounding, we can provide great value in our role as clinicians. During these transitional

times in a client’s life, our primary aim or goal should not be problem-solving, because as

Singer (1995) said,

if anything, the ability to handle problems is a by-product. If we are ever to effect

constructive and lasting changes in our own lives, we must strive for a
transformation (note: I did not say a cure) of the potentially disturbing or
disrupting problems, by reaching toward their archetypal cores. (p. 125)

If transformation is truly the goal of therapy, then we must allow our clients their

suffering attached to the metaphorical death of self in order for them to bring back the

unconscious components necessary for rebuilding and rebirthing a new sense of ego.

Stein (2006) also discussed this process by stating that “transformation demands

suffering losses, going through chaos and uncertainty for a time (the ‘dark night of the

soul’), and making some difficult choices and decisions about life goals and directions

once they become clear to consciousness” (p. 4). The importance of this in relation to

integrating trauma, as Victor Frankl (1959/2006) stated, is that “suffering ceases to be

suffering at the moment it finds a meaning” (p. 113).

 47

Clinicians can help their clients through informing them of the reality of initiatory

patterns and the amplification of mythological motifs to help process the trauma incurred

through a psychically co-created event used to catapult the client forward through their

initiation journey (Salman, 2008b). Stevens (2006) also discussed the importance of this:

Each time this process occurs, a potential trauma is transformed into a structure-
building experience which Kohut calls “transmuting internalization” and which I
described earlier as the patient eating and digesting the therapist. As these
experiences accumulate over the years of analysis, the patient's self grows in
strength and integrity. (p. 73)

Although providing an understanding of the initiatory pattern to a client may not prevent

a traumatic experience from happening, it can provide a stage for processing and

integrating said trauma. A therapist attuned to the occurrence of trauma as a

manifestation of the archetype of initiation on the path toward individuation can provide

a soulful, almost spiritual platform upon which clients can process and integrate their

experiences.

Summary

The initiation archetype provides a map that a person’s soul can use on their

journey toward individuation (Anderson, 2005; Campbell 2004, 2008; Frankel, 1998;

Henderson, 2005; Jung 1938/1969; Singer, 1995). Without an understanding of the

importance of ritual and myth, a person can be left stranded during times of crucial

transition without a sense of forward momentum. In these moments of being frozen,

without a guide, unable to move forward and yet no longer able to fall back into old

patterns, the psyche steps in to push the person forward—sometimes violently—to a

descent into darkness. Without a period of suffering, people cannot see the need to

release old structures of ego in order to progress and grow with new or uncovered parts of
 48

themselves having been uncovered in the darkness. This floundering and uncomfortable

state of liminality, once bookended by ritual structured and overseen by a culture’s

previous inhabitants, permits knowledge of the self that might not otherwise have been

known (Anderson, 2005, p. 284).

As meaning-making beings, humans need to look at suffering through a lens of

purpose if they are ever to fully integrate the experience and move forward. As Frankl

(1959/2006) stated, “emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we

form a clear and precise picture of it” (p. 74). Through living experience and a sense of

the purpose a traumatic initiatory event served in a person’s life, one can see the cracks in

the constructed sense of self that no longer serve if one wishes to grow and transform.

Initiations break down our infantile and selfish connection to our own individual ego in

favor of a connection to others.

A year of emotional and physical traumas left my sense of self in splinters. My

way of being in relation to my former self and the world around me no longer worked

and needed to be dismantled in order for me to rebuild and step forward into a new sense

of self. Being a current member of what Poswolsky (2016) called “the purpose

generation” (p. xvii), like so many others in my generation I experienced a quarter-life

crisis. A need for meaning and a sense of an adult self, structured not around personal

gain but from service or companionship and from positively impacting the lives of others,

has been shown to be important to this generation. We are approaching the thresholds of

initiation with a lack of connection to something larger than ourselves and from the lost

tradition of ritual. Even though current society provides more opportunity and comfort, it
 49

also demands that we respect this opportunity by proving our value and worth, mostly

monetarily.

If we as depth psychologists want to allow for a safe ego dissolution, we must

provide a connection to the myth and ritual that has been lost. It is upon this safe platform

that clients in transition can explore their identity and mature into their new sense of self.

Therapists can allow integration of the traumatic breakdown through meaning and

purpose, allowing adaptation and growth. With an increase in quarter-life crises, the

recognition of rituals is more important than ever, because as Jungian analyst Robert

Johnson (1991) pointed out, “all healthy societies have a rich ceremonial life” (p. 52).
 Chapter IV
Summary and Conclusions

Throughout this thesis, I have attempted to explore the psyche’s need for

initiation rituals, the loss of these rituals in modern society, and the trauma the psyche

can co-create in order to force a dissolution of current ego structure that initiation rituals

once safely contained by providing a platform (Campbell, 2004, 2008; Frankel, 1998;

Kalsched, 2013; Meade, 1974). I have also presented that the potential for integration of

trauma and growth on the other side of a liminal stage of initiation can be ushered

effectively by a clinician using a depth-oriented approach to psychotherapy.

Through presenting research done within the depth psychological community, the

necessary roles initiation and ritual play in the continued growth and transformation of

one’s self throughout the lifelong journey toward individuation has been demonstrated

(Anderson, 2005; Campbell, 2004, 2008; Frankel, 1998; Henderson, 2005; Singer, 2007).

This necessity of initiation rituals is discussed by many, including Anderson (2005) who

stated, “ritual ultimately serves to connect fundamental abstract principles of a culture

and its sociological relations to physiological and psychological realties (p. 283), and

Johnson (1986) who said, “the role of ritual in the growth of consciousness is related to

its power to make symbolic experience into something physical and concrete” (p. 103).

In the modern Western world, we have continued to put increased emphasis on

logic and linear progression, subsequently losing much of our connection to the spiritual
 51

and archetypal world. The Western attachment to conquering has left little room for

introspection and reverence for tradition and ancestral experience. This loss of respect for

those who have traversed this journey before us shows up in our treatment of the elderly,

our worshipping of youth and beauty, and in our attitude toward other societies we deem

primitive based on their spiritual rituals and connection to ancestors and the earth. As a

society, we have lost our connection to ancestral knowledge. Religious historian Jens

Peter Schjødt (1986) referred to van Gennep’s (1909/1960) anthropological work to

speak more to this assertion, summarizing it as such:

van Gennep did of course mention such elements as the acquisition of secret
knowledge which, he maintained, in general plays a role in rites of passage (not
only in initiation rituals) and the famous symbolism of death and rebirth, both
being traits of great importance to a definition of initiation. (Schjødt, 1986, p. 95)

If in fact we have “an inborn, identity-forming, psychological 'striving' that

manifests culturally in rites of initiation” (Sullivan, 1996, p. 510) and we are no longer as

a culture providing these rites, it can then be hypothesized that our psyches will create

these initiations in any way possible, sometimes through traumatic experiences. This

inborn striving or archetypal pattern of initiation flares up when we have hit a point

where how we related to and function in the world is no longer working. Without this

ritualized initiation to carry us from one sense of self to the next more integrated version,

life can be uncomfortable and for some painful. Graubart (2000) discussed this

uncomfortable state of change by asserting:

At its most frightening, change involves a loss of ego-identity, a falling apart of

the known self, as if all the jigsaw pieces were shaken up in a bag and we have to
wait for the picture to be reassembled, a total loss of basic security, a descent into
what feels like endless night. (p. 136)
 52

Assuming that through living in a modernized society lacking ritual and

connection to the numinous we fall into the psychological depth of transition without an

archetypal compass and experience deep emotional and or physical wounding, there is a

potential to carry this wound forward, unintegrated, into our lives without a sense of

maturation or learning. These initiations will occur whether ritualized or not; as Meade

(2006) discussed, this can leave “most people with unhealed trauma, incomplete stories,

and unfinished rites of passage” (preface, para. 6.)

Clinical Implications

Providing a connection between a handful of themes including the initiation

archetype, the importance of initiation ritual for the psyche, modern society’s loss of

initiation, and trauma as initiation (Anderson, 2005; Campbell, 2004, 2008; Frankel,

1998; Henderson, 2005; Jung, 1938/1969, Singer, 1995, van Gennep, 1909/1960) has

afforded a robust background that therapists will be able to reference for support when

working with clients during transitional times in their lives or struggling to make sense of

a traumatic initiatory experience. This thesis aims to provide a thorough understanding of

these experiences and points along the individuation journey so that both the clinician

and client can have a platform and language to make sense of and potentially heal from

these experiences.

The importance of acknowledging and understanding the archetype of initiation

and the role ritual plays in our psyche’s existence is paramount if depth psychotherapists

are to provide effective platforms for our clients to transform and progress toward

spiritual wholeness. It is important to help clients understand that they are not alone in

their experience and that others have traversed the initiation thresholds of life before
 53

them. One way of helping them understand this is through strengthening their connection

to myth and story, to these lineages of support others have left for them to use as

breadcrumbs through their stages of transition. By seeing the archetypal pattern of death,

passing through darkness, and rebirth as a structural component of the psyche, a client

has the potential to recognize Jung’s (1953/1968) point that

the initiatory descent into the depths will bring healing. It is the way to the total
being, to the treasure which suffering mankind is forever seeking, which is hidden
in the place guarded by terrible danger. This is the place of primordial
unconsciousness and at the same time the place of healing and redemption,
because it contains the jewel of wholeness. (p. 123)

My personal experience of what Stein (2006) called “a second birth of adult

identity” (p. 1), which took place at a pivotal time in my life when my old sense of self

needed to be sacrificed and the outdated components of the ego were left at the altar to

create a space for a budding sense of new identity, was a year rife with emotional and

physical traumas. Through therapy and the thesis process, I see this birthing of identity as

my own quarter-life crisis. As Stein (2006) said, “birth is sometimes traumatic, and so

one speaks of it as a ‘crisis’ with justification” (p. 1).

Whereas much of the earlier research on transition and times of psychic crisis has

been limited to adolescence and midlife, there has been a recent increase in the discussion

around the crisis associated with this time of birthing the adult identity (Stein, 2006).

There are different age ranges used; Stein said it is sometime before the 30th year, Hill

(2011) said the average age range is 25 to 35, and senior lecturer Oliver Robinson from

the Department of Psychology at University of Greenwich in London said they occur “a

quarter of your way through adulthood, in the period between 25 and 35, although they

cluster around 30” (as cited in Hill, 2011, para. 3).

 54

Modern culture has seemingly all but lost its connection to ritual, spirit, and

ancestral knowledge (Campbell, 2004; Meade, 2006). Even though the early and late 20s

were once marked by marriages, home purchases, and the birth of children, they are now

constellated around career and success. The pressures of the external world, without the

validation of growth that those thresholds of initiation provide, are leading to a large

population of those between 25 and 35 finding themselves in a state of crisis. As Byock

(2015) indicated,

for many, there is a pressing, undeniable demand that the trappings of their
external life align with the life that calls from within. Not just any job will do. Not
just any partner, or city, or lifestyle. Increasingly, the necessity of self-knowledge
makes itself known, and the search for the life one wants to live—with meaning
and fulfillment—beckons. (p. 412)

A potential light at the end of the proverbial tunnel is provided by Johnson (1986) when

he stated that

individuals are now becoming interested in rituals: we have begun to rediscover

ritual as a natural human tool for connecting to our inner selves, focusing and
refining our religious insights, and constellating psychological energy. We are
beginning to learn that we have impoverished ourselves by giving up what our
tribal ancestors had as part of their daily spiritual lives. (p. 101)

Future Research

Through an assessment of the current body of research that exists around the

archetype of initiation and transitional times in a person’s life, a large gap pertaining to

studies on those experiencing the recently coined quarter-life crisis was discovered

(Byock, 2015: Poswolsky, 2016). The desire for self-knowledge and growth in this

“purpose generation” (Poswolsky, 2016, p. xvii) requires a safe and ritualized container

in which the necessary journey within can take place, where the dark night of the soul can

be fully felt and experienced, and where there is a knowledgeable, empathetic, and
 55

grounded individual present to witness and help gather the pieces in order to start

rebuilding the self—a more integrated self than at the start of the journey. It is imperative

that depth psychotherapists continue to study and focus on this population not only to

offer the best support but to also continue to show the importance of the archetypal style

and its soul-filled approach; as Byock (2015) warned,

the field of analytical psychology needs to attend to the implicit and often
defended age bias within the field through expanded research and awareness
regarding the ways in which the stages of life present today. Young adults who
could benefit from Jung’s insights, sometimes to a life-saving degree, regularly
feel unwelcomed or unacknowledged by the field founded in his name. (p. 412)

Conclusions

Further research on initiation ritual and therapeutic support for those experiencing

a quarter-life crisis could help shape how modern culture moves in regard to career,

commerce, and social expectations, and also in relation to increases in depression and

anxiety and the potential outcome of a generation of self-aware, integrated, socially

conscious, and fully embodied individuals. According to millennial entrepreneur and

innovator Jules Schroeder (2016), “the quarter-life crisis affects 86% of millennials, who

report being bogged down by insecurities, disappointments, loneliness, and depression”

(para. 4).

Another potential avenue for further research involves looking at the decline in

organized religion and its traditional role as a person’s connection to the numinous. Can a

modern person have a connection to the sacred, which has been shown to be important

for the psyche’s growth, without the irrelevancy that can come along with an organized

religious system that rarely accepts its own need for growth and evolution? Jungian

analyst Lionel Corbett (2007) discussed such a need in his book Psyche and the Sacred:
 56

Spirituality Beyond Religion, saying that “to be user-friendly, our spirituality must be

psychologically relevant, non-dogmatic, not based on any particular scripture, not a

matter of belief or opinion, and not uncritical, but able to doubt when necessary” (p. 568).

In conclusion, there is a great need for psychotherapists to reconnect to the

archetypal and spiritual realm of working with psyche—or soul. As Salman (2008a) said,

“the purpose of analysis is to help redirect psychic energy toward development with the

help of a symbolic experience of unconscious material” (p. 73). So long as therapists fail

to recognize the archetypal pull of initiation and the psyche’s desire for ritual to help

make meaning of sometimes traumatic transitional experiences, we risk leaving our

clients floundering in a liminal state of ego break-down. Only when the uncertainty of the

liminal stage has been assured and the acceptance and integration of the initiatory

wounding completed is the threshold crossed so clients can continue on their

developmental journey (Anderson, 2005). This is what van Gennep (1909/1960) and

Turner (1969) referred to as the post-liminal phase.

By understanding our own needs for rites of passage, depictions of such practices,

and the inherent ego dissolution that comes during this time, therapists can pass this

understanding on to clients with a sense of security that is provided in knowing that they

are not the first to negotiate this path and that therapists are there as support and as a

witnessing presence. According to Meade (2006), this knowledge helped him “make

sense of what could feel hopelessly traumatic and senselessly painful” (preface, para. 9).

This process of making sense of initiatory experiences and trauma can help clients in

their journey toward wholeness and meaning, because on the other side of trauma, as

Frankl (1959/2006) detailed, is

 57

the way in which a man accepts his fate and the suffering it entails, the way in
which he takes up his cross, that gives him simple opportunity—even under the
most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his life. (p. 67)
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