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We are pleased to invite you to ANZSJA’s upcoming seminar, Frankenstein and Our Creatures, taking place on Saturday 30 May 2026.
Drawing from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this seminar explores the enduring psychological and symbolic questions of creation, responsibility, and the parts of ourselves we struggle to recognise. Across four presentations, the morning unfolds as a layered exploration of shadow, rage, beauty and ugliness, and the archetypal nature of created beings.
Presented by Brendan McPhillips, Louise Fanning, Jacinta Frawley & Juliana Kaya Prpic
9.00am – 12.00pm Saturday May 30th, 2026
Online via Zoom
Saturday 7 March 2026
This seminar introduces the foundational concepts of practical alchemy, with a focus on the Lesser Circulation — the original form of laboratory alchemy working with plant materials rather than metals. It explores the gathering of prima materia, the structuring of the laboratorium and oratorium, and the essential processes of maceration, circulation, extraction, fermentation, calcination, and distillation.
Attention is given to alchemical vessels, materials, and heat sources, alongside the Paracelsian Three Primes (salt, sulphur, and mercury) as organising principles of matter. The seminar establishes alchemy as both practical discipline and contemplative orientation, introducing how literal processes such as solutio, calcinatio, and mortificatio later become metaphors for psychological transformation.
Saturday 14 March 2026
This seminar explores the psychological dimensions of alchemy, examining how metallurgical processes became metaphors for psychic transformation within analytical psychology. Drawing on C.G. Jung’s use of alchemical language, the seminar considers differentiation, suffering, ego dissolution, and the emergence of meaning through stages such as nigredo, albedo, and rubedo.
Key concepts including mortificatio, separation, reincrudation, and the coniunctio are examined in relation to transference, symbolic material, and analytic technique. Distinctions between the Lesser and Greater Coniunctio are introduced, highlighting their differing implications for adaptation and transformation in clinical work.
Saturday 21 March 2026
The final seminar explores alchemy at the intersection of psychology and spirituality, focusing on alchemical thought as a language for psycho-spiritual transformation. Drawing on the work of Gerhard Dorn, Rabbi Isaac Luria, and C.G. Jung, the seminar examines themes of fracture, repair, and integration through concepts such as Unio Mentalis, Unus Mundus, Tzimtzum, Shevirat ha-kelim, and Tikkun olam.
Distinctions between spiritual development and spiritual bypassing are clarified, emphasising differentiation and lived experience rather than premature transcendence. The seminar concludes with reflections on nondual awareness, the Witness, and the experiential dimensions of Da’at and the Unus Mundus.
