ABSTRACT
If each phase of life can be pictured as the expression of a major archetype, then the archetype of initiation may be viewed as the process of transformation from one archetypal phase to the next. The following clinical material is an example of the working process of this archetype in a mature patient during the course of a twelve-year analysis. This case focuses on the later stages of the initiation process as a path of individuation, in the sense that C.G. Jung used that term, that is, becoming conscious of the many parts of oneself. For this to happen, the heroic attitude towards life must give way to an openness to previously unconscious aspects of the personality.
