ABSTRACT
This collection of chapters is inspired by the idea of how “light in nature” (Jung, 1954a, paras. 388-391) builds imaginal shapes that spark a “rebirth and renewal” phenomenology in the individual and collective psyche. As natural scintillae or fiery, seminal numen, Jung speculates that such phenomena spark the world soul into existence by acting as “seeds of light broadcast in the chaos” (para. 388). As Jung explains, “this light is the lumen naturae which illuminates consciousness and the scintillae are the germinal luminosities shining forth from the darkness of the unconscious” (para. 389). Through a renewed, experiential contact with this creative, affective inner light, whether through a specific image of nature, such as the fiery phoenix bird, or as a mythic liminal space/ place in the natural world, through dreams or other creative expression, the psyche is regenerated. Jung (1954b, paras. 321-322) argues that the collective unconscious is the ancestral heritage of all representation and that it should be theoretically possible to peel back each layer, until we reach the psychology of even the worm or amoeba. With their emphasis on evolutionary ancestral memories, creation myths, and dreams, these chapters explore the indigenous/ primordial roots of “rebirth and renewal.”
