Introduction

This chapter proposes to gather the disparate pieces of archetypal method and weave them together with dreams, fantasy images, and clinical vignettes in an effort to depict the particular style taken up by archetypal psychotherapy. Psychotherapeutic process is highly contingent on the idiosyncrasies of both the therapist and the patient, making general statements about what constitutes 'Jungian' or 'archetypal' therapy inherently limited. Hillman quickly began his confrontation with orthodox Jungian ideas, some of which he would spend his career developing and some that he would vehemently reject. Proponents of archetypal psychotherapy take a radical stance against mainstream psychology's strict adherence to the medical model. The psychological notion of archetype is arguably the most important contribution Jung offered to both psychology and culture. Oppositionalism is a perspective that becomes necessary only when one stakes claim on land outside of the dreamscape.