New Beginnings

Course Description

In this two hour course Dr. Ashok Bedi brings his enthusiasm, experience and multi-cultural roots to the topic of new beginnings. 

A veteran Jungian analyst, Bedi assures us we can find support from the soul when we face emptiness. He relates clinical cases that show how archetypal forces step in when we’re lost. He joyfully shares personal anecdotes about finding guidance from the imaginal realm. 

Bedi affirms that something must end for something else to begin. He describes the goddess Kali as an archetype of when we’re in darkness. She executes a pruning of the ego, a cleaning out of what’s no longer useful or alive. Bedi describes Jung’s crisis with Freud and the Red Book that grew as a result.  We see that times of mental breakdown can be precious times to trim the tree of our psyche.

With a symbolic approach to images and events, we seed our soul with new ways to engage the world. Ashok leads us through an exercise with a few photographs in which we play with evocative images to discover our habits of perception. We can take that as a clue about how to move in a new way.

Dr. Bedi illustrates his perspective on new beginnings and change, and tells tales of Aditi, the goddess of the void, the realm of the Mothers where new life is gestated. Void means you’ve emptied your ego adaptations. This makes room for the soul to step in. 

Bedi talks about the rules of engagement with the threshold to the unconscious. We learn that when the relationship between ego and soul is that of equals, growth rather than stress can be an outcome of trauma. 

With Dr. Bedi’s conviction that we are celestial beings on Earth, the imaginal becomes real. You can feel the new beginnings that are at your feet and fingertips.

This course is ideal if

• Get past ego-based programs for self-improvement and move toward what your soul is looking for
• Be inspired by stories of how the soul has guided people in moments of chaos and darkness
• View a few evocative images and hear how they can bridge to the deeper psyche
• Release what’s not working to clear space for new growth

Course Overview

Class 1.

In this hour Dr. Bedi talks about the difference between change, crisis and trauma. He describes how the psyche finds a correspondence between something that’s cooking inside and an external image or event. We learn that beyond visual images, many things can mirror the fantasy realm: relationships, symptoms, synchronistic events, music, art and elements of nature.  He presents 5 criteria for knowing when an image is a bridge to your deeper psyche. We learn about the importance of a symbolic attitude to events. 

Class 2.

In this hour Dr. Bedi talks about the Goddess Kali as clearing out what’s dysfunctional. He tells us about Aditi, Goddess of the Void, and the womb of the collective Mothers. We learn that the suspension of ego consciousness in trauma or chaos is a window into the void. This is not the same as depression, in which you cannot function. A void experience activates healing images which have specific advice for the individual’s life. Bedi discusses Goethe’s Faust in this context.

Bedi concludes with a look at the missing Fourth element, perhaps the Devil, perhaps the feminine, perhaps the inferior function. He encourages us to balance the four sectors in our life; love, work, play and creativity.

By the end of this course you will

• Understand how healing images emerge in response to chaos, crisis and trauma.
• Have a sense for a symbolic attitude toward images of the unconscious and events in your life
• Feel readier to face feelings of void and emptiness by exploring the archetype of Aditi
• Understand the necessity of sacrifice of the old to make room for the new.