“This knowledge is invaluable for a “therapist.” That’s why Jung said that studying fairy tales is
a good way to study the comparative anatomy of the collective unconscious, the deeper layers of
the human psyche.” 
Marie-Louise von Franz, Archetypal Patterns in Fairy Tales (p. 21)
Program Description
An exploration of fairy tales has a particular value for psychotherapy. Integrating fairy tales into the healing journeys of our patients - both adults and children – is of profound value for clinicians and other mental health professionals. Similar to the significant influence of dreams in our life, fairy tales also express the workings of the archetypes and The Self by manifesting the psyche’s contents through imagery, stories, and symbolism.

Carl Jung, Marie-Louise von Franz, and other pioneers in Jungian Psychology looked to fairy tales and myths to represent the anatomy of the psyche. The deep truths hidden in fairy tales - from complexes, to developmental processes, to the gift of allowing us to see an intimation of our true calling and destiny - continue to offer much to clinicians’ understanding of their clients’ psychological needs and journey.

In 1970, Marie-Louise von Franz published The Interpretation of Fairy Tales, in which she says: “Fairy tales are the purest and simplest expression of the collective unconscious psychic processes. Therefore, their value for (an) investigation of the unconscious exceeds that of all other material. They represent the archetypes in their simplest, barest and most concise form.”

Fairy tales present a series of universal motifs, including: the father-daughter or mother-son relationships, losing our way in the journey, from oppression to redemption, the power of the witch’s spell, and the gift of finally finding our way home to The Self. Throughout this program we will look to the images and motifs in these stories as a way to learn the language of the unconscious, and the ways of healing and redemption.

So too we come to understand the archetypal message inherent in these stories, and how this understanding informs the clinician’s understanding of their clients’ personal and archetypal challenges of life.

Course Objectives
  • Through an in-depth study of the work of Marie Louise von Franz, we will deepen our understanding of the archetypal significance of fairy tales and how they reveal the nature and dynamics of the Psyche.  
  • Draw on an archetypal, symbolic, and objective approach to fairy tale images and themes, as a way to discover the Wisdom of the Psyche.   
  • Become familiar with the development and structure of fairy tales from their archetypal underpinnings, motifs, cultural influences.
  • To examine patterns in fairy tales such as the archetypal elements of the story, recurring motifs and numbers. We will look at the components of the tale; title, exposition, characters, conflict, plot progression and lysis.   
  • We will examine how the actual beginning of the fairy tale, the initial condition, provides unique insights into the unfolding of the story. These early conditions reveal the central archetypal pattern expressed in the fairy tale, and as von Franz taught us, with this understanding, we can often “predict” how the story may progress through the conditions and themes unique to the archetype expressed in the story.  
  • Since many of the original features of fairy tales have been contorted to fit our collective preference for “living happily ever after”, we will reintroduce the original presence and purpose of the Shadow archetype in fairy tales.   
  • Deepen our awareness of how fairy tales are a vital portal for the presentation of archetypal material and how these themes are often found in film, literature, current events, and our own life experiences.


Online Course Format 
  • Classes are held live on Tuesday evenings from 7:30 pm - 9.00 pm US Eastern Time.
  • All sessions take place live via Zoom which allows all participants to see one another during the live classes.  
  • In addition, each session will be recorded and shared with all participants to ensure that those who may miss a class can access the recordings at any time. This also gives students an opportunity to review the content in their own time. 


Certification Course Class Dates 2026 
  • September 29
  • October 13, 27
  • November 10, 24
  • December 9
​The Assisi Institute’s Advanced and Master Fairy Tale Analysis Certification program begins January - May, 2027,
on alternate Tuesdays 7:30 pm -9:00 pm
Registrations for this course will open in the Fall.
Annual Fairy Tale Conference will be held virtually in May 2027 details to be published closer to the date.
Cancellation and Refunds Policy 
A full refund minus a $50 administrative fee, is given if cancellation is made prior to one week before the beginning of the series (by September 22nd). A 50% refund is given if cancellation is made less than one week before the series begins.
Please only complete your CE hour purchase after you have completed your
registration for the program.  CE hours are only available for program
participants.

Faculty

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Michael Conforti - USA, Founder and Director of the Assisi Institute
He is a faculty member at the C.G. Jung Institute of Boston, the C.G. Jung Institute of New York, and for many years served as a Senior Associate faculty member in the Doctoral and Master's Programs in Clinical Psychology at Antioch New England. A pioneer in the field of matter-psyche studies, he is actively investigating the workings of archetypal fields and the relationship between Jungian psychology and the New Sciences. 

He has presented his work at; The C.G. Jung Institute – Zurich, and Jungian organizations in Australia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Israel, Italy, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, the Ukraine and Venezuela. He is the author of Threshold Experiences: The Archetype of Beginnings (2007) and Field, Form and Fate: Patterns in Mind, Nature and Psyche (2002). His books have been translated into Italian, Russian, and Spanish.
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Maureen Kuehler- USA 
Maureen Kuehler is a professional actor, coach and lecturer.  She has worked with the Assisi Institute since 2017.  Maureen holds a Master’s degree in Shakespeare and Theatre from the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.  Her area of interest lies in the intersection C.G. Jung and performance with a particular focus on the ways performance draws on and informs the embodied access of archetypes.
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Jennifer Fadel- USA
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4 Broadway Avenue Ext.
Unit 3A
Mystic, CT 06355
(860) 415-5004     [email protected]