“I have often asked reproachfully, “Why does this damned unconscious talk such a difficult language? Why doesn’t it tell us clearly what’s the matter?” Now Jung’s answer was that it obviously can’t. It doesn’t speak the language of the rational mind. Dreams are the voice of our instinctual animal nature or ultimately the voice of cosmic matter in us.” 

Marie-Louise von Franz, The Way of the Dream, p. 217 (1994)
Program Description
​A meaningful life is one lived in relationship to the Self and to the archetypal rhythms of nature. While we each need to navigate our own way through life, we learn of these natural rhythms and the life pro-offered by the Self when reading fairy tales, legends, and the mythological journeys of heroes and heroines. It is through these texts that we hear another voice which extends our personal understanding about life. A voice that both beckons us on to riches, or also warns of great tragedy. 
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While Dr Rosaly Roffman reminds us that "mythology is the story of humanities’ relationships to the divine", it was Marie-Louise von Franz who provided our deepest understanding of fairy tales as "nature’s constants", allowing us to understand the wisdom of these stories. This is the world of Psyche revealed to us through fairy tales. 
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Through fairy tales, we are brought into the world which Jung referred to as "The Spirit of the Depths" where each adventure speaks to our hunger for soul, and each story illuminates that invisible path leading to The Self. Here is a telling of time eternal, and the voice of the "antique soul" teaching us about life as it has been recounted by generations eternal. 
 
In this course, students will learn the art, love, and the discipline of seeing the depths of meaning contained within fairy tales, and strengthen and re-awaken a passion for these seminal stories which remind us that “once upon a time in a land far, far away” is present here and now in our own psyches.​

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 the fairy tale images and themes, to discover the Wisdom of the Psyche.   
  • Become familiar with the development and structure of fairy tales from their archetypal underpinnings, motifs, cultural influences, and their relationship to those innate, self-organizing properties of the Psyche.  This process will also examine patterns in fairy tales such as archetypal elements of the story, recurring motifs and numbers. Key components such as: exposition, characters, conflict, and lysis will be highlighted to examine the underlying structure and processes.   
  • We will examine how the actual beginning of the fairy tale - its initial conditions - provide unique insights into the unfolding of the story. These early conditions reveal the archetypal pattern expressed in the fairy tale, and how this opening is unique to the archetype expressed in the story. This speaks to the archetypal coherence of a story. 
  • Since many of the original features of fairy tales have been contorted to fit our collective  preference for “happy endings” and “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, and current events.

Course Highlights

  • Students will have direct access to some of the foremost leaders in the modern study of archetypal patterns in stories. Presentations from an international faculty of Jungian Analysts and Archetypal Pattern Analysts will demonstrate how myths, legends, fables and fairy tales are filled with images and meaning that can guide us to greater wisdom.   Our approach to stories and sacred texts will honor the work of Jung, Marie Louise von Franz, and several other seminal figures in this specialized field.  
 
  • This certificate program will provide students not only with the opportunity to observe in-depth translations of fairy tales, but will also allow direct learning  through participation. Students will enhance their ability to understand initial conditions, identify the archetypal pattern, and discover the archetypal processes within the fairy tale, and their role in shaping the direction and content of the story.
 
  • Students will receive an orientation on how to work with fairy tales and the work of  identifying key Jungian elements of the Feminine and Masculine, the Shadow, Anima/Animus, the Self, psychological functions, and symbols of the Psyche within the story.
 
  • We will be working with fairy tale images and themes as they relate to Archetypal Coherence in a story. In this light, the program will focus on archetypal structure and the presentation of universal, archetypal patterns.

Online Course Format 
  • Classes are held live on Tuesday evenings from 8pm - 9.30pm US Eastern Time.
  • The only session not following the Tuesday format is the opening lecture presented by Dr. Hansueli Etter taking place on Saturday September 16th, 12 noon - 1.15pm 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 2023
 
  • September 16, 26
  • October 10, 24
  • November 7, 21
  • December  5, 19
Upcoming Advanced & Master Fairy Tale Analysis Course

​The Assisi Institute’s Advanced and Master Fairy Tale Analysis Certification program begins January 2nd, 2024, and will take place on alternate Tuesdays 8:00 pm and 09:30 pm through to May 21st, 2024. Registrations for this course will open in the Fall.

Cancellation and Refunds Policy 

A full refund minus a $50 administrative fee, is given if cancellation is made prior to one week (by September 9th) before the beginning of the series. A 50% refund is given if cancellation is made less than one week before the series begins.
Download the CE Information
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Faculty
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Kevin Richard (Chair of Fairy Tale Studies)
Kevin Richard, MA is an Archetypal Pattern Analyst, and has been part of The Assisi Institute since 1993.  He has served as the Institute’s Director of Studies and has assisted with programmatic design, and continues to serve as a speaker, student mentor, consultant, and a founding member of the Assisi Foundation’s Board of Directors. As a senior faculty member of The Assisi Institute, his presentations examine the interface of science and Jungian Psychology, initial conditions, and the objective role of images in art, stories and in the human condition.

Kevin serves as an administrator in the Rhode Island (RI) Family Court system.  Through several decades of working with the Court and its respective population, he has overseen large judicial programs and departments; worked on policy and system reform, served as an advocate for children; and worked as a counselor. He has been appointed to numerous committees designed to address areas of child welfare, juvenile justice, and areas of mental health.  In 2015, he was part of a three person delegation from Rhode Island invited to the White House in order to address the growing concern with child trafficking. 
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Dr Michael Conforti
Dr. Michael Conforti is a Jungian analyst and the 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 to a wide range of national and international audiences, including the C.G. Jung Institute - Zurich and Jungian organizations in Australia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Italy, 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 a soon to be released Spanish edition of his work.
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Dr Rozan Christian
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Dr. Rozan Christian is an Archetypal Pattern Analyst, Senior Faculty member for The Assisi Institute, and licensed professional counselor in the state of Texas.  She holds a doctoral degree in counseling from the University of North Texas as well as a master's degree in education from Southern Methodist University (SMU). Rozan maintains a private practice in Dallas, Texas, focusing on the identification of unconscious processes in her clients’ lives. She specializes in understanding the archetypal meaning of fairy tales and their application today.  

For the past several years, she has led fairy tale discussion groups for individuals who want to know more about the human psyche. She has also translated fairy tales as a conference and webinar presenter for the Assisi Institute.  

Rozan serves as an adjunct professor in the Master of Science in Counseling Program at SMU and supervises post-graduate interns seeking professional counseling licensure.  In addition, she has published in professional journals, co-authored chapters in books, and presented at national conferences about the effects of life-changing events, including near-death experiences.
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Special Guest Presenter: ​Dr. Hansueli Etter
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Hansueli F. Etter is a long-time colleague of M.L. von Franz, and founding member of The Research and Training Centre for Depth Psychology according to C.G. Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz in Zürich. He is also the president of the Foundation for Jungian Psychology in Kusnacht. Dr. Etter has a PhD in Anthropology and lectured for many years at the University of Basel. He graduated from the C.G. Jung Institute in Zürich in 1982 and works in private practice. His main interest and research lies in the topics of the religious dimension of Jungian psychology and in the secret relation between psyche and matter. He is a published author of many books and papers in German and in English. 

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