"It is the privilege of a lifetime to become who you truly are"-Carl Jung
Greater Cincinnati Friends of Jung
About Us
Founded in 1983, Greater Cincinnati Friends of Jung (GCFJ) is a non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to exploring the ideas, studies and theories of Carl Gustav Jung, founder of analytical psychology. GCFJ presents a variety of programs to fulfill this objective including lectures, films, workshops, dream sharing groups, and Study Discussion Groups.GCFJ welcomes all persons both lay and professional at all levels of interest and understanding of Jung's works, in particular those who are seeking a deeper understanding of the human spirit and have a desire for increasing self-knowledge. Program offerings are designed to accommodate different levels of familiarity with C.G. Jung.
What's Here
Inside this website are descriptions of current and upcoming programs and events, plus descriptions of the active study groups. Also included are the GCFJ history, ways to become a member and make a donation, current committee members, links to our Ohio Jung Association partners, and contact information for area Jungian analysts. All of these pages can be accessed from the menu bar.
Our Facebook page, with over 16,000 followers, is a treasure trove of information related to C.G. Jung. It is curated by GCFJ Committee member, Jim Slouffman.
Join our CONTACTS list
If you would like to receive information about upcoming GCFJ events, simply click the button below to add your name to our CONTACTS list.
Membership Information
Annual membership runs from January 1 to December 31. Dues paid on or after September 1 will count for the following year. Membership includes discounts on most events, newsletters, members-only events, introduction to dream share groups and more. Your dues enable us to pay for rental facilities, tech expenses, and promotion of events for you and the community at large.Dues Are:$25 Single$35 Couple$15 StudentTHREE WAYS to become a Member:1.) ONLINE MEMBERSHIP REGISTRATIONTo Become a GCFJ Member (or RENEW your Membership), simply click the button below and follow the instructions:
2.) JOIN WITH PAPER FORMIf you prefer not to handle your Membership online, you can download and print a paper form by clicking the button below.
Send this completed form with a check payable to: GCFJ c/o Gary Sabourin, 4609 Fox Trail Circle, Cincinnati, Ohio 452453.) JOIN IN PERSON
You can sign up for a membership in person at any GCFJ event and pay with a check.
GCFJ Programs
Coming this Fall, 2026:
Live Presentation
Saturday, September 26, 9am-1pmFirst Unitarian Church536 Linton St. Cincinnati, OH 45219VLADO SOLC returns:
InDividuation in a Divided World:
Deception, Ego, and the Quest for Wholeness
Narcissism manifests not only as an individual psychological phenomenon but also as a cultural–archetypal force shaping contemporary life. In a divided world—touched by shadows of QAnon, polarization, and what we have described as Dark Religion—communities and nations fall prey to unconscious distortions of reality. Narcissistic dynamics expressed through grandiosity, denial of vulnerability, control, and hunger for external validation arise from a split between an inflated self-image and consciousness grounded in love.
A symbolic perspective does not dismiss conspiracy beliefs as merely irrational constructs; rather, it seeks to discern the hidden emotional image that animates them. By approaching such narratives as symbolic expressions, we gain deeper insight into the quest for meaning—and into the possibility of individuation itself.
THREE WAYS to register for GCFJ events:1.) You can register ONLINE. Simply click the
CLICK TO REGISTER button below.
2.) If you prefer not to handle your Event Registration online, you can download and print a PAPER FORM by clicking the button below.
Fill it out and send it in with your check made payable to:GCFJ c/o Gary Sabourin, 4609 Fox Trail Circle, Cincinnati, Ohio 452453.) Finally, while we strongly encourage you to register ahead of time, cash or check will be accepted at the DOOR as well.
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Recent Past GCFJ Events
Live PresentationParenting and Individuation:Archetypal Patterns in Myth and Practice
*Presenter: Adina Davidson, PhD, LISW(May, 2026)Jung believed that myth was one of the ways that archetypes manifest and become partially accessible to the conscious mind. As Jungian clinicians, we believe that we can learn to watch for archetypal patterns that may benefit or harm our clients. In this program, we will go over some of the archetypal parenting configurations found in myth, in our own lives, and in our clients’ lives. We will begin by exploring biblical, Greek, and Hindu myths around parenting. In particular, we will focus on the archetypal pattern of love and sacrifice and the choices parents make about who to sacrifice and when. As clinicians, we tend to look at the impact of parenting on the child, including adult children. In this workshop, we will focus on how parenting affects the parent. We will see that the decision of whether to sacrifice oneself or one’s child makes all the difference as to whether parenting becomes a support for the parents’ individuation or leads to diminishment and even destruction. We will also examine how this plays out in our consulting room and in the parental dynamics of transference and counter-transference.Adina Davidson, PhD, LISW, is a Jungian Analyst and a graduate of the Chicago Institute. She is in private practice in Cleveland Heights and Beachwood and serves as an adjunct professor at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Adina cohosts "Jung Ever After," a podcast about fairy tales through the lens of Jungian analsis. She also serves as secretary of the board of Jung Cleveland.----------------------------------------------------------Film Study and Live PresentationAn Afternoon with Nietzsche
with Dr. Alexander Riegel(March 2026)When Nietzsche Wept: Based on the award-winning novel by Irvin Yalom, When Nietzsche Wept (Pinchas Perry, Director) tells the story of obsession, love, fate, and will that formed the basis of modern psychoanalysis. Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, and Dr. Josef Breuer cross paths when Nietzsche is a poor, sick, unknown philosopher--and Freud is a 26-year-old medical intern.Dr. Alexander Riegel is a Unitarian Universalist minister who wrote his Doctoral dissertation on the German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. His dissertation, entitled Deicide and the Reemergence of Meaning, demonstrates that contrary to the popular notion of Nietzsche as a nihilistic (despairing) figure, he was an affirmative religiophilosophical figure who sought to usher in a more meaningful religiosity, rooted in subjective human experience.----------------------------------------------------------Live PresentationThe Journey of the SoulC.G. JUNG'S RED BOOK
with James Slouffman, MFA(October, 2025)This was a presentation by Jim Slouffman, GCFJ Board member and long-time Jungian teacher. Jim explored in depth the controversial, long hidden, and now revealed RED BOOK by Carl Jung.----------------------------------------------------------GCFJ Film StudyUnderstanding Evil
A Lecture with Lionel Corbett(October, 2025)This is the last lecture given by Lionel Cortbett before he died in July, 2025. The lecture discusses the sources of evil from both individual and social factors.Corbett compares traditional religious views of evil with psychological approaches. In particular he looks at the developmental factors that predispose someone to evil behavior from the point of view of Jungian theory and pyschoanalytic theory importantly. Corbett discusses Jung's notion of the dark side of the self, or archetypal evil, and its relationship to the personal shadow.----------------------------------------------------------Live Presentation'Strange Bird: The Voice of Jung'
Raymond O'Neill, Actor, Director(August, 2025)Strange Bird: The Voice of Jung is a 75 minute one-man show by actor Raymond O’Neill in which the sometimes controversial but always fascinating ideas of Carl Jung are interwoven with O’Neill’s own dreams of Jung and stories of his ‘round the world' sojourn with Cirque du Soleil culminating in a surprise visit to Zurich, Switzerland. With material gathered from Jung’s Red Book and his autobiography 'Memories, Dreams, Reflections,' the timely, alarmingly thought provoking and sometimes delightfully humorous Strange Bird: The Voice of Jung is sure to please not only those already familiar with Jung’s work, but will also serve as a comprehensive introduction to the life and ideas of Analytical Psychology’s founding father C. G. Jung, one of the 20th century’s most seminal thinkers.----------------------------------------------------------GCFJ Film Study'Dancing in the Flames'
Marion Woodman
(May, 2025)Powerful and Insightful. "Marion Woodman: Dancing in the Flames" explores the life of renowned Jungian Analyst and author, Marion Woodman. Celebrated for her work on feminine psychology and addiction, her vital words and wisdom hold a key to understanding the world's current crisis. With honesty and trademark wit, Woodman explores the mysteries of the soul's journey and reveals series of psychological "deaths' and 'rebirths" that have made her who she is today. From her revelatory experiences in India, to surviving cancer, Marion's unique journey sheds light on a planet in the midst of a "shedding of its outworn skin.'[ Featuring a stunning animation by academy Award winning artist, Faith Hubley, and with insight from esteemed author and mystic, Andrew Harvey, Marion weaves her inner and outer lives together and transmits a core truth of what it is to be human.-----------------------------------------------------Live PresentationJungian Theory in Art Therapy and Image
Maggi Colwell, Art Therapist, Analyst in Training
(April, 2025)Maggi Colwell is an art therapist in private practice in Columbus Ohio. They provide art therapy, sand play, and dream work to adult individuals for depth and dreamwork. They specialize in treating C-PTSD and traumatic grief for middle-aged Jungian Theory in Art Therapy and Image “An artist’s job is to capture the unseen” – Nick Bantock No Mud No Lotus by Maggi Colwell women. Maggi graduated from Florida State University in 2018 with a master’s degree in art therapy. They studied dream work and archetypes at the Assisi Institute between 2014 and 2021. They are currently a training candidate at the CG Jung Institute Zurich.----------------------------------------------------------GCFJ Film StudyThe God Image: Antiquity to Jung
Lecture by Lionel Corbett, film provided by Jung Society of Washington, with permission.
(September, 2024)Corbett conveys Jung’s teaching that a new God-image is emerging alongside our traditional images of the divine. The Self, an innate God-image, exists in the psyche, and allows a personal connection to the sacred. Images of the Self have particular qualities, e.g., mysterious, fascinating, awesome, dreadful, and uncanny; they point to wholeness and completion. Not only do Jung’s ideas bypass difficulties in traditional teachings (e.g., how a God of Absolute Goodness can be reconciled with evil and suffering in the world), but personal numinous experience is transformative.Dr. Lionel Corbett trained in medicine and psychiatry in England and as a Jungian Analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. He taught at the Pacifica Graduate Institute and is the author of many books and papers. Primary interests: religious function of the psyche, psychotherapy as spiritual practice, and Jung in contemporary psychoanalytic thought.----------------------------------------------------------Live PresentationBridge to the Unconscious: Dreamwork for Therapeutic and Personal Growth
with Arlo Compaan, PH.D., Jungian Analyst
(October, 2024)Jung believed that attending to dreams was one of the better ways to expand consciousness and especially useful for the discovery of shadow material. Dreams are bridges between our personal consciousness and the unconscious. After a brief overview of the Jungian understanding of psyche--the dynamics of mental, emotional, and spiritual life --we will consider the soul’s search for meaning, the archetypal push toward wholeness, and the ego’s preferences for stability, consistency, and order. Then we will focus on the dreams that have us in the night and how to make meaning out of our experience of them. This is often a challenge because dreams speak in symbols, images, and pictures.We will explore ways to:Move the symbolic image into conscious meaning
Channel the archetypal energy into conscious life, and
Embody the emotion of the images
In this way, dreams can bring about a transformation of consciousness. We will also consider 3 types of dreams, whether the dream speaks subjectively and/or objectively, and how the dream may illuminate the progress or difficulties in the therapy relationship (the transference and countertransference). As we do this, we will engage some small group work to come alive!Arlo Compaan, Ph.D., is a Jungian psychoanalyst and a licensed clinical psychologist. He is a diplomate member of the International Association for Analytical Psychology, a member of the American Psychological Association, a former fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and a former clinical member and approved supervisor in the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists at Claremont, CA. From 2013 to 2017 he was the Director of training for the Analyst Training Program at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago, where he also served as a co-director for the Jungian Psychotherapy and Jungian Studies Programs. His clinical interest is in the treatment of trauma and the dynamics of shame and shamelessness. He has presented papers on this topic in the US and internationally. He maintains a limited, virtual clinical practice of analysis and supervision from his home in Frankfort, Il.---------------------------------------------------------GCFJ Film StudyDream Tending
with Stephen Aizenstat / film by Russ Spencer(April, 2024)In this captivating documentary Dr. Stephen Aizenstat and four noted experts reach deeply into the mystery of our dream life, revealing a vast, untapped source of meaning, tenderness, and understanding.EVERY ONE OF US DREAMS…EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.Stephen Aizenstat's groundbreaking Dream Tending DVD is an invaluable resource. Dr. Aizenstat's innovative and deeply humanistic approach takes viewers deep into the mysteries their own dream life, revealing a vast untapped source of meaning, tenderness, and understanding. This documentary-style film is enhanced by rare on-camera interviews with Robert Johnson, James Hillman, Marion Woodman, and Michael Meade. In addition, it features a wealth of rich, mythic images that illuminate Dr. Aizenstat's compelling narrative. It is a film filled with ideas, nuance, and valuable information -- all of which become revealed more fully with repeated viewing.
Ohio Jung Association Partners
Find upcoming events by our affiliated groups in the Ohio Jung Association:
Special Interest Groups
Dream Sharing Groups
GCFJ sponsors a number of self-directed dream sharing groups, and makes referrals to individual groups as a benefit of membership. Groups generally meet monthly at various locations, and each group operates autonomously, making its own arrangements.
The purpose of the groups is to provide a forum for members to share and explore dream experiences, insights and possibilities in a group setting. The groups operate in a non professional, i.e., lay, setting without a designated leader – all group members take responsibility for arrangements, group dynamics and other issues which may come up.For information about joining a dream sharing group, how the groups operate in general, or even how to start a new group, contact: Susan Cannon at 513-729-3601.
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Jung Film Study GroupThis Study Group meets once in the Fall and once in the Spring. We watch a variety of films ranging from feature films, documentary films on C.G. Jung, animated films, fairytale films and fantasy films. After viewing, we form a discussion group reviewing Jungian ideas found within the film. In this way, we learn Jungian concepts together through the medium of cinematic art. Open to members and non-members of GCFJ.Contact: Mary Marx at [email protected]
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"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes"- C.G Jung
History of GCFJ
Greater Cincinnati Friends of Jung (GCJG) was started in 1983 by a small group of lay individuals interested in exploring the ideas of C.G. Jung. The present group established as a non-profit organization in 1989.GCFJ has hosted well-known Presenters from afar, and talented regional analysts and analysts-in-training: Anthony Stevens, Manisha Roy, William Willeford, Gary Sparks, Dean Frantz, Louise Mahdi, Ann Belford, Ulanov, Lionel Corbett, Mara-Lea Rosenbarger, Erik Goodwyn, Richard Sweeney, Lisa Maechling Debbler, Judith Cooper, Arlo Compaan, Jim Fidelibus, Adina Davidson, Vlado Solc, Laura Chapman, Warren Sibilla, Karen Hermann, Maggi Colwell, Raymond O'Neill, James Slouffman and others.
Our Film Study Events have included:-Marion Woodman, Dancing in the Flames-Lionel Corbett, The God Image-Stephen Aizenstate, Dream Tending-Remembering Jung, A Conversion with Marie-Louis von Franz-Way of the Dream (co-sponsor)-Wisdom of the Dream-Bly and Woodman on Men and Women (co-sponsor)-Matter of Heart-Hasten Slowly - The Journey of Sir Laurens van der Post-Sense of the Sacred, A Portrait of Helen Luke-Appointment with the Wise Old Dog-When Nietzsche Wept
GCFJ Committee
Coordinator: Susan CannonCommittee Members:George BradleyMary MarxJim MasonMick ParkerGary SabourinTeresa SabourinJim SlouffmanCoordinator Emeritus:Sally Moore
Area Analysts
Jan Zalla, NCPsyA1163 Vistapointe Dr.Park Hills, KY 41011859-261-1759[email protected]
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Richard J. Sweeney, Ph.D513-351-2231[email protected]
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Lisa Maechling Debbeler, JD, MA5725 Dragon Way, Suite 308Cincinnati, OH 45227[email protected]http://lmdcounseling.com
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"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate."
Donations / Contact Us
DonationsGCFJ is pleased to offer several recognized SPECIAL DONOR levels (in addition to the membership fee):Persona level $25Archetype level $50Red Book level $100Synchronicity level $500By donating you will receive recognition in GCFJ literature and promotions (unless you tell us you prefer to remain anonymous).The GCFJ holds a 501 C 3 Non-Profit Status. All donations are tax deductible.Donating ONLINE is easy. Simply click the button below and follow the instructions.
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If you prefer to donate with a CHECK, please make it out to GCFJ and mail it to:GCFJ c/o Gary Sabourin 4609 Fox Trail Circle Cincinnati, OH 45245Many thanks!
Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns:Gary Sabourin, GCFJ Committee Member513-706-3643[email protected]