Hermes and His Children
Hermes and His Children by Rafael López-Pedraza
BOOKS MENTIONED:
Hermes and His Children by Rafael López-Pedraza
Excerpt from Chapter: Hermes -- Psychotherapy – the Hermaphrodite:
“A dignified attitude is usually not one of servitude, and it can be seen in the context of being an identification with the #archetypal forms alien to that of just being a servant to the psychic process. For example, when an analyst prefers to stick to the dignified side of life he is no longer the servant and can thus be prone to identify with the #archetype of the #healer in its many manifestations; by insisting on his dignity he is less able to be a servant of the #healing process. It is important that, in our discussion of Hermes’ undignified, servant aspect in psychotherapy, we bear in mine Otto’s clear statement that, though Hermes is both servant and undignified, he is always “remote from vulgarity and repulsiveness.” Otto advises us of Hermes’ skill in dealing with the undignified; so when we discuss this aspect in terms of psychotherapy there is no implication of vulgarity. Vulgarity is evidently alien to Hermes and would upset a Hermes’ connection with, and evaluation of, this component which is called lack of dignity. I would say Hermes has a gusto of his own in dealing with the undignified side of the personality; his style and feeling can provide a psychological movement or UNKNOT THE DIGNIFIED complexes compressing the patient’s #psyche…
"In psychotherapy today, one of the responses of an analyst confronted with a patient’s undignified side is to try to constellate the patient’s dignified side. We can suspect in this procedure a repulsion against the undignified. It is perhaps a repulsion against Hermes himself, expressed by way of introducing the dignified, and element belonging to another archetype, i.e. Apollo and Athena, the -#archetypes that most represent the immediate values of the collective. This response misses the point and loses the possibility of a connection to Hermes through his undignified characteristic. Otto says, “The world of Hermes is by no means a heroic world!” The world of psychotherapy, particularly one concerned with Hermes, as well as being undignified and of servitude, is not a heroic one. If we consider psychotherapy to be an adventure—following #Jungian tradition, an adventure into the #unconscious—we realize that a heroic attitude is superficial for the demands of such an adventure. Hermes provides necessary imagery for the ‘unheroic’ attitude in the adventure of psychotherapy.”
Excerpt from Hermes and His Children by Rafael López-Pedraza
