"An Orphan's Odyssey: Sacred Journeys to Renewal" - A case study of the Individuation Process by Rose-Emily Rothenberg

ASHEVILLE, N.C., March 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- New Release by Chiron Publications.

In "An Orphan's Odyssey" Rose-Emily Rothenberg invites her readers to accompany her on outer world safaris and inner world journeys as she explores the images and symbols that appeared in the stories, myths, and dreams surrounding her travels to Africa. Inspiring us to follow and actively participate with our own psychological callings, she explores the dynamic of death and rebirth dynamic that ultimately renews us. By reconnecting to ancestors, both human and animal, she renews her connection to the Self and to the Divine.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150319/183282

Each chapter traces the pursuit of meaning conveyed through symbols that arise continually throughout the process. It is this process of listening and deepening understanding that reveals itself as an initiation, which contains many elements specific to orphanhood. Rothenberg shows the endurance and concentrated devotion that is required to bring meaning into consciousness and to surrender to the challenges of the initiation she was undergoing. She gathers many insights gleaned from her experiences and that needed to be incorporated into her psychological and spiritual life. This work amounts to a description of a journey of individuation with all its trials and tribulations, including the suffering and ecstasy that accompany such an endeavor.

Delving ever deeper into contemplations and reverie, the author better defined the orphan myth she lives which allowed her to bring  the higher side of this dynamic into her awareness. This allowed her to integrate opposites thereby creating a greater sense of wholeness.

By making the instinctual aspects of herself more conscious and simultaneously strengthening her connection to the spiritual dimension of her journeys (using history and mythology, human and animal psychology, and the active participation of her imagination), she brought the Self into a greater awareness of her totality. Death and rebirth were the central dynamics of her process. Other themes include separating from the mother, claiming her "bush soul," and relating to religious imagery.

Ms. Rothenberg illustrates her dedication to observing, defining, clarifying, and integrating the many aspects of her inner landscape enriching this regenerative endeavor with pictures and journal excerpts that are a gift.

"This is the story of a personal journey with archetypal dimensions. By going deeply inward and also traveling physically over a large continent, conversing with dream figures and imaginal personalities as well as interacting with material beings of every variety, Rose-Emily Rothenberg has created an extraordinarily colorful and meaningful life. She gives us a case study in individuation that is deeply convincing because it has been lived with extraordinary devotion and consciousness." -Murray Stein, author of Minding the Self.

"Rothenberg carefully describes her ongoing voyage of initiation and learning. She has been utterly faithful to her foundational myth of orphan hood and bodily scars, traveling to Africa to connect with tribes, ancestors, and animals. A life led with integrity and knowledge, her description of her path is indeed worthy of being read by all those who search." -J. Marvin Spiegelman, author of The Divine Waba (Within, Among, Between, Around): A Jungian Exploration of Spiritual Paths.

"Beautifully illustrated and richly imagined, An Orphan's Odyssey weaves together the archetypal, cultural, and personal innerscapes and nature safaris of its author. As the West's most powerful symbol of the unconscious, Africa emerges as the mother of her spiritual development. This soul work will appeal to Jungians, psychotherapists, spiritual seekers, and readers of Africa travel writing. It is a joy to read." -Blake Burleson, Baylor University, author of Jung in Africa.

Following the success of her first book, "The Jewel in the Wound," when she travelled to Africa to unravel the mystery of scarring on her body, she is compelled by her animal-shaped scar to return to Africa to explore the animal world.  Presented with a vast array of animals and animal behaviors, chief among which is the wildebeest migration, emerging as a poignant reflection of her own story. Africa, like the orphan, knows the wounds of loss, and the wildebeest migration aptly mirrors the essential presence of death and loss in the midst of life enduring and becoming. Ms. Rothenberg explores the dynamics behind the rich dreams, active imaginations and visions that occur before, during and after her travels.

Rose-Emily Rothenberg, MA, is in private practice in Pacific Palisades, California. She has been a Jungian analyst for over thirty-five years and teaches at the C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles. Her special interests, on which she has lectured nationally and internationally, are the orphan archetype and the relationship between disease and the psyche. Also by Rose-Emily Rothenberg, The Jewel in the Wound: How the Body Expresses the Needs of the Psyche and Offers a Path to Transformation.

Chiron Publications, est. 1983, publishes more than 150 titles addressing topics in Jungian Psychology, Mythology, Religion, Fairy Tales, and Clinical Practice. Managed by two Jungian-oriented practicing psychiatrists, Steven Buser, MD and Len Cruz, MD. Recent releases include Hauntings: Dispelling the Ghosts Who Rule Our Lives, by Dr. James Hollis, the international release of Love and Sacrifice: The Life of Emma Jung  and the upcoming release of an original, unpublished manuscript by the famed 20^th century analyst, Erich Neumann, Jacob and Esau: The Brother Motif.

The Asheville Jung Center, est. 2008 by Steven Buser, MD and Len Cruz, MD, is an international conferencing company providing internet video seminars, webinars, web-streaming archives, DVD recordings, continuing education credit and access to an interactive global community of Jungian Analysts, Jungian oriented therapists, and people interested in Jungian Psychology.

In 2015 Chiron will launch innerQuest, a new imprint devoted to an even more diverse array of titles and tools for inner development with the release of "DSM-5 Insanely Simplified," by Steven Buser, MD.

Contact: Brian Austin, Director of Marketing or Ryan Deegan, Managing Director (828) 333-4787 [email protected]

SOURCE Chiron Publications