The Kore Archetype in Myth, Art and Poetry

In Person Seminar as part of two-day retreat with Glen Slater, PhD

Montville, Queensland, AUS, Life Artistry Center

What returns a sense of soul to the world? Amidst the psycho-social fragmentation of the digital age, how can we care for our ecology of mind?

In a peaceful natural setting fostering community and reflection, this seminar-retreat weekend will engage these questions. We will explore perspectives and ideas from depth psychology, philosophy, mythology, and the arts and humanities to revitalize the connections between our inner and outer lives in a rapidly fragmenting world.

The Kore archetype in myth, art and poetry

The Kore, Greek for Virgin, is a mysterious figure. Youthful and elusive, she personifies that archetypal quality of consciousness that is best described as one-in-herself. This archetype is embodied by the great Virgin goddesses of the Greek Olympian pantheon—Persephone, Artemis, Hestia and Athena.

In C.G. Jung’s essay The Psychological Aspects of the Kore (1951), he makes the astonishing statement that the Kore is an image of the inner Divinity for women, and has a power that is equivalent to that of the Mother. These two rarely discussed ideas have significance for women’s psychology, and have direct bearing upon the development of feminine consciousness in both women and men. Who is this figure that is accorded such psychological power and significance?

Drawing from Safron Rossi’s book The Kore Goddess: A Mythology and Psychology (2021), in this seminar we explore the pattern of the Kore through art, myth, and poetry in order to discern how and where the Kore appears in life and plays a critical role in individuation.

You will come to understand the significance of the Kore in Jung’s psychology of archetypes, and be able to identify the qualities of the Kore archetype through ancient art, Greek myth and poetry. We shall locate and reflect upon how the Kore archetype appears in life today.

This retreat is an offering by The LIfe Artistry Center, visit their website for more information and to register.