ARAS Connections: Image and Archetype - 2025 Issue 3

The word “archive” does not suggest a dynamic source of information and wisdom that is stimulating and relevant for creative, contemporary projects. This might be especially true when considering the dense and esoteric name of ARAS: Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism. Rather, the name suggests something rooted and dwelling in the past and of interest to only a few scholars or wooly headed Jungians. Acutely aware of the burden of its name and what it may suggest to most people—but not to those of us who love it-- ARAS has been working for some years to become accessible and relevant to those interested in the present and future who look to the past for sources of inspiration and knowledge. ARAS contains enormous treasures of valuable insight into the depths and varieties of human experience that have unfolded over thousands of years in many different cultures. We are also deeply committed to bringing this vast trove and its “spirit of the depths” into active dialogue with “the spirit of the times” and with the urgent issues that face individuals and cultures in a most uncertain present and future.

Our two most recent projects give vivid witness to the reality that ARAS is very much committed to advancing the relevance and applicability of symbolic imagery from the ages to the lives of contemporary and future generations. This issue of ARAS Connections features our new, free publication A Guide to ARAS: For Analysts, Candidates, Artists, Scholars, Students, and Any Others Who Love Symbolic Images and a report on our ARAS Summer Art Programs for Teens.

A Guide to ARAS has been several years in the making. Learning how to use ARAS takes time and experimentation. The Guide facilitates this experimentation by orienting users to several different levels: 

1. the history of ARAS, 

2. how to most effectively navigate and use ARAS, 

3. what we mean by “symbol”, “amplification” and other key concepts underlying the ARAS approach,

4. many examples of how analysts, artists, scholars and others have actually used ARAS

The ARAS Summer Arts Program for Teens is the other project that this issue of ARAS Connections features. It can be seen as complementary to the Guide in its aiming in the most practical way of bringing the ARAS approach to symbolic imagery into the modern world. It describes how we are using ARAS as an experiential, teaching platform for young students. These programs are now occurring each summer in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. We have created a video that shows our 2025 program in New York and gives you a glimpse into how students are learning to use ARAS to explore their own symbolic world. We have also included images of the participants and their extraordinary artwork from the programs in Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

We hope this edition of ARAS Connections give you a feel for how ARAS is bringing our archive alive in the world.

ARAS is excited to share with you our latest publication, A Guide to ARAS for Analysts, Candidates, Artists, Scholars, Students and Any Others who Love Symbolic Images. The Guide is free of charge for all.

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Click here to access the free Guide

This guide extends an invitation.
An invitation into a world.
A collection.

Following in the tradition of Jung’s seminal collaborative volume, Man and His Symbols, our new guide is rich in images, rich in essays that explore the various ways to approach symbols, rich in information about the history of ARAS, its current programs and how to use ARAS Online, and, most of all, rich in examples of how analysts, candidates, artists, and others have used ARAS and the symbolic method to explore, amplify, enrich, and deepen our understanding of what it is to be human and part of a larger interconnected cosmos. We hope you enjoy this new publication and that it serves as both an invitation and a companion in your own symbolic journey.

We will be holding a free webinar to celebrate the release of this new publications that will feature some of its contributors on Sunday, November 2nd at 2pm EST. We hope you will join us! Register here.

Contributors to the Guide include Naomi Buckley, Stefano Carta, Marybeth Carter, Al Collins, August Cwik, Abner Flores, Betty Sue Flowers, Diane Fremont, James Hillman, Constance Hamilton Jameson, Patricia Llosa, Margot McLean, Elaine Molchanov, Bridget Morpurgo, Anita  Morse, Jeffrey Moulton Benevedes, Bruce Parent, Leyla Salmassian Bell, Elizabeth Schofield-Bickford, Tracy Sidesinger, Thomas Singer and Robert Tyminski.

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ARAS envisions that our remarkable Archive can play an important role in inspiring and educating young people. Our summer art programs for teens offer a special opportunity to discover the world through art by exploring cross-cultural symbolic images. We have been running our Summer Art Program for Teens in NYC since 2014 and we have seen over and over again how it can change the way the teens see the world. It is amazing to see them make connections and view things through a new lens! 

This year’s programs were a great success. The participants were excited to dig deep into symbolism and the work that they created during their two weeks at ARAS is incredibly meaningful and impressive. We are happy to present this video that showcases the 2025 NYC program. We hope you will watch to learn more about the program, this year's field trips, and the participants' final presentations!

Here are some scenes from the ARAS summer art programs that were held in San Francisco and Los Angeles!

San Francisco's Teen Vision Project: A Journey with Symbols:

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Los Angeles' ARAS Teen LA program:

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