Lisa Marchiano, a writer and Jungian analyst discusses her book Motherhood: Facing and Finding Yourself (Sounds True, 2021). In this episode, Marchiano speaks with Julian Vigo about employing fairytales in Motherhood to recount Jungian psychoanalysis through stories of descent and emergence from the well, the central metaphor of her book. Outlining Jung’s concept of individuation, the lifelong process of discovery and experience of meaning in life, Marchiano expands individuation to include the openness of the subject to learning about the self. Discussing motherhood in the context of family and culture, Marchiano distinguishes between individuation and the current cultural drive towards individuality, noting how the current seeking out the “authentic self” is anything but authentic. Underscoring the importance of “sinking down into our embodied selves” in the context of the narrative of motherhood where sacrificing one’s youth is part of the experience of caring for a child, Marchiano notes that “feeling more ordinary” sits in diametric opposition to the contemporary “discovery of the self” which often revolves around a victimhood narrative.

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