Blood of Our Children: An Archetypal Perspective on Healing the Wounds Inflicted by War

Presented by Dr Michael Conforti,
Jungian Analyst and Founder/Director of The Assisi Institute

Followed by commentary from special guest, Dr. Magda di Renzo,
Jungian Analyst, Psychologist & Child Developmental Psychotherapist

Saturday, December 9th 2023
US Eastern Time (UTC -5): 12pm – 1.30pm

A live webinar taking place via Zoom
Registration includes receiving a video recording of the presentation afterwards
Fee: $25

About this Lecture

This is the third presentation forming part of The Assisi Foundation’s Public Program Series which focuses on our programmatic theme of Crimes Against Humanity.

In a time where the personal and collective psyche seems to be yearning for a radical shift in perspective and approach, it is our hope that initiatives like these can support our global community to face, understand and respond to these unsettling and turbulent times in more soulful, transformative and healing ways.

The purpose of this series is to:

• Reach a broad global audience about the very real and globally collective issues we are facing in the world today;
• Raise awareness and funding to advance the global reach of The Assisi Foundation’s work on archetypes and the objective psyche; and
• Offer an understanding of the meaning, significance, and purpose of the archetypal patterns that lie beneath the headlines.

Lecture Description

From antiquity to the present, children have evoked our greatest love and tenderness. Each new birth speaks to our future, ensuring that life goes on. We rejoice in the ease of their smiles and their absolute amazement at the simplest things in life because they ‘know’ that their presence secures our place in the world.

This is precisely what led humanity to erroneously view children as a worthy offering to God in exchange for his blessing. The birth of the sacred child – be it Jesus, Zeus, or any of the mythical heroes – speaks to the emergence of a new order. Fearing the end of their reign of power, the guardians of the old order seek to eliminate this new life.

Whether representing the redeemer, the sacred child, the sacrificial victim, or a coveted sex object, children stand in the epicenter of humanity’s strongest emotions, and killing them has always been an act ‘Contra Naturam’ – contrary to nature. As Abraham prepared to plunge the knife into his son’s chest, the angels stopped him, crying and pleading with Abraham, to God – or perhaps even a future humanity – to understand that no one can ever take a child’s life.

Can war, or anything else, ever justify the targeting and killing of children? So much of a child’s life and future remains suspended and paralyzed by the onslaughts of war. Their torn and shattered bodies mirror their wounded and fractured souls, which may never again emerge to experience a life that others take for granted. Their world of fear and terror keeps them imprisoned, perhaps never daring to look outside ever again. In this world of frozen moments, they may again find the warmth that they so desperately need to allow them to trust and to welcome their soul back into their life.

In his autobiography, Elie Wiesel writes: “Will I ever… acquire the necessary imagination to describe what goes on in the heart of a father who, moved by a sudden impulse of insane hope, hands his infant child to an unknown passerby, praying that this final fatherly gesture might save the infant’s life? Or will I be able to describe a mother who, on the threshold of muted madness, throws her baby outside the cattle car, hoping that a merciful peasant will catch it? And keep it? Will I ever be able to read in her pain the meaning of her gesture?” (Pg. 150)

Having learned from Jung and the pioneers who studied the domain of the archetypal, and the nefarious consequences of irruptions from this dark unconscious, we need to ask: “What, if anything, is possible to bring some meaning or even some scintilla of joy back to the child’s life?”

Is it even feasible to help children affected by war in coping with the terrors and hopelessness of countless yesterdays and todays? Can we find a way for them to grasp even the faintest wisp of hope for tomorrow? This is not only our greatest challenge; it’s an absolute necessity for securing our future.

This presentation will:

• Examine children’s war trauma from an archetypal perspective.
• Investigate what is – and may not be – possible in the healing process for children affected by war.
• Explore children’s unconscious experience of war and horror.
• Consider how universal symbols, fantasies, and denial function in the Psyche of war-affected children.
• Discuss the possibility and methods of establishing a trusting therapeutic relationship with children affected by war crimes or suffering from war trauma.
• Examine the unconscious and archetypal motives and consequences behind why children are targeted in war.

The presentation by Dr. Conforti will be followed by commentary from a special guest, Dr. Magda di Renzo. With over 40 years of clinical practice as a Jungian Child Analyst, Dr. di Renzo has a unique ability to enter into and understand children’s trauma and terror. She navigates where their last glimmer of hope may still be found, offering a means to help heal their psyches.

[Image credit: Boy seated in wreckage of building after a bombing raid of London during World War II. By photographer Toni Frissell, 1945. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.]