Join us with Joanna LaPrade author of: Forged in Darkness.

We all know the touch of the underworld. It shows up in our grief, failures, illness, shame, traumas, and the greater and lesser moments of challenge, change, and uncertainty. It is where we go when life darkens and we lose our footing. Yet, our experiences of darkness are natural and necessary markers along the path of growth and transformation – opportunities to build our capacity by letting go and being reborn anew.

Today, we have little connection to the underworld. We have abandoned darkness to prioritize an unblemished, positive life. We are enchanted by the myth of Hercules—the great hero that demands strength and victory at all cost.

Drawing on the work of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, Dr. LaPrade urges us to explore other mythic archetypes that can teach us to stop rejecting the darkness inherit in life and be present for the transformation it makes available.

Forged in Darkness provides its readers with a tapestry of history, depth psychology, myth, clinical examples, dreams, and anecdotes to guide readers towards different ways to face darkness. This book is about the return of the underworld perspective—once again viewing the depths of the inner word and the suffering shared by us all not as experiences to avoid but as opportunities for growth.

Joanna LaPrade, Ph.D., is a Jungian psychologist who has a private pratice in Durango, Colorado. She is the author of Forged in Darkness and a guest professor at the Colorado College.