Occult Confessions

Carl Jung made a fairly extensive study of Western alchemy and came to understand alchemical processes as explorations of the unconscious. The effort to liberate the spirit from the prima materia was a kind of descent into the depths of the mind.

C. G. Jung was a colleague of Freud's before they split over Jung's belief that there was more to the unconscious than Freud's sexual theory. Jung went on to theorize the existence of a collective unconscious, informed by his research in Arthurian legend, Alchemy, Gnosticsm, and Western Occultism. Jung's ideas not only informed psychology but inspired the field of comparative religion.

In the final episode of our Japan series and Rob's mini series on video games, Rob reads the first chapter of "The Mario Mythos" setting out his theory that game heroes have become the protagonists of postmodern mythic systems.

How did the early female heroes and princesses of the first decade of video games follow the paradigm of the goddess journey? In this episode, Rob talks about everyone from Ms. Pac-Man to the Dragon Quest heroes and Princess Peach.

Luke interviews Rob about his research project focusing on the mythology of the first video game heroes. The conversation ranges far and wide to encompass the nature of performance studies, Rob's early work on ghosts and psychic mediums, and the scholar's professional life and creative process.