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What is Psyche?
Mind, Soul, Myth, and Butterflies: Our Vehicle for TransformationPsyche. The word evokes the body/mind/spirit of an individual or a group. This word root gives us Psychology, Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosis, Psycho-Somatic, "Psyche" me out, Psycho-social, and Psycho-sexual, to name some. I can talk about “my Psyche” when referring to my mindset, my decision-making function, my mental health, my way of being. I might use the term to refer to the process of mind and soul functioning, such as “Psyche moves us in mysterious ways.” When I am in a therapy session, I think in terms of the client’s psyche, my own psyche, and that field of consciousness that connects us both, which is Psyche-with-a-capital-"P".
The word “psyche” means both “soul” and “butterfly” in ancient Greek. The Greeks thought that the soul was responsible for thought, feelings, and behavior. Freud utilized this concept and broke the psyche down into ID, or what is unconscious, superego, which is a person’s conscience or sense of morality learned through the world around him, and the ego, which serves to connect the two through conscious thought and behavior. Jung referred to psyche more as a process of thinking, feeling, and behavior as opposed to a location within the self. He referred to “psychic energy” that accompanies the processes of thought, feeling, and behavior. Later, Jung used the term “psyche” to refer to “the totality of all psychic processes, both conscious and unconscious” and “soul” to mean a function closer to the idea of “personality”
The articles that follow are grouped under “Psyche” because they refer to processes of the universal mind, which is reflected in our own thoughts, feelings, and behavior. This section honors our individual psyches as well as the World Psyche. You will find information about thinking, feeling, and behaving, and how to work with and not against them to produce change in your life. Butterfly, after all, is one of the most universal symbols of change. 
Discussions of Soul, and Soul’s cousin, Spirit, also belong in this area of the website. Psyche equals consciousness. In ancient Greece, not only did Psyche refer to Butterfly and to Soul, but also to a mythological demi Goddess. You may be aware of the myth of Eros (Cupid to the Romans) and Psyche. It is a tale of feminine development and maturation. It also points to the integration of Mental Process and Erotic Process. As you may have noticed, both processes have a logic all their own and often seemingly contradict! This tale points to the importance of integrating Mind and Body, Light and Dark, Sexuality and Thought. I believe there is a center point of resolution between these polarities, and that it lies within the realm of human Consciousness. This guides me through my nuts and bolts practice of healing work: to access the energy of Soul in order to produce Change in Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior. And, when we are ready, to emerge from our cocoon; rested and renewed, ready to fly.
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