Relationship alchemy: Marriage as a container for individuation

This research study explores opportunities for expanding clinical work with married partners toward greater individual expression. A text-based hermeneutics approach is used to dialogue between analytical psychology, the alchemical metaphor of the Rosarium Philosophorum used by Jung to explore the processes of working with transference toward individuation, the dialogue processes developed by Imago relationship theory, and the research of John Gottman. This study identifies opportunities for enhancing relationship through transforming projections between couples into useful transference dynamics.;Modern married couples are demanding more from their relationships and many experts agree that either the institution of marriage must be abandoned or its purpose expanded beyond its traditional externally-focused paradigm. Modern marriage feels increasingly empty as the closeness of the family joining together has been replaced by the dream for the prestigious and powerful super couple with nanny. At the same time, women want more freedom to express themselves beyond their stereotyped roles, and even when their soul leads them into these roles, they want to be valued for them. Unfortunately, in Western culture, feminine values are devalued so that the mother and wife are seen as vastly inferior to the supermodel and CEO. The unappreciated feminine turns masculine in our culture.;While rational consciousness has facilitated great advancements in outer life, its value is limited when exploring inner psychological life. Lived psychological experience is too complex for rational reductions. The natural, magical and mythical consciousness of our ancestors has the ability to commune with our inner world, but is mistrusted and devalued by rational consciousness. This mistrust has promoted the development of couples therapies without adequate descriptions of lived experience. In the absence of these psychological facts, their findings are in danger of being overly simplistic and misleading, and often search ineffectively for external solutions to internal problems.;Integrating additional ways of knowing, this study researches expanded ways of transforming conflict between couples. This conflict can then be used to gain valuable insight into our inner world instead of being played out on an outer stage, bringing value back to marriage. Keywords: marriage counseling, individuation, individuality, transference, John Gottman, Imago relationship therapy.