Connecting Mesoamerican creation myth to the modern psyche . . .

“Explore the collective unconscious from a different angle and perspective than we have seen in the European, Slavic, Celtic, Asian, African, and Middle Eastern cultures,” says series editor Michael Escamilla in the foreword to Nancy Swift Furlotti’s Splendor of the Maya: A Journey into the Shadows at the Dawn of Creation. This examination and amplification of K’iche’ Maya creation mythology from Mesoamerica fills a gap in Jungian literature by illustrating the contributions to the collective psyche of an important indigenous American culture with which readers may not be familiar. Furlotti’s work offers an interesting juxtaposition with the prevailing Western scientific rationalistic views that have typified psychological inquiry for the past two and a half centuries.

Contrasting with the mostly linear orientation of Western scientific and literary traditions, Maya mythology and culture are typified by a cyclical view of time, creation, and experience coupled with an understanding of humanity as in community with—rather than hierarchically superior to—the natural world. Turning to Popol Vuh, or “Dawn of Life,” the Maya creation myth that details the repeated creation and destruction of the world, Jungian analyst and scholar Furlotti seeks “to extract the psychological meaning of the myth that may be pertinent to both the collective understanding of myth as well as the individuals’ process of what Jung described as individuation.”

Noting how a culture’s myths move hand in hand with its development, Furlotti forges connections with ancient wisdom to reconnect with the foundational metaphors that guide all human experience.  Splendor of the Maya brings fresh perspectives to the collective, often unconscious associations that link the human psyche across time and culture.

“Nancy Swift Furlotti’s pioneering Splendor of the Maya is itself a splendor. The invisible energies that swirl through history and each of us are only available to consciousness when it enters image. She provides a sturdy bridge to the history and culture of the Maya and links us to their effort to make sense of their time, their geography, their aspirations. For all their seeming  remoteness, her work illumines our kinship with this rich and sophisticated culture.”

—James Hollis, Jungian analyst and author of Living with Borrowed Dust: Reflections on Life, Love, and Other Grievances

“A useful, comprehensive introduction to the interrelationships of depth psychology and myth, to the cultural world of the Mayans (including the intricacies of their sacred calendars), and to the Popul Vuh—one of the most enigmatic, majestic creation epics in all of World Literature.”

—Evans Lansing Smith, professor of mythological studies, Pacifica Graduate Institute

“One of the foremost practitioners working in the field of Jungian psychology today, Nancy Swift Furlotti has always been keenly aware of the importance of often neglected indigenous mythologies to the ongoing creation of consciousness. In her masterwork, The Splendor of the Maya, she explicates a pathway to a greater understanding of the objective psyche that emerges from the misty Central American dawn and illuminates worlds both old and new.”

—Frank N. McMillan III, author of Finding Jung