Course Description:

This course explores the four-millennia-old lineage of Kabbalah and its relevance to depth-oriented and psychodynamic clinical practice. The Kabbalists mapped the soul’s journey from birth to death through realms of exile, fragmentation, and restoration, offering insights into the processes of healing and transformation—insights that resonate deeply with Jungian and psychodynamic thought. Key themes include Kabbalistic cosmology, psychology, and the Tree of Life, as well as Jung’s engagement with Kabbalah. Emphasis will be placed on amplifying the Kabbalistic tradition through a Western psychological lens, highlighting Kabbalah's formulation of psychological wounding and repair, and its relevance for contemporary psychotherapy. Clinical implications for assessment, case formulation, and the therapeutic relationship will be explored throughout. The material is presented conceptually rather than religiously, and no prior knowledge of Kabbalah is required.

Objectives:

Summarize major foundational texts and narratives—including the Lurianic creation myth, Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation), and Idra Rabba from the Zohar—and identify their psychological implications.
Differentiate mental states and developmental configurations using Kabbalistic models of the descent of Mochin from Or Einsof and related structures of mind.
Formulate clinical phenomena (e.g., defenses, ruptures, regression, repair) using Kabbalistic language as a complementary symbolic and conceptual framework.
Apply Kabbalistic models of wounding and repair (e.g., shevirat ha-kelim and tikkun) to clinical case material and therapeutic process.

The Aion Institute is approved by the California Psychological Association to provide continuing professional education for psychologists. The Aion Institute (AIO279) maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

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AION 405 The Kabbalistic Tradition as a Clinical Framework