The Individuated Bookshelf: Books for the Inner Journey

In this episode I speak with actor and educator, Jeff Miller, about the Jungian concept of individuation, drawing on the work of analyst James Hollis and author Marilynne Robinson to examine what it truly means to step away from collective expectations and step into oneself. We reflect on our own personal turning points—including my decision to walk away from an academic path in London to break free from long-held internal projections, and Jeff’s experience of coming out in his twenties and navigating a dark night of the soul through midlife and recovery—to explore how shadow work, the courage to be different, and learning to stay present through uncertainty and suffering allow us to lead a more conscious, meaningful life.

In this episode I trace my journey from an intense graduate‑school community in London through academic disillusionment, anxiety, and early novel‑writing, toward Jungian analysis and the creation of Sophia Cycles as a circle for exploring inner life. I reflect on how apparent missteps and detours can become waypoints on the path of individuation, especially as we reclaim shadowed parts of ourselves in midlife and begin to live from a more authentic center. Along the way, I introduce key companions for this inner work—Robert A. Johnson’s Inner Work and A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living—and invite listeners to see their own collapses and questions as essential material for meaning rather than failures to be erased.

In this episode I sit down with the actor and educator Jeff Miller to explore Robert A. Johnson’s We: Understanding the Psychology of Romantic Love through a Jungian lens, asking why romantic love has become the “single greatest energy system in the Western psyche” and how it often replaces religion as our main path to meaning, transcendence, and ecstasy. We unpack projection—how we place our own unlived life and inner feminine/masculine onto a beloved—then trace romantic love back to the 12th‑century troubadours and the myth of Tristan and Isolde to show what happens when a culture puts divine longing onto human partners instead of the sacred. Along the way we look at the wounded feminine in a power‑driven patriarchy, the imbalance between “masculine” values of control and “feminine” values of connection, and why this split fuels both our idealizations and our bitter disillusionments in relationship. We also talk about where that eros can go instead—into art, theatre, music, dreams, and other experiences of transcendence that connect us to something larger without asking another person to “cure our life”—and how the deeper Jungian task is to balance our inner opposites, withdraw projections, and honour the beauty of falling in love without making it our only doorway to the soul.

In this episode I speak with psychiatrist Dr. Sumit Anand about the complex, often misunderstood nature of anger and its deep roots in personal and collective grief. Drawing on classical literature like Homer’s The Iliad and Euripides’ Medea, contemporary storytelling, and Jungian psychology, we deconstruct how the modern clinical approach has pathologized a vital signaling system of the soul. Dr. Anand shares profound insights from his own practice and personal history, explaining the neurobiology of rage, the illusion of "closure," and the therapeutic necessity of bypassing rationalizing narratives to address the raw pain and shame sitting beneath the surface. Together, we explore how developing conscious awareness and tracking the body's visceral responses can ultimately break generational cycles of trauma and lead to genuine psychological healing.
 

In this episode, I sit down with my longtime friend, professional actor, and educator Jeff Miller for a deep dive into the work of Jungian psychoanalyst James Hollis. We discuss why a life focused on meaning trumps the superficial cultural chase for happiness, how to face our personal shadow, and the challenging but liberating reality of taking absolute responsibility for our own lives. From navigating personal blowups with aging parents to finding ultimate wisdom in literature, Jeff shares how Hollis’s writing fundamentally shifted his perspective on navigating the second half of life.

In this new incarnation of the podcast, I interview the same guest from the final episode of Gatherings, psychiatrist Dr. Sumit Anand. We explore why modern mental health must address soul, meaning, and a recognition of the human spirit.
Is there space for the notion of a "soul" in contemporary psychiatric practice? Dr. Anand makes a compelling case for why there should be.
 

In this episode, Béa speaks with forensic psychiatrist Dr. Sumit Anand about his journey from medical school in England to decades of work with the “criminally insane,” adolescents, and today’s so-called “worried well.” He traces how a love of story led him toward psychiatry and then back toward narrative, arguing that a patient’s story is data, not decoration. Sumit reflects on the limits of purely biological models, the crisis of meaning in younger generations, the distortions of tech culture, and why real change needs time, presence, and a willingness to sit in the “messy middle” of life. Along the way he shares practical insights from the consulting room: building trust in a system people no longer believe in, creating a genuine container for chaos and grief, reconnecting mind and body, and valuing growth over quick fixes.
You can find Sumit's short videos on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sumit+anand+md

This episode is a wide-ranging conversation on creativity, Jungian psychology, and what it takes to write from the depths. Béa reflects on her novel Invocation as a psychological culmination of years of work, one that braided together cognitive science, mythology, and inner development and ultimately prompted her to step away from her long-running group. From there, the discussion moves into the disruptive symbolism of the goddess Eris and why storytelling remains essential for both personal integration and the wider cultural humanities. Looking ahead, Béa shares early insights into her next project, a historical fantasy shaped by celestial maps and the myth of Parsifal. Throughout the episode, the creative act emerges as a form of inner healing and a living bridge between the rational and irrational dimensions of the psyche.
Link to information about Invocation: Bea Gonzalez Sophiacycles
 

In this episode, I turn to the Romantics as guides for a world coming apart, viewing Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as a protest against a mechanistic worldview that devalues feeling. Some questions that emerge from this journey are:   What do we do when technology outpaces our moral framework? Just because we're able to do something, should we? What responsibilities do we incur when we create a new form of life?  Are we repeating Frankenstein's mistake when we build systems and then disclaim any obligation to the creatures we have released onto the world?
Books Mentioned:
Magnificent Rebels, Andrea WulfRomantic Outlaws, Charlotte GordonFrankenstein, Mary ShelleyA Flash of Golden Fire, Thomas ElsnerThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor ColeridgeThe Romantics and Us, Simon SchamaBERGHAIN, Rosalia [Lux]Guillermo del Toro’s, Frankenstein

In this episode of Gatherings, we unpack the enduring power of the vampire archetype. We trace its evolution from the gothic shadows of Dracula to today’s romanticized immortal figures, revealing how the vampire reflects the repressed, unintegrated, and wounded parts of the psyche. Drawing on insights from Marion Woodman and Michael Singer, we explore the vampire as a symbol of psychic energy turned inward—what happens when life force becomes blocked or possessed by the shadow. We also situate the myth in its social context, connecting its late-Victorian rise to cultural fears around feminism, sexuality, and capitalism. The conversation closes by asking why our current moment is again obsessed with the vampire and what this collective fascination might tell us about trauma, desire, and the hunger for aliveness.