Vampires, Skeletons and Jung, Oh My!

So, I’m talking to my niece last night about Jung. No, really.

I'm playing Auntie Dearest and staying with her while her mom's off on a business trip. So we were sitting around chewing the fat after work. It started with talking about her being excited about New Moon coming out. I know, I know. I there’s nothing I can do about the Twilight thing. But anyway. She said something about every culture having some sort of vampire myth. And I asked her if she had heard of Karl Jung and archetypes? She thought a bit and came up with “Is he that guy who came after Freud? The collective conscious guy?” And we talked about mother images and heroes and how most people have the same basic concept of those. I suggested that there may be something in the vampire that responds to one of those iconic images that we have rattling around in our heads. And she really seemed to think about that.

That’s one of the things that I like about the kid. On any old Monday night, I might find myself scratching through the mental attic to dig up my old textbooks and find that chapter I once read about archetypes. And tonight we’re going to attempt pan de muerte for Dia de los Meurtos. I think we’ll attempt the wreath with the crossed bones. I’d really like to try for a skull. But I’m not at all sure that would come off.

Good stuff for late October.