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I Am Passionate About Helping Others Find
Their Essence and Become Their Unique Self

I am a Depth Psychologist. Also a co-active coach, university professor, imagier, and yes, maieutic. I enjoy pursuing processes that evoke and support human transformations. I thrive on the esoteric—alchemy, Gnosticism, and ancient Islamic mysticism. I vibe with the pioneering work of C.G. Jung—from personification to typology to synchronicity and anything to do with Tiefenpsychologie—deep psychology. I am an enthusiast for delivering andragogic adult education. When not delving in these domains, I enjoy traveling in Europe and seeking out misericords in archaic cathedrals.

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Certifications

  • 2021: Symbolon Reflection Method Certification

  • 2011: Certified Vision Board Counselor

  • 2010: SHIFT-IT Coach and graphic facilitation training

  • 2008: Academy for Guided Imagery (Interactive Guided Imagery Practitioner)

  • 2007: PCC (Professional Certified Coach—International Coach Federation)

  • 2006: Myers Briggs Foundation (MBTI Master Practitioner)

  • 2005: Coaches Training Institute (Certified Professional Co-Active Coach)

  • 2004: Job and Career Development Coach certification

  • 2001: Interstrength Methodology Certification

  • 1996: Temperament Research Institute (MBTI Certification)

Qualifications

Academic Education

  • 2018: PhD in Depth Psychology (with an emphasis on Jungian and Archetypal studies).
    Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria, California.

  • 2015: MA in Depth Psychology (with an emphasis on Jungian and Archetypal studies).
    Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria, California.

  • 1975: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre and Cinema
    Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri.

Vocational Education

  • Symbolon Reflection Certification

  • Coaches Training Institute Leadership

  • Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC)

  • Inside Team Coaching with Cynthia Loy Darst

  • A Bigger Game with Rick Tamlyn

  • Dream-Tending with Steve Aisenstat

Conferences / Workshops / Presentations

Published Works

  • 2024: British Association for Psychological Type Conference
    “Introduction to the Typology of Imaginal Figures”

  • 2023: Imagery International 15th Annual Conference
    “Resolving Conflict via the Imaginal Personification of Drama Triangle Roles”

  • 2023: British Association for Psychological Type Conference
    “Typological Aspects of the Drama Triangle”

  • 2022: Australian  Association for Psychological Type Conference
    "The Trimorphic Ethoi of Psychological Types"

  • 2022: Polish Portal of Analytical Psychology of C. G. Jung Conference
    Limits, Liminality and Primeval Experience
    “Iconoclasm of the Psyche”

  • 2022: Bay Area Association for Psychological Type
    "The Masks we Wear; The Masks we Hide"

  • 2022: British Association for Psychological Type Conference
    "Ambiversion: Fact or Fallacy?"

  • 2021: Australian Association for Psychological Type Conference
    "Gottman, Beebe, and Jung – Some correlations"

  • 2020: 11th International Conference on the Dialogical Self
    "The Lost Art of Personification"

  • 2019: Polish Portal of Analytical Psychology of C. G. Jung Conference
    Structures of the Imagination—Image, Myth, and Society
    “The Lost Art of Personification”

  • 2019: British Association for Psychological Type Conference
    Closing Plenary Session—“Pearls of Wisdom: Type as a Map, Type as a Springboard”

  • 2019: Art and Psyche: The Illuminated Imagination Conference
    “A Qualitative View of Psychological Types through Visual Imagery”

  • 2018: British Association for Psychological Type Conference
    “Dr. Dee and his Magic Mirror—The Alchemical Origins of the Digital Age”

  • 2017: Bay Area Chapter of the Association for Psychological Type
    “The Noble Gift of Intuition: A closer look at the Intuition function”

  • 2017: Bay Area Chapter of the Association for Psychological Type
    “Sensing and Sensibility: A closer look at the Sensing function”

  • 2017: British Association for Psychological Type Conference
    “Eco-Typology: How types underlie our changing ecology”

  • 2017: International Association for Jungian Studies Conference
    “Can You Spot It?  Recognizing Jung’s Cognitive Processes.”

  • 2016: International Association for Jungian Studies Conference
    “Peering at Our Ecology Myth through the Lens of Psychological Types and Generating Some Recommendations Therefrom”

  • 2016: British Association for Psychological Type Conference
    “Recognizing Jung’s 8 Functions in the Real World”

  • 2016: Sacramento Chapter of the Association for Psychological Type
    “Sensing and Sensibility: A closer look at the Sensing function”

  • 2015: Association for Psychological Type International Conference
    “The Making of ‘Can You Spot It? Recognizing Jung’s Cognitive Processes’”

  • 2014: International Association for Jungian Studies Conference
    “The Rebirth and Renewal of Psychological Types”

  • 2014: Sacramento Chapter of the Association for Psychological Type
    “The Making of ‘Can You Spot It? Recognizing Jung’s Cognitive Processes’”

  • 2013: Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies Conference
    “Is the MBTI a Crock? The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as an Organizational Depth Psychology Tool”

  • 2013: Association for Psychological Type International Conference
    “Meet your Sub-Personalities”

  • 2012: Dialogical Self Conference
    “Conversations with archetypes: Personifying C. G. Jung’s psychological types using John Beebe’s method”

  • 2012: Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies Conference
    “Gottman Meets Jung, and they Match!  Archetypal Characteristics of the Relationship Patterns of Couples whose Relationships are Failing”

  • 2011: Association for Psychological Type International Conference
    “Coaching a Typology of Consciousness”

  • 2009: Association for Psychological Type International Conference
    “Powerful Coaching Questions Using Type Frameworks”

  • 2008: Convergence Conference
    “Powerful Coaching Questions Using Type Frameworks”

  • 2007: Association for Psychological Type International Conference
    “Discovering Beebe’s Archetypes”

  • 2006: Australian Association for Psychological Type Conference
    “Exploring Beebe’s archetypes: An exploration of the way archetypes manifest in everyday life”

  • 2002-2008: Presented sessions and workshops on leadership, team-building, and typology at the Share Conference (held twice yearly).

  • Varner, V. (2022). The Lost Art of Personification. In R. Segal, I. BÅ‚ocian, & A. Kuzmicki (Eds.), Collective structures of imagination in Jungian interpretation: Contemporary psychoanalytic studies, volume 30 (pp. 75–94). Brill.

  • Varner, V. J. (2021). The Imaginary College Major. ImagiNews, 25(2), 11–12. 

  • Varner, V. J. (2021). The Rebirth and Renewal of Psychological Types. Psychological Perspectives, 64(3), 297-315. DOI: 10.1080/00332925.2021.1994806

  • Varner, V. J. (2021). Book review: From Types to Images by James Hillman. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 66(5), 1247-1252.

  • Varner, V. J. (2021). The Vices and Virtues Inherent in I-Positions. In C. Monereo, C. Weise, & H. Hermans (Eds.), Dialogicality (pp. 276-285). International Society for Dialogical Science.

  • Varner, V. J. (2021). The COVID Pandemic and the Feeling Function. Journal of Jungian Scholarly Studies, 16, 77-80.

  • Varner, V. J. (2021). A Tympanum in a Time of COVID. Personality Type in Depth, April 2021. https://typeindepth.com/2021/04/a-tympanum-in-a-time-of-covid/

  • Varner, V. J. (2020). Loyalty Within and Without. ImagiNews, 24(3), 14–15. 

  • Varner, V. J. (2019). Systems Coaching, Models of Typology, and Emergence. Philosophy of Coaching: An International Journal, 4(1).

  • Varner, V. J. (2019). Pearls of Wisdom: Type as a Map, Type as a Springboard. TypeFace, 30(1), 19.

  • Varner, V. J. (2019). A Response to Beebe Criticism. TypeFace, 30(1), 36-39.

  • Varner, V. J. (2017). Review of: Energies and Patterns in Psychological Type: The Reservoir of Consciousness by John Beebe. Psychological Perspectives: A Quarterly Journal of Jungian Thought, 60(1), 121-125.

  • Varner, V. J. (2014). Review of: The Question of Psychological Types: The Correspondence of C. G. Jung and Hans Schmid-Guisan, 1915-1916 by John Beebe and Ernst Falzader. Quadrant: Journal of the C. G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology, XLIV(1), 88-94. https://www.cgjungny.org/quadrant-volume-xliv1-2014/

  • Varner, V. J. (2013). A Broken Personality Repairs Itself. Personality Type in Depth, November 2013. Retrieved from http://typeindepth.com/2013/11/a-broken-personality-repairs-itself/

  • Varner, V. J. (2012). Jung’s Typology of Consciousness. Bulletin of Psychological Type, 35(2), 17-19.

  • Varner, V. J. (2011). Can You Spot It? Recognizing Jung’s Cognitive Processes in the Real World. [online multimedia workshop]. Found at http://cysiworkshop.com/

  • Varner, V. J. (2009). The New Type Community. Australian Psychological Type Bulletin, 11(2), 37-41.

  • Varner, V. J. (2007). Relationship Type Combinations. Bulletin of Psychological Type, 30(3), 34-39.

  • Varner, V. J. (2006). 5 Strategies to Help the Type Professional Clarify Client Type. Retrieved from http://typeinsights.com/media/StrategiesForClarifyingType.pdf

  • Varner, V. J. (2006). It’s a Blonde Thing—You Wouldn’t Understand. Mensa Bulletin, August 2006, 20-21.

Editorial Contributions

  • The Archetype of the Apocalypse: Analyzing the Pandemics of Racism, COVID-19, and Climate Change (in press) by William K. Grevatt.

  • C.G. Jung and the Evolution of God: Vision, Myth, and the Answer to Job (2022) by Lance S. Owens.

  • Collegial Coaching Conversations (2021) by Martin Richards.

  • A Coaching Approach to Education: Six Steps Towards Successful Teaching in Tomorrow’s Education System (2013) by Martin Richards.

  • Psychological Perspectives. Senior Editor for issues 63(4), 64(1), 64(2), 64(3), 64(4), 65(1), 65(2), 65(3/4), 66(1), 66(2), 66(3), 66(4), 67(1), & 67(2).

  • Turn of an Age: The Spiritual Roots of Jungian Psychology in Hermeticism, Gnosticism and Alchemy by Alfred Ribi.

  • Jung in Love: The Mysterium in Liber Novus (Full Monograph Edition, 2015) by Lance S. Owens.

  • C. G. Jung and Erich Neumann: The Zaddik, Sophia, and the Shekinah (2016/2018) by Lance S. Owens.

  • Jung’s Red Book for our Time: C. G. Jung and the Prophet Puzzle (2017) by Lance S. Owens.

  • Jung’s Red Book for our Time: Abraxas: Jung’s Gnostic Demiurge in Liber Novus (2017) by Stephan Hoeller.

  • Gnostic Homilies by Stephan Hoeller.

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