Author's Note: The beginnings of this research project actually had very little to do with DESTINY (36/212), and were only peripherally related to Xena. I had been reading some of Joseph Campbell's books on mythology. Campbell often referred to ideas that he said were based upon the works of the analytic psychologist, Dr. Carl Jung. I reasoned that, to get the most out of Campbell's work, I had better read what Jung had to say on the subject. I picked up Jung's book Man and His Symbols (Doubleday, 1964) and started reading.

As I finished Man and His Symbols, I was amazed at how well the dream images in DESTINY (36/212) fit Jung's archetypes of the unconscious. That was when I decided to continue my research and record my findings in an article for Whoosh!. The article is not fiction. Each archetypal dream symbol interpretation is taken from one or more of the references listed in the bibliography.

The challenge in writing the article was never in finding enough material in Jung's works to discuss all of DESTINY's (36/212) dream symbols. The challenge was to keep the project to a manageable size, and to avoid straying into the many side topics and elaborations that Jung introduced. The way I decided to limit the article's length was to write it in the form of a single archeological discovery. I wrote the article as a presentation delivered in 40 BCE by a certain Carljungus, who represents Dr. Carl Jung. This approach helped to avoid any discussion over whether or not Xena actually met Caesar, and allowed me to concentrate on the dream's archetypal symbols and their interpretation.

I also wanted to keep any modernisms from creeping in. Specifically, I wanted to avoid having to deal with Freud's ideas on dream interpretation. To do this, I had Carljungus' papyrus translated in 1872, which is well before both Freud and Jung started publishing. In that way, the "translators" could only take the papyrus at face value, and would not be tempted to include any side commentaries usually attached to such translations.

Finally, I decided to limit Carljungus' knowledge of Xena's life by having only five other Xena Scrolls discovered by his time. This has the benefit of keeping things focused on the essentials. It has the additional benefit of allowing the reader to extend the analysis through the reader's own knowledge of Xena's life.

Introduction (01-03)
The Unconscious (04-06)
Two Forms Of The Unconscious (07-11)
The Destiny Scroll (12-15)
Before The Dream (16-23)
The Warrior Princess (24-26)
The Animus (27-31)
The Seduction (32-38)
The Sea And The Ship (39-46)
The Teacher (47-50)
The North (51-54)
The Land Of The Pharaohs (55-56)
The Pendant (57-64)
Artemis (65-69)
The Ransom (70-73)
Encounter With The Waters Of The Unconscious (74-75)
The Animus Returns (76-77)
Xena's Crucifixion (78-82)
Xena's Rescue (83-87)
The Battle (88-91)
Why I Was Who I Was (92-96)
The Wasteland (97-101)
What Must I Do To Atone? (102-107)
Individuation (108-113)
Bibliography
Biography

Xena starts off in a bad way and ends even worse in DESTINY.

Introduction

^[1] The following is a translation of a papyrus scroll containing one of what seems to have been a series of lectures presented in Athens around 40 BCE by the eminent, Carljungus. Until now, we had uncovered only a few fragmentary pieces of Carljungus' work. In the little we have found, Carljungus demonstrated that he held some rather unusual ideas regarding the mind -- specifically as they relate to something he calls the unconscious. In one of the other fragments, Carljungus even describes himself as a "doctor of the soul"!

^[2] This scroll and the lecture it contains, however, are complete. In this lecture, Carljungus discusses and analyzes the dream symbols described in a "recently unearthed scroll of ancient origin". It is important to note that there are a number of terms in the text that could not be translated directly into English. When such terms were encountered, the translators substituted modern words that they felt were closest to the original meaning.

^[3] Now, rather than use this introduction as a restatement of all that follows, I feel that it is best to stop here and allow Carljungus to "speak for himself".

Richard LaFleur
Boston, Massachusetts, 1872

Next Section

Biography

Richard LaFleur
Richard LaFleur completed his Master's Degree in Mathematics at Boston College. He is married and has a daughter (a young Warrior in her own right). Richard has taught mathematics and computer programming from the junior high school level through college. He was also a software support instructor at Raytheon Data Systems and is now part of the software engineering group at a CAD/CAM company in the Boston area. He has completed 25 years of military service, retiring as a First Sergeant from the Massachusetts Army National Guard. His interest in mythology, psychology and ancient history first turned him on to Xena: Warrior Princess. The rest, as they say, is history.
Favorite episode: RETURN OF CALLISTO (29/205)
Favorite line: From Xena's prayer in RETURN OF CALLISTO (29/205) to "anyone who's listening": "Please don't let that light that shines off her face go out. I couldn't stand the darkness that would follow."
First episode seen: THE BLACK WOLF (11/111)
Least favorite episode: GIANT KILLER (27/203)