Dionysian Exiles

At the end of the tragedy of The Bacchantes, Dionysus condemns two characters to exile. This study of Dionysian mythology refers to Jung’s abundant writings on the subject to examine the application of the term dissociative instinctuality to the phenomena at work. In this mythology, Jung sees a cosmic Eros who invites the bacchanalian to a mystical feast under the aegis of the self and the Great Mother. However, it ends up dividing the psychic being. The matter of the hero’s return to the mother’s breast engendered the controversy with Freud. This is bow Dionysus insinuated his way into the psychoanalytical debate, sending analytical psychology into exile. Nevertheless, the author asserts that both epistemologies, the Jungian and the Freudian, are mutually enriching in psychoanalytical practice.