The Christian season of Advent, covering the span of about four weeks prior to Christmas, is rich with religious and psychological significance. In the darkest, shortest days of the year, people turn their thoughts to rebirth and the creation of new light. It is a time for psychic birth guiding us toward wider consciousness and a heightened experience of life.

This yearning in human beings goes back to the primal roots of civilization. The prayers and liturgies of the Advent season echo the myths of winter solstice festivals and the ancient desire of people to return to the nurturing chaos of unformed matter. Advent prayers parallel the efforts of alchemists who strove to turn base metal into higher and more noble elements. Advent expresses a fundamental longing for transformation.


Mariann Burke is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Boston. In addition to 'Advent and Psychic Birth, ' she is the author of 'Re-Imagining Mary: A Journey Through Art to the Feminine Self.' Mariann holds degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, Andover-Newton Theological School and the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich and has done graduate work in scripture at Union Theological Seminary and La Salle University. She is a member of the Religious of the Sacred Heart.