Brian Mayo is a senior Jungian analyst and founding member of the training program of the Ontario Association of Jungian Analysts.
He studied English literature at the University of Western Ontario and went on to earn a master’s degree in social work from the University of Toronto. While working as a mental health counsellor, his analyst, Fraser Boa, connected Brian with Fraser’s sister, the legendary and much-beloved Jungian analyst Marion Woodman, to supervise his cases.
He gained extensive experience working in outpatient psychiatry at Canada’s largest mental health hospital, the Centre For Addiction and Mental Health, and in 1991 decided to train as a Jungian analyst. The following year, he was accepted by the C.G. Jung Institute in Zürich where he spent the first three years of his training, and the final two years were spent in Toronto where he was supervised again by Marion Woodman. Brian graduated from the Jung Institute in 1997 with a thesis on the relationship between tattoos and the psyche.
In 1999, he and a small group of analysts in Ontario – including Daryl Sharp (Ep. 1, 5), Robert and Dorothy Gardner, Douglas Cann and others – decided to establish an internationally accredited training program. Operational since 2000, the Ontario Association of Jungian Analysts is still the only program of its kind in Canada. Brian remains active with the program through teaching, administering exams, and providing analysis and supervision. He has lectured and given seminars in Montreal, Calgary and Toronto on tattoos, graffiti-writing, and comics as manifestations of the unconscious, which are his ongoing interests.
Last month his book, co-authored with fellow Jungian analyst Patricia Brannigan, was published by Inner City Books. Skin Deep: Manifestations of the Unconscious in Everyday Life, explores how the phenomenon of the practice of tattooing demonstrates Jung’s understanding of how the reality of the unconscious psyche manifests in our daily lives. Stories and images from their research participants show how collective archetypal energies manifest through the choices individuals make when selecting their tattoos, largely unaware of the complex psychological dynamics that inform them.
This video interview was recorded on Wednesday, January 15, 2025. It’s 01:01:48 long and 58.2 MB. You can listen to it right here in your browser (click the play button in the bar below) or watch the video edition on YouTube.
LINKS
The new book, Skin Deep, is available from Amazon and directly from Inner City Books (they ship worldwide!)
Brian Mayo, RP, Jungian Analyst His website
Ontario Association of Jungian Analysts
History of OAJA Includes remembrances of Daryl Sharp (Ep. 1, 5), Marion Woodman, John Dourley (Ep. 4), and Fraser Boa
C.G. Jung Foundation of Ontario Seminars, lectures, and public programming
SHOW NOTES
The Way of the Dream: Conversations on Jungian Dream Interpretation with Marie-Louise von Franz by Fraser Boa
The Way of Myth: Talking with Joseph Campbell by Fraser Boa
For links on the Collected Works of C.G. Jung, see our Books page
C.G. Jung Institute Zürich Küsnacht, Switzerland
What Jung Really Said by E.A. Bennet (Macdonald & Co., 1966)
Marion Woodman Speaking of Jung’s comprehensive page on Marion (includes book links and quotes)
Addiction to Perfection: The Still Unravished Bride – A Psychological Study by Marion Woodman
The Scary Godmother Children’s books and comic books by artist Jill Thompson
Inner City Books Toronto publishing company founded by Jungian analyst Daryl Sharp and now owned and operated by Scott Milligen (147 titles and counting!)
Dream Analysis Notes of the Seminar Given in 1928-1930 by C.G. Jung
BTS Speaking of Jung’s comprehensive page on the K-pop group BTS
Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. It’s free!