What is Mythopoesis?

Mythopoesis is a term frequently used in Jungian psychology, but  the what exactly does it mean? Here is a definition that I will abridge as I continue feeling into its nuances: above all else, mythopoesis is ineffable, shifting, changing.

Mythopoesis is an intrapsychic matrix—a nest if you will, between the world of reality and the world of fantasy. The mythopoetic matrix is where the capitol “S” Self, resides (Carl Jung), variously known as the Soul, the libidinal ego (Fairbairn), and the lost heart of the self (Guntrip).  The similar term, mythopoetics, are the symbols formed to bridge those two worlds, formed by our Poetry, Art, Images, Visions, and Dreams.

Kalsched (2013) cites the importance of this embodied matrix for the Soul:      

“The indwelling soul confers a feeling of being real—a sense that we have a…right to be here. At its best…psychotherapy is a partly spiritual discipline helping both parties participate in this world as a potential space in which both material and spiritual energies support each other toward the goal of what Jung called individuation—realizing your destiny, becoming who you really are, becoming an ensouled person.”