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I am passionate about helping people discover their essence and live into their unique self.

I call myself a Depth Psychologist, but my path has taken many forms: co-active coach, university professor, imagier, psychophenomenologist, and yes—maieutic (one who midwifes insight into being). My work orbits around transformation: creating spaces where images, archetypes, and stories can move us, surprise us, and guide us toward new ways of being.

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I thrive in the esoteric: alchemy, Gnosticism, Islamic mysticism, and the pioneering work of C.G. Jung—especially where he explored personification, typology, and synchronicity. I’m also an enthusiast of adult learning (andragogy) and love nothing more than weaving teaching, imagination, and dialogue together in ways that awaken.

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When I’m not immersed in depth psychology or coaching conversations, you’ll likely find me traveling through Europe with my husband, seeking out eccentric delights like misericords tucked into medieval cathedrals or standing stones that whisper of ancient mysteries.

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(Scroll down for my certifications, qualifications, conference presentations, and publications.)

Certifications

  • 2023: Accredited ChrisLin Methodology Practitioner

  • 2021: Symbolon Reflection Method Certification

  • 2011: Certified Vision Board Counselor

  • 2010: SHIFT-IT Coach and graphic facilitation training

  • 2008: Academy for Guided Imagery (Interactive Guided Imagery Practitioner)

  • 2007: PCC (Professional Certified Coach—International Coach Federation)

  • 2006: Myers Briggs Foundation (MBTI Master Practitioner)

  • 2005: Coaches Training Institute (Certified Professional Co-Active Coach)

  • 2004: Job and Career Development Coach certification

  • 2001: Interstrength Methodology Certification

  • 1996: Temperament Research Institute (MBTI Certification)

Qualifications

Academic Education

  • 2018: PhD in Depth Psychology (with an emphasis on Jungian and Archetypal studies).
    Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria, California.

  • 2015: MA in Depth Psychology (with an emphasis on Jungian and Archetypal studies).
    Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria, California.

  • 1975: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre and Cinema
    Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri.

Vocational Education

  • Symbolon Reflection Certification

  • Coaches Training Institute Leadership

  • Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC)

  • Inside Team Coaching with Cynthia Loy Darst

  • A Bigger Game with Rick Tamlyn

  • Dream-Tending with Steve Aisenstat

Conferences / Workshops / Presentations

Published Works

  • 2025: World Coaching and Leadership Summit presentation:
    "Fantasy Figures, Real Results: A Mythopoetic Method for Change"

  • 2025: British Association for Psychological Type Virtual Conference (April):
    "Values at the Core: Psychological types, Coaching, and Emotional Intelligence"

  • 2024: Bay Area Association for Psychological Type Presentation
    “Typology, Coaching, and Values”

  • 2024: British Association for Psychological Type In-Person Conference (June)
    “Typology of Imaginal Figures Workshop”

  • 2024: Bay Area Association for Psychological Type 40th Anniversary Conference
    “A Stroll Down Memory Lane”

  • 2024: British Association for Psychological Type Virtual Conference (April)
    “Introduction to the Typology of Imaginal Figures”

  • 2023: London Arts-Based Research Centre Alchemy Conference: Exploring Metaphorical Transformations and Arts-Based Research
    “Transformation through Alchemical Depth Typology”

  • 2023: Imagery International 15th Annual Conference
    “Resolving Conflict via the Imaginal Personification of Drama Triangle Roles” (Keynote Speaker)

  • 2023: British Association for Psychological Type Conference
    “Typological Aspects of the Drama Triangle”

  • 2022: Australian  Association for Psychological Type Conference
    "The Trimorphic Ethoi of Psychological Types"

  • 2022: Polish Portal of Analytical Psychology of C. G. Jung Conference
    Limits, Liminality and Primeval Experience
    “Iconoclasm of the Psyche”

  • 2022: Bay Area Association for Psychological Type
    "The Masks we Wear; The Masks we Hide"

  • 2022: British Association for Psychological Type Conference
    "Ambiversion: Fact or Fallacy?"

  • 2021: Australian Association for Psychological Type Conference
    "Gottman, Beebe, and Jung – Some correlations"

  • 2020: 11th International Conference on the Dialogical Self
    "The Lost Art of Personification"

  • 2019: Polish Portal of Analytical Psychology of C. G. Jung Conference
    Structures of the Imagination—Image, Myth, and Society
    “The Lost Art of Personification”

  • 2019: British Association for Psychological Type Conference
    Closing Plenary Session—“Pearls of Wisdom: Type as a Map, Type as a Springboard”

  • 2019: Art and Psyche: The Illuminated Imagination Conference
    “A Qualitative View of Psychological Types through Visual Imagery”

  • 2018: British Association for Psychological Type Conference
    “Dr. Dee and his Magic Mirror—The Alchemical Origins of the Digital Age”

  • 2017: Bay Area Chapter of the Association for Psychological Type
    “The Noble Gift of Intuition: A closer look at the Intuition function”

  • 2017: Bay Area Chapter of the Association for Psychological Type
    “Sensing and Sensibility: A closer look at the Sensing function”

  • 2017: British Association for Psychological Type Conference
    “Eco-Typology: How types underlie our changing ecology”

  • 2017: International Association for Jungian Studies Conference
    “Can You Spot It?  Recognizing Jung’s Cognitive Processes.”

  • 2016: International Association for Jungian Studies Conference
    “Peering at Our Ecology Myth through the Lens of Psychological Types and Generating Some Recommendations Therefrom”

  • 2016: British Association for Psychological Type Conference
    “Recognizing Jung’s 8 Functions in the Real World”

  • 2016: Sacramento Chapter of the Association for Psychological Type
    “Sensing and Sensibility: A closer look at the Sensing function”

  • 2015: Association for Psychological Type International Conference
    “The Making of ‘Can You Spot It? Recognizing Jung’s Cognitive Processes’”

  • 2014: International Association for Jungian Studies Conference
    “The Rebirth and Renewal of Psychological Types”

  • 2014: Sacramento Chapter of the Association for Psychological Type
    “The Making of ‘Can You Spot It? Recognizing Jung’s Cognitive Processes’”

  • 2013: Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies Conference
    “Is the MBTI a Crock? The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as an Organizational Depth Psychology Tool”

  • 2013: Association for Psychological Type International Conference
    “Meet your Sub-Personalities”

  • 2012: Dialogical Self Conference
    “Conversations with archetypes: Personifying C. G. Jung’s psychological types using John Beebe’s method”

  • 2012: Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies Conference
    “Gottman Meets Jung, and they Match!  Archetypal Characteristics of the Relationship Patterns of Couples whose Relationships are Failing”

  • 2011: Association for Psychological Type International Conference
    “Coaching a Typology of Consciousness”

  • 2009: Association for Psychological Type International Conference
    “Powerful Coaching Questions Using Type Frameworks”

  • 2008: Convergence Conference
    “Powerful Coaching Questions Using Type Frameworks”

  • 2007: Association for Psychological Type International Conference
    “Discovering Beebe’s Archetypes”

  • 2006: Australian Association for Psychological Type Conference
    “Exploring Beebe’s archetypes: An exploration of the way archetypes manifest in everyday life”

  • 2002-2008: Presented sessions and workshops on leadership, team-building, and typology at the Share Conference (held twice yearly).

  • Varner, V. J. (2024). Dante: Inferno to Paradise (Review). Psychological Perspectives, 67(1), 195–205. DOI: 10.1080/00332925.2024.2350907

  • Varner, V. J. (2022). The Lost Art of Personification. In R. Segal, I. BÅ‚ocian, & A. Kuzmicki (Eds.), Collective structures of imagination in Jungian interpretation: Contemporary psychoanalytic studies, volume 30 (pp. 75–94). Brill.

  • Varner, V. J. (2021). The Imaginary College Major. ImagiNews, 25(2), 11–12. 

  • Varner, V. J. (2021). The Rebirth and Renewal of Psychological Types. Psychological Perspectives, 64(3), 297-315. DOI: 10.1080/00332925.2021.1994806

  • Varner, V. J. (2021). Book review: From Types to Images by James Hillman. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 66(5), 1247–1252.

  • Varner, V. J. (2021). The Vices and Virtues Inherent in I-Positions. In C. Monereo, C. Weise, & H. Hermans (Eds.), Dialogicality (pp. 276-285). International Society for Dialogical Science.

  • Varner, V. J. (2021). The COVID Pandemic and the Feeling Function. Journal of Jungian Scholarly Studies, 16, 77-80.

  • Varner, V. J. (2021). A Tympanum in a Time of COVID. Personality Type in Depth, April 2021. https://typeindepth.com/2021/04/a-tympanum-in-a-time-of-covid/

  • Varner, V. J. (2020). Loyalty Within and Without. ImagiNews, 24(3), 14–15. 

  • Varner, V. J. (2019). Systems Coaching, Models of Typology, and Emergence. Philosophy of Coaching: An International Journal, 4(1).

  • Varner, V. J. (2019). Pearls of Wisdom: Type as a Map, Type as a Springboard. TypeFace, 30(1), 19.

  • Varner, V. J. (2019). A Response to Beebe Criticism. TypeFace, 30(1), 36-39.

  • Varner, V. J. (2017). Review of: Energies and Patterns in Psychological Type: The Reservoir of Consciousness by John Beebe. Psychological Perspectives: A Quarterly Journal of Jungian Thought, 60(1), 121-125.

  • Varner, V. J. (2014). Review of: The Question of Psychological Types: The Correspondence of C. G. Jung and Hans Schmid-Guisan, 1915-1916 by John Beebe and Ernst Falzader. Quadrant: Journal of the C. G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology, XLIV(1), 88-94. https://www.cgjungny.org/quadrant-volume-xliv1-2014/

  • Varner, V. J. (2013). A Broken Personality Repairs Itself. Personality Type in Depth, November 2013. Retrieved from http://typeindepth.com/2013/11/a-broken-personality-repairs-itself/

  • Varner, V. J. (2012). Jung’s Typology of Consciousness. Bulletin of Psychological Type, 35(2), 17-19.

  • Varner, V. J. (2011). Can You Spot It? Recognizing Jung’s Cognitive Processes in the Real World. [online multimedia workshop]. Found at http://cysiworkshop.com/

  • Varner, V. J. (2009). The New Type Community. Australian Psychological Type Bulletin, 11(2), 37-41.

  • Varner, V. J. (2007). Relationship Type Combinations. Bulletin of Psychological Type, 30(3), 34-39.

  • Varner, V. J. (2006). 5 Strategies to Help the Type Professional Clarify Client Type. Retrieved from http://typeinsights.com/media/StrategiesForClarifyingType.pdf

  • Varner, V. J. (2006). It’s a Blonde Thing—You Wouldn’t Understand. Mensa Bulletin, August 2006, 20-21.

Editorial Contributions

  • Conversations with Marie-Louise von Franz on Synchronicity and Numbers (2025) edited by Christophe Le Mouël and Robin Mindell.

  • Cinema and Psyche in Analytical Psychology: Individuation as a Pathway to Love (2025) by Joanna Dovalis and John Izod.

  • A Flash of Golden Fire: The Birth, Death, and Rebirth of the Modern Soul in Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (2025) by Thomas Elsner.

  • The Archetype of the Apocalypse: Analyzing the Pandemics of Racism, COVID-19, and Climate Change (2024) by William K. Grevatt.

  • C.G. Jung and the Evolution of God: Vision, Myth, and the Answer to Job (2022) by Lance S. Owens.

  • Collegial Coaching Conversations (2021) by Martin Richards.

  • A Coaching Approach to Education: Six Steps Towards Successful Teaching in Tomorrow’s Education System (2013) by Martin Richards.

  • Psychological Perspectives. Senior Editor for all issues since number 63 (2020).

  • Turn of an Age: The Spiritual Roots of Jungian Psychology in Hermeticism, Gnosticism and Alchemy by Alfred Ribi.

  • Jung in Love: The Mysterium in Liber Novus (Full Monograph Edition, 2015) by Lance S. Owens.

  • C. G. Jung and Erich Neumann: The Zaddik, Sophia, and the Shekinah (2016/2018) by Lance S. Owens.

  • Jung’s Red Book for our Time: C. G. Jung and the Prophet Puzzle (2017) by Lance S. Owens.

  • Jung’s Red Book for our Time: Abraxas: Jung’s Gnostic Demiurge in Liber Novus (2017) by Stephan Hoeller.

  • Gnostic Homilies (2016) by Stephan Hoeller.

  • The Abuse of Casuistry (1988) by Stephen Toulmin and Albert Jonsen.

7095 Hollywood Blvd. #333
Hollywood, CA 90028​​

© 2002-2025 by vjvphd.com

I specialize in psychological types in various forms including conative, affective, cognitive, MBTI, Jungian cognitive processes, Berens Interaction Styles, DISC, or Keirsey Temperament theory,  I can tell you all about C. G. Jung (Carl Jung), Isabel Briggs-Myers, John Beebe (archetypes), James Hillman, and various other typology authors.  I can help determine whether your personality type is INFJ, INTJ, ENFP, INFP, ENTP, INTP, ENFJ, ENTJ, ESFP, ESTP, ISFP, ISTP, ISFJ, ESFJ, ISTJ, or ESTJ.  I am a trained career coach as well as an Organization and Relationship Systems Coach (ORSC).  I am also a graduate of the Academy for Guided Imagery and can help you get in touch with your subpersonalities via guided active imagination.

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