“I Found Myself”: Dante as a Guide on the Inner Journey
On Monday, June 23, 2025, in the evocative setting of the Aragonese Castle of Ischia, at the Casa Canonica dei Calosirto, a conference will be held that promises to fascinate the mind and spirit. The title is evocative: “I found myself again. The Divine Comedy as a map of inner awakening and the journey” , by Dr. Claudio Maddaloni, psychiatrist and Jungian psychoanalyst, a passionate scholar of the esoteric meanings of Dante Alighieri's work.
The event – which will begin at 7:30 pm – will not be a simple academic lesson, but an immersive experience, enriched by the projection of images inspired by the symbolic landscapes of the Poem. The Divine Comedy will be reinterpreted as a journey into the unconscious, an initiatory journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise that, in addition to the literary and theological dimension, conceals profound spiritual truths.
The interpretation proposed by Maddaloni follows in the footsteps of figures such as Romolo Valli and René Guénon, who already glimpsed in Dante an esoteric author, custodian of ancient knowledge. But it is above all through the lenses of the analytical psychology of Carl Gustav Jung and transpersonal psychology that this reading takes on a new light: the dark forest as a loss of the Ego, Virgil as a symbol of the guiding Self, Beatrice as the principle of the Soul.
A particularly evocative moment will precede the conference: a shamanic ceremony with a fire mandala, in honor of St. John the Baptist - a central figure in solstitial symbolism - and John the Evangelist, the "seer" of the Apocalypse. Two spiritual archetypes that merge in the inspiration of the "inner fire", a key element of every authentic path of transformation.
Dr. Maddaloni, author of Dante Buddista and Mi ritrovai (Alpes, 2022), combines clinical practice with a long spiritual research in his work, which has led him to explore horizons such as Advaita Vedanta, Tibetan Buddhism and archetypal psychology. He has been leading seminars and workshops throughout Italy for years, dedicating himself to bringing out the symbolic and therapeutic dimensions of Dante's text.
Monday's evening promises to be a rare intensity, in which Dante's poetry will become a mirror of the soul, a compass to find oneself in the heart of one's own journey. An invitation not only to read, but to live the Divine Comedy , as a living journey within oneself.
Il Dispari
