This song from the k-drama (you know how love my dramas) Our Beloved Summer started things off.

 

The drama had its moments but I loved this song that was threaded through the soundtrack. When I looked up the artist I found out it was V from BTS, the world famous k-pop boy band. Hmm, maybe I had dismissed them as an overly hyped, if talented and cause oriented, manufactured group. 

 

It makes me wonder what else I am dismissing out of bias.

 

 

“...I’ve been reading Jung’s Map of the Soul, an introduction to Jung’s work by Jungian psychoanalyst Murray Stein. I heard about the book when I was reading The Believer and came across Mimi Lok’s article about how the K-pop group BTS wrote a whole album based on the book. (It sold almost 5 million copies and was the world’s bestselling album of 2020.) Stein, who turned 80 last year, had never heard of the South Korean boy band, but he quickly became a fan and even wrote a more accessible book for BTS fans, Map of the Soul 7: Persona, Shadow, and Ego in the World of BTS. (He also recorded a whole series of podcasts about BTS on the podcast Speaking of Jung.)"

 

I am working my way through the BTS focused Speaking Of Jung podcasts. Not only am I getting to revisit Jung's work but I am also also appreciating the depth of artistry, intention, and honesty behind the music of BTS. 

 

I love when pop culture transcends trends and becomes deep soul work.

 

Mary Greer, renown Tarot scholar and teacher, and avowed member of ARMY (BTS fans group), gave a presentation on the archetypes and tarot images and symbolism in BTS's performances and music videos. I came for Mary and the Tarot and was curious about BTS and how they wove together. I left with an even deeper respect and love of band and their commitment to justice, self-love and acceptance. The talk is now part of Laetitia Cartomancy's Patreon.

 

Art transcends genre.

 

I have gone down the rabbit hole of BTS via YouTube and have playlists running on repeat. I can talk a lot about why I am so taken, but what I am most in awe of is how seemingly out of the blue these golden treads drop into our lives and open up unknown realms. It is a kind of grace that invites us forward.

 

I already had a web of connection between tarot, archetype, Jung, myth, and magic. I have a love of Koren dramas. BTS on the other hand, I had heard of but was not compelled by. I was too old for boy bands and k-pop. Then a song in a soundtrack connects to a thread that is weaving all of it together into something more. 

 

Side note, Mary Greer is 76 years old. I have been surprised, and delighted, at the age and range and musical tastes of the BTS fandom. My internalized ageism comes out from my shadow and gets busted!

 

Art transcends age.

 

I am a having a lot fun enjoying new music, finding new inspiration in my tarot and creative practices, and visiting all of those books by Carl Jung on my bookshelves. (Synchronicity by the way, is picking one of those books off of my shelf to finally, finally read and finding the receipt of its purchase from exactly 28 years ago to the day.) 

 

And this is how we know when something is meant for us even if we don't understand why. Something catches our attention and we can't let it go. We need to learn more. Love and inspiration are not always written into the plan. It doesn't always show up on a timeline. It is always something that feeds the soul, that expands the heart. It offers us a part of ourselves we didn't know was missing.

 

I am all for intentional growth, but I delight in the serendipity of the unexpected.