The Spectre and its Movement: the dynamic of intra and transgenerational influence

Spectre is a wonderfully complex word. It is derived from the Latin root words specere and spectare, meaning ‘to watch’. What is so compelling about the association of these words is the question that arises as to who exactly is doing the watching. Does the derivation speak to one’s ability to perceive an apparition, or rather, is it that a presence is watching them? The spectre establishes an inherent engagement as the Other and proceeds to work often unknowingly and yet sometimes in conjunction with the psyche. The idea of intra- and transgenerational influence begins with the voices of the ‘Unanswered, Unresolved, and Unredeemed’ of generations inhabiting the psyche of offspring. The spectre leaves footprints, spaces or perhaps a mark, as Jung calls it, and influences and interferes with the destiny of succeeding generations. Finally, the author raises the necessary question, whether or not transgenerational influence constitutes haunting.