Presentation time:
75 min
Discussion time:
15 min
Lead author:
Elizabeth Leuenberger (CGJIZ)
Claudio Mele (CGJIZ)
Petra Von Bechtolsheim (CGJIZ)
The more than 10,000 images preserved in the Picture Archive at the CG Jung Institute in Küsnacht, which were produced by patients in the analytic practices of CG Jung and the archive’s founder, Jolande Jacobi, as emanations of the unconscious revealed in dreams, visions, and active imaginations, represent the motto of this conference. The practices Jung developed and encouraged that these case series display especially exemplify “Jung’s explorations and contributions” and the “experiences of the non-understandable,” as they document the profound transformational effects of working with the unconscious through imaginal engagement and creative process that are central to Jungian analytical training and practice. In parallel with an exhibition of original works on display in Küsnacht, we will present a case using selected images from one of Jung’s patients, which readily portrays such aspects of his work.
These explorations into the psyche that played an important role in the development of his theory of Analytical Psychology were on the one hand largely under the influence of such material produced by his patients, and on the other because of his personal encounter with his own inner images on which these practices were based, such as his soul figure of Salomé in the Red Book.
Even today, 150 years after Jung’s birth, the individuation processes which thematize aspects of the psyche, (as for example in the selected case, development of the feminine) still remain unfortunately rather alien and mysterious to many.
What themes and motifs emerge in these images? How can we understand their evolution and effects on the psyche of the individuals? And on the collective?
We will present and discuss the images from the selected case focusing on the transformation of the feminine. Furthermore, references between the pictorial material in the Archive and the Eastern spirituality which Jung explored have hardly been examined. We will thus also look at correspondences, similarities, and overlaps appearing in the patient images with Jung’s original interest in spiritual growth as expressed in his works on The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga and his examination of Taoist wisdom from the Secret of the Golden Flower.
With such questions and imaginal explorations, we will embark on the path towards experiencing the “non-understandable.”