I study the Tarot, and Jung’s work is so often attached to Tarot cards, their symbolism, and their archetypes. This particular Substack is so fascinating to me!! Thank you!
A lot of people I admire practice Tarot as a daily ritual. I've long wanted to try it alongside journaling. I didn't know that Jung was associated with Tarot, but now that you mention it, of course he is! Thanks for sharing!
Fascinating, riveting, such a great way to enter Carl Jung as a person, rather than a phenomena 🧡 I'm tempted to take my dream journal for analysis now!
I've always been interested in the characters/archetypes Jung speaks of. When I do note down my dreams I think about which archetypes are present. Your explanation helped me better understand them! I'd love to read another post about Jung's work if you have him on your list again 🙂
For the artists in our group who are interested in Jung’s illustrations in the Red Book, I can recommend the book ‘The Red Book hours: Discovering C.G. Jung’s Art Mediums and Creative Process’ by Jill Mellick. It’s close to the size of The Red Book and is an exhaustive examination of the tools he used, how he layered colours to create opacity, the pigments that were available to him and on and on. it’s filled with many beautiful images including enlargements of small sections of Red Book images, pictures of his study, the standing desk he worked at when making art and many others. Another, less expensive, resource is The Art of C.G. Jung produced by the Jung Foundation.
I share the expressed interest in Tarot. Jung didn’t work with the tarot, his tool was the I Ching. But Tarot is a language of archetypes and symbols, both of which were at the core of Jung’s psychology and he certainly knew of it and expressed appreciation for it.
Finally, a request for you Jillian. There’s a fascinating podcast on This Jungian Life about a Red Book that Tolkien was writing at the same time that Jung was making his Red Book. As far as we know, neither knew of the other’s project. Tolkien’s Red Book wasn’t an inner examination, it was about his work on Lord of the Rings I believe. If you could do a note about Tolkien’s Red Book that would be great!
Thanks for sharing your expertise, Karen! And, oh, I'd love to spend some time researching Tolkien and his Red Book. I'll do some research. Thanks for the suggestion!
As a child I always wanted to produce my own version of a decorated medieval manuscript text because the process combines art, graphics, and prose in such a fascinating and beautiful way. It's no surprise that Jung was interested in this. Yet, it is a surprise that he decided to spend so much time on it. Thanks for sharing this insight, Jillian. I'm more intrigued by Jung than before!
Again I was reminded of Lessing's The Golden Notebook, and I had to check your original posting of this to see if I commented on that. Yes, I did. I wonder if she got her idea for the notebooks from Jung?
I haven't looked at Lessing's notebooks yet, but they must be incredible! Thanks for the nudge. (Perhaps this is what I wrote last time too?) But this time, I actually did some digging and found that UT Austin holds a lot of her papers. I've been meaning to visit that archive for a while now...
It leads to some fascinating places. We spend a lot of time documenting our external life (with photos), it feels like a tiny miracle to be able to document our psychic life.
Jung also was very interested in the I Ching, the Chinese Book of Changes. He wrote the forward to Richard Wilhelm's German translation. It was rendered into English by Cary F. Baynes. Copyright 1950, Princeton University Press.
This is so insightful! I hope more people read this and turn to journaling to understand themselves better and handle a crisis. I have personally found it very helpful. Thanks for sharing Jillian
Great article, thanks so much Jillian ! Jung’s body of work seems to be an endless resource on the path of self knowledge. I feel like he was shadowed by Freud but to me his work is far more relevant in today’s world. Adding the red book to my Christmas list, and looking forward to the next post :)
I study the Tarot, and Jung’s work is so often attached to Tarot cards, their symbolism, and their archetypes. This particular Substack is so fascinating to me!! Thank you!
A lot of people I admire practice Tarot as a daily ritual. I've long wanted to try it alongside journaling. I didn't know that Jung was associated with Tarot, but now that you mention it, of course he is! Thanks for sharing!
I'm interested in learning more about tarot in relation to Jung's work. This is interesting.
Agreed! Tarot is fascinating - I also study!
Can you please share about how you study tarot? Books or online course to recommend? Curious to learn more about it too 🙏
Fascinating, riveting, such a great way to enter Carl Jung as a person, rather than a phenomena 🧡 I'm tempted to take my dream journal for analysis now!
I always feel like spending more time with dreams after reading Jung!
I've always been interested in the characters/archetypes Jung speaks of. When I do note down my dreams I think about which archetypes are present. Your explanation helped me better understand them! I'd love to read another post about Jung's work if you have him on your list again 🙂
I've written three posts on Jung--and I could totally write more. I'll share an art-therapy technique of his that I've been using later this week.
For the artists in our group who are interested in Jung’s illustrations in the Red Book, I can recommend the book ‘The Red Book hours: Discovering C.G. Jung’s Art Mediums and Creative Process’ by Jill Mellick. It’s close to the size of The Red Book and is an exhaustive examination of the tools he used, how he layered colours to create opacity, the pigments that were available to him and on and on. it’s filled with many beautiful images including enlargements of small sections of Red Book images, pictures of his study, the standing desk he worked at when making art and many others. Another, less expensive, resource is The Art of C.G. Jung produced by the Jung Foundation.
I share the expressed interest in Tarot. Jung didn’t work with the tarot, his tool was the I Ching. But Tarot is a language of archetypes and symbols, both of which were at the core of Jung’s psychology and he certainly knew of it and expressed appreciation for it.
Finally, a request for you Jillian. There’s a fascinating podcast on This Jungian Life about a Red Book that Tolkien was writing at the same time that Jung was making his Red Book. As far as we know, neither knew of the other’s project. Tolkien’s Red Book wasn’t an inner examination, it was about his work on Lord of the Rings I believe. If you could do a note about Tolkien’s Red Book that would be great!
Thanks for sharing your expertise, Karen! And, oh, I'd love to spend some time researching Tolkien and his Red Book. I'll do some research. Thanks for the suggestion!
Once again, WOW! And now I’m off on a happy rabbit hole trip to learn more about Jung! Jillian never ceases to amaze me!
Jung's a remarkable rabbit hole to get lost in! Enjoy :)
Jillian, this is really fascinating, thanks. I hope you are doing OK.
Thanks, Simon. I'm okay, but I'll call on you and Maggie if that changes :)
As a child I always wanted to produce my own version of a decorated medieval manuscript text because the process combines art, graphics, and prose in such a fascinating and beautiful way. It's no surprise that Jung was interested in this. Yet, it is a surprise that he decided to spend so much time on it. Thanks for sharing this insight, Jillian. I'm more intrigued by Jung than before!
Have you given up on your plans to produce a decorated medieval-style manuscript? That would be such an awesome project!
Indeed, it would be awesome. Maybe I haven't given up totally on the idea... perhaps it would be something to occupy myself with in my dotage. :-)
Again I was reminded of Lessing's The Golden Notebook, and I had to check your original posting of this to see if I commented on that. Yes, I did. I wonder if she got her idea for the notebooks from Jung?
I haven't looked at Lessing's notebooks yet, but they must be incredible! Thanks for the nudge. (Perhaps this is what I wrote last time too?) But this time, I actually did some digging and found that UT Austin holds a lot of her papers. I've been meaning to visit that archive for a while now...
Oh my God, yes you must! No, you didn't mention that before. But you must—you must—you must!
This was fascinating! Thank you!
I can totally see a connection between your art and Jung's, Meaghan!
haha I desperately need to include more runes in my work!
Don’t we all?!
Inspiring - thank you
You're very welcome!
I never thought to journal my dreams. I will try this... thank you Jillian and Carl. Let's see where this leads.
It leads to some fascinating places. We spend a lot of time documenting our external life (with photos), it feels like a tiny miracle to be able to document our psychic life.
Thank you for writing this, Jillian. Absolutely inspiring!
You're very welcome! Jung inspires me too.
Jung also was very interested in the I Ching, the Chinese Book of Changes. He wrote the forward to Richard Wilhelm's German translation. It was rendered into English by Cary F. Baynes. Copyright 1950, Princeton University Press.
Fascinating! Thanks for sharing!
This is so insightful! I hope more people read this and turn to journaling to understand themselves better and handle a crisis. I have personally found it very helpful. Thanks for sharing Jillian
More journaling would make the world a better place!
True that!
Great article, thanks so much Jillian ! Jung’s body of work seems to be an endless resource on the path of self knowledge. I feel like he was shadowed by Freud but to me his work is far more relevant in today’s world. Adding the red book to my Christmas list, and looking forward to the next post :)
I agree--his work still lives under Freud's shadow, which is a shame. The Red Book would make a fantastic Christmas present!
Was unaware of this. Thank you