I provided very little introduction to The Red Book at our gathering on Sunday. I didn’t speak about its origins much at all, or contextualize it within Jung’s larger body of work. I knew our time was limited and wanted to dive right into the reading we had planned: Chapter 18, “The Three Prophecies.”
But if you’re new to this aspect of Jung’s work (or the entirety of his work), I still think this article from 2009 that ran as the cover story in The New York Times Magazine provides an excellent introduction. I remember the cover well, with “The Holy Grail of the Unconscious” in uppercase letters overlaying an image of the huge red leather volume. This mysterious, foundational text of Analytical Psychology spent decades in a Swiss bank vault, accessible only to a few family members. And then it was edited, translated, and published worldwide! Sales immediately exceeded all expectations, even at $200 a book. (The Readers’ Edition has since been published without the artwork, but at a fraction of the cost.)
If you'd like to learn more, I co-hosted a thirty-episode podcast on The Red Book during the pandemic (I know many of you attended the live gatherings!). You can listen to them here; the first episode alone provides a ton of context.
Here’s what unfolded on Sunday:
I added this event to the calendar at the very last minute, so I explained just a bit more about why I felt drawn to read this chapter together. Jung wrote these words months before World War I began, yet he had seen the war coming. But not just war. Much more beyond: magic and religion, too.
I read the five pages of this chapter aloud. I rarely (or ever!) read this much out loud, but I wanted to really speak it into the world and see what arose for all of you as we heard it together.
We shared our reactions, with some people reading from related material, others naming their own associations, and making connections to the protests against ICE in Los Angeles and visions of how we might stand up and protect one another most effectively, with the white grandmothers on the frontlines.
As always, I feel grateful for this community, a place where, somehow, we can hold violence and magic together, just as Jung did back in the day.
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