Carl Gustave Jung was the founder of Analytical Psychology. In 1907 he met Sigmund Freud, and for several years they collaborated closely However, by 1913 their relationship ended because of deep philosophical differences. Following this split, Jung underwent an inner crisis during which he began to record his experiences, dreams, and visions in what became The Red Book with iconic writing and his art. He believed this became the foundation of his life’s work. He wrote that “The years when I pursued the inner images were the most important time of my life. Everything else is derived from it.” Jung saw visionary art as an expression of the unconscious, and the universal human experience:
“The primordial images are the most ancient and the most universal thought-forms of humanity. They are the inherited possibilities of human imagination……Visionary art comes from the depths of the collective unconscious. It is concerned with primordial experience, with the eternal human drama which has always been enacted.”
He went on to develop key psychological concepts that have significantly integrated into contemporary life, including what he called “the collective unconscious,” universal "archetypes" and "individuation", influencing psychology, religion, art, and literature. He continued teaching, writing, and seeing patients in his home in Switzerland until his death in 1961.
“The primordial images are the most ancient and the most universal thought-forms of humanity. They are the inherited possibilities of human imagination……Visionary art comes from the depths of the collective unconscious. It is concerned with primordial experience, with the eternal human drama which has always been enacted.”
He went on to develop key psychological concepts that have significantly integrated into contemporary life, including what he called “the collective unconscious,” universal "archetypes" and "individuation", influencing psychology, religion, art, and literature. He continued teaching, writing, and seeing patients in his home in Switzerland until his death in 1961.
THE RED BOOK
Around 1913 Jung entered a period of personal crisis. He began having visions — what he called his “confrontation with the unconscious.” Jung feared he was going mad, but instead of suppressing them, he chose to explore them consciously. He wrote down his experiences and later elaborated upon them in what became a The Red Book, so named for its red leather binding. It became both a psychological record and a work of visionary art. He later said that all his major works originated in the experiences recorded in The Red Book. These included:
--The process of individuation — the integration of unconscious contents into conscious awareness to achieve wholeness.
--The archetypes — Universal symbolic figures such as the Anima/Animus, and others.
--Myth and symbol as expressions of psychic reality.
--Active imagination — deliberately entering into dialogue with images of the inner world.
Interwoven throughout are Jung’s paintings and calligraphic writings — intricate mandalas, mythic landscapes, and figures that embody his emerging theory of the collective unconscious. Jung kept the Red Book private for the rest of his life. After his death in 1961, his family did not allow it to be published until 2009. The Red Book can be read on multiple levels, but essentially, it is Jung’s personal mythic journey, and its visions unfold with descent, revelation, and finally rebirth. Among them we find "the Descent into the Depths" wherein he found himself in an underworld landscape — the realm of the unconscious — populated by strange figures and archetypal presences. "I let myself drop" he wrote, "Suddenly it was as though the ground gave way beneath me, and I plunged into the dark depths."
Jung had visionary encounters there. Among them, in a vast desert, he met “Elijah and Salome” representing spiritual and erotic forces. Elijah tells him “What you are doing is madness, but it is a necessary madness.” From this vision Jung found that salvation lay not in denying instinct or spirit, but in uniting them. Another important encounter was Philemon, perhaps the most important of Jung’s inner figures — an old man with the wings of a kingfisher. He becomes Jung’s spiritual teacher, what he later called the archetype of the Wise Old Man. As his visionary journey continued, Jung began to draw Mandalas — circular, symmetrical patterns symbolizing wholeness. The mandalas marked a shift from chaos toward order, from fragmentation toward unity. Jung wrote: “Each mandala is like a snapshot of my inner state. I saw that everything — all the paths I had taken led toward a single point, a center.”
Around 1913 Jung entered a period of personal crisis. He began having visions — what he called his “confrontation with the unconscious.” Jung feared he was going mad, but instead of suppressing them, he chose to explore them consciously. He wrote down his experiences and later elaborated upon them in what became a The Red Book, so named for its red leather binding. It became both a psychological record and a work of visionary art. He later said that all his major works originated in the experiences recorded in The Red Book. These included:
--The process of individuation — the integration of unconscious contents into conscious awareness to achieve wholeness.
--The archetypes — Universal symbolic figures such as the Anima/Animus, and others.
--Myth and symbol as expressions of psychic reality.
--Active imagination — deliberately entering into dialogue with images of the inner world.
Interwoven throughout are Jung’s paintings and calligraphic writings — intricate mandalas, mythic landscapes, and figures that embody his emerging theory of the collective unconscious. Jung kept the Red Book private for the rest of his life. After his death in 1961, his family did not allow it to be published until 2009. The Red Book can be read on multiple levels, but essentially, it is Jung’s personal mythic journey, and its visions unfold with descent, revelation, and finally rebirth. Among them we find "the Descent into the Depths" wherein he found himself in an underworld landscape — the realm of the unconscious — populated by strange figures and archetypal presences. "I let myself drop" he wrote, "Suddenly it was as though the ground gave way beneath me, and I plunged into the dark depths."
Jung had visionary encounters there. Among them, in a vast desert, he met “Elijah and Salome” representing spiritual and erotic forces. Elijah tells him “What you are doing is madness, but it is a necessary madness.” From this vision Jung found that salvation lay not in denying instinct or spirit, but in uniting them. Another important encounter was Philemon, perhaps the most important of Jung’s inner figures — an old man with the wings of a kingfisher. He becomes Jung’s spiritual teacher, what he later called the archetype of the Wise Old Man. As his visionary journey continued, Jung began to draw Mandalas — circular, symmetrical patterns symbolizing wholeness. The mandalas marked a shift from chaos toward order, from fragmentation toward unity. Jung wrote: “Each mandala is like a snapshot of my inner state. I saw that everything — all the paths I had taken led toward a single point, a center.”
VISIONARY ART
Throughout the Red Book, Jung painted. “The images came up from the depths,” he wrote, “and I had to make them real.” Among these are:
The Cosmic Egg — symbol of rebirth, emerging from the chaos of the unconscious.
The Solar Tree, representing the union of heaven and earth.
The Serpent and the Sun, expressing transformation through conflict.
The Solar King and the Lunar Queen: The marriage of opposites (Anima and Animus).
Philemon with the Serpent: Philemon, the inner guide, emerges once the ego relinquishes control. The serpent represents the energy of the unconscious —wisdom from below. They express the union of spirit and nature, mind, and instinct — a harmony Jung called “the union of logos and eros.”
The Tree of Life - a universal image connecting heaven and earth. The serpent coiled around the trunk evokes eternal renewal — the ouroboros, life feeding on itself to regenerate.
The Lapis In his final paintings, Jung depicts a radiant blue stone. The lapis is the ultimate symbol of the integrated Self — the goal of the alchemical opus. This is the philosopher’s stone within, the eternal substance discovered through transformation. The Red Book closes with this symbol — the completion of the journey, where the fragments coalesce into unity. The Red Book is a mythic cartography of the soul’s journey. As Jung wrote:
“My soul, where are you? Return to me.
I will not leave you again.”
For further reading about the Red Book, visit UCLA 2010 Exhibit: https://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2010/the-red-book-of-c-g-jung
Throughout the Red Book, Jung painted. “The images came up from the depths,” he wrote, “and I had to make them real.” Among these are:
The Cosmic Egg — symbol of rebirth, emerging from the chaos of the unconscious.
The Solar Tree, representing the union of heaven and earth.
The Serpent and the Sun, expressing transformation through conflict.
The Solar King and the Lunar Queen: The marriage of opposites (Anima and Animus).
Philemon with the Serpent: Philemon, the inner guide, emerges once the ego relinquishes control. The serpent represents the energy of the unconscious —wisdom from below. They express the union of spirit and nature, mind, and instinct — a harmony Jung called “the union of logos and eros.”
The Tree of Life - a universal image connecting heaven and earth. The serpent coiled around the trunk evokes eternal renewal — the ouroboros, life feeding on itself to regenerate.
The Lapis In his final paintings, Jung depicts a radiant blue stone. The lapis is the ultimate symbol of the integrated Self — the goal of the alchemical opus. This is the philosopher’s stone within, the eternal substance discovered through transformation. The Red Book closes with this symbol — the completion of the journey, where the fragments coalesce into unity. The Red Book is a mythic cartography of the soul’s journey. As Jung wrote:
“My soul, where are you? Return to me.
I will not leave you again.”
For further reading about the Red Book, visit UCLA 2010 Exhibit: https://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2010/the-red-book-of-c-g-jung
