The Active Imagination

Jung’s landmark seminar on the psychotherapeutic method of active imagination

In the fall of 1931, C. G. Jung gave an intensive series of seminars on the use of active imagination in clinical practice. Delivered at the Hotel Sonne in Zurich, these lectures describe a technique in which subjects are encouraged to deliberately invoke their fantasies in a waking state and paint or sculpt the images that arise and even engage in dialogue with the characters that appear. Here for the first time in English is Jung’s seminar on the theory and application of active imagination, offering unparalleled insights into his most distinctive contribution to psychotherapeutic method.

These illuminating talks center on paintings and drawings done by Jung’s patients in clinical sessions. Tracing connections between the spontaneous products of the individuation process and Eastern esoteric traditions, Jung demonstrates how these images stem from the collective unconscious and can be understood through mythological parallels, including those of Tantrism and Kundalini Yoga, which he was exploring at the time. He shows how the use of active imagination can promote the further individuation of patients.

With explanations of Jungian concepts and terminology, The Active Imagination sheds light on the foundational role of Jung’s thought in the development of modern art therapy and opens a window on a therapeutic method that he pioneered years earlier during self-analysis and recorded in the legendary Red Book.