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Interdisciplinary Understandings of Active Imagination: The Special Legacy of C.G. Jung

Editor : Chiara Tozzi

Reviews and Endorsements

This remarkable and exciting book brings C.G. Jung's Active Imagination to the creative, scientific, spiritual, and transdisciplinary needs of the twenty-first century. Perspicaciously rooted in Jung, the book reinvents the clinical and provides essential steppingstones for those taking this practice into art, philosophy and the synchronistic sciences. With this collection, Chiara Tozzi establishes herself as an important voice in analytical psychology and its multiple capacities to energize knowing and being.
Susan Rowland (PhD) teaches at Pacifica Graduate Institute and is author of many books on Jung, gender, the arts and creativity

This book offers a series of articles covering a wide scope with the aim of restoring Active Imagination to its rightful place as a significant method to access the unconscious and meaning in Jungian analysis. Active Imagination is a method developed by C.G. Jung which allowed him to access and delve into the images of his inner world and of the unconscious in order to more clearly understand their meaning and significance following the painful separation from Freud in 1913. The images and dialogues that emerged were recorded in the Red Book, which was kept private till its publication in 2019. The novelty of this method and the unusual images that emerged initially created concern in those around Jung and led some to question whether he was not falling into a state of psychosis. In fact, Jung was later very clear that it was precisely the use of Active Imagination and of the powerful images and dialogues that emerged as a result that enlightened him and led to a more profound understanding of the unconscious and of its archetypal contents. One of the legacies of the history of these early years is that there remains a lingering skepticism or mistrust with regard to the use and validity of Active Imagination. As a result, other than in training programs in Zurich, Active Imagination is often not given much attention. The editor of this book Chiara Tozzi sets out to address this lacuna and to restore Active Imagination to its rightful place as an invaluable avenue to access a living experience of psyche and of the unconscious in a personal manner. She manages this by bringing to the table, contributions from esteemed Jungian analysts who descrive their use of Active Imagination in clincial practice, which can include dialogues with dream figures, painting, meditation, body movement and dance. In addition, she has included voices from the world of the arts by inviting a director film/critic, a script writer, a professional dancer, a painter, an author, and a musician to reveal, from their unique and personal perspective, the central role that Active Imagination played in giving form to their creativity and of this method as a way of accessing the ephemeral from which meaning can emerge. The result is a wide-ranging collage of personal testimonies that attest to the usefulness of Active Imagination as a way to access the creative and the imaginal, in clinical practice, in ther arts and in our daily lives as an avenue to find meaning. This book will appeal not only to analysts, therpaists and artists but to everyone interested in their inner world and in creative expression. I highly recommend this book and am confident it will nourish many in their search for access to creativity and meaning in their lives.
Tom Kelly

The strength of this book lies in its rich tapestry of voices. It is impressive to learn about the applicability of Active Imagination in scientific, artistic, and cultural fields. The editor has masterfully gathered together an exceptional collaboration of authors that offers a multifaceted exploration of Active Imagination, providing readers with a treasure trove of insights and perspectives. Across the two volumes of this book, theory, practice, and research are assembled in a very creative way that includes research, methodology, theory and practice. Readers will find references to personal experiences and practical examples that help us understand the transformative power of Active Imagination as an indispensable attitude and tool in all creative processes and encounters with the unconscious. Real-life applications and personal anecdotes add depth and authenticity to this book. I am sure that Chiara Tozzi's two-volume book on Active Imagination: Active Imagination in Theory, Practice and Training: The Special Legacy of C.G. Jung (Vol. 1) and Interdisciplinary Understandings of Active Imagination: The Special Legacy of C.G. Jung (Vol. 2) is a signigicant contribution that keeps the spark alive of one of C.G. Jung's most important legacies.
Pilar Amezaga

Chiara Tozzi presents her research on the essential factor in analytical work that makes Jungians unique. Active Imagination is engagement with the psyche that speaks in images from within and from without. In this process one is guided by the wisdom of the Self that moves the development of the personality towards increased consciousness and wholeness. Tozzi clarifies that it is a process specific to the individual rather than a "technique". It furthers engagement with our fears and the unknown leading to the Transcendent Function that results in profound changes in our personality. Conversely though, it is this hard work and frightening engagement that deter many from its use. This book challenges us with a reminder of C.G. Jung's deeply effective creative path to healing.
Nancy Swift Furlotti, PhD, Author of The Dream and Its Amplification