Enchanting the Unconscious

‘This superb book draws back a veil from our understanding of the early reception of Jung’s ideas in Britain. Presenting a wealth of previously unknown material—letters, journal entries, dream diaries, and notes of both seminars and analytic sessions with Jung—Diane Finiello Zervas vividly evokes the events and personalities of this important chapter in the dissemination of Jung’s work. Meticulously researched, masterfully organised, and laced with fascinating and significant details, this is one of the best and most enjoyable historical studies of Jung I have read.’ Professor Roderick Main, University of Essex, UK ‘Enchanting the Unconscious is a remarkable book of Jungian scholarship, both in erudition and originality. Based on a forensic historical examination of Jung’s thought and his influences from 1902 to early 1920s, and drawing from published and unpublished material including lectures, group and individual encounters, and unpublished analytic and diary material of patients and collaborators, Zervas paints a vivid and coherent picture of the building blocks of Jungian psychology in a never-before-seen light. The book culminates in a systematic reconstruction of a formerly unknown seminar on Dreams held by Jung in London in 1919, followed by informal meetings in Upper Cranwell Farm the same year. It builds a bridge between Jung’s esoteric practices on active imagination and the possibility of “psycho-material-transformation”, to his subsequent exoteric material contained in the Collected works. As such, this book opens an invaluable door to a new understanding of Jung’s project of individuation.’ Katerina Sarafidou is an Honorary member of the British Jungian Analytic Association, co-founder of The Circle of Analytical Psychology, and Head of Research at the MSc Psychodynamics of Human Development offered by Birkbeck College and the British Psychotherapy Foundation