Signs from the Depths

The recent publication of C. G. Jung's notebooks, The Black Books, provides fresh insights into the project of self-exploration undertaken by the founder of analytical psychology. Jung developed a technique for bringing the contents of his unconscious into his conscious psyche. On occasion he brought forth signs he called "runes" and "hieroglyphs." These appear in The Black Books, in several mandala sketches, and in paintings in The Red Book. They were interpreted by imaginary entities conjured up through his method of active imagination. Here Jung's enigmatic graphic language is analyzed and placed within the historical, cultural, and psychological context from which it emerged.