The Red Book Reading Group: A Closer Look at “The Magician” and “The Scrutinies”

This will be the third series of seminars on Jung’s The Red Book and will focus on the closing chapter of the Liber Secundus, “The Magician” and the final book in the Liber Novus, “The Scrutinies.” George Bright, Boris Matthews, and Daniel Ross will return for the 2026-2027 completion of our series which has been offered through the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. The structure remains the same; each session will involve reading the Liber Novus followed by discussion.

The purpose of these seminars is to try to understand what Jung is bringing forth in this work which has been described as a poetic expression of Jung’s visionary experiences though at the same time taking note of the fact that Jung refused to consider this book a work of art. It is neither art nor science nor philosophy. Sonu Shamdasani at the very beginning of The Red Book, Liber Novus reminds us of what Jung said to Aniela Jaffé in 1957, and included in Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

“The years of which I have spoken to you, when I pursued my inner images, were the most important time of my life. Everything else is to be derived from this… My entire life consisted of elaborating what had burst forth from the unconscious and flooded me like an enigmatic stream and threatened to break me. That was the stuff and material for more than only one life. Everything later was only the outer classification, the scientific elaboration, and the integration into life. But the numinous beginning, which contained everything, was then.”

Some participants describe the experience of this seminar as “psychoactive.” You do not need to have participated in previous series to join this one.

NOTE: The final session of the series, on May 22, will meet in-person at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago, but Zoom will be available for those who cannot meet in-person.

Learning Objectives

At the end of the series, attendees will be able to:

1. Discuss Philemon’s description of what magic is.
2. Discuss what Jung means when he says “Life above love” (page 448).
3. Describe Jung’s cosmology from sermon 7.

Required Reading

Each salon will focus on a section of Liber Novus as outlined in our course description. We expect that you have and will be reading Liber Novus along with us. The facsimile which includes the paintings is more expensive but not necessary for our discussion, as it is quite expensive. We will present and discuss the images from Liber Novus during the salon sessions, so you have the option of purchasing the less expensive Reader’s Edition.

• Link to purchase The Red Book: A Reader’s Edition: https://amzn.to/4aPQZlX

Speakers

Daniel Ross, PMHNP is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and Diplomate Jungian Analyst. He brings a medical, psychiatric, and analytical perspective to the field of end-of-life care. As he searched for a deeper understanding of his hospice work and his own personal life journey, he first completed the two-year Clinical Training Program at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago in 2008; then went on to complete the Analyst Training Program. Daniel is in private practice in the northwest suburbs working with adults seeking Jungian psychoanalysis. He has been Co-Director of the Jungian Psychotherapy Program and Jungian Studies Program (JPP/JSP) (2021-2023) at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago and a Training Analyst for the Analyst Training Program (ATP) at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. He has presented widely on Death and Dying from a Jungian perspective. He has also presented at 2022 IAAP conference, Death and Immortality: From Gilgamesh to Frankenstein.

Boris Matthews, PhD, LCSW, NCPsyA graduated from the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago, and maintains a practice of analytical psychology in the Milwaukee and Madison, WI, areas. He is particularly interested in working with persons who recognize need to develop a balanced adaptation to the “outside” and to the “inside” worlds, work that involves awareness of the individual’s psychological typology. Dreams, active imagination, and spiritual concerns are integral elements in the analytic work, the ultimate goal of which is to develop a functioning dialog with the non-ego center, the Self. He is former Director of Training of the Analyst Training Program, regularly teaches classes for analytic candidates, and conducts study groups in Madison as well as by video conference.

George Bright was educated at Cambridge University and The London School of Economics. He is a Training & Supervising Analyst of the Society of Analytical Psychology and a co-founder of The Circle of Analytical Psychology, a London-based group engaged in the study of Jung’s Liber Novus and Black Books. He works in private practice in London. His 1997 paper Synchronicity as a basis of analytic attitude won the Michael Fordham Prize.