{"id":27322,"date":"2024-08-30T11:54:38","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T16:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jungchicago.org\/blog\/?post_type=product&p=27322"},"modified":"2025-12-10T13:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T19:52:10","slug":"a-closer-look-at-book-one-of-jungs-liber-novus","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/jungchicago.org\/blog\/product\/a-closer-look-at-book-one-of-jungs-liber-novus\/","title":{"rendered":"A Closer Look at Book One of Jung’s Liber Novus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Working with Jung\u2019s Liber Novus<\/em>, perhaps his most mysterious work, can be transformative.\u00a0 In spring 2024, the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago offered an ambitious six month series on the whole Liber Novus called \u201cA Fresh Look at the Red Book:<\/em> Reading Jung\u2019s Liber Novus with Jungian Psychoanalysts\u201d. Now we want to offer a much slower paced, closer read of this great work starting with Book One.<\/p>\n

We can understand what Jung was getting at in the Liber Novus, as well as the paintings in the Red Book<\/em> version of the Liber Novus, as individuation, the \u201csalvation of the soul.\u201d \u00a0There is a difference between salvation<\/em> and well-being<\/em>. Adolf Guggenbuhl-Craig writes that \u201cwell-being\u201d can lead to a deadness in the marriage; the pursuit of savation may give it marriage a chance. The focus on well-being includes the pursuit of comfort and security; salvation involves conflict, struggle, sacrifice and transformation.<\/p>\n

As one participant of A Fresh Look at the Red Book<\/em> shared:<\/p>\n

“I loved this course and really appreciated the scholarly involvement of both\u00a0you [Dan Ross] and Boris, and of George Bright (his historical knowledge and ability to succinctly express this is phenomenal).\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve been in a red book reading group for 2 years but have not had the benefit of clinical feedback or interpretations.\u00a0 I have definitely needed this. The historical overview of Jung’s process and development of his thinking integrates the material exceedingly well. And I\u00a0need to keep hearing about ‘the new god’ so i can continue to process it and be aware of the process with my patients”<\/em><\/p>\n

In this series, we will be working more slowly with just Book One of the Liber Novus\u00a0<\/em>over a nine-month period, with three-hour sessions the fourth Saturday of each month beginning in October 2024 and ending in June 2025.<\/p>\n

NOTE: The final session of the series, on June 21, will meet in-person<\/span> at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Salon Schedule<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monthly Saturdays, 9am-12pm
\nNorth American Central Time<\/b>
\n<\/b>For each session, read the corresponding chapters to prepare<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
October 26<\/td>\nCh1: Refinding the Soul
\nCh2: Soul and God<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
November 23<\/td>\nCh3: On the Service of the Soul
\nCh4: The Desert, Experiences in the Desert<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
December 28<\/td>\nCh5: Descent into Hell in the Future<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
January 25<\/td>\nCh6: Splitting of the Spirit
\nCh7: Murder of the Hero<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
February 22<\/td>\nCh8: The Conception of God<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
March 29<\/td>\nCh9: The Mysterium Encounter<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
April 26<\/td>\nCh10: Instruction<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
May 24<\/td>\nCh11: Resolution<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
June 21<\/td>\nCh12: Prologue (The Way of What is to Come)
\nThis session will meet in-person in Chicago<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Learning Objectives<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the series, attendees will be able to:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Discuss the origins of The Red Book <\/em>from Jung\u2019s life and lived experience rather than from the Freudocentric historical context in which it emerged.<\/li>\n
  2. Verbalize an understanding of George Bright\u2019s belief that The Red Book<\/em> came partially as a response to Jung\u2019s hubristic use of science to understand the soul and the \u201closs of soul\u201d that resulted.<\/li>\n
  3. Experience the \u201cpsychoactive\u201d nature of\u00a0The Red Book<\/em>and its transformative potential in reading it.<\/li>\n
  4. Be able to discuss how Jung’s Liber Novus<\/em> is a description of his own process of individuation.<\/li>\n
  5. Identify the seeds of Jung’s later concepts in The Liber Novus <\/em>such as Active Imagination, Individuation, Transcendent Function, Archetype, and the Self.<\/li>\n
  6. Draw on an understanding of the newly available foundational documents of analytical psychology to clarify how Jung intended his new concepts to be understood and used.<\/li>\n
  7. Consider the implications of a clarified understanding of analytical psychology for the practice of psychotherapy.<\/li>\n
  8. Discuss how the reading of the Liber Novus<\/em>, alone and in class, has affected your understanding of Analytical Psychology.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Required Reading<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    Each salon will focus on a section of Liber Novus<\/em> as outlined in our course description. We expect that you have and will be reading Liber Novus<\/em> 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<\/em> during the salon sessions, so you have the option of purchasing the less expensive Reader’s Edition<\/em>.<\/p>\n