The Red Book, page 66
92.Cf. “Attempt at a psychological interpretation of the dogma of the Trinity” (1940), CW 11, §284f.
93.In 1932, Jung commented on Abraxas: “the Gnostic symbol Abraxas, a made-up name meaning three hundred and sixty-five. . . the Gnostics used it as the name of their supreme deity. He was a time god. The philosophy of Bergson, la durée créatrice, is an expression of the same idea.” Jung described him in a way that echoes his description here: “just as this archetypal world of the collective unconscious is exceedingly paradoxical, always yea and nay, that figure of Abraxas means the beginning and the end, it is life and death, therefore it is represented by a monstrous figure. It is a monster because it is the life of vegetation in the course of one year, the spring and the autumn, the summer and the winter, the yea and nay of nature. So Abraxas is really identical with the Demiurgos, the world creator. And as such he is surely identical with the Purusha, or with Shiva” (November 16, Visions Seminar, vol. 2, pp. 806–7). Jung added that “Abraxas is usually represented with the head of a fowl, the body of a man, and the tail of a serpent, but there is also the lion-headed symbol with a dragon’s body, the head crowned with the twelve rays, alluding to the number of months” (June 7, 1933, Visions Seminar, vol. 2, p. 1041–42). According to St. Irenaeus, Basilides held that “the ruler of them is named Abrasaks, and that is why this (ruler) has the number 365 within it” (Layton, ed., The Gnostic Scriptures, p. 425). Abraxas featured in Albrecht Dieterich’s work Abraxas. Studien zur Religionsgeschichte des spätern Altertums. Jung studied this work closely early in 1913, and his copy is annotated. Jung also had a copy of Charles King’s The Gnostics and their Remains (London: Bell and Daldy, 1864), and there are marginal annotations next to the passage discussing the etymology of Abraxas on p. 37.
94.Helios is the Greek Sun God. Jung discussed solar mythologies in Transformations and Symbols of the Libido (1912, CW B, §177f) and also in his unpublished concluding talk on Opicinus de Canistris at the Eranos conference in Ascona in 1943 (JA).
95.The following paragraphs to the end of this section do not occur in Black Book 6.
96.The reference is to the Platonic months. See note 273, p. 405.
97.February 1, 1916.
98.This sentence does not occur in Black Book 6.
99.Aristotle defined happiness as the supreme good (Summum Bonum). In his Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas identified this with God. Jung saw the doctrine of the Summum Bonum as being the source of the concept of the privatio boni, which in his view had led to the denial of the reality of evil. See Aion, 1951, CW 9, 2, §§80 and 94. Hence it is counterbalanced here with the “Infinum Malum.”
100.In Black Book 6 (see Appendix C), Jung notes that Abraxas is the God of the frogs and that “The God of the frogs or toads, the brainless one, is the union of the Christian God with Satan” (see below, p. 579). In his later writings, Jung argued that the Christian God image was one-sided, in that it left out the factor of evil. Through studying the historical transformations of God-images, he attempted to correct this (especially, Aion and Answer to Job). In his note on how Answer to Job came to be written he wrote that in Aion he had “criticized the idea of the privatio boni as not agreeing with the psychological findings. Psychological experience shows us that whatever we call ‘good’ is balanced by an equally substantial ‘bad’ or ‘evil.’ If ‘evil’ is non-existent, then whatever there is must needs be ‘good.’ Dogmatically, neither ‘good’ nor ‘evil’ can be derived from Man, since the ‘Evil One’ existed before Man as one of the ‘Sons of God.’ The idea of the privatio boni began to play a role in the Church only after Mani. Before this heresy, Clement of Rome taught that God rules the world with a right and a left hand, the right being Christ, the left being Satan. Clement’s view is clearly monotheistic, as it unites the opposites in one God. Later Christianity, however, is dualistic, inasmuch as it splits off one half of the opposites, personified in Satan. . . If Christianity claims to be a monotheism, it becomes unavoidable to assume the opposites as being contained in God” (1956, CW 11, pp. 357–58).
101.In 1942, Jung noted: “the concept of an all-encompassing God must necessarily include his opposite. The coincidence of course must not be too radical, otherwise God would cancel himself out. The principle of the coincidence of opposites must therefore be completed by its opposite in order to attain full paradoxicality and hence psychological validity” (“The spirit Mercurius,” CW 13, §256).
102.The following paragraphs through the end of the section do not occur in Black Book 6.
103.February 3, 1916. This sentence does not occur in Black Book 6.
104.In 1917, Jung wrote a chapter on “the sexual theory” in The Psychology of the Unconscious Processes, which presented a critique of the psychoanalytic understanding of the erotic. In his 1928 revision of this chapter, retitled “The Eros theory” he added: “The Erotic. . . belongs on the one hand to the original drive nature of man. . . On the other hand it is related to the highest forms of the spirit. It only thrives when spirit and drive are in right harmony. . . ‘Eros is a mighty daemon,’ as the wise Diotima said to Socrates. . . He is not all of nature within us, though he is at least one of its essential aspects” (CW 7, §§32–33). In the Symposium, Diotima teaches Socrates about the nature of Eros. She tells him that “ ‘He is a great spirit, Socrates. Everything classed as a spirit falls between god and human.’ / ‘What function do they have?’ I asked. / ‘They interpret and carry messages from humans to gods and from gods to humans. They convey prayers and sacrifices from humans, and commands and gifts in return for sacrifices from gods. Being intermediate between the other two, they fill the gap between them, and enable the universe to form an interconnected whole. They serve as the medium for all divination, for priestly expertise in sacrifice, ritual and spells, and for all prophecy and sorcery. Gods do not make direct contact with humans; they communicate and converse with humans (whether awake or asleep) entirely through the medium of spirits’ ” (tr. C. Gill [London: Penguin, 1999], pp. 202e–203a. In Memories Jung reflected on the nature of Eros, describing it as “a kosmogonos, a creator and father-mother of all consciousness” (p. 387). This cosmogonic characterization of Eros needs to be distinguished from Jung’s use of the term to characterize women’s consciousness. See note 161, p. 177.
105.In 1954, Jung wrote an extended study of the archetype of the tree: “The philosophical tree” (CW 13).
106.Black Book 6 continues: “The dead: ‘You are a pagan, a polytheist!’ ” (p. 30).
107.February 5, 1916.
108.In Black Book 6, the dark guest (see below, p. 537) enters here.
109.The following paragraphs to the end of the section do not occur in Black Book 6.
110.This may refer to the advent of Christianity into Germany in the eighth century CE, when sacred trees were chopped down.
111.This sentence does not occur in Black Book 6.
112.In the 1925 seminar, Jung said: “Sexuality and spirituality are pairs of opposites that need each other” (Introduction to Jungian Psychology, p. 30).
113.Goethe’s Faust ends with a vision of the Mater Gloriosa. In his lecture, “Faust and alchemy,” Jung said of this: “The Mater Coelestis should on no account be thought of as Mary or the Church. She is rather Aphrodite urania, as in St. Augustine or Pico de Mirandola, the beatissima mater” (in Irene Gerber-Münch, Goethes Faust: Eine tiefenpsychologische Studie über den Mythos des modernen Menschen. Mit dem Vortrag von C. G. Jung, Faust und die Alchemie [Küsnacht, Verlag Stiftung für Jung’sche Psychologie, 1997], p. 37).
114.Black Book 6 has “Phallus” (p. 41), as does the handwritten calligraphic version of the Septem Sermones (p. 21).
115.In Transformations and Symbols of the Libido (1912), Jung noted: “The phallus is the creature that moves without limbs, sees without eyes, and knows the future; and as the symbolic representative of ubiquitous creative power it claims immortality” (CW B, §209). He goes on to discuss phallic Gods.
116.Black Book 6 continues: “The mother is the grail. / The phallus is the spear” (p. 43).
117.Black Book 6 continues: “In community, we go to the source, which is the mother. / In singleness we go to the future, which is the engendering phallus” (p. 46). In October 1916, Jung gave two presentations to the Psychological Club concerning the relation of individuation to collective adaptation; see “Adaptation, individuation and collectivity,” CW 18. This theme dominated the discussions in the club that year.
118.This paragraph is not in Black Book 6.
119.The following paragraphs to the end of the section are not in Black Book 6.
120.This section does not occur in Black Book 6.
121.February 8, 1916.This sentence does not occur in Black Book 6.
122.This sentence is not in Black Book 6.
123.On February 29, 1919, Jung wrote a letter to Joan Corrie and commented on the Sermones, with particular reference to the last one: “The primordial creator of the world, the blind creative libido, becomes transformed in man through individuation & out of this process, which is like pregnancy, arises a divine child, a reborn God, no more (longer) dispersed into the millions of creatures, but being one & this individual, and at the same time all individuals, the same in you as in me. Dr. L[ong] has a little book: VII sermones ad mortuous. There you find the description of the Creator dispersed into his creatures, & in the last sermon you find the beginning of individuation, out of which, the divine child arises. . . The child is a new God, actually born in many individuals, but they don’t know it. He is a spiritual God. A spirit in many people, yet one and the same everywhere. Keep to your time and you will experience His qualities” (Copied in Constance Long’s diary, Countway Library of Medicine, pp. 21–22).
124.The following paragraphs to the end of the section do not occur in Black Book 6.
125.In September 1916, Jung had conversations with his soul that provided further elaboration and clarification of the cosmology of the Sermones. September 25: [Soul]: “How many lights do you want, three or seven? Three is the heartfelt and modest, seven the general and encompassing.” [I:] “What a question! And what a decision! I must be true: I think I would like seven lights.” [Soul:] “Seven, you say? I thought so. That has broad scope—cold lights.” [I:] “I need cooling, fresh air. Enough of this stifling mugginess. Too much fear and not enough free breathing. Give me seven lights.” [Soul:] “The first light means the Pleroma. / The second means Abraxas. / The third the sun. / The fourth the moon. / The fifth the earth. / The sixth the phallus. / The seventh the stars.” [I:] “Why were there no birds, and why were the celestial mother and the sky missing?” [Soul:] “They are all enclosed in the star. As you look at the star, you look through them. They are the bridges to the star. They form the seventh light, the highest, the floating, which rises with flapping wings, released from the embrace of the tree of light with six branches and one blossom, in which the God of the star lay slumbering. / The six lights are single and form a multiplicity; the one light is one and forms a unity; it is the blossoming crown of the tree, the holy egg, the seed of the world endowed with wings so it can reach its place. The one gives rise to the many over and again, and the many entails the one” (Black Book 6, pp. 104–6). September 28: [Soul:] “Now let us try this: it is something of the golden bird. It is not the white bird, but the golden one. It is different. The white bird is a good daimon, but the golden one is above you and under your God. It flies ahead of you. I see it in the blue ether, flying toward the star. It is something that is part of you. And it is at once its own egg, containing you. Do you feel me. Then ask!” [I] “Tell me more. It makes me feel queasy.” [Soul:] “The golden bird is no soul; it is your entire nature. People are golden birds as well; not all; some are worms and rot in the earth. But many are also golden birds.” [I]: “Continue, I fear my revulsion. Tell me what you have grasped.” [Soul:] “The golden bird sits in the tree of the six lights. The tree grows out of Abraxas’s head, but Abraxas grows out of the Pleroma. Everything from which the tree grows blossoms as a light, transformed, as a womb of the flowering treetop, of the golden egg-bird. The tree of light is first a plant, which is called an individual; this grows out of Abraxas’s head, his thought is one among many. The individual is a mere plant without flowers and fruits, a passageway to the tree of seven lights. The individual is a precursor of the tree of light. The lucent blossoms from him, Phanes himself, Agni, a new fire, a golden bird. This comes after the individual, namely when it has been reunited with the world, the world blossoms from it. Abraxas is the drive, individual, distinct from him, but the tree of the seven lights is the symbol of the individual united with Abraxas. This is where Phanes appears and he, the golden bird, flies ahead. / You unite yourself with Abraxas through me. / First you give me your heart, and then you live through me. I am the bridge to Abraxas. Thus the tree of light arises in you and you become the tree of light and Phanes arises from you. You have anticipated, but not understood this. At the time you had to separate from Abraxas to become individual, opposed to the drive. Now you become one with Abraxas. This happens through me. You cannot do this. Therefore you must remain with me. Unification with the physical Abraxas occurs through the human female, but that with the spiritual Abr. occurs through me; that is why you must be with me” (Black Book 6, pp. 114–20).
126.In Black Book 6, this figure enters on February 5, in the middle of the Sermones (p. 35f). See note 108, p. 526 above.
127.February 17, 1916. In Black Book 6, this speech is spoken by Jung himself (p. 52).
128.Black Book 6 has here: “I need a new shadow, since I recognized dreadful Abraxas and withdrew from him” (p. 52).
129.In Black Book 6, this voice is identified as “mother” (p. 53).
130.In Black Book 6, this is spoken by Jung (p. 53).
131.February 21, 1916. Black Book 6 has instead: “[I:] “A Turk? Whence the journey? Do you profess Islam? What you are announcing Mohammed for?” [Visitor:] “I speak of polygamy, houris, and paradise. This is what you shall hear about.” [I:] “Speak and end this torment” (p. 54).
132.The version of this dialogue in Black Book 6 includes the following interchange: [I:] “What about polygamy, houris, and paradise?” [Visitor]: “Many women amount to many books. Each woman is a book, each book a woman. The houri is a thought and the thought is a houri. The world of ideas is paradise and paradise is the world of ideas. Mohammed teaches that the houris admit the believer into paradise. The Teutons said as much” (p. 56). (Cf. The Koran 56:12–39.) In Norse mythology, the Valkyries escorted the brave who were slain in battle to Valhalla and tended them there.
133.February 24, 1916.
134.This statement does not occur in Black Book 6.
135.February 28, 1916.
136.The next two paragraphs do not occur in Black Book 6.
137.I.e., Christ.
138.April 12, 1916. In Black Book 6, this speech is not attributed to Philemon.
139.Cf.John 8:1–11.
140.Cf. Matthew 21:31–32.
141.Cf.John 9:13f.
142.The reference is to the Platonic months. See note 273, p. 405.
143.The next six paragraphs do not occur in Black Book 6.
144.The next two passages also occur in “Dreams” after entries for the middle of July 1917, introduced by the statement: “Fragments of the next book:” (p. 18).
145.May 3, 1916.
146.See above, p. 355f.
147.See above, p. 515.
148.In Memories, Jung stated: “The figures of the unconscious are also ‘uninformed,’ and need man, or contact with consciousness, in order to attain to ‘knowledge.’ When I began working with the unconscious, I found myself much involved with the figures of Salome and Elijah. Then they receded, but after about two years they reappeared. To my complete astonishment, they were completely unchanged; they spoke and acted as if nothing had happened in the meanwhile. In actuality the most incredible things had taken place in my life. I had, as it were, to begin from the beginning again, to tell them all about what had been going on, and explain things to them. At the time I had been greatly surprised by this situation. Only later did I understand what had happened: in the interval the two had sunk back into the unconscious and into themselves—I might equally put, into timelessness. They remained out of contact with the I and the I’s changing circumstances, and therefore were ‘ignorant’ of what had happened in the world of consciousness” (pp. 338–39). This appears to refer to this conversation.
149.The rest of this dialogue does not occur in Black Book 6.
150.See note 261, p. 394.
151.May 31, 1916.
152.June 1, 1916.
153.In Black Book 6, the shade is identified as Christ (p. 85).
154.Simon Magus (first century) was a magician. In the Acts of the Apostles (8:9–24), after becoming a Christian, he wished to purchase the power of transmitting the Holy Spirit from Peter and Paul (Jung saw this account as a caricature). Further accounts of him are found in the apocryphal acts of Peter, and in writings of the Church fathers. He has been seen as one of the founders of Gnosticism, and in the second century a Simonian sect arose. He is said to have always traveled with a woman, whom he found in a brothel in Tyre, who was the reincarnation of Helen of Troy. Jung cited this as an example of the anima figure (“Soul and earth,” 1927, CW 10, §75). On Simon Magus, see Gilles Quispel, Gnosis als Weltreligion (Zürich: Origo Verlag, 1951), pp. 51–70, and G.R.S. Mead, Simon Magus: An Essay on the Founder of Simonianism Based on the Ancient Sources with a Reevaluation of His Philosophy and Teachings (London: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1892).
155.In Memories, Jung commented: “In such dream wandering one frequently encounters an old man who is accompanied by a young girl, and examples of such couples are to be found in many mythic tales. Thus, according to Gnostic tradition, Simon Magus went about with a young girl whom he had picked up in a brothel. Her name was Helen, and she was regarded as the reincarnation of the Trojan Helen. Klingsor and Kundry, Lao-tzu and the dancing girl, likewise belong in this category” (p. 206).
