In The Archetypal Symbolism of Animals, Barbara Hannah, a student and
a close friend of C.G. Jung, presents lectures on the symbolic meaning
of several domestic and wild animals. According to Jung, the animal is
sublime and, in fact, represents the "divine" side of the human psyche.
He believed that animals live much more in contact with a "secret" order
in nature itself and--far more than human beings--live in close contact
with "absolute knowledge" of the unconscious. In contrast to humankind,
the animal is the living being that follows its own inner laws beyond
good and evil--and is, in this sense, superior.
Hannah's previously published lectures were on the cat, dog, and horse.
These lectures add material on the serpent, the lion, the cow, and the
bull, illustrating how, in the light of consciousness, the archetypal
images of animals can be positive and helpful. Here Hannah shows how our
animal nature can become the psychic source of renewal and natural
wholeness.
The Archetypal Symbolism of Animals is volume 2 in the "Polarities of
the Psyche" series, edited by Emmanuel Kennedy-Xypolitas. This series
focuses on the broad theme of the opposites in the psyche. In 2004,
Chiron published the first volume, Lectures on Jung's Aion, by Barbara
Hannah and Marie-Louise von Franz. The next volume planned is Barbara
Hannah's Animus: The Spirit of Inner Truth in Women.
This volume and its companions in the series are invaluable resources
for a deeper understanding of Jung's ideas on archetypes in the human
psyche.
Barbara Hannah (1891-1986) was born in England. She went to Zürich
in 1929 to study with Carl Jung and lived in Switzerland the rest of her
life. A close associate of Jung until his death, she was a practicing
psychotherapist and lecturer at the C.G. Jung Institute. Her books
available from Chiron include The Archetypal Symbolism of Animals;
Encounters with the Soul; Jung, His Life and Work: A Biographical
Memoir; and Striving Toward Wholeness.
