Dream Symbols of the Individuation Process
Dream Symbols of the Individuation Process by Carl Jung
Excerpt from the book Dream Symbols of the Individuation Process by Carl Jung:
"We now come to the second chapter of our patient's development which contains the special symbol that I am going to discuss, the mandala. We've encountered this before in several dreams and fantasies cited: first in the hat in the 1st dream, then in the encircling serpent, then in the delimited space where a certain ritual takes place, already anticipating the Dionysian mystery play in which is represented by reidentification of modern consciousness with the earthened man. The first unconscious product in this 2nd series is a dream in which he sees a woman, the unknown woman again, the anima, pursuing him. He fears her, and she forces him to run in a circle. He can't run away; he must run in a circle as if he were a horse. This dream repeats the motive of the encircling serpent, where he formed the center and the serpent encircled him. Now he is forced to circumambulate. This is a special rite which expresses concentration upon the center through passes, such as at the Buddhist shrine... Now in his dream he is forced to make circumambulations. Nothing is said of the center, and the unconscious itself for him as a man, personified in the form of a woman, is forcing him to make these passes. In medieval philosophy it is called the opus circulatorium. The term opus stemming from 'the divine service,' so the circulating opus, the rotating opus, means "manifold repetition," a circumambulation by which the gold that was sought for was to be produced. So you see the circumambulation can mean: "I am getting power out of the center," or "I am giving power to the center." Of course, for Pauli the "scientist" these incomprehensible things were terribly troubling as they were coming up against him and he fantasized about giving up this analytic business. But something held him back, and that was his anima holding his nose to the grindstone. She resents his fear of her as he tries to run. She resents his conscious attitude of resistance, reproaches him for it. She behaves exactly like a jealous woman. Man is not allowed to run away from his unconscious and pays very dearly for that infidelity."
Books mentioned:
Dream Symbols of the Individuation Process by Carl Jung
