07-10-2014, 10:01 AM
During a week long analytical symposium I attended in Zurich in 1991, I had been given a series of personal introductions by my own analyst to a number of other "old school" Jungians in Zurich. One of these was Hanni Binder, who had been taught by Jung and who speciliazed on Tarot and Astrology. When I met her she was, as I recall, in her 91st year and a grand old lady she was too, still possessing a quick wit and penetrating eyes. I found my visit with her to be illuminating. She is now long deceased.
Anyway, in order to further explain what I mean by the symbolic importance of the Tarot trumps, I refer to Sallie Nichols excellent book "Jung and Tarot - An Archetypal Journey. Nichols is a Jungian analyst in SF and her book, first published in 1985, really is an excellent introduction to the subject. I am unable to find a downloadable version, but an extract is available at Scribd HERE. I recommend one navigate to page 31 and begin reading her amplification of the symbolism and meaning of the Fool.
One subject she has not included in her account, however, and one that deserves attention is the correspondence of the Fool with Odin/Wotan who also had the title of the Wanderer, and who was accompanied not by one dog snapping at the Fool's heels, but by two dogs (or wolves) and who roamed the primeval forest. Odin was the Norske God of magic and poetry and sacrificed an eye to gain the mastery of Rune magic. He is also the Fool with a thousand faces, each bubbling and shifting and vying to reach the surface (therefore a shape-shifter), and if you ever meet him, you will find this to be a quite shocking experience.
Nichols, in her book, makes the point that the Trumps are "the so-called projection holders, meaning simply that they are the hooks to catch the imagination." Again and agin, authorities on these subject state how important and significant the imagination is as a tool of cognition - without which we are willfully rendering ourselves blind to a higher/deeper order of knowledge and understanding.
Anyway, in order to further explain what I mean by the symbolic importance of the Tarot trumps, I refer to Sallie Nichols excellent book "Jung and Tarot - An Archetypal Journey. Nichols is a Jungian analyst in SF and her book, first published in 1985, really is an excellent introduction to the subject. I am unable to find a downloadable version, but an extract is available at Scribd HERE. I recommend one navigate to page 31 and begin reading her amplification of the symbolism and meaning of the Fool.
One subject she has not included in her account, however, and one that deserves attention is the correspondence of the Fool with Odin/Wotan who also had the title of the Wanderer, and who was accompanied not by one dog snapping at the Fool's heels, but by two dogs (or wolves) and who roamed the primeval forest. Odin was the Norske God of magic and poetry and sacrificed an eye to gain the mastery of Rune magic. He is also the Fool with a thousand faces, each bubbling and shifting and vying to reach the surface (therefore a shape-shifter), and if you ever meet him, you will find this to be a quite shocking experience.
Nichols, in her book, makes the point that the Trumps are "the so-called projection holders, meaning simply that they are the hooks to catch the imagination." Again and agin, authorities on these subject state how important and significant the imagination is as a tool of cognition - without which we are willfully rendering ourselves blind to a higher/deeper order of knowledge and understanding.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14