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“This remarkable and exciting book brings C.G. Jung’s Active Imagination to
the creative, scientific, spiritual, and transdisciplinary needs of the twenty-first
century. Perspicaciously rooted in Jung, the book reinvents the clinical and provides
essential steppingstones for those taking this practice into art, philosophy and the
synchronistic sciences. With this collection, Chiara Tozzi establishes herself as an
important voice in analytical psychology and its multiple capacities to energize
knowing and being.”
Susan Rowland

“This book offers a series of articles covering a wide scope with the aim of
restoring Active Imagination to its rightful place as a significant method to access
the unconscious and meaning in Jungian analysis. Active Imagination is a method
developed by C.G. Jung which allowed him to access and delve into the images of
his inner world and of the unconscious in order to more clearly understand their
meaning and significance following the painful separation from Freud in 1913.
The images and dialogues that emerged were recorded in the Red Book, which was
kept private till its publication in 2019. The novelty of this method and the unusual
images that emerged initially created concern in those around Jung and led some to
question whether he was not falling into a state of psychosis. In fact, Jung was later
very clear that it was precisely the use of Active Imagination and of the powerful
images and dialogues that emerged as a result that enlightened him and led to a more
profound understanding of the unconscious and of its archetypal contents. One of
the legacies of the history of these early years is that there remains a lingering
skepticism or mistrust with regard to the use and validity of Active Imagination.
As a result, other than in training programs in Zurich, Active Imagination is often
not given much attention. The editor of this book Chiara Tozzi sets out to address
this lacuna and to restore Active Imagination to its rightful place as an invaluable
avenue to access a living experience of psyche and of the unconscious in a personal
manner. She manages this by bringing to the table, contributions from esteemed
Jungian analysts who descrive their use of Active Imagination in clincial practice,
which can include dialogues with dream figures, painting, meditation, body
movement and dance. In addition, she has included voices from the world of the
arts by inviting a director film/critic, a script writer, a professional dancer, a painter,
an author, and a musician to reveal, from their unique and personal perspective, the
central role that Active Imagination played in giving form to their creativity and of
this method as a way of accessing the ephemeral from which meaning can emerge.
The result is a wide-ranging collage of personal testimonies that attest to the
usefulness of Active Imagination as a way to access the creative and the imaginal,
in clinical practice, in ther arts and in our daily lives as an avenue to find meaning.
This book will appeal not only to analysts, therpaists and artists but to everyone
interested in their inner world and in creative expression. I highly recommend this
book and am confident it will nourish many in their search for access to creativity
and meaning in their lives.”
Tom Kelly
“The strength of this book lies in its rich tapestry of voices. It is impressive to learn
about the applicability of Active Imagination in scientific, artistic, and cultural
fields. The editor has masterfully gathered together an exceptional collaboration
of authors that offers a multifaceted exploration of Active Imagination, providing
readers with a treasure trove of insights and perspectives. Across the two volumes
of this book, theory, practice, and research are assembled in a very creative
way that includes research, methodology, theory and practice. Readers will find
references to personal experiences and practical examples that help us understand
the transformative power of Active Imagination as an indispensable attitude
and tool in all creative processes and encounters with the unconscious. Real-
life applications and personal anecdotes add depth and authenticity to this book.
I am sure that Chiara Tozzi’s two-volume book on Active Imagination: Active
Imagination in Theory, Practice and Training: The Special Legacy of C.G. Jung
(vol 1) and Interdisciplinary Understandings of Active Imagination: The Special
Legacy of C.G. Jung (vol 2) is a signigicant contribution that keeps the spark alive
of one of C.G. Jung’s most important legacies.”
Pilar Amezaga

“Chiara Tozzi presents her research on the essential factor in analytical work that
makes Jungians unique. Active Imagination is engagement with the psyche that
speaks in images from within and from without. In this process one is guided by
the wisdom of the Self that moves the development of the personality towards
increased consciousness and wholeness. Tozzi clarifies that it is a process specific
to the individual rather than a “technique”. It furthers engagement with our fears
and the unknown leading to the Transcendent Function that results in profound
changes in our personality. Conversely though, it is this hard work and frightening
engagement that deter many from its use. This book challenges us with a reminder
of C.G. Jung’s deeply effective creative path to healing.”
Nancy Swift Furlotti
Active Imagination in Theory,
Practice and Training

Based on extensive research and developed with the support of the IAAP, this
fascinating new work presents the precious value of the special legacy of C.G.
Jung, which he himself defined as Active Imagination, through a collection of
unpublished contributions by some of the brightest Jungian analysts and renowned
representatives from the worlds of Art, Culture, Physics and Neurosciences.
In addition to presenting the genesis, development and results of Chiara Tozzi’s
research on Active Imagination, this volume on Theory, Practice and Training will
also include the fundamental theoretical aspects of this technique. The book explores
Active Imagination in relation to fundamental contents of Analytical Psychology,
such as Individuation, Transformation and comparison with the Shadow, the
four psychological functions, C.G. Jung’s Red Book, and more. Moreover, the
connections between Active Imagination and Sandplay will also be explored, as
well as the possibilities of applying the technique with adolescent patients, how
it’s considered and proposed in Jungian Training, and some innovative clinical
methodologies of Active Imagination.
Spanning two volumes, which are also accessible as standalone books, this
essential collection will be of great interest to Jungian analysts, psychologists,
psychoanalysts, or anyone interested in discovering more about the fascinating
psychotherapeutic practice of Active Imagination and its interdisciplinary uses.

Chiara Tozzi is a Psychologist and Psychotherapist. She is a Training Analyst

and Supervisor of Associazione Italiana di Psicologia Analitica (AIPA) and of
the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP). She is also a
Writer, Screenwriter, and Screenwriting Professor. She is Artistic Director of the
‘Mercurius Prize’, based in Zurich.
Active Imagination in Theory,
Practice and Training

The Special Legacy of C.G. Jung

Edited by Chiara Tozzi

Designed cover image: Getty Images
First published 2024
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2024 selection and editorial matter, Chiara Tozzi; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Chiara Tozzi to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters,
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
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or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-53301-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-53300-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-41136-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003411369
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To my masters,
to my patients,
to my students.
Contents

About the Editor xi

List of Contributors xii

1 Active Imagination: The Special Legacy of C.G. Jung 1

ChIARA TOZZI

2 Active Imagination, Agent of Transformation in the

Individuation Process 19
MuRRAy STeIN

3 Active Imagination and the Process of Individuation 34

FeDeRICO De LuCA COMANDINI – TRANSLATeD By ROBeRT
MeRCuRIO

4 Is Active Imagination the Sleeping Beauty of

Analytical Psychology? 48
GAeTANA BONASeRA – TRANSLATeD By ALeSSIA MARZANO

5 Sandplay Therapy and Active Imagination 60

evA PATTIS ZOJA

6 Imaginative Movement Therapy: A Neo-Jungian Approach

to Active Imagination 65
LANeR CASSAR

7 The Magic Labyrinth: Imagine a Game to Be Played

with Images 76
vALeRIO COLANGeLI
x Contents

8 yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Active Imagination,

Analytical Training and Clinical Practice 97
MARTA TIBALDI

9 Symbols of the Soul: From The Red Book to Active

Imagination in Movement 112
ANTONeLLA ADORISIO

Index 130
About the Editor

Chiara Tozzi is a Psychologist and Psychotherapist. She is a Training Analyst

and Supervisor of Associazione Italiana di Psicologia Analitica (AIPA) and of
the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP). She is also a
writer, screenwriter and screenwriting professor. She lectures internationally,
and is a visiting Professor to different IAAP Developing Groups. She is author
of an International Research on Active Imagination supported by the IAAP, to
be published by Routledge. She is Artistic Director of the international “Mer-
curius Prize for Films of Particular Psychological Significance and Sensitivity
to human Rights”, based in Zurich. She is former editor of Studi Junghiani, the
journal of the AIPA.
Contributors

Antonella Adorisio is a Training and Supervising Jungian Analyst with CIPA and
IAAP. Past Director of Programming and Training at CIPA – Institute of Rome.
Past Member of CIPA National executive Board, she was President of the
17th CIPA National Congress in 2016. Antonella is a Registered Psychologist,
Psychotherapist, Dance Movement Psychotherapist and Art Psychotherapist. She
has been internationally teaching Active Imagination for many years. As a teacher
of Authentic Movement, she studied with Janet Adler and Joan Chodorow. She
leads international workshops on Authentic Movement and since 2004 she has
been collaborating with Joan Chodorow as co-leader at the Pre-Congress day on
Movement as a form of Active Imagination at the IAAP international congresses
(Barcelona, Cape Town, Montreal, Copenhagen, Tokyo, vienna). She is the au-
thor of numerous papers on Active Imagination, Authentic Movement, Body/
Psyche connections and the Feminine published in Italy, the uK and the uSA.
She has co-edited several books. She works and teaches mainly in Rome. She has
been invited to lecture and teach in Kiew, Bucharest, Malta, Singapore, Zurich
and in several Italian cities. She is still teaching Authentic Movement at ISAP
Zurich as Guest Teacher. She is working with the IAAP Training Router Program
in Romania. She filmed and edited the film-documentary “Mysterium – A Poetic
Prayer-Testimonials on Body/Spirit Coniunctio”, offered in many countries. The
DvD was distributed by Spring Journal Books.
Gaetana Bonasera, PsyD, is a Jungian Analyst, IAAP and AIPA Member. She
graduated in Psychology from Sapienza university of Rome. She obtained su-
pervised systemic-relational psychotherapy training, a Master’s in hypnosis and
ericksonian Psychotherapy, and a master’s in emergency Psychology and Psy-
chotraumatology. PsyD Bonasera has been working as a private psychotherapist
for more than 20 years. Since 2018, she has been a Member of the DuN-Onlus
Association that provides psychological support to migrants and refugees. She
attended the AIPA Training Seminar on Active Imagination by Chiara Tozzi in
2019. She was also a speaker at the conference on Active Imagination by Chiara
Tozzi: “Who Is Afraid of Active Imagination?” (AIPA, Rome 2019) as well as
in the seminar by Chiara Tozzi “From horror to ethical Responsibility” (AIPA,
Milan 2020).
 Contributors xiii

Laner Cassar is a Jungian Analyst (IAAP) from Malta. he is also a registered clini-
cal Psychologist, Psychotherapist and Supervisor working with mental health
services, and currently heads the Psychology Department at the Gozo General
hospital/Steward health Care Malta. he hails from the “essex school of analyti-
cal psychology” of the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, university of essex,
uK, where he earned his PhD in Psychoanalytic Studies. he is also an independ-
ent researcher in the history of psychoanalysis, analytical psychology and im-
aginative psychotherapy. Dr Cassar is engaged in various local and international
educational institutions. he has written several publications on his main interest,
namely the use and application of imagination in psychotherapy. his latest book
was published by Routledge in 2020 and is entitled Jung’s Technique of Active
Imagination and Desoille’s Directed Waking Dream Method – Bridging the Di-
vide. he is the President of the Malta Depth Psychological Association, Director
of SITe (Malta) and the International Network for the Study of Waking Dream
Therapy (INSWDT).
Valerio Colangeli, IAAP and AIPA Analyst, is a clinical Psychologist and Psy-
chotherapist. he collaborates with a social cooperative non-profit organisations
as an operator in some residential and semi-residential psychiatric services of
the ASL-RM1, with both adult and adolescent patients. he also has a private
practice. he is the author of publications in Italian and in international journals.
his main fields of research are analytical work in institutions and symbolic play
in adolescence. he attended the AIPA Training Seminar on Active Imagination
by Chiara Tozzi in 2019. he was also a speaker at the conference on Active
Imagination by Chiara Tozzi: “Who Is Afraid of Active Imagination?” (AIPA,
Rome 2019) as well as in the seminar by Chiara Tozzi “From horror to ethical
Responsibility” (AIPA, Milan 2020).
Federico De Luca Comandini is a Jungian IAAP Analyst who graduated from
the C. G. Jung Institute Zurich. he trained under D. Baumann and M. L. von
Franz. he is a Member of the International Association for Analytical Psychol-
ogy (IAAP), International Association of Graduate Analytical Psychologists,
Zurich (AGAP) and Ordinary Member and Teacher at the Associazione Italiana
Psicologia Analitica (AIPA). he holds seminars and participates as a speaker at
conferences in Italy and worldwide. he carries out research on symbolism, in
particular on the psychological processes involved in imagination. he is the au-
thor of many publications, including L’Immaginazione Attiva. Teoria e pratica
nella psicologia di C. G. Jung (2002, curated with R. Mercurio), In dialogo
con l’inconscio (2011) and Quattro saggi sulla proiezione. Riverberi del Sé
nella coscienza (2013), with the contributions of R. Mercurio, D. Ribola and
C. Widmann. he lives and practises in Rome.
Robert Mercurio is a Training Analyst and President of the Association for Re-
search in Analytical Psychology (ARPA). After graduating in philosophy and
then in management, he carried out his post-graduate studies in philosophy and
theology at the Gregorian university in Rome. he then completed the training
xiv Contributors

programme at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich where he got his diploma in
Analytical Psychology.
Eva Pattis Zoja is a Jungian Analyst and Sandplay Therapist. She works in private
practice in Milan, Italy. She is the founder of the International Association for
expressive Sandwork (IAeS) and has offered training in Jungian Analysis and
Sandplay Therapy in europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Murray Stein, PhD, is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the International
School of Analytical Psychology Zurich (ISAP-ZuRICh). he was President of
the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP) from 2001 to
2004 and President of ISAP-ZuRICh from 2008 to 2012. he has lectured inter-
nationally and is the editor of Jungian Psychoanalysis and the author of Jung’s
Treatment of Christianity, In MidLife, Jung’s Map of the Soul, Minding the Self,
Outside Inside and All Around, The Bible as Dream and most recently Men Un-
der Construction. he lives in Switzerland and has a private practice in Zurich.
Marta Tibaldi is a Psychologist, Psychotherapist, Jungian Analyst and Training
and Supervising Analyst at IAAP and AIPA. From 2010 to 2019 she was the Li-
aison Person of the IAAP Developing Group in hong Kong (hKIAP) and from
2012 to 2019 an applied visiting Analyst in Taipei, Taiwan. She was an adjunct
Professor of Intercultural Psychology at the university of Siena and a Consult-
ant at the Italian Center of Solidarity “Don Mario Picchi Onlus” in Rome. Since
2008, she has been a teacher at the AIPA’s analytical high School in Rome.
Lecturer in national and international congresses and workshops, and author
of many articles and essays, she has published the books Il mito delle isole fe-
lici nelle relazioni di viaggio del Sette-Ottocento (with G. Mazzoleni, D’Anna,
Messina-Firenze 1975); Oltre il cancro. Trasformare creativamente la malattia
che temiamo di più (Moretti & vitali, Rome 2010); Pratica dell’immaginazione
attiva. Dialogare con l’inconscio e vivere meglio (La Lepre, Rome 2011; en-
larged edition published in Mandarin by PsyGarden Publishing, Taiwan and in
simplified Chinese by Beijing ChenSheng Culture Communication Co. Ltd.);
Transcultural Identities. Jungians in Hong Kong (with T. Chan, M. Chiu, M.
Lee, B. Tam, e.T. Wong, Artemide edizioni, Rome 2016); Jung e la metafora
viva dell’alchimia. Immagini della trasformazione psichica (ed. with S. Massa
Ope and A. Rossi; Moretti & vitali, Bergamo 2020). She is the author of the
blog “C.G. Jung’s Analytical Psychology between Italy and China”, now re-
named “Conoscersi per conoscere”. She also has a website and a video channel
called “Marta Tibaldi. Psicologia analitica in un click”.
Chapter 1

Active Imagination
The Special Legacy of C.G. Jung

Chiara Tozzi

The Pursuit of Active Imagination

The objective of this two-volume book on active imagination can be defined by two
statements by C.G. Jung. I will begin with the first:

The years when I was pursuing my inner images were the most important in
my life – in them everything essential was decided. It all began then; the later
details are only supplements and clarifications of the material that burst forth
from the unconscious, and at first swamped me. It was the prima materia for a
lifetime’s work.
(Jung, 1961, MDR, cap. VI p. 137)

When I read Memories, Dreams, Reflections for the first time in 1978, it was this
very sentence, and the account of C.G. Jung’s courageous confrontation with the
unconscious, that particularly struck me. In the description of that dialogue and
encounter with obscure and dangerous parts of oneself, which could fascinate but
also instill horror, I found echoed the significant contents and images of the fair-
ytales and legends that had captivated me as much as any other kid in childhood,
regardless of the time and space in which that narration had taken place. And it
was exactly from listening to and reading fairytales that a passion for storytelling
was born in me, both as a mode of communication and as a profession, in literature
and film.
When I started my training to become a Jungian analyst at Associazione Italiana
di Psicologia Analitica (AIPA) in 1996, Dr Bianca Garufi, one of the most im-
portant Italian Jungian analysts, explained to me that this way of confronting the
unconscious, first experimented by Jung on himself, was a real form of therapy,
specific to Jungian clinical practice and referred to as active imagination.
Meeting Bianca Garufi resulted in a friendship that was precious to me. I met
her at the making of the feature film Le parole sono altrove1 (Tozzi et al., 2000)
with the AIPA Cinema Group. Bianca Garufi – with whom I had carried out one
of the interviews needed to be admitted to the AIPA-IAAP Training – was the
one who had invited me to join the AIPA Cinema Group because, although I was

DOI: 10.4324/9781003411369-1
2 Chiara Tozzi

then an AIPA trainee and not yet an AIPA-IAAP member, I had been a scriptwriter
and screenplay teacher for over a decade. Bianca Garufi, in addition to being an
AIPA-IAAP training analyst, was a recognized writer and poet: as a writer, she had
published several books, including a novel written in four hands, including one of
the most important Italian writers, Cesare Pavese (Garufi and Pavese, 1959). Here,
I would like to recall one of her qualities as a poet – as I have done elsewhere:
her splendid poem “Non l’Io” (Not the Ego; Garufi, 2002), referring precisely to
the conversation between the Ego and the unconscious that takes place during the
experience of active imagination. I was thus fortunate to have a first illustration
of the complex and special essence of active imagination precisely through that
“double-meaning” language that Bianca Garufi used spontaneously, and of which
Jung speaks about his way of writing (von Franz, 1988): i.e. giving voice to a har-
monious interaction between consciousness and the unconscious. Bianca Garufi,
as an artist, could express herself and write in such a special way because she
naturally possessed that more permeable diaphragm between consciousness and
the unconscious (Jung, 1916/58), which for Jung is typical of creative people; yet,
that more permeable diaphragm can be reached by anyone through the experience
of active imagination, by virtue of the activation of the transcendent function, that
is, that “movement out of the suspension between two opposites, a living birth that
leads to a new level of being, a new situation” (Jung, 1916/58, par. 189).
The specificity of the therapeutic method Jung had identified and experimented
on himself, i.e. active imagination, seemed to me extraordinary and valuable; at
the same time, the fact that, during the six years of AIPA training and afterwards,
I heard very little about it in the Jungian community was disconcerting.
Over time, I learned that this bizarre scotomization of a legacy that appears to
be not only precious, but Jung’s most specific clinical methodology compared with
other psychoanalytical methods developed by famous scholars of the psyche, was
not only taking place in Italy, but throughout the international Jungian community.
Certainly, the publication of The Red Book (Jung, 2009) and its worldwide dis-
semination necessarily led to recognizing that “first matter for a lifetime’s work”
mentioned by Jung in Memories, Dreams, Reflections. But what else was that “first
matter,” so admirably depicted and described in The Red Book, if not precisely the
contents of the unconscious that sprang from Jung’s courageous experience of ac-
tive imagination? And yet, while such contents and illustrations, after the publica-
tion of The Red Book by Sonu Shamdasani, became the object of in-depth study by
the international Jungian community and anyone interested in the psyche, the same
cannot be said for the dissemination of active imagination, which was also at the
origin of those contents and illustrations. Focusing on one of the special qualities of
The Red Book, namely its ability to symbolically illustrate a complex psychologi-
cal journey through written and visual images that were never saturated, I decided
to refer precisely to that double background used by Jung to explain his expository
peculiarity. I therefore made a video, entitled Un doppio fondo,2 in which I tried
to summarize the affinities between the language of film and those of C.G. Jung’s
analytical psychology.
 Active Imagination: The Special Legacy of C.G. Jung 3

Encouraged by the feedback I received from some IAAP colleagues,3 I con-

tinued to explore this connection between languages in light of active imagina-
tion, and followed up the screening of the video (the English version is called En
Route) for the paper “En Route: From Active Imagination to Film Language,”
which I presented in 2013 at the 19th IAAP International Congress in Copenhagen
(Tozzi, 2014).
After becoming a training analyst, in 2014 I was given the Seminar on active
imagination at AIPA, which I have held every year since then (Colangeli, 2022).
My first concern at the time was to try to pass on to AIPA trainees not only the
theoretical aspect of active imagination, but what Jung had truly tried to pass on
to us with his personal experience. In fact, I believe Jung does not reductively and
literally tell us that what he wants to pass on and deliver is a pattern, a technique,
or a method; rather, he leaves us a personal and suffered testimony, experienced
first-hand, on how he symbolically lived the years when he practiced active imagi-
nation. His reluctance to present a “technical” pattern and outline of the practice
of active imagination shows us how important it is to leave more space in the life
of human beings for the individuative and transformative meaning and outcome of
active imagination, as seen in Memories, Dreams, Reflections and in The Red Book.
Actually, I had and still have the impression there is a twofold approach within
the Jungian community to the possibility of learning and teaching active imagina-
tion (Tozzi, 2023):

1 as a mainly mentalized repetition of a technique;

2 as a personalized integration of a different way of being in the world, of a capac-
ity for equal confrontation with the unconscious, related to synchronicity and
fundamental in the process of individuation.

The first and meaningful support to represent the approach I believed is most in line
with the meaning given by Jung of active imagination (that is, the second one) came
to me from Gerhard Adler’s description of active imagination, in Studies in Analyti-
cal Psychology (Adler, 1948). In that essay, Gerhard Adler very efficiently clarifies
the difference between the two approaches, arguing that one cannot speak of a

“technique” of active imagination just as one can hardly speak of a “technique

of dreaming” [. . .] By “active imagination” we understand a definite attitude
towards the contents of the unconscious [. . .] The right attitude may perhaps be
best described as one of “active passivity” [. . .] It is not unlike watching a film
or listening to music [. . .] Only the difference is that in active imagination the
“film” is being unrolled inside.
(Adler, 1948, pp. 56–57)

To me, this brilliant and evocative explanation, based both on logic and on the met-
aphorical use of images, translated into a further image: that of “a different way of
being in the world” (Tozzi, 2017), reachable through the individuative experience
4 Chiara Tozzi

in active imagination. Based on this assumption, I decided to submit a proposal

for the 20th IAAP International Congress to be held in Tokyo, Japan, in 2016.
Before the Congress in Kyoto, a second contribution was fundamental to convince
me that the journey I had embarked on in my research on active imagination truly
made sense. As I have broadly described elsewhere (Tozzi, 2023, op. cit.), in the
summer of 2015 I was at Yale University4 to present “The Experience of Grace: The
Possibility of Transformation in Vladimir Nabokov and Carl Gustav Jung” (Tozzi,
2015). There, I attended Murray Stein’s incredible conference, “Synchronizing
Time and Eternity: A Matter of Practice” (Stein, 2017). On that occasion, Stein’s
presentation was unfolding all my doubts and dilemmas related to my choice to
teach, practice, and experience active imagination as an attitude and not as a tech-
nique. Actually, in his lecture, Stein presented an active imagination done by Pauli
in 1953, stimulated by Jung and M.L. von Franz and defined by Pauli himself as
“The Piano Lesson.” In “The Piano Lesson,” Pauli questioned himself on the same
dilemma I was facing, represented in his active imagination, as follows: “There
were two schools: in the older of the two one understood words but not meaning,
while in the newer one understood meaning but not my words. I could not bring
the two schools together” (Atmanspacher, Primus, and Wertenschlag-Birkhauser,
1995, pp. 317–330). Stein explained the two positions as follows:

At one level, this is a reference to the schools of nuclear physics and analytical
psychology; at another level, it refers to the explanations that science offers and
the meanings that derive from a depth psychological and spiritual orientation.
Here Pauli was stuck.
(Stein, op. cit. p. 50)

As highlighted by Stein, to metaphorically represent this situation:

What he [Pauli, Ed.] came up with was a marvelous image, the piano, which
with its black and white keys resonates with the Chinese yang-yin system. [. . .]
But then it became a matter of learning “to play the piano,” not only of under-
standing the issues intellectually [. . .]. This was the challenge put to him by
Jung and von Franz.
(Stein, op. cit., p. 50)

After sharing Pauli’s touching and meaningful active imagination, Stein added:

Pauli faces this issue head-on in this “active fantasy.” The piano symbolizes a
possible point of meeting. It represents the transcendent function, a synthetic
mind. Of course, the question is: Can he play the piano? Well, he is learning.
[. . .] At any rate, Pauli has given us in the image of the piano a useful metaphor
for the transcendent function, which may assist our efforts to create a sustained
and sustaining link between time and eternity for ourselves and with our patients.
(Stein, op. cit., pp. 55–56)
 Active Imagination: The Special Legacy of C.G. Jung 5

Following this inspiring lecture, when I was back in Rome I decided to write
to Murray Stein, although I did not know him personally. I told him how much
I had appreciated his lecture at Yale and I explained to him that, by presenting
Pauli’s active imagination on “The Piano Lesson,” he had given a symbolic an-
swer to my consideration on the two ways of experiencing and passing on active
imagination. After all, my question on how to explain an attitude of active im-
agination had already been answered in the title of his lecture: it is . . . “A matter
of practice”!
Ever since, all my detailed studies, conferences, and seminars on active imagina-
tion have been focused on trying to pass on to colleagues, patients, and trainees the
meaning of that “different way of being in the world,” given by a true experience
of active imagination, as well as by the fascinating connections between active
imagination and other forms of expression and of human research.
But . . . there is a but!
As I felt the enthusiasm and interest grow within me and received positive feed-
back on active imagination from many IAAP colleagues and trainees, both in Italy
and in other countries I was visiting regularly as IAAP Visiting Professor, the dis-
semination and formation on this special Jungian method was still lacking.
When trainees asked me for a bibliography, I was forced to note there was a
clear lack of publications in the field, especially compared with other topics that
are more followed and analyzed within the Jungian community. I asked myself the
reason for this scotomization, so unequal compared to such unique magnificence
which we possess as Jung’s followers. I came up with a possible answer: that,
in fact, active imagination . . . scares. Nothing weird about that, considering the
complex and delicate journey to undergo to reach a dialogue with the unconscious
in a waking state, as required by active imagination. Yet, although understandable
in patients and trainees, such blind fear is not comprehensible in Jungian analysts
and, actually, seemed to me to be quite concerning. This is how I came up with
the idea of addressing this “troublesome” issue at the 21st IAAP International
Congress to be held in Vienna. I submitted my proposal of this difficult topic and
I am thankful to my IAAP colleagues not only for accepting my presentation, but
for inviting me to present “From Horror to Ethical Responsibility: Carl Gustav
Jung and Stephen King Encounter the Dark Half Within Us, Between Us and in
the World” in a plenary session. I must say that the unexpected and enthusiastic
reaction by colleagues on that occasion was an additional stimulus that pushed me
to go full throttle and even more in-depth: I ventured into a collective research
on active imagination that I could have presented to IAAP colleagues. My video-
interview, “The Lighting of Shadow Images – Interview with Giuseppe Torna-
tore,”5 shot in the projection room of Tornatore’s office in August 2019, in which
Oscar-awarded director Giuseppe Tornatore confronts himself with Jungian active
imagination for the first time, was another important step that pushed me to carry
on with my project.
The final spark came from something else, but I will talk about that at the end
of this chapter.
6 Chiara Tozzi

Support and Cooperation for My International

Research on Active Imagination
This book is therefore the result of my research on active imagination, carried out
with the support of the IAAP.
My proposal was submitted to the IAAP Academic Sub-Committee in 2021, and
was soon after approved and granted a fund.6
In my research project, I asked for, and received, the collaboration of many
IAAP colleague analysts from different countries who were particularly interested
and who specialized in active imagination. I also asked for, and received, contribu-
tions from experts in the worlds of Neurosciences, Physics, Art, and Culture. The
Research Unit RISORSA – Social Research, Organization and Risk in Health – of
DiSSE – Department of Social and Economic Sciences – of the Sapienza Univer-
sity of Rome, Italy also provided their collaboration.
Additional support was also given by Shannon Marie Clay, freelance inter-
preter and translator who supported me in editing the book and translating some
of the chapters. I am really thankful to Shannon, the backbone of this entire
journey.
Following, the final list of participants:

IAAP Analysts
1 Tozzi, Chiara, AIPA-IAAP, Italy
2 Adorisio, Antonella, CIPA- IAAP, Italy
3 Bonasera, Gaetana, AIPA-IAAP, Italy
4 Cassar, Laner, Malta Jung Developing Group-IAAP, Malta
5 Colangeli, Valerio, AIPA-IAAP, Italy
6 De Luca Comandini, Federico, AIPA-IAAP, Italy
7 Deligiannis, Ana, SUAPA-IAAP, Argentina
8 Fleischer, Karin, SUAPA, IAAP, Argentina
9 Méndez, Margarita, SVAJ-IAAP, Venezuela
10 Mercurio, Robert, ARPA, Italy7
11 Nieddu, Gianfranca, AIPA-IAAP, Italy
12 Pattis Zoja, Eva, CIPA, Italy
13 Renn, Regina, DGAP- IAAP, Germany8
14 Stein, Murray, AGAP-IAAP, Switzerland
15 Tibaldi, Marta, AIPA-IAAP, Italy

Representatives from the Worlds of Art, Culture,

Neurosciences, and Physics, and Sapienza
University of Rome, Italy
16 Aiolli, Giacomo, musician, Italy
17 Clay, Shannon Marie, linguist, Italy
 Active Imagination: The Special Legacy of C.G. Jung 7

18 Cogliati Dezza, Irene, research fellow in the Affective Brain Lab at University
College London and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
19 Contarello, Umberto, scriptwriter, Italy
20 Padroni, Luca, painter, Italy
21 Piperno, Elsa, dancer, choreographer and dance teacher, Italy
22 Puddu, Emiliano, physics professor, Italy
23 Sesti, Mario, critic-journalist, Film Festival Director and Documentary Direc-
tor, Italy
24 Voltolini, Dario, writer, Italy
25 Research Unit RISORSA – Social Research, Organization and Risk in Health –
of DiSSE – Department of Social and Economic Sciences – of the Sapienza
University of Rome, Italy9

Research Characteristics and Methodology

First Phase
My research on active imagination was a “qualitative” research which therefore
required the necessary tools to translate qualitative data into quantitative data for
the needed analysis and comparisons.
To this end, two “structured” questionnaires with predefined answers were pro-
vided for a numerical translation. One questionnaire was sent to IAAP members,
trainees, and routers to verify their knowledge, appreciation, and clinical practice
of active imagination. A second questionnaire was sent to the people in charge of
IAAP training (IAAP training analysts) and covered the relevance given to active
imagination during IAAP trainings.
The questionnaires were submitted through an online platform and, based on the
answers received, were processed in progress by the Research Unit RISORSA of
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
A report on the answers collected was sent to me, and I then forwarded the re-
sults to my IAAP colleagues who contributed to this research.
The results of the first phase were aimed at providing useful material for a per-
sonal processing and/or a collective discussion among IAAP analysts taking part in
this research. The material was made available for analysts to use in their personal
contributions to the research.

Second Phase
During the second phase, the IAAP analysts working on this research were free
to choose whether they wanted to work by themselves on a topic related to active
imagination, or to exchange opinions with myself and/or the other participants.
At the same time, during the second phase, additional contributions were pro-
vided by a neuroscientist and a physics professor, as well as contributions and
amplifications from the world of contemporary culture and art.
8 Chiara Tozzi

The results of the questionnaires and the contributions and knowledge provided
by participants could be shared collectively after I sent them out. This was aimed
at favoring a network of connection and exchange among IAAP analysts taking
part in the research, and among the neuroscientist and physics professor and all
representatives from the world of culture and arts who decided to take part in this
specific research development. This exchange could lead to further contributions
aimed at providing detailed empirical studies as well as new and original content
to corroborate the importance given by C.G. Jung to active imagination. Moreover,
it could help to highlight that active imagination is a unique psychotherapeutic
method, different from all the other methods available and practiced in psychoa-
nalysis and psychotherapy.
The results of the research were collected in a structured database. From the
beginning, a possible outcome of such data and all material produced and collected
was to give life to a publication managed by me, as editor of this research.
The quality of the questionnaire was monitored by the Research Unit RISORSA
of Sapienza University of Rome. I then analyzed the results of the questionnaire
and summarized and interpreted them.

Trend of the Research

The research project started in 2021, stemming from the hypothesis that the the-
ory and practice of active imagination, although fundamental and crucial in C.G.
Jung’s analytical psychology, are not well known, studied, and practiced within the
Jungian community, and are very little known to all those who are not part of the
purely psychoanalytical setting.
The first goal of my research was to:

1 Verify the truthfulness of the hypothesis through one questionnaire divided in

two parts, as previously described. I designed and then prepared and managed
the questionnaire with the support of the Research Unit RISORSA, DiSSE,
Department of Social and Economic Sciences of Sapienza University of
Rome, Italy.
The questionnaire was to be sent to all IAAP members, routers, and trainees,
and IAAP training analysts.

Questionnaire Emerging Questions

i How aware are IAAP members of active imagination?
ii Was active imagination considered meaningful and valuable in C.G. Jung’s
clinical practice?
iii How much importance is given by IAAP members to active imagination as a
psychotherapeutic method?
iv Which scientific, artistic, and expressive fields can be linked to active
imagination?
 Active Imagination: The Special Legacy of C.G. Jung 9

v To what level is active imagination used in Jungian psychotherapy?

vi How much research is there on active imagination?
vii Is active imagination properly addressed in IAAP training?
viii How to bridge the possible gap at the level of training, knowledge, and
clinical practice?
2 Analyze and evaluate the results of the questionnaires.
3 Prepare a database based on the scientific evidence of the theoretical knowl-
edge, practice, and training of active imagination by IAAP analysts to support
IAAP dissemination programs about active imagination at the international
level.

Administration, Timing of Data Processing, and Validity

of the Questionnaire
The questionnaire was carried out and processed by the Research Unit RISORSA –
Social Research, Organization and Risk in Health – of DiSSE – Department of
Social and Economic Sciences – of the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
The survey was carried out from August 27 to October 15, 2021.
The questionnaires were sent by the IAAP Secretariat to 3,564 individuals
among IAAP training analysts and IAAP members, and to 378 individuals among
IAAP routers and trainees, for a total of 3,942 individuals.
Overall, 12.63 percent of the reference population answered the questionnaires.
The level of response was sufficient for an online survey and it could therefore
be considered valid.

Interpretation of the Final Data of the Questionnaire

First consideration: although the questionnaire is valid, I think it is interesting to
think about this: why didn’t 87.37 percent – almost 90 percent! – of IAAP members
respond to the questionnaire?
Only in a few countries was there a high response rate to the questionnaire.
Among these, for IAAP members, routers, and trainees the highest response was
recorded in:

United States 87
China 27
Italy 27
United Kingdom 24

For IAAP training analysts, the highest response was recorded in:

Germany 38
United States 27
Switzerland 17
 Total Respondents by Country
COUNTRY N COUNTRY N
Argentina 4 Italy 27
Australia 2 Japan 3
Austria 4 Latvia and Lithuania 1
Belarus 2 Lithuania 1
Belgium 3 Luxembourg 1
Brazil 23 Malta 3
Bulgaria 3 Mexico 2
Canada 12 Netherland 1
Chile 2 Peru 1
China 27 Poland 2
Colombia 1 Portugal 1
Czech republic 1 Romania 5
Denmark 5 Russia 11
Dominican Republic 2 Serbia 3
Estonia 1 South Africa 5
France 8 South Korea 3
Georgia 11 Spain 4
Germany 9 Switzerland 18
Hong Kong 1 UK 24
Hungary 1 Ukraine 6
India 5 Uruguay 2
International 1 USA 87
Ireland 1 Venezuela 2
Israel 2 Total overall 344

Figure 1 Table of IAAP member, router, and trainee respondents by country.

Total Respondents by Country

COUNTRY N
Argentina 2
Australia 2
Austria 4
Brazil 8
Canada 5
Chile 1
China 3
Czech republic and the Netherlands 1
Denmark 3
Deutschland, schweiz 1
France 4
Germany 38
Israel 10
Italy 13
Italy and Switzerland 1
Japan 1
Russia 3
Serbia 1
South Africa 1
South Korea 1
Spain 2
Switzerland 17
UK 4
Uruguay 1
USA 27
Total overall 154

Figure 2 Table of IAAP training analyst respondents by country.

 Active Imagination: The Special Legacy of C.G. Jung 11

The first interesting result is seen in Germany, where only nine IAAP members,
routers, and trainees answered the questionnaire (resulting among the lowest coun-
tries per response rate), while there was a high response rate among IAAP training
analysts, accounting for 38 respondents and therefore positioning itself at the top
of the list. This is an inverted trend compared with the rest of the countries, where
there was a lower response rate among IAAP training analysts than among IAAP
members, routers, and trainees. It is true that there are fewer IAAP training analysts
than IAAP members, routers, and trainees in the different IAAP Associations, but it
would be interesting to assess the results of the high or low number of training ana-
lysts who participated in the questionnaire. For example, in Italy, among all AIPA,
CIPA, and ARPA training analysts – that is, 305 individuals – only 13 answered
the questionnaire, accounting for 4.2 percent of all Italian IAAP training analysts.
It may be useful and interesting for IAAP Associations in the different countries to
calculate ex-post the percentage of training analysts who answered the question-
naire in each country.
Considering the results presented above, it appears that although IAAP members,
routers, and trainees, and IAAP training analysts consider active imagination to be a
meaningful component for C.G. Jung (95.3 percent and 90 percent, respectively) both
at theoretical and clinical level, they are not adequately informed about such practice.
Among those who answered the questionnaire, only 48.7 percent of IAAP train-
ing analysts experienced active imagination as patients, 69 percent experienced it
in training, and yet 81.9 percent use it in their clinical practice, showing that a large
number of IAAP training analysts use active imagination even though they may not
have personally experienced it during their analysis. This leads to a first interesting
question: since many IAAP training analysts use the practice of active imagination
without having experienced it as patients or trainees, are we truly able to provide the
skills necessary to use active imagination in our clinical practice? Are we sufficiently
trained to pass on the knowledge and practice of active imagination to IAAP trainees?

In your opinion, did C. G. Jung consider

QUESTION: Active Imagination to be meaningful and
valuable in his clinical practice?
Overall:
% 4,7%

I believe it was very relevant

in C.G. Jung’s clinical practice.

I do not believe it was

paticularly relevant in
C.G. Jung’s clinical practice.

Figure 3 Percentage of IAAP member, router, and trainee respondents who be-
lieve and who do not believe C.G. Jung considered active imagination to
be meaningful and valuable in his clinical practice.
12 Chiara Tozzi

QUESTION: In your opinion, did C. G. Jung consider Active Imagination

to be meaningful and valuable in his clinical practice?
Overall:
%

I believe it was very relevant

in C.G. Jung’s clinical practice.
I do not believe it was
paticularly relevant in
C.G. Jung’s clinical practice.

Figure 4 Percentage of IAAP training analyst respondents who believe and who
do not believe C.G. Jung considered active imagination to be meaningful
and valuable in his clinical practice.

Only 38.1 percent and 36.3 percent of all members, routers, and trainees are
familiar with the scientific literature on active imagination in international jour-
nals and in their country’s accredited journals of analytical psychology. For IAAP
training analysts, the percentages account for 54 percent and 50.6 percent, leading
us to think there may be a lack of stimuli on the subject. This seems to once again
confirm that the knowledge on active imagination is not sufficiently widespread
among members, routers, and trainees, nor among training analysts.
Moreover, 55 percent of IAAP training analysts say active imagination is consid-
ered to be an optional component in training.
Of the respondents, 56 percent believe it is seen as a secondary method; how-
ever, in reality, 78.8 percent of IAAP members, routers, and trainees consider it a
fundamental component in training.
The percentage asking for more practical exercises on such content through ex-
periential workshops is 83.7 percent. In addition, 42.2 percent of IAAP members,
routers, and trainees consider active imagination to be a fundamental component
in training, showing a further discrepancy between how individuals perceive active
imagination and how they believe it is considered in the IAAP Association they
are part of. Actually, 78.8 percent of IAAP members, routers, and trainees say that
active imagination is a fundamental component in training, but only 33 percent of
training analysts believe active imagination is considered to be an essential method
in the Association they are part of.
Data analysis validates the research hypothesis highlighting, among others, a
big discrepancy in the confidence shared by Jungian analysts who consider active
 Active Imagination: The Special Legacy of C.G. Jung 13

QUESTION: Is Active Imagination considered to be

an optional component in training?

Overall:

No
Yes
No answer

90%

Figure 5 Percentage of IAAP training analyst respondents who believe and who
do not believe active imagination is considered to be an optional com-
ponent in training.

QUESTION: Do you consider Active Imagination

a fundamental component in IAAP training?
Overall:
%

I don’t know
No
Yes
No answer

90%

Figure 6 Percentage of IAAP member, router, and trainee respondents who be-
lieve, who do not believe, and who do not know if active imagination is
considered to be a fundamental component in training.
14 Chiara Tozzi

imagination to be a fundamental practice both for C.G. Jung and for the Jungian
community, and the current lack of knowledge, spread, use, and relevance of such
practice by IAAP Jungian analysts and in IAAP training.
I believe all this material could represent some interesting food for thought on
the relevance given to active imagination within the IAAP, both as theoretical
knowledge and as clinical practice, and as a teaching subject in IAAP training.

Content and Aim of the Book

The aim of this book is to broaden and enhance the precious value of the special
legacy of C.G. Jung, which he himself defined as active imagination, through a
collection of unpublished contributions by some of the brightest Jungian analysts
and renowned representatives from the disciplines of Art, Culture, Physics, and
Neurosciences from different parts of the world.
About one century after the creation of C.G. Jung’s active imagination, these
voices put together give life to a multifaceted representation of active imagination,
showing its many characteristics at a theoretical level, the different settings and
ways in which such practice is currently used and experienced, and the resonance
that active imagination can have in the scientific, artistic, and cultural fields.
The book not only targets the Jungian community, psychologists, and psycho-
analysts in general, but also anyone in the world who may be interested in discover-
ing the possible correlation between an original and fascinating psychotherapeutic
practice such as active imagination, and the content in the fields of Neuroscience,
Physics, Cinema, Literature, Painting, Music, and Dance.
I invited both fellow Jungian analysts and friends from the worlds of Art, Cul-
ture, Physics, and Neurosciences to work on this book, with the goal of offering the
reader a kaleidoscopic representation of the extent to which active imagination, as
conceived and experienced by C.G. Jung, is present. I allowed all authors complete
freedom, and at the same time made myself available to collaborate, clarify, amplify,
and listen. In fact, I can say I supported the writing of the chapters for at least half of
the participants, helping them step by step. For me, this was a true way of diving into
varied and differentiated fields and contents, always fascinating and interconnected.
The division into two volumes is intended to facilitate the reader’s orientation
in different subjects, but the areas and themes dealt with in both volumes are ab-
solutely related to one another. Indeed, I hope that each chapter pushes readers to
look for the possible amplification and completion in the others.

Active Imagination in Theory, Practice and Training.

The Special Legacy of C.G. Jung
This volume mainly addresses the history, theory, clinical practice, and personal
experimentation, as well as reflections on the teaching of active imagination. By
simultaneously addressing the theoretical aspects and the practical application of
active imagination through the method of “authentic movement”, the last chapter
is a sort of trait d’union between the first and the second volume.
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
 A woman pregnant, while passing through her kitchen, has taken a
disgusting piece of bacon boiling in a soap-kettle, out of the vessel,
eating it afterward, with the greatest relish.
These are, it is true, extreme cases; but there are many which are
far from being of a character so trifling as to warrant the conclusion
that no such thing as longing for strange and disgusting articles
during pregnancy exists. Indeed, the truth of the doctrine is so well
understood among all classes as not to need any further proof.
Should these longings in pregnancy be gratified, and if so, to what
extent? This is a question of great practical importance, and one
which should be deeply pondered upon.
It is notorious, in the first place, that longing seldom, if ever,
occurs in a woman of good health and a well-constituted mind. If we
observe correctly, we shall find that it occurs seldom, if ever, in any
other than delicate and nervously irritable women.
It occurs, in the second place, particularly among those who are
indolent in their habits, having little or nothing to do, and without
any wholesome object of thought or occupation with which to “kill
time.”
It occurs, in the third place, to those who have been in the habit of
being pampered and indulged on every occasion. A woman who is
continually in the habit of saying to her indulgent husband that she
wants this, that, and the other thing, and if the good husband sees fit
to gratify his interesting spouse in every thing which a morbid fancy
can imagine, he will have business enough to kill his time, and a
feeble, sickly wife in the bargain.
If this longing occurs only to the feeble and delicate, to the
nervous, the indolent, and those who have been habitually
pampered, what, I ask, are we to do in the premises? Shall we gratify
every whim of a nervous, unhealthy person, or shall we rather advise
her to live on plain and wholesome food, at the same time directing
her to occupy herself, body and mind, as a reasonable being should?
It does not certainly require much common sense to enable one to
settle this question as it should be.
But there are those among women who honestly believe that if
their cravings are not satisfied in pregnancy, the child is very liable to
become marked with an appearance like that of the article longed for.
 The fallacy of this belief will at once be apparent, when it is
considered how many cases of longing there are—cases, too, which
are never gratified, while, at the same time, but very few children are
ever found marked. The imagination can have no more effect here
than in the cases of malformation, the absence or addition of a part,
or in determining the color of a child. Hence a woman need not fear,
as I have known them to do, that if their morbid appetite is not
gratified in every particular, they are in danger of bringing forth a
marked child. But more of this in another place.
Some physicians are of the opinion, it is true, that it is best to
gratify longings to a certain extent. But suppose they are not
gratified: the worst that can come is sickness at the stomach, nausea,
and possibly vomiting—symptoms which, all of them, vanish soon
enough, ordinarily, if the diet is made what it should be, in
connection with good habits generally.
The truth is, that the mind itself is more disordered than the
stomach in these cases. Hence an important consideration in the
cure of it is, to provide the individual with some useful and
wholesome employment, which at the same time engages both the
mind and body healthfully. At the same time the food should be of
such a character as is best suited to a delicate state of the system,
remembering always, that there is no period of life in which more
care is necessary, in this respect, than in pregnancy.
But if, on the other hand, the preternatural craving is indulged,
and the mind is left to prey upon itself, as it will without any suitable
employment, the sensation will grow more and more persistent, and
the fancy will be continually excited to produce new whims for its
gratification, which, if answered, must necessarily be attended with
detriment to both mother and child.
 THE IMAGINATION.
Women are sometimes troubled about certain matters in
pregnancy, which, if they had a proper knowledge on the subject,
would cause them no mental disquietude whatever. Thus it is
believed that the marks which sometimes appear on children, and
continue through life, are to be attributed entirely to the workings of
the mother’s imagination during this period, and that even the color
of the offspring may be determined by this circumstance alone.
The origin of this belief is, indeed, coeval with the history of the
race. But antiquity alone is not a sufficient argument for any
doctrine, no matter how old or how venerable a theory, if we know it
to be disproved by the actual facts. If we were to take the antiquity of
a doctrine or belief as the rule, and not have regard to reason and
experience there would be no end to error, and no improvement.
In the earliest period of medicine this delusion prevailed; and
Hippocrates, honest and learned as he was, yet believed it, and aided
in its propagation. Through his influence kings and nobles acted
upon the principle, which, in some cases, at least, was made the cloak
of wickedness and deception. Thus Hippocrates saved a noblewoman
—and honestly, without doubt, though ignorantly—from the severity
of the law, when she had given birth to a colored child, herself and
husband both being white. He alleged that the darkness of its color
was the effect of a picture of an Ethiopian that hung upon the wall in
her chamber, and which was often the object of her contemplation.
Galen was also of the opinion that a picture was sufficient, if
contemplated with interest, to give a corresponding appearance to
the fetus in utero; and Soranus declares that the tyrant Dionysius,
who was deformed and ill-favored himself, employed the aid of
beautiful pictures, with the hope that his wife might have comely
issue. Cælius Rhodius also mentions that Fabius Quintillian saved a
woman from suspicion, after she had brought forth a negro child, by
asserting that the circumstance arose from the fact of her taking
great pleasure in viewing the picture of a black man in her
apartment. From the prevalence of this belief it was, likewise, that
Heliodorus formed the first, and, as is said, one of the most beautiful
novels in the world, called the “Loves of Theagenes and Carachlea,”
the latter having been born white from black parents, but the queen,
her mother, had often viewed, during her pregnancy, the picture of
Andromeda, who was painted with a white face; and the sages
attributed the white color of the child to the force of the mother’s
imagination.
This superstition—for it does not deserve a better name—has
probably always been believed in the world, and for a long time will
continue to be by many, but not to that extent which it anciently was.
We cannot believe, if cases like these, occurring in the time of
Hippocrates and Quintillian, were to occur in our own day, and were
now to be presented for judicial decision, that any judge or jury could
be found so ignorant as to decide that the color of a child can be
changed by force of the mother’s imagination alone; but things
scarcely less ridiculous and absurd are believed by almost every
member of society who has any belief whatever on the subject. Thus
it is now a matter of common belief, that the imagination of the
mother may impose upon the skin certain resemblances to things
upon which the fancy has been much employed, such as fruit, articles
of food and drink, animals, insects, etc., or by the destruction of
certain parts of the body, such as the head, arms or legs, lips, etc., or
by the production of an additional part, as the fingers, toes, head, etc.
In order to settle this question satisfactorily, and beyond the
possibility of mistake or doubt, it is well for us to look at the facts of
nature as they exist everywhere about us, or, in other words, to the
anatomy and physiology of the human body as it really is.
In regard to the anatomical connection between the mother and
fetus, it is to be observed that it is altogether indirect, and is carried
on only through the medium of the circulation. There is no nervous
connection between mother and child; that is, no nervous filament,
however small, has ever been detected passing from one to the other.
“From this wise and all-important arrangement,” observes Dr.
Dewees, “it follows that the fetus is not subject to the various and
fluctuating condition of the sanguiferous, or to the never-ending
changes of the nervous system of the mother; since no direct
communication exists between her blood-vessels or nerves and those
of the fetus, to impose upon it any alteration that may take place in
her system, or to render the child liable, through the medium of
nervous connection, to her affections.” If the indirect connection that
exists between the mother and child were better understood, and
more justly appreciated, we should, doubtless, hear much less of the
influence of the imagination of the mother upon the body of her
infant, and thus one of the greatest of the attendant evils of
pregnancy would be removed.
It is not to be denied that cases do occur in which there seems to
be a hereditary predisposition to the perpetuation of supernumerary
parts, marks, etc., in certain families; such as an additional thumb,
finger, toe, or double teeth, in place of single; but such cases are not
the result of any mental emotion, but are merely the effect of
hereditary predisposition, the truth of which is admitted on all
hands, and is a very different thing from that which we are now
considering.
It has not been attempted, on the part of any, to determine at what
precise period during pregnancy the imagination begins or ceases to
have an influence upon the body of the child, but, according to the
accounts given, every period is liable to the accidents or anomalies in
question. The imagination, it is supposed, has the power, not only of
causing the creation of a new part, but also of destroying one or more
of the members of the body. Now, suppose a leg, an arm, or a toe, to
be cast off, must it not be expelled from the womb? And who has ever
detected such an occurrence? Besides, too, is it to be supposed that
nature would arrest the flow of blood after the part has been
separated from the body of the fetus? There can be no doubt as to
what is the truth in this matter.
Dr. Dewees mentions the case of a child that was born with but the
stump of an arm, which, at the time of birth, was perfectly healed, or,
rather, presented no evidence of ever having had a wound upon it at
all. The mother declared that she had been frightened at the sixth
month of pregnancy by a beggar. But what became of the lopped-off
arm? and what arrested the bleeding? The child was born healthy
and vigorous, and neither scar, wound, or blood could be discovered.
In this case, as in all others of this kind, the “freak of nature”
commenced at the first of gestation, the imagination of the mother
having nothing to do with it.
 The most learned and experienced medical men are all agreed on
this subject. Dr. William Hunter, it is said, used to declare in his
lectures, that he experimented in a lying-in-hospital upon two
thousand cases of labor, to ascertain this point. His method was as
follows: As soon as a woman was delivered, he inquired of her
whether she had been disappointed in any object of her longing, and
what that object was? If her answer were Yes, whether she had been
surprised by any circumstance that had given her an unusual shock,
and of what that consisted? Whether she had been alarmed by any
object of an unsightly kind, and what was that object? Then, after
making a note of each of the declarations of the woman, either in the
affirmative or negative, he carefully examined the child; and he
assured his class that he never, in a single instance of the two
thousand, met with a coincidence. He met with blemishes when no
cause was acknowledged, and found none when it had been insisted
on.
Dr. Hunter, however, confessed that he met with one case in his
private practice that puzzled him; and he told his pupils he would
merely relate the facts, and leave them to draw their own
conclusions. A lady had been married several years without proving
pregnant, but at last she had the satisfaction to announce to her
husband that she was in that situation. The joy of the husband was
excessive, nay, unbounded, and he immediately set about to qualify
himself for the all-important duty of educating his long wished-for
offspring. He read much, and had studied Martimus Scribelerus with
great patience and supposed advantage, and had become a complete
convert to the supposed influence of the imagination upon the fetus
in utero. He accordingly acted upon this principle. He guarded his
wife, as far as in him lay, against any contingency that might affect
the child she carried. He therefore gratified all her longings most
scrupulously; he never permitted her to exercise but in a close
carriage, and carefully removed from her view all unsightly objects.
The term of gestation was at length completed, and the lady was
safely delivered, by the skill of Dr. Hunter, of a living and healthy
child; it had, however, one imperfection—it was a confirmed mulatto.
On this discovery being made, the father was at first inexorable, and
was only appeased by his dutiful and sympathizing wife calling to his
recollection the huge, ugly negro that stood near the carriage door
the last time she took an airing, and at whom she was severely
frightened!
Dr. Dewees, whose experience in matters connected with the birth
of children was probably as great as that of any other individual, tells
us that he commenced practice with the popular belief concerning
the effect of the mother’s imagination upon the physical condition of
the child. But he had watched these things attentively for many
years, and for the want of facts to substantiate the truth of the
common belief, he was obliged to abandon it. He came to the
conclusion that the imagination of the mother has no influence
whatever upon the form or complexion of the fetus.
Fortunately, these absurd notions have long since been rejected by
all sensible, observant, and intelligent physicians; and the fact that
multitudes of those who are, or are to become mothers, do yet
believe them, is the only reason for attempting a refutation of them.
If we can but convince mothers of the fallacy of the belief we have
been combating, we shall save them a great amount of anxiety and
alarm. With many, who are not by any means to be classed among
the “weak, ignorant, and superstitious” of females, every sudden or
unexpected occurrence that happens to strike them with fear, or
produces any strong mental emotion or excitement, is apt to impress
them with alarming apprehensions as to the effects it may have on
the development and conformation of the child in the womb. These
ridiculous illusions, moreover, are often much increased by the
strange stories respecting marks and malformations, occasioned, as
is asserted, by the imagination of the mother; and these narratives
always find their way among the credulous in society; for ignorant
nurses, and gossiping idlers among the old women, are everywhere
to be found, and all of them are well stocked with extraordinary
examples of the pretended influence of which we are speaking. If a
child is born with any spot or blemish upon its body, or with any
malformation whatever, forthwith the mother is questioned as to the
whole circumstances of the matter. If, at any time during pregnancy,
any thing has attracted her attention, or strongly impressed the
mind, which bears any resemblance or similitude to the mark, spot,
blemish, or malformation of the child, it is at once put down as the
certain cause of the defect. In this way these absurd apprehensions
are often made to take so deep a hold upon the mind of pregnant
females, that no expostulation or ridicule of the physician, or other
friend, can entirely subdue them; and in some instances these
apprehensions become so fixed as to cause a great degree of anxiety
and distress of mind, and not unfrequently cause a great amount of
physical suffering and ill health.
 EFFECTS OF FRIGHT.
I have already remarked that the mind of the pregnant woman
should be kept as calm, composed, and contented as possible during
the pregnant state. In no respect is this advice more appropriate than
in regard to the strong impressions of fear and every sudden emotion
of an unpleasant kind.
Some of the most remarkable cases illustrative of the effects of
fright in pregnancy, are given by Baron Percy, an eminent French
surgeon, as having occurred at the siege of Landau, in 1793. It is
stated that, in addition to a violent cannonading, which kept the
women for some time in a constant state of alarm, the arsenal blew
up with a terrific explosion, which few could listen to with unshaken
nerves. Out of ninety-two children born in that district within a few
months afterward, sixteen died at the instant of birth; thirty-three
languished for from eight to ten months, and then died; eight
became idiotic and died before the age of five years; and two came
into the world with numerous fractures of the bones of the limbs,
caused by the cannonading and explosion! “Here, then,” as Dr.
Combe observes, “is a total of fifty-nine children out of ninety-two, or
within a trifle of two out of every three, actually killed through the
medium of the mother’s alarm, and its natural consequences upon
her own organization.” Cases are recorded, in which the mother,
being abruptly informed of the death of her husband, has suffered an
immediate miscarriage in consequence. In some cases the child has
survived, but has afterward, throughout life, been subject to great
nervousness and liability to fear. James I., King of England, is said
always to have had a constitutional aversion to a drawn sword and to
any kind of danger, which was attributed to the constant anxiety and
apprehension which his mother suffered during the period of
gestation.
It will appear very plain to any one who is at all acquainted with
this subject, that an impression which is powerful enough to cause
such effects upon the child as the cases given by Baron Percy would
indicate, must also act with detriment upon the mother. Indeed, it is
only through the mother’s organization that it is possible for the
impression to be communicated to the child; and although the
mother’s life is not often actually destroyed under such
circumstances, her nervous system may yet receive a shock which is
sufficient to cause her life-long misery and ill health.
The practical lessons to be drawn from such facts are many, and,
for the most part, easy to comprehend. They teach us how important
it is that a woman who is pregnant should, by all that is in her power,
shun scenes of fear and danger. Husbands, and all who are in any
way connected with her, should spare no pains in rendering this
important and trying period of her life as happy and tranquil as the
circumstances will allow. True, she should not make a baby of
herself, or be babied by others; but, considering the liability to
danger while in this condition, she should be careful of herself, in all
respects, while passing through the period, and those about her
should use all due caution in regard to it.
 LETTER XX.
DRUG-TREATMENT IN PREGNANCY.

Effects of Blisters—Emetics—Purgative Medicines—Bleeding.

I could hope that not one of the large number of persons whom I
address, would ever be subjected to any of the processes of drug-
treatment in so critical a period as pregnancy. The water-treatment I
regard as being so much safer, as well as more effectual, for the
eradication of any and all the diseases to which you may be subject at
this time, as well as others, that I should be very glad if I could say
something to inspire you with a greater degree of confidence in the
new method. But perhaps I am wrong; some of you, at least, have the
fullest confidence in the sanative powers of water, and have no need
of any thing more being said on that point. It is proper, however, that
I say something here respecting the effects of certain drugs and drug-
appliances, in this period.
 BLISTERS.
It is the testimony of honest and capable practitioners, that these
are far more liable to do harm in pregnancy than at other times.
Dr. Dewees asserts that he had known two cases of abortion
caused by the use of blisters, although he acknowledged they had, in
some cases, been advantageously resorted to as a means of
preventing that evil. But how, it may be asked, are physicians to
know when to use them, and when not? This no man can tell. Nor
have we any need of blistering at this or any time, because there are
better means, which are entirely safe.
The same able author whom I just quoted, tells us that blisters are
much more likely to produce strangury during pregnancy than in
other cases; and that when this occurs, it is almost sure to be
followed by the most distressing and untoward symptoms. Entire
retention of urine sometimes follows the use of cantharides in these
circumstances, which can only be relieved by the use of the catheter.
There is also, at such times, not unfrequently so distressing an
inclination and violence of effort to void urine, as to be surpassed
only by the agony of labor itself. Bloody urine has sometimes
followed the use of a blister; and a discharge of mucous from the
internal surface of the bladder has continued, as a consequence, for a
long time after. “It is true,” observes a distinguished author, “these
are extreme cases; but they nevertheless occur, and should,
therefore, suggest a great deal of caution in their employment,
especially in the more advanced periods of gestation.”
 EMETICS.
These are no more necessary in pregnancy than blisters. Severe
vomiting is sometimes productive of abortion; and who is wise
enough to foretell what may be the effect of a dose of tartar emetic
given to a woman when in this highly impressible state? A single
emetic has caused severe and permanent pain, which has been
removed only after parturition has taken place.
 PURGATIVE MEDICINES.
That pregnant women do not bear purging so well as at other
times, is a matter of common observation among medical men.
There is in such practice a great liability of causing abortion,
especially if it be carried too far. It is not difficult to account for the
fact, when we remember how great is the sympathy which exists
between the womb and the bowels.
If you should be obliged, any of you, under such circumstances, to
be purged, I advise you to see to it that you know what medicines you
take. Those particularly which have a powerful effect upon the
bowels should be avoided; aloes, colocynth, scammony, and
gamboge, should on no account be tolerated. These have a particular
effect in exciting the lower part of the alimentary canal, causing
tenesmus or a bearing-down pain in the rectum, which, by sympathy,
is very liable to be communicated to the womb. This is shown by the
fact that dysentery often causes miscarriage.
 BLOOD-LETTING.
Not many years since, it was generally supposed that a woman
could not pass through the period of pregnancy safely without being
bled; and although a change has been wrought in the public mind in
regard to this practice, there are yet many who labor under
erroneous impressions in regard to this subject. There are those who
regard it as indispensable to resort to this measure, notwithstanding
there may be no particular symptom that, under other
circumstances, would be considered necessary to warrant a resort to
the measure.
It must be admitted, however, that pregnancy is attended with a
degree of fullness, and a tendency to plethora, which does not obtain
in other states of the system. There is, indeed, always, during
pregnancy, a greater liability to febrile and inflammatory diseases
than is ordinarily experienced. But all this does not prove that blood-
letting should be practiced in all, or in any considerable number of
cases. Besides, also, it is doubted by many honest and able
practitioners of the medical art, as to whether bleeding is ever, under
any circumstances, necessary. There are others, too, who believe in
the comparative necessity of blood-letting under certain conditions
of the system, but who, at the same time, hold that there are better,
safer, and more efficacious means of bringing about the required
object. At all events, physicians very seldom, at the present day,
resort to blood-letting during pregnancy, either in this country or the
old; and in those rare cases in which this measure is resorted to, it is
in answer only to indications of an imperative and decided nature.
Nor is the practice of blood-letting a comparatively harmless one,
as many suppose it to be. “Why,” it is said, “if it is not absolutely
necessary, it can yet do me no harm.” This is a poor recommendation
of a remedy. If a remedy is not capable of doing harm under some
circumstances, it would hardly be possible for it to do good at any
time. The testimony of the strongest advocates for the practice is,
that blood-letting has frequently been known to do serious, and
sometimes irreparable mischief, when practiced during the period
of which we are speaking.
Dr. Eberle gives the following good advice on this subject: “A very
severe and troublesome pain is often experienced in the right
hypochondrium during the latter period of pregnancy; and this
suffering is, almost always, sought to be mitigated or removed by
blood-letting. When decided evidences of plethora accompany this
painful affection, bleeding will occasionally procure considerable
relief; but in the majority of instances, no mitigation whatever is
obtained from this measure. The relief which is sometimes procured
by bleeding is always of short duration, the pain usually returning in
the course of two or three days; and if the bleeding is thus frequently
repeated, as is sometimes done, much mischief is apt to be produced
by the general debility and languor which it tends to occasion. When
the symptoms of vascular turgescence throughout the system are
conspicuous in connection with this pain in the side, it will certainly
be proper to diminish the mass of the circulating fluid by
venesection; but when no indications of this kind are present, blood
ought not to be abstracted, merely on account of this affection, for it
will most assuredly fail of procuring the desired relief, and may,
when not particularly called for, operate unfavorably on the general
health of the patient. Moderation in diet, together with a proper
attention to the state of the bowels, and the use of gentle exercise by
walking, will, in general, do much more toward the removal of this
source of uneasiness and suffering, than will result from blood-
letting, when this evacuation is not specially indicated by the fullness
and firmness of the pulse, or by other manifestations of general
vascular plethora.”
But in these cases, when so careful a practitioner as Dr. Eberle
even, would think it best to resort to the lancet, it is a well-attested
fact, that fasting and prudent abstemiousness are far better, more
effectual, and more permanent in their action upon the system than
blood-letting. The hunger-cure, which I have so often for years past
recommended, is a most valuable remedy in all plethora or over-
fullness of the system, and in all kinds and degrees of pain arising
from such fullness. See, too, how reasonable it looks; for the body, as
you know, is always wasting itself, so that if we stop off the supply,
the over-fullness must by a natural process very soon become cured;
hence I say, do not be bled in pregnancy; and when you have need
FAST.
 LETTER XXI.
STERILITY OR BARRENNESS.

Their Causes—The Catamenial Discharge as affecting it—Fluor Albus—Corpulency

—The Treatment appropriate in these Cases.

When a woman is not able to conceive, the defect must depend

upon a malformation, a diseased state, or a diseased action of the
generative organs.
Causes.—Organic barrenness happens in those cases where there
is some structural hindrance or defect, either natural or accidental.
The vagina may be imperforate, so as wholly to preclude the
intermission of the seminal fluid; the ovaria may be either wholly
wanting or too small; or the Fallopian tubes imperforate; or the
uterus so small as not to be capable of its proper functions. The
hymen may also be so hard and resisting as to prevent the natural
measures for conception.
In most cases of barrenness, however, the organs of generation
appear to be properly formed, but their action is imperfect or
disordered.
If the menses have not appeared, or if the discharge is scanty, and
occurs at irregular periods, the woman rarely conceives.
So also when the menstrual flux is more frequently repeated than
it is in its natural course, or when it occurs even after the proper
time, in too great profusion, and, as is generally the case, intermixed
with genuine blood, there is little prospect of conception taking
place. In such cases there often appears to be as little desire for
cohabitation as there is power of fecundity.
 Pregnancy seldom happens when the catamenial discharge is
attended with great and spasmodic pain, particularly if the discharge
is small in amount, and of deteriorated quality. If, under such
circumstances, conception does take place, the next periodical flow is
very apt to cause the uterus to discharge the germ, thus bringing on
an early miscarriage.
The state of weakness and debility of the uterine system
occasioned by too frequent sexual intercourse, is a common cause of
sterility. Those unfortunate creatures who follow a life of prostitution
seldom bear children.
Bad cases of fluor albus often indicate a state of the uterus and
ovaries which does not admit of conception.
There is also to be mentioned, among the causes of barrenness,
what has been called by medical writers copulative incongruity.
“Every one,” observes Dr. Good, “must have noticed occasional
instances in which a husband and wife, apparently in sound health
and vigor of life, have no increase while together, either of whom,
nevertheless, upon the death of the other, has become the parent of a
numerous family; and both of whom, in one or two curious instances
of divorce, upon a second marriage. In various instances, indeed, the
latent cause of sterility, whatever it consists in, seems gradually to
diminish, and the pair that was years childless is at length endowed
with a progeny.”
Corpulency is also to be mentioned among the causes of
barrenness. Women who are very fat are often sterile, from the fact
that obesity is in reality a state of disease.
It is supposed by many that barrenness is almost always the fault
of the female. But this is not necessarily so; the husband, as well as
the wife, may be feeble in the procreative function; and men who
have lived a debauched or dissipated life are very apt to be so. Hence
it is that women are often blamed when they ought not to be.
Treatment.—In regard to the therapeutic management suitable to
be adopted in such cases, it is to be remarked, that if organic disease
is the cause of the difficulty, we cannot, as a general thing, expect by
any means to effect a cure. But in a large majority of cases the
difficulty is only a functional one; in many of these, therefore, a cure
may be brought about.
 The sum total of the therapeutic management proper to be
adopted in such cases is, invigorating the general health. That which
will best tend to fortify and strengthen the system generally is also
best for the local weakness. Nor is a cure to be effected in a short
period of time in most cases of sterility. It may require many months,
and even years, to accomplish the object.
“Abstinence by consent for many months,” observes Dr. Good,
“has proved a more frequent remedy than any other, and especially
when the intercourse has been so incessantly repeated as to break
down the staminal strength; and hence the separation produced by a
voyage to India has often proved successful.”
Some years ago I wrote in my note-book the following paragraphs
on this subject:
“A few months since, one of my patients, a gentleman of this city,
informed me that a lady relative of his, with whom also I am
acquainted, had been married about eight years, remaining, much to
her sorrow, childless. She experienced frequent miscarriages,
accompanied with much general debility. About two years since the
subject of water-treatment came under her observation. She at once
commenced a course of bathing, with due attention to regimen, etc.
She became much improved, and, in due time, bore a healthy, well-
formed child. She attributed this most desirable result to the effects
of water in restoring her general health.
“Another lady remained without offspring for fifteen years after
marriage. Her husband, in building a new house since the
introduction of Croton water into this city, erected also convenient
bathing fixtures. The lady practiced perseveringly a course of
bathing, and became much improved in her bodily health. She, too,
was at length blessed with an offspring, and, as she believed, in
consequence of the course she had pursued in restoring her general
health.
“I have known and heard of numbers of cases in which, by a
prudent course of bathing, exercise, etc., the use of a plain and
unstimulating diet, and the observing of proper temperance in the
marital privileges, persons have borne children when most earnestly,
and by a great variety of means, that object had been sought in vain.
Yet be it ever remembered, that little is to be expected from either
water or diet without strict temperance in all things.”
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