Marked by Fire: Stories of the Jungian Way

by Patricia Damery (editor), Naomi Lowinsky (editor)

The Fisher King Review, Volume 1 A soulful collection of essays that illuminate the inner life. “This life is the way, the long sought after way to the unfathomable which we call divine.”
—C.G. Jung, The Red Book When Soul appeared to C.G. Jung and demanded he change his life, he opened himself to the powerful forces of the unconscious. He recorded his inner journey, his conversations with figures that appeared to him in vision and in dream in The Red Book. Although it would be years before The Red Book was published, much of what we now know as Jungian psychology began in those pages, when Jung allowed the irrational to assault him. That was a century ago. How do those of us who dedicate ourselves to Jung’s psychology respond to Soul’s demands in our own lives? If we believe, with Jung, in “the reality of the psyche,” how does that shape us? The articles in Marked By Fire portray direct experiences of the unconscious; they tell life stories about the fiery process of becoming ourselves. Contributors to Marked by Stories of the Jungian Way Jerome S. Bernstein, Claire Douglas, Gilda Frantz, Jacqueline Gerson, Jean Kirsch, Chie Lee, Karlyn M. Ward, Henry Abramovitch, Sharon Heath, Dennis Patrick Slattery, Robert D. Romanyshyn, Patricia Damery, and Naomi Ruth Lowinsky.

183 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Patricia Damery is an author, a Jungian analyst in private practice in Napa, California, and a member of the C. G. Jung Institute in San Francisco. Her life has been about seeking the divine in everyday life and is reflected in her writing. Patricia's writing concerns remembering instinct, becoming more conscious not only of our personal psyche, but of our relationships to the animate and inanimate world as well. She believes this necessitates a shift in consciousness, “re-membering” an older way while also valuing our intellect, and that this shift is critical to the survival of life as we know it.

Reviews

[Nik Maack]

"Let me tell you about how I read this one book Jung wrote and my entire life changed for the better. I'll tell you about it using poetry and metaphor and overblown prose."

Please, gods, no

I'm not a Jungian. I haven't read much of his stuff. I remember I took a copy of The Red Book by Jung out of the library and I found it boring and dry and academic. Real Jungians love that book. They love Jung. They worship him. And that really turns me off.

This is a book of essays about Jungian stuff. Two essays struck me as interesting enough to go looking for more works by those writers. Many of the essays bored me. I skipped a bunch of them, skimming the purple prose of Jung lovers. One was mostly poems and I just couldn't read them.

The thing is, I'm not opposed to mixing spirituality and psychology. I'm not even against using art to explore personal issues. And I love dreams. But a lot of these essays went beyond fawning to worship and I couldn't take it.

This kind of read like a Jung lovers convention that I snuck into. When I realized this was not the place for me, I snuck out the back door.