Freud, Jung and Occultism

by Nandor Fodor

Includes:
Aniela Jaffe: The Psychic World of C.G. Jung
Martin Ebon: The Second Soul of C.G. Jung
Nandor Fodor: The Haunting of Thornton Heath
Nandor Fodor, a pioneer of psi & psychoanalysis, presents a detailed, yet succinct, authoritative, summary & commentary with relevant quotations & references on the parapsychological views & experiences in the lives & investigations of Freud & Jung. This book fills a gaping hole that many other standard works leave unfilled. By tapping his own vast storehouse of knowledge, Fodor lights up many otherwise obscure events in the lives of Freud & Jung. Freud's early flirtation with the meaning of numbers & various personal superstitions are detailed. His hard-nosed skepticism & lifelong ambivalence toward psi are portrayed against a background of his contacts with Jung & Ferenczi, the believers, & the traditionalist point of view espoused by Ernest Jones. Fodor supplies many significant tidbits such as the account of the imbroglio over wine with its psi consequences involving the teetotaler Jung with imbibers Ferenczi & Freud.--Berthold Eric Schwarz

Genres: Psychology

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Nandor Fodor was a British and American parapsychologist, psychoanalyst, author and journalist of Hungarian origin.

Fodor was one of the leading authorities on poltergeists, haunting and paranormal phenomena usually associated with mediumship. Fodor, who was at one time Sigmund Freud's associate, wrote on subjects like prenatal development and dream interpretation, but is credited mostly for his magnum opus, Encyclopedia of Psychic Science, first published in 1934. Fodor was the London correspondent for the American Society for Psychical Research (1935-1939). He worked as an editor for the Psychoanalytic Review and was a member of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Fodor in the 1930s embraced paranormal phenomena but by the 1940s took a break from his previous work and advocated a psychoanalytic approach to psychic phenomena. He published skeptical newspaper articles on mediumship, which caused an opposition from spiritualists.

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of Freud + Jung's writing on the occult. Freud was the straight-faced materialist who flirted with numerology and superstition in his private writings, scared that admitting the mystical to the world of psychiatry would undermine it as a "science". Jung was open to everything. Fodor's account (in appendix III) of a faked supernatural experience is fascinating.

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good deep dive into freud and jung for those who already know a decent bit

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book basically goes over the published material by and about Freud and Jung as regards occultism in general and ESP in particular. It is dated. A better book would include not only the wealth of material, such as correspondences, that has appeared since the seventies but would also include interviews with surviving principals. Still, as an introductory overview, this book will serve.