Mythology fascinated Jung from an early age. It became an important subject as he became interested in psychoanalysis, one of the means by which the psyche could be explored. Jung used myth extensively in Symbols and Transformations of the Libido. He discovered his own myth during his confrontation with the unconscious, which became Liber Novus and The Red Book.

For Jung mythology remains a driving force in the psyche that harnesses the energy of the Collective Unconscious and makes it available to Consciousness. It can be used clinically to help individuals to cope with life transitions and crises as well as their psychological illnesses.

‘The gods have become diseases. Zeus no longer rules Olympus, but rather the solar plexus and produces curious specimens for the doctor's consulting-room or disorders the brains of politicians and journalists who unwittingly let loose psychic epidemics upon the world. ' C. G. Jung, CW13, §54

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Diane Finiello Zervas  is a Senior Training Analyst with the Independent Group of Analytical Psychologists. She is one of the founders of the London Circle of Analytical Psychology, which organises seminars on Jung’s Red Book over a two-year cycle. She is also an art historian, having written extensively on Italian Medieval and Renaissance art. Her essays on Jung’s art related to The Red Book years have appeared in The Art of C.G. Jung (2019), and Phanes - Journal for Jung History (2019 and 2020). She is currently writing a book themed around Jung’s first English seminars in 1919 and 1920.    

Gill Kind is a Senior Training Analyst with the Independent Group of Analytical Psychologists and with the Guild of Analytical Psychologists. She works in London. Gill is interested in how Jungian psychotherapeutic ideas overlap with other forms of psychotherapy (with a focus on trauma), as well as the use of images, myths, and fairy tales to explore the dynamics that can lead to psychological healing. She is also interested in the connections between psychology, psychiatry, and religion.

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Segal R.A., Jung on Mythology, Routledge (1998)

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