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"Besides the intellect, wrote Carl Jung, ‘there’s a thinking in primordial images – in symbols that are older than historic man…that still make up the groundwork of the human psyche.’ What would a lexicon of the archetypes from the ‘collective unconscious’ look like? Jung himself thought the task impossible, saying that each entry would require an entire book. Fortunately one American archive, formed in the 1930’s by a colleague of the Swiss psychologist, has climbed the mountain – covering everything from Air to Zero, it’s crack team of contributors –experts in religion, art literature, the mind and comparative myth – has penned some 350 essays arranged in five sections covering creation and cosmos, and the world of plants, animals, humans and spirits…Given the world’s diverse stories and belief systems are key sources, you might expect the smattering of New Age mysticism (a ‘crown chakra’ here and a ‘Wholly Other there). More surprising is how every symbol is rooted in a scientific explanation or an empirical investigation of its human ramifications…This kind of enterprise can so easily descend into a parade of Wikipedia factoids, with a rigid editorial format drowning out the different voices; but no, the writing exhibits the right kind of consistency – deeply engaged, aphoristic and conductive to literal thinking. Likewise, each of the 800-odd images, drawn from every culture and era, has been chosen to offer a direct, psychologically resonant experience of a symbol…An archetype is like an old river, along which the water of life has flowed for centuries, digging a deep channel for itself.’ Like Jung’s simile, this potentially transformative reference work shows us that symbols take root in specificities."— World of Interiors, London, United Kingdom
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"Besides the intellect, wrote Carl Jung, ‘there’s a thinking in primordial images – in symbols that are older than historic man…that still make up the groundwork of the human psyche.’ What would a lexicon of the archetypes from the ‘collective unconscious’ look like? Jung himself thought the task impossible, saying that each entry would require an entire book. Fortunately one American archive, formed in the 1930’s by a colleague of the Swiss psychologist, has climbed the mountain – covering everything from Air to Zero, it’s crack team of contributors –experts in religion, art literature, the mind and comparative myth – has penned some 350 essays arranged in five sections covering creation and cosmos, and the world of plants, animals, humans and spirits…Given the world’s diverse stories and belief systems are key sources, you might expect the smattering of New Age mysticism (a ‘crown chakra’ here and a ‘Wholly Other there). More surprising is how every symbol is rooted in a scientific explanation or an empirical investigation of its human ramifications…This kind of enterprise can so easily descend into a parade of Wikipedia factoids, with a rigid editorial format drowning out the different voices; but no, the writing exhibits the right kind of consistency – deeply engaged, aphoristic and conductive to literal thinking. Likewise, each of the 800-odd images, drawn from every culture and era, has been chosen to offer a direct, psychologically resonant experience of a symbol…An archetype is like an old river, along which the water of life has flowed for centuries, digging a deep channel for itself.’ Like Jung’s simile, this potentially transformative reference work shows us that symbols take root in specificities."— World of Interiors, London, Royaume-Uni
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