"The Light at the Core of the Darkness"
from C.G. Jung's Red Book
Liber
Novus:
The
‘Red Book’ of C. G. Jung
Edited by Sonu Shamdasani,
Norton Publishing
Reviewed by Aion
Let me begin with three
facts about the Red Book (Liber Novus) created by the eminent and
venerated sage Carl Jung and (finally) released recently:
First, it is by far the
largest and heaviest book in my entire library. By far. It is the size
and seeming weight of a tombstone. As such it would make a fitting one
for Magister Jung.
Second, it is the only book
I have ever waited 35 years to see. When I was 17, I read a deluxe copy
of MAN AND HIS SYMBOLS (Jung’s must-read seminal work) and saw
astounding mandala images in it that were ascribed to an unpublished
‘Red Book.’ Even before the internet, a little digging let me to a
brick wall; The book existed, was hidden away and would be printed…
someday.
That day is now. And it is
worth the wait. If the words ‘group unconscious mind’, ‘archetype’ or
‘individuation’ mean anything to you, Buy It.
Third, it blows your mind
like very few book I have encountered ever have. I have yet to be able
to make it all the way through it, even skimming. Phrases jump out and
send me spinning off into alternate universes and I find myself staring
at the wall or out the window. Snippets like:
“Rise up you gracious fire
of old night
I kiss the threshold of
your beginning”
Or
“Come to us, we who are
willing with our own will
Come to us, we who
understand you from our own spirit”
Or
“the star is the God and
the goal of man”
So what is this collected
visionary experiences by Jung worth to us today? What can he offer or
reveal to us through word and image?
The new, the re-new-al- the
end and the beginning of all things.
The secret of the Tree of
Life and Darkness, the announcement to the dead that ABRAXAS (May we
call him Horus?) is reborn. Alchemy! Sorcery! Magick! The unfolding of
the Pleroma from pure nothing through all the possible stages of
existence and creation/multiplication unto the Omega point of
dissolution back into Pleroma again, the Gnosis of life and death,
balance and chaos; all spoken by the infinite lips of Philomon, the
Great and Terrible Angel. Welcome to the infinite, endless deep
and dream-like inner world of the god/spark known to us on this sphere
as Carl Gustov Jung.
In his own words, from the
back cover:
“The years… when I
pursued the inner images, were the most important time of my life.
Everything else is to be derived from this. It began at that time, and
the later details hardly matter anymore. My entire life consisted in
elaborating what had burst forth from the unconscious and flooded me
like an enigmatic stream and threatened to break me. That was the stuff
and material for more than one life. Everything later was merely the
outer classification, scientific elaboration, and the integration into
life. But the numinous beginning, which contained everything, was
then.”
-C. G. Jung
Everyone I have met who has
seriously pursued the Magickal or the Mystical Path for more than a few
years, and has survived, could utter similar words, and likely most of
you reading this might do so as well. Once the link with the Guardian
Angel (or what Have You) is made, then the Gnosis download occurs. Some
tap in a bit, some MAINLINE the Pleroma, the Groupmind/Self. Jung was
one such person. If we are canonizing great figures in the hidden
history of the world, the great Mages of our evolving species, then
Jung would be so enthroned.
So, what can I say? I
haven’t read all of this book, is that possible? That would be like
exploring every tributary of the Nile. But I have dipped into its deep
deep waters enough to know that the gnosis runs deep and true in these
startling powerful and illuminating images and dream-like words of
power.
In the end, we each must
find our own light and then abide in peace – or as the Angel Philomon
signs off:
“Silence abides in
its treetop
Silence in its deep roots.”
Professor Sonu Shamdasani
introduces the Red Book:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOKKCJsYqMw&feature=related
Wiki Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Book_(Jung)
