The Mirrored World

18.12.24

Before we explore this technique, it’s important to remember the notion of psychic reality and Carl Jung’s attitude toward metaphysics: “[…] It is really my purpose to push aside, without mercy, the metaphysical claims of all esoteric teaching” […] To understand metaphysically is impossible; it can only be done psychologically I therefore strip things of their metaphysical wrappings in order to make them objects of psychology (C. G. Jung – The Secret of The Golden Flower – p. 129).

By adopting the notion of a psychic reality, the Active Imagination realm works like a mirrored world and unravels a symbolic representation of what we’re currently experiencing as it uncovers the archetypal narratives we’re living.

Adopting this perspective is crucial because during this process we’ll be dealing with psychic images directly and this notion allows us to maintain an objective perspective, as we’ll be uncovering the deep psychological factors that drive our psyche, namely complexes and archetypes.

The main purpose of Active Imagination is to deal with these psychological factors in a personified form as every aspect of the shadow, the psychological functions, and the animus and anima are all perceived as complexes by the conscious mind. They frequently appear as the characters in our dreams and by engaging with them, we can uncover our deepest psychological tendencies.

Moreover, Jung explains that “[…] Whoever has understood the thing meant by psychic reality need not fear falling back into primitive demonology because that reality is admitted. If the unconscious figures are not accorded the dignity of spontaneously effective factors, one becomes the victim of a one-sided belief in the conscious, which finally leads to a state of mental tension. Catastrophes are then bound to occur, because, despite all one’s consciousness, the dark psychic powers have been overlooked. It is not we who personify them; they have a personal nature from the very beginning” (C. G. Jung – The Secret Of The Golden Flower p. 119).

Now, it’s important to realize that imagery is just one means of expressing the unconscious as the psyche is structured around the four functions, namely thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition. In other words, a psychic image has four layers.

This means the symbolic language of the unconscious can be manifested through various forms, such as inner dialogue and speech, creative endeavors such as painting or playing music, emotions and bodily sensations, and even dancing.

Furthermore, when immersed in Active Imagination, our whole body must be engaged regardless of the tool we’re using. I often experience my whole body shaking, tensing, and relaxing when I’m writing or playing music because I allow myself to be fully taken by my emotions and affects.

That said, perhaps you’re wondering how this technique is different from traditional methods, and simply put, the difference is in the “active” part. While traditional meditation focuses on detaching from our thoughts and bodily sensations, Active Imagination has the goal of focusing on the unconscious images and dialogue with them.

It’s a dialectical procedure between the conscious ego and the unconscious perspective in which we strive to reach an agreement and find new solutions for our conflicts. The simplest way to understand this is as if you’re engaging in a therapy session with yourself.

In this light, following guided meditations or hypnotherapy isn’t Active Imagination either. First, because they work through suggestion and not with spontaneous fantasies arising from the individual. Second, because you’re passively being guided during the whole process and aren’t confronting the unconscious material.

To perform Active Imagination, we need our ego-complex intact as we’ll be the ones directing the process. During the procedure, we have to make decisions, argue, ask questions, and sometimes even challenge these inner figures.

We need an ego complex that’s strong enough to contain the unconscious, i.e., capable of holding opposing and complementary truths at the same time. Not only that but an ego complex capable of maintaining an objective perspective and not being identified with these figures.

Because if you identify yourself with an archetype, you’ll experience psychic inflation. That’s when things can go badly, and we see megalomanic people thinking they are the next incarnation of Jesus, for instance.

That’s why Active Imagination has to be done with caution and has its dangers, the most poignant one is psychosis. That said, if you’re just curious and want to experiment with something different, don’t do it. If you’re not established in real life yet and have no tangible responsibilities don’t do it either, as you need solid roots in reality.

Every time you hesitate in life and indulge in fantasies, you’re bound to face the dark and devouring facet of the unconscious. This is often the case with the Puer and Puella Aeternus. Active imagination is meant to be a tool to better live your life, not a magical place you can escape to.

During his confrontation with the unconscious, Carl Jung was raising a family, seeing several patients a day, and working for the Swiss army. He never neglected his commitments to real life and that’s a major part of constituting a strong ego-complex.

Lastly, If you’re using any kind of drugs, yes, even weed, don’t do it. In this case, your ego-complex isn’t engaged in the process. You can read more about that in the book Psychotherapy by Marie Von Franz.

Finally, always remember that the unconscious reacts to our conscious attitude. As Jung writes in Psychology and Alchemy: “We know that the mask of the unconscious is not rigid—it reflects the face we turn towards it. Hostility lends it a threatening aspect, friendliness softens its features” (C. G. Jung – V12 – §29).

When is Active Imagination advised?

Carl Jung never left a clear set of instructions to perform Active Imagination except for a few precious insights scattered through his collected works. However, he entrusted Marie Von Franz and mostly Barbara Hannah to teach this technique. In Inner Journey, Hannah shares when is Active Imagination is generally advised. Jung personally attended this seminar and answered questions in the end.

Here are the main situations:

1. “When the unconscious is obviously overflowing with fantasies, which is particularly often the case with people who are very rational or intellectual”. Basically when the unconscious is interfering with your life and interpretation of reality.
2. “To reduce the number of dreams when there are too many”.
3. “A third reason for doing active imagination is when there are too few dreams”.
4. ”If someone feels, or seems to be, under indefinable influences, under a sort of spell, or feels or seems to be behind a sort of glass screen”. – dissociative state
5. “When the adaptation to life has been injured“.
6. “When someone falls into the same hole again and again”. – In my personal experience, this is the most practical use for Ai since repeating patterns in ilfe, work, and relationships denote a clear action of complexes. I covered that in my video on the shadow integration process.

The Procedure – A step-by-step approach

Now, in Psychotherapy, Marie Von Franz shares a simple step-by-step to perform Active Imagination:

1. As we know, first one must empty one’s own ego consciousness, free oneself from the thought flow of the ego.

The first skill we have to develop to enter the Active Imagination space is being able to fully focus. The state we’re aiming to reach is a combination of being relaxed but alert. This is where traditional meditation techniques can be helpful but the best tool I ever found is Yoga Nidra, since instead of seeking to detach from your thoughts and sensations, this technique teaches you to be in your body and trains your focus extensively.

Marie Von Franz also states the unconscious responds well to rituals, both for starting and finishing, as it invites the participation of inorganic matter. That said, every Active Imagination session starts with focusing on the psychic images and to me, having sensation as an inferior function, the secret to opening the unconscious doors lies in fully being with the emotional charge and bodily sensations.

I find it especially useful to utilize departure points, such as:

• Affects.
• Dream fragments.
• A genuine question.
• Spontaneous fantasies.
• A narrative or repeating pattern.

You simply pick one of them and try your best to match the psychological state of when you’re experiencing it and allow things to unfold in your mind.

2. At this point one must let a fantasy image arising from the unconscious flow into the field of inner perception.

Remember that psychic images have four layers. Maybe you won’t see anything, but you’ll hear a word and even have physical sensations. The most important thing is to allow yourself to sink into the affects provided by these **images deeper and deeper.

In that sense, a great obstacle to starting is fear of the unknown and being unable “to return”. The way I found to overcome this is by creating a safety net for myself. You need to develop grounding practices, learn to emotionally regulate, and build healthy habits like going to the gym and having proper nutrition before attempting Active Imagination.

When you feel safe and know you can easily “come back to earth”, it’s easier to allow yourself to be fully taken by the affects. But especially in the beginning, please don’t underestimate how powerful the unconscious can be, as one of the dangers is psychosis.

3. Now comes the third phase. It consists of giving the innerly perceived fantasy image a form by writing it down, painting it, sculpting it, writing it as music, or dancing it (in which case the movements of the dance must be noted down).

It’s imperative to take the unconscious as a reality and refrain from altering your experiences. Try to be as faithful as possible as “The unconscious contents want first of all to be seen clearly, which can only be done by giving them shape, and to be judged only when everything they have to say is tangibly present“ (C. G. Jung – V8 – §179). in this first moment, the goal is to allow the unconscious to speak it’s only later that we’ll criticize it with our conscious judgments.

We must try to be as faithful as possible because in this first moment, the goal is to allow the unconscious to speak it’s only later that we’ll criticize it with our conscious judgments.

4. The fourth phase is the key one, the one that is missing in most imagination techniques—moral confrontation with the material one has already produced. At this point Jung warns us of a mistake that is frequently made that jeopardizes the whole process. This is the mistake of entering into the inner events with a fictive ego rather than one’s real ego.

Many people enter the Active Imagination realm as a form of escape from the conflicts of their daily lives. As a result, they try to be something that they are not and act in ways completely different from their real personalities. Of course, this jeopardizes the whole process, as you must respond to the inner events and figures as if they were happening in real waking life. Your real personality must be brought in.

5. Finally there is still the concluding phase—applying in daily life what one has learned in active imagination.

Again, most people have a childish attitude toward the unconscious and never turn their insights into actual experience. This is the same as going to therapy every week and just because you’re talking about your conflicts, you pretend they’re resolved instead of making practical changes. In reality, this is just a maneuver to escape from your own soul.

Once more, Active Imagination is meant to be a support to life. If you’re detaching from reality and feeling isolated, there’s something wrong. Either you’ve been neglecting your commitments to real life or you’re not taking the reality of the soul seriously. But without moral confrontation and concrete action, everything is useless and at best a mere intellectual exercise.

Barbara Hannah says “It took Jung many years, for he was not satisfied with learning to see the images of the unconscious, or even with dealing with them actively in his fantasies. He did not feel at ease until he took “the most important step of all”: finding their place and purpose” in his own actual outer life. This, he says, the most important step in active imagination, is “what we usually neglect to do. Insight into the myth of our unconscious, must be converted into ethical obligation” (Barbara Hannah – Encounters With The Soul – p. 25).

The truth is that every time you seek knowledge from the unconscious, your responsibility increases. The individuation journey is a balance between the demands of the inner and outer world. However, it’s in the external world that we must apply our insights and take decisive action, as our life is the canvas to concretize our personal myths.

As you can see, understanding the Active Imagination procedure is quite simple. First, we have to allow the unconscious to speak and give it shape. Then analyze the fantasies and understand how they fit into our lives. What’s complex is that to do it properly, we need knowledge of Carl Jung’s whole theory, starting with deeply knowing our conscious attitude to understand how the unconscious is compensating or complementing it.

Moreover, the unconscious isn’t made of only repressed aspects, due to its prospective nature, it’s also the creative matrix of everything we are yet to become. In that sense, the unconscious also reveals creative and embryonic aspects of our personality and once we tap into it, it becomes our duty to develop it. A great example is my book PISTIS.

That said, I think the best way to learn how to interpret the symbolic language of the unconscious and deal with complexes and archetypes is to begin with dream analysis. My general recommendation is to start following your dreams and making practical changes accordingly, once this becomes natural, and you’re attending to all of your responsibilities, you should be ready to attempt Active Imagination.

Rafael Krüger – Live an Audacious Life

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