I’ve been thinking lately about how modern practical occultism, specifically the chaos magic tradition, maps onto Jungian analytical psychology. A lot of magical systems get bogged down in metaphysical truth-claims, but if we look at magick through a Jungian lens, it stops being about "spooky action at a distance" and becomes a structural engine for engaging the unconscious.

The working paradigm is straightforward: the unconscious is real, it is structured, and it responds to symbolic address.

At the core of this psychological macchinery is a three-part engine: Intention, Belief, and Gnosis. When these three are synchronized, it creates deliberate, structured engagement with the unconscious aimed at integration rather than just "results magic". Here is how I see the mechanics of this triad operating.

In standard magick, intention is just your desire condensed into a symbol or a sigil. But a Jungian framework requires a critical first step: source-checking the desire.

Before you try to execute an intention, you have to ask: is this desire pointing at a thing I want in the world, or at a psychic function I'm neglecting?.

-World-directed intentions are straightforward (Like getting a job).

-Compensatory intentions are different. If you have a sudden, obsessive pull toward something uncharacteristic, it is likely the unconscious attempting to correct a one-sided conscious attitude.

If the intention is compensatory, the goal isn't to manifest an external outcome, but to give that unconscious content a stable symbolic vehicle so it can be metabolized rather than acted out unconsciously. This prevents the ego from treating shadow material as a literal "spell to cast" when the psyche is actually just trying to integrate a neglected piece of yourself.

Chaos magic already treats belief as a tool rather than a fixed commitment. Jung gives that stance a rigorous psychological engine.

Jung noted that archetypes clothe themselves in whatever mythic material a culture supplies. Belief, therefore, is just the conscious adoption of a specific mythic vocabulary. By shifting your paradigm. trying on a myth or model deliberately, without permanently converting to it, you can triangulate underlying archetypal structures to see which features survive translation across systems and which are just cultural costume.

Belief is the container. It is the temporary set of rules you load into the psychic architecture so the unconscious knows how to process the Intention.

Intention and Belief mean nothing if they can't bypass the ego. This is where Gnosis comes in.

In magic, gnosis is an altered state of consciousness. In Jungian terms, it is the suspension of the transcendent function's usual ego-dominance. This is the critical state in which symbolic material can cross the threshold both ways.

-Whether you use inhibitory methods (stillness, sensory deprivation) or excitatory methods (hyperventilation, drumming), you are forcibly inducing a tension-and-release.

-At the peak of this state, the ego-commentary is suppressed.

-You hold the symbolic intention at the peak, and then release it, letting the material sink from active engagement into unconscious processing.

It’s the exact same move active imagination makes when you stop steering the dialogue and let the archetypal figure act on its own.

When this engine (Intention + Belief + Gnosis) fires correctly, you aren't externalizing parts of yourself permanently. Externalization is temporary scaffolding, not a permanent outsourcing of a psychic function. The ultimate output of this triad isn't necessarily acquiring a shiny new object in the physical world; it is the dissolution of unintegrated complexes and the ongoing process of individuation.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

jung said we know far too little about the psyche, and that man is his own greatest danger. i think i finally get what he meant, and it's not what people usually take from it.

i'm the most dangerous person in my kids' lives. not because there's something evil in me. because i have more power over them than anyone else does, and power that doesn't look at itself is the danger. the people who are certain they're harmless are the ones who never check.

so i choose to be good. every day, not once. that part i can do.

but here's the thing that actually scares me, and it took me a while to see why it's not just ordinary worry. my fear isn't that i'd hurt them. it's that something happens to my psyche and i don't know it's happening, and i drag them with me.

and that fear is structurally correct. if you break, the self-seeing breaks first. that's what breaking is. so you can't use yourself as the alarm. the instrument is made of the same material as the thing it's supposed to measure when the thing warps, the measuring warps with it. from the inside, going wrong doesn't announce itself as going wrong. it announces itself as being reasonable. as coping. as doing what needs to be done.

you cannot be your own witness. not because you lack self-knowledge. because self-knowledge moves along with whatever it's supposed to notice.

which leaves one option. someone outside you. and you set it up now, while you're clear, because you can't set it up later later is exactly when you'll think nothing's wrong. my partner has it in words: if you see something in me that's off, say it, even when i wave it away, and i'm telling you now that you'll be right.

that's not paranoia and it's not weakness. it's leaving a spare key with the neighbours. you don't do it because you distrust yourself. you do it because locks fall shut.

one more thing, and this is the part i'd get wrong if i weren't careful. that person can't be the child. a kid can learn that people have two sides and that everyone needs someone watching. a kid cannot become the one watching their parent. that's how you make the exact wound you were trying to prevent the child ends up carrying instead of being carried.

and last: the fear itself is the good sign. someone whose grip is actually going doesn't ask whether their grip is going. the question is evidence the thing still turns. it doesn't guarantee anything about later. it just tells you now is the moment to arrange later.

For years I tried to interpret dreams logically — this symbol means that, cause and effect. Never worked. Every interpretation felt forced.

What actually helped: dreams don’t run on logic. They run on resemblance and feeling — image and meaning fused together, not one standing for the other. Jung called this archaic thinking, closer to how older/pre-rational minds connected things: not “this caused that,” but “this feels like that.”

So now I just let associations surface first, whatever feels connected, without judging if it “makes sense.” Only after that do I sit down and think logically about what they’re pointing toward.

Doing it in that order — feeling first, logic second — is what finally made dream work useful instead of a guessing game.

Recently i've been having an increasing inability to stand misanthropists and have fantasies of torturing nihilists, antinatalists and people with resentful cynical attitude to death while watching them beg for life. What would such a fantasy suggest from a jungian perspective and how can i overcome this and come accept such people?

Two years ago i met this woman who is a professor and became completely obsessed with her becoming my mom, I fantasise on a daily basis since 2024 about me becoming her child and her loving me as hers solely as a child and comforting me in times of need. She seemed like the stable, steady, educated and loving maternal figure.

I am conflicted on where to begin to analyse this, what do you think Jung what have thought about this weird fantasy of mine ? Could it be related to the mother complex? The anima ?

I feel like i should also mention that the fantasy and desire got so extreme that i don’t enjoy my life anymore unless i daydream about her for hours or have hope that I’ll somehow be included in her life even though i know it is impossible.

Can any one suggest to me any book of carl jung in which all archetypes are described well and easy to understand as well...????

Hmm I may be wrong about this. I feel like this archtype is not talked about enough here. I see the messenger archtype as a core part of my shadow. Its corresponding and trying to help me grow as a person. I must be open and listen. Even though at times id rather not.

Here's a question. Whats your take on the messenger archtype?

Edit(rather)

I have been self-administering Jungian analysis along with Internal Family Systems since before I even knew what they were, over five years. They’ve been extremely useful in helping me heal, fuse, and integrate damaged parts of myself.

Over the last couple of years, I had managed to fuse enough tiny parts together to have seven much more whole parts at ages ranging from 7 to 46. Previously, they were essentially splintered and shattered into tiny little bits. I ‘saw’ them in my head as living in a house together, keeping one another company, fairly peaceably I might add.

Recently, though, I no longer ‘see’ them in my head, but I can *feel* them in my body. Rather than having seven unintegrated parts, I’m an integrated whole, but one that still needs healing: these internalized parts still have traumas that need dealing with. They correspond to my chakras. Perhaps now that they’re integrated, what they need is healing in order to achieve *fusion*.

The really interesting part is that I feel like my newly integrated Inner Self has three faces: my everyday face that I and everyone else see, my Jungian ‘Shadow’ face that only I see but that is slowly emerging, and what I can only identify as an Observer that sort of stands outside Me and feeds me information I can’t get otherwise. It’s odd, but still useful.

Has anyone else experienced ANY of this? None of it feels bad, in fact it all feels pretty darn good, I guess I’m just not familiar with the process or what to expect next. If anyone can lend any insight, I’d be most grateful. Thanks so much.

When I look at my family history and I ask around I start to become more confused. I had a talk with my father about how he was a very well behaved and easy to deal with son. My mother was probably a bit rebellious. Me personally? I was a terribly misbehaved child. This maybe be an unsettling shadow, that some people are just genetically more likely to stray from their integrity. I hope I can overcome the fog as I age into my 30s from being this confused and mentally brittle 28 year old.

Při dnešní terapii na mě psycholožka vytáhla jungův mužský element, že to u mě (F26) je asi problém.
Jsem naprosto nepolíbená, mohl by mi prosím někdo jednoduše vysvětlit, jak to Jung zamýšlel? Chápu to tak, že jedná o ženskou a mužskou energii v rámci člověka?

Hey all.
1^st of all sorry for a very long post. It has been growing last few months, maybe a year.
I need help with Jungs interpretation on dreams, and synchronicities.
Not sure if it matters but here are some details about me, INTJ personality and as far archetypes go I'm a warrior developing into magician.

The dreams:
I´m in a lunchroom with TFV (using his initials, man is far right easy to google), talking about something (words were just scrambled mess) At some point I saw 3 men and a girl entering this building, I go downstairs and TFV stays behind, he disappeared at this point.
The second I got down the fight began. Men went down after one hit, stayed on the floor but conscious, while the girl kept fighting on. I had to bash her face on the edge of the table, cracked her cheekbone and I threw her on the floor telling her to just stay down.
She gets up, comes close to me and says: "I refuse," she glances at the 3 guys on the floor, "I´m not a pussy like these 3. Do something about it." As she glanced back and forth, I saw her pupil of the eye, at the broken cheekbone sink down toward the fracture.
This is where I woke up, pretty disturbed.
I think I was disturbed because as a kid I trained martial arts, I was taught to protect the week and defenseless, to never hit a woman regardless of circumstances (I refuse to be my father).

Few weeks later, another dream:
I've dreamt of this forest outside my balcony. There was no snow, it appeared to be spring. In my dream I walked out on my balcony and I saw a large number of trees cut down. "What the hell is this?!?" was my thought in the dream. They were cut very low, just above the ground so there was barely any tree stumps left. Weird part is that, judging by the color of the stomps, the cuts appeared to be fresh, yet there was not a single tree to be seen.
This puzzle woke me up.

3^rd dream:
I was in a plane crash. The large passenger plane that can carry 200 or even more passengers. There were maybe a dozen people, no more, for whatever reason. We crashed in a sea, or an ocean somewhere. There was a tiny sliver of a land, I don´t think I can call it an island. One of the passengers was a woman holding her child, a toddler.

I stood outside trying to help people get out demanding that she gets out first and other guys help her get to me. When she saw me she looked petrified. I do not know was it due to the crash or due to me, my presence. I woke up at this point.

Now real-life event:
As I was at home I had a tough talk with my sister due to me not being able to help her and our mother as much as they need. During that afternoon weight of the world fell on my shoulders. I decided to call Wendy (not sure why her), a rather new friend in very small circle of people around me. I helped her few years ago with digging up her yard, this was our 1st contact, when we actually met.
No compensation from me was required for that work.
We met few times for cup of coffee or tea. She also helped back with arranging king size bed for my bedroom. I see this as reciprocity from her side which I shouldn't since it was all a gift.
However, she is very religious, a catholic (me being atheist but spiritual, believing in higher power) she said some good things in a short call where we agreed she´d pay me a visit. After I hung up I broke into tears, pulled myself together and fixed my weekly lunch. Few hours later she´s at my place and we started talking. It took maybe 5 minutes before I broke down again and just wept as a child who lost it´s favorite toy. She was there comforting, saying a prayer to Jesus for me. Think I broke 3 times during her visit which lasted maybe 2 hours.
And a very weird detail, during all this while I was collected at some point I heard this male, deep voice saying loud either "Hallå!" (Swedish greeting phrase) or "ALO!" (An expression people of Balkans use when calling out an attention of a person about to do something dumb.) These 2 words sound exceptionally alike, so hard to know the difference. Wendy heard absolutely nothing.
The fuck.

2^nd event:
Next day I´ve heard a mosquito in my room flying towards my right ear. I smacked it as it appeared to fly into my ear. Here’s a weird part, I'm in Sweden, temperature was 3-4°C not a chance there are any mosquitos. In my room is 18-19°C.
Weird stuff.

2 weeks later another event:

Sometime during this week Wendy invited me to church on Sunday, Easter at that.

Me, non-religious (but I do believe in higher power) man decided to go just to see architecture and art. I like that.
So, we arrived and I got disappointed given the lack of both of my reasons to go to the churches.
However, during the mass (or whatever it’s called) this woman started singing and about 3 seconds of hearing her voice I broke down. Few minutes after I pulled myself together a man approached me with greetings from his wife: ”Know that Jesus loves you, cares for you..." and so on, don´t really remember because I broke down again.

After that I spoke to the pastor about the dark night of the soul. According to him many people turn to Jesus just to find comfort and guidance. And the dark night is when soul dies and gets resurrected as he explained it. Which is my understanding also.
Then it dawned on me, "Oh man, did I pick THE DAY to come to the church". And that broke me. This is where pastor said: ”That is not for you to worry about. Jesus is knocking at your front door. All you have to do is open it."
Wendy, which I believe was crying, said: ”Just say yes and let him in."
Rational side of me concluded, "I've got nothing to lose" after I just nodded my head and said yes.

15 or so minutes after that, I’m all together and collected, I spoke to Wendys friend, yet another woman, who mentioned joy and safety with Jesus, which got to me for some odd reason.

Next morning I've realized, every time I broke, a woman is directly involved.
Odd.

Back to dreams:
After a while I've started dreaming about turning into a werewolf. 1st time I've dreamed this I am reasonably sure there were 3-4 other people around me. All other dreams I was on my own.

Does this fit? If so, how?

New dream:

I was on top floor of this 11storey building. It is very familiar to me since I used to be there pretty regularly while exercising. In my dream I was blowing snot out of my nose. Now 2 weird parts:

- After awhile entire flight of stairs was covered in my snot;

- I see myself starting to walk very carefully, as if I tried not to step in that snot, down the stairs. I barely make it down 1 flight and I'm back at the top. Every time I'm back there's more snot.

What would Jung say?

I've dreamt of my mother. She was sitting on my old bed in a bedroom in my old apartment. She had problems breathing and appeared as she was trying to loosen a stranglehold, yet she was all alone. I came in with a ladder as if to reach a ceiling. I've never climbed the ladder, I placed it on the floor as I was (it at least appeared) approaching my mother. This is the moment I woke up.
Werewolf, now my mother?

Another weird dream:
This time I'm in TV show "The Crime Story" I've dreamt that some people were trying to kill m. I don't remember if I was a good or a bad guy. They've failed a number of times. But the last time, someone got me. I don't remember if this person cut my throat or if I got stabbed in my throat. This is when I woke up.
I’m getting killed in my sleep. Why?!?

Latest dream:
I've dreamt of me and my sister in our old house, in which none of us lives anymore. We were walking down the stairs, and I told her to stay back and wait till I make sure everything was fine.

At first, she didn't comply so I grabbed her by her neck and pulled (I felt this touch and her hair in my hand) her back up few steps, after this I continued down few more last steps to the bottom floor and I saw a pale blueish hand leaned on the edge of the broken window of the door.

For some reason I decided to open a door by grabbing that hand. I've felt this one also as if I was awake, and it was ice-cold and I realized instantly it was a dead person. After I opened the door and took a look behind it I woke up, with a sense of unease.
Now the woken experience directly after the dream:
I woke up at roughly 3am, a "dead hour" according to some cultures (whatever it means). I was reflecting on my dream. That's when I heard 2 steps outside my window. And it got quiet. I thought "this is weird", as I pondered to actually get up and take a look I've heard it again, only this time further away.
I decided to stay in bed since it was moving away.
Dead person and uneven footsteps, too few at that. WTF is going on?

2^nd night
After the previous I dream:
I'm sitting on my toilet bowl and I see a piece of feces (shit) on the floor next to me. I take 2 pieces of toilet paper to grab it and throw it in the toilet. For some reason I was careful not to break it. I woke up just before I tossed it in the toilet-bowl.
3^rd night
A person is giving me 100Sek (while we're on a tram) saying "I know I owe you 200 but this just till we get to ATM".

I've noticed that these dreams are a night after a night, not weeks or even months apart.
Last 3 dreams came 3 nights in a row, unlike all others with weeks between them.

Ever since I was young, I'd been tense ever since I felt myself about to connect or be authentic around my family. Why in the Jungian lens?

This essay argues that the oscillation running through Ecclesiastes - praised by some as literary paradox, dismissed by others as unresolved pessimism - is the phenomenological record of someone performing the crucifixion of opposites under a god-image that contains evil without the vocabulary to name what it contains. Qohelet is stranded between a polytheistic solution no longer available within the monotheistic tradition he was writing inside, and an individuation vocabulary not yet invented, which is why the text can only oscillate rather than resolve.

https://livingopposites.substack.com/p/the-earliest-crucifixion

Já repararam que o modelo de "flexibilidade psicológica" do Steven Hayes é uma mandala? Como Jung previa, o inconsciente sempre orbitando as figuras circulares. Engraçado isso aparecer discretamente "no outro lado" das ciências contextuais.

anima/animus projection without genitalia? how would one’s psychology work through the world of relationships and in relation to themselves without genitals? in contrast to those with genitals.

Another angle and personal: genitalia that is in pain during intercourse, making it difficult to pursue relationships sexually.