Carl Jung on the deaths of Emma Jung and Toni Wolff
[Carl Jung on the deaths of Emma Jung and Toni Wolff]
Jung reflected further on this issue after the death of Toni Wolff in 1953 and Emma Jung in 1955.
In the published version of Memories, Jung discussed the issue of reincarnation, and noted that:
“Until a few years ago I could not discover anything convincing in this respect, although I kept a sharp lookout for signs. Recently, however, I observed in myself a series of dreams which would seem to describe the process of reincarnation in a deceased person of my acquaintance.”
As ever, Jung’s discussions in the protocols were more candid: the person in question turns out to be Toni Wolff.
On September 23, 1957, Jung narrated a dream he had had of her to Aniela Jaffe.
In the dream, she had returned to life, as if there had been a type of misunderstanding that she had died, and she had returned to live a further part of her life. Aniela Jaffe asked Jung if he thought this could indicate a possible.. . who are the dead, and what does it mean to answer them?
Rebirth. Jung replied that with his wife he had a sense of a great detachment or distance. By contrast, he felt that Toni Wolff was close. Jaffé then asked him whether something that one has not completed in one life has to be continued in a next life.
Jung replied that his wife reached something that Toni Wolff didn’t reach and that rebirth would constitute a terrible increase of actuality for her.
He had the impression that Toni Wolff was nearer the earth, that she could manifest herself better to him, whilst his wife was on another level where he couldn’t reach her.
He concluded that Toni Wolff was in the neighborhood, that she was nearer the sphere of three dimensional existence, and hence had the chance to come into existence again,
He had the impression that for her a continuation of three dimensional existence would not be meaningless.
He felt that higher insight hindered the wish for re-embodiment. ~The Jung-Jaffe Protocols
Dedicated to the Soul: The Writings and Drawings of Emma Jung Jung,
A richly illustrated collection of never-before-seen writings and drawings from the notebooks, portfolios, and personal papers of C. G. Jung’s wife and collaborator
Emma Jung (1882–1955) was the life and work partner of one of the great intellectual figures of the twentieth century, yet she kept most of her creative and personal life private. Dedicated to the Soul brings together previously unpublished materials from Jung’s private archive, introducing her voice into the literature of the early psychoanalytical movement and revealing a vibrant inner life and a glowing presence that until now was known only to her family and a handful of patients, students, and friends.
This fully annotated collection features journal entries, dream accounts, drawings, paintings, and lectures. It sheds new light on Jung as an early collaborator in the creation of analytical psychology who may have originated the concept of the animus, one of C. G. Jung’s central constructs. It paints a riveting portrait of a dynamic woman who, determined to break free of the conventional world of her upbringing, fearlessly interrogated her social environment and developed her own systems of meaning.
With introductory essays that chart Jung’s personal, intellectual, and psychological development, Dedicated to the Soul brings the creative work of this boldly imaginative and irreverent spirit to a wider audience and offers new perspectives on the role of women in the early history of analytical psychology.
Carl Jung Depth Psychology Blog
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