It’s been such a nice summer here so far, maybe that’s why I haven’t felt a need to blog. We’ve had a much cooler summer than elsewhere in the country, so far, cooler than our usual annual roast. We’ve only needed to use the air conditioner a couple of days. I’ll use that as my excuse - as if I need one - for not blogging sooner.
But I’ve found some good things online during my time away from here, so I thought I’d share.
As you may know by now if you’re a regular visitor to this blog, I’m deeply interested in both J.R.R. Tolkien and Carl G. Jung, so I was delighted to find some lectures at Gnosis Archive about both, sometimes even mentioned together.
J.R.R. Tolkien: An Imaginative Life is a series of three lectures by Dr. Lance Owens in which he covers Tolkien’s biography including a bit about his experiences with the Silmaril, and even goes into a little Tolkienian analysis of Jung (as opposed to the other way around). I found this series positively fascinating. Not to mention, the drawing on the linked page (if you scroll down) that Tolkien titled “End of the World” reminds me of a Tarot card, namely the Fool card in the Rider Waite Smith. Although Tolkien drew it in 1912, just three years after the RWS was published, I suspect that Tolkien came up with the image independently. He seems to have spent a lot of time tapping into the Collective Unconscious, before Jung even had a chance to apply that name to it. In fact the drawing reminds me of Jung’s description of “dropping down” in order to engage in Active Imagination, which Jung didn’t write about until at least 1913 and then only in his Red Book, which wasn’t available to the public until last year. Of course in the interim Jung wrote about Active Imagination in his published writings, but not before Tolkien came up with the drawing and, it seems, did some Active Imagination of his own.
Various synchronous connections between these two men have left me pondering long before I came across these lectures. One that stands out is that Jung created his Red Book as a result of his experiences with Active Imagination and a guide he called Philemon, and in Tolkien’s fiction, which he created as a result of his own wanderings in another realm, he mentions a Red Book of West March that contains the history of many Middle-Earth people (Hobbits) and their adventures.
Another lecture series, or rather one long lecture broken into three parts, that I’ve enjoyed is Stephan Hoeller’s C.G. Jung and The Red Book.
In between other things I’ve also been continuing my reading of the John the Lord Chamberlain mystery series by Mary Reed and Eric Mayer. I’m now near the end of book six, Six for Gold. These are great fun to read when I need a break from heavy hitters like Jung and others who, although they have a lot to say, can take some doing for me to assimilate, especially late at night when my brain is tired, which is when I tend to read.
We’ve also had a sick friend to take care of. Our black cat Raven became quite ill with a serious infection a few weeks ago. He’s been on antibiotics and forced feeding since then, a little over three weeks, and this has taken a lot of our time and energy. He’s gradually recovering, but we’re still uncertain what the outcome will be when he comes off antibiotics, so we’re just hoping and doing the best we can for our little friend. He is finally eating a little on his own and acting more like a normal cat again, so we are more and more hopeful for his full recovery.
Recently I’ve been enjoying seeing the Big DIpper hanging from its handle in the northern sky at night, but last night Ken noticed something odd in the western sky, a kind of brilliant planet with a tail, and today I came across an article explaining what it was - a close alignment of four planets, Saturn, Mars, Venus and Mercury. It should be visible again tonight, and if you go out to take a look be sure to look for the Perseids too.
