This year was full of its own unique blend of drama, stressors, and celebrations, as all years are. One constant for me was being able to engage in “conversations” almost every day with many different Jungian authors through reading and engaging with their books.
This quote from Dennis Patrick Slattery resonates with me:
Reading, I have thought about for years, is a form of pilgrimage, an adventure, often with no stated goals in mind. The journey is itself the destination. It is a voyage towards apprehending patterns of one’s soul life (The Way of Myth: Stories’ Subtle Wisdom).
I never begin a year with a goal of which Jungian books I will read. At most I have a plan for the next month. I often discover books in the footnotes and quotes within books. The books discover me more than I discover them, it seems. Below are my favorites of the books that discovered me in 2025:
Living With Borrowed Dust by James Hollis
This book is a collection of essays and it is noteworthy that one of them is about the current political situation in the United States, as he normally doesn’t write about politics. He provides seven thoughts about what we can do about all these divisions.
Throughout the book he encourages us to learn to live with ambiguity, reminds us that we tend to live lives too small for our soul’s horizon, and urges us to declare “I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.”
On Divination and Synchronicity: The Psychology of Meaningful Chance by Marie-Louise von Franz
This book was recommended by Jungian analyst Ken James during his tarot certification course on the Jung Platform. The focus is on the I Ching and the Chinese philosophy behind it. If you work with any symbol system, including astrology, this book is a must-read. It contains helpful insights about dreams, too.
Re-Visioning the American Psyche by Ipek S. Burnett
This is a collection of essays from a diverse group of 15 Jungians. There is an emphasis on James Hillman’s work and how the practice of psychology should address the political conditions that cause us distress. It also “should empower people to address these conditions as psychological citizens.”
Above all, as Thomas Moore writes, “You can’t be satisfied with your small opinions and personal satisfactions.” If we live as if everything is about us “the American experiment will certainly fail, and it could fail soon, before we know it.”
The Ravaged Bridegroom: Masculinity in Women by Marion Woodman
A central theme in the book is how patriarchy negatively affects both men and women: “The ravaged groom is in the man and in the woman.” Healing comes from an inner marriage of the masculine and feminine. We must withdraw projections and take responsibility for our own inner work. It’s a point many Jungians make, but it can’t be repeated enough, and there is no one better at making it than Woodman.
Terror, Violence, and the Impulse to Destroy: Perspectives from Analytical Psychology edited by John Beebe
This is a collection of essays by several analysts and was published shortly after 9/11. As with so many older Jungian books, it is just as applicable today.
The Explaining Evil essay by Clarissa Pinkola Estés alone is worth buying this book. I posted a carousel of quotes from it that went viral, which shows how the Jungian perspective on challenging times is much-needed.
“When you have a great difficulty on the face of this earth, when things go very wrong, then you no longer belong to yourself anymore. You now belong to your whole community. When you face Evil, you are facing it not only for yourself, but for all who live, all who once lived, and for all who will one day be born.”
Soul and Culture by Roberto Gambini
This gem of a book, in a mere 125 pages, covers many topics. My favorite is the chapter describing how he taught teachers to lead dream groups with preschool children in the classroom. He also writes about how trees, animals, and nature serve as mirrors of the psyche. (I featured a moving story about trees from the book in this blog post.)
Owning Your Own Shadow by Robert A. Johnson
I’ll be writing more about this book in the December 2025 edition of my Reading in Depth newsletter (subscribe here). Suffice to say that he frames the central task of a lifetime as owning and integrating our shadow, rather than projecting it onto others. It’s something we can’t be reminded of enough.
If you are looking for a Jungian book to read in the coming year, I hope this list will give you some inspiration. If you’ve read any of these books, or have any book recommendations to share with me, please feel free to let me know. Wishing you a Happy New Year.
WORK WITH ME
Astrology consultations | Symbol & Soul Sessions (tarot, I Ching, book prescriptions for the soul)
WRITING & RESOURCES
Monthly newsletter: Reading in Depth (exploring depth psychology books). Blog posts: Get weekly-ish essays by email or on Substack
