On Divination and Synchronicity: The Psychology of Meaningful Chance. Originally Presented As Lectures at the C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich (Studies in Jungian Psychology) [Paperback]

Marie-Louise von Franz (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Inner City Books; First Edition edition (December 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0919123023
• ISBN-13: 978-0919123021
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #360,252 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chance is an act of God, June 14, 2007

By 

OAKSHAMAN "oakshaman" (Algoma, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: On Divination and Synchronicity: The Psychology of Meaningful Chance. Originally Presented As Lectures at the C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich (Studies in Jungian Psychology) (Paperback)

This is a thin book consisting of six powerful lectures. This is appropriate since Jung's original paper on synchronicity was also a thin but powerful volume. That is the theme here- the connection of the concept of synchronicity with traditional methods of divination. However, do not make the mistake of thinking that divination represents "tame" synchronicity for there is nothing tame or predictable about it.

Von Frantz points out that all traditional civilizations have used oracles to try to ascertain the will of God. Indeed, this is perhaps one of the greatest distinctions between the modern and the traditional. In modern Westernized cultures the approach is to look at an event and then abstract a mathematical model. In traditional cultures one uses an intuitive mental model to read an event. The first way seeks control; the second seeks meaning. Therein lies a vast gulf.

It is pointed out that the unconscious knows things- things of the past and future. This breaks out into the conscious world in dreams and in synchronicity. There is a vast matrix of symbolic meaning in the unconscious and when you energize one nexus, one archetype, other related archetypes sympathetically resonate with it. These resonations break out into the "real" world of the day-to-day conscious in the form of seemingly causeless synchronicity.

It is pointed out that this sort of phenomena occurs mostly to certain "gifted" individuals. The gift consists of a weaker conscious ego that does not get in the way of the unconscious as consistently as it does with the average man or woman. This sort of person can somehow relate more to the absolute knowledge of the unconscious. It seems that it is the bright light of ego consciousness that dims access for others. When the ego is weakened (as in the ego-death of the traditional shaman) then one can dwell on the threshold. Traditionally it is stated that one only learns the secrets of life after dieing, however, if one dies in life and returns then the living can access the secret of the two worlds, of heaven and earth. This is the fenestra aeternitatis, the window into eternity.

45 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Synchronize this!, March 1, 2003

By 

Timothy Boucher (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On Divination and Synchronicity: The Psychology of Meaningful Chance. Originally Presented As Lectures at the C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich (Studies in Jungian Psychology) (Paperback)

This book is incredible.

It's presented in the format of the original lectures that it was based on (Sometimes that means she repeats important points for the audience's memory, but it never hurts, and its the only stylistic oddity).

Content-wise it is mind-blowing. I like Marie Louise Von Franz so much because she takes all these obtuse ideas that Jung had, and gets them to make so much sense and have such a real life and personality and weight to them, which is often hard to get by just reading the original material straight from the horses mouth (Jung being the horse, in this case).

This is a great book about synchronicity. It spends a whole lot of time talking about integers and chance and stuff like that.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars complex ideas yet easy to read, May 4, 2006

By 

Sparks (United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: On Divination and Synchronicity: The Psychology of Meaningful Chance. Originally Presented As Lectures at the C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich (Studies in Jungian Psychology) (Paperback)

I love this book! She talks about the Chinese world view, how aboriginal cultures practice divination, integers, causality and many more fascinating (and sometimes obscure) topics. I have donated most of my library to charity but this one's a keeper.