The Psychological Meaning of Ritual — Erich Neumann
Before speaking of mankind, and especially of primitive man whose life is determined largely by ritual, we shall attempt to trace the origins of ritual itself. Although we have neither the desire nor the competence to trespass upon the preserves of the biologist, we must first consider the quasi-ritual of the instincts which is operative in the world of animals. In doing so we have no intention of disregarding the essential differences between conscious human ritual and unconscious animal ritual; however, between the instincts, i.e., the animal ritual we call instinctive behavior, and the ritual of human beings the connection is so striking that it belongs within the framework of our psychological investigation. …
American Nekyia, Part Four — Edward F. Edinger
As the Pequod approached the cruising ground where it is expected that Moby Dick will be found, Ahab has the blacksmith make him a special harpoon of the hardest steel to use against the white whale. For the final tempering he asks the three harpooners for some of their blood and into this he plunges the heated barbs. “‘Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli!’ deliriously howled Ahab, as the malignant iron scorchingly devoured the baptismal blood.”
This ritual confirms what has been supspected all along, that Ahab’s pact with Fedallah is a pact with the devil. …
At a certain phase of psychic development one is obliged to accept and grant value to those repressed aspects of his own psychology which previously he considered to be the realm of the devil. Thereby he enters a pact with the devil. Failure to do so can mean an arrest of growth and loss of contact with the energies of life. … However, the dangers of such a course are evident in the image itself. …
Book Reviews — Jonathan J. Goldberg
Reviewed together by Book Review Editor Jonathan J. Goldberg:
C. G. Jung: His Myth in Our Time— Marie-Louise von Franz. C. G. Jung Foundation.
Jung and the Story of Our Time— Laurens van der Post. Pantheon Books.
C. G. Jung: The Haunted Prophet— Paul J. Stern. George Braziller, Inc.
Jung and Politics— V. W. Odajnyk. Harper & Row.