Junguiana v.38-1, p.87-100 C. G. Jung’s katabasis: from ancient myths to modern visionary experiences Pedro Henrique Costa de Resende* Mateus Donia Martinez** Abstract Keywords This article aimed to revisit C.G. Jung experienc- was rescued historically (1) in classical antiquity Katabasis and es of katabasis, or in other words the experiences through greek mythology, (2) in the medieval and anabasis, C.G. of descending to the underworld, or world of the modern period, through the works of Dante Alighie- Jung, The Red dead, followed by the return to the world of the ri, Emmanuel Swedenborg and William Blake, and Book, history of psychology, living, the anabasis. In psychological terms, these (3) finally in Jung’s own life with an emphasis on life and work. experiences mean confronting the unconscious the constitution of The Red Book. The katabasis ex- and the subsequent expansion of consciousness. periences were of vital importance to Jung and cul- To revisit C.G. Jung’s experiences of katabasis, it minated in the genesis of analytical psychology. ■ * PhD student in psychology at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Master in psychology from the Federal University of São João Del-Rei (UFSJ), graduated in psychology and phi- losophy from UFSJ. Member of Research Center in Spirituality and Health (NUPES) at UFJF. email: <pedrohenriresende@ icloud.com> ** PhD student and Master in social psychology from the Uni- versity of São Paulo (USP) and graduated in psychology from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP). He is a member of Laboratory of Psychosocial Studies: belief, subjec- tivity, culture & health (INTERPSI) at USP and Research Group on Religious Experience and Altered States of Consciousness (GEALTER) at PUC-SP. e-mail: <[email protected]> Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Psicologia Analitica, 1º sem. 2020 ■ 87 Junguiana v.38-1, p.87-100 C. G. Jung’s katabasis: from ancient myths to modern visionary experiences 1. Introduction Everything that I accomplished in later life The term katabasis was commonly used in was already contained in them [...]. My ancient literature to designate a descent into the science was the only way I had of extri- underworld, or the home of the dead (DANTAS; cating myself from that chaos [...]. I took CORNELLI, 2019). Several heroes made their des- great care to try to understand every single image, every item of my psychic inventory, cents in search of different elements. For instan- and to classify them scientifically - so far ce, Heracles went down to Hades to fulfill one as this was possible - and, above all, to of his 12 tasks. Theseus and Pheritoos made a realize them in actual life (JAFFÉ, 2016, p. journey through the underworld to conquer Per- 198). sephone and Orpheus went down to Hades in an attempt to rescue Eurydice, inaugurating the It can be understood, therefore, that, as a katabasis proposal in the orphic-Pythagorean way of integrating and making meaning to all this initiation rites. In Odyssey, this path made by “material” and his own existence, in a kind of Odysseus was associated with nekyia, that is, anabasis, Jung developed a scientific project and the rite in which the spirits of the deceased are therapeutic proposal, the analytical psychology. called to reveal the future (BRANDÃO, 1987a). La- ter, in the medieval and renaissance period, the 2. The katabasis in classical antiquity descent was associated with the Christian hell, Regardless of the ontological existence, the with classics such as Dante Alighieri’s Divine Co- Jungian symbolic perspective is considered the medy describing various plans of hell and para- epistemological bridge between the material and dise (ALIGHIERI, 2006). Likewise, the anabasis, immaterial realms (PENNA, 2013, p. 140). Thus, or the return from the mansion of the dead, was the concept of katabasis may be associated, sym- associated with resurrection in the Judeo-Chris- bolically, with the comprehension of the existen- tian tradition. ce of a double nature in man, which would invol- Modern visionaries like Emanuel Swedenborg ve two dimensions: on the one hand, a material and William Blake also made their descents to one, and on the other, a spiritual one. Taking into hell through visions and dreams, writing their consideration body aging changes and the possi- stories in works like Heaven and Hell (SWE- bility of death, it is quite fair to question/inquire/ ponder if the limits and purposes of human exis- DENBORG, 1987) and The Marriage of Heaven tence are genuine when one realizes about the and Hell (BLAKE, 2004). Shamdasani (2014) su- human body aging changes and the possibility of ggests that C. G. Jung’s visionary experiences death. In this context, religions seek to provide from 1913 and his production of The Red Book answers and rituals to deal with these questions represent a continuation of this tradition. Jung about the ultimate reality. The transition from a also reportedly performed his own katabasis, material to a spiritual realm, embodied by death, which began in a period of personal crisis. In this would then represent an experience of katabasis sense, when reflecting on this period of his life, and anabasis, or vice-versa. from 1913 to 1915, “Jung described those years in Since the most remote antiquity, worshiping which he pursued ‘the inner images’ as the most the dead has been practiced due to hygienic ne- important time in his life” (BAIR, 2003, p. 330), eds, to respect for the deceased and even to the because, as he himself says: belief that if the living revere those who have left, 88 ■ Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Psicologia Analitica, 1º sem. 2020 Junguiana v.38-1, p.87-100 this attention and care could assuage their bad drink from the waters of the river Lethe, while influences on the physical world. The religious the one initiated into the rites and knowledge of experience related in this possible contact with Orpheus, could move more safely in the other re- another realm can also be understood through alm, having access to the source of memory, he the concept of numinous formulated by Rudolf could retain clarifications to be used in his future Otto (2011), a set of emotional reactions that ge- birth (BRANDÃO, 1987a). nerate both rapture and strangeness. Being clo- Some of the main gods and heroes of anti- se to a Nume, as described by Hesiod (1995), in quity also took the journey of descending into his Theogony, promotes awe and reverence, on the underworld and returning to the world of the the one hand, as well as terror and fear, on the living in katabasis and anabasis that reflected other. The numinous is, therefore, “a somewhat the cycles of nature. This was the case of Inan- singular event, which, due to its depth, escapes na in Sumeria, Marduk in Babylon, Ra and Osiris intelligent interpretation” (OTTO, 2011, p. 97). in Egypt, the Cretan Megistos Kouros, the Syrian Likewise, the reflection on the whereabouts Adonis, the Phrygian Atig and agrarian gods of the beings that preceded us in the passage Dionysus and Persephone celebrated in Eleusis. to the other domain of life, be those who pre- Among the heroes related to the classical pe- sent good feelings and behaviors, such as kind- riod, Heracles, Theseus, Perithoos, Orpheus and ness, wisdom, courage, etc., or those who were Odysseus performed the katabasis with different ungodly and corrupt, fed the belief in specific objectives. In Christianity, Lazarus and Christ places or spaces to shelter the different disem- himself descended to the mansion of the dead. bodied human types. Good souls would be sent In the Renaissance world, Dante was taken by to gardens and spaces of bliss, for instance: in Virgílio to the different abodes of souls (SERRA- Sumer, the land of Dilmun was believed a kind NO, 1999). of Mesopotamian Eden; in Egyptian mythology, The joining of the natural cycles, the chan- there was the Sekhet-Aaru, or reed fields, for ging of the seasons in a continuous process of those who passed the trial of Osiris; in Ancient death and rebirth was associated the katabasis Greece the Champs Elysees; and in the Christian with several initiation cults. For Edmonds (2004, religion, paradise is situated in heaven. In con- p. 113) “the initiatory interpretation is attractive, trast, the dark and sinister places are destined primarily due to the common equation in the his- for the souls of evil men, in the deepest parts tory of the katabasis with a process of death and of the earth, from which the condemned cannot rebirth”. Agreeing with this view Eliade states leave. It is interesting to note how the ancients that “the descent to Hades means going throu- were convinced that the righteous and the unfair gh an initiatory death, the experience of this type would not occupy the same space after death establishes a new way of being” (ELIADE, 1972, (SERRANO, 1999). p. 27). In the initiation process, man was inte- It is also found in many cultures the belief grated with nature, participating in its renewal that the deceased who suffered and fought had cycles, at the same time, from the point of view knowledge acquired from experience and that of reflection, he was offered the opportunity to they could bring clarification to those who ven- transform his conceptions of the world and emer- tured to meet them, descending into the unde- ge as a “new man” (BRANDÃO, 1987a). rworld. However, not all people agreed on this From all these elements, we try to focus on point. For example, among the orphic cults of the analysis of the history of some heroes of the Ancient Greece, the soul of the common man Greek mythology, as a way to clarify the different was nothing more than a shadow, who would for- aspects presented in the experience of kataba- get everything when reborn, because he would sis.