Active or Over-Active Imagination? A Jungian perspective
Active or Over-Active Imagination? A Jungian perspective
This webinar offers a historical overview of Carl Jung’s thinking about fantasy life, his first explorations of unusual mental states and his growing understanding that the “unconscious mind” was capable of producing extremely elaborate imaginative narratives.
In the Victorian era, these imaginal states were not well-understood and were sometimes interpreted by naive observers and or by the daydreamers themselves as “esoteric” experiences, like “past lives” or contact with “beings from other dimensions.”
Jung had a profound capacity for immersive daydreaming himself which he documented in his famous “Red Book.” Over time, Jung’s understanding and treatment 0f patients with strong fantasy ability evolved and led to the development of a therapeutic technique which he called “active imagination,” which permitted patients to reflect on the psychological meaning of their fantasies.
This technique for the exploration of imaginal life as a means of self-understanding and personal development is still practiced by Jungian analysts and individuals today.
Date: 10/04/2026
Time: 4 PM GMT
Online: Meet the speakers:
Susan Meindl is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Montreal. She is a graduate of the McGill Counseling Psychology program and the Argyle Institute Psychoanalytically Oriented Psychotherapy program. She is a member of the Ordre des Psychologues du Quebec, the Ordre des Conseillers et Conseillères d’Orientation du Québec, an OPQ certified supervisor of psychotherapy, and a qualified member of the Quebec, Canadian and International Psychoanalytic Associations.