C.G. Jung: Letters to Hedy Wyss 1936 – 1956

by C.G. Jung, Andreas Schweizer (editor)

C.G. Jung’s letters to the artist and analysand Hedy Wyss, published here for the first time, are a unique testimony to Jung’s vivid and sparkling spirit. Here we encounter the lively, compassionate and deeply human side of Jung’s nature. He writes neither scientifically nor cautiously, but quite spontaneously out of his respective state of mind. He mentions his suffering from various physical ailments to Hedy Wyss, such as heart troubles and rheumatism. At the same time he struggles for the integrity of the analytical relationship and the veracity of love.

Jung wrote his most important works during the twenty years of their correspondence, concluding with Mysterium Coniunctionis. Accordingly, in many of his letters to Hedy Wyss, hidden references to the problems he wrestled with at any given time can be found throughout these works. As a result, the content of Jung’s letters required a comprehensive commentary. Alongside Jung’s works, a private manuscript written by Hedy Wyss, in which, years after his death, she looked back on her encounters with “C.G.” or the “Old Sage” as she liked to call him, furthered understanding of many details in the letters. These sources give us a unique insight into C.G. Jung’s singular approach as a researcher and analyst.

359 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 10, 2025

About the author

Carl Gustav Jung (/jʊŋ/; German: [ˈkarl ˈɡʊstaf jʊŋ]), often referred to as C. G. Jung, was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of extraversion and introversion; archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, philosophy, archeology, anthropology, literature, and related fields. He was a prolific writer, many of whose works were not published until after his death.

The central concept of analytical psychology is individuation—the psychological process of integrating the opposites, including the conscious with the unconscious, while still maintaining their relative autonomy. Jung considered individuation to be the central process of human development.

Jung created some of the best known psychological concepts, including the archetype, the collective unconscious, the complex, and synchronicity. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a popular psychometric instrument, has been developed from Jung's theory of psychological types.

Though he was a practising clinician and considered himself to be a scientist, much of his life's work was spent exploring tangential areas such as Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, and sociology, as well as literature and the arts. Jung's interest in philosophy and the occult led many to view him as a mystic, although his ambition was to be seen as a man of science. His influence on popular psychology, the "psychologization of religion", spirituality and the New Age movement has been immense.