Read deeply. Reflect together. Discover the psyche.
The Minnesota Jung Association Book Club is a space for thoughtful readers who want to engage Jungian ideas in a welcoming, conversational setting.
Whether you are new to Jung or have been studying for years, the group offers a way to slow down, read closely, and explore meaning in community.
Each season, we select a Jungian or depth psychology text and read it together over several months.
This is not a lecture.
It is a shared inquiry—curious, reflective, and grounded in lived experience.
May 20, 2026, 7:00 pm-8:30 pm CST
Via Zoom
The Red Book—also known by its Latin title Liber Novus—is Carl Gustav Jung’s deeply personal record of a prolonged inner exploration he undertook between 1913 and the early 1930s. Written and illustrated in a striking, illuminated manuscript style, the work documents Jung’s deliberate descent into his unconscious through vivid visions, dialogues with symbolic figures, and encounters with archetypal forces. Rather than a conventional psychological text, it reads more like a mythopoetic journey, laying the experiential groundwork for many of his later theories, including the collective unconscious, individuation, and the role of symbols in psychic life.
The material in The Red Book did not arise spontaneously in its final form; it was carefully developed from Jung’s earlier journals known as the “Black Books.” In these private notebooks, he first recorded his raw visions, fantasies, and dialogues in a more immediate and unfiltered way. He later transcribed, edited, and elaborated on this material into the more formal, calligraphic, and symbolic presentation that became The Red Book, transforming personal psychological experiences into a kind of sacred text that bridges psychology, art, and spiritual autobiography.
This month, we begin our journey into the Red Book itself. We will be begin with Sonu Shamdasani’s introduction, reading through pp 1-37 to the section “The Collective Experiment” in the smaller Reader’s Edition of the Red Book, or the corresponding pp 197- 204 in large Red Book.
For those looking to buy a copy, there are few options. I’ll post the Amazon links for these below. However, for those who don’t care to shop on Amazon, there are other comparable options.
First, there is the full hardback edition, including full photo facsimiles of the original Red Book. Note, this book is rather large at 15″x12″ and weighs a bit, so it can be a bit cumbersome to curl up with. The hard cover edition of this is a bit pricy, currently at $198. There are less expensive paperback and Kindle options.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393065677…
Much more affordable is the Reader’s Edition of the Red Book. This contains all of the text of the Red Book, but lacks the photo facsimiles pages. This book is also the size of a normal hardcover book. This version, with an imitation leather cover can be purchased for about $33 and other formats are available as well.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393089088…
The Black Books were Jung’s original diaries of his famous exploration of the unconscious. It was from these that he drew the material and refined it into the more coherent whole of the Red Book. For those truly brave souls who want to explore the raw materials from which the Red Book was drawn, the Black Books can be purchased for about $300
Many participants find that the group becomes not just an intellectual space, but a meaningful community.
Details
Format: Zoom
Frequency: Third Wednesday of the month
Time: 7:00-8:30
Cost: Member benefit
Spots are limited to keep the conversation intimate.
Zoom links will be sent the week before each meeting. If you’re not already on the mailing list, email danielbicknell63@gmail.com to request an invitation.
A Different Kind of Reading
In a fast world, this is a place to read slowly, think deeply, and speak honestly.
If you’ve been looking for a way to engage Jung beyond lectures—
This is one of the best places to begin.
Questions?
Contact us at: mnjungassociation@gmail.com