Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Fox's edge


In The Secret History of Dreaming, I write about an incident when Jung was talking to a patient who had dreamed of a fox, and a fox appeared in their line of sight:


The woman is talking about the first dream of her life that had a huge impact on her; she calls this an "everlasting" impression. "I am in my childhood home," she recalls, "and a spectral fox is coming down the stairs." She stops and puts her hand on Jung’s arm, because in this moment a real fox trots out of the trees, less than forty yards in front of them. The fox proceeds to walk quietly along the path in front of them for several minutes.

The passage made a strong impact on a reader who sent me the following message:

"Fox is very important to me, a personal totem, so when  I read about that moment between Jung and his patient, I copied and printed the book passage to show my friend. Later I was at her place on the ocean. We were sitting on the deck with a pre-dinner glass if wine and I read her the story. How amazing is that I asked her. She couldn't respond because she was looking all agog and pointing. 
     "Coming around the corner of the building was a grey fox. It looked rather mangy and ran slowly, bent low, head hanging. I was too stunned to take a photo. "


Fox drawing by RM

1 comment:

James Wilson said...

Wow and just when I’m reading this articel I hear the song: “what does the fox say” from Ylvis on the radio .............. I’m just joking of course ;)

But those are two nice stories about synchronicity Robert. The 2nd fox even seems to represent the fact that a photocopy plays a role in the second situation. The colour of the skin, grey. And the behavior of the fox, running slow, bent low and head hanging.
This behavior and the condition of his skin ( mangy) are a sign of lack of full vitality, lack of full spirit. Just like a photocopy, which does not capture the full strenght of an original.