This newly translated volume of the Collected Works of Marie-Louise von Franz, one of the most renowned authorities on fairytales, presents a systematic and wide-ranging approach. Von Franz amplifies a variety of fairytale motifs to show that the magical realm is alien to the profane and mundane realm of ordinary daily life. She was one of Analytical Psychology’s most original thinkers and here she presents a lucid, concise exploration of the archetypal symbols found in fairytales. Fairytales, like myths, provide a cultural and societal backdrop that helps the human imagination narrate the meaning of life’s events. The remarkable similarities in fairytale motifs across different lands and cultures inspired many scholars to search for the original homeland of fairytales. While peregrinations of fairytale motifs occur, the common root of fairytales is more archetypal than geographic. A striking feature of fairytales is that a sense of space, time, and causality is absent. This situates them in a magical realm, a land of the soul, where the most interesting things happen in the center of places like Heaven, mountains, lakes, and wells. At the age of eighteen, Marie-Louise von Franz was invited to meet Carl Gustav Jung at Bolingen Tower. She immediately recognized that there exist two levels of reality, one outer and the other inner. Within months she had enrolled at the University of Zürich and began attending Jung’s lectures at the E.T.H. (Eidgenösiche Technische Hochshule or the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). Less than a decade after meeting Jung, von Franz had completed her doctorate in classical philology and begun seeing her first analysands. She was a prolific writer, a dedicated teacher and lecturer, and was possessed of a “far-reaching and often non discriminating Eros that accepted everyone seeking help.” (Alfred Ribi, MD in Fountain of the Love of Wisdom, Chiron, 2006)

The Collected Works of Marie-Louise von Franz Volume 3 turns to the Maiden's Quest within fairytales.

The chief disciple of C. G. Jung, analyst Marie-Louise von Franz uses her vast knowledge of the world of myths, fairy tales, visions, and dreams to examine expressions of the universal symbol of the Anthropos, or Cosmic Man—a universal archetype that embodies humanity's personal as well as collective identity. She shows that the meaning of life—the realization of our fullest human potential, which Jung called individuation—can only be found through a greater differentiation of consciousness by virtue of archetypes, and that ultimately our future depends on relationships, whether between the sexes or among nations, races, religions, and political factions.

A leading expert on the teachings of C.G. Jung explores the connection between mind and matter, drawing on classic Jungian themes like archetypes, dreams, synchronicity, and more Twelve essays by the distinguished analyst Marie-Louise von Franz—five of them appearing in English for the first time—discuss synchronicity, number and time, and contemporary areas of rapprochement between the natural sciences and analytical psychology with regard to the relationship between mind and matter. This last question is among the most crucial today for fields as varied as microphysics, psychosomatic medicine, biology, quantum physics, and depth psychology.

A Jungian psychologist explains how careful analyses of fairy tales like “Beauty and the Beast” can lead to a better understanding of human psychology Of the various types of mythological literature, fairy tales are the simplest and purest expressions of the collective unconscious and thus offer the clearest understanding of the basic patterns of the human psyche. Every people or nation has its own way of experiencing this psychic reality, and so a study of the world's fairy tales yields a wealth of insights into the archetypal experiences of humankind. Perhaps the foremost authority on the psychological interpretation of fairy tales is Marie-Louise von Franz. In this book—originally published as An Introduction to the Interpretation of Fairy Tales —she describes the steps involved in analyzing and illustrates them with a variety of European tales, from "Beauty and the Beast" to "The Robber Bridegroom." Dr. von Franz begins with a history of the study of fairy tales and the various theories of interpretation. By way of illustration she presents a detailed examination of a simple Grimm's tale, "The Three Feathers," followed by a comprehensive discussion of motifs related to Jung's concept of the shadow, the anima, and the animus. This revised edition has been corrected and updated by the author.

In twelve essays—eight of which appear here in English for the first time—the internationally known analyst Marie-Louise von Franz explores important aspects of psychotherapy from a Jungian perspective. She draws on her many years of practical experience in psychotherapy, her intimate knowledge of Jung's methods and theories, and her wide-ranging interests in fields such as mythology, alchemy, science, and religion to illumine these varied topics: • Projection • Transference • Dream interpretation • Self-realization • Group psychology • Personality types • Active imagination • The therapeutic use of hallucinogenic drugs • The choice of psychotherapy as a profession • The role of religious experience in psychological healing

With a text revised and corrected by the author, this definitive edition of Individuation in Fairy Tales is rich with insights from religion, literature, and myth. Dr. von Franz focuses on the symbolism of the bird motif in six fairy tales of Europe and Asia: "The White Parrot" (Spain), "The Bath Bagerd" (Persia), "Princess Hassan Pasha" (Turkestan), "The Bid Flower Triller" (Iran), "The Nightingale Giser" (Balkans), and "The Bird Wehmus" (Austria). She explores the themes of psychological and spiritual transformation in the varied images of birds, such as the phoenix, the parrot, and the griffin. Special attention is given to the connection between fairy tales and alchemy and to the guidance that fairy tales give to therapeutic work.