https://www.morbidanatomy.org/.../voices-of-the-dead...
“The dead demand something from us…” —C.G. Jung, The Red Book
Carl Jung’s Red Book was not simply written; it was received. A revelation of inner voices, dreams, and visions, this richly illustrated manuscript records a descent into the imaginal world where the dead speak and the soul awakens. At its heart, it is an ancestral document—a call to recognize, mourn, and respond to the psychic lives that preceded and shape us.
In this six-week course led by Jungian analyst Muriel McMahon, we will explore the themes of Jung’s Red Book in conversation with James Hillman and Sonu Shamdasani’s Lament of the Dead. Together, these works challenge us to acknowledge the unfinished business of the dead—not just our personal ancestors, but cultural, historical, and archetypal presences that haunt the living. Through lecture, discussion, and guided reflection, we will examine ancestral complexes and consider what it means to live in service to both the past and the future.
This class is designed for artists, writers, and seekers interested in imaginal and ancestral work; therapists, spiritual directors, and healing practitioners; students of Jungian and depth psychology; and anyone who has felt the haunting presence of the past in their psyche. No previous experience with Jung’s work is required, though it may enrich your experience.
Course Schedule
Week 1 (Nov 3): The Way of What Comes
Introduction to The Red Book: context, form, and purpose
Jung’s visionary descent and the imaginal realm
Reading: The Red Book, "The Way of What Is to Come"; Lament of the Dead, Introduction
Week 2 (Nov 10): The Spirit of the Depths and the Dead
Jung’s encounters with the dead as inner and ancestral figures
Archetypes and ancestors: personal vs collective
Reading: The Red Book, "Refinding the Soul"; Lament of the Dead, Ch. 1–2
Week 3 (Nov 17): The Ancestor Within
What are ancestral complexes?
Inherited memory, grief, and trauma
Case examples and cultural echoes
Reading: Excerpts from Memories, Dreams, Reflections and CW 10
Week 4 (Nov 24): The Living and the Dead Must Complete Each Other
Hillman and Shamdasani on remembering and ritual
The risk of forgetting the dead
Reading: Lament of the Dead, Ch. 3–5
Week 5 (Dec 1): The Red Book as Ritual
The mythic structure of Jung's descent
The Red Book as shrine, script, sacrifice
Creating personal altars or offerings for ancestral engagement
Week 6 (Dec 8): Living the Legacy
Ethics of memory, mourning, and participation
The return from the depths: now what?
Reading: Lament of the Dead, Afterword; selected poems
Muriel McMahon is a Jungian analyst, retreat guide, and dreamworker based in Ontario, Canada. Her work weaves together Catholic ritual, Indigenous teachings, and Jungian depth psychology. She is the founder of FoxHaven, a retreat center dedicated to dreams, fairytales, and soul work. Her forthcoming book, Baba Yaga’s Wisdom: A Jungian Journey Through Dreams and Fairytales, explores feminine initiation and ancestral repair at the threshold of the Crone.