The Turn of the Era: The Spiritual Roots of Jungian Psychology in Hermeticism, Gnosticism, and Alchemy

In this book, Alfred Ribi returns two millennia back to the beginning of our era, to a time of a key turning point in human consciousness. It was then that the people of the Western world turned away from the well-trodden path of progressive historical movement, which seemed predestined for millennia ahead, and decided to seek their way through the thorns and thickets of the dark ages. Such a decision seemingly contradicted all the accumulated experience of humanity; nevertheless, at that time it seemed inevitable and desirable. What was the reason? Moreover, the processes in the collective unconscious that occurred two thousand years ago are re-manifesting in modernity, heralding a new turn – and the collapse of the old world. Ribi wisely and skillfully brings together the ancient texts of Hellenism, Gnosticism, Hermeticism, and Alchemy, showing how they fueled the visionary work of C. G. Jung, who predicted the change of the spiritual paradigm of humanity. Into this canvas, the author weaves personal insights gained over half a century of work as an analytical psychologist, and we see how the dreams and visions of modern people intertwine with the tradition that Jung called the spiritual precursor to his psychology.