J.F.Penn

Thrillers, Dark Fantasy, Crime

carl jung

On Carl Jung, Dreams And Moments Of Visual Inspiration. J.F. Penn In The Dream Network Journal.

By

When I write, I primarily want to provide entertainment and a few hours of escape from the world. But I also bring my obsessions of religion and psychology to the books, along with extensive research to create another level of reading.

On Carl Jung, Dreams and Moments of Visual InspirationSo I am delighted when readers “get” this side of my books, and I was really excited to do an interview with Russ Lockhart for the Dream Network Journal Volume 32 No 1, Summer 2013.

There's an extract below and you can download the whole article as a PDF here. You can also check out the journal, subscribe or buy back issues at Dream Network Journal.

RL. Tell me, Joanna, what have been the most important influences on you becoming a writer?

JP. Probably the first writer that led me to feel this is what I want do was Umberto Eco, with The Name of the Rose and also Foucault’s Pendulum. Have you read those?

RL. Oh, yes.

JP. I’ve always been interested in religion, and Eco showed me it was possible to write about religion in a fiction book. Trying to write like Umberto Eco obviously was not something I was going to do and that froze me up a bit. But then Dan Brown came along with The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons and this made me realize you could write fiction with religion, history, architecture, and archeology, deep and meaningful things, but in a fast-paced way that people would enjoy. Dan Brown helped me decide to write this way. Eco and Brown are two ends of a spectrum. I’m a massive reader and read very widely. In thrillers now, I like James Rollins. He [sometimes] writes from a religious angle.

RL. Your ARKANE trilogy is certainly a thriller. The thriller is often described as “escapist” literature, a kind of distractive entertainment from the drudgery of everyday life. I’ve never been happy with this idea of escape. To me, fiction, no matter how great or poorly done, offers a portal of possibilities, an opening into possible worlds, and has the potential of going deeper inside us then we often realize.

Are you writing for people to escape or does your fiction have a deeper significance and purpose?

JP. I have to say that when I started writing I had a job as an IT consultant. I really was miserable. Reading fast-paced thrillers was all about escape, about how to get out of this commute for 45 minutes before I get to my job and how to fill my lunch hour when I was really down. I’m lucky now. Since becoming a full-time author and entrepreneur, escape isn’t so necessary. But I want to write fiction on two levels, to make people think about deeper things and at the same time to have a really good ride. I will be writing more in my next series and think it is deeper than the ARKANE series. I‘m addressing some depth issues without trying to lecture people at the same time.

…

RL. After reading the name [ARKANE] the first time and [learning] what it meant it was clear you had an interest in Jung and archetypal psychology.

How did you get interested in Jung?

JP. It was when I studied theology at Oxford. I wrote a paper on psychology of religion and of course Jung was one of the first psychologists I studied. I was particularly taken with Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

redbook

While I was writing Pentecost, Jung’s Red Book was published, his personal journal of breakdown and filled with images. It brought out all the things I had learned about Jung in the beginning of my studies and let me investigate him again. In his life story I found he had been in Tunisia, and in America, and in these places I write about. And, in the Red Book there was this painting of the Pentecost flame (as right). That was amazing to me because as I was researching that whole synchronicity idea for the novel, it actually happened to me. What I love about writing these books is that as I research this stuff it seems almost to be true. I just tweak it a bit. It’s fiction, but it’s based on a whole load of facts.

RL. One of the things that impressed me was that you would bring in some fact that had just happened—like the story of Arafat’s poisoning—and mix it together with ancient arcane things. This brings together disparate things to create a meaning with a trajectory, not just some far out thing, but meaningful things that get through, that aim beneath the surface.

JP. That Arafat story was synchronicity again. And, just the other day, someone emailed me about a show on the Ark of the Covenant. People are always interested in these big archetypal stories. That was part of the reason for writing the books because I wanted resonance with the collective unconscious, the memory we have in our culture around these big religious questions.

RL. Do your dreams ever come into your work, or your work into your dreams?

JP. I don’t record my dreams as in writing them down when I wake up. I definitely dream richly and I have nightmares. I have quite a dark mind, as you will have found in my books with all those violent deaths and horror aspects. I think the supernatural can be horrific. I like the shadow idea and I like going into the darker side of us and I do sometimes dream very violent dreams.

Sometimes, I worry that when people read my books they think that’s me; that I am into violence and death. But part of what’s great about writing is that writing about these dark things helps us reconcile these darker issues. In fact, writers like Stephen King and James Herbert and hopefully me are actually more psychologically normal because we can tackle horror in our work.

Does something grip you and that becomes the basis [of the story]? Or do you plan out, outline, and write from there?

JP. Oh, the idea or image comes first exactly as you say. I am a very visual person. A lot of my writing comes from the places I’ve been—Israel in particular. I’ve been eleven times. A lot of my passion for these topics comes from things I’ve seen in Israel and other places. Also when I’m researching, things really happen! For example, Pentecost was originally called Mandala and was even more about Jung.

Then I was in St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. I looked up and saw the Pentecost in those golden mosaic stones and this changed the whole book for me. That image. I had the idea for the stones. And then I saw the flame coming from the stones in Jung’s painting. This happens to me all the time. The other day I saw on a billboard a man with an octopus tattoo up his back and this image was seared into my mind. I wrote the scene yesterday in my new book. The man has become a woman with the octopus tattoo and she’s become a whole new character. I plot around the images. And then I do research and find nuggets that help to make it more real for readers.

You can download the whole article as a PDF here. A huge thanks to Russ Lockhart for a great interview!

If you have any questions about anything I have spoken about, please do leave a comment below. Thanks!

Ancient Book: Carl Jung’s Red Book

By

As part of my Masters in Theology at the University of Oxford (1994-1997), I specialized in the psychology of religion. I was always particularly drawn to Carl Jung, because of his extensive investigation in the subject but also because of his personal struggle with the big questions of life.

Painting from Carl Jung's Red Book

The main character in my ARKANE thrillers, Morgan Sierra, also specializes in psychology of religion, mainly so I can explore my own interest in the subject!

I was keen to bring Jung into the Pentecost story. It so happened that while I was researching the book, it was announced that the Red Book would finally be published and made available to the public after years of being kept secret by his family. To my astonishment, one of the paintings in the Red Book has what looks like a pillar of fire coming out of a stone which I wove into the story of the Pentecost stones.

Jung writes a great deal on synchronicity, the experience of coincidence or chance that occurs in a meaningful way. There were many experiences of synchronicity as I wrote the book but this one was stunning. I also use the painting to describe the room at the Wadi in Nefta where Jung actually visited when he was in North Africa.

Here's part of a scene where the ARKANE team learn more about the Red Book. At the bottom is a video if you'd like to learn more about it.

Morgan listened to Ben talk, fascinated by the journey of the stone of Simon
the Zealot. They had Ben on speakerphone with Martin Klein also connected from
the ARKANE headquarters, hoping that between them they could locate the final
Pentecost stone. Ben continued his story from what the Grand Master had told him.
“Carl Jung travelled to the oasis of Nefta while he was in Tunisia, North Africa in
1920. He felt the land was soaked with the blood of Carthage, Rome and later the
Christians. It was a powerful experience for him. His memoirs say he felt an alien
sense of being a European in a Moorish, desert land. He recounted a powerful
dream of being within a mandala of a citadel in the desert, where he fought with
and then taught a royal Arab his secrets. Morgan, you’ve studied Jung’s writings in
depth. Did he ever mention this Pentecost stone?”
Morgan frowned and said, “I don’t remember Pentecost mentioned specifically, but
Jung was fascinated with stones as well as being obsessed with religious mythology.
At his Tower in Bollingen on Lake Zurich, he engraved stones with words and
images that meant a great deal to him. He created from his unconscious all the
time. He would have written about this if it meant something.”
Ben spoke again.
“I was told he was in North Africa in 1920. Isn’t that when he was still working on
the Red Book?”
“Of course, you’re right.” Morgan replied. “We should look there. It’s such an
outpouring of his mind at that time.”
Jake asked, “What’s this Red Book and why’s it so important?”
All three of the others started talking at once, and then quietened to let Morgan
continue.

Philemon. Jung's spirit guide

“The Red Book was Carl Jung’s personal inner journey written during a breakdown
he had. It’s an oversized red leather bound book with cream artist’s paper inside
that he filled with calligraphy of his thoughts and paintings of his inner life, visions
and dreams.”
“Why haven’t I heard of it before? It sounds amazing,” Jake said.
“It’s only recently been published for the first time. He wrote it between 1913 and
1929 and it’s truly a work of art. His family have protected it until now,” Morganreplied.
Jake asked, “So how could the book help us?”
“Jung painted what he saw in his unconscious mind and also what affected him,”
Morgan continued. “There should be signs in the Red Book if he had found
something spiritually significant. Jung was a mystic, struggling to reconnect ancient
myths with the modern world. He even dreamt about the coming rivers of blood in
Europe which turned out to be the Second World War. He felt broken in his mind,
and that left him open to divine inspiration, ideas and thoughts that the rest of us
discard in the night.”
Martin jumped in then, keen to add his opinion. His voice crackled over the line.
“Many of the paintings in the Red Book are representations of mandala, the circle in
the square which represents the inward journey of the soul. Jung’s spirit guide,
Philemon, is a central character in the Book shown as an old man with the wings of
a kingfisher. There are images of Egyptian myth and particularly of snakes, a
spiritual image of renewal and creation as well as the Christian idea of it
representing the devil. The snake is a powerful symbol in many…”
Jake jumped in, cutting off his flow. “Thanks Martin, that’s enough for now. Could
we get images of it please?”
“Of course, I’ll send them now. I’ve seen the real thing Morgan. It’s amazing! I was
assigned to be one of the few physically present when it came out of the Swiss vault
and photographed. The colors are so fresh because they have kept it pristine for
years, with hardly a soul looking at it. You’re going to be amazed when you see it.”
As they waited for the emailed images to arrive, Morgan thought about
Martin seeing the actual Red Book. She had an oversize full color reproduction, but
her professional jealousy was piqued by his unique experience. Working for
ARKANE certainly had its benefits. The images arrived and they opened the first file.
Morgan gasped and Jake leaned in closer.
“Is that what I think it is?”
They were looking at one of the images from Jung’s Red Book. It showed a square
room with turquoise patterned walls and a red and black checkered floor. In the
centre of the room, a man knelt in worship, his head on the ground with arms
reaching towards a small grey object in front of him. From that stone a pillar of fire
and flames rose up, filling the room with sparks and smoke, billowing above the
man as if about to consume him.