Window Opening onto Eternity

This mandala was based on a dream noted on 2 January 1927. Jung anonymously reproduced it in 1952 with the following commentary: “The rose in the centre is depicted as a ruby, its outer ring being conceived as a wheel or a wall with gates (so that nothing can come out from inside or go in from outside). The mandala was a spontaneous product from the analysis of a male patient.” After narrating the dream, Jung added: “The dreamer went on: ‘I tried to paint this dream. But as so often happens, it came out rather different. The magnolia turned into a sort of rose made of ruby-colored glass. It shone like a four-rayed star. The square represents the wall of the park and at the same time a street leading round the park in a square. From it there radiate eight main streets, and from each of these eight side-streets, which meet in a shining red central point, rather like the Étoile in Paris. The acquaintance mentioned in the dream lived in a house at the corner of one of these stars.’ The mandala thus combines the classic motifs of flower, star, circle, precinct (temenos), and plan of city divided into quarters with citadel.’ The whole thing seemed like a ‘window opening on to eternity,’ wrote the dreamer.” (“Concerning Mandala Symbolism,” CW 9, 1, § 654-5).

INSCRIPTION TRANSLATION :

“9 January 1927 my friend Hermann Sigg died age 52.”