Active Imagination

Imagination from the latin word Imago means to image, to follow in an image, to depict.
Imagination has been used since ancient times in religious or hermetic systems and shamanism as a tool to connect with deities, demons and spirits. In modern psychotherapy, it emerged from hypnosis at the end of the 19th century.

C.G. Jung (the important Swiss psychologist) in 1916 pointed out the potential of "active imagination" to become a therapeutic tool and also used it when working with patients. However, it was only systematically described by Hanscarl Leuner (an important German psychiatrist and psychotherapist), who, since 1945, compiled various methods and principles of using active imagination in therapy.

We distinguish two types of active imagination. One is guided and requires a guide. The second type does not come from any assignment, we just let arbitrary psychic content flow.

My own experience

My first encounter with active imagination was precisely in the form of the second, i.e. spontaneous type. It was the first meeting with my animal guide. It happened completely unexpectedly. It was so powerful that I wanted to repeat this experience and thus began to use active imagination for my healing.

The first immediate experience was followed by searching for information in books, I also used active imagination a lot during the art therapy and art phyletics studies that I completed.

I started using active imagination when working with dreams, it became an indispensable part of self-healing for me.

I recorded my knowledge of the use of active imagination when working with clients in my bachelor's thesis at the Department of Psychology and Pathopsychology as part of the study of Special Education. If you are interested in learning more, read on. I will be happy to share my story about the black panther and other practical examples of how to heal yourself with active imagination or use it as a preparation for further creative work.