On Divination and Synchronicity: The Psychology of Meaningful Chance

Marie-Louise von Franz, for many years a coworker with C.G. Jung, is an acknowledged authority on the psychological interpretation of fairytales, dreams, myths, and alchemy. In this book, originally a series of lectures at the Jung Institute in Zurich, she turns her attention to the meaning of the irrational. With penetrating insight she examines the psychological baclground to time, number, and methods of divining fate such as the I Ching, astrology, Tarot cards, palmistry, dice, random patterns, etc. Contrasting Western scientific attitudes with those of the Chinese and so-called primitives, she explains and illustrates Jung's ideas on archetypes, projection, psychic energy, and synchronicity.