The International Association for Jungian Studies has named Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen the 2025 recipient of the prestigious C.G. Jung Award, recognizing her extraordinary contributions to making analytical psychology accessible to millions worldwide. Dr. Bolen joins an illustrious group of previous recipients including Andrew Samuels, Renos Papadopoulos, Susan Rowland, and Sonu Shamdasani.
What makes Dr. Bolen’s achievement particularly remarkable is how she transformed complex Jungian concepts into lived experience for countless readers. Her groundbreaking 1984 book Goddesses in Everywoman began as what she called “a new psychology of women” but unexpectedly became a foundational text in women’s spirituality. The book challenged traditional Jungian theory by demonstrating that women’s achievement and independence weren’t necessarily expressions of the masculine animus, but could arise from feminine archetypal patterns like Artemis—a creative departure that expanded analytical psychology’s understanding of gender.
With over one hundred foreign editions of her fourteen books, Dr. Bolen has reached audiences far beyond the consulting room and academic conference. Her work has facilitated conversations between mothers and daughters, helped men understand the women in their lives, and become required reading in courses spanning mythology, psychology, women’s studies, and creative writing. This rare ability to bridge scholarly depth with popular accessibility exemplifies the kind of impact the C.G. Jung Award seeks to honor.
Beyond her writing, Dr. Bolen has been a tireless activist, founding Psychiatrists for ERA in the 1980s, serving on the Ms. Foundation for Women board, and initiating advocacy for a UN 5th World Conference on Women. Her recently released memoir, Ever Widening Circles and Mystical Moments, chronicles a life of integration between psychological insight and social action—what she calls “binocular vision.”
The award will be presented during the IAJS annual online conference, “Jung & Vital Force,” December 5-7, 2025, where Dr. Bolen will deliver the C.G. Jung Keynote Address on Saturday, December 6.