The Society of Analytical Psychology (SAP) is launching a major 10-part online seminar series, “Jung, Dante and the Making of the Red Book: The Fire Seminars,” beginning on Saturday, January 24, 2026. This series offers a deep thematic immersion into the original sources of Analytical Psychology. Jung himself stated that the Red Book (Liber Novus), the “most difficult” and “important” experiment of his life, formed the nucleus of his entire psychological system. Its eventual posthumous publication in 2009 spurred a revolution in Jungian studies, sparking new ways of understanding Jungian psychology across both popular and academic spheres. This seminar series aims to continue that revolution by offering a fresh perspective on the basic tenets of Jungian theory through the lens of Jung’s most intimate work.
The series is rooted in the research of the seminar leader, Dr. Tommaso Priviero, an analytical psychologist and historian of psychology. Dr. Priviero, whose work was mentored by Prof. Sonu Shamdasani, is the author of Of Fire and Form: Jung, Dante and the Making of the Red Book. His research reveals Jung’s profound, 16-year engagement with Dante Alighieri’s Commedia during the period he was composing his own “book of visions.”
The seminar is structured across ten monthly sessions, running every Saturday beginning in January 2026 and concluding in November, with the final session being a hybrid event. The structure is broken down into three terms that follow a narrative progression of psychic transformation. The First Term (“What is the Red Book and Why It Matters“) provides the intellectual and biographical background, focusing on its place within the tradition of “meditation books” and its function as the genesis for Active Imagination. The Second Term (“Symbols of Descent“) concentrates on the deconstructive themes, mirroring Dante’s journey downwards. This section links the symbolism of madness, divine folly, animals, and animality to key concepts like metanoia (radical mental change) and Jung’s conception of good and evil (Imago Diaboli). Finally, the Third Term (“Symbols of Rebirth“) focuses on the re-constructive, transformative process, revisiting Jung’s contributions to Eros and sexuality, analyzing the evolving model of psychotherapy that emerged, and concluding with Jung’s ambivalent encounter with mandalas and Eastern philosophy.
You can purchase a ticket for the full 10 seminars, or for each individual session, here.