Marie-Louise von Franz

 

Marie-Louise von Franz earned her doctorate in philology at the University of Zurich. From 1934 onwards, she worked closely with C. G. Jung until his death in 1961, particularly in connection with his studies in alchemy. She expanded his later work Mysterium coniunctionis with an interpretation of Aurora consurgens, a Christian-alchemical text attributed to Thomas of Aquinas. For many years she was a lecturer and training analyst at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich. In 1974, together with some friends, she founded the Stiftung für Jung’sche Psychologie Küsnacht ZH (Foundation for Jungian Psychology Küsnacht ZH). In addition, she was the Honorary President of the Research- and Training Centre for Depth Psychology according to C. G. Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz in Zurich.

To date, her publications that include psychological interpretations of fairytales and dreams, as well as texts on alchemy, the medieval Holy Grail, the visions of Niklaus von Flüe, the puer aeternus, her research into synchronicity and her masterful „inner“ biography on the significance of C. G. Jung in our time, have been translated into 23 languages. Her life’s work was crowned with her psychological commentary upon Kitab Hall ar-Rumüz by Muhammad Ibn Umail.