Invite the image and accept what comes
Clear your mind and wait, or start from a dream figure, an inner place or a mood, then take whoever appears.
Why it works
Jung's first stage is letting the unconscious come up, which means setting critical attention aside so that fantasies already lying in readiness can surface. Johnson calls this step The Invitation and gives ways in: waiting alertly with an empty mind (an approach he credits to Jung's colleague Marie-Louise von Franz), or "priming the pump" from a dream image, an inner place, a passing fantasy or a mood given a face. His central point is that to invite is not to manage: you take the figure that arrives, and it is often the loneliness or inferiority you have avoided rather than a wise guide.
How to do it
- Sit somewhere quiet with your notebook or keyboard ready, so recording does not interrupt the flow.
- Clear your mind and wait, alert and receptive, to see who or what appears.
- If nothing comes, prime the pump: return to a figure from last night's dream, walk into a place in your imagination that has meaning for you, or ask a mood you are in to show itself as a figure.
- When an image appears, ask it simply: Who are you? What do you want? What do you have to say?
- Accept what shows up even if it is unwelcome. Once the image is there, stop steering it.
Evidence
The receptive first stage is Jung's own account of the method in "The Transcendent Function" and in the writings collected by Chodorow. The specific starting points (waiting on alert, using fantasies, visiting an inner place, personifying a mood) are Johnson's, drawn from his analytic practice and illustrated with case examples. (clinical)
No controlled outcome trial of active imagination was found (PubMed search, 2026-10-14); the evidence is clinical writing and case reports from Jungian analysis. Unwelcome material is expected; if what arrives floods you or will not settle, stop and work with a trained therapist rather than pushing on alone.
Sources
- Jung, C. G. "The Transcendent Function" (written 1916; revised and published in the late 1950s). In Collected Works Vol. 8, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche. Princeton University Press, pars. 131-193.
- Jung, C. G. (1997). Jung on Active Imagination (J. Chodorow, Ed.). Princeton University Press.
- Johnson, R. A. (1986). Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth. Harper & Row.
Common mistake
Deciding in advance who ought to appear and what they ought to say. Johnson warns that people expect noble speeches from a wise figure; steering toward that turns the session back into wishful daydreaming.
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for Active Imagination: Jung's Waking Dialogue With the Unconscious
- Arrange a safe frame before you begin
Before the first session, name someone you can call, set a way to close, and know the signs that mean stop.
- Turn a looping worry into a conversation
Take a fantasy or worry that keeps replaying and step into it as yourself, so it can move instead of repeat.
- Talk with the figure as yourself
Ask, listen, answer back and even refuse, staying with one figure until something resolves.
- Write it down, or give it form in paint, clay or movement
Record the exchange as it happens, in writing or another medium, so it stays an active practice.
- Bring your own values into the scene
Set limits as yourself when a figure demands something inhuman or tries to take over your life.
- Make it concrete with a small physical act
Mark what the session taught you with one small, private action, never by acting the fantasy out on people.
- Hold the tension of opposites until a third way appears
Let two conflicting positions each speak fully, refuse a quick winner, and watch for a new attitude.
Related concepts
- Shadow Work
Meeting the parts of yourself you have been ignoring
- Voice Dialogue: Meeting the Selves That Run Your Life
Hearing the pusher, the pleaser and the critic in their own voices, so they stop running you unnoticed
- Internal Family Systems (IFS), Made Practical
The parts model, the mechanisms behind it, and an honest read on an emerging evidence base
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