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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.

Why it works

Johnson calls writing the main protection against sliding back into passive fantasy: it keeps attention on the one scene, deepens the experience, and leaves a record that can be digested later. Jung himself wrote his fantasies down and painted them, first in his notebooks and then in the illuminated volume published as The Red Book, and his writings describe giving unconscious material visible form through writing, drawing and painting. Giving the image a body outside the head makes it something you can look at and answer, rather than something that only happens to you.

How to do it

  1. Choose your recording method before you start: a notebook by hand or typing.
  2. Mark who is speaking, for example a letter for yourself and an initial for the figure, so the voices stay distinct.
  3. If words do not come easily, paint, draw, model clay, play in a sand tray or move the scene, then afterwards write a few lines about what happened and what it meant to you.
  4. Read the record back the next day before the next session.

Evidence

Johnson insists that the dialogue be written or typed, and describes patients who worked through dance, painting, sculpting or a sand tray while still adding some writing. Jung's own practice is documented in The Red Book. A 2024 review of Jung's writings on active imagination notes that he used writing, drawing and painting, and that later expressive therapies have been traced back to the method. (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. Writing about difficult material can intensify it for a time; if it does not settle, pause and talk it through with a therapist.

Sources

Common mistake

Recording only a summary afterwards instead of writing as it happens. Johnson notes that many people give up because they never found a convenient way to record; the record is what keeps it from turning into a daydream.

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Frequently asked questions

How do you write it down, or give it form in paint, clay or movement?

Johnson calls writing the main protection against sliding back into passive fantasy: it keeps attention on the one scene, deepens the experience, and leaves a record that can be digested later. Jung himself wrote his fantasies down and painted them, first in his notebooks and then in the illuminated volume published as The Red Book, and his writings describe giving unconscious material visible form through writing, drawing and painting. Giving the image a body outside the head makes it something you can look at and answer, rather than something that only happens to you.

What is the most common mistake with write it down, or give it form in paint, clay or movement?

Recording only a summary afterwards instead of writing as it happens. Johnson notes that many people give up because they never found a convenient way to record; the record is what keeps it from turning into a daydream.

More practices for Active Imagination: Jung's Waking Dialogue With the Unconscious

Related concepts

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