Introduction

Before the Cahiers was launched in spring 1974, there was the Bulletin du Groupe d’Études C. G.  Jung de Paris, which had been around since 1965. Issue 34 of January 1974 announced the end of this publication and the creation of a new journal, the Cahiers de psychologie jungienne, described as “the common work of the various Jungian societies in Paris and in the provinces.” “This journal is united by a focus on Jung’s work, in word and deed, and on the diversity of ways in which this work is interpreted and advanced.” The journal also sought to connect “the French readership with Jungian movements abroad.”

The first issue of the Cahiers came out in May 1974. The editorial introduced the Groupe d’Études (Study Group), the Groupe de recherche de psychologie analytique (Analytical Psychology Research Group), the Société française de psychologie analytique (French Society of Analytical Psychology), and its Institut de formation des analystes (Institute for the Training of Analysts). In a few pages, it provided an explanation of Jungian psychology.

The publication was a success: by the end of 1974, the Cahiers had 400 subscribers. In 1979, the team rented premises in Paris. This was when they began to distribute the journal to Parisian bookstores and later, in 1988, to provincial bookstores. In 2005, the decision was made to entrust bookstore distribution both in France and abroad to the distributor Pollen Diffusion (Difpop).

It was in January 1981 that the Cahiers founded an association and filed its first statutes.

In 1987, with issue 52, “Le poids de l’ombre” (The Weight of the Shadow), the journal changed its name, becoming the Cahiers jungiens de psychanalyse. The editorial team justified this decision with an argument about the “conviction that psychoanalysis is one of today’s means of individuation,” adding: “The word ‘psychoanalysis’ indicates the dual approach of practice: analyzing the personal unconscious and the collective processes at work in every individual, which contribute to making the self ‘a living reality.’”

The themes selected for each issue vary widely, and the Cahiers is open to collaboration with authors from other fields, bringing their own vocabulary and different points of view to the journal. For Jung, it was essential to keep confronting other disciplines, as he did during the Eranos conferences.

Issue 76, “Psyché/soma, une expérience du soi” (Psyche/Soma, an Experience of the Self), published in the spring of 1993, marked a new era for the Cahiers. Enlarged and amplified, the journal introduced a “Bloc-notes” section to replace the old reviews, bringing in criticism of films, plays, exhibitions, and so on. In 1997, issue 88, “Lumières de la nature” (Lights of Nature), featured a new section, the “Revue des revues” (Journal review), which introduced readers to the main Jungian journals published abroad, along with those of various psychoanalytic schools.

In 1994, the Cahiers celebrated its twentieth anniversary with issue 79, “Les chemins de l’oeuvre” (The Paths to creation). This issue reports on dialogue surrounding in the field of analysis and culture.

That same year, to pay homage to Elie G. Humbert, who died in 1990, the association launched a new initiative. It published a collection of six lectures given between 1983 and 1985 under the title La Dimension d’aimer (this book was republished in 2000 and then in 2014 in collaboration with Éditions Le Martin-Pêcheur).

On the heels of this initiative, the “Confrontation” collection was born. Several titles have since been added to this collection:

• In 2002, Femmes autour de Jung by Nadia Neri was published, painting a portrait of the women who gravitated around Jung.
• In 2004 came the publication of the first illustrated book devoted to children’s clinics, Maria et le thérapeute, written by several contributors.
• In 2000, the association brought out the Index des Cahiers jungiens de psychanalyse 1974-1999, giving the titles, authors, keywords, and abstracts of the six hundred articles that had been published until that point. In 2004, the Cahiers published the thoroughly documented work by Juliette Vieljeux, Jung, Catalogue des Écrits, containing extensive bibliographical documentation of translations of Jung’s works in ten languages, matched with the Gesammelte Werke, a reference work.
• In 2005, the Cahiers jungiens de psychanalyse partnered up with Halle Saint Pierre to publish Images de l’inconscient, an illustrated French edition of Imagens do Inconsciente (Images of the Unconscious) by the Brazilian psychiatrist Nise da Silveira.

In 2001, the journal structured itself around an editor-in-chief, supported by an Editorial Board made up of around a dozen collaborators who worked on compiling each issue of the Cahiers. Since the start of this adventure, a considerable number of psychoanalysts belonging to the Société française de psychologie analytique have been present on both the association’s board and the Editorial Board, adding vigor to the Cahiers. They have contributed numerous articles that have helped establish our journal’s reputation. It was also in 2001 that the Cahiers came online, launching its own website. Four years later, the website introduced a feature enabling readers to subscribe or order issues. In 2009, the journal became biannual.

In 2011, to mark the occasion of the publication of Jung’s Red Book in France, the Cahiers devoted three issues to this major event: issue 134, “Le Livre rouge” (The Red Book), in September 2011, followed by issue 135, “La Créativité de l’inconscient” (The Creativity of the Unconscious), in June 2012, and issue 136, “Tours et détours de la création” (Twists and Turns of Creation), in November 2012. Bringing together some fascinating contributions, this “trilogy” was published with resounding success. In 2013, our collaboration with the international platform CAIRN INFO expanded the dissemination of the journal. This online platform allows our authors to be read worldwide by researchers and students interested in Jungian thought and its contemporary developments; it also allows our readers to access old and recent articles, on demand.

The Centre National du Livre, a partner of ours for many years, continues to show its trust and support by awarding us an annual subsidy.

In 2014, the Cahiers jungiens de psychanalyse celebrated its fortieth anniversary with issue 139, “Sons et images” (Sounds and Images), accompanied by a CD. In 2019, issue 150, “Images, représentations et mondes virtuels” (Images, Representations, and Virtual Worlds) marked its forty-fifth anniversary. The exceptional longevity of the Cahiers springs from its openness to the contemporary world, in connection with the modernity of Jung’s work, something that is increasingly demonstrated as the many ramifications of his work take on their full meaning in the light of today’s burning issues and often worrying developments.

The Spring-Summer 2023 issue of “Spirits of nature” continued the exploration initiated by issue 152 “Nature(s), living the Earth”. In Autumn-Winter 2023, the “Burn” issue was set against the tragic backdrop of the conflicts currently raging around the world. In 2024, the year of our journal’s fiftieth anniversary, two issues will present current developments in Jungian thought around the world and in France: “Jung in the world” in Spring-Summer 2024 and “Jung in France” in Autumn-Winter 2024.