Aion (Greek for “age” or “aeon”) was published by Rascher Verlag in Zurich in 1951 as Volume 9, Part II of the Collected Works. It is one of Jung’s most difficult and most ambitious works — an attempt to trace the historical development of the archetype of the Self through the two-thousand-year era of the astrological Age of Pisces (the Christian aeon).
Jung’s argument, drastically simplified: the symbol of Christ represents a one-sided incarnation of the Self — all light, all good, with the dark, evil aspect split off and projected onto the figure of the Antichrist. This splitting, Jung argues, has shaped the entire trajectory of Western consciousness, producing a civilization that is brilliant in its achievements but psychologically unstable because it has denied half of its own nature. The approaching Age of Aquarius (which Jung calculates as beginning around the year 2000) will require the integration of the opposites — light and dark, good and evil, Christ and Antichrist — that the Piscean age kept separate.
The book ranges across Christian theology, Gnostic texts, alchemical symbolism, and astrological calculation with a learning that is both impressive and bewildering. Jung treats astrological ages not as literal astronomical events but as symbolic frameworks that shape collective psychology — the precession of the equinoxes provides a cosmic clock against which the development of human consciousness can be measured.
Aion is not for beginners. It assumes familiarity with Jung’s other works, with Christian theology, and with alchemical symbolism. But for readers who are prepared, it offers one of the most original attempts to understand the psychological history of Western civilization.
Collecting Aion
First edition (Rascher Verlag, Zurich, 1951, in German): Cloth binding.
Market values:
- German first edition, fine: $300–$800
- English first edition (Routledge, 1959): $150–$400