The black sun, an ages-old image of the darkness in individual lives 
and in life itself, has not been treated hospitably in the modern world. 
Although modern psychology has seen darkness primarily as a 
negative force, it actually has an intrinsic importance to the human 
psyche. In this book, Jungian analyst Stanton Marlan reexamines the 
paradoxical image of the black sun and the meaning of darkness in 
Western culture.

    Marlan draws on not only clinical cases, but also literature such 
as Goethe's Faust and Dante's Inferno, the black art of Rothko and 
Reinhardt, and other inspirations to explore the influence of light and
shadow on the fundamental structures of modern thought as well as 
the contemporary practice of analysis. He shows that the black sun 
accompanies not only the most negative of psychic experiences but 
also the most sublime.

    The Black Sun offers insight into modernity, the act of imagination, 
and the work of analysis in understanding depression, trauma, and 
transformation of the soul. A contribution to the understanding of 
alchemical psychology, this book draws on a postmodern sensibility 
to develop an original way to look at the black sun and helps us 
explore the unknown darkness conventionally called the Self.

_________________________________________________________

STANTON MARLAN, a Jungian analyst in Pittsburgh, is the editor 
of two previous books on alchemy and the author of numerous articles 
on Jungian psychology. He is an adjunct clinical professor of 
psychology at Duquesne University.


Number Ten: Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology



What people are saying about this book

"If you want to learn fascinating, enlightening and unsuspected ideas 
about alchemy this is a must book. The text is a well written, richly 
illustrated scholarly story of the Black Sun, Sol niger. It sheds the light 
of blackness, and the luminosity of darkness. . . . will bring you new 
ideas about death and blackness as well as the personal reflections of 
the author’s life-long quest for new understanding."—Harry A. Wilmer, 
author of How Dreams Help

"We suffer from too much light. We suffer, individually and collectively, 
from a light that has no darkness. The Black Sun is a thorough and 
much needed apology for that autonomous heart of darkness, which as 
the author says remains a benchmark for the state of our humanness. 
Stan Marlan, who practices the art of darkness with a deep sense of 
humility, is a sure guide into the burnt out place of the soul where only 
the illumination of the darkness itself can heal. This book elaborates an 
alchemical psychology, which in giving darkness its due is a therapeutic 
work so crucial at a time when darkness denied has become a global 
threat."—Robert D. Romanyshyn, author of Ways of the Heart: Essays 
Toward an Imaginal Psychology and Dark Light: Reveries, Poems and 
Reflections

"In The Black Sun, Stan Marlan takes us on an unflinching and ultimately 
healing journey through the shadowed land of despair where most 
abandon all hope. There, we find, a strange light shines, and in that light 
we can discern what is otherwise invisible. Marlan teaches us how to see 
in the dark."—Murray Stein, author of Jung’s Map of the Soul

"Since Jung first opened the obscurities of alchemy to psychological 
insight, no one has done a book as thorough, as rich, and as 
significant as this astounding work by Stanton Marlan. More: it 
reaches beyond Western alchemy into Eastern knowledge and arcane 
systems of inspiration, and yet it is directly relevant to the darkness 
eclipsing the consciousness of our time."—James Hillman

"Stan Marlan is inspired by a gentle spirit, and an unusually 
thoughtful mien. Here, he writes a pathway through the oftimes 
difficult intricacies of psyche using classical Jungian phenomenology. 
He creates a clear vision of turning points and unity, the latter being
the edgy principle that allows a human being to truly see into the 
'many layered soul.'"—Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D., Jungian 
Psychoanalyst and author of The Faithful Gardener: A Wise Tale 
about That Which Can Never Die