Jung was handsome, extroverted and intense. He told Emma about his patients, gave her books to read and encouraged her studies. Finally, after rejecting him once, and under the influence of her mother who knew Jung’s family, Emma accepted him. They were married in 1903 and had a honeymoon in Paris and London before taking up residence in Zurich.
Jung worked at the Bergholzli Clinic which was becoming renowned for its innovative treatment of the mentally ill. The staff and their families lived on the site, where Jung researched word associations as well as listened deeply to patients. Patients worked in the gardens and did domestic work, dined with the staff and participated in social events. Emma, living in this hot-house atmosphere, helped with research and reports and learned a lot. Her first two daughters were born while the family lived at the clinic.
Jung was especially popular with women patients. His second personality, introverted and insecure, responded positively to them. In particular, a Russian patient, Sabina Spielrein, sought his attention. Her dementia was cured by Jung, but that was not the end of her infatuation. Emma was hurt by the rumors. She asked for a divorce, which she knew Jung did not want. Instead, she and Jung began to plan a house of their own.
During this time, the couple visited Sigmund Freud in Vienna several times. Freud was very taken with Jung and hoped he would become his heir in psychiatry. The two of them traveled to America together to lecture. But Jung could not agree with Freud on the roots of psychosis and this fractured their relationship. Emma wrote to Freud, fearing the pair could not agree, but then backed off when she felt she had made a fool of herself.
By 1909 the new house in Kusnacht was ready. Jung resigned from the Bergholzli Clinic and took up private practice. Emma became more of a partner at this time, running the household, making appointments and having three more children by the time she was 32. Jung was impetuous, unrestrained and constantly driven by his complexes to travel and work. Emma was quiet, steady, stepping in for Jung when he traveled and providing the normal home life Jung depended upon.
The years before World War I were difficult for the Jungs. A definitive break with with Freud led Jung to go deep into his own unconscious. He was helped in this by another patient, Toni Wolff, who became a fixture at the Jung house for many years to come. Jung began his Red Book and colleagues felt he was “dicing with madness,” though they admired his courage in doing so. He shared his psychic experiences with both Emma and Toni, a woman with forbidding, mystic eyes, who seemed to be all spirit. Emma felt jealous and disassociated, going about looking elegant, but with head bowed. The children didn’t like Toni, but Emma did not allow them to be uncivil to her.
Jung told Emma she must find her own way, stop relying on him and the children, individuate. She began an analysis with a colleague. When American friends built a place for a Psychological Club in Zurich in 1916, Emma became its president. She steered the group when it had money problems and sometimes lectured. When she began to work with patients of her own, Emma was simple and direct, helping others to find their own way, as she had.
Emma also continued her life long interest in the legend of the Holy Grail, beginning a book on it which was eventually published. It represented the quest of “every individual for psychic health and wholeness, who, by asking the right questions, could free themselves from the dark forces of the unconscious.” [Labyrinths: Emma Jung, her Marriage to Carl, and the Early Years of Psychoanalysis by Catrine Clay, 2016]
By the mid 1930’s Jung seemed to be less attached to Toni Wolff. He was building his tower at Bollingen and interested in alchemy. He and Emma traveled to America, London, and Glastonbury for Emma’s study of the Grail legends. When World War II began, the family moved up into the Alps, but returned when it was deemed safe. Jung had a heart attack in 1944. Emma never left his side. They had learned from each other and depended upon each other all their lives.
At the house in Kusnacht, Emma reigned, modest and strong; aristocratic in a positive way. There were now 19 grandchildren rambling around. Emma was always available, respected and loved. In 1955 she became ill with cancer and died in November. Jung was 80 and very broken up, though he lived another five years.
Emma’s life long struggle was to live beside a powerful, charismatic man who attracted many people to him and his all-consuming work. Observers felt she had gone through a “spectacular transformation” during her marriage. Carl Jung’s strength came through her, but he was always encouraging of her work and the role she played as well. I read the biography by Catrin Clay noted above, but there have also been others. It is easy to believe, as it was said, that her presence was a gift to all she met.
