ARAS publications have their roots in the remarkable Eranos Conferences, which began in Switzerland in the 1930s and have lasted for more than 70 years. It was the magic of a particular theme that tied the participants at the Eranos conferences together across cultures and academic disciplines. To one kind of magic was added another--images were being collected and exhibited on the walls in the lecture hall, which gradually formed a remarkable archive. When asked to write an introduction to this archive, the Jungian analyst Erich Neumann became so fascinated by the material that he ended up writing a full monograph called The Great Mother, which was published by the Bollingen Foundation in New York City almost 50 years ago and is still in print. In time, a copy of the original archive was given to the Bollingen Foundation, which gradually grew into the present ARAS. In the 1980s ARAS received a major grant for expansion, which resulted in the publication of An Encyclopedia of Archetypal Symbolism, and a second volume called The Body, as subtitle. Each of these volumes contain about 100 records from ARAS, organized in themes (like the Eranos conferences), in order to demonstrate the eternal images as the underlying principle of ARAS. The first volume introduces the theme of the circle of life, beginning with "Creation" in the first chapter and ending with "Death" and "Rebirth." In the second volume each chapter highlights a particular body part, from "Head" to "Feet". All the entries from the two volumes of The Encyclopedia can be found on ARAS Online. In fact, they come up first during an Online search, if the subject in question is included in any of these volumes.
 
The working title of the current ARAS book project is The Book of Images: Reflections on Archetypal Symbols. The format differs somewhat from the way most ARAS records are organized. Rather than one image, several images are often included in one entry in order to show variations and contrasts of the particular symbol. The texts accompanying the images are written as if distilling the essence (almost like poetry) in order to evoke the symbol. One inspiration for this book has been images in dreams and how to understand them and in fact we believe that The Book of Images will be major tool for working with one's own dreams. Symbolic images are more than data: they are vital seeds, living carriers of possibility. Such images function as transformers, mediating change, inspiration and healing. The following entry on the Yoruban deity Oya as the "Queen of the Winds of Change" essentially embodies this experience. As it turned out, Oya is one of the many wonderful entries that we were not able to include in this book in order to keep its length within 500 pages. We hope to return to Oya in the future, in the making of additional exciting publications. Once published, the entries in The Book of Images will, in time, be included in the Archive and we also plan to make them available on ARAS Online.
 
We will keep you updated on the progress and publication of The Book of Images.
 

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OYA

I am Queen of the Winds of Change...
I will sweep your mind clean of decay and debris...
I will cut away your stagnation, and teach you the courage to transform...
I will shake your soul from its foundations...
And set you on new ground...
 
Evocation of Oya, La Nuestra de la Candelaria, February 2, 2000, NYC

She walks with dignity. She dances up a storm. She lives in the sudden event. This is Oya, legendary Warrior Queen, mythical Water Buffalo Woman, mystical Goddess of the Niger River.