Considered to be an "outside" artist, Jung drew many images after experiencing years of visions. During a sixteen year period from 1913, Jung experienced "creative illness" and induced his "active imagination". "Red Book" is the collection of texts and illustrations that were a product of this time. This period of Jung's life has been referred to as a time as "psychosis", Jung at this time developed his theories of archetypes, collective unconscious and individuation.
Barbara Hannah was Jung's biographer and personal friend and she described these experiences as comparable to the encounter that Menelaus has with Proteus.
As we know, in book 4 of the Odyssey, Menelaus recounts his journey home to Telemachus. After the battle of Troy, Menalaus nostos has been temporarily thwarted, he retells an event which took place on an island where he met Eidothee the beautiful daughter of Proteus, the Man of the Sea. Eidothee tells Menelaus that he must have offended the gods and only her father Proteus holds information vital to Menelaus' returning home. Menelaus must capture Proteus whilst he is in a slumber and hold on to him. In his struggle to be freed, Proteus changes forms from a lion, to a snake, to a panther, a boar, running water and a tree until he eventually succumbs to Menelaus grasp and tells Menelaus what he needs to know.
This episode has been described as a process of active imagination, like Menelaus, Jung grappled with a fantastical creature steadfastly until he was ready to let go, he clutched on until he found the answer he was looking for. The Odyssey is interwoven with elements of realism and fantasy and Homer is so adept at drawing attention to mythical creatures, putting them in the centre stage for a brief moment and then ushering them out before leading us through the journey that is the Odyssey. How wonderful that Jung's visions, his inspiration for his art is likened to this moment in the Odyssey.
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