Our Pre-Conference Experience offers us two days at the celebrated lakeside retreat of Eranos. Initially a Theosophical school in which Alice Bailey herself taught, it soon evolved a strong focus on depth psychology over which C.G. Jung presided for decades. The legacy of Eranos has been described as an alternative intellectual history of the 20th century. Conceived as a “free space for the spirit”, it drew together some of the most brilliant minds of its day to explore the unconscious, spirituality, mythology and wisdom traditions from the East, the West and beyond, launching a cultural stream that continues to be deeply influential today.

To enter Eranos is to step into another world with its library of leather-bound volumes where Jung himself must have sat and pondered over the decades, and its famous large, green, Round Table, underneath the cedar trees and facing Lago Maggiore, where so many gathered to broaden the contemporary worldview. 

As longtime Quest faculty Christopher McIntosh shares, Eranos came to develop “a spirit with a mind of its own.” We’ll have two days of stimulating presentations that take us into this unique soul of Eranos, and time to just be in its tranquil and nourishing environment.

Our Pre-Conference Experience offers us two days at the celebrated lakeside retreat of Eranos. Initially a Theosophical school in which Alice Bailey herself taught, it soon evolved a strong focus on depth psychology over which C.G. Jung presided for decades. The legacy of Eranos has been described as an alternative intellectual history of the 20th century. Conceived as a “free space for the spirit”, it drew together some of the most brilliant minds of its day to explore the unconscious, spirituality, mythology and wisdom traditions from the East, the West and beyond, launching a cultural stream that continues to be deeply influential today.

We’ll also have an opportunity to visit a nearby anthroposophical healing center, Casa Andrea Cristoforo, founded by Ita Wegman. One of Rudolf Steiner’s closest spiritual collaborators, she created this therapeutic refuge at the southern foot of the Alps; the center continues today to offer natural treatments to recover physical and emotional balance.