Carl Jung and the spiritual meaning of holiday despair

A drawing from Carl Jung’s 205-page Red Book or Liber Novus, written between 1914 and 1930 but published only in 2009. Peay calls it "a Dante-esque narrative of how Jung rediscovers his soul" and compares it to the medieval Irish "Book of Kells," or William Blake's "Illuminated Manuscripts." While others regard it as the consequence of a psychotic episode.

Exploring holiday symbolism and Carl Jung's recently published "Red Book,", Pythia Peay refers us to Dr. Michael Conforti, a Jungian analyst and founder of the Assisi Institute. Conforti said Jung was "one of the first psychologists to look seriously at the role of spirituality in a person's life."
Conforti says of the Jungian view of the Christ Child:

With King Herod's efforts to kill all the male children, [Comforti] says, "This was no easy birth. Thus the archetypal roots of Christmas and the Christ child is the story of how something sacred emerges despite tremendous adversity." Those who suffer depression during the holidays, he explains, may in fact be closer to the "true spirit" of Christmas. For such individuals, he continues, the Nativity story validates their despair, while giving them "a glimpse of something in them that is struggling to come to fruition despite great odds."