With sorrow in our hearts we announce that at the age of 83, the father of Jungian thought in Slovenia, Dr Jožef Magdič, physician, psychiatrist, Jungian analyst, supervisor, and lecturer in analytical psychology at the Sigmund Freud University in Ljubljana, has passed away. As the first Slovenian Jungian, Dr Jožef Magdič was responsible for the founding of our Association – the Slovenian Association for Analytical Psychology – and for its intellectual and spiritual existence.
He was born during the Second World War, and so his childhood was marked by severe hunger, poverty, and fear. Early in his life, he felt that his life’s path would be connected with the search for truth and freedom. At first he was drawn to the priesthood, then to law, but ultimately he decided to study medicine in Ljubljana. It was in psychiatry that he found a space for a deeper understanding of man and society.
The continuation of his academic career in Ljubljana was blocked because of his critical stance toward the communist regime, so after successfully completing the first stage of his parallel studies in philosophy and sociology, he finished his specialization in psychiatry in Zagreb, Croatia. There he discovered classical psychoanalysis, but questions about the phylogenesis of the psyche and the spiritual dimension of man led him to the work of C. G. Jung, in whom he found a similar soul.
He deepened his interest in Jungian thought through studies at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich, where he found his life’s professional calling and meaning. There he studied with important figures in psychoanalysis, who influenced his way of working in psychotherapy, social engagement, and the spiritual dimension of human activity.
His professional path continued at the Binswanger Psychiatric Clinic, where he encountered existential psychotherapy, and later in Germany, where he earned his doctorate in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Tübingen. He then returned with his family to Slovenia, where he joined the Slovenian Christian Democrats and thus fulfilled one of his prophetic dreams, in which he had seen himself seated in the first democratically elected Slovenian parliament – thereby realizing the will of the Self in his life’s mission.
In the early 1990s, he was elected a member of the first Slovenian parliament, thus fulfilling the vision from his dreams and contributing to the realization of the historic goal – an independent Slovenia. After independence, he withdrew from political life and devoted himself entirely to psychiatry and Jungian analytical psychology.
His life story is a story of courage, of healthy determination and perseverance on his soul’s path, which continues to inspire us all.
Throughout his educational and professional journey, he often had to act as a rebel, since he faced numerous politically motivated obstacles, which he nevertheless overcame in order to remain faithful to himself and his path. But being a psychiatrist was his true love. Over the years, he helped countless people turn their lives toward at better path.
Dr Jožef Magdič was a great Slovenian. Even though he was offered Croatian and German citizenships because of his talent and abilities, he declined both with pride, out of loyalty to his people and to the mission he had set for himself – to contribute to his nation’s freedom and democracy. With the aim of promoting his country abroad, he also founded the Lions Club in Murska Sobota (his home town), and then withdrew from active politics. Yet in his spirit he was always bound to activism, responsibility, and commitment to just political decisions. He was also a deeply proud man from his native Prekmurje region, something he showed at every step.
Dr Jožef Magdič was above all the first Slovenian Jungian. When describing himself, he placed this role first among all his missions. He lectured at the Zurich Institute, later brought Jungian psychoanalysis through international connections also to Belgrade, and eventually to Ljubljana. To him we owe the initiative for the Slovenian Association for Analytical Psychology, which today has grown into an IAAP group member and continues to develop Jungian thought in Slovenia and abroad. He worked as a lecturer, training analyst, and supervisor within the Slovenian Association for Analytical Psychology and at SFU Ljubljana, where through his wisdom, determination, and dedication he significantly influenced generations of future psychoanalysts and psychotherapists.
Students remember him for his ability to connect rich experience with theory, for his deep ethical sense, humility and simplicity, and especially for the extraordinary human warmth with which he was able to accept and understand another person. For this we will be forever grateful to him.
As a mentor, he was demanding and strict, yet at the same time he instilled in us that humble humanity that, in truth, it does not matter on which side of the table you sit – on the side of the therapist or the patient – as each person carries their own cross. From his teaching one could feel his genuine devotion to his profession and calling: to be a companion of human souls on their journey into the unconscious.
Why was the Jungian path so dear to him? As he himself often said: wherever Jung goes, there he remains. Jungian thought, as he described it, is democratic, accepting. It does not place itself above others, but rather connects and encourages the equal development of opposing parts of our psyche, which enables mental stability. It encourages individuation, that is, the search for the “divine” in each human being, which makes life meaningful.
Analytical psychology is the only psychotherapeutic approach that does not focus on the mental ego or I, but in its essence centres on the “divine” within each person. Who could embody this “contact with the divine within” better than Dr Jožef Magdič himself? He urged us to seek and maintain this connection with the divine throughout our lives, for only in this way will we be able to fulfil our mission and find inner peace.
Dr Jožef Magdič did not only teach Jung’s theories, he lived by them. Despite his many achievements and abilities, he never placed himself above others, but openly and patiently welcomed anyone whose path led them to him. He always found time and space for a lost human soul, or for a playful anecdote that helped to ease their distress. At the same time, he taught us to believe in dreams and encouraged us to act on fulfilling our soul’s mission, as revealed to us in our dreams. And although he studied a broad range of academic disciplines, in his teaching and work he preserved love for his calling, warmth, and humility.
Dr Jožef Magdič passed away precisely during the XXIII Congress of the International Association for Analytical Psychology, which this year was held in Jung’s birthplace, Zurich – the very place of Jožef’s studies, where 52 years ago he received his diploma from the Jung Institute.
This year, the Slovenian Association for Analytical Psychology became a group member of the International Association for Analytical Psychology, a great milestone in pursuing Jungian thought in Slovenia. For Slovenian analytical psychology, he remains the symbolic father and a lasting example of how to live ethically in dialogue between personal vocation, collective mission, and inner spiritual path.
Over the past year, Dr Jožef Magdič had already begun bidding farewell to many of our Association’s members through the medium most dear to us – dreams. In this sense, we could say that we accompanied him spiritually on his passage. His departure thus feels like our responsibility: to attempt to live what he taught us, for he himself showed that it was possible – and we carry this spirit forward into the world.
For us, Dr Jožef Magdič has not died; in a way, he lives on – within us. With his soulful presence, with his work, with the imprint he left on our lives, he remains very much alive.
May his path beyond be filled with light, may his soul rest in peace. Honour to his work and memory.
Slovenian Association for Analytical Psychology
Photograph: Nataša Juhnov