Gwendolyn MacEwen’s work is extremely rich from a symbolical
point of view. She has taken her inspiration from multiple sources which
act as catalysts to creativity in her work and as catalysts to discovery
for her readers. Much of her symbolism and imagery has its origins in
myth, religion, philosophy and history, but also in some esoteric doctrines
such as alchemy, the cabala and the Tarot. All of them are interrelated
forming a symbolical whole in continuous evolution. This paper
examines the archetypal journey of the hero in her two novels, Julian
the Magician and King of Egypt, King of Dreams, and the interconnections
which exist between the two, based on the Jungian theories about
the unconscious and the symbolism of the Tarot.
