With shock and horror I arrived home today to learn that James Hillman died.

From reading a recent piece by him I thought that he had overcome his illness and would be with us for a while longer. Immediately after receiving my doctorate I had the unique opportunity to meet Dr. Hillman at a party in the home of Chris Downing, my chairperson. He wasted no time and asked me, "What does soul want?" I was stupefied and couldn't answer. These were the days immediately following the publication of his breakthrough book, Re-Visioning Psychology. Now, some thirty years later I am still working my way through his opus, the latest being, the new edition of Alchemical Psychology - a subject I adopted pursuant to his influence. In the interim I attended a number of his seminars and read many of his books; in any forum, Dr. Hillman was a master whose encyclopedic knowledge seemed to rival Jung. In fact, there was for a time talk of him being the "new Jung." Indeed, he is one of the last of the old guard whose work blazed new paths for Jung's psychology. I'd like to say he'll be missed but his indomitable presence will always be with us, for he reached a truth seldom expressed with such eloquence and profundity. The collective psyche is richer for him.