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JUNG LEXICON A Primer of Terms & Concepts DARYL SHARP Preface C. G. Jung died in 1961, without ever having presented a systematic summary of his psychology. For the past thirty years his ideas have been explained, explored and amplified by thousands of others, with varying results. Jung Lexicon takes the reader to the source. … Continue reading A Dictionary of Jungian Terms and Concepts

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Saturn: Much like Father Time, Saturn implores us to look at the clock (its glyph, after all, is the sickle of Chronos, the God of Time). Kronos is chronological time, whereas the Moon is cyclical time.. In keeping with the passage of time, Saturn governs old age along with the lessons it teaches us. Learning … Continue reading Astrology – Saturn

Baba Yaga BabaIn Old Russian, baba may mean "midwife", "sorceress", or "fortune teller". In modern Russian, the word бабушка or babushka (meaning "grandmother") derives from it, as does the word babcia (also "grandmother") in Polish. Yaga Borrowed from Russian йо́га (jóga), from Sanskrit योग (yoga, “yoking, union”).WHETHER YOU ' RE A KNIGHT looking for a horse, a … Continue reading Baba Yaga

Tears move us in a remarkable way, so much so that human ethologists consider them to be favored by natural selection for our survival.  Among their physiological functions, tears serve to lubricate the surface of the eye and wash out irritants and toxins.  But perhaps more importantly, they often elicit from others an immediate response … Continue reading Tears

Now we come to the needle. We can begin on the surface, with language association. You have all heard the phrase, "to needle someone." Now what is it to needle someone? Needling, or picking on someone, generally has to do with stinging that person's complexes; one needles people, for instance, by making specific personal remarks. … Continue reading Needle (sharp object)

The mirror is a frequent allegory of self-reflection. The attention is directed to oneself, one “mirrors oneself.” Schopenhauer says we should “hold up a mirror” to the blind (unconscious) will, so that it will recognize its face and then negate itself. So the mirror is an instrument for looking at oneself, for self-reflection. You find … Continue reading Mirror

The bathroom is very often mentioned by patients in precisely such a context. The consulting room of the physician is often portrayed as a bathroom, if not an even more intimate place. The ablutions, the ablutio, are a famous motif in alchemy. There the ablutio regularly follows the so-called blackening, the nigredo. The blackening is … Continue reading Bathroom

Rainbow Our personal associations to “rainbow” are the following: the rainbow is a wonderful, oscillating bridge; it leads to a castle in the air and from there to the ground. So the rainbow is a symbol linking heaven and earth. This unification of heaven and earth suggests a link between above and below, between spirit … Continue reading Rainbow, Color symbolism, & alchemy of Red, Yellow, Black, & White— blue is important too

During the Annunciation, Mary is described as fetching water from a well, or as eating a fish.  The fish is Christ, so called after the constellation of Pisces, in which the vernal equinox entered after the beginning of Christianity. In the mystical epitaph of Bishop Aberkios, there is a passage: “Belief (impersonated as a woman) always … Continue reading Fish

“Once worms came into it, and the mouse turned gray.” Worms represent one of the lowest possible stages of animal life. They are segmented and their nervous system consists only of chains of ganglia. They impress us as a bunch of muscles with a mouth and intestine. We can hardly feel into such a low … Continue reading Worm, Snake, Serpent

Excerpt from Marion Woodman: Dancing in The Flames WHETHER YOU ‘ RE A KNIGHT looking for a horse, a maiden looking for fire, or a youth looking for a bride, in Russian folk tales you usually end up deep in the forest. On your journey, you may stumble upon a house, walking, hopping, twirling or … Continue reading Baba Yaga

In the ancient mysteries milk played a prominent part as nourishment for the newly born initiate. In the Dionysian mountain orgies, the Maenads drank milk and honey flowing freely from the earth. Milk and honey were also the food of the reborn in early Christian baptism. In an ode of Solomon milk is extolled as … Continue reading Milk

Daryl Sharp. My Life As An Elephant. Being crippled is an apt metaphor for those who find themselves in a psychological crisis. Broken in spirit, unable to function in their usual way, they are "on their knees"; they want to pull themselves together, get back on their feet. Meanwhile, they "limp along." In mythology, the … Continue reading Crippled (Lame)

Marie Louise Von Franz. The Feminine in Fairy Tales. If one makes a study of dwarfs, one will find that ninety-five percent of their nature is positive. They collect treasures, are wonderful goldsmiths, can weave, make golden goblets, and are great craftsmen. In folklore, children who are blessed by being born on a Sunday go … Continue reading Dwarf

Salmon is one of the many symbols for Christ. Christ is the fish that is the carrier of the splendor of God on the face of the earth. A bishop wears a miter, shaped like the head of a fish, to indicate that he is the successor to Christ. An early symbol of a Christian … Continue reading Fish (Fisher)

  In mythology, feathers generally represent something very similar to the bearer of the feathers—the bird. According to the principle of pars pro toto (the part stands for the whole), a magical form of thinking, the feather signifies the bird, and birds in general represent psychic entities of an intuitive and thinking character. For instance, … Continue reading Feather

Mythologically, the eagle is a king’s bird. The lion is the king of animals, and the eagle is the king of birds. They soar very high, so you could say that it symbolizes higher thinking. Air represents thought.