And this is the fourth and final task Venus gives Psyche to atone for her sin – to fetch a box of beauty cream from Persephone, queen of the underworld. Unlike the previous three tasks (sorting a pile of seeds, fetching a golden wave from the wild sun rams, and fetching water from the icy […]
Analytical Psychology
Texts and quotations from Carl Gustav Jung and key Jungian authors (e.g., Marie-Louise von Franz) focusing on archetypal themes, the relationship between the conscious and the unconscious, and the process of individuation, including in romantic relationships.
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After Psyche’s first task, which is to sort through a large pile of seeds, and the second task, which is to bring a wave of wild sun rams, comes the third task, which is to bring water from the icy waterfall of the River Styx that separates the earth from the underworld. What our soul […]
Psyche’s first task was to sort through a huge pile of seeds, and she tackled this ordeal with the help of the ants. I recall that Marie Louise von Franz interpreted this as help from the unconscious that comes when we are true to ourselves. After the first task comes the second, which teaches our […]
18.07.2023
Psyche’s first task – sorting the seeds
At last it is my turn to present how Marie-Louise von Franz interprets the various tasks Psyche receives from Venus in order to win back her beloved. I begin with her psychological interpretation of the first task, the sorting of the pile of seeds (a motif found in many fairy tales), what the ants symbolize, […]
This is the next part of Marie Franz’s analysis of the story of Amour and Psyche, told by Apuleius in his book The Golden Ass. The previous parts are: Marie Franz on the duality “romance – banality” in love Marie Franz: The incarnation of Venus is the embodiment of the god from the feminine side […]
15.07.2023
Eros is Puer aeternus
Marie Franz’s text with the psychological interpretation of the story of Amur/Eros and Psyche (see the article on “The Incarnation of Venus“) continues with an analysis of the correlation between Eros and the archetype of the“eternal child“, the so-called Puer Aeternus. For Eros is Puer Aeternus, and knowing this correlation helps tremendously if we want […]
After the articles on the spiritual dimension of love and the planet Venus, presenting the views of Liz Green and Alan Oaken, here is what Marie Louise von Franz has written on this very important topic, adding new and very important aspects to it. To this end, I would like to recall the nature of […]
The archetypal drama associated in astrology with the action of the planet Neptune unfolds between two figures: the redeemer and the one who seeks redemption. On one side, we find ourselves as sinners, longing to encounter a purer and more spiritually elevated Other—someone who can cleanse us of the imperfections and bodily desires with which […]
If we wish to understand what lies at the very foundation of human psychic life, we must first understand what archetypes are. They are those particular energetic nuclei from which our desires arise, together with the images and ideas that accompany them, and which we usually perceive first through projection. Different archetypes are sources of […]
03.03.2023
Liz Greene on what true self-sacrifice is
I continue this series of articles on the theme of self-sacrifice by turning to its most radical expression: the sacrifice of our desire for an easy and carefree life. Another way of saying the same thing is to stop resisting pain and to mature. I will begin with a quotation from Jung, because self-sacrifice is […]
What follows from the fact that the compulsion toward self-sacrifice arises from the awakening of the immortal part of the soul, which in Jungian analysis is called the awakened individuational impulse (see The Path of Individuation and the Care of the Soul)? What does the incarnated god (the archetype of the whole personality) receive in […]
“Only by sacrificing what we have can we know what we have. Real sacrifice is made with the same definiteness and lack of bargaining that is involved in throwing something away We can do this only if we are forced by a greater power in us – a power stronger than the ego – that […]
