Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. A Contribution to the History of the Evolution of ThoughtJung, C. G. (Carl Gustav)
Philosophy
Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. A Contribution to the History of the Evolution of Thought
Jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav)
Libido (Psychology); Mother and child; Psychoanalysis; Subconsciousness; Symbolism (Psychology)
significance of the Sun; I quote one especially marked case, from an
abundance of proof. In the antique collection at Verona I discovered a
late Roman mystic inscription in which are the following
representations:
[Illustration]
These symbols are easily read: Sun—Phallus, Moon—Vagina (Uterus). This
interpretation is confirmed by another figure of the same collection.
There the same representation is found, only the vessel[414] is replaced
by the figure of a woman. The impressions on coins, where in the middle
a palm is seen encoiled by a snake, flanked by two stones (testicles),
or else in the middle a stone encircled by a snake; to the right a palm,
to the left a shell (female genitals[415]), should be interpreted in a
similar manner. In Lajard’s “Researches” (“The Cult of Venus”) there is
a coin of Perga, where Artemis of Perga is represented by a conical
stone (phallic) flanked by a man (claimed to be Men) and by a female
figure (claimed to be Artemis). Men (the so-called Lunus) is found upon
an Attic bas-relief apparently with the spear but fundamentally a
sceptre with a phallic significance, flanked by Pan with a club
(phallus) and a female figure.[416] The traditional representation of
the Crucified flanked by John and Mary is closely associated with this
circle of ideas, precisely as is the Crucified with the thieves. From
this we see how, beside the Sun, there emerges again and again the much
more primitive comparison of the libido with the phallus. An especial
trace still deserves mention here. The Dadophor Cautapates, who
represents Mithra, is also represented with the cock[417] and the
pineapple. But these are the attributes of the Phrygian god Men, whose
cult was widely diffused. Men was represented with Pileus,[418] the
pineapple and the cock, also in the form of a boy, just as the
Dadophores are boyish figures. (This last-named property relates them
with Men to the Cabiri.) Men has a very close connection with Attis, the
son and lover of Cybele. In the time of the Roman Cæsars, Men and Attis
were entirely identified, as stated above. Attis also wears the Pileus
like Men, Mithra and the Dadophores. As the son and lover of his mother
he again leads us to the source of this religion-creating incest libido,
namely, to the mother. Incest leads logically to ceremonial castration
in the Attic-Cybele cult, for the Hero, driven insane by his mother,
mutilates himself.[419] I must at present forego entering more deeply
into this matter, because the incest problem is to be discussed at the
close. Let this suggestion suffice—that from different directions the
analysis of the libido symbolism always leads back again to the mother
incest. Therefore, we may surmise that the longing of the libido raised
to God (repressed into the unconscious) is a primitive, incestuous one
which concerns the mother. Through renouncing the virility to the first
beloved, the mother, the feminine element becomes extremely predominant;
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