Eros and Psyche

For decades now, Jungians have been fascinated by the myth of Psyche, seeing it as a story most deeply related to the individuation process.  Erich Neumann has said that “the birth of Psyche is a critical event in human history.”  He sums up her significance in this way:

In her love for Eros, Psyche is not only different from Aphrodite or any other goddess; she is something wholly new . . . Through Psyche’s act [Eros] experiences [love] as a travail of the personality, leading through suffering to transformation and illumination.

Erich Neumann
Amor and Psyche

St. George and the Dragon

The dragon is an image that affects us all.  Jung saw this figure as often presenting us with the primordial, undifferentiated state of the unconscious.  The heroic nature is called upon to overcome this state, in order to “create consciousness.”