The Altar
The place of offering, where the human meets the divine.
The Altar: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The altar is where the offering is made and the divine received. In the visions of Zosimos that Jung studied, the dreamer climbs fifteen steps to a bowl-shaped altar where a priest is sacrificed and transformed, and Jung set the vision beside the Mass.
The Altar: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The altars of burnt offering, the stone altars of the patriarchs, the Christian altar, the household altar and the ancestors.
From the Sources
At the place God had told him of, Abraham builds an altar, lays the wood in order, binds Isaac his son and lays him on the altar.
“And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.”
The King James Version of the Bible, Genesis 22:9. King James Version, Project Gutenberg eBook #10. The text, read in part
Souvay writes that as soon as men conceived the idea of offering sacrifices to the Deity they needed places designed for it, and that the earliest altars were very likely simple heaps of stones or earth for the fire and the victims.
“As soon as men conceived the idea of offering sacrifices to the Deity they felt the need of places specially designed for this end. These primeval specimens of altars were necessarily most simple, very likely consisting of a heap of stones or earth, suitable for the fire and the victims.”
C. Souvay, Altars (in Scripture), "In the Old Testament". The Catholic Encyclopedia, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907 (New Advent transcription). The text, read in part
Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.
Where to Read
- “The Visions of Zosimos,” CW 13
- “Transformation Symbolism in the Mass,” CW 11
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Vessels and Enclosures
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Altar.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/altar.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Abduction: Seized by the depths: the innocent carried below. The Abyss: The depth without a bottom. The Androgyne: Male and female in one body: the opposites united. The Angel: The messenger between the worlds.