The Ascent
Rising toward the light, and coming down again.
The Ascent: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The ascent to heaven is the counterpart of the descent, and Jung held that each needs the other. The Emerald Tablet says of the work that it “ascends from the earth to heaven and descends again to the earth,” gathering the powers of above and below; Jung read the rising as the spiritualizing of what was bound, and warned that ascent without return is an escape.
The Ascent: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Jacob’s ladder, Elijah’s chariot, the Ascension, the night journey of Muhammad, the soul’s climb through the seven planetary spheres of the Hermetic and Gnostic texts.
From the Sources
Socrates interprets his allegory: the prison-house is the world of sight, and the journey upwards is the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world.
“…the prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world”
Plato, The Republic, Book VII, the allegory of the den. Translated by Benjamin Jowett (Project Gutenberg eBook #1497). The text, read in part
Socrates asks whether one who came suddenly out of the sun back to his old place in the den would not have his eyes full of darkness.
“Imagine once more, I said, such an one coming suddenly out of the sun to be replaced in his old situation; would he not be certain to have his eyes full of darkness?”
Plato, The Republic, Book VII, the allegory of the den. Translated by Benjamin Jowett (Project Gutenberg eBook #1497). 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
- Psychology and Alchemy, CW 12
- Edward F. Edinger, Anatomy of the Psyche (1985), “Sublimatio”
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
In the Glossary: Hermetic.
Also among Journeys
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Ascent.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/ascent.
Symbols That Share Its Terms
The Magician (Magus) · The Trickster (Hermes, Loki, Coyote) · Mercury (Mercurius) · The Vessel (Vas hermeticum) · The Caduceus (The staff of Hermes)
Nearby in the alphabet: Apollo: Form, measure, clarity, and the beautiful image. The Apple: The fruit of knowledge, discord, and youth. The Bath: Immersion that cleanses and joins. The Bear: Instinctive strength, and a fierce mothering.