The Bird
Spirit, soul, and thought in flight.
The Bird: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Birds belong to the air, and so to spirit, thought, and intuition, and to the soul that leaves the body. The alchemists marked the stages of the work with birds: the black raven of the nigredo, the white dove or swan, the many colours of the peacock’s tail, and at the end the phoenix or the pelican.
Philemon, the figure Jung met in his active imagination, had the wings of a kingfisher.
The Bird: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The Egyptian ba, the soul as a bird with a human head, the dove of the Holy Spirit, Odin’s ravens Thought and Memory, the eagle of Zeus and of St. John, the Simurgh of Attar’s Conference of the Birds.
In the Press’s Books
Zarathustra’s eagle, “the proudest animal under the sun,” circles above him with the serpent about its neck.
From the Sources
Frazer writes that the soul is often conceived as a bird ready to take flight, a conception that has left traces in most languages and lingers as a metaphor in poetry.
“Often the soul is conceived as a bird ready to take flight. This conception has probably left traces in most languages, and it lingers as a metaphor in poetry. The Malays carry out the conception of the bird-soul in a number of odd ways.”
Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: a study of magic and religion, Chapter XVIII, "The Perils of the Soul", section 2, "Absence and Recall of the Soul". Abridged edition (preface dated June 1922), Project Gutenberg eBook #3623. The text, read in part
Jung says that birds are images of souls, so that in the passage he is reading they stand for the souls of the condemned and evil spirits.
“The birds are images of souls; therefore, this means all souls of the condemned and evil spirits.”
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Part II, Chapter V, "Symbolism of the Mother and of Rebirth". Authorized translation, with introduction, by Beatrice M. Hinkle, M.D.; New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1916. 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
- Alchemical Studies, CW 13
- Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Birds
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Bird.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/bird.
Symbols That Share Its Terms
Death (Mortificatio, nigredo) · Putrefactio (Putrefaction) · Mortificatio (Mortification, killing) · Black (Nigredo) · Lead (Saturn) · The Eclipse (The black sun) · The Raven (Caput corvi) · The Tomb
Nearby in the alphabet: The Bear: Instinctive strength, and a fierce mothering. The Bee: The ordered community, and souls on the wing. Blood: Life itself, given and shed.