The Bones
What remains, and what rises again.
The Bones: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Bones are what outlasts the flesh: the enduring frame, and the seed of return. In shamanic initiation the novice sees himself reduced to a skeleton and clothed anew in flesh, which Mircea Eliade described; in Ezekiel’s valley the dry bones are joined and breathed into life.
The Bones: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The valley of dry bones, the relics of the saints, the ossuaries, and the old woman of the desert who gathers wolf bones and sings them back to life in the tale Clarissa Pinkola Estés retold.
From the Sources
In Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones, the prophet is asked whether the bones can live, and is told to prophesy to the dry bones that they should hear the word of the Lord.
“37:3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. 37:4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.”
The King James Version of the Bible, Ezekiel 37:3-5. King James Version, Project Gutenberg eBook #10. The text, read in part
Frazer reports that some hunting peoples respect the bones of game in the belief that, if kept, the bones will in time be clothed with flesh again and the animal will come back to life.
“With some savages a special reason for respecting the bones of game, and generally of the animals which they eat, is a belief that, if the bones are preserved, they will in course of time be reclothed with flesh, and thus the animal will come to life again.”
Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: a study of magic and religion, Chapter LIII, "The Propitiation of Wild Animals by Hunters". Abridged edition (preface dated June 1922), Project Gutenberg eBook #3623. 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
- Mircea Eliade, Shamanism (1951)
- Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run with the Wolves (1992)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among The Body
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Bones.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/bones.
Nearby in the alphabet: Blue: The colour of sky and depth, of distance and spirit. The Boat: The vessel that carries across the waters. The Book: Knowledge written down, sealed, or to be opened. The Breast: The first world: the source of milk and of comfort.