The Breast
Nourishment
The first world: the source of milk and of comfort.
The Breast: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Among the qualities of the mother archetype Jung named first her nourishing, sheltering goodness, of which the breast is the first image.
Erich Neumann, in The Great Mother (1955), made the vessel that feeds, the breast and the womb, the core of the elementary character of the feminine.
The Breast: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Artemis of Ephesus, many-breasted; the Milky Way, spilled from Hera’s milk; the Virgin nursing the child; the she-wolf of Rome.
From the Sources
Jung writes that in the young the libido first shows itself in the nutritional zone, when food is taken in the act of suckling with rhythmic movements and every sign of satisfaction.
“…the libido in youthful individuals at first manifests itself in the nutritional zone, when food is taken in the act of suckling with rhythmic movements and with every sign of satisfaction.”
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Part II, Chapter III, "The Transformation of the Libido". Authorized translation, with introduction, by Beatrice M. Hinkle, M.D.; New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1916. The text, read in part
In a note Jung reports Wiedemann's assertion, as cited by Dieterich, that it is an Egyptian idea that man draws in the milk of immortality by suckling at the breast of a goddess, and compares Hercules gaining immortality by one draw at Hera's breast.
“…it is an Egyptian idea that man draws in the milk of immortality by suckling the breast of a goddess. (Compare with that the myth of Hercules, where the hero attains immortality by a single draw at the breast of Hera.)”
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Notes to Part II, Chapter VII, footnote 753. 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
- “Psychological Aspects of the Mother Archetype,” CW 9i
- Erich Neumann, The Great Mother (1955)
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 Breast.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/breast.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Bones: What remains, and what rises again. The Book: Knowledge written down, sealed, or to be opened. Breath: Spirit, which is breath and wind. The Bridge: The way across what divides.