The Bull
Fertile strength, offered in sacrifice.
The Bull: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The bull is generative power, earthbound and solar at once, and above all the animal of sacrifice. Jung gave much of the last chapter of Symbols of Transformation to Mithras slaying the bull, from whose body grain and life spring, and read it as the sacrifice of the animal instinct by which life is renewed.
The Bull: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Apis of Memphis, the Bull of Heaven slain by Gilgamesh and Enkidu, the Minotaur in the labyrinth, Zeus carrying off Europa, Dionysus called the bull, the bull-leapers of Crete.
From the Sources
Jung writes that Mithra carries the bull into the cave and kills it there, and that from this death all fertility, all that is edible, grows.
“Afterwards Mithra carries in “transitus” the bull into the cave, where he kills him. From this death all fertility grows, all that is edible.”
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Part II, Chapter VII, "The Dual Mother Rôle". Authorized translation, with introduction, by Beatrice M. Hinkle, M.D.; New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1916. The text, read in part
Frazer describes the rite of the Attis worship in which a garlanded bull was stabbed on a grating over a pit, and its blood poured down upon the worshipper below.
“A bull, adorned with garlands of flowers, its forehead glittering with gold leaf, was then driven on to the grating and there stabbed to death with a consecrated spear. Its hot reeking blood poured in torrents through the apertures, and was received with devout eagerness by the worshipper on every part of his person and garments”
Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: a study of magic and religion, Chapter XXXIV, "The Myth and Ritual of Attis". 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
- Symbols of Transformation, CW 5, “The Sacrifice”
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Beasts
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Bull.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/bull.
Nearby in the alphabet: Breath: Spirit, which is breath and wind. The Bridge: The way across what divides. The Butterfly: The soul, emerging transformed. The Caduceus: Two serpents about a winged staff: opposites held in balance.