The City
The ordered community, walled and centred.
The City: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Jung counted the city among the symbols of the mother, the one who holds her inhabitants as children. The city of the Apocalypse, the heavenly Jerusalem, is foursquare, with twelve gates, and so a mandala; his dream of Liverpool placed the centre in the heart of a city.
The City: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The heavenly Jerusalem and Babylon the great, Augustine’s City of God, the ideal cities of the Renaissance, the city under siege.
From the Sources
Jung calls the city a maternal symbol, a woman who fosters her inhabitants as children, which is why the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele wear the wall crown.
“The city is a maternal symbol, a woman who fosters the inhabitants as children. It is, therefore, intelligible that the two mother goddesses, Rhea and Cybele, both wear the wall crown.”
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
John sees the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, 'prepared as a bride adorned for her husband'.
“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
The King James Version of the Bible, Revelation 21:2. King James Version, Project Gutenberg eBook #10. 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
- “Psychological Aspects of the Mother Archetype,” CW 9i
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Vessels and Enclosures
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The City.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/city.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Circle: Wholeness, without beginning or end. Circulatio: Round and round, until it is refined. The Cloud: What hides the divine, and brings the rain. Coagulatio: What was fluid takes on body.