The Cock
The herald of the light.
The Cock: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The cock crows before the sun and so heralds the day and consciousness. Gnostic gems show Abraxas with a cock’s head and serpents for legs, the god whose name Jung took into his Seven Sermons to the Dead.
The Cock: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Peter’s denial before cockcrow, Socrates’ last words, “Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius,” the weathercock, the Gallic cock.
From the Sources
Pliny calls the cock our watchman by night, produced by Nature to rouse mortals to their labours and dispel their slumbers.
“Next after the peacock, the animal that acts as our watchman by night, and which Nature has produced for the purpose of arousing mortals to their labours, and dispelling their slumbers, shows itself most actuated by feelings of vanity.”
Pliny the Elder, The Natural History of Pliny, Vol. II, Book X, Chapter 24, "The Dunghill Cock". Translated, with copious notes and illustrations, by the late John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., and H. T. Riley, Esq., B.A.; London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, MDCCCLV (Project Gutenberg eBook #60230). The text, read in part
Jung writes that Peter, through his symbol the cock, has the character of a sun-god.
“This relation corresponds to that of Christ to Peter. Peter, through his symbol, the cock, has the character of a sun-god.”
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Part II, Chapter IV, "The Unconscious Origin of the Hero". 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
- Septem Sermones ad Mortuos (1916)
- The Book of Symbols, Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism (2010)
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 Cock.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/cock.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Cloud: What hides the divine, and brings the rain. Coagulatio: What was fluid takes on body. Coniunctio: The union of opposites in the vessel. Copper: The metal of Venus: love, beauty, and verdigris.