Death
Mortificatio, nigredo
The ending that belongs to a change.
Death: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Death in the symbolic sense marks the end of an attitude, a stage, or a way of life, and in Jung’s reading is almost always tied to transformation. In the alchemical work it is the nigredo, the blackening, the mortificatio and putrefactio in which the joined pair lie dead in the tomb, and the soul rises from them before it returns.
Jung was careful to add that the psyche also speaks of death as it is: in the second half of life, he wrote, one must prepare to die as well as to live.
Death: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The skull of the memento mori, the thirteenth card of the Tarot, the dark wood where Dante’s journey begins, and the dying and rising gods.
From the Sources
In John, Jesus says that unless a corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies it abides alone, but if it dies it brings forth much fruit.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
The King James Version of the Bible, John 12:24. King James Version, Project Gutenberg eBook #10. The text, read in part
Jung writes that a step towards a new life means at the same time the death of the past life, and that the infantile hero still bound by childhood has to die.
“This step towards a new life means, at the same time, the death of the past life. Therefore, Chiwantopel is the infantile hero (the son, the child, the lamb, the fish) who is still enchained by the fetters of childhood and who has to die”
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Part II, Chapter VI, 'The Battle for Deliverance from the Mother'. 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
- “The Soul and Death” (1934), CW 8
- “The Stages of Life” (1930–31), CW 8
- “The Psychology of the Transference,” CW 16
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
In the Glossary: Nigredo, Solve et coagula.
Also among Death and Birth
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“Death.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/death.
Symbols That Share Its Terms
Putrefactio (Putrefaction) · Mortificatio (Mortification, killing) · Black (Nigredo) · Lead (Saturn) · The Eclipse (The black sun) · The Bird · The Raven (Caput corvi) · The Tomb
Nearby in the alphabet: The Dawn: The first light, before the sun. The Dead: The unanswered questions of those who came before. The Desert: The empty place of trial and revelation.