The Dragon Fight
The combat with the monster
Consciousness wresting itself free from the devouring depths.
The Dragon Fight: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
In Symbols of Transformation Jung read the hero’s battle with the dragon as the struggle of the young consciousness to free itself from the mother and from its own longing to sink back.
Erich Neumann, in The Origins and History of Consciousness (1949), made the dragon fight the central stage of his history: the hero slays the monster, frees the captive, and wins the treasure.
The Dragon Fight: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Marduk and Tiamat, Apollo and the Python, Siegfried and Fafnir, Beowulf and Grendel’s mother, Saint George, the archangel Michael.
From the Sources
Jung writes that, put mythologically, the hero seeks the lost sun, the fire, the virgin sacrifice or the treasure, and fights the typical fight with the dragon, 'with the libido in resistance'.
“Mythologically this means: the hero seeks the lost sun, the fire, the virgin sacrifice, or the treasure, and fights the typical fight with the dragon, with the libido in resistance.”
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Part II, ch. VII, "The Dual Mother Rôle" (on Freud and the regression of libido). Authorized translation, with introduction, by Beatrice M. Hinkle, M.D.; New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1916. The text, read in part
The Book of Revelation tells of war in heaven, in which Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the great dragon, 'that old serpent', was cast out into the earth.
“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 12:8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent”
The King James Version of the Bible, Revelation 12:7-9. 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
- Erich Neumann, The Origins and History of Consciousness (1949)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Rites and Ordeals
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Dragon Fight.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/dragon-fight.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Dove: Peace, spirit, and the white light after the dark. The Dwarf: Small, hidden, and creative: the little powers of the deep. The Eagle: Height, sight, and the spirit that rises.