The Dwarf
The Cabiri
Small, hidden, and creative: the little powers of the deep.
The Dwarf: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Jung wrote often of the Cabiri, the dwarf gods of the ancient mysteries whom Goethe brought into the second part of Faust: small, secret, and creative powers working below consciousness. He carved one of their kind, Telesphorus, the hooded boy who attends Asclepius, into the stone at his tower in Bollingen.
Dwarfs in the tales are smiths, miners, and keepers of treasure; helpful or malicious, they know the earth’s secrets.
The Dwarf: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The dwarf smiths of Norse myth who forged Thor’s hammer, the Dactyls of Mount Ida, the seven dwarfs of Snow White, Tom Thumb, Rumpelstiltskin.
In the Press’s Books
In “The Vision and the Riddle” a dwarf, the spirit of gravity, sits on Zarathustra’s shoulder, dragging him down.
From the Sources
Bulfinch says that the Black Elves, whom he describes as dwarfs, were distinguished for their knowledge of the mysterious powers of nature and of the runes, and were the most skilful artificers of all created beings, makers among other things of Thor's hammer.
“They were particularly distinguished for a knowledge of the mysterious powers of nature, and for the runes which they carved and explained. They were the most skilful artificers of all created beings, and worked in metals and in wood. Among their most noted works were Thor's hammer”
Thomas Bulfinch, Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, Legends of Charlemagne, The Age of Fable, Northern Mythology (the elves). Complete in one volume, Project Gutenberg eBook #4928. The text, read in part
Jung writes that dwarfed stature, ugliness and deformity are typical of the Cabiri, the chthonian sons of Hephaestus, to whom great power to perform miracles was ascribed.
“Dwarfed stature, ugliness and deformity have become especially typical for those mysterious chthonian gods, the sons of Hephaestus, the Cabiri, to whom great power to perform miracles was ascribed.”
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Part II, Chapter I, 'Aspects of the Libido'. 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
- Psychology and Alchemy, CW 12
- Symbols of Transformation, CW 5
- Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962), “The Tower”
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Wholes and Extremes
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Dwarf.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/dwarf.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Dragon: The guardian who must be faced. The Dragon Fight: Consciousness wresting itself free from the devouring depths. The Eagle: Height, sight, and the spirit that rises. The Earth: Matter, body, and the mother of all.