The Fish
Ichthys
Life in the depths, drawn up.
The Fish: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Fish live unseen in the waters, and so stand for contents of the unconscious that may be caught and brought up. Jung gave much of Aion to the fish, because the Christian era coincides with the astrological age of Pisces, the two fishes, and because Christ was called the fish, Ichthys.
He followed it through Gnostic, Jewish, and alchemical tradition, where the “round fish in the sea” is an image of the hidden substance of the work.
Aion turns on the fish: the two fishes of Pisces, swimming in opposite directions, which Jung read as Christ and Antichrist, the age of the one giving way, about the Renaissance, to the age of the other; the Ichthys that the first Christians scratched on the walls; and the fish of the alchemists, round, shining, found in the middle of the sea, which is the stone.
The salmon of wisdom in the Irish tale, caught by Finn, who burned his thumb on it and sucked it, and knew all things: the content of the unconscious drawn up and tasted.
The Fish: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Ichthys, the acrostic of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour; Matsya, the fish that saved Manu from the flood; Jonah’s great fish; the salmon of wisdom in Irish tale; the Fisher King. Manu and the fish of the flood; the fish in the Eucharist of the catacombs; Tobias’s fish whose gall cured blindness; the Fisher King of the Grail; Oannes, the fish-man who taught Babylon.
From the Sources
Jung calls the fish also a phallic symbol and a symbol for the woman, and sums it up as a libido symbol, predominantly, as it seems, for the renewal of the libido.
“The fish, however, is also a phallic symbol, also a symbol for the woman. Briefly stated, the fish is a libido symbol, and, indeed, as it seems predominately for the renewal of the libido”
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
Hassett quotes Tertullian's saying that believers in the mystic Ichthys were themselves 'little fishes', born in the water after the image of their Ichthys, Jesus Christ.
“Believers in this mystic Ichthys were themselves "little fishes", according to the well-known passage of Tertullian (On Baptism 1): "we, little fishes, after the image of our Ichthys, Jesus Christ, are born in the water".”
M. Hassett, Symbolism of the Fish, whole article. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 6, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909 (New Advent transcription). The text, read in full
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
- Aion, CW 9ii, “The Sign of the Fishes,” “The Ambivalence of the Fish Symbol,” and “The Fish in Alchemy”
- Aion, CW 9ii, ¶¶ 127–149
- “The Fish in Alchemy,” Aion, CW 9ii
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Creatures of the Water
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Fish.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/fish.
Nearby in the alphabet: Fermentatio: The leaven that brings the dead matter to life. Fire: Energy that warms, purifies, and consumes. The Five: The four, and the centre that unites them. Flight: Rising free of the ground, or fleeing from what pursues.