The Hare
Quick, fertile, and of the moon.
The Hare: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The hare is swift, timid, and fertile, and many peoples have seen one in the moon. Joseph Henderson, following Paul Radin, set Hare second in the Winnebago hero cycle, after the Trickster: the hero become a culture-bringer, still a trickster but beginning to serve.
The Hare: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The hare in the moon of China and Mexico, the hare of the Buddha’s birth tales that leapt into the fire, the Easter hare, Br’er Rabbit.
From the Sources
Herodotus says that the hare, hunted by every beast and bird and by man, is therefore very prolific, and is the only beast that becomes pregnant again before its former young are born.
“For example, because the hare is hunted by every beast and bird as well as by man, therefore it is so very prolific as it is: and this is the only one of all beasts which becomes pregnant again before the former young are born”
Herodotus, The History of Herodotus, Volume I, Book III, section 108. Translated into English by G. C. Macaulay; prepared from an edition dated 1890, published by MacMillan and Co., London and New York. The text, read in part
Frazer records that the hare is a common embodiment of the corn-spirit: in Galloway the reaping of the last standing corn is called 'cutting the Hare', and in Germany one of the names for the last sheaf is the Hare.
“ANOTHER common embodiment of the corn-spirit is the hare. In Galloway the reaping of the last standing corn is called "cutting the Hare."”
Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: a study of magic and religion, Chapter 48, "The Corn-Spirit as an Animal", section 4, "The Corn-spirit as a Hare". Abridged edition (preface dated June 1922), Project Gutenberg eBook #3623. 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
- Joseph L. Henderson, “Ancient Myths and Modern Man,” in Man and His Symbols (1964)
- Paul Radin, The Trickster (1956)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Beasts
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Hare.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/hare.
Nearby in the alphabet: Hair: Strength and vitality, and what grows unbidden. The Hand: Making, taking, blessing, and giving. The Head: The seat of mind, and the oracle. The Heart: The seat of feeling, courage, and conscience.