The Ladder
Scala
The way up by stages.
The Ladder: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The ladder is ascent by rungs: development by stages, each to be climbed in turn. The Mithraic mysteries had, as Origen reports, a ladder of seven gates of seven metals for the soul’s ascent through the planets.
Jacob at Bethel dreamed of the ladder set on the earth with its top in heaven and the angels going up and down on it, and woke to say that the place was the house of God: Jung took the ladder as the image of the connection between the ego and the unconscious kept open in both directions, the angels descending as well as ascending.
In the Mithraic ladder the soul climbs through the seven planetary spheres, shedding at each gate the quality that planet gave it; the alchemists’ scala philosophorum and the twelve gates of Ripley are the same ascent in the laboratory.
The Ladder: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Jacob’s ladder with the angels going up and down, John Climacus’ Ladder of Divine Ascent in thirty rungs, the shaman’s notched pole. The ladder of Jacob at the foot of the cross in the Instruments of the Passion; the Buddhist ladder down which the Buddha returned from the heaven of the thirty-three gods; Wittgenstein’s ladder, to be thrown away after climbing.
From the Sources
Jacob dreams of a ladder set up on the earth whose top reaches to heaven, with the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
“And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.”
The King James Version of the Bible, Genesis 28:12. King James Version, Project Gutenberg eBook #10. The text, read in part
In Socrates' report of Diotima, the true order in the things of love is to begin from the beauties of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beauty, using them only as steps: from one to two, from two to all fair forms, and from fair forms to fair practices.
“…the true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beauty, using these as steps only, and from one going on to two, and from two to all fair forms, and from fair forms to fair practices”
Plato, Symposium, Socrates reporting Diotima, near the end of her teaching. Translated by Benjamin Jowett (Project Gutenberg eBook #1600). 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
- Genesis 28:12
- Origen, Contra Celsum VI.22
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Ways and Thresholds
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Ladder.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/ladder.
Nearby in the alphabet: The King and Queen: The royal pair whose marriage makes the whole. The Labyrinth: The winding way to a centre. The Lamb: Innocence offered up. The Lamp: A small light carried into the dark.