Night
Nyx
The dark from which the day is born.
Night: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Night is the dark of the unconscious, and in the old myths it comes first: Nyx is older than the gods, and the day is born from her. Jung followed the sun’s journey through the night as the pattern of every descent and renewal.
Night: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Nyx and her children Sleep and Death, the dark night of the soul, Novalis’s Hymns to the Night (1800), the vigil before a feast.
From the Sources
Jung writes that during the 'night journey on the sea' the sun-god is enclosed in the mother's womb, often threatened by dangers of all kinds.
“During the night journey on the sea the Sun-god is enclosed in the mother’s womb, oftentimes threatened by dangers of all kinds.”
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Part II, Chapter V, 'Symbolism of the Mother and of Rebirth' (following Frobenius). Authorized translation, with introduction, by Beatrice M. Hinkle, M.D.; New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1916 (Project Gutenberg eBook #65903). The text, read in part
In Genesis God calls the darkness Night, and the evening and the morning make the first day.
“And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
The King James Version of the Bible, Genesis 1:5. 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
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
In the Glossary: Unconscious.
Also among The Heavens
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“Night.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/night.
Symbols That Share Its Terms
Philemon (The winged old man) · The Descent (Nekyia, katabasis) · Water (The sea, the lake, the spring) · The Abyss (Ungrund)
Nearby in the alphabet: Multiplicatio: The finished stone increasing its power. The Navel: The centre of the body, and of the world. The One: Unity, before and after the many.